Sundays

Sundays are always such a great day for us here at the children's home.  It's our day to rest a bit in the afternoon but best of all, we get to minister to so many people in the community.  We hold children's church services and host over 100 kids typically.  Michael often takes advantage of the open invitations to preach the Gospel Truth at churches in the area.  We thank the Lord for these wonderful opportunities to spread the love of Jesus to those hurting and thirsting for the Lord.

1st Chronicles 4:10 "Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!" 

Ladies' Bible Study

We're excited that God is openning doors for Bible Studies!  Last Saturday, Michael, Gabriel, Nicole, Nati, and Danielle went to a youth Bible Study at a local church. 

On Wednesday, Nicole led the first ladies' Bible study at the children's home!  Thank you Sarah for translating for us.

Welcome Bella

We're so glad to have Bella with us!  She was thrown into the thick of things quickly, because she arrived about a month ago, while our GraceLife team was here.  She's been a great sport, and is adapting well to the area.  Thanks for being flexible Bella!! 

Left to Right: Victor, Brenda, Teresa, Bella, Bernard, Dennis, Winnie K.

Ugandans

We enjoyed a visit with new friends from Uganda!  Topista, Mary, and Sylvia visited the Children's Home and shared their amazing testimonies.  Afterward they spent the night with us at the hotel.  In the morning, Topista taught Kellie how to make crepes for breakfast!  These ladies are currently working as househelp in Nairobi.  We are so grateful for their visit, and for their love of Jesus!

Even More

Hillary, Roy, and Eliud (Now there's trouble!)

Gideon, Victor, Nickson, Dennis, and Bernard racing cars down the slide

More Pics

Winnie and Brenda eating lunch together.



Gabriel leading class 3 Sunday School in the gazebo built by the team
from GraceLife!  Hillary and another buddy helped with translating.

Some Recent Pictures

 

Discipleship

Through our time thus far in Kenya, we’ve seen the desperate need for Bible study and Christian discipleship for the people here.  Even though they may hear the animated sermons at their local church on Sunday morning, most people do not have access to a Bible and simply don’t understand the truths from the Word of God.   Some fruit from the recent community outreach has produced a great demand for further studies and leadership.  We know it’s a tremendous privilege to teach and counsel all who “have ears”.

Please be in prayer with us as we begin this week with two structured classes.  On Wednesday, Kellie and Nicole will lead a women’s study inside the children’s home.  On Saturday we will be at a nearby African Inland Church (AIC) and focusing on young adults, ages 16-30.

Artwork

During the team’s visit, we were blessed that Jackie was willing to paint some artwork on the inside of the fellowship hall of the new house.  Thank you so much Jackie for adding color and character to the lives of the children!

Door to Door with the Team

We had such a great time these past two weeks while the Grace Life Baptist team was visiting.  Maybe most people's favorite experience was the door-to-door visits and street evangelism.  So many people were met and decisions for Christ were made everytime we went out.  Thank you Lord Jesus for saving me and all of these new brothers and sisters!

GLBC Team 1 Visit Pictures

More Pictures of our ministry with the first team from Grace Life Baptist...

Grace Life Baptist Mission Team Visit

It's been a really full visit thus far for the 12 person team from our home church - Grace Life Baptist in Christiansburg, VA.  The days have been filled from morning till night ministering to hundreds of children in the schools, walking door-to-door spreading the Gospel message in the community, building a gazebo, swingset, seesaw, cleaning the streets of Flax and spending the evening time with the Grace of God children.  Thank you to those who have sacrificied so much to be here.

 

Sunday Blessings



Around 100 in attendance at our church service today!

Wow, how we are blessed ! Today is July 1st, the start of a new month, the beginning of our mission team's visit, and the first day we have existed inside of the new building. Although it's not complete, we were able to move tables and chairs in this morning and hold our church service. We are so thankful for all of the prayers, contributions, and visits of all of you who are assisting us with this project! So much more than you can imagine, you are altering the future of so many lives here in Kenya.

Children's Choir

The Mission Team is Here !

The team from Grace Life Baptist has arrived !  After a long 3 days of traveling, the team from VA has arrived here at the Grace of God Children's Home.  Twelve members along with 6 of our college girls and 4 of the children from the home enjoyed a long trip from Nairobi.  Thank you to all who made this trip possible for them all.  Our local community will never be the same.

