RULED BY LAW, BUT SECURED BY GOD.

OUR DESERTED SCHOOL

Our FIRST Term was supposed to close on 8th April BUT the Covid 19 Virus arrived and turned all our order into chaos.    The Government closed ALL Schools on Monday 16th MARCH.   And ever since it has looked forsaken and empty as in the photo above.     Of course OUR children are still with us in their respective family homes, but the 700 odd outsiders from the district have all returned to their own homes - and many had not completed paying their Fees for the Term.    And  still no sign that Schools will  re-open in the near future.    And no outstanding Fees coming in to pay for the teachers salaries for April.       No guarantees that we might open at the commencement of 2nd Term in May, OR at any time in the foreseeable future!     Even then, not without a considerable need to change in the way pupils are accommodated in the Classroom.

AND if Schools do NOT open, indefinitely, what will happen to our children here in Kenya, and in all other places.     The damage being done already psychologically, from this suspension of Learning, together with the Lock down in force generally putting the nations in a state of 'limbo', can only eventually bring civil unrest and an increase in crime.      There is no Welfare System here that will assist all those losing their income from being laid off without pay,     No possibility of finding alternative income from some other employment......THIS also causes many to revolt against Government efforts and mechanisms to contain the Virus, especially in those areas not current 'hot spots' in the Country.     So far Cases confirmed remain mainly from Mombasa / Nairobi regions. SO if one lives in an area were no cases are being recorded, WHY wear masks, and distance ourselves from each other, or leave our jobs, or close our schools.    SO far we have seen only GOOD order and obedience generally - but we are still at the beginning -  Tomorrow the rest of Kenya may find herself  also engulfed, and challenged.       People have to eat - and people have to have HOPE.

We all live currently with the Specter of the Virus at our elbow.      We now have to see each other de-humanised by face masks, walking, standing or sitting apart suspiciously wary of each other.   Will this ever be reversed?   We do not know right now.    Maybe life on Earth will never be the same.

EVEN the swimming pool has had to be closed under the general ban on all places of social entertainment and gathering together.

We have so far been refused to use the facility for our Homes children - (since we are officially 'quarentined' and cut off from the outside, we had thought we may be allowed to use it just for our selves).      A great silence hovers all around us, with a huge reduction in traffic noise from our nearby roadways, plus the decrease in human chatter and hubbub from the normal school population.

As of this morning Kenya has 336 confirmed Cases all from Nairobi and Mombasa Areas
14 are recorded as having died for the Virus.   and 95 Recovered

====================== 

On the HOMES side, looking unto Jesus for our provision and general need, including payment of our forty strong staff salaries, HE has continued to maintain us without spoiling us or indulging us unduly.  WE have all been healthy and in good spirits.

We have been content, and we do rejoice in the comfort of God's love and care of us all.    This month we had wondered how the LORD would yet again feed us all and pay our bills.     We have been warned by many that  Covid 19 will diminish missionary and charitable giving generally, but so far not ourselves.     But income is not 'fixed', and we cannot count on how much will come in, or even from where.     On the 17th a gift arrived at our Bank (unknowingly - they did not inform us till the 21st) that immediately took care of 50% of our need for the current month.      Then, actually on the 21st again we heard that a Gift from the other side of the world had been sent and was on the way to us of another amount making a further 50% of what we basically needed for the rest of the month.  How Faithful our Father in Heaven IS, and how faithfully His children, who hear  His Voice, ARE.  Thus we are marooned within our compounds, yet not cut off from the Hand of God, or His People.  Very privileged, and very Blessed. and very humbled at the Throne of Grace.

We have had to send SIX of our staff  AWAY   (apart from the Houseparents, ourselves, our pastor and his wife, and our Dairy man, and 2 Watchmen for Security)  We will still be paying them however, as we have not  terminated them, but merely suspended them temporarily.     NO ONE is allowed to gain entrance who is not resident here.    This excludes our son James Manu from visiting, but we are in regular electronic contact, and he is managing well.    And also  Daryl, since he lives six kilometres away in his own apartment with his family.    He also keeps.. in touch electronically every day, though.

Our children - 130 of them ranging from 2 to 22 years - are all at home and happy.    In the morning hours we have Classes for all the Primary children, and also a few in Form 4 High School.   They  are voluntarily taught (their own willing idea) by those of our College and University students who have also been forced to be at home with us during the Lockdown.     A photo of them has just now been taken outside of our cottage, and facing Testimony House.

