Obama Land

God's Amazing Children

Without exception, every day of life here in Kenya is full of the unexpected.  Sunday afternoon I thought I was going to town for a business meeting only to find myself at a rescue home for albino children.  I had the pleasure to share lunch with and speak to these 40 children about God's love for them.  It truly breaks your heart to see the pain these unwanted children have experienced as they are rejected by their families and communities.  I'm so very excited to take a planned opportunity to come back to these children and provide them with just a little something that will brighten their lives.  Are you willing to assist them in some way???

Equator

I'm not sure why it interests me so much but I always enjoy stopping at the earth's center line.  Here I am with Pastor Titus as we came through on our way home from Nairobi on saturday.

GOGCP Property Design

With 5 acres of land and only the houses currently on site, we're left with the decision of designing the rest of the property.  Here's a basic sketch of how the layout might result.

Kindergarten

Our 3-month visitor Kimi, has jumped right into the ministry by helping teach the kindergarten classes at our local school.  Well over 100 children aged 3-6 are being taught a basic understanding of the Bible, English language, and Arts. Could God also be calling you to serve in the ministry in this way?

Teaching Ministry

Today was Kellie's first day of teaching the 7th grade English class at the local school.  She has one 7th grade class consisting of 70 students each day.  We're taking full advantage of the freedom of religion here in the Kenyan school system.  We'll be using the Bible as a major resource to improve their English grammar and writing skills.  That's certainly one way to make sure these kids are in God's Word each day :-)  Praise the Lord for such an opportunity!  Do you have a heart for children and teaching?  There is a huge need for volunteers at the local public school.  "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

The Foundation Is Coming Up !

Here is a shot of David's father alongside Jacob standing on the top level of the foundation wall.  Next week, the slab will be poured and then - onward and upward!

Notice the metal building in the background - a temporary building with a storeroom on the left side and the right side is where the 8-10 builders sleep on the ground.

Pizza Sure Is Good...

Wow, Pizza sure does taste good here in Africa.  Our biggest struggle may be the food here, or more specifically, the lack of variety in the Kenyan diet.  After eating ugali and beans and rice day after day, it is such a relief to eat some traditional pizzas and Coke.  And eat them we did!  We've found an excellent restaurant nearby in Eldoret serving Italian foods but we haven't sampled anything but the pizza - because it is so good and we crave it so much :)

These Soccer Balls Just Don't Last...

We've tried synthetic soccer balls and also full leather balls and neither will last more than a few days on the turf in Africa.  Please consider sending us the "indestructible futball" so we can begin our soccer league ministry here in the surrounding community.  Contact Chris Jarvis for more information on donating towards this cause.

Movie Night at a New Church

Today we had movie night at our friend Pastor Peter Tomno's church in the center of the town of Flax.  We showed the Jesus Film for Children translated into Swahili to over 200 children.  This will be a huge place of ministry in this place including many "street children" who do not know our Lord.

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Cooking Popcorn over a fire!

Waterfall

A day of fun at a nearby waterfall on the Kaptagat River.  The children had never seen such a wonder before and were thrilled at the adventure.

Helping a friend harvest her corn

Harvesting maize by hand.  I don't think I could've done it in flip flops and a skirt like Jane.  Thanks for the work gloves, Wendy!    Next week we beat and pick the kernels off and load up the bags for her to sell at the market.

Sponsors

Our primary mission here in Kenya is to provide and care for the orphaned and needy children.  However, we can't do this alone.  One way we hope to facilitate this is by matching up financial sponsors with individual children at the orphanage.  It requires a small amount to provide for the food, clothing, and school fees for one child each month.  

One of our youngest children is Victor.  He has done well in his kindergarten class, and this year has been skipped ahead a whole year because he is so bright!  His ever present smile makes him easy to spot within his class of over 100 students.  Would you be willing to sponsor Victor and provide for his small, daily needs?

We hope that he, and the other 16 children at the orphanage will become shining examples of what the love of Christ can do in someone's life.  Contact us today via email or read further at www.graceofgodchildren.org if you are interested in finding out what it takes to provide for the needs of one of these sweet children.

Foundation Work

Digging the foundation for the new Grace of God Children's Home.  14 guys with hoes and shovels did it in one day!

Karibu Kimi !

