Isn't it wonderful when God answers our prayers! In our last blog "A Busy Weekend," we had made mention of several things to pray for; and we just wanted to give you an update on our people.
Both Winnie Maiko & daughter-Ann, and Cecilia Paul & son-Luka are doing wonderful! Winnie and her baby have been able to return to church services and all other meetings. Cecilia and her family live very far from town (about a 3 to 3 ½ hour walk), so she has not been able to make the trip yet. But her and the baby are doing well and gaining strength each day. We also asked you to pray for Caroline and her baby (the baby was born at the beginning of her 7th month); and we are so happy to tell you that God has miraculously answered prayers for these two. The baby is still in ICU, but she is gaining weight and does not seem to have any other health problems other than the low birth weight. The doctor has said that Caroline and her baby girl will be able to go home in about 2 weeks if the baby continues to improve at the same rate that she is now. Praise the Lord! And thank you so much for praying.
Bro. Tom Maronga, our Youth Leader at Calvary Baptist Church, is now home and doing better; but the doctors have said that his recovery will be slow. He ended up being in the hospital 2 weeks, and was diagnosed with "Brucellosis" (a disease that comes from infected livestock, unpasteurized milk, poorly cooked meat, etc. And it seems to be quite common here in Kenya.). He ran a fever of over 104 degrees for 10 days; and the disease has affected his lungs, liver, kidneys, and heart. He will be on medication and other treatment for about 3 months, but we Praise the Lord that he is at home and doing very well at this time. We do ask that you continue to keep him and his family in your prayers.
Our Youth Day Service (May 10th), went very well! The youth did a wonderful job, and we are all looking forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do through these young people.
It is wonderful to see God answer our prayers, but we are always excited to see the Lord answer the prayers of our people. We KNOW that He will answer, but the nationals seem to have the mindset that God only answers the missionary's prayers. So, we have been doing some in depth teaching on prayer; and praying with the FAITH and BELIEF that God WILL answer THEIR prayers as well. I would like to share with you one of our lady's requests and God's answer to her request.
Our Ladies' Group has been planning a trip to Nairobi, because there is a large Ladies' Retreat (Sponsored by another Baptist missionary) there each year. We wanted to go last year, but it was too short of a notice to come up with the funds. This year I was able to let them know in advance, so that they would have time to prepare for the trip. We will be gone for 4 days (May 30th – June 2nd), and the cost is ksh. 1,000/= ($13.50) per lady. This is just the cost of the Retreat; I will drive them in our van so that they will not have to pay bus fare on top of that. But just the ksh. 1,000/= seemed impossible to them when I first told them. So, I told them to just pray about it and to ask God to show them how and where they could get the money. All of these ladies have worked extra hard in their shamba (gardens) and selling their fruits and vegetables at the local market. One of our ladies is a seamstress, and she usually has enough work to keep her busy about 2 days each week. But since she prayed and asked God to help her get this extra money, she has worked from early to late each day for 5 – 6 days a week! She had her money in just 2 weeks. She was so excited; and when she told our other ladies, they got excited to see if God would answer their prayer as well. One of them, named Martha, asked each of us to pray with her that God would let the rains hold off for a few days; so that she could harvest her beans. She said that if she could harvest them; she would be able to sell them and get her money in full. You have to realize that she asked us this in the middle of our "Rainy Season" (it starts raining EVERY DAY at 2 – 2:30 PM, and then rains the rest of the day and most of the night as well!). She asked us to pray on Wednesday, May 6th; and there were about 12 other ladies there that day. We all committed to pray with her concerning this need. Saturday, May 9th, was our monthly Ladies' Meeting. When she arrived she was literally bubbling over with joy! She had spent the whole morning harvesting her beans, and she would be able to take them to market on Monday! Yes, God answered her prayer, it did not rain one drop from Wednesday all the way through Saturday afternoon. The clouds would build up, it would look like a terrible down pour was about to start, the wind would gust, and the clouds moved right over without spilling a drop! You should have seen the faces of our ladies (there were 17 of us); you would have thought that they each had just been given a full pot of gold! They were truly amazed and what God had done for one of THEM! We have 10 Ladies who have been able to pay their fees in full, and we still have 2 weeks until it is DUE!! They now know that we serve a MIGHTY GOD, and NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE with HIM!
Thank you again for your prayers on our behalf and on behalf of our people. I hope that this as much of a blessing to you, as it was to all of us!
May God bless each of you,
Tonya
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