MERCY MINISTRIES MINUTE NO. 6

Thank you for taking the time to keep up with our updates. Stephanie and I together with the rest of our family here are so thankful that God allows us to shine the light of the Gospel in western Kenya. We are also very thankful for those of you who “hold the rope” for us in any capacity. Please print this out and post it somewhere in your home or church as a reminder to pray for us. Here is what has been going on at Mercy Ministries as of late:

Praises:

General

Flights have been booked for Stephanie, Joy, Violet, and I to fly to the U.S. in September. We will have a Mercy Ministries booth at the G3 conference in Atlanta, as well as visit several churches and ministry supporters during our 6-week visit.

Stephanie and I are getting our own private space! We currently share a bedroom and bathroom with 9 of our kids. Thanks to some generous donors, we are finally going to be able to do something about that! Our new space will be attached to Mercy Home and have an entrance from our current bedroom as well as an exterior entrance. It will have a bedroom, sitting area, and bathroom.

Church

We had over 800 people attend the MBC worship service Sunday where the Gospel was proclaimed.

I had the opportunity to preach at a conference April 12-14th in Mungungune (about an hour drive from us). The theme was The 5 Pillars of the Reformation.

I also had an opportunity to attend a conference at a FARM (Fellowship of African Reformed Ministries) church last week with a few leaders and aspiring leaders of our church. The theme of the conference was Missions and Church Planting. The speaker was Keith Underhill, a missionary from the UK who spent 40 years ministering in Kenya. What a privilege to sit under the teaching of a godly man with that kind of experience.

We continue to be thankful for the many who have been coming to our weekly prayer meetings every Wednesday.

We were able to put some bags together of vegetables form our gardens and other basic needs and pass out to the widows and elderly of our church.

Home

We took in 3 malnourished and ill children on Mother’s Day. After getting medical treatment and starting them on some healthy foods and vitamins, they are smiling and well on their way to recovery.

It is such a blessing to see our older kids loving on our younger kids! As Stephanie said, “To know their backgrounds and see how far they have come you can only praise God for what He has done in their lives (and ours)!

Prayer Points:

General

Please pray as we continue to make plans for our September U.S. trip.

Times are tough for a lot of people in Kenya right now. The country has been in drought conditions for 2 years now and commodity prices continue to increase. Children and the elderly are always impacted the most in such conditions.

Church

Please pray as I am near finishing preaching through Ephesians and am now preparing to preach through Genesis.

Pray for discernment as myself and our other elder, Leonard Juma, will soon be interviewing the folks who are currently attending membership classes.

With attendance of our church steadily increasing (we had over 800 attend last Sunday) we are out of space under the pavilion we meet at and are seeking the Lord for wisdom on what to do.

Home

Please pray for a full recovery from malnourishment and illness for the 3 newest members of the Mercy Home family.

School

Please continue to pray that God would bring qualified and loving teachers to MCA. We have had to release a few of our teachers recently and will be interviewing and looking for replacement teachers during the upcoming break.

Happenings:

General

We have 3 groups of visitors coming this year. One in June, one in August, and another in November. We also have 3 groups planning to come in 2024. We love visitors! If you would like to know more about how you could come visit and serve here at Mercy Ministries, please email me at jeff@mercyministries.ngo.

We currently have an Amazon list of items we would like the June group to be able to bring us. Please click here if you can buy one or more items off the list.

Church

We currently have 67 people who have been attending services at MBC that have expressed desire to be received into membership of the church. I am taking them through a series of membership classes that will continue the next few weeks.

Home

The 3 children we took in on Mother’s Day are in need of sponsors. Mercy Home sponsors are asked to commit to $50/month per child to help us cover beds, bedding, food, clothing, etc. If you are interested in sponsoring 1 or more of them, please email me at jeff@mercyministries.ngo and I can give you details.

School

Term 2 of our 3-term school year is under way! Our current enrollment for both the primary and high schools combined is 227 students. That is 227 kids who are hearing the Gospel each day in chapel, being catechized with a Reformed catechism, attending a Bible study class every day (with which a student who is with us from pre-K to 12th grade will go through the entire Bible), and are well-loved.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!