UPDATE

LAST WEEK I wrote at length of how the Lord had provided for us up to date.
I thought you might like to know that He also uses those that hear His Voice in Kenya as well, as this photo portrays! On this particular occassion we had woken up to a 'cent less day' and had as usual come together to pray for our daily bread.
We had just about enough food on hand to provide against lunch for everyone, but no more. Lunch came and went - then a little later two mini buses drove up to the Testimony House front door. Out of them spilled a whole crowd of young adults from Nakuru, two driving hours distance. Leading them was one of our Old Boys, Anthony Kiprotich - then Assistant pastor at Lake View Africa Gospel Church in Nakuru. He was also leader of this group of Christian Young Adults from various churches in the same town. He had shared his testimony with them, and they had been anxious to visit us and actually SEE for themselves where he had grown up AND to bring gifts of food to us!! They brought enough for a WEEK's housekeeping - some of it you can see in the photo. Yet again we were delivered! We still had no cash, but we didn't need it for a week!

TO THE RIGHT is a photo of the very FIRST Testimony House.This was taken in August 1969. It was a fairly small mud and wattle cottage some 20x40 ft with an outside kitchen and bathroom. Three very small bedrooms and a sitting/dining room. No ceiling - just open rafters to the iron sheeting, no internal doors, no glass windows. It had been home to goats before I gook it over; then we cleaned it out, repainted it, put in a rush mat ceiling, and hung curtains in the inside doorways. No electricity! Oil lamps. The Toilet was a 'long drop' a small hut built over a twenty foot hole in the ground covered with a box with a hole in it. The roof of that toilet was grass, and the first time I used it a snake felt from it onto my head. I ran yelling SNAKE!, SNAKE! - to the great amusement of passers by!! The first boy that I helped WILSON, then about 14 (now married with two children and 53 years old!) brought me a photo he had taken of it last week - still being used as a dwelling, but totally run down and ruinous. The roof broken and rusted, and the walls crumbling and unpainted. Worse than when the goats lived in it!! I was sad to see it so - many happy memories crowd upon me of my time there whenever I see this black and white photo. From such a very small beginning has come so much - much more than I then would have imagined.

TODAY is Daryl's 36th Birthday! In the photo he is only 9; just a year after he first came to stay with us, together with his brother Edward. It is a working day for him as well, and he is busy supervising some maintenance work with the School Bus and other matters relating to the School boarding section. He has a busy life these days, but revels in activity and keeping things in good repair and order. Much happier doing this than sitting at a desk. Now I have just received a message from his son JESSE who is now 10 and just joined FACE BOOK! How time passes, and the Grace of God continues to walk alongside of each one of us in patience, mercy and love. We do not deserve such deep consideration. But how wonderful that it is there for us in any case, and that He never tires of looking for our acceptance of it, or for our rejection of all that which at one time or another sought to exclude Him from our life! A loving God? Yes, Patient and Kind also! But His NAME is JEALOUS! He yearns and seeks for our undivided affection and service..........jealously!
Have a wonderful week!

John and Esther


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UPDATE

SATURDAY 20th SEPTEMBER 2008

NO PICTURES this week -  just some remembrances and Thanksgiving.     For some weeks now we have been studying together in our Fellowship Bible Study the Book of Malachi and had reached, this Friday, to Chapter 3v7-18 which talked mainly of tithing.     It was not a particularly encouraging chapter to consider as we had all together been in a financially deteriorating situation, day by day; seeing things get worse and worse.     As we talked and shared some raised the question of WHY God at times seemes to ignore our prayers and even His promises, letting the need or trial continue without relief.       Most of those in the Study were from the Homes, and all knew of the need, and the majority had been bringing the needs to the Lord daily.      It had started (as a test of faith) some months back, but by the commencement of September we found ourselves  falling behind in what daily expenditure needed to be found.     Bills began to go unpaid, and by Friday (yesterday) we had come to rock bottom.    No cash in hand, nothing in the Bank, and a stack of bills waiting to be paid.    What to do?    Go on praying and Waiting on God.

