Arrival in South Africa

Hello friends,

Just a quick note to let you know that I arrived safely in South Africa. The travel in the plane took us about four hours.

The country is beautiful and I really love it. Though it is winter now in South Africa. It is very cold as compared to our African average of about 18 Celsius, when cold. Right now, it is about 9 Celsius here.

We have people from different places of the globe arriving for the Amahoro Gathering, and I look forward to meeting some of them. Here are some pictures of the Amahoro opening.

Enjoy the pictures and have a great day.
God Bless
Jonah

Meeting in Tenwek

This week has been a bit busy. We attended a meeting in Tenwek, that was meant to encourage us and teach us about the new things that are coming up, things like the challenges for the church in the coming years. We realize that the church as whole is facing grave challenges in these last days.

We heard of the church in China & India and the weak church growth in Europe. We felt that our prayers are very much needed in the Arab world too. Overall, we felt this was a great conference of learning about the challenges of the world church & a time to encourage one another and be encouraged.

Continue to pray for Africa too as the church here has really been weakened by teachings that are not 'of the Lord' and we really need prayer support to overcome this. We thank you for your prayers.

Because He lives
Jonah

JESUS CALLS THE CHILDREN (& Pastor Jonah Calls the Children's Writers)

hello friends,

it is always a great joy to see young ones coming to the saving knowledge of Christ through Vacation Bible school (VBS). this week alone we were able to reach about 100 boys and gals in the village through VBS.

in VBS we have games, songs, colouring, making puzzles and memorizing scriptures. this year our theme was God's LOVE

we divide the students into three levels:
-beginners - those in kindergarten
-lower - involves those in lower grades
-upper - those in upper grades.

we do this every vacation (when the term end's and the kids are free, like this month of December ). what a joy to see so many of them committing to serving God even in these last days.

on another matter, i will need your prayers and volunteerism (am sorry i can't pay u). i am greatly involved in writing and editing children's books. if u are gifted in writing simple children's stories, let me know (kericho120@yahoo.com). u will not need to travel over to africa (though u are most welcome). the internet is a great help.

Travels: Kenya, Uganda

For the last two weeks i have been traveling a lot. i was first in a meeting in nazarine university for university students ...and we had an exciting camp there. u can get more info from this link http://www.anu.ac.ke/africaablaze/

i had also a camp meeting in kericho, kenya for kids and teachers and i was involved a lot with this group here. we were about 100 of us there.

i was also fortunate to travel to kampala, uganda for a conference on evangelism....many leaders from around the world attended......about 400 attended...we were about 20 from kenya and on the picture is a group from kenya and my former classmates from college that we met together in this rare occassion...most of them are working with unreached people groups in Kenya...pliz pray for them...Bill Thomas was one of our teachers...and lucky i found his website...though i was looking for the luis palau ministry that supported our stay there....(i got to know them in these travels).

here is Dr. Bill's website and description of this meeting http://www.bill-thomas.org/sept2008.html

have a great day and God Bless
Jonah

p.s thank God that i was able to go this meetings though ...i was told of this meetings last minute and the cost involve in the travels... when i got the invite, God worked miraculously ....all credit goes to Him

Living to Serve

this is a story of Mr. Koech. he has been serving for over 40 years in the college i attended...he came here while he was young and now he is old. he is about 70 years of age.

he rides home in his bicycle and has little to show for the toil and hard work that he has had over the last 40 years...but he is happy to have served here.

he told me of a number of missionaries that he worked with. some of their kids are now doctors, pilots, and many other things...he played with them and cuddled them... and now they are far away...

my thoughts are that ....service in its true sense demands a lot of dedication and love for it.........this is what has made Koech to serve here for the last 40 years..... without regret.....and he is still ready to serve even more.....

I love his charisma, his attitude to work ....and his being able to read and write at his advanced age..without the aid of spectacles. he rarely goes to hospital though Koech is nearing about 70 plus years now....and he still rides his bike home.....Praise be to God.

in the other picture u see me admiring a car that was about to be dedicated to its owner. this is mitsubishi 4x4. it looks good for africa where roads are sometimes impassable.

i hope u enjoyed this moving story....otherwise have a great week.

