Tent Assembly, Thanksgiving, Mt. Climbing & Bible Study

This week we accomplished the final construction and assembly of the tent for the first Church on Mt. Elgon. We assembled it here in Eldoret in order to make sure everything was in good order when we put it up on the mountain.

With the plot already purchased the people are ready for a shelter to worship under. It is my intention to travel back to Mt. Elgon on Wednesday to assemble the tent with Pastor Peter.

This week fifteen men attended the weekly Bible study here in Eldoret and it continues to be a blessing to all involved, including the teacher. In addition, there was one more man who was saved.

 Terry and I spent Thanksgiving together, alone, and it was a little tough as this was the first Thanksgiving we have spent away from our family in 28 years. Thank God for cell phones as we were able to talk to all of our Children and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. One of the things that made Thanksgiving a little more bearable was a huge package we received from Terry’s sister, Karen. Every time we get a care package from the USA it is like Christmas and we feel so special. Included in the package was canned turkey! Since you cannot get turkey here in Kenya we felt blessed to eat actual turkey with stuffing that Terry made. Thank you Karen, for making our Thanksgiving special and reminding us of how thankful we are for our family.

Yesterday we traveled to another village on Mt. Elgon called Kaperewa to do evangelism and to promote a new Bible study Pastor Peter’s younger brother Timothy has been lead to start.

Timothy recently moved to Mt. Elgon to take a teaching position at a private school. He feels lead to start a weekly Bible study there with hopes to plant a third Church on Mt. Elgon.

This village is at a lower elevation and a considerable distance from the other two Churches we currently have on the mountain. Getting anywhere on Mt. Elgon is still very difficult and it is the only place I know you have to cross rivers, go mudslinging and rock climbing all in the same morning. It is very hard on the truck and driver. Mt. Elgon has some of the most fertile soils in Kenya and grows some the largest and healthiest vegetables I have ever seen. However, the mountain also seems to yield some of the most fertile ground, spiritually, in all of Kenya. When we visit the homes of the people of Mt. Elgon almost without exception they remember and speak of the violence. With hundreds of people slaughtered there last year it still weighs very heavy on the hearts of so many of the residents.
This being the environment there is a liberality of Spirit that seems to be unsurpassed.

The people are so hungry and so wanting to have God in their lives that they readily come to faith in Christ as their hope for eternal life and their hope for peace in their land.

Yesterday there were 49 who professed Christ as their Savior in Kaperewa and we gave out 100’s of copies of the book of John and Romans in Swahili. We also gave out many Bibles as well. I have included a picture of Terry’s e-team with her translator Momma Mary who is 9 months pregnant still out sharing God’s love and God’s Word.

If that is not inspiring I don’t know what is. The love that these folks have for God is contagious and their faithfulness in serving Him is unwavering. God has truly given us some great Christians to work with. We concluded a great day of evangelism traveling over 250kms with a broken clutch cylinder upon arriving in Eldoret. We limped into the house very late in 2nd gear but we thank God it did not let go while we were on Mt. Elgon. The Lord truly gives us grace each and every day. We will be back at the garage in the morning again. It is comforting to know that the mechanic who works on the truck is now attending the weekly Eldoret Bible Study and fellowship.

 God Bless.

Chuck & Terry Fernandez



Kenya, East Africa

Bible Study, Old Friends and Thanksgiving

                                                                                         

The new weekly Bible study with the W-elders, F-abricators and M-echanics grew from 6 to 17 in one week. In addition to seeing men that are hungering and thirsting after righteousness a young man named Nelson made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This venue gives me the opportunity to share God’s love through the gospel of Jesus Christ as well as disciple those that receive Him on a weekly basis.

In addition to sharing God’s plan for salvation each week I have been able to teach these men how to have integrity and how to be loyal to the Lord. Please pray for God’s will to be accomplished in each of these meetings and each of our lives. Today we traveled over 150Km to visit an old friend named Richard Wamacho.

During our survey trip to Kenya in 2006 we met Richard at Lake Turkana running the family fishing business.

He befriended our Son, Vinny, during that trip and has had a special place in our hearts.