As we shared many brought up all kinds of situations where it seemed that God had left us to perish - like His friends on the lake in the storm, battling against the wind and waves in their frail fishing boat.....'LORD!   Don't you CARE that we perish?'    He seems to WANT us to come to the end of all our own resources.....again and again.

 

NOW PEOPLE I hope you won't get nervous and feel I am trying to encourage finance from you.   The last time I shared a little of how we were feeling here in Kenya relative to the work of Testimony Faith Homes, I had quite a few brethren writing back suggesting we needed more faith.      Well I don't deny that this is true.     I have never said any of us have the Gift of Faith, only that we BELIEVE God wants US to trust Him for our needs.      We have endeavoured to live in such a way that He CAN do this for us - we are not saying we are perfect and that we are always found to be at ease with this commitment.     But we have Agreed with God to live pinning our confidence on Him and Him alone.     Well now, I feel that we need to SHARE honestly how it is sometimes.       NOT because we are trying in a sly or deceitful way to increase your own material interest in us, but so that you know we are human like you, and often needy EVEN THOUGH God is our Provider - and to know this without in any way taking away from God our trust and confidence, or imputing any disquiet about Him.      I find it often frustrating NOT to be able to tell you when things are difficult, and when our own small faith is being attacked and challenged.   And this partly because I am sure that YOUR OWN faith is challenged often, and you might also need the encouragement of knowing that WE go through it with you, AND still LIVE!       At least AFTER a trial we feel freer to share, since it is too late fr our sharing to contribute to our deliverance!

We are challenged often, and since we began this work in 1969 the Lord has continually let us go through often overwhelming experiences.

Deuteronomy 8 tells us that God let the Children of Israel wander 40 years in the desert in order to find out what was in their mind - about Him.     How did their respect and trust stand up under pressure - not too well.      It was something God did again and again - kind of taking a 'Rain-check' on spiritual temperature.

 

In June 1995 I wrote ' We seem to be close to ROCK BOTTOM!  No Cash to hand, day after day......'      So even thirteen years back this was happening to us.      I can bring excerpts from my diaries that go right back to 1970....     AND, in 1995 I had quoted an extract from a Daily Reading I was using at that very time, right in the midst of the trial.    It read -

 

"He delivers magnificently, and showeth lovingkindness."

Psalm 18v50 (French Translation)

SOME one who knew what it was to trust God, once said;

"During the last two years, though I have said little about them,

I have had many a crevasse open up before me.

The ice has seemed to split asunder,

and I have looked down into the blue depths

IT IS A GLORIOUS THING

to have a big trouble, a great Atlantic wave,

 that takes you off your feet and sweeps you right out to sea,

and lets you sink down into the depths, into the ocean's lowest caverns,

till you get to the foundations of the mountains, and there see God,

and then come up again to tell what a Great God He is,

and how graciously He delivers His people.

 

AT THAT TIME WE HAD BEEN ENDURING debt for some weeks.   At the time it did not FEEL quite so romantically 'wonderful' to us to be 'swept off our feet'!    Can you be in DEBT and still say God Provides?      Could we even afford to suggest we had unpaid bills?   Some would then say God had departed from us.     If God was really providing then we should not have debts.     Well WE have, from time to time, HAD to go into DEBT whilst we were WAITING on God to provide - and He always HAS provided.     But in June that year we were once more ROCK BOTTOM, and it was not easy to WAIT.       After TEN days of being there - waiting - we received a phone call to say that £16,oooo had been sent direct to our account.     BEFORE we had shared our situation with anyone outside of our own small community of workers, God spoke to a few brethren thousands of miles removed from us and burdened them to pray for us,    When they got off their knees they had decided we needed immediate help - they were sure.      They went to their church, took up and offering and send it by telex.

Our DEBT was taken care of and the ministry secured for a month ahead.     SURELY God provided - even against the debt.

