Dear Friends,

We greet you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We are late in writing and sending out this Prayer Letter to you for which we are very sorry. Getting it out in time is necessary as we know that some of you value it for your continued prayers. March has been a unique month in many ways. But this far, the Lord has brought us.

We have been looking back and rejoicing greatly at the Lord's abounding goodness upon us as a married couple for the past twenty five years. The Lord has brought both joyful and sad changes in our lives over those years. 'He who fears change will never progress.' This saying has proved true again and again to us. In all those years, our greatest delight has been brought about by the Lord not only in giving us our two children, Tim and Liz, but in His bringing them to faith in their youth. What a joy it has been to see them grow to be where they are now. The two are very different in their personalities and abilities. But they are a reason for our praise to the God of all blessings. It has been very delightful to receive Silver Wedding Anniversary cards from a number of friends. We say thank you very much for your thoughtfulness and kindness. One of our friends directed us to these verses and they are fitting:

The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26

We have also seen the Lord's gracious hand upon us in terms of the ministry. The many years we have spent and served in our previous church left us with countless pleasant memories. Challenges were, however, not a few. But with those challenges, the Lord not only provided the grace to persevere, but He turned them into fresh opportunities of service. Thus our move to Eldoret in 2006 was necessitated by our poor family health situation. However, having accepted the Lord's will to settle in Eldoret, we are humbled that He has been pleased to use even us in starting a church in this fast growing and strategic town.  The church is still young and far from what it should be but we rejoice to see sinners saved and their lives changed through the preaching and teaching of the gospel of grace. An average of sixty people gather every Lord's Day for worship.

On the health front, the Lord has matchlessly extended His unmerited favour upon us. As long as we have been married, Naphtally has suffered ill health in terms of osteoarthritis and tonsillitis. He has also picked up one or two others associated illnesses with the turning of years; a humbling reminder that we are getting older! Two weeks ago, he was admitted to a nearby hospital and underwent a tonsillectomy. The two weeks have been very difficult indeed with lots of pain in swallowing and speaking. He has had to be on liquids and mashed foods till last night when he began to eat vegetable and mince meat! The recovery process has been mighty slow. He is due for a doctor's review on 3rd April. During this time of Naphtally's ill health, David Anderson has had to shoulder the full weight of the work. We are so thankful to God that two are better than one. We request for your continued prayers.

During his four days in the hospital, Naphtally did have a rather unique opportunity for witnessing to another patient in the same ward. John had cancer, TB and a few other complications and had been in and out of the hospital a few times. Naphtally helped John in the nights when the only nurse on duty was overwhelmed and immersed in caring for other patients. John then made a comment to the following effect: 'Pastor Ogallo, you have done for me what is not African' to which Naphtally replied, 'I have helped you not as an African but as a Christian.' John was moved and that became an opportunity for Naphtally to talk to him about the need to seek the Lord and His salvation while there is time. The following morning, a man who claimed to be a pastor walked in to the ward to see John. He started telling John 'you are healed in Jesus' name, claim it now...' Three days later, John died! Situations like these, where religious persons make wild claims of health promises based on some wrongly interpreted biblical verses, abound in Kenya. May the Lord help us to run with speed the race of teaching the word of God faithfully among our people.

Economic challenges in Eldoret are threatening more of our church members to relocate from Eldoret. The latest are Victor and Millicent who have been with the church from the beginning. Added to this, Victor's mother died yesterday morning after a battle with cancer. They now want to resettle in the village to care for his blind father and very old step mother. It will be our big loss to see them leave, but we are encouraging them to think of starting Bible studies with the many idle young people in the village and a Sunday School program for the children. It will be our church's commitment to pray, frequently visit and encourage them in the village. May the Lord use them to eventually see a Biblical church start in their home area.

Kenya's Draft Constitutional process is at the Parliamentary Debate stage. There are so many contentious clauses. But we hope that they will agree on some irreducible principles upon which the Draft may be prepared for a referendum later in the year.

We value your continued prayers dear brethren.

Yours in Christ,
Naphtally & Helida O.