WHAT ARE OUR AIMS IN LIFE?

BRONZE,SILVER, and GOLD MEDALS, being presented Daryl Green, as CEO of Testimony Faith Homes who were hosting the Swimming Event for the East African Secondary School Games.     The Finals for all the Swimming Events were held yesterday, and were just completed before it poured down with RAIN!   Otherwise the weather had been good throughout.    I cannot at present give an account of the numbers of students competing from the more than six East African Countries taking part in the Games.    A good number, and those in the Swimming Event filled the pool so that not many spectators were able, or even allowed, to watch.   The area is enclosed and small, but well equipped and clean.    The Games Authority were impressed and pleased with it.    Their President and Vice President attended and also presented Medals with Daryl, and seemed quite delighted with everything.    The Table Tennis Event was also held on our compound in the School Hall ( one of the tables used was one presented to us some years back by the Westhoughton Pentecostal Assemblies of God - still in good condition and regularly used by our own children.

Our middle aged housemaid, Alice, plus our son James, also attended to the supply of Refreshments during the actual competitions.   In the photo you can see them with Esther in the FOOD Tent - right.
THEN below various views commencing with the Starting end and spectators pavilion.   This gives a little idea of the venue as it was.
These photos will have to do for the time being.   Swimming Events are not easy to photo in a way that proves visually exciting, and in our case there was more Splash than splendour.   Nevertheless it was a great opportunity to declare the Goodness of God for US, and to open up chances to point to God's reality and faithfulness as we shared with our visitors.

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Last February we were approached by a 'lady' who is a member of our County Legislature.     She also runs a private school some kilometres out of town.    She told of a family of four children living not far from her School whose mother had deserted leaving the children without food or aid of any kind.    We talked some time with her, and said that although some of the children were older than we would usually take, we would be prepared to take all four provided, she approached the Children's Office, and permitted them to visit the 'family' and then provide us with a Case History confirming her story.    The 'lady' assured us she had already done this, and that a history would be given to us.   We then stated that all we would then need was a Court Order for each child, and a copy of their Birth Certificates.      She left us full of grateful thank, and not long afterwards the children and all the papers we requested (except for the Case History) arrived, and the children were Admitted.    The Children's Office assured us a Case History would follow.

BUT RECENTLY, some of the children Admitted began to share their own version of their history. They said that their mother was still at home, and that she was the sister of the woman who had brought them to us.........and on further investigation this proved to be the truth.    They were not in need (the mother still at home and with many well off brothers and other family).- it was pure and simply an attempt to get them into FREE care and education.      When we shared this with the Children's Office and they faced the woman, she denied everything.   But she lied.     Thus is the average level of our national honesty and integrity.      The fact that we, as a Charity have housed, fed, clothed and educated four children at our own expense when we had no need or reason to do so seems of no consequence, even to the Children's Office, who now say it was OUR fault for not making our own investigation before the children arrived.       Very disappointing.      The matter is still going on and the Children's Office think it may be another two months before we will know their recommendations - whilst we continue to pay the piper!        Both the woman and the Children's Office seemed to have co-operated to 'push' the children into the Homes.      We trusted them, and were misled.       The children have been happy enough with us, but the youngest who is about 7 has been very unhappy, and is missing his mother seriously.      

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TO THE RIGHT is a recent photo of FRANCIS and his wife Eunice.   It was taken recently at a supper party arranged for us all by Sammy Kirui.

Francis is the younger brother of Simeon Olumzee.    Simeon collapsed almost a year ago and has been unconscious for most of the time until about a month ago.  ( I had mentioned this in previous Blogs).  He remained still unable to move.  A blood clot had entered the brain causing what doctors think was a Stroke.    Simeon then suddenly died in early August.  He was 51. The Hospital Bill had become very high, into millions of Kenya Shillings, and the Hospital Management were very anxious to be paid.     The Kenya Army stepped in on behalf of their deceased member, and paid a big chunk of what was owed, but still leaving a lot to be found.     All this was upon Francis' head since none of the remaining family, including Simeon's wife, could afford to pay anything.      Then last week an arrangement was made so that the body could be buried, but the eldest sister to Simeon and Francis took the body from the Mortuary and buried it secretly at night in the public cemetery without even a Service.      Now the wife, who also wants the body to be buried elsewhere, has reported the body to have been stolen!      It has been a very unpleasant and unfortunate saga.      No one is sure what will happen now.     Francis has felt really stressed about it all.     Please spare him a prayer, and for the whole matter to be straightened out properly with agreement on all sides.        The Enemy really knows how to disturb our peace.