 

But that is living a little dangerously.     Living on a knife edge?   Perhaps, like the widow and her 'mite'- Jesus said it represented ALL that she had.  COULD she really afford to do that?    Was she being responsible, and sensible   She let go of it and walked away - with her LIFE.     Did she die?  Did she fall into penury?    NO, I feel SURE she didn't - she walked away with her LIFE.       She needed nothing but GOD with her.    Neither do we, but we are not always prepared to see it that way.      We let the material, physical reality limit our LIFE and LIVING, and affect our peace and security.      

In 1969 the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said

"Expose yourself to the storms of life - and I will sustain you"

 

I willingly grasped the challenge but I can assure you that there have been many times when a cry of Apprehension - sometimes of despair -  escaped from me as I was confronted with overwhelming odds, and suddenly wondered where God was...........and sometimes not just for a moment either!

 

Please do not hang all that I am saying on financial wellbeing.     What I am saying has to do with our individual expectations at all levels, finance, health, comfort, happiness, material well-being.       It has to do with losing our life in order to find REAL LIFE, the kind that never ends, and never wears out.        I believe it is written into Isaiah 58v7 onwards where the Prophets says -

THIS IS THE FAST, the going without, THAT I WANT

    It is for YOU to divide YOUR bread with the hungry,

and to bring the homeless poor into YOUR house -

when you seek the naked that YOU cover him,

and that you hide not yourself from the needs of your own flesh and blood.

 

THEN (8)

shall your light break forth like the morning,

and your healing (your restoration and the power of a new life) shall spring forth speedily;

your righteousness (your rightness, justice, and your right relationship with God

shall go before you (conducting you to peace and prosperity,

and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

 

THEN (v9)

you shall call, and the Lord will answer;

you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.

IF YOU TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR MIDST

yokes of oppression (wherever you find them),

the finger pointed in scorn (toward the oppressed or the godly),

and every form of false harsh, unjust, and wicked speaking.

 

AND (10)

IF YOU POUR OUT THAT WITH WHICH YOU SUSTAIN YOUR OWN LIFE

for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted

THEN

shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity and gloom be come

like the noonday

The Lord shall guide you.

He will satisfy your soul in drought and  in dry places.

He will make your bones strong.

you shall be like a watered garden and a spring of water that never fails.

 

IMMEDIATELY after our Bible study the Bank rang to say that they had received a substantial gift of money for the Homes on the 8th September.    They apologised for not letting us know earlier.      ALL the time we had thought there was nothing FUNDS were already lying quietly in the bank.     Whilst we prepared to go under if necessary, The LORD OUR GOD, our Provider had already secured us, and made sure we would not go under.       The donor that had been so used to rescue us and whose gift was so quietly given is now in his forties and a family man..       More than 30+ years ago when he was a very young child, and I was the guest of his parents, I had cause to beat him - just a little!      Hope I won't be arrested for such an admission.    He was not encouraged to love me very much for it.       NOW suddenly here he is rescuing me and all those with me from sudden death - at least it seemed like it!

Are not the ways of the Lord VERY mysterious.

 

AND SO we are Praising HIM, for His never failing FAITHFULNESS.     WE can entrust ourselves to HIM;  we who are here, otherwise alone and vulnerable, and each and every one of YOU too.       We may be tested at times.    The comfortableness of life might suddenly be interrupted and fall apart - security, peace and well being may be taken away.    The sun ceases to shine, the day is grey and gloomy - hope dwindles..........yet all the time His Everlasting Arms are underneath us.     He will hang on to us, and bring us through.    We need not to fear or be anxious.        No matter what is happening around me, no matter how BAD the scene becomes HE IS WITH ME.      Stripped of everything that I might count necessary to life and wellbeing, I will not DIE if HE is with me.     No I shall live.    LIFE is not in material things only.     REAL LIFE is what IS left, after everything else that we have made humanly synonimlous with lit has been done away with.

140 Children,  44 staff, and all that it takes to support, provide, and sustain them is continually being provided moment by moment on an unguaranteed promise of 12% of the total cost.        NOT a very secure situation from a purely normal point of view.   NO, but it is a WONDERFUL and GLORIOUS proof of the FACT of GOD.

