This summer seemed busy for us. We usually try to lay low but it wasn't meant to be. We 
started June off with Kara's parents visiting for two weeks and we enjoyed hanging out and a trip to the beach . The last few weeks of June Eric and the girls built a playhouse in the backyard. They really enjoyed "helping daddy" of course getting in the way and making dad loose his tools was all part of the fun as well. We finally completed it after several weeks and the girls helped us paint it blue. It was quite fun going along after them and cleaning up the gobs of paint they tried to smear on the house. Good fun though!
The second half of our summer it seemed like the Lord had given us many people to help. With the generous gift from a supporter we were able to help one of the Kenyan families we are working with to complete their house. Patrick and Priscilla work in a literacy program helping to translate the Bible into short readable stories for the many illiterate people in Kenya. They had started building a house and came to a standstill after
running out of money. They live in one of the slums in a tiny one room house. We found out that they were trying to finish their house so they could move out of their old place and stop paying rent. With the money they would save on rent Patrick was going to go back to school to finish his Bible degree he had started. This is a great and loving family who always shower us with love and we were excited that we were able to help them. We hope to move them by the end of this month. Praise God! This is huge for this family.
The other family we have been working with is our gardener Peter Mwangi. Peter works for us once a week and has been taking care of our yard before we moved into our house. He only
makes about $30 a month. We have been praying for some time about how we could help Peter and decided to help him start his own barber shop. It was completely finished and he was open for business for about a week. This past Sunday we received a call that the landlord who supposedly owned the property lied to about 14 businesses and as a result the government came through and bulldozed all the business to make way for enlarging the local market. The government actually owned the land where Peter built his business and now there is nothing left. The government of Kenya doesn't really take care of its people well and doesn't warn "squatters" as they call them, when they are coming to knock down their businesses.
Peter has had a difficult six months. Peter is a member of one of the tribes that were persecuted during the post-election troubles Kenya experienced in January and he hid in his house during a two week period scared for his life. He sent his wife and children to live outside of Nairobi until it became peaceful again. In February several members of his family from up north
came to live with him because their houses were burnt down. Peter gave them shelter and fed them for about 3 months. Through several of our donors we were able to give money to Peter to go up country and rebuild the houses for his family . This is really the first time I have been intensely involved with trying to help someone provide for their family through a business venture. Many Kenyans get into a helpless mode where they just keep asking for money and we didn't want to have that relationship with Peter. I was angered when I got the news that his business had been destroyed and really asked the Lord why. Why when someone who had tried so hard to make more money for his family would this happen. We still don't have answers and maybe the Lord has something better for his family. We have prayed about the possibility of Peter finding a job as a gardener/bus driver for our school. Will you pray for God's will for Peter and his family that the Lord will help heal these past 6 months because Peter seems defeated.
The last three weeks of July we spent helping our new High school Principal adjust and showing him the ropes. It will take several months until his presence will help lighten Eric's work load. Les and Karen are a great older couple and we are excited they have come to work with us. We welcomed 8 more teachers the last week of July and lead the orientation for them as well as finding housing and doing shopping. Wow as I write all this down I now realize why we are tired :) As a result we feel like we are entering this school year not completely rested. We are already talking of plans for after our first class graduates (2010) from our high school of taking a sabbatical year. We feel like in order to continue to stay in Kenya after five years of intense work, we will need to recoup. We will have to see what God has in store for us. Thank you for your continued support for our ministry we can't do it without you. I have seen your gifts helping us to make a difference in two family's lives this summer. It has been a privilege to be able to help them.
Prayer requests:
1. Eric-that the Lord would give him strength and patience to make it till Christmas (new principal to train, new teachers to help, accreditation, teaching 5 different classes)
2. Kara-continued patience with Emma as we are dealing with the terrible two's as well with Kayla as we continue looking into her disorder and running more tests to see if we missed anything
3. Emma- that the Lord would bring back my sweet girl and her little emotions would even out
4. Kayla-she would continue to mature as a sweet little girl and the Lord would soften her emotional outbursts
5. Support for our ministry- we sent out a newsletter on paper coming in September letting people know that for the first time our account is in the red. Will you pray with us that we will remember the Lord provides and if he wants us to continue here he will bring us gifts. We continue to need to rely on Him.