 Peter Njugunah; Mary Nduta;  Mark Kiptoo; Anthony Faragu, Pauline Nekesa; Edwin Kipkemboi 
Joan Deizu;  Daisy Maiyo;  Sarah Muthoni

These are all responsible and serious young people.     The photo was taken when they were dressed casually during some time off, teaching, and we are very glad and thankful to them, that they have been able to overcome the sudden interruption of their higher education, and to joyeously use the time for their younger brothers and sisters whilst they are locked down with us all .         There as many more who also work most mornings around the Homes and in the grounds to make up for diminished staff, and to put to some good use at least part of their forced vacation.   It has been a time for us to be very encouraged and happy to see so many taking hold of good character and duty to God and to each other.       All of them Bright Stars in what would have been a very gloomy picture.

TO the LEFT a photo put up in on 27th April 2019, showing the collapse of part of one of our iconic Giant Euphobia bushes.

Just this week the still quite substantal remains also fell down and has now been carted away.  It must have been at least 80 years growing.

The remaining TWO bushes on this drive way must be of a similar age, and may also begin to fall at any time. 

We are not sure if we will replace them with a young Bush of the same species, or with something quite different.   WE shall miss them after fifty years of seeing them every day!

All things do come to an end, sometime.

We send you all our Love and Prayers in our LORD Jesus.       He is gathering all His Children into His arms, as we go through these new experiences, and Time.    We are safe in His Arms; Everlasting Arms.     God Bless and Assure you all moment by moment of  His Nearness.

Lovingly in Him

John, Esther, and Daryl Green                        

EVERY DAY, ALL THE WAY - PUT A SONG IN YOUR HEART.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!
       
To  HESKETH MULI,  (as of yesterday)

Hesketh has been a house parent with us, together with his wife, since 2008
This should be his 50th!    And this will be his 12th year with us.   Good years, and we have been so glad for him and his dear wife.     They took over Testimony House in 2008, but currently they are in Drakeley Cottage starting a NEW family of children - currently fifteen altogether.    Most of their original family had grown up and left by the time they moved  to Drakeley.      But Testimony is still a Family Home and you may remember that the previous Drakeley Cottage family run by Francis and EUNICE Lahol moved into Testimony House just before Francis went to be with the LORD.    Eunice continues to run the Family now with 37 of their original group from Drakeley Cottage.

Hesketh is a very energetic, wiry, man with a great sense of humour, at times, balanced by a no-nonsens attitude which keeps him from letting things get out of hand.    He loves the Lord, and honestly and humbly seeks to share his faith with all he meets.    He gets on with helping with daily shopping and also in keeping an eye on the various  needs inside the Homes.      ALICE, his wife compliments him wonderfully and is loved by us all .....

Hesketh and Alice Muli.

THANK YOU HESKETH, and Alice, for your sincere faithfulness toward God, and constant support spiritually in lifting up our Christian testimony.     We have appreciated your determination to carry on, even in difficult times, and to keep persevering in coming to know, understand and encouraging the children God has entrusted to you.    Good fellow laborers and dependable.     God Bless this year ahead of you Hesketh and make it the most 'remarkable' yet, by His Grace.

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

THE VIRUS is still with us in Kenya.    EVERYONE must now wear Masks in public.   No one allowed in Supermarkets without one.   BUT so fare shops have food.

TODAY these are the Government figures for our Country.

Confirmed Cases 262

Deaths  12

Recovered Cases 60

MORE cases of people travelling to other parts of the Country from those parts already infected are increasing.  NOT hopeful.    The World Health is predicting that Africa will be the net most affected area.      In Kenya there is no sign of an early change in the situation, and no sign of a lessoning of the general lockdown.      Our School is of course still closed, and without finance to pay the teachers.       Please pray for us to know what to do next.   We seek the Lord to give us wisdom.        We are still at peace within ourselves, and we feel no anxiety in just being in the hands of GOD.     We do not merely trust Him for the good, but even for the bad; that in being always with us He will provide the courage, patience and pain that may confront us, as well as the Joy in keeping well, and seeing His Deliverance.

Last Sunday, I shared about the sudden loss of daily security and  the disturbance of life that had confronted the disciples when they witnessed the death of Christ.  Filled with fear, anxiety for their life, and an almost frantic apprehension as to what their future held, it must have seemed as if the very world had stopped for them.      Like the world today, facing the present crisis, but unable to KNOW the future.       On those immediate days after seeing HIM DEAD, they could not find JOY or PEACE.   He was GONE, they were alone, helpless, and vulnerable.   HOPE gave way to despair.

BUT WE now know that JESUS ROSE up from the TOMB.    He was NOT dead!   He was and IS ALIVE, and never will leave or forsake any of those who BELIEVED or DO Believe right now.

WE are living in a TRUTH that should throw off ever FEAR AND ANXIETY.    When the disciples came to realise and KNOW this their whole life took on a new concept that change them for ever.

We cannot avoid the Devil's efforts to derail us from the smooth, trouble free life we hope  for.

