A LIFE GIVEN FOR OTHERS

ISOBEL MUGURE CHEGE - 1924-2010 is the Mother of my dear wife, Esther, and of cause also my mother in law. She is photographed here with one of our grand-daughters, Tonia Green, taken in 2006. She was still living in her own little home at the time, but already beginning to lose her memory. All her life she had worked hard and industriously, mainly as a house servant. But by the time I met her for the first time - in 1971 - she had started her own little business, sitting on a pedestrian walkway in a Nairobi street, making pullovers, cardigans and so on with a hand knitting machine. She also managed to build herself a simple brick house to which she added extra rooms for Rental. In this way she managed to support herself, and help her three children, and other members of her family. Her husband had deserted her, so she could only look to her own effort to provide for those she loved. She had joined a Baptist Church, and was regular in her attendance, and generous in her community support and activities that this involved her with. She was of a quiet and thoughtful nature, always ready to listen to other's problems, and to lend a hand to help those in trouble around her. Very loving and affectionate towards children, and especially her grandchildren, who without exception grew to love her and to value her.
She had three children - one son who sadly died in a motor accident in his teenage, - and two daughters, Esther my wife, and Mary, her sister, married to Joe Kibe. Esther and Mary gave birth to 4 boys and 3 girls between them, and at the time Mother Isobel died, there were 18 grandchildren, and more than 10 great grandchildren. Her Funeral, held last Wednesday, hosted more than 1000 friends and relatives. A beautiful and joyful day, full of good memories of a very memorable lady.

I met her first the day after I had proposed to Esther! Esther arranged for us to meet in the Nairobi Whimpy Bar for a burger lunch together. It was packed with people. I had no Swahili or Kikuyu with which to communicate - my prospective Mother in Law had no English!

Thus it was that in that very busy lunch hour a rather nervous white man called Green, had to explain - in English (with Esther translating word by word to her Mother) that I wanted to marry her daughter! I had to SHOUT because the place was crowded, full of people! Esther's Mother was a well built lady of some 47 years at the time. To me she looked quite fierce and formidable! She decided to find out all she could about me, and asked question after question (also VERY loudly)- to which of course I had to give reply. BUSINESS in that Whimpy Bar virtually stopped as everyone - waitress ad customer alike turned to look and listen, laugh and clap...........I wished the ground could have swallowed me whole - BUT in the end the Formidable Lady smiled, and delightedly accepted my request for her daughter's hand in marriage........ We never did learn to communicate directly, but from that day we were friends, and there was ever a deep and loving bond between us. As Alzheimers took it's toll, she came to not know who I was. But she remained very special and when it became possible for us to take care of her for the last years of her life, and we were able to bring her to Eldoret we took it as a special privilege and Thanksgiving. The Lord helped her not to suffer unduly, and she remained a peaceful and quiet person right to the end.

Comparing notes before the Funeral, my brother in law, Joe, and I realised just how many of the good qualities of their Mother our wives both have within themselves. Indeed we realised just how much we had to also appreciate Isobel Mugure in her daughters and grandchildren

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AS FOR ME ? Well I spent last week-end a little uncomfortably, but little by little things improved. I was far from feeling myself, but the important issues were better. SO I felt I could not let Esther travel up to Ngong for the funeral alone - well, without me. In fact Daryl, Carol and the children drove up with us. Daryl drove of course. But the road was quite rough in places and although perhaps not more than 30 kilometres, it really seemed to affect me. I managed to last out through Wednesday, the day of the funeral, including making a short speech, but then I had to lie down. Just had to rest. My Doctor said I should not have made the journey, but it was worth it, and I am feeling fine now. I am glad to even feel refreshed today. Still grappling with a small cold, as Esther is, but all in all we both feel that things are WELL with us both. Thank you again for all your prayer and concern for us. We HAVE been so comforted and encouraged.

The Week has ended! One more to go before the month ends, and we shall then soon be in MAY! SIX commencing College next week, and of course it will also be time to pay our workers ..... There are always challenges. HE walk with us by our sides. How truly wonderful it is to KNOW this as fact rather than fiction.

Affectionately - John and Esther

BACK TO HOSPITAL !

THIS HAS SOME RESEMBLANCE TO ME, the elderly Brit with the chubby buttocks - once again dressed in one of those wonderful hospital gowns!

