The next two weeks are set to be very busy in the life of FML both in Northern Ireland and Kenya.
This week we will have a stand every evening at the Worldwide Missionary Convention in Bangor, Northern Ireland. This means a lot of travelling and late nights with lots still to do before setting up later today....but it is a good opportunity to raise awareness of our work. Please pray for good conversations and interest in what we are doing. Pastor Aringo is now back in Nairobi and later today he will begin the packing up of our office in preparation for the move to our new premises. This will be a lot of work and we would ask you to pray for him and those who will help him in this massive task. Please also remember Pastor Aringo and Moses as they travel to Tanzania at the beginning of next week. Pray that God will provide the necessary funds for this and help in all of the preparations this week. Without doubt the next two weeks will be among some of the busiest in our history. It is not often so much is happening on both sides of the world at the same time! Of course, the devil knows this too and he has been throwing plenty at us this past week. Please pray that we will be calm, know guidance, get enough sleep and know victory as we move on in God's will. Thank you for your continued prayers.
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We have now been back in the UK for nearly 4 weeks.....and what a whirlwind it has been!
When we returned home, we mentioned the disappointments we faced concerning the practical work in our office in Nairobi and another option which had seemed to come to a standstill. As you know, we have been searching for a long period of time for a larger office without success. Then the plan to purchase a plot of land had to be suspended. We settled ourselves to close in the balcony of the existing office to give more space and then that fell through too. We really were at our wit's end regarding this issue. BUT.....we are delighted to share that God had a plan and a purpose in it all. He knew our situation a lot better than we did and HE certainly went before us. Just when we weren't expecting it, God has opened that door for us and we have now secured a new base in Nairobi!!!! Negociations are complete and the lease has been signed. The office is a few minutes walk from our current location. It is safe, secure and is larger than our current office. It is one room with a walk in cupboard which is shelved and perfect for the lessons. There are additional storage options and the potential to expand in the future. The rent is higher than we are currently paying, but very reasonable and nowhere near the other prices we were being quoted. We are so excited to see the work grow in this way. The move will take place over the coming weeks and we will be working from the new office officially from 16th September. If you are in Kenya and plan to visit the office during the first two weeks in September, please contact us to find out exactly where we are and what stage the move is at as we may be between offices for those two weeks. Thank you so much to those of you who prayed much for this issue. Please continue to remember us as we establish this new base. There are some issues concerning both the current and new properties which would be much easier dealt with if we were in Kenya. We ask you to pray that we will know the Lord's leading in every step we take. Pray also for the finance necessary for the move and the ongoing rent as we take this next step. Meanwhile, we have a busy few weeks ahead here in the UK. We will have a stand at the Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention each night from Monday 26th - Friday 30th August. The following week we have a new opportunity as our stand will be at Portadown Baptist Church Missionary Convention from Monday 2nd - Wednesday 4th September and we will be speaking at the Monday evening service. We appreciate prayer for both of these events. We then have a few other meetings before taking up our normal spot at the market for the annual Country Comes to Town event in Portadown on Saturday 21st September. Some other bookings later in the year and into next year are also new openings and we are delighted with this as well as opportunities to return to Churches where we have previously shared. Back in Kenya.....This week Moses and some of the Nakuru school ministry team are involved in a Church camp. Please pray for them as the share the Gospel with the children and pray that little ones will be saved. Pastor Aringo has been following up the work in Kisii and Western over the past few days and visiting centres there. Continue to pray for Pastor Meshack and others who are involved in the work in these areas. Joyce continues with the work in Uganda and there are some good developments there which we hope we will be able to share with you soon. We thank God that Pastor Aringo and Moses have been given the opportunity to visit Tanzania. They have been invited to join a group who are travelling there for a conference and will be representing Feed My Lambs. They will be there from 4th - 9th September. Pray that they will have a blessed time. A large children's rally will take place on 31st August and will be organised by a Church fellowship in Kenya. They are bringing together children from across the country who attend their Sunday Schools. They have asked that Bibles are presented to those who are due to receive them, on that day when they are all together. Almost 300 would be needed. We do not have anywhere near that amount of Bibles available or the funds to purchase them. It would appear that the quantity needed aren't even available in the Bible bookshop. We don't want to disappoint but we can only do what God allows....so pray that we will know the best action to take in this situation. We thank God for the privilege of doing His work.....and it is all because people like you pray! Thank you so much. We appreciate your support very much and hope you will be encouraged that God is indeed listening and answering. As mentioned last week, we thought it would be good to share with you how the Lord answered the specific prayer points we had shared with you before our trip. We hope you will be encouraged.
