Well the weather forecast had said it was going to be a cold weekend. We were brought into a false sense of security on Friday morning as it didn't start out too bad at the market. But then mid-morning the temperature dropped and everyone was just freezing cold. We were so glad to get home to the heat....but it took quite a few hours to warm up. We wrapped up with plenty of layers on Saturday, but thankfully, whilst it started off quite cold, it did improve as the day went on.
Many people had obviously decided to stay indoors as the market was definitely quieter than normal for the time of year. Nevertheless the Lord did help and we got on ok. Our little newspaper ad for the firewood etc. paid off again as we gained another new customer who had 10 bags of coal delivered! In Africa this week there has been much excitement among our workers. A good friend of ours who is a children's worker in a big denomination in Kenya, is organising a conference from 6 - 9 November in Kisumu, Western Kenya. The conference will be attended by many Pastors, Sunday School Teachers etc. After some consideration we felt that it would be so good for our workers to attend and we thank God that He has made it possible for us to have funds available to pay the registration fee (which covers food and accommodation) for our workers and also to cover their transport there and home. To travel to Kisumu from Nairobi, for example, will take maybe 5 or 6 hours. Pastor Aringo, Moses, Pastor Meshack and Joyce are definitely all travelling and Dan will confirm to us this week. Some of them also hope that the Lord will provide for their families to attend with them. Children are welcome! It will be a great opportunity even for the FML family to be together. Having looked at the programme we can see that it promises to be an excellent seminar and we believe that our team will benefit greatly from being in attendance. We trust they will learn much which will encourage them as they return to their responsibilities within FML. We pray for the organisers as they prepare over the coming days. There is a little sadness accompanied with all of the excitement as Dad, William and I would just love to be there with them all and it has made us miss them all, especially as we think back to this time last year when we were just making preparations to go out. However, the three of us have been invited by a christian organisation here to attend a dinner on one of the same evenings, so as we come together and attend something special, in a small way it will help us to think of them and to feel a part of what is happening. As we enter this incoming week, we ask you to especially remember the missionary weekend. William and I spent some time last night working out our programme for the Sunday School which we will take next Sunday afternoon. We will also have the FML stand at the missionary exhibition on Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings. With the market stall on as normal during the day on Friday and Saturday, it promises to be a very busy weekend. Please pray that many new people will be made aware of FML as a result of the weekend and that good contacts would be made. Pray especially for us as we share with the children. We will let you know next week what the programme consisted of. Thank you once more for your continued prayers. We always appreciate your support.
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Another week has passed and we thank God again for His help. On Monday Pastor Meshack spent some time visiting Churches in regard to our lessons and there was substantial interest with the potential for another 250 children to be registered.
We are glad that this week Pastor Aringo was able to forward some Bibles to Moses in Nakuru and we look forward to them being distributed among children in the near future. We have communicated with one of the possible new markers in Nakuru area and are encouraged by their enthusiasm. Pray that God will give wisdom in appointing new markers. We thank God that Joyce has found someone who may be interested in marking in Uganda also. This is not definite as yet so we ask for your prayers. All of our markers are volunteers and do not receive payment for being involved in our work. We do expect quite a bit of work and committment from them and whilst we appreciate that many are in need, payment is not something we are in a position to do at present. However, on the up side, we know that we have really dedicated people who are doing the work for the Lord and not for the money! We are delighted that 4 people are now enrolled on our next email course which will start in January and a number of others have been enquiring and asking for more information. Pray for the current students who will begin their final assignment at the beginning of November. Pray also that we can soon launch another email course which dad has been preparing over past months. This is part of the ministry we would like to develop in the future. The market went well again this weekend and we thank God for that. The weather was mild which always helps! During the first weekend in November (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) William and I will have the FML stand at a missionary convention and we will also be sharing with the children of the Sunday School. Please pray for us both as prepare for the weekend, but in particular for the time with the children. Please continue to pray that boys and girls will be saved....this is why FML exists. We pray that children will come to know the Lord. Thank you for your continued