Yes I was back in hospital on Friday for a 2nd operation. After almost five weeks from the first it came once more to the place that I could no longer pass water. On going again into the bladder they discovered a further large stone which was wrapped around with an expansive blood clot. No one seems to know how it was missed the first step round. This time the op took only one hour, and I was back home on Saturday lunch time. Things still seem sluggish, but I am told to have patience, drink a lot, and after a few days things should be fine. A bit sore here and here, and my appetite gone from me again. And all this happening the same week Esther's Mum passed away. She died on Monday last week, and we had a Memorial Service for her on Tuesday with Esther's sister and brother in law coming down from Nairobi to collect the coffin. She will be buried next Wednesday in Ngong. She was 86 years old. My poor Esther, now with a head cold, has had to cope with her own loss, plus all the anxiety caused by own condition. She will travel to Nairobi on Tuesday of next week - probably now without me.

I am feeling VERY weary, and will not write more this week - just wanted you to know the latest. God Bless and be with YOU.

John & Esther

LET ME TOUCH HIS FLESH...AND THEN SEE!

SATAN, that Old Enemy of us all, is always on the lookout for a way in, and to WIN, in the lives of the Saints. Esther and I have been saying recently that he seems to be working overtime in these last days to disengage and prevent as many as he can from continuing in the Battle. Well I guess he has ALWAYS done that - but maybe the intensity of his effort has increased in these Last Days! JOB always comes to mind on so many occasions as a revelation of just how Satan likes to act. It might be thought that to lose his home, and family in a thrice would have been enough - but NO! 'Let me just touch his flesh.....' And not just in ONE PLACE or one way, but just let me poke and go on poking! THEN we will see....'

You will remember my small operation? In and out in a week. BUT, since then there has been one thing after another to come and upset my well being, well into a month later. General fatigue set in during the first week at home, accompanied by lack of bladder control. THEN, pain in both kidneys - 'Probably more stones, Mr. Green - just drink a lot and eventually they will be washed out - might hurt a bit!' THEN last week severe pain in the right shoulder down to just below the heart - came on in the middle of the night. What now, a heart problem?

NO - some kind of lung infection......two days later my right leg that gave me such a hard time in 2007 started up again and today blood in the urine. Frantic calls to the Doctor - frantic calls to my General Consultant in Heaven! What IS going on? Do I really have more kidney stones? Am I really WELL, or are all these complications and symptoms a cause for real alarm. PEACE! BE STILL, and KNOW that I AM God!

On the phone this morning to my Doctor, a fine Christian brother, I felt quite rebuked.

'John you are really fine.

Your heart is well and strong, your kidneys are both well and fine,

and your blood pressure and sugar, also well and encouraging.

Yes, healing is still continuing from the Op,

but all is well. God is with you!'

Yes, of course, He IS with me! How is it that this knowledge is so easily pushed aside to be replaced with the lies and false deceptions of the Enemy. Pray on for me dear friends. I truly AM much improved, and doing more each day, but I have found myself weak in faith for myself of late. Ah! I rebuke you Satan! I am healed. The LORD GOD, He is my Health and Salvation.

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DURING EASTER, I received my WORK PERMIT from the Kenya Government to permit me to live and work in Kenya for the next two years, until 5th March 2012 which is also our Election Year here! I started to apply for Renewal of the Permit (it has to be renewed every two years) in December last year, and it has taken much longer than usual to obtain it. Every two years the Kenya Immigration Department demands Ksh. 200,000/- from me as the price of that Permit. Additionally they demand that I deposit a similar amount with the Bank as insurance that they can deport me back to UK without cost to themselves if it should become necessary. This is the equivalent (approximately) of 4 thousand pounds sterling, or 5,700 USDollars. It is AMAZING to me that any Government can practically extort such charges from those who are in fact offering FREE services to them in an area that they themselves are still unable to address by their own sole effort. Terribly disappointing, but in a way in tune with the general discouragement those involved in child care have been feeling. I have had talks with the authorities of course and sought to get them to adjust matters but all to no avail. SO now we are praying that when the proposed NEW Constitution is finally ratified, that we might be able to find a way out of further payments of this nature.

