YEARS GO BY

Prem and Elizabeth Joseph

MARRIED 12 YEARS, AS OF TODAY, our

daughter Elisabeth, and husband Prem Joseph.

All the family GREEN travelled to Chennai, India for the Wedding. Prem and Liz both live in Rochdale, Lancashire today, and Prem is pastoring there in Champness Hall right in the Town centre. They have two children - John Finney, 10, and sister Rachel, 7.

In fact it is also John Finney's 10th Birthday TODAY as well, an event he also shares with his cousin Becky, Daryl and Carol's daughter. Becky is ELEVEN today. SO today is a rather special day. The Rochdale Greens are currently visiting Germany right now, and the Eldoret Greens will be having a small meal together to celebrate Becky's Birthday this evening.   Separated as we all (the Greens) are by distance, these are times when we tend to miss each other most of all.
AND of course when there is some special family fixture to

remember,  we especially find ourselves looking at photos and recalling memories and so on.   When we have a day like today with a Wedding Anniversary AND two Birthdays all in the family it tends to fill the day with Family - almost as if they are ALL here together with us,   INCLUDING other members of the family such as Steven, and Anjie with their son and daughter, Tonia and Eric, together with Michael and his wife Janet - all in the UK.      AND also my sister Patricia, and her son and daughter, and a whole new and until very recently 'unknown' side of my own family in Scotland and New Zealand.
I must say that we are proud of our children, and our Grandchildren.     We are proud of them because they are together in love with each other and are able to have their own home and family without strife and without the fears and insecurities that many families have to suffer.  
My own early home and family was filled with violence, worry, and upheaval because of alcohol and unfaithfulness.     I determined that if ever I should marry I would never endanger the lives and happiness of my children by letting anything come between us.     And God has been so very gracious in giving me a happy marriage, and children that have grown up quietly and with a faith and integrity that has kept them from the many pitfalls that have strewn their paths in life.     Yes, God IS Good, and He has heard and answered our prayers.    AND this is not to say that we have in fact all been saints instead of sinners!     We certainly have many times erred and missed the way ourselves, but the Goodness of God persuaded us always to turn to HIM, and in doing so to find help and restoration.
King David in Psalm 116v1-2 -

'I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my prayer;

Because He has bent his ear toward me!

Therefore I will call upon Him, as long as I live'

I had prayed that I might find a good wife and mother, and that I would be a good husband and father.

I prayed that together we would make a 'home' that would be always full of happiness, love and security.    And although marriage is indeed a 'partnership' I did not pray for a partner, but for a WIFE for life; a true and competent mother for our children.      And my prayers are answered still each day.

And I believe there are countless others that have and are having this appreciation and experience of Marriage; Marriage as God means it to be.     Even though all around us is to be seen 'change' and devaluation in such standards and practises; even though we have un-guaranteed, and uncertain 'partnerships', 'same sex' marriage partnerships, and wilfully 'single parent' families.  And even though it is clear that world society is changing in such a way that humanity itself may soon become unrecognisable - even de-humanised in the long run - YET God STILL proclaims TRUTH in real Marriage and Family Life.     THUS, the Writer of Hebrews in chapter 13v4 says (in the Amplified Bible Translation) -' Let Marriage be held in honour (esteemed worthy, precious, of great price, and especially dear) in all things........'

And if our sons and daughters manage to attain such sustained determination to share in the creation of a similar home and family, then to be sure, we must pray and therefore hope, that our grandchildren also will continue in the same way, and thus to some degree provide a continuing Light and Witness to the True Pattern of God for the entire watching universe.

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MIKE AND DANI POTTER and all the Team from Tyndale School are now back in Australia - no doubt still recovering from their labour of love AND the long flight home again.   I received from one of them an up to date snap of me taken with our son James 'Manu', now 28 and working with a Special Project attached to the Referral Hospital here in Eldoret.    We see him often.      He is an IT Wizard, but not as wise in other ways.     I love him dearly.  Pray for him much.

Everywhere has become strangely quiet once more, as the days have continued with intermittent sun and rain.   There is still almost a month till the End of Term, and NEXT Saturday will be the 43rd Founders Day for Testimony Faith Homes, and also the 31st Parents and Prize Giving Day for the the School.  We share the Day together, and preparation for it usually begins during January or February.     At 10.a.m. the Invited Guest of Honour arrives to tour the School, viewing the special Class & Laboratory Exhibitions, and also being shown at least ONE of the four Children's Homes.    ALL the School parents are invited and usually follow the Guest of Honour round.     At 1p.m. EVERYONE has lunch together.   Then at 2p.m. everyone squeezes into the School Hall for the Annual Concert (put on by the students and Homes children) and later the School Prize Giving.    A short (15 min.) address from the Guest of Honour, and then everyone goes home by about 4.30p.m.    Quite a long day, but usually very well attended and enjoyed.