JOB 5v7 tells us that ' Man is born for trouble'.    He should expect it

This does not change when God walks with us - BUT then we are not alone to bear the trouble,or to see it overcome - in fact we begin the more to see that life can be a 'battle'.     It was a battle for Paul the Apostle.    But he wrote in 1. Corinthians 9 v 26 ' I do not run uncertainly (aimlessly);  I do not fight as one that strikes the air as in a PANIC attack.  (Amplified translation)

HOW did he manage it all?    By laying hold of Eternal LIFE through Jesus Christ;  be GRASPING hold of the LIVING Jesus to be with him in all that he did or went through.  See 1. Timothy 6v12

The Hymn writer Blanch Moffat wrote 

'Trust in the Lord and don't despair,
He is a friend so true!
No matter what your troubles are,
Jesus will see you through.
Sing when the day is bright'
Sing on the darkest night
Everyday, all the day.
Sing, Sing, SING!

In 2 Chronicles 20v17 we read  'Be NOT afraid.   Be NOT dismayed!   Just STAND and see the salvation of the LORD.    (stop letting yourself become 'jumpy'.  Calm down. Stand still - and LET JESUS bring you through.

In  Psalm 107 v 2-3 we hear of those  who are living as refugees, homeless, stateless, hungry and alone.    THEY cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distress.

THEN, in verses 10-12 we are told of those who are afflicted with illness, and in the bondage of habitual sin, and poverty of life.     THEY cried to the LORD in  their trouble, and He heard them, out of all their distresses.

AND AGAIN in verses 23-29 we are told of those in peril on the sea in storm and tempest, and THEY also cried to the LORD, and He delivered them out of all their distresses!

AND THE LORD JESUS WILL DELIVER ANY ONE OF US THAT CALLS UPON HIM out of all their trouble, calamity, distress also 

If you BELIEVE in Jesus, then YOU can say with the Psalmist in Psalm 118v5

The LORD is with me,  I shall not be afraid.

Whatever you are battling with, be it the Virus or the results of it,

or with any of the multitude of troubles that might suddenly accost you

TRUST JESUS with it.    STOP.........settle yourself

AND KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT ALONE

God is WITH you, and HE will bring you through.

HE IS BRINGING YOU THROUGH.

I must close here.     You are all constantly passing through our thoughts, and we talk about you to Jesus and our Father in Heaven.       I  shared a while back that I have been having a problem with my feet, causing me some little distress.       For the last FOUR days and nights I have been quite relieved of all such hurt, and feel so refreshed and strengthened.    If you were praying for me, accept  my grateful thanks in Jesus Name for I have sought only His face for this.

WE ARE all well.     The Children continue to be contented and at peace.     We WAIT quietly for the LORD.    He IS coming soon.       Have I  said it before.    I will   go on doing so, and each time He will be closer.     May he BE with you all, and protect you from doubt and anxiety in His Name.

Lovingly in His Everlasting Love and Mercy

John, Esther, Daryl, and all of us here in Testimony Faith Homes.

EASTER GREETINGS

2020

IN AND UNDER HIS BLOOD

WE ARE SURE OF PROTECTION

TONIGHT, as I write, on Thursday, 9th April, each of our five families here in Testimony will be individually remembering the Last Supper eaten by Jesus with his Friends    They came to remember Passover, the deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt.    But there was a great difference since this time the Passover Lamb slain for our sins was present, and it was the prelude to an even greater Deliverance, and entrance into a new life.    JESUS would next day become the Passover Lamb killed on our behalf in order to make atonement for all our sins.     There was of course Roast Lamb on the table today, and it was a token of a need to obtain strength and energy to live a very demanding future.     And the Blood of that lamb was painted on the doors and door frames of each family as a sign to protect them from God's Wrath.      JESUS had said that He had longed to share this Passover with the disciples -- it was very special.   It was so much MORE than the memory of what happened in Exodus 12.     WE have lamb on the table tonight, and some bitter herbs, and some unleavened bread.      A spur to remind ourselves that we should ever be READY to leave our old ways and quickly turn to a NEW life......       Once the main meal is over we all share a little left over bread and some juice and bring Jesus, our lamb of sacrifice into view.    How greatly God our Father loves us, and how he longs to see us turn from death to LIFE.

In that night before Good Friday they must have had many heavy overtones.   There was some real apprehension and anxiety as to all of their futures - but it was the THRESHOLD of real JOY and HAPPINESS

For us it is - especially this year at this time, an opportunity to put our homes and families under the blood of God's Lamb, trusting that when Trouble, even the Threat of Death, SEES the Blood, it will be diverted from us and pass by, leaving us untouched; REDEEMED out of the hand of the Enemy.    Oh Death, where IS your sting...Oh V.19 where is your is your victory now?     YES if we only BELIEVE in Jesus, THEN we shall be SAVED.