Vehicle Woes

The engine of the truck died on us this week, just in time for a mission team from VA to arrive.  We know that God will provide throughout our challenges.  The mechanics are doing most of the work here in the yard at the hotel.  It took seven of us to hoist the engine out.  It's normal here for the auto repairs to be done wherever the car breaks down.  Nearly everytime we drive to the city of Eldoret, we pass at least 1 vehicle stopped in the driving lane with a few mechanics underneath.

Painting Begins

Painting has begun at the children's home!  We've been painting the girls bedrooms this week and hope to complete them and the bathroom shortly.  The children are all so excited by the progress and also the new colors for their rooms.

 

Our Visitors

  

We've had the great pleasure to host these six young ladies over the past few weeks. The 12 of us have all been staying in the same house, sharing food and only 1 shower! It's been a great time for all of us though and we have been blessed by the experience. The children at the Grace of God Home have been noticeably more energetic and jovial during this time. It truly is amazing how much a little love and attention can improve the attitude of a child.

Alley Cleanup

An alleyway right in the middle of our nearby town of Flax where our friend Pastor Titus and his new bride Monica now live.  You might think that this is just a seldom used side alley but in fact it is the walkway to the front of a large set of apartments housing dozens of families.  This path at night is especially trecherous without a flashlight.  We'll take it on in a couple of weeks as a cleanup project to help display the love of Christ to this community.

Roof Progress

Final roof construction on the house has begun this week with hopes to have it completed in the next few days before our first team of visitors come from our home church of GraceLife Baptist in Christiansburg, VA.  Painting inside the bedrooms has also begun this week and our visiting college girls are making great headway.

Benard poses in the foregroung of the new children's home.

Father's Day in Kenya

Oh yeah, I got a new shirt !!!

Wedding Day !

Congratulations to our friends Pastor Titus and Monica as they were wed on Saturday, June 16th at Titus' home church.  It was truly a wonderful service and the bride and groom are enjoying their new life together.  Gabriel and Vincent were honored to be the ring bearers during the service. 

All of the children and staff at the Grace of God Children's Home were able to attend as well as the Medlin family and our 6 visitors so the muzungus were well represented :)

Ephesians 5:31   "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

Remember the birthday package?

Thank you GraceLife ladies for your encouragement, from far and near! Your birthday wishes arrived in Eldoret, Kenya (30 minutes from us) on April 13th. I don't know what happened to that package during the next 2 months, but it found its way to me today!  God's timing is perfect.

  

It's great to have Shantel and Mindy here with us!

Eliud, Dennis, Christina, Mindy, Jacob, Teresa, and Sharon playing Spoons at our house

Church this morning at the Grace of God Children's Home in Kenya.  Thank you Lord for your message from John chapter 11.  We are well over 60 strong in attendance and the neighbors are all asking to be allowed to come.  People are hungry for the Word!

Visitors

Thanking God for our visitors! 

We're so grateful to have these girls sharing the love of Jesus with the children at the Grace of God Children's Home. (From top left) Mindy - VA, Briggi - GA, Sarah our full-time matron, Danielle - PA, Shantel - VA, Joi - GA, Natalie - FL.   

Celebration Time

This past Friday was a national holiday here in Kenya, something related to independance.  The children were out of school on Friday and so to celebrate, we had them all come to the hotel where we stay to spend the day playing games, watching a movie, and just hang out.  As part of our celebration night, 3 of the kids won a competition to see who could repeat all 22 of the verses we've been memorizing and also say all of the books of the Bible. 

Congratulations to Teresa, Sharon, and Hillary.  The girls each received a new copy of the Childrens Adventure Bible and Hillary was given the devotion book - Life On Purpose for Men.

Home Church





 

Inside the chicken coop - Michael teaching and Sharon translating

Another Sunday, another opportunity to worship the Lord here in Kenya with our brothers and sisters in Christ. In fact, the neighbors are asking us if they can be allowed to come and worship with us.  Of course we are excited to have the opportunity to worship with as many as possible, however we have some limiting factors right now - primarily space and language barrier.  So our approach has been to quietly allow a few neighbor kids to come and visit with us, but only as many as we can handle. Today's service saw 27 visitors in addition to our 17 children plus the 5 short-term missionaries we have and the 6 Medlins. That's a total of 55 for service! Praise the Lord! To make room for everyone, we moved our service inside of the chicken coop (yes, you read that correctly). Please pray with us that the new building will be completed very shortly so that we can move into that house and also for translators to come with a heart for these children.



55 in attendate for our church service inside the chicken coop