- Exploratory Farming trip Unfortunately this trip had to be cancelled due to unexpected changes in our timetable. However, we are delighted that we have been told we can arrange this for a future trip. - Safety and good health for the long flights We thank God for His hand upon us during the long journey. We did have delays on the outward trip and we were very tired....but we thank Him that the crew became aware of a problem in the plane and it was repaired. Had the Lord not brought it to their attention it could have resulted in a serious problem. - Our time and ministry in Uganda Uganda was hot! We all struggled a little with the heat BUT we enjoyed our time in the country very much. We visited a number of schools and Churches; met many wonderful children and were encouraged by the enthusiasm of the Pastors and Children's workers. We look forward to developing the ministry in the country. - The need of £1800 to secure our hire car God provided the entire amount which was needed. The car was paid in full before we left UK. Since returning home, the security deposit has been refunded in full as thankfully there was no damage and the hire company were satisfied with the condition the car was returned in. This was a big need and we give God the glory for His provision. - Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru This was such an encouraging time. We met with the team who are now ministering regularly in schools in the Nakuru area. We discussed much and have much to implement in the future. - Practical Work in Office This was the most frustrating part of our trip. We bought the materials and were ready to begin the work.....and then it all went wrong and we could not proceed. We were discouraged, disappointed and didn't really know what to do next.....BUT....since returning home we have realised that it didn't really go wrong but it was all in God's plan and there was a reason for what happened. We will share an update on this very soon. - Workers' Meeting A very productive and united meeting. It lasted quite a few hours but we covered everything on the agenda. Many good suggestions were made and agreement was reached on all issues. We thank God for such a great team. ------ In the run up to our trip we listed many issues for prayer. As you reflect on them now, we hope you will be encouraged to see how God answered. We are just amazed when we look back at how HE went before us and was in complete control of each and every situation. Thank you all so much for praying and standing in the gap. There is much planned for the coming weeks; in the will of the Lord; we continue to need guidance, wisdom and provision for the coming days and trust you will remember us before the Lord. We are back in UK after our trip to Kenya and Uganda. We have had a few days to settle back and reflect and now it is time for the work to start....where to start is the issue I am now facing as there is so much to do as a result of the past few weeks. Bit by bit I hope to add photos to the website so you can see some of the wonderful people we met and experiences we had. Meantime, I wanted to remind you of the prayer list we had added to for many weeks on this blog and share how the Lord answered your prayers. So, below are some of the prayer points from previous blogs followed by a little update. The remainder of the prayer points will be covered next week.
- Pray that God will continue to go before us He certainly did go before us and we were very conscious of this. In one issue in particular, we have realised that God knew what would work for us. We will share more later. - Take a moment to THANK GOD for what HE has done so far! We certainly thank Him for all He has done and are excited about the future. -Guidance as to which donated items to bring on this occasion This was difficult and we weren't able to fit everything in....but we managed some stationery and teaching materials. Thanks to those who donated. - Provision of Bibles for presentation during our trip We thank God we were able to collect 80 Bibles when in Kenya and brought them to Uganda. It was decided not to present them as any centre waiting require more and it is difficult to give to some children and not others. They have been left with Joyce. Pray for more. In particular, one large denomination are bringing together all of their children from various Churches at the end of August and would like Pastor Aringo there to present Bibles.....close on 300 are needed for this. - Meeting with School staff regarding building project We had a good time with the staff and students of the School and were able to discuss the work they need done. We are hopeful the project will go ahead and are expecting some more detailed information through from the school very soon. - Protection against the attacks of the enemy The devil always tries to unsettle....but God had the victory. - Teaching and Preaching preparation before we travel We felt that we ran out of time just before we travelled due to some unexpected events. However, the Lord enabled us to have most preparation done and we had time on arrival to finish off what had been started. - Teacher training in Kisumu in partnership with Kenyan Church We really enjoyed the teacher training seminar which was held in an FPFK Church not far from Kisumu. It was a different timetable as we only taught a few of the subjects from our 3 day seminar. Numbers were smaller than expected due to it being a week day and people had work commitments. However, those that came were very keen and we felt that they really listened and contributed well to the teaching. We have been invited to return in the future to hold a further seminar. ----- We thank you for praying for us and we thank God for answering. In next week's blog I will share some updates from the remaining prayer points. The need is great. Please pray that we will know much guidance in the coming days as decisions are made and |
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August 2022
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