As Jesus sat with his disciples that night, long ago, it was shadowed by a sense of anxiety and loss.    But to us now, looking back and seeing what was to happen, it is like a prelude to happiness that will never be taken away from us.    Pure Joy and SECURITY both now and into Eternity.        For us all as we gather our families about our table with Jesus our unseen Guest, we are  QUICKENED  to apprehend such confidence and faith.

YES INDEED, He who is our Salvation is with us still, and ALIVE.     The disciples sensed they would LOSE this One they trusted with their lives; in the One who commanded the wind and the waves of every storm, who healed, and brought peace and sanity to the mentally disturbed and possessed of demons.     HOW could they do without Him?    It must have been a VERY heavy evening - right into the night and the MORNING to come.

AND JESUS as killed, and buried, and they all thought their end had come, and that there was no future bearable without HIM      BUT he was NOT DEAD.    We are told that after his DEATH he decended into HELL, but even there He could not be in 'locked-down'   HE AROSE,

and proved Himself untouched by death, but powerfully ALIVE, and able to  walk and talk with ANY who will Believe in Him, and receive Him into their lives. today.

In JESUS CHRIST we see the evidence of DEATH  being swallowed up  in Victory.     What then shall we fear?    Shall we fear COVID 19?     Is this 'virus' more than GOD?    No, it HAS to be that GOD is more than the virus, and in the Name of Jesus Christ it must yield to God.

YES, right now the whole wide world is seeming to walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death  -   and it is FEARING - it is falling apart at the seams with worry - there is no way out, and nowhere to run to!!!!

NO this is not necessarily so - ANYONE can come to  GOD in Jesus Name, and find a hiding place from their greatest fear; a secure fortress to protect them from the fiercest onslaught upon their life.    Remember we are told that Jesus Name declares that God is With Us.

IF God IS with us, then who and what can succeed against us?    NOTHING.     FEAR NOT, THEN, for God IS with us  - ALL of us who have believed in Who He is, and what he purchased for us all upon the Cross.        JESUS will turn everyone's NIGHT into a Glorious DAY if they will only BELIEVE 

THIS EASTER, SECURE YOUR LIFE AND YOUR HOME.     Read, and prayerfully consider the whole of Psalm 91    ALL of it needs to be read and trusted - look at just these few promises found in verses 9-11 -

Because you have made the LORD, which is my Refuge,

even the Most High, your habitation,

There shall no evil befall you, neither any plague come near your dwelling.

Because He will give His angels charge over you,

to keep you in all your ways.

AND in verses14-16

 BECAUSE he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him,

and set him on high, because he has known my

 name.

He shall call upon me and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him, and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation

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

WE remain - both our compounds - to be locked down.    No one in or out except for truly ESSENTIAL purposes.    School still closed, all shops shut, except for essentials and at certain hours.

All churches closed for public meetings, all others public meetings suspended.    No one to be without a MASK in any public place.     NAIROBI, is under a tight TOTAL lockdown, as also Mombasa and other adjacent counties.     A NATIONAL Curfew remains  in place as from 7 a.m. to 5.30a.m.    184 confirmed Cases of Covid 19 as of today, and 7 deaths.     NO confirmed cases on this side of the Country.      We thank God so far and see every reason to believe onwards for the BEST.

We ourselves are all well, and at piece.   God has blessed us with wide space to walk and play in so on the whole no one is too depressed - ALTHOUGH     With all our School children out of school, and all our College and University students home and unable to foresee how long they will be out for.

the majority are feeling unsettled.     Nevertheless they have buckled down to the situation as it is, and are all in general good spirits.       We want to Thank all of you who continue to  pray for us and for our needs, and for all the many who have in faith endeavoured to help us materially.     We rejoice to be all in good health, and spiritually rejoicing and expecting great things.     THIS 'war' is not ours and it will not be won by us.    But it will be won.    Hallelujah.       We cannot but be glad to see and hear of so much humanitarian goodness rising up in the world to fight this attack on our race, but i am sorry to see little sign of a rising Faith in GOD to deliver us.       Perhaps gradually we shall hear MORE calling upon HIM, and more testifying to HIS Salvation.

WE PRAY for you all, and for the world at large.     Our children pray for you.

WE WISH YOU ALL
A VERY HAPPY AND BLESSED
EASTER TIME

And though we all may be under attack and in bondage to human endeavour,

we believe and KNOW that all who lift their eyes to HIM

WILL be SAVED and EMPOWERED

in and by His Name

With all our love in Him from

John, Esther, and Daryl Green, our staff and all the children