Secondary School for Kimini - Phase One - Completed

It is celebration time! This is SO exciting! 

This year. . . . our 7^th graders no longer have to walk 7 or 8 miles to attend school!

This past year a 4-classroom school building was completed in Kimini and this is our first 7^th grade class! Teachers have been sent to teach and the government will be paying our teachers' salaries.

7th Grade Class

There are only 2 middle schools in our region. In the past most children who passed 6^th grade were not sent on to school because they had to be sent as far as 20 miles away to attend 7^th grade. This year, there are forty-six 7^th graders who have come from miles away and are now living in Kimini. Our Kimini fathers held village meetings asking families to take these students in and each one of them has a family to care for them and watch over them while they continue their education. In total, there are 89 students in our 7^th grade class!  (Believe it or not, this is a small class in that there are 100+ students in most classrooms).

The village has already submitted a request to the government for teachers for the 8^th and 9^th grades for next year.

This building is phase one of a three phase project. Phase two will be to build a second 4-classroom building to house 11^th, 12^th, and 13^th grades. Phase three will be to build an administration building for office space and storage space for the director and teachers.

Our national pastor, Bernard, is building relationship with the new students and has already found 8 students who are Christians.  In addition to our students learning French, Math, Science and History, Bernard will be forming a youth Bible study for all of the students who have a desire to learn more about Jesus!

Math Class

A Growing Village Church

For two years, we have waited for our new pastor and his wife to complete a 4-year Bible School program and graduate. Each year during the summer vacation / planting time, Bernard and his wife lived in our village, met with the believers, built relationships, and planted fields of peanuts and beans.

On May 27^th, a graduation ceremony was held and they both graduated with their diplomas. And, the following week, they moved all of their belongs into their newly built house in the village.

Between Bernard's work and the work of Pastor Joel, the church is growing stronger. There are still only a few believers in our village but 12 to 15 believers are coming from neighboring villages, sometimes 10 miles or more away to worship with us.

We praise God for what he is doing in our village. He is drawing the hearts of the people to Himself and opening the doors of evangelism in our surrounding villages and region! 

Milk Program

Our Milk Program continues to provide for babies in need. Babies come to us from several surrounding villages, sometimes as far as 25 miles away.

Baby weighing

The need for help may be because mama has died and grandmother is the one caring for the baby. Or, it can be a case where mama is not in good health and is not producing enough milk to sustain her baby. Another need is for twins or even triplets and the mama just cannot feed all of her babies.

Baby Sadia

This past week we were presented with another need of a little 16 month old who is severely malnourished and weighs only 12 pounds. Because there are many children in the family and because it is the beginning of the planting season, the father could not allow his wife to leave the village and go to the malnourished center. But, thanks to the Milk Program we were able to provide an enriched baby cereal for the mother to feed her baby.  

Grandmother caring for her granddaughter

We are so thankful for each one of you who contribute to the milk program and we are thankful to the Lord for the privilege that it is to be here and to be able to help these babies. 

A Forever Family for Charlie

Once again, Linda and I have had the wonderful privilege to introduce a beautiful family to their new son.

Charlie has waited in an orphanage for many years but his years of waiting are over! He is now a member in full standing of a precious American family.

Although Charlie cannot hear with his ears, his heart heard and felt the love radiating from his mother and father from the first day that they met.

Charlie is now in his forever home, meeting and getting acquainted with his three brothers, two older and one younger.

Adoption is all about FAMILY. Charlie has been chosen and adopted into this family, with the full rights of a son, just as God has chosen us and adopted us into His family, with the full rights of His son or daughter!

Doing Church in Kimini

Our local Pastor graduates from Bible school on April 29^th. We are planning a celebration to congratulate him and welcome him and his family to Kimini on a full-time basis.

In his absence Pastor Joel has traveled to Kimini each week to hold a mid-week prayer service for the believers and he has sent one of the leaders of his church each Sunday to hold a service.

On Sunday mornings the church has been running between 15 and 20 people. There are two young men in the church who have started a children's church in the pavilion in our courtyard.

In the picture below a young boy is reading a child appropriate Bible given to us by Operation Christmas Child!

Children's Church in the village

Out of Small Beginnings, God does great things!

Our amazing God gave us an unexpected gift of a trip to visit Linda’s home and friends in Adams, MA this week.  We have been able to connect with many friends and also had opportunities to personally say ‘thank you’ to many of our sponsors and donors.  

One event during our week was a visit to the Haystack Monument at Williams College in Williamsburg, MA.  

The story behind the monument is that in 1806, five Williams College students gathered together for a prayer meeting.  It started raining so they moved under a haystack to continue their prayer time.

Out of this group of 5 students the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was formed and in 1812 they sent their first missionaries to India.  During the 19th century the mission sent missionaries to China, Hawaii, and many nations in southeast Asia, establishing hospitals and schools, translating the Bible into local dialects, and establishing churches.  Out of this mission, thousands of missionaries were sent to Asia.  

This Haystack Prayer Meeting is viewed by many scholars as the seed planting event for the development of Protestant missions in the subsequent decades and century.