Esther is six years old. She lives in southern Kenya in the Masaai tribe. After a severe, prolonged illness, the family lost their father. Now the mother is forced to raise their daughter alone. Esther has two brothers and two sisters. Both sisters are married. Now she lives with her mother and two brothers in a small hut.
Esther’s life is like many of her peers associated with livestock and beadwork. This is the main source of income. There is no work in these remote villages, and so the products, souvenirs, and necklaces that they make, they have to sell on the side of the road. With the proceeds, her mother buys everything necessary for everyday life.
Esther has her responsibilities in the house. She collects firewood, washes dishes, and regularly carries drinking water in a 5-liter (1.3 gallons) container. Esther loves school, loves to sing. She is a smart talkative girl, good at reading and writing. Due to their poverty, the mother cannot give her food for lunch in school. I have more than 20 children in the classroom and in order to provide lunch for them during the month I need an extra $200. Thank you for participating in the life of my students.
I greet you all in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for the ministry that God began in South Sudan. We pray that the Lord will expand our limits in 2020. Thank you for your prayers and help in the refugee camps in Uganda. We really appreciate the fact that you are nearby and support us in this distress.
The Lord is faithful, we planted 12 new churches in one year. We had 1,119 people baptized. More than 11,000 people have heard the Gospel from our evangelists and then fifteen hundred of them accepted Christ as the Savior. The Lord showed his authority in the freeing of 23 people from demonic dependence. About 40 people returned to the church after the retreat. We thank God for the two evangelists who resumed their ministry in the church of Kajokeci. Due to hostilities, the ministry was terminated in January 2017.
One amazing story happened to a woman named Yakisuk. She was posessed with demons for a long time, and relatives paid money to the witches in Congo to free her. Our brother went to their village and preached the Gospel. When he prayed for her freedom, Yakisuk fainted. Everybody thought she was dead. After she regained consciousness, she stood up – healed and free from the power of Satan. The family and Yakisuk herself were very sorry that they had not turned to Christ earlier. After all, He gives true freedom and doesn’t take money for it but does it all by His grace and love. Continue to pray for revival in Uganda and Sudan.
Greetings my friends, our Gospel preaching is not limited to one place. We thank God that the ministry began in Sudan in the highly populated areas of the southern Blue Nile, in the areas of Ingessana, Uddu and Jumdzhum. A wide door for the Gospel was opened in northern Sudan, and we are so grateful that God used our disciples, Abdel, Saddam, Jalfu, Gadir, Abusaal, and others to reach the local population.
Last August, we visited churches in Sudan and heard about the persecution of our leaders, pastors, and ordinary believers. Pray for Pastor Abusaal. His Father-in-law, had learned that he had become a Christian, he took his wife and children, saying that he would return them only after Abusaala converted back to Islam! His wife, not believing in Christ, also doesn’t want to continue to live with him. Abusaala is now looking for money to pay his parents in law to buy out the children. He needs to pay $600 to get his children back. They wanted to sue Abusaal for adopting Christianity, and he was to appear before an Islamic court in Maban. Please pray for him!
Many Blue Nile residents are refugees in northeastern South Sudan, and they are among the people who were not able to reach Sudan. Pray for awakening in this region of the country and about opening new churches. Also, for existing communities, which today, among the hatred and hostility of the local population, perform ministry in the name of Christ.
We thank God for all the good that He has done for us. The school is doing well. After the holidays, we opened on Monday, January 6, 2020. We thanked God because He sent us rain and all the grass was green. We don’t need to worry about how to feed our livestock at the moment
School attendance is pretty good. My children are all grateful for their school uniforms and shoes. Last year, we bought part of the uniform. Now we bought the remaining sweaters, shirts and ties. We really appreciate your support. May the Lord bless you all. As you can see in the pictures, my children are very happy.
Now in the community, many parents want their children to go to school, but I do not have a second separate room for the other class. This is one of the main problems that I am facing today.
I also have an assistant, a teacher – this is a young man who received secondary education last year. He will be able to teach in primary school. Everything depends on the second room. Pray for this so that the Maasai school can grow!
On November 12, we went on our first trip to Malawi. At the invitation of the Zambezi Gospel Church leadership, we arrived and started working with children and build a Sunday school Building! We had “only” 5 transfers and of course our bags were lost. This was our first inconvenience, but this is Africa and here this seems to be the norm. Just a day later, they called us from the airport to tell us that our luggage was found. We took a shower, changed clothes and our moods improved.
We were greeted by the leadership of the union and discussed the details of the work and the various possibilities of ministry and we began with construction. Local helpers work like ants – without any rest. It is gratifying to see that they are not indifferent to the fact that we came to help them. In other countries, we only dreamed of such help … The atmosphere is open and very brotherly, it is very nice to see and hear. Willard Muwalo, the Union General Secretary, not only gave us five volunteers, but also offered his strength and construction assistance! We have already filled the foundation with concrete and started to weld the steel structure. Pray for our team, that the Lord bless all the planned work!
It was a holiday! But not only for children. Mercy invited all parents to school so that they could thank together for these new uniforms! Thank you very much to everyone who sacrificed and prayed for a school in Kenya.
Children at school never had uniforms before. Many of them received new clothes for the first time in their life! In the Maasai tribe, school is traditionally not a priority. The government needs to convince parents, to send their children to school. In our school, which we opened several years ago, we have more than 20 students.
Mercy, as the wife of a pastor, is not just a teacher, but also a mentor. She can pray with the children and invite non-believing parents to the ministry!
Thank you all for your open hearts to the Maasai tribe!
