Mercy Ministries Minute No. 4
We've had a busy, but crazy blessed couple of weeks. Jeff and I landed back in Kenya on the 22nd, celebrated Violet's 13th birthday on the 23rd, had a visit from another ministry on the 24th which included a fun day for our students, and a visitor arrived on the 25th! On November 2nd we took in a set of twin girls and now we have three babies who are three months old. Crazy blessed and busy perfectly describes the last 2 weeks at Mercy Ministries. We hope this update finds you well. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers, and joining us in our praises.
I can't believe that our Violet is 13!
Praises:
General
Our visit with Mike was such a blessing! It is always such a blessing when someone is so giving of their time. We enjoyed sharing our daily life with him and getting to know him better. The kids really enjoyed him coming back and he was able to lead Bible study a couple of times and teach chapel for Mercy Christian Academy one day.
Church
For the first time as a church we celebrated Jeff for pastor appreciation month. Often times these special days get skipped.
About 25 students from the Bible class held at our campus weekly were able to attend a Bible conference on Preaching Christ. It was a blessing to all of those in attendance.
Church attendance seems to be growing. Many adults and children are hearing the Gospel on a weekly basis.
Home
All of our babies are doing well. We took in twin baby girls about a week ago so now we have three babies who are three months old. The twins seem to still be adjusting some, but all babies are eating well and gaining weight!
So many babies, so many blessings!
Prayer Points:
General
We have been without power for a month now so we are using our generator full-time. We are thankful to have a generator, however it costs an additional $500 a week to run it for our campus. The power company does not have any new transformers available so we have to wait until they can repair the one that is broken. We are unsure how long this will take, but it is costing us a lot of extra money during an already stressful time for our budget. Please pray that the transformer is fixed soon.
We have a few visitors scheduled between now and the end of the year, please pray that their trips would be a blessing to them. I think when going on a mission trip you are focused on how you can bless others, but as we share our home with friends and family we hope that they are blessed as well.
For God to put together and send us a few trips who can help us get ahead. We have SO many projects (building, repair/maintenance) that really need to be done, but not enough skilled hands to get it all done. It feels like we are constantly eating an elephant in this area, partly due to growth, but also because Karson just doesn't have enough hours in the day or enough skilled help.
Church
We are planning our 4th annual Bible conference which will be held November 25th and 26th. The theme this year will be "The Glory of Christ." Please pray for Jeff as he prepairs his portion of the conference. He has a pretty full schedule with preaching chapel each school day, prayer meetings on Wednesday, Sunday service, his seminary classes, overseeing the daily happenings at the Mercy Ministry campus, nightly Bible study at home, plus he has to play a few games of volleyball with the kids each day. 😂
That the hearts of our church attendees would be softened. Jeff faithfully proclaims the Gospel each week.
Home
It is raining daily and we are starting to see a few cases of malaria, please pray that all sickness would be diagnosed and treated quickly. Sometimes malaria "hides" so you will test negative when you are actually positive, prolonging your sickness.
We have a few pressing needs that we need help meeting. Inflation has been really hard on our budget and we are feeling the crunch. We are extra needy right now and it can be hard to always be needing more and more.
True salvation of our children. They are hearing the Gospel and learning about God daily, multiple times a day.
School
Guidance on next steps for the high school. Due to lack of funds we are thinking about not building any more buildings for the high school the next several months. This will cause some logistical problems as we must add 11th grade in January for our currrent 10th grade students to move up.
Endurance for the end of this school year. We only have a few weeks of school left and it is easy to get tired and just "skate" by for staff and students.
Happenings:
General
Last week several of our boys went and mudded a new house that we are building for a family in our village. It was a great time and it was done quickly because we had so many hands and feet working together.
Church
The church came together and put on a beautiful "pastor appreciation" party and lunch for Jeff. It was a blessing to see everyone come together and hear some of the kids' sweet words to Jeff.
Home
The kids have been enjoying the nice weather and playing on the playground when it isn't raining (it usually rains in the evening).
Another ministry brought over a couple of bounce houses, a trampoline, and a cotton candy machine and our students got to experience it all, most for the first time.
School
Our 8th grade students are preparing for their final mandatory test.
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Shoes and Amazon wish list page
Zari loves Mike!