Since then he is the only Kenyan we met to make an effort to keep in touch with us through mail. At the close of our first year in country we still had not be able to visit him until today. He invited us to his home in Kitale and to preach at his home church in a village called Namanjalala.

Before we journeyed to the Church from his house he had a surprise waiting for us. Little did we know that his wife had given birth to their fourth child nine days ago and he was waiting on us so I could name his son.

Now Terry and I both have had children named after us but this was new territory for me to name someone else’s son. I was given exactly five minutes to think about it and then ask to give them the name that they have been patiently waiting for. What if they did not like the name? It was a lot of pressure but in the end I played it safe and named the nine day old baby, “Paul”, after the apostle. We had a great day of teaching and preaching at his villlage church and a wonderful afternoon of fellowship with Richard and his family.

With Thanksgiving approaching this week I feel compelled to share a unique perspective of Thanksgiving from a third world country.

Thanksgiving is an American holiday and is not celebrated here in Kenya.
However, this week they will have a week of “harvest prayers” to ask God to bless their next crop. This point brings to mind the many things in America we have to be thankful for. When you sit down with your family or friends around a table full of food, take a moment to remember the people of Kenya. Their diet generally consists of one meal per day substituted with hot tea, bread and or a piece of fruit. That one main meal, usually dinner, consists of a corn meal type product called “ugali” and a collar green vegetable known as “sukuma”. Meat is only partaken of with special guests or special occasions. Keep in mind there is no variety with this staple diet and it is eaten most every day. I am thoroughly convinced that many of the health problems experienced here are from malnutrition and inadequate diet. While the people we are working with are not starving to death from a lack of food they are starving their body from a well balanced diet. Yet they are some of the happiest people you will ever met and able to praise God for every blessing of life. We are blessed to be from the land of plenty and the greatest country on the face of the earth. Thank God we don’t have to eat the same thing every day and that we can pick and choose what we want. Enjoy the blessings of God this week and remember to thank Him for His bountiful provision but most of all thank Him for the sacrifice of His Son.

Chuck & Terry Fernandez

Kenya, East Africa

WMF Bible Study, Tent Makers & Baptisms

Tuesday of this week I met with Kennedy and five other fundi’s at their place of work to study God’s word with these Welders, Mechanics & Fabricators. (WMF) These men took an hour break out of their busy day to study God’s word and pray.

What a blessing and privilege to be able to teach the Word of God and the Biblical principles for being a man of faith & integrity. What a step of faith on the part of these men to shut down their businesses and take time to learn more about the Lord. The area we met at is one of the roughest areas in Eldoret due to the high rate of drug and abuse. However, for whatever reason the Lord has drawn me to these men.

It is somewhat of throw back to our bus ministry days when Terry and I could be found in the toughest areas of Citrus and Hernando County where there were many who were alcoholics and drug addicts. It is amazing to see how the Lord orchestrates your life to be used by Him to  be in the right place....at the right time.

 From time to time the Holy Spirit reminds me that this is the type of crowd that Jesus could be found ministering to. We will end each weekly meeting by praying for their lost friends, family and co-workers by name. Already they have asked if they could each bring a visitor next week.

Please pray for these weekly meetings that they will be an avenue to reach the lost WMF of Eldoret as well as helping men reach their potential for Christ. Wednesday, Kennedy and I purchased the material needed to build the next tent for Landmark Baptist Church of Mt. Elgon. If you recall I purchased a used carport type canopy from another missionary here in Eldoret and now I have used those plans to construct my own.

Thursday we cut the steel and delivered some to one of the fabricators in the Bible study to weld the joints. My hope is to have this second canopy up on Mt. Elgon in early December at the beginning of the dry season. I also took the time this week to install hood pins on the truck so that I don’t have a reoccurrence of last week’s close call when the hood came up. Yesterday we stayed local so we could travel to Mawe Tatu (3 Stones) again for a baptismal service.