Because He lives......
Jonah

Back from Rwanda

hello, i hope you are doing great! i have had a busy 10 days traveling and attending a conference. i was able to attend to a conference in kigali, rwanda for about 6 days. the sixth day actually was a visit to the city and the memorial center, where the remains of the genocide has been put aside for historical purposes. the visit to this site is scary, for those who are light hearted. this was my 4th visit to this place and so i was a bit hardened [prepared].

the greatest question that most folks need to ask ourselves is where were we in 1994? that [question] came back and forth in the conference. Brian Mclaren encouraged us to ask ourselves what we can do now in rebuilding the lost glory of neighborliness in our society...since what happens in your backyard, it ripples far and wide and the society needs to come to terms with that.

the conference was awesome. we had so many people from diverse backgrounds, some of them highly educated. sometimes u could feel out of place in front of all the phd's and masters degrees, but we were all serving our creator in one way or another. i face this reality when i presented a case for the post elections violence in kenya and what the church did. it was a frightening moment to answer for the whole country .....but i was glad to get God's inspiration to be able to present the case that was agreed to by the folks from home and there in Rwanda. The painful truth was that the church was divided, and we had little or no training on conflict management. Thank God we could pray.

The hardest part of the journey was travelling as we took the whole 2 days to arrive home. it was so tiring, i had to rest for a day or two so that i could continue with my normal duties again.
thanks alot for your prayers......

Because He lives
Jonah
p.s. enjoy the pics. there was a report about the american indians as well.....it was so nice.

Reconciliation & Forgiveness

[Photo caption: Dr. Celestine, front, red shirt]

hello,

this past week has been really great...we have been bonding...with our friends from other communities and building peace from within. this was made possible through a meeting that over 16 denominations & and other opinion leaders were invited to...to think together about the future of our country. i was among those who were invited.

after the meeting, we felt like we were renewed afresh and that FORGIVENESS and RECONCILIATION was a must before the next step was made. we were taught that, forgiveness in itself was not understanding nor tolerating, but it was some kind of imaginative thought of letting go...of what happened and hoping for the best in the future thru God's help.

our main facilitator was Dr. Celestine

Musekura, who is the President of Africa leadership and reconciliation Ministries (ALARM). He is a graduate from Dallas Seminary ..but most of all....he is a 'graduate' of 'forgiveness' as he lost his own father to their [tribe's] rival communities....back in 1997,

after the genocide of 1994 in Rwanda. he told us he had forgiven those who killed his father, and that was fresh thoughts for us. at the end of the week, we felt that we needed to greet each other, and start the long way of foregiveness again....indeed it was a touching week.

Dr. Celestine has been tranversing the country teaching about forgiveness. i hope we 'catch' this and grab it [the vision] for ourselves. as we need this ....right now after the post-election violence. i felt really relieved......when i saw him fly out of Kisumu Airport to Nairobi on the way to another country. we need these kind of men ....the Most at now...

have a great day

God Bless

Peace, Jonah

Good news in Kenya

Finally there is good news from Kenya. The politicians have a greed to work together ...we are so excited, everyone is talking about it.....and the economy is expected to pick up again, although we hear there is some kind of recession in the world economy. Nonetheless we are a happy people. atleast everyone is thinking the same way....and that is the country we want to build.

We also give our thanks to you for your prayers ..and not forgetting the former united nations secretary Dr. Koffi Annan, Former president of Tanzania Benjamin Mkapa and Nelson Mandela's wife Graca Machel. They all spent their time seeking peace that was almost going to be elusive for us here in Kenya.

U can get more information from this link from cnn.comhttp://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/17/kenya.cabinet/index.html

God Bless
Jonah

New Beginnings

Last Friday I went with a team of Christian leaders to take food to the displaced in Eldoret (see my January 11th post). The next day I attended a wedding and it was a great break. It was also great because it is a demonstration of the blending of western and African cultural backgrounds. Not only that, it speaks to the love of God for all his people and how christians should be able to transcend racial divides.

The bride has been a missionary here in Kenya for several years and has been running an orphanage that cares for 29 children. The groom is from my tribe, the Kalenjin tribe of Kenya.

In Kalenjin culture, the family of the groom must pay a dowry to the family of the bride. In this case, the father of the bride is "planning" on taking the dowry (of cows) back to Ohio, USA. Dowries can also include sheep and/or goats.

