Just the other day, my wife turned to me and said, “Can you believe we live in Africa?” In most ways, life here has become very normal, and we don’t even consider that we live in what some would find a very difficult, third-world culture. His mercies are new every day, and we praise Him for it!
God has allowed me to find a Swahili language school about an hour from where we live. We have been trying to move closer to the school. This struggle has proved to be more than we originally expected. The school has housing for its students, so we reserved a house to move into on January 5. The current tenant was to move out in December. When they decided to stay longer, our agreement was voided. We are thankful that God, in His infinite wisdom, knew that on-campus living would ultimately not be the best fit for us. Since then, I’ve been looking at other options, which are few. We are currently under contract with a home but not without hiccups. We were told that we would be able to move in the first of February, and then maybe even as early as mid-January. I recently received a call letting me know we won’t be able to move in until mid-March. This yo-yoing back and forth is very mentally draining; yet we know that God has perfect timing, and we sincerely don’t want to get ahead of Him.
Praise the Lord! We purchased a vehicle! Having our own transportation will allow us to better minister out West as a family. At this point, I have been making these trips alone.
In addition to my Cab Ministry and our local-church discipleship, I have been able to make two trips out West (the bush/village) since my last letter. One trip was to preach for Pastor Nkome at a “Coming of Age” Ceremony. There were more than 300 people attending a Maasai “Coming of Age” Ceremony. I was able to give the Gospel, and many called on Christ for salvation. We are thankful to be working with Pastor Nkome. His partnership gives us the ability to register with the government as foreign missionaries. Through Bro. Peter’s influence, Pastor Nkome is very doctrinally sound. Peter Morris has been working with him for more than 20 years. Praise God for the relationships that Bro. Peter has kept and enriched all these years in Kenya.
My second purpose out West was to meet Pastor Hezron. This pastor has not had any training or contact with our team before. God has burdened Pastor Hezron to start a church in his home village. He had been pastoring a church about 45 minutes from his home. Praise the Lord that Pastor Hezron has a Timothy, whom he is training to pastor that church. He has requested my help with the new church, New Jerusalem Baptist Church. While visiting his village, we were blessed to see several souls saved. First, an older lady and her two daughters each received Christ. They all have since attended the church, along with several children. Next, we met a widow with five children. She also received Christ and has since attended the church. Our last visit was to Pastor Hezron’s friend Moi. I was able to give him the Gospel, and he accepted Christ. Moi was influential in Pastor Hezron’s burden for his home area. Moi said to Pastor Hezron, “You go somewhere else to minister, and we don’t have anyone here ministering to us.’’ Moi has offered land on which to build a church. Please join me in praying for God to lead in the matter of where the church should be built. I am encouraged by Pastor Hezron and his desire to learn and reach his community.
Prayer Requests: Please pray for the children’s schooling, our new housing, language school, wisdom, and souls to be saved. Geoffrey has currently completed discipleship; please pray that he wins souls and starts to teach. Please pray for Pastor Hezron and New Jerusalem Baptist Church
In His service,
The McDonalds
Your Missionaries to Kenya