Pastor asked me to preach again in Swahili, so I preached from Jonah 1 “Running From God”. While my Swahili ears are still learning to hear my Swahili speech is improving each week. Studying the Bible in two languages is definitely expediting this process but please continue to pray for us as we have a long ways to go. After services we loaded up and drove down to the river with as many as you can fit into one vehicle. Before we could baptize we had to chase the cows, goats and sheep out of our baptismal spot in the river. That was a first for me but all in the day and life of missionary here in Kenya. There were six that followed the Lord Jesus in scriptural baptism and added to the Church. Thank you for allowing us to share what God is doing here in Kenya and may God bless all who pray and partner with us.

Love in Christ,

Chuck & Terry Fernandez                            

Kenya, East Africa

New Ministry, New Village, New Converts & Close Calls....and Water Fall Expedition

After getting some rest from the trip to Turkana this week we started a new ministry here in Eldoret which the Lord has put on my heart.

While we will continue to work with the Churches in Western and Turkana I have felt led to engage the community here in Eldoret with the gospel. There are several good Baptist Churches here already but I still see a need that is going largely un-noticed. There is in all likelihood over 1000 fundi’s who keep this part of Kenya running and work here in Eldoret. These are roughneck mechanics, welders and fabricators as well as other tradesmen that work with their hands.

This is how I met Kennedy who I led to Christ several months ago and have been mentoring and teaching him the Bible. He works in a shope owned by his cousin who invited us to come and have a weekly prayer meeting and Bible Study.  This week I met with 3 of these fundi's to pray and discuss the plans for this weekly meeting.  I have labeled this as a fellowship and outreach which is largely based on the Life Transformation Group concept.

It is my hope and desire to use this weekly meeting to make new converts and to teach those already saved to become Christian men of faith and integrity.

Not sure where this is going to go but this I know, it is something that the Lord has put on my heart and I simply want to follow His leadership with this new ministry. I am certain there will be those that will say we have never done that before but this is the burden I have. Please pray that God’s will is accomplished in these weekly meetings. Yesterday we met with Pastor Shadrach and Pastor Peter to start evangelism in a new village called Lutacho. It was a great day of encouraging those already saved, praying for families with needs as well as seeing 7 people make decisions to receive Christ.

One of the things that touched my heart on Saturday’s evangelism is that Kennedy and a man named Simeon who are both new converts and were saved only a few months ago under our ministry were part of the evangelism team and out sharing God’s plan of salvation with others. These men are doing exactly what Andrew did in John 1:41 when he went and told his brother Simon Peter he had found the Messiah. This same event was repeated in John 1:45 when Philip went and told Nathanial he had found the Christ.

Remember Kennedy traveled home two weeks ago to share the gospel with his Mom who received Christ and on Saturday he shared the gospel with an Old Man who was saved. It is very evident that the Lord has worked in the life of these two men to the point where they felt compelled

 to tell others. After evangelism we met back at Pastors Shadrach’s Father’s house. He honored us with two new handmade chairs.

Then we went to the new house of Terry’s Translator Momma Mary for lunch. It was here that Terry had here close call with of all things an Outhouse or as we say Choo. Now I don’t want to go into too many details but the floor gave way and she had a close call.

You can fill in the blanks but she did injure her leg with two large scrapes and cuts that today are black and blue. She is a unique and special woman that never complains about her working conditions. The other close call we had was on the way home from the interior when we hit a bump and the hood opened at around 80Km per hour. While it did not break the windshield it was a very anxious moment as I tried to slow down and veer off the road without hitting anything or anyone.

After strapping the hood down we continued back to Eldoret with a reminder of how bad the roads are here. When was the last time you hit a pot hole so hard it opened your hood while going at a high speed, oh, and when was the last time you had to take a bucket of water to wash the dust & dirt out of your seat belts so you can use them? In any case the Lord once again gave us traveling mercy and grace. Thanks for your

prayers and support.

In His Service,                           

Chuck & Terry Fernandez

Kenya, East Africa

         

See continuation of this Journal entry below....click on pictures to enlarge for better viewing...

November 8, 2009 The Water Fall Expedition Part 2

Seeing how I did not have enough room to remember and Share this experience I felt the need to include it in a second journal entry. After a great Church service today at Mawe Tatu, today we decided to take an excursion to a water fall that a friend had told me was located approx. 6Km from Eldoret.

