"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in ALL our troubles." (2 Corinthians 1:2-4)

In my morning devotion on the book of Acts and especially on the missionary journeys, I have sympathized many times with Apostle Paul. Think of those beatings he received, ridicules, sneers, lack of concern for his message, especially by the Jews. I put myself in his shoes and ask: How did this man Paul manage all this? I find the answer in these words of the Lord to him: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, and do not be silent. For I am with you and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city" (Acts 18:9-10)."Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles" (Acts 22:21). ‘Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome" (Acts 23:11). These words of encouragement to the Apostle have been our main stay this year as we continue serving our gracious Lord in the midst of many draw backs.

Church
For a long time we have been praying that the Lord would raise up men to serve in the church. This came to pass. Two men were chosen in March to serve with me. Paul O., a long time member of the church and one who has a great passion for evangelism, was elected to serve with me as an elder. He was set apart for this work on the 5th of April by brother Naphtally, a fellow pastor in Eldoret (5th largest city in Kenya). Hosborn was also elected to serve as deacon/treasurer of the church. This was an encouraging moment. Pray for good team work and that we will serve faithfully. Paul helps a lot with preaching and leading Bible studies. He is currently taking us through Galatians in the bible study. Apart from this I am taking the church through Zechariah and when I am leading morning bible study we work through the 1689 Baptist confession. Early in the year I finished preaching Daniel. Do pray for God's word to gain root in his people.

Evangelism continues through giving out tracts and other meetings. Church ladies recently had an evangelistic lunch at my house where they invited unsaved friends and the Gospel was presented to them. We continue with the University ministry and trusting God for the student's souls. Sam O. is one of the students now frequents the church on Sundays but has not come to faith. Pray for his soul. We hope to make an opening for bible study at a local polytechnic too. Pray for a break through. There still remains a clear opening at a town (Oyugis) south of Kisumu where we have good contacts. We met with two of them and promised to step up our visits to them for bible study. They will also be visiting our church one Sunday every month. We hope, God leading us, to start a church there in the future. In my last news letter I mentioned about another group, the Mirunda folk, who are also distantly placed from us. Paul and I have agreed that we need to restrategize on this work by training one of them (Elly) to take up the challenge. We feel that due to distance (150km) on rough road, we cannot give enough adequate help to start a fellowship there. Instead it would be wise to train Elly who is one of them and has shown great potential. Paul and his wife Seline have just come back from visiting them for three days.

We have a big praise concerning the much prayed for church building. As I write, we have funds to help put up a permanent structure. Before, our faith was small and we were thinking of putting up a small temporary structure but God showed his faithfulness by providing through friends for a permanent structure. Church members also contributed as the Lord would have them. May I thank those that gave towards this endeavour. The plans have been approved by the city council and as soon as the building committee finishes interviewing potential contractors, we will get down to work. Soon the church will move from my house where we have met for the last 9 years.

Family
On family, Nila will be sitting at her primary level exams this year in November; do pray for her and also for her new faith in the Lord that she will manage through even at this tender age. Lois, our elder daughter, has kept well in her faith. We continue praying for her as she goes into mid teens that the Lord would keep her in the faith also. Lois now helps with teaching the Sunday school alongside other teachers. The kids love her as she also loves her job. Mummy (Melly) works wonderfully in her house chores and church matters. She also helps with Sunday school. Currently, she and other members of the church are organizing an evangelistic outreach to couples in a hotel here in Kisumu (a "dine and listen"). The date is yet to be set. It will probably be in September. I had hoped to take Melly with me to the Zambia reformed annual conference but the clouds do not seem to be opening up for us in this. One church member has offered to join in this trip in August, God willing.

I seem to be growing more grey hairs that are now beyond counting - only God knows how many they are. I visited optician last week and he prescribed reading glasses for me, which is a sign that my 70 days on earth are drawing to a close. At 44, I almost argued with the optician that the glasses have come too soon. But it was useless. The signs are clear. Before, I could do my night reading up to midnight. Not any more. By seven I cannot read anything of book size prints!

In the months of April and May I had serious recurrence of duodenal ulcers which put me down when it comes and is very expensive to treat. Two Sundays I could not join the rest for the service. Thanks to the Lord - a brother in Christ sympathized and bore the entire hospital bill for me.

Billian, my orphaned niece, passed her secondary education with a B-. She received admission to one of the government universities to do Law but as a private student (i.e., she cannot get Government sponsorship). She needs about 2000 pounds per year. We cannot afford this and she will miss the chance; it is very competitive. Sam's mum continues to suffer a heavy attack of diabetes and HBP but the Lord has continued to watch over her when we cannot.

Do you fancy landlords? How about receiving his call to the effect that he is suffering from the financial global crunch? Mine has seen fit to off-load his crunch on us by increasing the rent. I believe the crunch is not only for landlords. I almost told him this but realized that he could be the only option for me and decided to play a good boy.

Sam and family