Back to the Desert, Baby Faye passes and Answered Prayers

Dear Friends and Family;
We have been without internet and phone much of last week and even
now I am up late trying to get enough signal to send this to you.
I have had to shorten my list and eliminate pics so please feel free to forward this to others you know that may want to keep up with our journal. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Will try to send more when we get a better connection.

Chuck

Back to the Desert, Baby Faye passes and Answered Prayers

Terry and I traveled back to the Turkana desert on Tuesday to do some mission work for an undetermined period of time. The trip was uneventful which is a blessing here but the road seems to have deteriorated more since our last trip with Bro. Jimmy Jones.

Turkana has not had rain in almost a year and the people and animals have been suffering from the effects of an extended drought. We were without water our first 3 days here and electricity for 2 days.
We had to use barrels of water we filled the last time we were up for cooking, cleaning and bathing. However, one of the priorities on my list was to put up a water tower and tank.
So immediately upon arrival I started cutting steel and welding on the tower. While I had a welder I had no welding goggles and had to use two pair of sunglasses. The glasses did the job for protecting my eyes but not my face and I got a little welding burn. But no harm no foul.
After completing the construction of the tower to include a new 1000 liter tank tied into the house we had to sit patiently for water another day without water. However, the Lord answered prayers and sent an all night rain here on Friday. The river is running full again, there is 1000 liters of water in the tank and we are happy.

All the herdsman are happy for their camels, goats, donkeys and sheep have water and will have new growth on the vegetation. What a blessing to people that had reached a point of desperation.
The Bible says that the Lord will never put more on us than we can bear.
While working this week I received two phone calls from Western Kenya.
Sad news came from Pastor Shadrach of Mawe Tatu that Baby Faye passed away on Wednesday. She is the sick girl I sent a picture of last week. Terry left money for her to receive treatment before we left which she did but she still passed away. They buried her next to the Pastor Shadrach’s Baby we buried last month. If we had no hope and we did not know that children are the heritage of the Lord you could not hardly function here with the high infant mortality rate. The people are so use to it and seemed to be hardened to the loss of infants that they simply keep doing what they always do, that is accept God’s will and persevere.
The good news we received was from Kennedy who called and said that he has led his mother, Jessica, to Christ. He returned to Bondo this week. Before we left we gave him six Bibles and gospel tracts to share with his family.
His family has been in a mess with a lifestyle of alcoholism but now there is hope through salvation in Jesus Christ. He was so broken and burdened for his family and we rejoice with him in his mother’s new faith in Christ. Those are two major prayers that have been answered this week!
Rain and Salvation, talking about showers of blessing!

Yesterday, Bro. Eddie asked me to travel with him and his Pastors to a village called Nagolipus to sit in on a land purchase for the new Church there.

We drove 50 km out in the desert only to find that the rain Friday night had made the road impassable.

 It is amazing to go from 6 inch deep sand to 6 inch deep in one rain.

We knew we were not going to make it when we stopped to pick up a chief from a neighboring village to sit in on the negotiations and he said, “You can go but I am not going because if you cross the river you will

not be able to come back for days.”

Ok, that is good enough for me.

If the chief says it is not safe than I don’t want go, I am with the chief.

Then late last night Bro. Eddie calls me and asks if I would go back to where the road was so bad during the day to pick up one of his Pastors, wife and baby who were sick and take them back to Lodwar town.

We dropped off Pastor Moses and his wife at the Church in Napetet so they can get treatment in the morning. Please pray for this young Pastor and his wife.

Today Terry and I traveled to the Lakeside village called Kalacol. We had great services there with Pastor Steven. I preached from Psalms 100:4 in Swahili, we prayed for rain, and God sent the rain and now it is time to be thankful.

In addition, to a wonderful worship service we got to see the young lady named Lucy who got saved in August during a revival campaign in Kalacol. She was the one who was described as a “Devil Woman” but is now attending the house of God each week and growing in her walk.
Talk about a transformed life and family that was heading for certain destruction ....a 'Miracle' of God has taken place in Lucy's life and family....
In Swahili we say, “Bwana Asifiwe!” = Praise the Lord!

Your Missionaries to Kenya

Chuck & Terry Fernandez