TARAN, who is just 7 swallowed a watch battery the day before yesterday. We have no idea how he discovered it, and of course it got stuck on the way down! Rush to the doctor, but by the time they arrived it had passed on down, and no doubt OUT sooner or later. Taran was born with HIV, but by the time he was two he had become negative, and is a very robust and happy child. One of the 35 now cared by for Micah and Senge in Tyndale Cottage with the other Little group pictured here.

By the way please remember to pray for Catherine Senge YEGO. She has not enjoyed good health since giving birth to baby Steve, and has been suffering with various diseases which the doctors do not seem to have been able to deal with. She has been in a lot of distress and even pain touching on her kidneys, a trapped nerve in her right leg, and general fatigue. She is a very dedicated Mother, and so you can imagine that she does not rest, and insists on being busy for her big family.

NOW I must leave you again till next week. Have to bring the Word of God once more on Sunday, and so many other matters that have still to be brought up to date before the new week begins Every day seems busier and fuller than the one previous, but we thank God for His Enduring Strength and Sustaining Power. Truly we all ARE weak - BUT He is Strong.

God Bless and be with you all so very much

JOHN AND ESTHER

IT IS ALL ABOUT GOD'S LOVE

EASTER IS HERE AGAIN - THE most important time of any year!
HERE, IN TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES, we have sought to truly underscore what is being remembered. Last year we all came together, staff and children, to celebrate the Last Supper. It was a very special time, and we felt to continue on and even improve on this.
THIS year, on Maundy Thursday, we again decided to mark the day. Each of the Four Children's Homes organised their own 'Passover' Meal to take the place of their normal evening meal. Also Esther and I invited Daryl and Carol and their family to join for our own family meal. The meal consisted of Roast Lamb, unleavened bread (chapatis), bitter herbs. Before the meal was served each Houseparent, as I also did, read from Exodus 12 and endeavoured to tie it in to Jesus as OUR Passover Lamb. AFTER the main meal was ended, and the plates cleared away some of the remaining bread and water was handed round just as Jesus had done it, and the meaning and purpose of 'The Lord's Supper' was also explained. Then some hymns were sung and prayer given. In each house it brought forth real blessing and the sense of God's Presence in the Spirit.
GOOD FRIDAY saw us all together for Fellowship at 10am in the morning, and we shared together the happenings of that day, taking EIGHT readings from Matthew's Gospel which were briefly commented on by members of our staff. At the conclusion there was quiet fellowship amongst us all over tea and hot cross buns baked by one of our cooks.
AND TOMORROW, is RESURRECTION DAY. Once again we shall be all together to Celebrate the FACT of Jesus' Triumph over the grave and DEATH. THE DAY when those who had seen Him DIE, laid and SEALED in the tomb, found Him STANDING ALIVE IN THEIR MIDST.
LUKE 24v36 tells us that as the disciples were gathered together that morning 'JESUS HIMSELF' stood there with them and said to them 'Peace to you.'
BUT they were so SURE He was DEAD they thought it was a ghost that confronted them and were terrified.

He said to them ' Why are you so afraid? See, behold my hands and my Feet - it is I Myself. Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bone as you see I have.'
BUT THEY STILL DID NOT BELIEVE!!

The had SEEN Him DIE. Left Him COLD and DEAD on the slab in the tomb....

BUT THE TOMB WAS EMPTY NOW!

'Jesus said again to them ' 'Have you any food here?'. So they brought and gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and some honeycomb. and He took it and ate in their presence.

THEN HE SAID TO THEM -

'These are the words which I spoke to you whilst I was still with you,

that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses

and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.'

AND He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures, and continued to say to them -

'Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer,

and to rise from the dead the third day,

and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name

to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

AND YOU ARE WITNESSES OF THESE THINGS.

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YES, HE IS RISEN!

Death and the Grave could not hold him.

HE IS IS RISEN AND ALIVE - for evermore.

If He lives in your heart

then you too shall live for ever,

Death and the Grave will have no power over you.

His Power will Raise you up also to everlasting life.

AND IF YOU STILL DOUBT THIS TRUTH AS THOMAS

one of the 12 did, then ASK for proof from Jesus who yet lives and loves you

AND HE WILL DISPEL ALL YOUR DOUBT.

Our great love in Jesus

Your Brother and Sister always in Him

JOHN and ESTHER