2016

To all our Family and Friends both here and abroad… Happy New Year and blessings to you for you’re prayers, concern, love and support. Two thousand and sixteen was a good and prosperous year for StoneHouse Ministries International. Much of our ministry this year has been as a result of the behind the scenes work, of our our newly formed board of directors. Without their organizational and administrative help we might still be walking in circles. May the Lord continue to bless all they do for us.  

By the grace of our King, we have doubled (from five to ten) our number of church families. These are not just ‘Sunday go to meeting’ people, but people who have asked to be made disciples of our King. And we are actively training their leaders to make them just that. 

Our other ministries have also continued to grow as we equip the Kenyan brethren to do the work of the ministry. Our vision and heart have always been to make them self-sustaining-servants and not always do the work ourselves or cause them to be dependent on us. This has not been the easiest of tasks, but we are making progress. All our churches take care of most of their own needs, though they are very poor. People from each church family are being trained to take care of their youth, check on one another and reach out to their neighbors. 

James and Beatrice Nyaga have taken over StoneHouse Academy Primary School and are working to make a difference in the slums of Ronda and Ponda Mali. James, has also continued to faithfully teach the department store Nakumat fellowship every Saturday morning and the May Harvest restaurant staff on Sunday afternoon. 

Wangui, our spiritual daughter, is now overseeing StoneHouse Sewing Center and has become quite the manager. She is now employing Lillian, the wife of our pastor in Keptembwa, to help run the shop and help provide for their family through what she earns. 

Our children’s educational sponsorship program has suffered a few setbacks, but has been refocussed to better take care of our church families. This shift has allowed us to better train the parents of these sponsored children. Cynthia will post another blog explaining further. 

Through our partnership with other ministries such as; Heaven’s Family, Island Family Community Church, Soaring Eagle Ministry, Saint Mary’s Hospital, local ministries in Nakuru and individuals like Robin Nail, Dr. David McGowan Jr. and so many others, we have been able to help many of our fellow Kenyans. 

Things like building a widow and her children a new home. 

Or getting a breathing machine for a little girl with health problems and paying her hospital bills. Providing micro loans for others to start businesses and much more. 

Our once a year, free medical clinic, met over two hundred needed medical conditions and hosted a team from the University of Michigan. 

Given bibles to school children.

We did six conferences. Two seminars and three apostolic journeys all over Kenya, visiting people who had almost never heard about the Kingdom of God, and so much more that would take pages and pages to fill. 

We even finished building our house and moved in. 

I must admit though, even with all these blessings, my beloved wife and I have been majorly stretched out this year. In some cases, beyond what we thought we could endure, and yet we were never without the solace and strength of the blessed Spirit of God. 

Outward spiritual battles can sometimes be fierce here in Kenya, but never as exacting as the ones fought within ourselves. Other people’s failures, never cause us such despair… as do our own. No ignorance …willful or not.. causes us more frustration than our own. No half-heartedness, no passivity, no display of the flesh, no lack of spiritual judgement, insight, foresight or hindsight causes us more grief … than our own. 

If we had to face this coming New Year with just the testimony of our past, our self-confidence for today or our belief in a safe and secure future… we would run and hide from it. I know many of you feel the same way. Yet, thanks to our righteous King… we face this new year with a hope born of a promise to each of us… and that hope delivers. That hope is this.. that no matter how we fail, fall or faint… we are… always in His hands … always. Let us go out into 2017 with joy! Read Isaiah 52:12

This is the view of early morning from our porch. They shout of His presence.

May He who holds our lives in His hands and understands you more than you are capable of knowing… remind you of that. Have a blessed year… full of assurance and hope! 

Happy New Year and much love David and Cynthia 

First 2016 Apostolic Journey- Part 2

We awoke at sunrise, took showers and prepared for breakfast at a brother’s house that would soon become our host for the entire three days we were in Wamba. His wife, Faith, turned out to be a great cook and fed us well the entire time we were there.

Njeroge (our brother driver) had wanted, throughout the entire journey, for the car to reflect the trip and get good and grimy before we returned. He wouldn’t submit to any of our request to wash the outside of the car, but four guys for three days, left the inside noticeably gross. So when we arrived at Wamba, he asked one of night watchman at our hotel to clean the inside of the car. Not the outside. 

