We have had another blessed week with many exciting things happening.
On Thursday, dad, William and I travelled to Bangor for the launch of the Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention which will take place in August. There will be missionary themed meetings every evening from 22nd - 26th August in Bangor and Feed My Lambs will be having a stand at the missionary exhibition each evening. As it is the 75th year of the convention, a special meeting will be held at the Waterfront in Belfast on Saturday evening 20th August. Again, Feed My Lambs will have a stand at the exhibition. This is another new venture for us and we pray that it will open up many new opportunities for us. On Saturday evening William and I shared at a house meeting. This group of people pray very much for us. We had a great time with them and their interest in the work was so encouraging. We didn't know they had planned a surprise for us in the form of a 5th birthday cake for Feed My Lambs! Thank you!!! You can see the photos at the bottom of this post. (Double click to enlarge) On Sunday evening I was speaking at a Children's Day service in Coleraine. The children did really well and were lovely singers. Throughout the year they had collected money for the children of Kenya and had raised £150. WELL DONE AND THANK YOU! And now for the BIG answer to prayer. Following a meeting just over one week ago with Samuel Adams of Every Home Crusade/Revival Movement in Dromara; it has now been confirmed that they will print, (or may have already printed) 12000 of each of our 30 lessons! This is a total of 360000 lessons! Not only are they printing the lessons, but they are also shipping them to Kenya for us. They should be on their way very soon and it will take 2 - 3 months for them to arrive in Mombasa, be cleared through the port and then be transported up to Nairobi. This is such a great boost to our ministry and a great answer to prayer. We have faced many challenges with the lessons over the years. There have been times when it has been difficult to keep up with the demand and there have been times when man has deliberately tried to stop the work...but God has always been in control and now He has done something really great for us. We are so grateful to those in Every Home Crusade for their willingness to take on this project and we send our appreciation to them. Please pray that everything will go smoothly with the printing and shipping. Obviously the course will be moving quicker once the lessons arrive and so the demand for Bibles will increase. Please pray for God's provision. Also, we now feel that it is essential that we travel to Kenya to prepare for the lessons arriving. We have meetings through June and there is the possibility that the shipment could arrive from the end of July onwards; so we really need to be there during July. The need for a bigger office is now urgent. We need to be there to try and find an office or at least to sort out storage for the lessons. It is just not possible to use our current office for this quantity of lessons. Also, we feel we need to take this opportunity to bring our workers together and go through all of our procedures concerning the lessons and make sure we are all singing off the same page. We want to review how things are done and make sure that we are well organised for such a large consignment arriving. We believe that God will not give us lessons and not provide somewhere to put them. We also believe that it is now a "must" that we travel in July and not just something we would like to do. Obviously this means that we need a lot of finance in a short space of time, both for flights and travelling as well as the office itself; but God is proving over and over that He is able and we ask you to pray with us. Please pray for all of these needs but most of all, just thank God for answering prayer. Once again He has proved that when He opens a door, no man can shut it!
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The Lord has really blessed us so much during this past week. William and I enjoyed the conference on Tuesday. The day was for those in Christian work and we were really challenged as the Nigerian speaker shared from God's Word.
We had two short days at the market on Friday and Saturday because of other appointments which we had. A meeting on Friday afternoon was really encouraging and we thank God for that. On Friday evening we renewed fellowship with friends as we shared at a house meeting. William showed the powerpoint presentation and I shared from God's Word. We will return to the same venue on Saturday as different people will attend. This time, God willing, William and I will swap with myself showing the presentation and William sharing a message. We were again encouraged by the interest and prayer support as well as financial support both from those present and also those who had sent a gift to us. We say a big thank you. Saturday was a very special day for us. We were able to join with many Kenyans who live here in Northern Ireland. To read all about it and to see lots of photos please click here! We continue to appreciated your prayers for us. We have another new venture on Thursday which I will explain more about in the next blog. Please also make the printing of lessons a special priority in your prayers over the coming days and ask that God will provide in His way. We are glad the work of God continues. A new form of outreach we have been working on has made progress and we hope to be able to tell you about this very soon. We have also done some research into other opportunities we have been considering and things are looking promising. It's a little too soon to share details at the moment, but please keep praying that we will know God's guidance in these issues. We need to know God's will and also which outreach to start first.
Tomorrow William and I will attend a full day conference which we have been invited to. It is specifically for Christian workers and we are looking forward to it. We also have 3 meetings between Friday and Saturday; as well as the stall; which could be very productive for the work. Please pray much con We are just so glad to be in the work of God and we continue to be thankful for the opportunities that the Lord has given us to be involved in His service.
The market was a little quieter this past weekend, but we are thankful for the milder weather which makes it more comfortable. William has been able to get some more sticks ready as some people continue to buy throughout the Summer months. We were also glad to have some new items from Kenya on sale again. Dad was again faithful in helping out at the stall. We continue to appreciate your ongoing prayers for the work in Kenya. We would soon like to purchase new Bibles. The original place we had found to supply us are now only offering a larger Bible, which we feel might be too large for the children. However, we have found another supplier just outside of Nairobi so we will compare the Bibles and make a decision based on that. A batch of lessons continue to be printed each month but we continue to value prayer for this ongoing need. We are praying that God will really bless in this way and continue to provide. We have a number of people in a particular area who are keen to become markers of the lessons. Before they are accepted they need to complete an application form. I have felt for a while that the current form needed to be updated and have a little more added to it so that we have a fuller picture of the person who is completing it. Please pray that we will know wisdom as to what to include and how to word it. Please pray that only those of God's choosing will become markers. We have also had requests for more forms of outreach. Please pray that we will know the mind of God on the specific ministries requested and those we are working on at present. We always value the prayers of God's people and appreciate We promised you an update on the office situation as soon as we knew anything. Well, the cloud has moved but not in the way we had hoped. As you know we were waiting for the amended lease to be forwarded to us and as far as we were aware the building was still on hold for us. However, just yesterday we were told that the premises seemed to be being used by another company. I contacted the letting agent who told me that it was still vacant but the delay was due to the fact that the paperwork for change of use from residential to commercial had not been completed and this had not been as straightforward as originally thought. The agent seemed shocked to hear that the premises seemed to be occupied and he promised to look into the situation. This morning he contacted me to say that the owner of the property had rented it out without his knowledge and it was indeed occupied. However, the change of use to commercial premises was still not complete. It seems the owner has breached his contract with the letting agent and those occupying the premises are doing so illegally.
As you can imagine, we are yet again very disappointed and whilst we are a little frustrated on the outside that we have missed out yet again, yet we have a peace that God has a purpose even though we're not quite sure what that is. One good thing is that we have added confidence in the letting agent who seems to want to do the right thing and make sure all of the legal documents are in order. He has a similar property to let in another area and Pastor Aringo hopes to view that very soon. And so it begins again....the search for the place of God's choosing. Disppointed yes, but we prayed that God would only bring us forward if it was His will and so we have to accept how this has turned out. We know that God has a place for us and moving is still a priority. We thank God for how He has provided this far for the new office and we know that the remaining amount needed will be there just when it is needed. As the office move didn't go ahead as we had hoped, we didn't travel to Kenya at Easter as that was the main purpose of the proposed visit. We are now looking to the summer for a longer trip and ask you to pray that God will provide and enable us to book our flights very soon. Thank you for your continued support. Please continue to make the office a matter for prayer. |
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August 2022
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