 

WELL now perhaps I have laboured too long on this.      I have really been stirred up.

We are not too heavenly minded in reality.      We have no haloes, no wings sprouting at our shoulders.    Just very ordinary folk needing more and more Grace, and Faith.    Pray for us.

On Thursday the School Office was broken into and £250 stolen from the safe.    Looks like an inside job, and may need two of our staff to leave us.    Not a happy occurrence, but yet once more we seek His Guidance in it all, and must not lean only to our own inclination in judgment.     Pray for us as a new week dawns.       We have visitors next week, and we hope to enjoy their fellowship for some weeks to come - in-between the daily chores and duties both of us are still very much embroiled with.

 

Much love to you all in Jesus

 

John and Esther

 

PS  -   If anyone might be interested, or knows of someone who could be interested, to come out to us for three to months or so to re-organise and take in hand our Accounts it might be of great assistance to us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE

THIS IS A PHOTO of Christopher Kosgei, his wife Jaqueline, and their 2 year old baby girl Abigail. Christopher is the senior member of our Christian Fellowship Team that is responsible for overseeing the ministry of Testimony Fellowship Church. Christopher is 33 years now and the Lord really uses him to bring relevant and good teaching to the Fellowship, both on many Sundays as well as during Bible Studies. The Fellowship consists mainly of the children and staff of the Children's Homes plus other members of the workforce and some friends and associates from outside of the workplace. A community of about 250 altogether of all ages.
Assisting Christopher we have an oversight of some 6 others of the Fellowship who variously assist according to their Gift. One takes care of matters pertaining to the youth, another music, another Sunday school , and so on. Sunday Meetings are usually from 10 to about 12.30p.m and ministry is brought from quite a varied group of speakers. some from within and some from outside of Testimony Faith Homes. The venue for these Sunday Fellowships is the School Hall, which has road frontage and easy access for anyone wanting to drop in. The Men and the Ladies also have their own sub fellowship meetings on Sunday afternoons, and mid week - on Tuesdays and Wednesdays there are Fellowship prayer meetings, and on Fridays a Bible Study. ADDITIONALLY Christopher assists as Chaplain to the School, running two weekly School Christian Unions, and also ministers amongst the auxillary staff both in the Homes and School with counselling, and fellowship. He has a busy time. Christopher, as I have shared before, is an Old Boy of Testimony Faith Homes, his twin brother also pastoring in Eldoret. It is a great joy to
have him back with us in Service to the Lord.

THE RAINS continue on, even more heavily! And the temperatures also remain cold - in fact very definitely CHILLY at 19c. If that sounds reasonably warm to you, I can only say that for us it is like Siberia at times - I have to wear a jacket and sometimes a windcheater which is VERY unusual for me as I rarely ever feel the cold. We might think we are especially blessed in Eldoret to have so much rain at least; it is not raining anywhere else. BUT the rain is here at a wrong time, and the maize and wheat is rotting on the stalk - the harvest will fail and since this is the main area for farming, we have to consider that food shortage must set in for us all later on. This is the second really bad year for rains. The grass is green, but the rest of the gardens are looking a bit sorry for themselves; bedraggled in fact, and some of our trees seem to be actually dying off. A rather sorry and depressing spectacle. In Town the municipal streets are being eroded and washed away as the rain continues, and traffic increasingly pounds the colonial tarmac laid down in the 50s. Even the Town looks bedraggled and uncared for.
But this is not entirely the fault of the rain - but rather more the fault of an apparently irresponsible Town Council that sees little point in improving its environs. In the last 40 years we have seen little and often NO improvement to roads, sidewalks, or town planning. Refuse is now begrudgingly and only partially collected once a week, with most of it left behind from bins inexpertly tossed and emptied into the Dust Cart. Eldoret is a dirtier Town that it was 30 years ago. Perhaps also a poorer Town.

