Samburu of Kenya

• Home
• Contact
• Facebook Photos
• Team Reports

March 2010 Newsletter

Posted on March 16, 2010 - Filed Under General News | Leave a Comment

NEW YEAR, NEW WORK We’ve been blessed with rain since the New Year began and we are happy the long drought has ended. The effects of it will be long lasting for some as they lost all or most of their livestock. But folks here are rejoicing and thanking God for sending the rains. Even last night we had a good, slow rain at our place which has completely saturated the ground, something we haven’t seen in over a year. The new churches which were started last year are continuing to grow and reach out into their communities and nearby villages. They are embracing their responsibility of taking the News of God to their neighbors and we hear reports of many lives being changed. One of the outward changes is that people have stopped brewing and drinking homemade beer or spirits. The abuse of alcohol is a big problem among Samburu. When one person is a drunkard, the whole family suffers from poverty, hunger and other problems. To see someone stop this habit after receiving Christ is to see an entire family be changed and lifted out of the mire. The transformation is amazing. Charlie is working diligently to disciple and train these church leaders. At the same time, we are praying about going into a new area to begin work. One Samburu man has been leading the way in reaching into the remote areas to bring the Gospel to those who would otherwise never hear. He and Charlie are praying and planning to determine the “next steps” for reaching beyond the current location.

PRAYER REQUESTS * We have so much praise for the rains we’ve had. When we got back to Maralal in January the water to the house was back on and the reservoir has continued to fill. * Praise for the new churches who are taking responsibility for sharing the Gospel with their neighbors. * Pray that we will be clear in hearing from God about new areas in which to work. * Pray for leaders of the new churches to grow in the knowledge of the Lord and to be faithful and obedient in their work and their calling. Pray that they will not fall victim to deception and sin. * The teachers working in the preschools started by our churches seem to be enthusiastic to new methods. Pray for them to understand the needs of their students. Praise God for the support of elders and pray that they will work hard to give these teachers, schools and children the things they need to thrive. Pray for Sandra to be able to instruct them in good teaching methods and creative use of locally available materials. * Pray for Charlie and his Samburu strategist as they develop a plan for reaching into new villages this year.

SAMBURU ARE SAYING: You know, Charlie, the Holy Spirit is like the wind: it goes everywhere. – a worker describing the success of the spread of the Gospel in an outlying area

God came and spoke to our hearts. We were sleeping, but God said, ‘Mamas, wake up! Wake up! Go and do the work of God. Sunday, one day a week, is not enough.’ They went outside and began to work and 15 people got saved. – women doing evangelism in neighboring villages

MYSTERY OF SUCCESS If you can measure success in ministry, this past year was a good one for us. Over a dozen new churches were started, hundreds of new believers were baptized and local church members are joining in the work of evangelism. Churches are serving their communities by building nursery schools which provide preschool education and a meal for small children. As missionaries serving the Samburu people, we are encouraged by all of these things. Observers want to know what we are doing that has caused such “sudden” progress. The fact is that it is not sudden and there really is no such thing as overnight success. What seems immediate to the outsider is known by the insider as slow, steady work in progress. The work has been going on in this area for 2 decades. While many have participated in this work, it is the Holy Spirit who has blown His way into the lives of Samburu and produced these results. No amount of “work” can match the call of God on another man’s life and the fruit of obedience to the Lord’s plan. Seeing Samburu take ownership for sharing the News of God is a direct answer to the prayer we have asked for over and over: “please pray that Samburu believers will have a burden for their own people.” (This is no longer only your work, Charlie. It is ours.) What sweet words to the ears of a missionary. To have a national who is actively working to start churches and participating in planning and strategizing is probably the biggest change we have seen in our 8 years with the Samburu. We praise and thank God for allowing us to join Him in this blessed work.

God bless all of you for your prayers and continued support! We appreciate all you do for us from the bottom of our hearts. We are eternally grateful for your participation by giving, praying, sharing with others and even showing up here to work with us! Feel free to print out and distribute this (or any) newsletter.

CHILDREN’S CRAFT IDEA For those of you teaching children’s mission or other classes here is a craft idea as you are talking about Samburu. Cut cardstock into strips about 2 inches wide, one per child. Tear a piece of foil off big enough to completely cover each strip, about 6 inches. Place the paper on the foil and smear with a glue stick, then wrap the foil all around it. Let the kids use a blunt pencil to “carve” designs in the foil. Then bend into a circle and staple to form a bracelet. This will be similar to the aluminum bracelets which Samburu wear. This is good for small children. Older children can string beads and make beaded bracelets. For snack time, you can serve chai tea. Make the hot tea, sweeten it and then cool it down (so it doesn’t burn the kiddos) with cold milk. Samburu enjoy this milky sweet tea every day.

Comments