Blessings on your weekend
Kara
started June off with Kara's parents visiting for two weeks and we enjoyed hanging out and a trip to the beach . The last few weeks of June Eric and the girls built a playhouse in the backyard. They really enjoyed "helping daddy" of course getting in the way and making dad loose his tools was all part of the fun as well. We finally completed it after several weeks and the girls helped us paint it blue. It was quite fun going along after them and cleaning up the gobs of paint they tried to smear on the house. Good fun though!The second half of our summer it seemed like the Lord had given us many people to help. With the generous gift from a supporter we were able to help one of the Kenyan families we are working with to complete their house. Patrick and Priscilla work in a literacy program helping to translate the Bible into short readable stories for the many illiterate people in Kenya. They had started building a house and came to a standstill after
running out of money. They live in one of the slums in a tiny one room house. We found out that they were trying to finish their house so they could move out of their old place and stop paying rent. With the money they would save on rent Patrick was going to go back to school to finish his Bible degree he had started. This is a great and loving family who always shower us with love and we were excited that we were able to help them. We hope to move them by the end of this month. Praise God! This is huge for this family. The other family we have been working with is our gardener Peter Mwangi. Peter works for us once a week and has been taking care of our yard before we moved into our house. He only
makes about $30 a month. We have been praying for some time about how we could help Peter and decided to help him start his own barber shop. It was completely finished and he was open for business for about a week. This past Sunday we received a call that the landlord who supposedly owned the property lied to about 14 businesses and as a result the government came through and bulldozed all the business to make way for enlarging the local market. The government actually owned the land where Peter built his business and now there is nothing left. The government of Kenya doesn't really take care of its people well and doesn't warn "squatters" as they call them, when they are coming to knock down their businesses. Peter has had a difficult six months. Peter is a member of one of the tribes that were persecuted during the post-election troubles Kenya experienced in January and he hid in his house during a two week period scared for his life. He sent his wife and children to live outside of Nairobi until it became peaceful again. In February several members of his family from up north
came to live with him because their houses were burnt down. Peter gave them shelter and fed them for about 3 months. Through several of our donors we were able to give money to Peter to go up country and rebuild the houses for his family . This is really the first time I have been intensely involved with trying to help someone provide for their family through a business venture. Many Kenyans get into a helpless mode where they just keep asking for money and we didn't want to have that relationship with Peter. I was angered when I got the news that his business had been destroyed and really asked the Lord why. Why when someone who had tried so hard to make more money for his family would this happen. We still don't have answers and maybe the Lord has something better for his family. We have prayed about the possibility of Peter finding a job as a gardener/bus driver for our school. Will you pray for God's will for Peter and his family that the Lord will help heal these past 6 months because Peter seems defeated.The last three weeks of July we spent helping our new High school Principal adjust and showing him the ropes. It will take several months until his presence will help lighten Eric's work load. Les and Karen are a great older couple and we are excited they have come to work with us. We welcomed 8 more teachers the last week of July and lead the orientation for them as well as finding housing and doing shopping. Wow as I write all this down I now realize why we are tired :) As a result we feel like we are entering this school year not completely rested. We are already talking of plans for after our first class graduates (2010) from our high school of taking a sabbatical year. We feel like in order to continue to stay in Kenya after five years of intense work, we will need to recoup. We will have to see what God has in store for us. Thank you for your continued support for our ministry we can't do it without you. I have seen your gifts helping us to make a difference in two family's lives this summer. It has been a privilege to be able to help them.
Prayer requests:
1. Eric-that the Lord would give him strength and patience to make it till Christmas (new principal to train, new teachers to help, accreditation, teaching 5 different classes)
2. Kara-continued patience with Emma as we are dealing with the terrible two's as well with Kayla as we continue looking into her disorder and running more tests to see if we missed anything
3. Emma- that the Lord would bring back my sweet girl and her little emotions would even out
4. Kayla-she would continue to mature as a sweet little girl and the Lord would soften her emotional outbursts
5. Support for our ministry- we sent out a newsletter on paper coming in September letting people know that for the first time our account is in the red. Will you pray with us that we will remember the Lord provides and if he wants us to continue here he will bring us gifts. We continue to need to rely on Him.
Blessings on your weekend
Kara
