Brandon and Ali Heselschwerdt Prayer Letter: A Month of Firsts!Looking back at the month of May, we could say it was a month of firsts! First, we as a group of believers are so thankful and blessed for our supporting churches that gave the money needed for the purchase of the church van! It was very much needed, and after looking with our mechanic, we found the perfect van. It took some time to paint it and change the seating, but we now officially have a church van and have started picking up and dropping off for church on Sundays! Thank you again for those who gave toward this need! The second thing we started this month was special music during the service on Sunday mornings—and I don’t mean it was special because I was singing!😉Our teens have been practicing, and they sang our very first special on Sunday morning! They did great, and we look forward to them singing many more specials in the near future.

We have been excited to see many first-time visitors in church this month, along with their excitement to want to keep coming to church! Daniel’s New Beginners’ Class is going strong, and we have seen some spiritual growth in those attending his class! Ali has also started teaching a kids’ class, newborn to age ten, during the preaching time of the main service. She has two of the teens helping her in that class, and they seem to be growing spiritually through the experience. After church, we keep moving forward with the teens in their discipleship class. Please pray for us as we try to prepare for a baptism service next month for some of the adults and several of our teenagers who are eligible.

This month, we did not start Pastors’ Practical Training Academy, but we did officially finish with our first class. After 18 months of training, the national pastors now have two months to finish their homework; and, Lord willing, we will be having a graduation ceremony in August for the 13 pastors from our class.

Discipleship and training with Daniel, Lewis, and Fredrick are going well. All three are growing in their walk with the Lord, and Daniel has been a huge blessing in the start of Lighthouse Baptist Church! Please pray for us as we try to prepare all the needed paperwork to be registered officially with the government of Kenya. It will be a long process, but we are asking for you to pray with us that by October, we will be officially
registered and that by November, we will be ready for our Charter Service. We are excited, as my best friend, Pastor Jeff Lynn, and his wife will be coming in November to preach our Charter Service.

Thank you as always for your prayers and support in the Lord’s work here in Kenya, East Africa!

Your co-laborers for lost souls across East Africa,

THE HESELSCHWERDT FAMILY
Brandon, Ali, Jeffrey, Hannah, and Esther
Romans 10:14

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Brandon and Ali Heselschwerdt Prayer Letter: A Month of Firsts!Pastor Ambrose Wekesa Mutomolo
Independent Baptist Church, Bungoma

I want to praise our almighty God for what He is doing in my ministry. I have witnessed six people giving their lives to Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and being baptized, and many people are happy for the teaching that I have received from PPTA. They are now promising to join the doctrine of the independent Baptist church. I really thank our PPTA teacher and my missionary, Peter Morris, for the good spiritual materials!

Pastor Julius
Bondo

We are going on with putting up the church structure, and we are halfway done. Please put us in your prayers. Praise God, it has been a good time with Pastor Wycliffe Obunga when we were doing soul winning. They visited last month alongside Pastor Samuel Ogal. We were blessed by them, and it was God’s grace.

Pastor Gilbert
Bungoma

I praise God very much for the work of soul-winning exercises from the medical camp. Through that work, I went back to my church and taught five people. We started going door to door, and now for a month, we have started seeing two people every Sunday. In one month, we have seen eight people. We have caught hold of this, and in six months, we hope to reach a lot of people. Now I praise God very much for that work. Thank you and God bless.

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Brandon and Ali Heselschwerdt Prayer Letter: A Month of Firsts!HOW I BELIEVED FOR SOMEONE TO BE SAVED:

Before I knew that people needed to believe in the name of Jesus Christ so that they may be saved, I thought that we were supposed to attend in all church activities. Also, I thought that the works that people used to do so that they may be saved. But, no, this is works of our hands and cannot save us. And even I also say that if we be baptized, all of us would be saved, but it can’t work, because baptism is a work.

HOW I KNEW THAT OUR GOOD WORKS CANNOT SAVE US:

When I started going to Lighthouse Baptist Church, that is when I knew that our works cannot save us because I heard Pastor Brandon saying when he was teaching us that for a person to be saved, they must only believe in Jesus Christ only, because Jesus is the only pathway for us to be saved. People may say that if we be baptized or do good works before God, that means that they are saved, but now I know that our works cannot save us.

HOW I GOT SAVED:

I was saved when I knew that one must believe in Jesus’ name only. That is when I started to know that Jesus is the only way to be saved. So, I decided to believe in Jesus Christ, to make my life in the Lord. Now I know that we are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ, but not by our works. Therefore, it is very important for us to get baptized; however, our baptism has no part in our salvation.

Lavender