TODAY IT IS STILL RAINING AND COLD.    The Primary School Standard V111 students and their parents were called together with the Staff to pray for the National Examinations which are to be held in November.     Normally this event happens nearer the Day, but this year the Government has banned all public Meetings within the School precincts (nationwide) in order to prevent importation of drugs AND also advance copies of the Examination Papers.    Our Meeting this morning starting at 9.30a.m. was very well attended by the parents, and ended at 12.p.m.     

SO that is about all for this week once more.      School begins on Monday for the 3rd Term of the year and this time will be quite short - two months.    Thus the Christmas Holiday will be VERY long indeed.       God Bless you, every one.      Keep looking UP!

John, Esther, and Daryl Green

PASSING DAYS - AND PROGRESSIVE FUTURE

HOW QUICKLY YEARS PASS, and our children GROW!   Here is a photo (LEFT) of Daryl with his son Jesse at about five or six.    You can see the pride of a father in Daryl's eyes.   Pride AND Joy together. And now Jesse has just had his eighteenth Birthday (Photo Right with his Dad again and young brother Jeremy).    Tomorrow Jesse
will be travelling up to Nairobi to commence his Engineering Course at the Polytechnic.    We shall all miss seeing him around including us his grandparents.    Esther and I were about the first people to clap eyes on him, with his Dad,  the day he was born.     He was almost born into the family of Testimony House as Steve. Michael and Lizzy were, since Daryl and Carol moved in as Houseparents early 1998 - and certainly spent all his early years there until 2006.     Then Daryl and Carol felt they needed a family life of their own, and moved into their own rented accommodation just a kilometre away, and brother and sister MULI took over.  Daryl continued of course to work with us and Jesse continued to grow and study in the School.     He was always a good and diligent student, and always had it in mind to get into Engineering of some kind.   he is now just a little taller than his Father.    We will be praying for him, and trust he will do well and succeed in seeing his ambition blossom and satisfy him.   Most of all we shall pray he will remember Christ in his new life in the Capital City - a city full of Wine, Women - and Drugs.     Our young people in Kenya generally have come to a place of confusion as to what to believe and follow in their lives.    As in most other places on earth today the best advice is to be found in the Bible in Psalm 119v9 where it is written -

How shall a young man cleanse his way?

By taking heed, and keeping watch on himself according to Your Word;

conforming his life to it.

The Writer of the Psalm had discovered to truth of these words for himself as he lived through life, and in the following verse he emphasises this in saying -

With my whole heart have I sought you (God)

inquiring for and of You, and yearning for You:

Oh, let me not wander or step aside,

either in ignorance or willfully from Your Commandment.

++++++++++++++++++++++

THIS WEEK, we heard from our son Steven in Lancashire.    He was overjoyed to see their son Eric achieve a praiseworthy result in the National Examination.     Well he certainly showed himself able and in this photo looks pleased about it.    I can see, just looking at it, that he has achieved a real victory and has been 'baptised' into a new chapter of his life.      Well done!     And think it is one of the great things of parenthood - relative to both parents - to see your children grow up into men and women, and to see them realise their talent and to be serious enough to make the most of them.   It really is not a matter of your child getting A's or not - it is just seeing them mature into men and women, able to look the world in the face without fear or prejudice.     Thank you LORD for all OUR children, both those born to us and those brought to us to love and care for.     Thank you for the fact that they all eventually will come to the day when they unfurl their wings and fly, and in learning to fly they hopefully will soar to unexpected heights and realisation of the Goodness of God.

