Sunday Service

Hello,


We had a great service here in Kericho, Kenya. 

We witnessed many new people coming to know Christ and the church had good attendance.

Please continue to pray for church growth in this area and for men to know Christ more.

After the service, we visited a family who had a good lawn and a great house. The host of the house was very welcoming to the guests who go to this church often.

The owner of the house also has a farm and so we had a great visit to his farm and saw the cattle, bananas and tea. It was so much fun. 

Enjoy the pictures

God bless,

Church Building & Fundraising

We had a great time at the church yesterday.

We had also some fundraising and we raised about $700. This will help towards laying the cement floor of the church. We need 40 bags of cement and some sand -- don't know how much sand.  You can read more about our long time church building program here.

Continue to pray for us too as we plan to buys pews soon.  Each pew costs about $15 US. Right now we are sitting on slabs of wood.  Afterwards the children had sugar cane as a treat.

Have a great day and God bless

The Sanctuary is Rising

Hello

Our new church building in Kepchurbet is coming up and we are so happy! We want to encourage you to help us, with just $15 you can help get good pews for our church.

We are looking forward to fundraising for the chairs and windows. Please continue to pray for us.

It is over 40 years since the sanctuary was started. We are finally getting somewhere and we are so glad. The school is getting a facelift too. The school is in the photo below (with blue doors).

We are looking forward to having a better future for the kids there and for us, as church members. You can read more about my home church and see some before photos here and here.

Otherwise enjoy the pics.
God bless.

See more photos from around the world here.I would appreciate hearing from you!

My Home Church

Hello,

I thought it would be nice to share with you the story of my home church in Chepkurbet, Kenya. The church was started initially by women. Now it is coming of age and men are joining in slowly by slowly.

Our home church has started about six sister churches since inception and we are really proud of that.
Our prayer is to see that we even start more churches within our community so that we can reach more for Christ. Pray with us.

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

A Week in Ministry

Hello,

I wanted to share my week, last week, in pictures with you. These are in addition to what was posted in the blog post Visiting Day. Early in the week, we distributed some seeds and fertilizers to people who could not plant this year because of one reason or the other. Some of the families are looking after orphans and some are not, but the needs are more than the people can bear so we had to do something to help them.

Little boy holds tight to the donated seeds. From Last Week

Mama & family accept seeds for planting. From Last Week

I also shared an especially exciting day with a church I started way back in 1997. Initially, it started as a Sunday School and I am so glad to see that it has grown to become a big church! What a blessing.

Wearing some of the medals. From Last Week

Lastly, we celebrated the wins of medals by our college athletes by having Holy Communion. Imagine. These students won in every sport in which they participated, volleyball, athletics, archery. You name the sport; they won a medal! The only games in which they did not win, were longs tennis and scrabble. These were games in which they didn't compete.

Holy Communion From Last Week

In short, that was my week. Praise God with us for the glorious week!

Jonah

***If you can help with seed planting & harvest; buying food for the widows or the school needs, please email us at (contact information in side bar at right).

Comfort for those Who Mourn

just wanted to update u that i lost my grandmother. she has been sick for a while now due to old age and lack of blood in her system. she is over 100 years old and some estimate her to be born around 1895 or thereabouts, as her first born was born in 1918.


From Pastor Jonah's Grandma's Funeral

she was okay for a while after receiving medicine, then surprisingly she became very sick on her visit to her daughter in Kipkelion about 70 miles from kericho. she died (saturday, february 7, 2009) and transport and funeral arrangements are on the way.

******************************************

the death of my grandma was very touching for the many in my community. it was sad for us. at the same time, we had a celebration for the life that was well lived, as it touched so many in my village. we received people arriving since Sunday when this event (her passing) took place...up to today (Thursday). some bringing firewood, others water and others cooking in the kitchen. it was a very good gathering of the community, meeting and helping each other.

i also want to thank God for my church who came to help out in my home. what a pleasure, and a blessing this was. i don't have much to say about this. i think pictures will do it for me.
(note: you can click on the slideshow to see the photo captions. you can also set how fast the pics change by using the - or + signs when u open the slideshow.



God Bless
and thank you for the prayers.
Jonah

Isaiah 61:1-3 (KJV)

¹The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

²To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

³To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Boys are now Men

hello,

it was pomp and colour, after the boys who had been separated from their mothers to stay with their fathers for a month came out from seclusion. in seclusion (during Kalenjin initiation and circumcision rites) the boys learned life skills that will steer them during their adult lives.

it was a great joy to see them looking rested, happy, and really, very handsome. we (church leaders) have been praying with them and it is my prayer that what they learn during their seclusion will be enough for to help them move ahead in the teen years.

the boys are now 'Morans' and are expected to guard the community (this was how things were many years ago anyway). we taught them God's Word and were happy to see them ready to accept Christ a few days before they came out of seclusion.

have a great day and enjoy the pics.

Rain of Blessing

this past sunday [november 16,2008] i can say was a blessing in two ways. we had the message preached and, at the same time, the rain ..rained on us ...just after the first service! [rain in kalenjin culture symbolizes blessings]. my speaking was cut short by the rains and everyone had to run here and there to take shelter.



i later checked and found out that our temporary structure is in dire need of repairs. we need to find another 'tent', so that it can cover us. please pray that we can get this; or even a simple polythene just to cover us when the sermon is going on.

but as u can see, we still had a great time, though walking home was slippery after the service. Enjoy the pics and pray with us.

Jonah

Building the Church

[Photo Caption: Temporary Church Shelter]

this past two weeks has been great.
we have been trying to roof the church and we still lack a few iron sheets to complete the building...we need about 70 iron sheets (each cost about $12. US) @ a total cost of $840 U.S. pray that we can get this so that we can complete the church as we have been trying for years to finish it..

we also had a small destruction from wind, on the side of wall of the church, since it had not been covered as we could not afford it at the time. we were informed by the builders to see that we finished roofing as quickly as possible to avoid other damages to the existing structure.

please pray with us for this need to be met.
otherwise have a great day.

Slideshow of Damage to the New Church


Pastor Jonah