Life is not yet back to normal here and the political situation is still tense. Please continue to pray for peace here in Kenya so that celebrations like this will continue and peace for all Kenyans will prevail. Thank you so much for your prayers.

Pastor Jonah

Grace Home, Rwanda and Me

Hi everyone,

I am so excited to report to you about what the Lord has been doing over here in East Africa. The Lord has continued to be with us at this time, though I can call this time, a hard time for us as we were attacked in all ways by the evil one. Here is a small report of what has been happening over the past few months.

Grace Home
The ministry at Grace home has been ongoing and we thank God for this opportunity to serve Him there. Grace has been going through some hard times during this past month as she has recently lost her dad. This was really the hardest part of it as the children had to be taken care of by someone else during this time.

Here in Africa, someone will not be burried until all the family members arrive. This was the most significant part for this family as they had to wait for their relatives who live very far apart to arrive. We thank God that they were all able to come to the funeral. We also thank God that Grace's father gave part of the land required for the contruction of the church for the church denomination that I serve with. Hopefully this will be finished soon and the people will be able to go there and worship.

My travels - Rwanda
I was fortunate to travel to Kigali, Rwanda to preach. I was really lifted by the way the country has changed over time and learned to accept the conflict that happened in that part of the world. We saw so many skulls and body bones that were spread everywhere in one of the churches that has been kept as a memorial center. This was really a
touching experience and you need to be the one who can to see it before you can really feel it and tell the story of what happened there. While we were there we were treated to a performance by Rwandan dancers. Here is a photo of the dancers.

My home and kids
The kids are doing great. Some of them are sitting for exams now. Please continue to pray for them. The Lord has continued to be their strength and I love the experience of watching them grow. We do pray that the needs here now can be met in one way or another by God's grace and provision....otherwise enjoy your day!!
and God Bless
Pastor Jonah

Pray for new Corn Crops

Hello to all of you in cyber world.

I am happy that so many of you have continued to view this blog and I am really excited about that!! Thank you too for lifting us up in your prayers. What I do pray for is to hear from you. Let me know what you think about my blog which is dedicated to the children of Africa. Or let us know that you have prayed for us or send me your prayer requests. kericho120@yahoo.com

Right now I am happy to report that we are grateful to the Lord for His provision for the daily food requirements and other daily needs of the orphans.

At the same time, we are planning for the planting season that starts in January. Please pray for the much needed resources (land rental, seed and fertilizer and some small funds to feed the workers) to do the work on the fields.

God Bless and hope to hear from you as the Lord leads. Brother Jonah Kipkorir

Thanksgiving is Upon Us in Canada

Hi readers, in a few days Thanksgiving will be upon us. What are we to be thankful of in Canada? There are so many things: a peaceful country; relatively clean air to breathe; plenty of water to drink, bathe and wash; food to eat, and if you are homeless, places to feed you and help you enjoy Thanksgiving with traditional turkey and dressing...I could go on with my list but I think you get the idea.

Sometimes it is easy to take for granted those things that we have and easier yet to complain when things are not perfect in our eyes. Despite the issues of the day here in our own country and the variety of issues that some of us face, there are so many things I've grown to appreciate and love about Canada: homeless shelters and food banks, the old age pension plan, the assistance for the mentally challenged, the numerous agencies that help care for and support those that need it, and the charitable and compassionate nature of Canadians. I know we can do more for those in need here at home, but life is very rich compared to many other countries, including African nations like Kenya.

At this time of year, I would ask you to consider those in Africa who have no change of clothes; no running water; no indoor toilet; no regular food; no shoes to wear despite the rain; no bedding to lie down on at night and no assurance of an education; no money to see the doctor when sick and no funds for medicines even if you can see the doctor. These are things that most of us here in Canada will never have to experience, let alone experience them on a daily basis. For that, we can be truly thankful. Even with these hardships, my friends in Kenya do not want pity or a hand out, they simply want a hand up, a hand of support as they strive toward building better lives which are self-sustaining and God centered.

As you spend time this weekend reflecting on the ways in which you give thanks, may you take a few moments to consider what you might do to assist those in Africa, and in particular through Kericho, Kenya's Missions of Hope. Much Love xoxox Sister Penny Joy