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THIS WEEK the 15th East African Secondary Schools Games began (today in fact).  The Opening Ceremony was yesterday, and above you can see a view of some of the students from more than SIX East African Countries inclusive of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, and South Sudan. In the photo they are parading in one Eldorets main streets led by the Police Chief (in uniform) and the County Governor, Jackson Mandago (in the grey suit).      TESTIMONY SCHOOL is one of the chosen venues for events, and the Badminton/Table Tennis, and Swimming will be here.    Actually the teams were in town as from the 20th and they have been here most days practising.    Actual events will be here as from Monday, 29th.     They will be using our School Hall for Table Tennis, and the School Pool for swimming.

I am closing here, for this week,     We rejoice in you, in Jesus, and we lift up your names often to our Father in Heaven as we pray for you.      Our love always in HIM Who loves us MOST!

John, Esther and Daryl Green

TEARS OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

THIS IS 2016 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST, JEMIMA SUMGONG, quite overwhelmed as she received her Medal.
Born in 1984 Jemima is a now well known Marathon runner.
She began running in overseas events in 2004.   Her first Marathon was in run in Las Vegas in 2006, which she won at her first attempt.
In 2009 Jemima met and married Noah Talam, himself a Marathon runner, and Jemima gave birth to their daughter in 2011.   This barely interrupted her running.
Jemima comes from the Nandi District or County of Kenya, which is just adjacent to our own Country of Uasin Gishu.    She is now 31 years old, and still running, and collecting Medals.    No wonder she was overcome on winning the Rio Olympic Marathon this year.   It must truly have been one of those occasions when ones heart come up into ones mouth.     I specially noted the event as it was run on our Wedding Anniversary!     Bravo Jemima!!   You are a great example to the girls and women of Kenya.    Your Victory in Rio, and in you life, has not come without sacrifice, hard work, and determination.    Thank you for that dedication to your calling.

Would that we all could discover our Calling in Life and be able to give ourselves as devotedly to it as you have.    God Bless you and help you to adventure yourself even further into God's Hands through Jesus Christ.

The BIBLE tells us we are all in a race, and need to consider how we run, and to aim at winning.
1. Corinthians 9v24-27 finds Paul the Apostle pointing out that we should all be aiming at obtaining a Gold Medal from our Creator, and not to fail or stumble on the way.

'Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize?

SO run your race that you may lay hold of the prize and make it yours.

Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts him/herself in all things.

They do it to win a wreath (Medal) but we (the Christian) do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness.

Therefore I do not run uncertainly without definate aim.    I do not box like one beating the air 

and striking without an adversary.    BUT like a boxer I buffet my body - I handle it roughly,

discipline it by hardships, and subdue it  -  for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel

and the things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit, not standing the test.'

AMPLIFIDE BIBLE

LATER Paul would say of his own life, just before he died and in his 2nd Letter to Timothy 4v7

'I have fought the good fight;

I have finished the race;

I have kept and firmly held the faith'.

.....there now remains for me the Victor's Crown of Righteousness!

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THIS LAST WEEK we have been undertaking alterations and improvements to our Nursery School.    This is the oldest part of the School, commencing in 1981.    In the beginning we had few students in this section, but today we are well over 120. and especially the Toilets have become in need of expansion.

To the left shows the area under alteration.  Previously the far left window was the Head's Office. This remains unchanged except we have put a new door of entry.
Then the walled up window used to be the Staff room which has now been moved the first room (left) in the photo top right.   The old Staff room will now be joined to the original boys and Girls Toilet space to make one facility divided between boys and girls.   The other photos give an idea of the interior works going on.   Everything has to be finished, and working by the end of next week!!     But the Contractor is quick, clean and competent.  The cost is expected to be around three thousand pounds, but the Parents of external students will carry all the cost.

The WEATHER is still cold and WET, but this week has been just a little warmer than previously, and we have seen some blue sky most days - BUT the Met Office says there will be more rain next week and another drop in temperature.     Everyone is well and we Thank God for His Care of us all.
One exception to good health is Edward Green, Daryl''s brother who is manager of our Bakery.    He has been suffering for a year with what was thought to be a tropical ulcer, but which has now been diagnosed as a Vericose Vein with complications.     He is scheduled to undergo surgery next week. He is 46 this year, married with three young sons.    We would be glad of your prayers for the success of the surgery, and for the prevention of a blood clot forming as seems another expected complication.  As he goes on Sick Leave, another of the Bakery Staff, David Ndgewa has suddenly ceased coming to work, and so we are down to one man - Stanley- to carry on alone.    We will have to get him some temporary help on Monday at the latest.
Our Pastor's wife, and headmistress of Nursery, is now back on her feet, and well enough to resume her duties.    The Lord has raised her up, and most of the financial burden that was upon them has been removed by local friends - the Homes finally contributing more than 60,000 Kenya Shillings towards their medical bills.    We are VERY glad to see her restored to home and family as well as to her duties in the School.    God is Good.

