HOLIDAYS AND BUSY DAYS

I trust you had a lovely Easter with your friends and family.  We have had a mixture of holidays and busy days over the past few weeks. 

The office in Nairobi has reopened after the holidays and we encourage anyone in Kenya to contact it if they are interested in our Bible Lessons or Teacher Training.

The school minisry in Nakuru will be having a break now for a short time as schools have closed for holidays for the next few weeks.

In Uganda we continue to be encouraged as we were contacted by another man who wishes to have the children in his Church and School enrolled on our lessons.  We thank God for the interest shown.

Here in Northern Ireland we enjoyed sharing in another house meeting on Friday evening and were once again blessed by the interest shown and the prayers of God's people.

Wednesday 1st May has been confirmed as the day which we will have a stand in a local shopping mall and we look forward to sharing the work of FML with those whom we meet.  More details later.

The market has been cold over the past couple of weeks and slightly quieter because of the holidays, yet still God has blessed.  We thank Him for His provision through this means and for those who have donated items for the stall and clothes in recent days.  We will soon be ready for another clothes collection.

We also continue to appreciate those who have donated financial gifts.  We thank God for general gifts and for those for the purchase of Bibles in recent days.

The preparation for our next trip is now in full swing and some purchases have been made for that too.  Very soon the preparation of children's lessons and teacher training will begin.  Please pray for me as I prepare this end of the work and also for William as he oversees the practical side and plans for the office.  We are delighted that we have been able to arrange to view some farming projects on our next trip too and I know William is particularly looking forward to this.

This week we have a very practical need to share in our mission trip focus.

MISSION TRIP FOCUS: As you will have realised by now, when we visit Africa we travel much around the country of Kenya and indeed on our next trip we will visit Uganda also.  None of this would be possible without a car.  We don't have one of our own and so we have to hire a vehicle.  Mostly the roads are in very poor condition and we face many bumps, pot holes and muddy ground.  A 4 x 4 vehicle is essential.  This year, because of the number of people who will be travelling around with us, we needed a slightly bigger car than normal also.  Please see photos at bottom of page with some of the roads we find ourselves on!

The cost is expensive.  To have the use of the vehicle we need to pay around £1800 depending on the exchange rate.  Around £400 of this is a security deposit and will be refunded to us provided the car is returned with no damage.  Currently we have a car reserved and our booking pencilled in, but we need to pay quite a large deposit to secure the vehicle and we would prefer to have the total needed before doing this as any deposit would be non-refundable. 

Please pray for this very important and vital need and help if you can.  Without a car our whole programme and ministry would have to change as public transport is not an option due to the amount of equipment and materials we have to bring with us; public transport isn't a suitable option for my dad; and, also, it doesn't reach a lot of the remote places we visit.  We really appreciate your prayers for this and trust we can secure the booking very soon. 

Please use the prayer list below to help you remember this and previous needs mentioned in regard to our trip.

MISSION TRIP PRAYER LIST:

- The need of £1800 to secure our hire car
- Meeting with markers and teachers in Nakuru
- Practical Work in Office
- Workers' Meeting

Close to Ngong town; this is typical of the road for quite a number of miles.

We drive on this road daily when in Nairobi. It is bumpy but especially muddy and slippy when wet. Next trip we will be in Nairobi for around 10 days.