HOWEVER since all this will happen on Saturday, and we shall all be caught up in it all day, you will I am sure forgive me, on this one occasion, if I do not update the BLOG as usual.     But the following Saturday - 4th AUGUST, I will be back again, and maybe also with some photos of the event.   Please pray for us in between, and remember us.      

Some funds arrived for us a few days back via AENON, and a Note of Thanks will be in the post for those that contributed.   God Bless, Keep and Enliven each one of  you in the days ahead.   With our much affection and love in Jesus, Lord and King

John and Esther

PUTTING YOUR HAND IN HIS?

EVERY WEEKDAY MORNING the entire School of Testimony Faith Homes meets on the forecourt of the School Office for Morning Assembly. No one excepted. Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Atheists, School

Announcements, and a short
exhortation to draw near to God.
This week on Thursday, I happened to be leaving Daryl's Office after another early morning prayer meeting, and found School Assembly still in progress. The School Chaplain was concluding his Word for the Day....."Who is on the Lord's side?....Who will trust in Jesus Christ to have Saved them from their sins?" more than 500 hands shot up into the air - almost the entire Primary School AND some Secondary students - though not too many. I was once more amazed to witness the continuing move of God's Spirit upon the children of the School. Our Chaplain, himself one of our old boys - now in his middle 50s - Wycliffe Ondanga, is the one God has been using to bring this about. Wonderful in our eyes - a sure miracle of the Lord. BUT there is still much to pray for - especially that once children graduate to Secondary or High School they do not let their 'faith' slip away from them - or be filched from them by a deceitful mind that tells them that NOW they have suddenly become WISE, and no longer need to trust in myths and fairy stories. This IS such a lie, one straight from Satan, for it is clear that adults do not demonstrate wisdom - else society would indeed be different. No after millenniums of education and learning, we all still live with more and more WAR, famine, and fear than ever before. Man clearly declares he is unable to successfully manage his own affairs - and the truth remains that WITHOUT GOD we will achieve nothing - for ourselves or for each other.

THIS SUNDAY Wycliffe will, with assistance, baptise at least 20 who seek to Witness to their so great Salvation. Parents have been concerned as to 'which church' their child is to be baptised into, and have been surprised to be told that they will not be baptised into any sectarian or denominational church. They will merely use the form of being baptised to demonstrate visually what they believe in their hearts - THAT their old sinful self with all their sinful life, has been taken and buried with Christ, and then AS THEY rise up out of the water, they declare the commencement of a NEW life, hand in hand with Jesus. (1.Peter 3v21-22). BAPTISM does not SAVE anyone, but instead confirms to the one baptised what he has believed in his heart - that Jesus died that he/she might live. READ also in Romans 6v3-23.
THUS Baptism identifies the one baptised with CHRIST - not a Christian denomination. On being baptised I have become part of the UNIVERSAL, Church of Believers (believers in the Salvation purchased on the Cross on behalf of each individual that will believe and trust in it for him or herself.) Thank God there will be NO denominations in Heaven - just the Church of the First-born - the Church of Jesus, the BRIDE of Christ.

Have YOU put YOUR hand in the Hand of the Man from Galilee?

There is no other strong enough to hold you up

No other that will refuse to let you go.

A nail pierced hand, pierced for you, full of God's Loving kindness

Driveway from the gate

Kitchen extension

Our Australian friends from Tyndale School will be taking the Service tomorrow. Later, in the evening they have organised a communal supper for ALL of us, children and staff, together with themselves as a traditional conclusion to their time with us. Then on Monday morning after breakfast they will leave for Nairobi on their way back home. They have ALL laboured with endurance, for the time has been often interrupted with great downpours of rain. But, in the main, their work has been completed, and has yet again made a big difference. This time the bulk of their effort has been on the Jacaranda Compound. The driveway has for years given the place a somewhat unkempt and untidy look, rough and muddy in the wet season, and rougher and dustier in the summer. Then the two new cottages, Tyndale and Drakeley found that the cost and availability of gas and electricity need them to cook with charcoal, making their kitchen smokey and grimy. NOW they have each been given an exterior extension where the charcoal cookers can be used without affecting the houses interiorally Additionally some of the dorms were in need of a repaint, and this has also been done. Quite an UPLIFT. Photos to prove the work done.

interior painting

Driveway looking to gate

There is no doubt that over the EIGHT times we have received 'VISITS' from Tyndale School, a lot of improvement and innovation has been achieved. Today the 'mark' they have left may be clearly seen and pointed out. In and through it all each Team, as it has come to us, from the youngest to the oldest member, have progressively deepened the bond and relationship between us, encouraging, and lifting up our arms on countless occasions, and in desperate moments. Our prayer is that as Daryl and Carol go to them in September, God will help them to take a Blessing with them on our behalf..........

We thank God for WATER! Plenty every day from Heaven! Plenty in the wells! NONE in the taps!!? Live is very odd at times. YET still we must and DO Glorify Him Who is our LIFE.

Love to you all

John and Esther

OZ-IMANDIAS?