I will leave it there for this week,     We have just just received news this morning of funds sent by ANEON Trust - just in time to US to pay our way for this month.    We thank you all who may have contributed to this Gift through the Trust.     God Bless you every one.

Lovingly in our Lord and Saviour

John, Esther, and Daryl Green

WITH A SONG IN HIS HEART

HERE IS A TYPICAL photo of Pastor Sammy Kirui.     He currently resides in the United States where he is pursuing his Phd in University there.
He previously passed through Kenya Highlands Bible College for his first degree, prior to taking up a pastorate in Naivasha.    The Lord brought us into each others lives when he was halfway through his Secondary education in Eldoret in the mid 70's.    His family fell into difficulty and there was suddenly no further support for him to go on. He came to stay in Testimony House and he has been as a son to us ever since.   We have been able to rejoice in him ever since, as well, and are very proud of him, and his deep commitment to his Faith and Christian Life.
It was three years ago we last saw him, and this time he has been busy in Eldoret
arranging for a small Christian Conference in the Town.   It went very well indeed, and the Lord also sent, almost at the last moment, Rev. Ron and Mrs. Char Meyers from Israel to be teachers.      Sammy has been able to stay with us as usual, and so we were also able to host the Meyers one evening.
Sammy also hosted a Luncheon for our Houseparents, plus ourselves and Daryl.   It took place in a local Restaurant surrounded by tropical vegetation.     He had taken us on a similar event, the last time he was with us, and once again we had a very enjoyable and special time together. Sam will be with us for about another week or so.   He has many friends AND family to visit whilst in Kenya.     It has been a special happiness to have him 'home' with us, and he has as always blessed us.

LAST SATURDAY MORNING we had our quarterly Spiritual Emphasis Day in the Homes and School.     ALL the staff come together to Praise, pray, and share His Goodness.   WE also have a visiting Speaker to encourage us with the Word of God.    I was not feeling so well on this occasion and did not attend, but Daryl was there, and brought his own word of special encouragement in the course of the morning.    It was a very good day, and we Thank God for providing good weather.

THEN, on Sunday afternoon Esther, Daryl and I plus Sammy Kirui all went to the home of Nicholas Mwangi, who many years ago, in 1983, was our Deputy Director.     He is now a business man in town, married with a family.     His wife is a well known nurse in the Government Hospital, and on Sunday they were celebrating a brave attainment by her of a University Degree.    It was a lovely time, and so many of our friends and old boys and girls also present......Nicholas with his family, have remained close to me and Esther through all the years, and it was so good to share this happiness with them.
The have also continued to be close to the Homes, and indeed are part of the "Family'.

SCHOOL HAS CLOSED for a short two week holiday, and everyone is at home all day.  The Weather has been wet and cold a good part of every day, but the mornings at least have been sunny and warm - very variable.     Plenty to do even so, and the children are well occupied.   A few incidents - like the Water Storage Tank in the new Jacaranda Cottage  sprung a leak in the night and flooded the roof ceiling spoiling a good number if ceiling boards, and dripping down into the living space.      It appears that from the time the Tank was installed the water pressure to the house was regularly too low so that the Tank never filled up.    But yesterday the Pressure was up ALL day and night so that the Tank, for the first time filled up - and found a small hole near the top, and so of course the water began to pour out - in the night.    A BIG mess, but we cleared it and plugged the hole with fibre-glass.     Just 'one of those things'.     And Daryl is away for a few days on business in Mombasa!    He should be back by Tuesday.    Guess I'm, sort of  'in charge' till then..

