Bwanabob

1/28/2008
Dear Friends,

Thank you all for praying for us. The Lord has kept us safe and we are glad to say that we have been able to continue on with His work. The Country of Kenya is still experiencing tribal violence and some are worried that the government has lost the ability to maintain control. As for our area, Turkana District, there has been only a couple of incidences of tribal related violence but it has put us on edge. From listening to American news on satellite radio it seems that only the worst violence here in Kenya gets reported back to the States. We would just like to reassure everyone that our area is calm, but that we are carefully watching what is going on in the rest of the country.

We are thankful to report that Bible Institute for January was successfully planned, executed, budgeted and paid for by the local Turkana churches and pastors. The week began with a few worries on the side of the pastors who are leading the Bible Institute, they asked to meet with me to make sure I would be willing to help them if they ran into difficulties. I agreed to help if there were problems, but made it clear that if I helped it would be to identify where the problem came from and how to avoid it in the future. With that bit of encouragement the pastors forged ahead. The only minor problem that arose was that they were short on some lesson handouts for a few classes. Our solution is that we are already working to train two of the pastors to use computers and open the lesson files so they can print off what they need month to month. Most of the week I was afraid that there would be a problem with the budget, I was praying day to day that the Lord would give them courage and wisdom to give what was needed and use it in a good way. On Friday it was such a blessing to see all classes completed, things put away and school dismissed without any problem with the budget or requests for additional funding from me. The pastors and students even sat down to discuss how everything went including the budgeting, they concluded that from now on they would hold classes every other month to give them an opportunity to save up what was needed to pay for transportation and the opperating budget. Later the pastors and I visited a little and I could see the joy and pride in them that they had done everything without my help, they confided that the worst part of the week was the fear of beginning on their own without me right in there with them. I tried to encourage them with the example of Abraham that the Lord called him to a place he didn’t know on a road he had never passed before and that each of us are called spiritually to make that journey trusting only in the Lord Jesus. We all like being surronded by things familiar and having our budgets met before we set out, but the Lord sees best to take us near him and stretch our faith by saying, “The Lord will provide” and “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Pray that the local churches and pastors will continue on and this years classes can be completed to become a pattern for the future.

On Saturday, after seeing how well everything finished with the Bible Institute classes I asked all of the students to help pour cement for the floor in the new classroom. I agreed to pay them a fair days wages in return their labor, that way I wouldn’t have to go find workers in town and we would know that the money they earned would be helping those who had already sacrificed what they had. The work was completed quickly and the students were proud to see their new classroom finally getting finished. We are trying to encourage the Pastors and students in new areas now that they have taken over the Bible Institute opperation. We hope to finish up construction at the Bible Institute compound and also plan more leadership training for church leaders who haven’t had the opportunity to come to the Bible Institute. Pray that by April or May we will be able to conduct the first seminar here in Lodwar this year.

Please pray for us that as Kenya goes through these convultions of violence we would set our hands to the work of the Lord that would bear fruit that will remain. Pray the Lord will give us wisdom, discernment and courage to make decisions day to day and if He leads us out of Kenya we not be too stubborn or prideful to leave behind what we think is “our” work.

God bless you and thank you so much for your prayers.

In Christ, Bob, Ericka, Vance, Edward and Riley