TYNDALE WEEK is here again!    38 Teachers and Students (including Mike Potter and his wife Danni) arrived on Thursday from Tyndale Christian School South Australia.      The LINK between them and us has grown stronger by the year, and what began as a bi-annual event, has now increased to an ANNUAL one.      The WEATHER could not have been worse on their arrival.  Heavy COLD rain!!    But it has perked up just a little today, and the sun is shining at least intermittently.    
The Children here are ecstatic to see the Team again even though only a few have been here personally before.     It is always a wonderful time of interaction and enjoyment and hard work.

THIS year the Team are planning to relay and contain the rough driveway leading to Jacaranda Cottage - just rocks and dust since we bought the place in 1975.     They will lay curb stones, level and lay down a surface of three-quarter inch ballast on some 70 feet of drive.  This will wonderfully improve access and cut down dust and mud.    Some will also be doing interior painting in, and perhaps even providing extra cooking facilities for Drakeley and Tyndale Cottages.     Every year they prove themselves indefatigable workers, with a real zeal for hard labour, as well as a zest for play and fellowship with the children.

They have gifted us with many projects over the years including provision of a Basket Ball Court, a School Dispensary, a Poultry House, to name a few, and lent many hands painting inside and outside of the four Homes, laying concrete paths, building retaining walls, clearing hedges, and putting up fences,    The proof of their efforts remain to be admired and appreciated, and most of all the human encouragement they have brought to our children in all four of the Homes have truly left a mark of health and happiness on so many.

Poultry House at Jacaranda

AND ALL THIS began when Mike and Danni were introduced to us and the work of TFH whilst staying at Nairobi Pentecostal Bible College for a few days on their initial arrival to Kenya in 1988.    They visited us that same year, and from then on it was as if we had become family.   Mike was then Deputy Headmaster of a private school (Cavina School) in Nairobi, and Danni also taught there.   We watched these newly weds as the Lord prospered them with their own children, and later with those they adopted.    When the time time for them all to return to Australia in  2000 we all wondered how we would suffer the loss of so many family members all at once......we had grown so used to them spending time and fellowship with us.      BUT Mike and Danni did not forget us, and were soon sharing all about us and their time in Kenya.    When Mike took the Headship of Tyndale School he soon began sharing with them too, and the result was the idea of bringing a group of students to have a Kenya Experience - and of course WE became part of the 'experience' with ever expanding results.

Ben Potter & Team - Feb 2012

THIS YEAR we will celebrate TEN years of this ongoing adventure.     Mike has planned to mark this Anniversary by inviting Daryl and Carol from TFH, and also Joshua and Miriam Mbithi from Neema Childrens Home to fly to Australia on 23rd September to be part and parcel of the Celebrations.   My health has not been so good, mainly with my diabetic problem, and Esther and I together with my doc felt that it would be better for me not to travel so far at this time .....SO, this time at least, we felt it best for Daryl who has in any case embarked on his Leadership of the work here, and his wife Carol to go in our stead.   We know they will be a blessing.      And of course  Joshua and Miriam were nineteen years with us before leaving to initiate their own God inspired ministry amongst HIV/AIDS children in 2003.    As well as helping US, the Tyndale Teams also reached out to children at Neema, and whenever they come to us, they also share their strength, love and aid with Joshua and Miriam, who in so many ways are still part of the FAMILY.      And so the four of them hope to fly out on 23rd September for a three week trip.

We all feel that we have been given so much without having been able to give anything back!     But Mike has often assured us that the time spent with us all has often been more than a blessing to students and staff alike.
Well we pray God that it might be so,  for we can never be able to calculate all THEY have done for us has meant to the ongoing prospects of us all here.      OH, but I almost forgot that there IS one thing we have been able to give ...... we let one of our most valued and loved labourers together with us, CALVIN Ochieng be captured by one of Tyndale's teachers and carted off to Australia.     That was quite unexpected, and quite a valuable loss to us all.        So I guess we are even more linked to Australia as one of our own is there, and we all loved Christy whom Calvin married, and all adore their little boy that God has given them.
Blessing upon blessing.

Christy and Calvin with Baby Ochieng.

.  

NOW THIS MUST BE ALL FOR THIS WEEK.      Not the last you will here of Tyndale Team as they will be ministering to us all through the week to come.     More photos no doubt..     I thought it good to share this with you for this week since it is something that touches all of us, children and carers alike.      It is always an exciting and exhilarating time of encouragement and togetherness.        Also a time of sharing and understanding between cultures.     God is Glorified.

We pray for all those in the United Kingdom that have suffered the severe and injurious weather conditions of the last days.      We see the ravages endured on the TV and truly our hearts go out to the many who have been affected.       Our own 'torrential downpours' seem small compared since they have damaged us little.  The water rushes downhill away from us, and does not hang about,  but nevertheless we have shared in the general 'depression' that always accompanies constant rain and grey skies..........BUT the sun WILL come out again, the clouds will and DO lift, and we will be relieved.      Thank God we are never alone, even in such distress and coolness of spirit.

God Bless and Encourage you all, every one

John and Esther