In addition to wanting to see the falls on the way home, A couple weeks ago my Pastor email me and asked for some up to date pictures of Terry & I dressed in our Sunday best to use for the February annual missions conference at our Church. So all dressed up we felt it would be a great opportunity to get some nice pictures while experiencing some of Kenya’s beautiful creation.
We arrived at the site of the waterfall and started our private tour by the security guard from the power company which oversees the site of the waterfalls because of a hydro electric plant located there.

What started out as simply an opportunity to see some sights and get some pictures turned out to be one most stressful times since we arrived in country. Not only was the trip to the falls a long trek (5Km) but it was also dangerous because of the steep rocky slopes and having to cross the river three times. It was one of those situations that the further you went the more you regretted it and the harder it was to turn around. My stress came from worrying about Terry falling, hurting an ankle or knee and any one of another 100 scenarios. In addition to tough climbing in wet shoes and sandals our tour guide was a guard named Judas. Just what I needed, to be led into a dangerous terrain by a man named Judas.

 About half way through the hike I had to ask him if he was saved. He said yes which did not give me much comfort at the time but never the less eased my conscious. So enjoy the pictures and the laugh but remember you have been tangled in a spider’s web before also. LOL.

Pastor, we did our best but the lighting was poor and we were slap wore out by the time we arrived at the site.

God’s Speed,

Chuck & Terry Fernandez
 
 

Recovery, Rewards and Return

This week has been a week of recovery from the episode of Malaria I encountered last week. Thanks to the many prayers and modern day medicine we have made almost a full recovery from what I imagine is going to be the first of many bouts. While we do our best to prevent it there is nothing that is 100% secure against what is a killer for those that don’t get proper medicine. Being sick reminded me that all things do work together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose and that there is something very spiritual that takes place during an illness that can actually draw you closer to the Lord. That is what I believe took place in the life of Job as well as some of the disciples. It has also been a blessing to me.
After a short recovery period we went right back to

work teaching a two day marriage seminar for five of the Churches located in the Turkana District. All I can say is that it was an extremely rewarding opportunity to share with young married couples the joys, the challenges and the biblical principles for having a successful Christian marriage.
What made it so much fun was that I was not teaching by myself as Terry was teaching the ladies while I was teaching the men.

The ladies of Turkana have never had another woman teach them  the role of the Christian wife. Then during our joint sessions we were able share some teachings that we have learned, some the easy way through the Word of God and some the hard way  through trial and error over the last 28 years. It really felt good teaching those young couples from a standpoint of having already experienced the thrill of marriage as well as the challenges that will occur over a long period of marriage. It saddens me to think that over 50% will never be able to experience working through what is not only a great challenge of life and faith but what is also one of the greatest blessings of being privileged
 enough to share a lifetime with another person. That blows me away every time I think that God loved me enough to give me such a wonderful person to love and to cherish till death do us part. O.K., enough of the mushy stuff! LOL.

 After almost a month in the desert of Turkana and wanting to get to cooler weather in order to get stronger physically Terry and I started down country on a road called in jest the 'hole-st of holeies' road.

We left at 5am and rolled to Eldoret around 2pm. It is a beating that you have to experience before you can appreciate the smooth roads of America. You travel through desert dried river beds, miles of powder dry sand, rocks, mud and mountains and the truck is shaken violently for 7+ hours. Words cannot describe that road which is more like a trail from the Baja 1000 race but we made it safely with no problems. When I got up this morning I surveyed the damage to the truck and found a pool of power steering fluid under the front from a broken hose, a wore out idler arm ball joint and shock bushings that need to be repaired. Needless to say, I will be at the garage this week. Our plan is to rest as much as possible and then sprint to the end of the year here in the Western province of Kenya.
Thank you so much for the extra prayers for my illness and by the way it rained three times while we were in the desert.

Please continue to remember the people of Turkana.

                                   ***Click on picture

God’s Speed,

Chuck & Terry Fernandez

Kenya East Africa