A Refreshing Getaway

To celebrate Peg's 35th birthday and to have a little family getaway we had the blessing of visiting a nearby National Park in Nukuru. The area is only about two hours from where we live. It was an amazing time together looking at animals and God's beautiful land here in Kenya. We fell even more in love with this country God has us in. :)We were blessed beyond measure with our whole experience and came back feeling refreshed and even more excited about where we are.

Some exciting things in the ministry

This past month has been exciting in that I have been able to visit my friend Stephen Otieno a couple times at Calvary International Fellowship (CIF) a Calvary Chapel church in the slums of Githurai outside of Nairobi. A few weeks ago Stephen was ordained as an associate pastor at CIF and another faithful brother Julias Mwangi as a Deacon. Not only was this an exciting step for the church there, but during the ceremony Ed talked about sending Stephen to plant a Calvary in Kisumu, which we are also very excited about as we see it as a crucial part in our ministry too, to have a Kenyan pastor that we can work with and get behind.

As the Compeans are away in the states on furlough Stephen will be teaching the Sunday sermons and helping to fill in for some of the pastoral duties that Ed would do. This last Sunday we visited CIF again and were blessed to hear Stephen preach on Amos 1. He is an excellent teacher, and we were blessed to be able to hear his message in Kiswahili (and to understand so much of it).

Another blessing that God is providing through Stephen is that he is translating some verse by verse observation questions through the Bible that are from Shoreline Calvary Chapel's Bible College. He is translating them both into Kiswahili and Kiluo (Luo is the major tribe living in the region of Kisumu). Even as he was talking to different people about this project, he received so many comments from people that this would be an incredible resource, as there are no resources like this available in those languages (most people are expected to learn English to get something like this).

Also, several of Stephen's friends in Kisumu are spreading the word of our coming to start a "Bible teaching church" there, and many people (including pastors) are eager to be taught the word and to grow deep in the word of God. It seems that God is stirring up a group of eager people ready to receive his word there and to grow in it. We are excited to begin that work 'hivi karibuni' - very soon.

Birthday Fun

Well, we officially have a daughter who is two years old. It is hard to believe but so much fun! She is quite the talker and ball of joy and energy. I tell her how much I love being her mommy and it's the truth! She truly brings so much joy and laughter to the people around us and we thank God for that! She continues to pray for people and sometimes she will look out the window and say, "Jesus is coming!" She will even point. What a gift to have a little girl who reminds us to look for His return and live as if He were coming back today. :)

The birthday week was special but with Mama down and sick we are just praising God for His grace and mercy on us all. Pamela and Joyce (the women who work for us) took amazing care of us and everything really for KG's birthday. We had a small celebration with the school staff and their families and our household. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and people played ball and Frisbee, while others played with playdough and still others chatted. We started with the cake while everyone was there and sang to her and then in Kiswahili. If you ask me I think she preferred the Kiswahili. :) We then ate and some played some more while others looked at some photo albums and then it was over. We had a Mickey theme which was so fun. It was a blessing to find Micky things at a toy store here. To eat we had mandazi (Kenyan doughnut)fruit salad, banana bread, sugar cookies, chips and guacamole, sodas and cake. :)

We have been so blessed with so many packages from so many people.Thank you to all those who blessed us and all the special birthday wishes. God is so good! We praise Him for his blessings!