AND TOMORROW, Esther and I celebrate forty five years of Marriage together.     Nothing especially planned however.       Esther will also be 72 on the 17th of the month as well.   God has been so Good to us both, and our hearts are full of Thanksgiving to Him, and to each other for the years we have been together, and for the family He has given us both near and far.

So the week is almost at an end and yet another on the brink of beginning.     Life unending.
Bless you all for being together with us, and may you all experience even more abundantly His Blessing and constantly abiding Presence in your own lives and situations.

Loving from us all
John, Esther and Daryl Green

LET US ALL SHINE FOR GOD

ABOVE ARE FOURTEEN OF OUR 18 AND OVER GIRLS.    All now happily ensconced in the Jean Potts Hostel under the care of Rosemary, their House Mum, ( pictured almost centre in white and blue print dress).      Some of these girls are in College, but a number have now finished their Course, and are job seeking!    SO, finally, Testimony Faith Homes seems to have reached its full potential with THREE Children's Homes and TWO Senior Hotels, able to residentialy care for up to 150 children and young people;  360 having already come and gone.     PLUS Testimony School catering for a further 700 kids from around (additional to our own in the Homes) from Nursery to Form 1V.

Left and right are views of the now completed sitting and dining facility in the Hostel which the Girls will be sharing.   It is small but not cramped, and seems just right for a small group,  Tailor made in fact.

BEWARE THE PRAISE OF MEN AND WOMEN.    It can be SO EASY to accept it, AND to believe in it, if not to just get used to it.   This week I had a visit from some brothers in the Lord who were visiting the area.    They were brought to see me in fact by someone who lives in the area.   They were SO delighted to meet me, and I them.   We got on really well, but then as we talked they began to comment on the way we have lived here, and how the work has grown over the years.  Óh,brother Green, it is so wonderful to meet a man of faith; another George Muller...........'  and suddenly I felt in danger of somehow letting another person's view of me, obscure the focus on the one and only Person needing - yea even demanding - Praise.  
How did a very ordinary, and rather dull person, get to get on a plane, leave his Land, and travel to a strange country?    How did this guy find himself entangled in the lives of unwanted kids, and given vision and ideas to lift them up and out of their misery?   How is that today I can walk around and touch the buildings that have arisen from empty fields, without personally financing any of what I see and feel?    Well I, myself, know very well that I had nothing to do with it, and that without the living fact that GOD is alive and well, and has been able to be the DOER of all I ever dreamed, NOTHING would have happened in my life, and nothing would be here to see or touch.
THIS MAN came out of nowhere with nothing in his hand but a sixpenny piece, and 48 years later he can still afford to say unequivocally that he himself has no more than he came with materially.   I came with 'nothing'   and will certainly leave with nothing - and if I can leave anything BEHIND to prove the providence and faithfulness of GOD, then the Thanks and the Praise must always revert to the God I have trusted and imperfectly served.      I do not seek to rebuke my guests, or in any way to blot out their appreciation for what they felt they saw here this week, any more than I would want to resist glorifying in what happens here every day.     But it is not MY miracle, it is God's,     He is the Source, from which all has come.    It is to HIM, and Him alone that ALL Praise, Honour, and GLORY. must go.     It has been my privilege to be permitted to labour here, as a duty and service to Him who created me - and often also imperfectly.  He made us with a purpose in view - ours is to DO.   I reckon that whatever I do for God as a Man, it is my reasonable service.    It is expected of me.  It is what I am here for.   If I am honest I deserve no thanks for doing it by anyone except GOD my Master and Lord. Praise, perhaps, for a job well done.    Oh my!   How I yearn to hear that!  But do I deserve it....?       But Men and Women all like to be noticed and appreciated.    WE all want to be told 'Well done' - children especially.   And at heart we are ALL just children even when 70+.   Look at what I have done, and TELL me you like it, applaud it........It is surely not a sin to do well.
BUT God says, in His Word I am not to forget where the POWER and INSPIRATION comes from!
I am not to keep quiet about it, but to draw attention to it.  
As Moses writes in Deuteronomy 8v11 'Beware that you forget not the Lord you God' - when you are full, and have received good houses, herds and flocks, and you have multiplied and grown. Beware 'that you heart is not lifted up and you forget the Lord your God'  who has done all this FOR you. 'and that you say in your heart 'My power and the might of my hand has brought me this wealth (prosperity, success,good achievement.

