Dear Praying Friends,

‘Then Job replied to the Lord: ‘I know that you can do all things, no plan of yours can be thwarted.’ (Job. 42:1). First, we cannot understand his ways. Also, we cannot thwart his plans - they come to pass.

The Lord’s church continues to grow under the great gates of Hades, but we are confident that it will come to its full maturity. Then, we will go home to rest. What a joy to know that his plan for the church militant is working out and one day we will fully join with the church triumphant when the last trumpet call of the Lord shall sound. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling’ (2 Cor.5:2). Also, we enjoy the warmth and encouragement of fellow soldier's in this glorious battle.

Since 2008, the Lord has been opening ways for us to travel to Lusaka Zambia to attend the Reformed Baptist conference. This is courtesy of our beloved brethren in Lusaka who always make sure that I attend by taking care of the airfare and accommodation. This year and last year they even made it possible for me to attend with Melly, my dear wife. This year the theme was on family life in its totality, and each speaker had something fresh to bring. The main speakers were Bruce B. and Cholwe M. Both were preaching from Job Chapter one and Proverbs 31 (virtuous woman). They came with fresh blessings for all attentive souls.

It was opportunity to make more friends through meeting brethren from Tanzania, Namibia and many Zambians. I also had opportunity to preach in four churches in Lusaka, one of them being Lusaka Baptist church where the conference was held. It sits more than 1000 congregants. For the two Sundays that we were there, I preached in one church in the morning then I went to another for the evening service.

Our girls stayed with a Christian friend in Nairobi while we were away. I was instrumental in moulding the husband's life, and he now stands strong in Christ in Nairobi where he works for Kenya revenue authority. His wife Joy is a real joy. They were more than willing to allow our children to stay. They truly enjoyed each other.

I remember one day in the late 90's during my pastoral visitation, I visited Henry (the husband, who was not married then) at 11pm with my wife sitting awake worried about what had become of her husband! Those were not days of mobile phones. Three cheers for mobile phone innovations: The wives of pastors can now relax.

For the month of August I have been on my annual leave, which was still very busy. I had my MA class in Nairobi for 6 days then a trip to Zambia and preaching. Pastor Paul O. shared the preaching with missionary Graham J. while I was away.

The church currently is focused on evangelism, and we still ask for your prayers for conversions. People’s hearts become harder and harder to the gospel. Two men have come close to confessing Christ but something keeps holding them back. Pray for a breakthrough. Pray too for the strengthening of the hearts of church members. Pray that they would be pure and increase in the love of God.

The ministry at Maseno University begins this month after they have been away for holiday for four months. Pray for conversions. We plan to recruit first year students to the bible study, and we pray for success. From this study, we have one lady who now both lives and has a job in our town. Helen is a regular at church. Many students are scattered all over but when they are in Kisumu, they do pop in for Sunday service.

Lois has just received the results for the exams with IGCSE, and we now pray that the Lord will provide for us to send her to the next level of education. Nila will open school this week as she moves to year 10.

Sam and Melly