ANYTHING NEW? Well perhaps not - really!
BUT recently in the DAILY NATION there was an interesting Article on the back page advising us that a NEW GENE had been discovered. One wonders just how many there are still to be found! This one has been designated ' The Polygamy Gene ' - It apparently is responsible for encouraging a polygamous spirit or desire in the majority of MEN - not women. This has - you can be sure of it - been carefully documented and proved by a worthy Medical Research Group, and proves beyond all doubt that MAN was CREATED to BE POLYGAMOUS. He therefore need not fight it - it is just meant to be. And this of course affects almost any and every factor in our fallen nature including bad temper, adultery, theft, and so on. Its all in the genes - we were created this way - no need to fight any of it off or resist its affect - just accept it.
Hope you can see where this is all going. and how totally UNTRUE it has to be in the light of what we KNOW in Christ. It does have just a glimmer of truth behind it though. I mean we have inherited through our Genes ....... but we were not created originally with such genes; they are alien to the Creator's plan and purpose. We may not assume they are in any way reflective of God's Image. STILL a lot of people here are encouraged to know that it is now considered 'unnatural' to want only ONE woman - and completely natural to want and have as many as you like! Pray for us - and for all mankind in a darkening world society.

We love you, and always encouraged to hear from you

John and Esther

UPDATE

SATURDAY, 6th SEPTEMBER 2008

This is the NEW GUEST HOUSE which is situated just behind Testimony House. It looks out across the lawns to the perimeter fence, and has accommodation for forty with TEN rooms providing bed space for TWO, FOUR, or Six to EIGHT in different rooms. It is built as a hollow rectangle around a small courtyard, and has its own bathrooms and toilets. We think it has turned out well, and it is already being used for those of our older boys and girls who are just home for Holiday times from their respective Colleges. It makes a good 'Halfway House' for those nearing the time when they will finally leave home and find employment. They are still in their respective Homes for food and fellowship, but sleeping out in the Guest House. Still space for guests as well. This is a good thing since friends and relatives of the houseparents are now able to also visit whereas before there was little or no space in the actual Homes to accommodate them. Now at least they can have a bed and privacy as well as being able to eat and fellowship with the children in their individual Home. Also useful for giving accommodation to those who may be here for a Seminar or even a Week-end Challenge.

The Term has started. Everyone back to school, and college. It is always a very 'rushed' and almost 'breathless' time. Last minute shopping to find replacements for worn out uniforms, shoes and so on leaves those involved quite weak at the knees! Town is just not a nice place at such a time, swollen with parents and children all hectically squashed into the shops trying to find their needs in competition with each other. I am very glad NOT to be one of them now since I am no longer a houseparent!! But then there is the task of trying to eke out the daily house-keeping that is being seriously competed with by the College and School fees.......... I can be alone in my office sorting out priorities of expenditure and find myself between cold and hot perspiration. What a relief to write the last cheque, hand out the last cash to the last outgoing student..... This year we have spent more on education that any previous year. Since January more than £12,000 has been provided and spent this way. So glad there are not 4 School Terms in a year! We are all left feeling rather like deflated baloons, but glad to be intact, and able to continue . God is good.
Now we look ahead day by day. NEW, every morning, is His Mercy. How very wonderful that is. Great shortage of water in Nairobi, but WE still have gallons of it falling every day! People here are grumbling that it is STILL raining and that this is the DRY season. YET we have not had ENOUGH rain this year, and we NEED more rain. How strange men are that when they should be thankful they moan and groan, and when they have what they really need they cannot see it.

Who is your favourite for the next US President? Its quite a hot topic here in Kenya. It is interesting in many ways. Mr. Obama in his final speech at the Party Convention said
'If you elect me as President, I will CHANGE THE WORLD!' Really made me stop and listen. Not many people would say that. They might say I will change America, but CHANGE THE WORLD - that is quite a boast, quite an aim, quite an Agenda. I can't think of anyone else that might make such a claim about this time - no one, except perhaps just ONE!
Keep praying, and keep watching.

God be with you always

John and Esther