We're so excited to have our first visitor here in Kenya!  Kimi is our friend from Virginia, has just graduated from college and is ready for missions work with the children.

Karibu Kimi !

New Beginnings

The children began the new school year this week on Monday.  We all memorized the verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.  Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.

It truly is a time for new beginnings.  The children are living in new buildings on a new property within a new community.  The neighboring children are all new to them, the school is new to them, they have moved up to a new class level and the Medlins are now here with them!  We are so blessed to be able to serve the Lord by loving these children!  Thank you God for providing us this opportunity.

God's Ways...

Stuck Truck

God's ways are definitely not the same as our ways.  Never before has this truth been so apparent than living in Kenya!  We're learning that we are truly not in control of what happens throughout our day. I have come to realize that living in the U.S., we are able to manipulate every circumstance and event in our schedules.  So much so that we do not allow the Lord God to intervene in our lives.  I now better understand the advice of allowing God to direct our paths.  So many lessons are hard to explain and may only be learned through experience.

Today was a good teaching of this lesson.  I had planned to have an afternoon of rest and time to prepare for my sermon on Sunday.  Instead, I've just gotten home at 1:00 in the morning.  Around mid-afternoon, I was lead to make a hospital visit to the aunt of our pastor friend, Peter Tomno.  It was apparent that this lady, Sarah, would not long survive the cancer that had taken hold.  I was asked to lead the group in prayer and in doing so I prayed the Lord to receive her spirit peacefully.  Shortly after leaving the hospital, we became stuck in a huge mud pit which delayed us for about two hours.  Praise God that he provided 14 local guys to come and pull us out!  While we were stuck, we received the phone call that told us Sarah had passed on to heaven.  The rest of my night involved a trip to the morgue and a time of mourning at the house of the deceased.

Throughout the day I had to continually control my resentment for not accomplishing the plan that I had begun the day with.  However, as I was alone driving back to the house late in the night, I was able to experience the joy of participating in God's call on my life for that day.  Praise the Lord for His ways!

Help, We Need Somebody !

Wow, it's such an exciting time here at the Grace of God Chidlren's Home in Kenya!  The Lord is blessing us and the children in such tremendous ways!


We've indeed been very busy thus far in Kenya, so much so that our days are too long in fact.  The children have now been relocated to the new site and there is so much to be done that is seems overwhelming.


Our work is really in two areas: children's ministry and construction.


I feel like we could handle the ministry side pretty well if that was
all we needed to focus on but the construction is actually going to
consume a majority of my time for the coming months.  We could
desperately use help from other people who can do many
different tasks and also work independently.  If you are at all
interested in coming, please get in touch with me and let's plan a trip 
as soon as possible.


We are now living in a comfortable setting at an old-British built
hotel which includes a ready-made restaurant.  We can easily
accommodate an individual or any size team. We've even got a hot water
shower installed here :-)


Urgency at the moment is critical in fact.  There is a huge list of
construction related tasks to do between now and before summertime.
The best season for work here is before April because the rains will
begin then.  Just to give you an idea of construction jobs that we
will need to complete independently of the contractors:  building a
water tower to hold a large tank and plumbing this to the home,
putting together a solar-power system to light the home until we are
able to have electricity brought, building many different furniture
pieces such as small tables,stools, shelving, benches, and cabinets,
constructing a large gateway onto the property, building a large
playground for the children & community, building a large gazebo as an
outdoor meeting area, planting trees and other landscaping.  These are
all items that we are definitely trying to accomplish in this year and
many of them area CRITICAL even today as the current situation is not
adequate for the children.


Please pray about how the Lord may be leading you to participate in the ministry here.
In addition to the list of items that we need to
construct, it would also be helpful to have an American person on site
during the construction of the primary house to advise the Kenyan
builders on better and more efficient construction methods and other
ideas.


I hope that you're excited about re-visiting Africa!  It's a truly
amazing place and I know that your time spent with us would be
personally fulfilling in many ways.  We'd love to have a big team come
and can use people regardless of their skills & interests.  Women
would be a great resource too who could simply visit with the children
at the center  Our time here in Kenya is a blessing to us and is nothing but fulfilling knowing that we are serving the Lord!  He is caring for us deeply!


We would love to hear from you soon.


Love,


The Medlin Family