prayers for the work of God among the children. We had previously mentioned some concerns we had about the lessons in the Kisii area of Kenya. We thank God for 100 children who have been enrolled yesterday. Lessons will be sent to the representative for the area and we pray that the Lord will bless as these boys and girls begin to study. Lessons will also be sent out tomorrow to Malaba in Western province and also to Nakuru. We thank God for His help at the market and for the finances brought in. We thank God, that after our market rent was paid, we were left with £150 which has been sent to Africa this morning. As our current child protection course draws near an end, we have sent out emails notifying of our intention to run another course, beginning in January. Already we have one person definitely registered and a few others who have been making enquries. Last week I spent a lot of time compiling a very detailed database to assist us in our work and am glad that much progress was made. This week I hope to begin some preparation for some meetings coming up soon, do a little more work on the database and hopefully some work on Bible lessons. We were delighted to receive some photos from Pastor Aringo of a recent Bible presentation in a school near Kisumu. We have good memories of visiting this same school just over 2 years ago. We are delighted to see the children receive their Bibles and ask you to pray for them as the begin the second part of our course. We hope you will enjoy looking through the photos below. We thank God for all of those who have been studying on our Child Protection email course. 19 children's workers enrolled on this course. Not all have continued but we are thankful for those who have. Currently students are working on Assignment 9. Assignment 10 will see the course completed. We hope we will be able to run it again and will learn from some of the teething problems of this first email course. We pray that it will continue to be of benefit to those who have been seeking to learn. We also hope to start another email course soon.
It seems there are never enough hours in the day to implement all of the ideas we have, but we trust that the Lord will continue to guide us and give us wisdom as we take each step. We had a really good time at the market this past weekend as we see things get busier now that Winter is approaching. We are also delighted that the online order form here on our website is also be used by those requiring blocks etc. Please continue to pray that the Lord will bless the work among the children in the coming days and show us the way forward in Kenya, Uganda and here in Northern Ireland. Thank you for your prayers. Our hearts are heavy today for the family of the child who was killed in a grenade attack in Nairobi yesterday. We ask you to pray that the Lord will comfort them and bring peace in the midst of this terrible tragedy. Remember also the other children and indeed adults who were caught up in the events of the day. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them all. You can learn more of what happened by clicking HERE. Meanwhile, we would ask you to pray for our ministry as it continues in Uganda. We spoke briefly to Joyce a few days ago and she estimates that around 600 children will be ready for Bibles in November. We are excited and encouraged to hear this news...yet disappointed that we probably won't be able to be there in person for the first presentation in Uganda. Please pray for funds to purchase these Bibles as well as many more copies which are needed in Kenya. Yesterday we also received an email from a brother in the Lord in Uganda. He writes: "Greetings to you my sister pamela To day was a wonderful day in our church. Sister Joyce visited us and the children, so they have started the lessons, the lessons are good and i understand they are going to do good in their lives and thank you for starting them. thanks" We were so excited to read this latest news and thank God for the desire in the hearts of those in leadership to bring the Gospel to the boys and girls in their congregations. Please pray for these little ones as they begin to study. More than ever we want to return, not only to Kenya, but to be able to make our first visit to Uganda. Please pray that God will provide so that we can organise this very soon. We feel it is vital that we visit Uganda so that we are more familiar with the area and with our ministry in that part of the world. I also thought you may like to see some photos of the newest addition to the FML family. Our brother Mike, who assists Pastor Aringo in our Nairobi office; recently became the proud father of a beautiful little girl called Mary. He and his wife prayed for many years for this precious little gift and we rejoice with them that God has answered prayer. Pray for this lovely family. We continue to give God thanks for all that He has been doing. After a good weekend at the market, today we were able to transfer some more money out to Africa to be used in our ministry in both Kenya and Uganda. We thank God for this. Please pray that we will continue to know God's blessing in this practical part of our work. Pray for William as will have added work in cutting blocks and sorting the coal and firelighters etc. for sale at the market as the busy Winter season approaches.
We continue to look to the Lord to bless in all that we seek to do for Him and thank you once more for standing with us in prayer. |
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August 2022
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