Life has many Ebbs and Flows

Righteous took this when we were driving to a part of Kenya we had not yet been to. We are so thankful for all the opportunities God gives us.

The Bible studies have been continuing on Friday afternoons ranging from 4-6 seekers and new believers with Muslim backgrounds. When our family traveled to Nairobi to say goodbye to interns, the farmworkers met at Amos' house. This gave us much reason to rejoice- that no matter if we are physically in Garissa or not God's word will be studied. 

      As recently as 3 months  ago one of the men finally realized that the gospel has been being preached for many years at the farm. He now saw that Jesus's name was proclaimed at every function, at each Christmas outreach, and whenever grilled meat was eaten to celebrate a holiday. He admitted that he did not recognize this at the time. Now he had eyes to see the many seeds that were planted throughout the years but never had seen them before. Hearing him say these words was a shock. Scripture explains that this has been happening throughout many generations. We are not held accountable for who does or does not understand the Good News. Instead it is an honor to tell of all that Jesus has done. There is transformation when an individual finally understands the truth- and we rejoice upon this testimony. 

""We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God's wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." 1 Corinthians 2: 6-8

"This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for

'Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him?'

But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2:3-16

On a totally different note than our regular context......

Last  week we went to Kagio, Kenya an area our family has never been . We have been blessed as a family to form so many relationships with churches and individuals all over Kenya and the US.  We have a strong partnership with a church in Nashville, TN Cornerstone Nashville. A friend of ours from Cornerstone was leading a team from Nashville Life Church to go on their first mission trip to help a church in Kenya expand.  We quickly volunteered to help how we could to handle logistics and our team was involved with the fabrication of the building as well. Jason and Amos oversaw the fabrication of the building.

      Our family, along with Amos and Grace, were invited to be part of a church building project together with Nashville Life Church. In Gtown every home is surrounded by high walls, but in Kagio you could look out into the neighbors yard down the road. There were 21 believers from Nashville Tennessee who came to help with this project. This team also organized with the local church to go door to door evangelizing. All four of our daughters got to walk around the village and witness how the name of Jesus was professed. This is not an option where we live but in Kagio there is complete freedom to do so. Our oldest 3 girls got to participate by praying for the requests people had.  They were by far the most popular attraction of the week for the locals and the visitors. The Nashville Life Church team loved our girls well and really made them feel special. Which of course is true but that doesn't mean they always come away feeling loved and encouraged. The pastor that came from America preached in the village Square both afternoons we were there. The American believers joined in worship with the Kenyan believers and there was lots of dancing unto the Lord. Meanwhile I enjoyed spending time with Grace. She and I can go weeks without seeing each other due to our commitments in life so I treasured getting to talk with her all day long. Jason and Amos and Rob (friend from Tennessee) faced all kinds of challenges with the building project. The land was not flat so they had to make adjustments in order to have the building be level. This caused everything to be behind schedule so that building had to go on into the night using the headlights from our vehicles in order to see. When it came time to screw the bolts in the highest places, a ladder was used on top of the bus to reach. Despite all this, the structure was completed. May it be used for the villagers to gather underneath and dive in deep to what the Bible says so that lives will be changed.

In another super fun and random note the Pastor of Nashville Life Church is Pastor Alvin Love III the son to Alvin Love II and Cece Winans and he never even name dropped once ! Yall she cleaned house at the Dove Awards the week before ! Hope to see him and meet his parents on home assignment next year in Nashville.  

If you haven't heard it check out song Believe for it ! Its Fire!

The girls made friends fast. Photo time during meal times. 

The landscape in Kagio, Kenya.

Bags of cement, sand, stones= ingredients to make concrete. 

My honey starting up the cement mixer. 

Grace and I. My heart is full getting to spend time with her.

One of these little boys started playing with her hair to give her a new look.

Church structure going up.

The footing here had to be raised up. So bricks were added in with the concrete to get the job done. Rob and Amos.

Getting the air bubbles out.

Righteous and Nevaeh learned hand clapping games from the local kids.

Names were carved into the wet cement. 

It was so great to see Lynn again. She came to Gtown last year and is planning to come to Gtown in February.