SAM AND MELLY PRAYER LETTER 2ND HALF 2009

The Psalmist David says ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.' (Ps. 23: 4). David knew many and vigorous enemies of both God and himself, but his full comfort was in God. When our enemies come full of wrath to harm us, we can surely say with comfort: ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil'. This was our experience on July 12th, 2009 at 9:30pm. We had just finished welcoming the youths who had arrived for the youth camp and helping them to settle down for the night. My wife and I then left for our house about 7km away. Along the way we intended to drop off my fellow elder, Paul, who lives close by. Right as we were preparing to drop him off, robbers drove a little past us and blocked my way with their car.They came out swinging a pistol at us, ordering that we open the car doors and threatening to shoot if we did not comply. We opened our doors and they swung in to action demanding money, cell phones and all of our valuables. They took all our personal money plus the camp money, beat me on the head with the gun nozzle, and hurt Paul through beatings. They drove away triumphantly. We saw evil at its height--man without God is a beast. Please pray for us, as we are still traumatized and unnecessarily sensitive. Melly and I are finding Philippians 4:6-7 and 1 Pet 5:6-7 very helpful at such a time.

CHURCH:

We continue to see the Lord's hand upon us in the church. Two conversions have taken place so far since June. Edward, a family man and a regular attendant of Sunday services was converted after spending some time with Paul studying the Bible. A young man named Caesar (born through caesarian), a high school student, also got converted. Both have been struggling a lot with assurance. For Eddy it is because of his past lifestyle which, in a way, still haunts him--some of the effects of his past sins he will have to live with forever. I am currently doing a Bible study with him not only on assurance, but also church membership, baptism etc. I did the same study with Caesar and he has since been interviewed by the church for baptism and membership. We look forward to his baptism (planned for January 3rd, 2010) before he goes back to school. He is in one of the top boarding schools for very smart students. (Maseno High School).

The ministry to Maseno University students has gone well. On November 14th, we organized a ‘dine and listen' for the students. More than 40 were in attendance. Ken, a member of our church, preached from John 3:18, calling them to flee from the condemnation of God. Previously we had done another 'dine and listen' for couples at a hotel in our town. This was also well attended, as God would have it, mostly by lawyers in town and their wives. I chose to preach on Rom. 4:4-5 ‘God who justifies the wicked.' They listened intently. Pray for the souls that listened that they may consider these matters keenly. We then had the youth camp (7th-11th Dec) in which Paul and another pastor friend did most of the ministry, while I supported with the logistics. This was followed by Sunday school age VBC December 14th-16, with good attendance.

Other activities:

Preaching:

Paul and I have shared much of the preaching and Bible study on Sundays with missionary Graham, who has been coming in once a month to help. Books preached so far include the following: Galatians (Bible study-Paul), Zechariah (Sam), life of Joseph (Paul). I am currently on Ephesians. I also lead the church through the1689 confession during Bible study. Pray for God's word to bear upon our people.

Prayers:

We still hold our mid-week prayer times at lunch break in town, using the Anglican church premises. We are thankful to God for this convenient provision.

Oyugis:

Oyugis is a town in which we, along with some friends who live there and are sympathetic to biblical teaching, are trying to plant a church. It is a very young group that needs constant visitation and help. We have made arrangement for two of them to visit us one Sunday in a month, and Paul and I reciprocate by visiting them also once a month for evangelism. Pray that the work will bear fruit and a church will be started.

Some of you know about the ‘Mirunda' work (the cult group). Because of distance and lack of proper resources it has proved difficult to reasonably sustain this work. We would like to visit them as frequently as possible, but it is very far away. If resources can allow, it would be feasible to train one of them (converted ones) who can carry on with the work, with us visiting once in a while.

Building:

The church building is nearing completion and we look forward to occupying it early 2010 -God willing. We are very grateful to those who stood with us in prayer for a long time concerning this matter and also to those who gave towards the work. May our good Lord reward you and continue using you in His Kingdom in this manner.

Reformed work in Kenya:

We are currently regrouping with a vision to start church plants in towns, as opposed to rural settings as it has been before. God has blessed the Eldoret town work and caused it to flourish under Pastor Naphtally O. The Nairobi city church (in Kawangware) is also doing great. The two churches plus ours have an association called the ‘Reformed Baptist movement in Kenya' (ReBmiK). We trust that through this, if we pull together for long, we will see the spread of biblical Christianity in Kenya. God has blessed us with missionaries from Britain who are also part of this work: Graham (in Kisumu), Anderson (Eldoret), and Sukesh and Bussey (Nairobi).

Family:

Nila just finished her primary level education and next year will go to grade 9 (not good news for the father's pocket). Lois sits for her exams grade 11 next year. Pray for them. Both are continuing well in their faith in Christ and were very instrumental in the recent VBC.

My orphaned niece Billian did not manage to go to the university due to high fees. We trust that the Lord will open a way for her soon.

Melly and I had a privilege of attending the Zambia reformed conference in August and enjoyed the ministry. We would like to thank the brethren who graciously gave towards our airfare and Kabwata Baptist church for their warmth in putting up with us. We had the opportunity of re-arranging pastor Mbewe's house as he undertook to host the three of us from Kenya- that was great and we look forward to 2010.

Both of us have not been doing well health-wise. I have stomach ulcers that a small amount of stress triggers, and when this happens I am badly weighed down. Melly has a back problem that needs proper sorting out. We are very grateful for your partnership with us in the Gospel. We pray you continue. Happy Christmas & new year.

Sam and Melly