Kenya Missions Update

November 03, 2006

Greetings in the Abundant & Merciful Love of Christ!

Thanks for your prayers as I traveled to Michigan in September. I was gone for 15 days. It was wonderful to be with family, especially my father and Gerry my stepmother. I was not able to travel and visit with all of you in Michigan, as I was told (by the missions Chairman of our sponsoring church) to enjoy my father and rest.

While gone, Grace and the girls drove out to Navillus Church one Sunday. Navillus is 16 miles out of town. When they went to leave after church, the car would not start. Someone went to the nearby town of Soy (3 miles away) and found a mechanic. From what Grace describes, he played with a lot of things. Phyllis, the preachers wife, and a whole bunch of the brethren stayed with her praying about the situation and offering encouragement. Grace and girls got home just before dark. The car has run well since, I am sure it was all those prayers!

For those of you who have been asking, furlough will be next year for us. We are looking at probably August to December. Starting in Michigan and ending in Texas. The girls are off of school in August for break, and by then Kirsten should have finished third grade. And hopefully Ruth will have most of her grade one done, so she will not miss out on this important year of learning to sound out letters and words.

Sammy Kibet who you read about in the last newsletter is with Charles Luvanda reviving the Kilimani Church. There is a young man in the church who is trained as a carpenter. But he had no resources to get started. So the church helped him by having him build benches for them. He had felt hopeless economically. Now he also has a small shop where he is doing his carpentry work. Also, Sammy went to his house and helped him to build a vertical vegetable garden from some plastic grain sacks. As a results of this, one day when Sammy was coming back home, a neighbor of this man called Sammy to her house. She goes to the Catholic Church. She told Sammy that she is giving him her 5 children to go to Sunday School at the Kilimani Church of Christ. Also, the Lord has brought an excellent Sunday School teacher to the church, Sammy tells me. Praise the Lord! See his prayer request below, #2.

FAMINE RELIEF – The weather patterns in Kenya have been really strange the last few years. In the Rift Valley, the rains came, people planted and then the rains left. The maize (corn) is about 4 foot tall and very small ears if any. While in the highlands, the rains also did the same thing, but came back in a few weeks and we will get a great harvest. We are going to need several thousand Dollars to help these brothers. $10,000 has been given by a Church of Christ Relief Fund. Please, if the Lord puts on your hearts to help, please mail a check to our sponsoring church and state it is for famine relief. South 11th and Willis Church of Christ, 3333 S. 11th Street, Abilene, TX 79605. There are 17 churches and about 900 people (including children) affected by this drought.

For supporters, we send snapshots twice a year. Maybe you can help, what would you like to see in future pictures? (culture, ministry, family? etc.) We hope to be able to send pictures via the internet. Then we can start to include pictures in the newsletter as well.

PRAYER ITEMS

1. JUMA – the street boy you read about in the last newsletter. One day the temptation was too strong for him and he stole Sammy’s cell phone and went back to the streets. Pray that the seed of truth about salvation in Jesus Christ that he heard will take root and his salvation will be in Christ and not in drugs.
2. Sammy and Rachael (and their two children) will stay at Kilimani from 6th -- 12th Nov. doing house to house evangelism and teaching. Pray for them to be received well and to be healthy.
3. Pray for our brethren in the Rift Valley who are experiencing famine.
4. Pray for our every day meetings and special meetings that are coming up in November.
1. 4th – Leaders meeting to elect a new trustee for Saroiyot Christian Training Centre and a committee to oversee the construction on the property. *(see note below)
2. 11th – Will attend a meeting at the Tungururuwet Cluster. Teaching men about women (?) and harvesting the maize experiment there and studying the results with them.
3. 17th – Meeting starts with 7 men. On 18th those who are helping to start the Leadership Training by Extension course will come from 9 AM – 2 PM. Then Cluster chairmen will come until after Sunday worship on the 19th. We will be about 25 men meeting for this last meeting. We will talk about some important things happening with the Churches of Christ in our area.
4. 20th – 23rd – A few us will attend a special meeting here in town that teaches how to study the Bible. After that course, they will give us 59 wonderful books and a CD with several other books on it. Some other brothers from other areas will travel to Eldoret to be with us.
5. December 8th – 12th – The annual Churches of Christ meeting will take place in Nairobi. Pray for safety as we travel there and that it would be a wonderful meeting where brethren will come home refreshed and encouraged.
6. Praise report as I have received my Work Permit for three years. Now pray for my Alien Registration card, which like the national ID card, everyone is required to carry with them.
7. NEEDED SUPPORT – First let us thank all of you who have been giving faithfully through the years! Sometimes we know financial conditions change and so as a results, we have lost some support for 2007 and also gained some. We are also waiting to hear from a couple of our supporters about 2007. So, we may be needing minimum of $400 per month or maximum $975 per month. We are trusting the Lord to meet our needs, He was very faithful for 2006.

KIRSTEN AND RUTH KORNER
We are trying our hand at raising some more baby broiler chicks. This time 150 of them. The first thing the girls do when they get home from school is to go and see them. I think that they have named every one of them. They remind me of the little girl in the book, Charlotte’s Web.

In September, a little boy at school called Georgie was causing them a lot of problems at recess. So, we decided after lots of talks of encouragement to “kill this boy with kindness”! Well it worked, I am told that now he is a ‘good’ boy.

And kids will be kids, so if someone says you are a fool, in a mild voice say back to them, “I am not a fool and neither are you”.

Ruthies favourite blessing “May a hundred angels be with you”

May His Name Be PRAISED! Keith, Grace, Kirsten and Ruth

* This plot was bought a number of years ago and has a Title Deed in the name of the Kenya Church of Christ. The Brethren up until this time have done little to develop it. Now they see the need of a place to meet after using the small place that Grace and I have built for meetings. They decided at the Annual August Leaders/Elders meeting that each cluster of churches should bring Ksh. 3500 ($50). A matching grant from my sponsoring church will be given to the amount that they raise. This will not be enough to build anything big, but it is a start. We have 26 clusters (but not all will be in a position to give because of famine.) I will let you know by the end of the year how the collection goes. Any encouragement you want to give the Brethren is also most welcome.