This young lady, 21,  is giving ALL the Glory to God for who and what she is.     She says that in doing this she brings down Blessing upon herself.  Wonderful!    She accepts the applause and the Praise for her achievements in life; for being a progressive Olympic Gold Medallist in Artistic Gymnastics, but at the same time she reflects it back again to GOD from whom the power and inspiration for it has come.    She owns God as her Saviour through Jesus Christ, and says -

'I love sharing about my Faith.

God has given me this amazing talent -

so I am going to go out and Glorify 

His Name'

She just loves to point herself, her life, her talent and ability ALL back to God who made and makes her.   Isn't that just beautiful?

Yes I believe it IS, because it IS the Truth; the truth about every apparent advance in her life.   About every eventual victory over failure, and every honour given to her.

It is to be humbly remembered that on one occasion when Jesus was addressed by another as 'Good Master'  (Matthew 19v1617) and He immediately repudiated the honourable salutation by pointing out that no man has natural goodness in him - that what ever good may be seen, conveyed, in him is and must be only from GOD ALMIGHTY.      Am I, or you, good, to be worshipped, praised or glorified ?  NO!   There is no good in any of us, that has not been planted by God.    To HIM be the GLORY, as the hymn writer rightly points our in his hymn

THINE be the Glory, risen, conquering Son.
1923

This is all for this week.     God Bless you all, and keep you humble in His Hand, giving Thanks to God for all things in Jesus Name.

Lovingly to you all

John, Esther and Daryl Green

ONE LAST GLIMPSE of the 2016 Team from Tyndale School, Adelaide.     A great bunch who can all (including staff and parents with them)  be justly proud of all they accomplished for us.   They all left on Friday the 22nd July, and are already safely back in OZ.     Thank you ALL, with all of our hearts.

Just as they were leaving, the Gift of a huge Greenhouse had just begun to go up, and is now completed.   This will, we hope, assist us to grow Tomatoes for us all, and hopefully also some for sale, as part of our Market Garden Project started in 2011 by Daryl.     We have not built the greenhouse ourselves, but have had it professionally erected.  The deal also includes TWO water tanks.
God is SO good.  Tyndale paid for it.

MONDAY OUR OVER 18 YEAR OLD GIRLS will be moving into Jean Pott's Hostel.    Everything is ready, and all have an excited expectation.     However, life will be different in the Hostel to what it was in the Family Homes they have grown up in.  The beginning of being an adult, with all the frustrations and problems that will soon face them as they seek to find a way forward into the wide world without our immediate help.

TODAY has been the THIRTY FIFTH Parents & Prize Giving Day of Testimony School - OUR School.      We started Nursery School in 1981, twelve years after beginning the first Home.   It has been a very busy day starting with me and the Principle, Anthony Ndungu, inspecting the entire School to make sure it was ready to receive visitors.     We began at 9a,m. and then at 10,30a.m. the Guest of Honour arrived and we then began the Official Tour to see all the exhibitions of Classroom work, and also the more substantial exhibits mounted in the various Science labs, including home science of course.    Finally we arrived at the Director's Office at 12.30p.m. to tuck into the traditional Director's Luncheon.     Daryl was of course host, as Director now, and some other 20 or so invited guests sat down with him to partake of the meal together.   Esther and I were there, plus Joshua and Miriam Mbithi from Neema, the Guest of Honour,  Board Members, Officers from the Children's Department,  the School Principal, the newly appointed Primary Headmaster,  the Head of Secondary School, our School Chaplain, and Pastor of our Fellowship, plus plus!!
THEN at 2p.m. we repaired to the School Hall for the Concert, speeches and Prize Giving.   The day ended at 5p,m, and the RAIN held off except for one short shower.      It was a very successful and enjoyable time.
Our Guest of Honour this year was Mrs. Helen Cherambos, Headmistress of Eldoret Moi Girls High School for many many years.    She is retired now, but all her children spent time in our Primary School.     As Headmistress of Moi Girls she was able to take in many of our Girls into her High School before we had one of our own.     The friendship and good rapore between us stretches back to the mid nineteen eighties.    A real delight to have her with us.     Welcoming her to the podium was one of our long time Board Members and a Trustee, Mr. M. Ali.    We have known him since 1993 when we first moved to Eldoret.    He was the Municipal Health Officer at the time and he helped us to get approval and registration with the authorities on our arrival in Eldoret.     It was a blessing to have him with us representing our Board, and as a long time friend who has walked with us in faith that God provides for us.