When we awoke that morning, the car inside… and outside… was immaculate. Njeroge sighed. Then we decided to assess the damage done to the car while traveling over the rough road. It was somewhat extensive. There was a broken spring, lost battery cap which allowed acid to splash all over everything under the hood, several grommets missing in the suspension system and other minor problems. Yet, we thanked God that nothing was serious enough to stop us from continuing our journey or traveling home. So we all felt pretty blessed. And because our Father loves Njeroge, He let the car get good and grimy traveling through the mud on the way home.

As we walked to town for coffee, we enjoyed viewing the local inhabitants dressed in traditional garments. The young man with the spike hairdo is a Samburu Moran warrior and not a punk rocker. They have dressed like that for centuries. (Sorry, rockers there’s nothing new under the sun) 

We then made a bee line to visit our sister Sara who had moved from Nakuru to Wamba some months before. It was good to see her and hear what she had been doing.

Following our short visit with Sara, we continued straightaway to the house of Kennedy Lesowapir. Kennedy is a man that James mentored during the seven years he lived in Wamba as a missionary. Kennedy had spent some time with us in Nakuru and had expressed interest in being with StoneHouse Ministries, thus our visit to Wamba. 

Kennedy has two precious little girls. Though, it was hard to know which children were his, because of the many neighborhood children always in his house. His lovely wife was the ‘local neighborhood mom’ as well as being a very good cook. We took all our meals in Kennedy’s house and had great fellowship while doing so. 

Following breakfast, Kennedy took us to a ‘vacation bible school’ type of project he was overseeing. There were over four hundred children attending. 

It was awesome to see his interaction with the children.

Then we drove thirty to forty minutes into the desert to visit a group of Samburu women and children desiring to hear the Kingdom message. 

The short and bumpy trip involved crossing several dry riverbeds, one of which we got stuck in the middle of. Without our four wheel drive car, we would still be sitting in the middle of that riverbed. Thanks for all those who helped us purchase this great travel blessing. This trip would not have been possible without it. 

When we arrived some of the women and children were already waiting.

The young man in the green wrap is an up and coming Samburu Moran (warrior). 

It took a little time to get used to each other, but we soon became friends. 

Kennedy, who used to be a Samburu Moran (young warrior) himself, explained to them in their native tongue our desire to become a united family in Christ and to begin training them in spiritual issues. 

They seemed to love it. Like the Masai, the Samburu are a very interesting and happy people. We have for a while asked our Father for a way into their hearts. We feel now, He has begun providing it. 

As with several of our missionary trips over the previous years, the Lord gave us a beautiful rainbow to encourage us, to remind us He is still in the business of fulfilling His promises. 

That is a huge termite mound Doug is standing on.  On the way back to Nakuru we drove through several termite swarms. 

Driving home from the Samburu meeting was a beautiful and spiritual experience. We slept that night with very full hearts.

The next day was spent visiting people that James knew. The first was an old man who was happened to be an inventor. We were looking for parts to fix our car and came to him in hopes of finding them. Several of his projects were out in the open. 

One of his current projects was building a three wheel motorcycle for a cripple man in town. 

It was also in a small room in his house that James had a small bakery, from which he sold bread to support his ministry when living there as a missionary.

From there we visited a school James and two other guys began years ago. There was a dispute about legalities concerning the ownership, so we had a two hour, somewhat heated discussion, but were able to come to a peaceful settlement. 

Since James left to come to Nakuru some six years ago the school has gone downhill. When he was there the school was given an excellence award. 

When we returned to town we met with some wazee (Elderly men) and watched them play a neat game called 'Ndotoi' . This game can become very intense and everyone seemed to love playing. It reminded me of the days I used to watch elderly men gather in parks and grocery stores to play checkers. 

After lunch we visited an orphanage run by some very dedicated people. This young woman is the assistant manager. 

The Samburu people do not have any grace for pregnancies without marriage. Should a young girl become pregnant, the baby is usually put to death at birth. These are just a few of the sweeties that have been rescued. Many of the older ones were at the vacation bible school. Don't tell me that Christianity is not needed in primitive areas. 

This Christian orphanage was begun to give young women an alternative to the horror of infanticide. Now, in most cases, the baby is brought to this orphanage. 

Our last stop, on our second day in Wamba, was the local hospital. James knew people who worked in the hospital, so we visited the sick and prayed for them. 

This sweet little lady was our favorite person to visit. She was so grateful to us for paying her attention... but we won her heart when we gave her sweeties (candy). 

Then it was back to Kennedy’s for dinner and our four star hotel for a very needed sleep. 

Next up … speaking in churches and the exciting trip home.