50th Wedding Anniv., Graduation Day, Baby Carlos, New Village(Sikhendu), 16 Profess Christ

This week has brought so much activity I am not sure where to start. Well maybe I do. My hope is that you give me the liberty to wish my Mom and Dad a Happy 50th Anniversary. Words cannot begin to express

how proud I am of my parents for both enjoying the many years in Holy Matrimony as well as enduring the trials that occur during 5 decades of life. They are a great example to our generation of what God’s plan is for a husband and a wife to love each other till “death do us part”.

As I write this they are on a cruise ship somewhere in the Caribbean with many of our family members celebrating this joyous occasion. We wish them a Happy 50th Anniversary and we wish we were there but we know that we are where the Lord wants us.

This week we completed our scheduled 6 months of language school.
It has been a blessing to learn the language as well as the culture.

While we still have a long ways to go with regard to hearing and fluency we have achieved what is known as conversational Swahili. It has been well worth the investment of time and money as we have connected with the people and the culture in a way that is only possible when you learn their language. Our teacher, Wycliffe, has done a great job of teaching us Swahili

as well helping us understand his culture. Over the last six months we have grown to know each other and to love each other through him teaching us Swahili and us teaching him the Bible. His wife, Eunice, had a baby boy on Wednesday that they named “Carlos”, which is my given name. That is one of the highest honors you can give a person here. Needless to say, we have impacted each others life’s in a great way.

With one of our main priorities being Bible education we continue to invest in printing and distributing Bible Study material. Along these lines this week I received an invitation to visit with Bro.Randy Stirwal who is a Bible Baptist Missionary here in Eldoret,. He and his wife Phyllis have been serving in Kenya for over 30 years.

Not only is he a wealth of information from His vast experience here

but he also opened his entire library to us for use in teaching and training. His library is so comprehensive that is takes up an entire room and the best part about the offer is that it is all on computer which he let me download onto my flash drive.... Anything I want and in Swahili and English.... Now I am not sure if you understand the magnitude of this offer but to have someone of like faith and doctrine open us his life’s work to be shared and copied puts us years ahead of where we would be trying to rewrite and translate what has already been done. Having it in English helps us review and verify everything that is in the lessons and having it in Swahili makes it available to those in the interior and remote regions where we are working.

I cannot tell you how big of a blessing this is. Already I have downloaded: Basic Bible Studies in discipleship, doctrine and How to interpret the Bible. Not only is there an extreme shortage of Bibles here in Kenya but there is also an extreme shortage of Bible study material. It is fair to say that now it is only a matter of
reviewing the material and getting it into the hands of the people who are so desperate for it.

Yesterday was the start of new evangelism campaign in a village called Sikhendu. It is located approx. 60 km from Eldoret and approx. 10 km

from Mawe Tatu (3 Stones) which is the first Church plant we have been blessed to be a part of. This new campaign is a result of the Pastor and members of Mawe Tatu, which is still a new Church plant in itself wanting to reach a neighboring village with the gospel. If you are counting, this is the 5th Church plant the Lord has allowed us to be a part of in 8 months. We dare not take credit for what God is doing but it is so awesome to observe what He is doing through His people. It is one of those times where the Lord is moving in the hearts of His people in a mighty way. People are getting burdened, people are getting saved and people are getting right with God in a way that tends to reflect a wildfire spreading throughout the land.

It is one of those times that you just try to hold on to God while He is moving and working in the life’s of so many at one time. The people that God has united us with during our time here in Eldoret are totally: On fire, committed and so in Love with Christ that they want to share it with others.

As I am constantly assessing our role in these works, I can only say , it is a blessing to come along-side of these sold-out and surrendered Christians and to be able to provide transportation to these remote areas, bibles, educational materials, teaching and to participate in what we call
Acts 20:20 Evangelism.
"And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house."
There were 16 who professed Christ as personal Lord and Savior yesterday while visiting in Sikhendu. Before I close I want to personalize one of those visits for you. One of the houses we visited was the home of a man named Daniel. It is very rare to find the men home on visitation

as they are usually away farming or on business. Daniel was an exception to that rule yesterday as he was at home and welcomed us to visit and share God’s Word. After thoroughly sharing the love of Christ through the plan of salvation there was a moment when we asked Daniel, his wife and Sister in-law if they could recall a time and place in their lives when they had trusted Christ as their personal Lord and Savior?

The pause and conviction in that house was overwhelming as they each said a word that has come to break my heart:

“BADO” which means “not yet” in Swahili.

After asking Pastor Peter to pray with them, we rejoiced with them and explained that our efforts there would ultimately result in a new Church planted in their village. As we walked back to our rally site Daniel walked with us an explained that he has been wanting to know the Lord and was so excited about the prospect of a Church being planted in his village and that he wanted to be first to offer the Land for it to be built on.

We explained that it will be some time after the start of a weekly Bible study to build a church but he let us know that he and his family will be followers of Christ and faithful members. As we parted ways he said that after living in that same house for over 40 years he had never had a preacher visit his home and he said that God has not only given him salvation but the start of new life. We are truly humbled and blessed when we think of those converted and born again.

Since we traveled yesterday we stayed local and attended Bro. Randy’s Church at Kapsoya Baptist here in Eldoret. We brought along the young man named Kennedy and his nephew who is the young fabricator I recently lead to Christ, baptized and is doing a Bible study. While our commitment to preaching the gospel is first and foremost we also want to make every effort to disciple and mentor those that are saved.

Sorry I have been a bit long winded, but just had so much on my heart

I want to remember and share. I also apologize for the poor quality of the pictures but my Pastor has said that our Sunday school class at Ft. Cooper Baptist Church has bought us another camera and it will be here soon.

Thanks for all who take time to allow us to share this priceless experience with you.

Chuck and Terry Fernandez
Kenya, East Africa