Just a few random views from the Concert.
TOP the School Choir - Primary kids
MIDDLE - Nursery kids age 4-5
BOTTOM - Primary kids doing a traditional tribal dance.   It was full of action, but for me the icing on the cake was the guy on stilts.
The Concert was put on by the students and consisted of items from Nursery, Primary and Secondary sections of the School including choral, dance and speech its.    Usually a brief address from the Guest of Honour, and then the distribution of Academic Awards to those  who may have earned by the various dignitaries present.     Usually nearly ALL parents attend, and it is a highly popular annual event that is looked forward to and enjoyed by all.  No Business - just pleasure.




AND ALL OF THIS under a cloud of some apprehension.       In Kenya for the last ten days or so, one Boarding School after another has had one or more of its dormitories burned down by persons unknown.     Students have been involved, but it is also felt that there are other forces involved.  More than a hundred schools across the Country have been torched.     Fifteen years ago,  in the early morning 58 (FIFTY EIGHT) CHILDREN lost their lives when their dormitory was torched whilst they slept!!   Can such a thing happen again?   THEN it was unbelievably tragic;  What would it be to day -  does anyone really CARE?
There seems total confusion as to what is going on or why!      Students, teachers, Unions and the Government itself all being at odds whilst so far no light is being shed on the situation.    Again, this evening the Government has told all Headmasters of Boarding School to remain on campus and NOT to live at home.      WE, as a well known school with more than two hundred boarders living on our premises have to accept that we also can find ourselves targeted.   None of four boarders sleep alone - we have boarding adult teaching staff with them.    We had uniformed Police patrolling our complex during today's Celebrations.         Some of these fires have occurred during daylight hours as well as at night.      The Country we feel is under attack.    Keep us in your prayers.  

THE LATEST photo of the Jean Potts Hostel - complete now but still with unpainted iron sheets waiting for the rains to cease.   Under the iron sheet roof has all been cleaned out and painted.    It is now a permanent place of storage and other use put aside for the Tyndale Teams.
The Hostel takes up all of the ground floor space; 2 dorms, one sitting/dining.   1 Kitchen, and Toilets and showers for use of up to 20 girls.   So far we have 12.   Additionally the Lady Warden has space for herself.    In all we have spent our of the Legacy left to us by Miss Potts, some six thousand pounds sterling.
We are VERY pleased with it.

There has been a ferocious and thunderous storm of rain going on whilst I have tried to put this together before going to bed.   I feel very tired, and have to wake up early to get ready for the morning Fellowship at which I shall be the speaker.       We wish you all a safe and blessed week ahead.     With all our love

John, Esther and Daryl.

SOME TRUST IN CHARIOTS

THIS PAINTING IS 'ALIVE' with the heady thrust of mighty power and determined purpose.    Set, as it is, against a sky of ragetty, wind-swept clouds, the chariot and its horses seem an irristible force.
It was the most fearful combination weapon of the day, (chariot and horse), and the king who had many of them in his military arsenal felt himself secure, and a force to be reckoned with!   And the world today is little different when it comes to ensuring security; each nation seeking power and influence enough to protect itself from its enemies by making a stockpile of the most feared and devastating weaponry.    This idea spills over into the world at large as we all seek the most reliable pain-killer, insurance or investment policy, seeking all the time to make sure our life is SAFE in an unsafe world.    Where, and in what, is YOUR real trust today?
The Bible says in Psalm 20, found in the Old Testement verses 7-8

SOME trust in and boast of chariots and horses,

but WE will trust in and boast of the Name of the Lord our God.... 

They (the chariots & horses) are bowed down and fallen;

but WE are risen and stasnd upright!

