09/03/2016: Highlights From Kenya

Highlights From Kenya

 

What a loving God we serve! In His mercy He has given us a few more moments to perfect our characters for His return and to spread the gospel to the many who have not yet heard. We thank the Father for the small part that we have had in His service here in Kenya. In spite of the many challenges we have faced this last year, the gospel continues to go forward.

Most of the children at the original orphanage

Most of the children at the original orphanage

When our original orphanage near Kisii, Kenya reached its max capacity of 81 children, we prayed about how we could accommodate more children. Thanks to the Lord’s blessings and the generous donations of His people, we were able to build a second orphanage, which we opened in late March of this year. The new orphanage is about 15 miles from the first orphanage, and it is now home to the orphan girls whom God has given into our care. The new facility has room for 100 children, so as the need arises we will be able to receive more girls in need. Our original orphanage has become a boys’ home, and with the vacancies left by the girls, it now has room to grow as well. Please pray that as the ministry grows, the right staff can be selected to train the children to serve the Lord.

Cafeteria at the new orphanage on the first Sabbath of its use

Cafeteria at the new orphanage on the first Sabbath of its use

Along with the new orphanage, we erected a school where we currently have over 70 community children enrolled. The Lord also blessed us with a new church building and a clinic on campus. In other locations throughout Kenya, we built four simple metal churches last year for groups that had been worshiping in rough shelters or under trees. The people are so thankful to have a protected place to worship out of the hot sun and the rain. Churches seem to grow more rapidly when they have a house of worship. We pray that these churches will be lights to the community and to all who pass by.

In addition to the building projects we have been involved in, we have been able to conduct several camp meetings and prophecy seminars in the last year. During August of 2015, our Bible workers kept very busy holding camp meetings in different churches. At Ekeronko, over 100 people consistently attended the meetings, with 400 attending on peak days. In Kuria, on the Tanzanian border, over 200 people attended, with a good portion of them crossing over from Tanzania to attend. Seeds are being sown which we pray will spring up and bear fruit.

Gospel workers with prophecy chart.

Gospel workers with prophecy chart.

Our gospel workers from the Maasai tribe have been hosting other exciting outreach efforts: miniature evangelistic meetings in the market places. To attract attention, they simply hang up banners and start preaching. The colorful banners, depicting prophetic symbols from Daniel and Revelation, not only draw people’s interest but also help them to visualize the scenes being preached about. Besides preaching, the workers hand out Bibles and literature to those who are interested. Recently, they informed us that they need a church building for one of the groups with whom they have been worshiping! We praise the Lord for the dedication of these gospel workers and pray that God will continue to use them as witnesses for Him.

When we minister to others, it seems the Lord finds ways to minister to us, as well. Recently a nurse anesthetist named Leona blessed us by volunteering for three months here in Kenya. She assisted in the clinics, gave health presentations in the churches and helped at the orphanage. Moreover, she left behind her a huge blessing: help for Evans, one of our best workers in the clinic at Ibencho, Kenya. Last year, Evans lost his arm after being attacked by a man with a machete. He has continued to work at the clinic, but has been hampered by only having one arm. Leona knows a surgeon in the United States who has a prosthesis, and through God’s blessing she was able to arrange for Evans to go to the United States to be fitted with a prosthesis at the very clinic where the surgeon had received his prosthetic arm. We praise the Lord for Leona’s dedication and service, and pray that Evans will now be better able to help the community with their tremendous health needs.

New school with the dormitory for the girls in the background.

New school with the dormitory for the girls in the background.

As we look back on how abundantly the Lord has blessed the work in the past year, it makes us eager to see how He will bless in the next year. This year we plan to add a medical laboratory to the clinic in Ibencho. There is no lab in the vicinity to run malaria tests and other lab analyses to help us determine the appropriate treatment for our patients. To build a room next to the clinic and purchase the equipment will cost approximately $22,000. If all goes well, we hope to purchase x-ray equipment in the future to continue to expand our ability to serve the needs of the community.

Even with all the other projects going on, the orphanages remain at the heart of our work. We believe that the Lord has big plans for our orphans, some of whom who are nearing adulthood. This year, we have 16 high school orphans. Since our school includes only the elementary grades, we send our high schoolers to a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school nearby. This puts an additional strain on our operating budget, but we have found that when we see no way forward, God provides. He has shown us His power in so many ways.

We have four students who will graduate this year, and we are praying earnestly about how to help them launch into their futures. In Kenya, parents give their children a piece of land where they can build their own hut and get a start on life; but these orphans have no one to do that for them. We are praying that God will guide us as to how we should help. One of the boys and one of the girls would like to become nurses. The other boy would like to be a teacher, and the remaining girl has not yet decided where she would like to serve. Wherever they may end up working, we pray that they will be faithful and serve the Lord. “Our schools have been established that in them the youth may learn to obey God and His law, and become fitted for service.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 264. We pray that our orphanages will accomplish this divine mission!

So many countries of the world need the help of God’s people. May God guide us, wherever we are and whatever work we may be doing, to live the gospel in our daily lives. May the message be preached the world over and may we all be ready to go home soon!

 

By Bill and Becky Humeniuk of Advent Hope Ministries, Inc., P.O. Box 100, Campbellsburg, KY 40011. adventhope@hughes.net. See www.biblesforafrica.com. Advent Hope participates in the Amazon Smile program. If you select Advent Hope Ministries, Inc. for your charity, Amazon will donate 0.5% of all eligible purchases to the work in Kenya, at no cost to you. See http://smile.amazon.com for details.

 

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