=====

'Turn your eyes upon JESUS; look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of the earth will grow strangely dim,
 in the LIGHT of His Glory and Grace'

The chariots and horses the Bible uses as imagery for worldly protection and security are rarely, if ever, seen to be used in today's world. but nothing has changed.    We all still look for protection and for security in the world and in own lives.     Something harder and harder to be sure of.    WAR and the threat and visible hurt of it are still with us,    And now we have 'Terrorism' and ISIS with all its terrifying nightmare stalking the towns and streets we live.     Disease is still with us, and indeed multiplies.    Economic collapse and and unreliability is making the future dark.     We try to ward of the effects of all these things, and where we can't find a way to do so we live, cowaring within our imaginations, fair game for stress, depression, and often ready to take a trip away from it all with drugs, sex and crime.      YES, and so we DO look to put our trust in something.    Something at the very least to blot out our fears.       It confronts us all at some time, in some way ........Why not put your trust in GOD?

For almost FIFTY years Esther and I have been here in Kenya, and we have been encouraged by the Word of God to Trust in God, and in Him alone.     It has not always been smooth going, but, on the whole, we have not been found ashamed to have done so.      BUT Kenya has changed, and the challenges of living here are more and more challenging for us.     The pressure, at times, to look for more visible and tangible assistance to overcome our needs and to fortify our point of view, has been great.      That great enemy of our soul sees to that.     BUT He who is our Saviour has always assured us to 'FEAR NOT', and to just press on - and He HAS kept us and brought us through.

LAST THURSDAY evening the Tyndale School Team from Australia, hosted a Farewell dinner for our staff.      Each time they have come they have done this and it is now a kind of tradition.   Two full weeks of quite hard and concentrated labours to assist, improve, and strengthen us;   and this year with the challenge of illness, excessive cold, and rain to cool their ardour.  THEN dit is time to go.  As the dinner was being eaten one and another was called upon to speak.     This year our son Daryl Green, the now confirmed CEO of Testimony Faith Homes, was asked to share.        Right at the end I was also asked to say a few words,      And I shared this Verse from the 20th Psalm.    It was very impromptu.     But I felt very strongly that as with the passing of most things, changes can also come in.     Now that WE are elderly and, apart from council and advice, ( we both remain on the Board and Management Committees), have less involvement in practical matters, changes will no doubt slowly come.   How will things be in another fifty years?
I felt it was therefore a choice moment to REMIND all of us where Testimony has stood and indeed STILL stands at this moment in its history.      WE trust in God still, and not the World, for all that we need, especially our Daily Bread, every day.    Yes AND everything else.     It was in many a ways a poigniant evening.

LAST Sunday was, as I mentioned on Saturday, our Baptismal Sunday and 28 went through the waters with Mike Potter, Head of the Tyndale Team and School, and Wykliff Ondanga, our Pastor and School Chaplain officiating    It was VERY, VERY cold! all 300 of US in the Homes attended, and also another 200 boarders from the School.      Daryl and Carol's adopted son Jeremy was one of those Baptised, and you will see him here standing with his mother.
Jeremy will be 13 later this year, and has truly longed to be Baptised.     Something very special and meaningful to him.     TWO were also Baptised from among the Tyndale Team visiting us,    This is not the only time we Baptise, but it has become the most popular occasion, and it is especially looked forward to.

Life here, behind all the events has continued on.     Our Nursery School Headmistress, the wife of our Pastor, is still laid aside with illness.   This will be the 3rd month.     Helen, our adopted daughter, is still busily teaching in Nairobi, baby Abigail with her.   Last week she had one of her wisdom teeth extracted.   It was very painful at the time, and has continued be so until yesterday - today she is feeling better.     Our adopted son James  'Manu' who has been staying with us, also has a wisdom tooth extracted a couple of weeks back, and again it gave him a hard time, and still not quite right.  He is hoping to move into his own accommodation in the near future,
During the week we were visited very pleasantly by Wilson Sway, our very FIRST boy who came in August 1969.     He is now in his 60s and working full time for the Lord in Nairobi.   He spent the night with us, and it was really good to have time to talk and reminisce.    God is Good.

Our Love in Jesus to you all as always,

John, Esther and Daryl Green