Father and Son Team visit Kenya, Nineteen Saved & Twenty Baptized

Bro. Dan Riley, who is an Associate Pastor at our sending Church and the Administrator of our Christian School arrived in Kenya on Wednesday with his father Don. Thank you for all who prayed for their safe arrival as God answered those prayers in a big way. Not only did they make all of their flights while flying standby but they also were upgraded to first class from Miami to London. God is good all the time!

In five days we have held a seminar at the Landmark Baptist of Kipsigon on Mt. Elgon where both Bro. Dan and Bro. Don taught, Thursday.

 We built pews for the Churches located at Mt. Elgon on Friday.

We did evangelism at Mawe Tatu on Saturday and today Brothers Dan and Don taught, preached and baptized twenty folks in Western.
We have seen nineteen people make professions of faith in our Lord and Savior.

Our Kenyan Brothers and Sisters in Christ were so thankful for the great teaching and preaching but they were absolutely amazed by Bro. Dan’s singing and were truly honored with Bro. Don’s presence as a Senior Saint who would travel around the world to teach them God’s Word.

Before you say you could never make it to Kenya you need to know that Bro. Don Riley is seventy nine years young. Not only were they a great encouragement to the people God has joined us together with in the ministry but they have been a great source of encouragement to Terry and I.

 I asked Bro. Dan to share a few thoughts about the trip; the following comments are Bro. Dan Riley’s regarding his experience thus far:

“ ‘…Of some have compassion, making a difference’

" …Brothers and sisters in Christ, the first thing I would like to say is thank you…thank you for supporting the work of Chuck and Terry Fernandez.

After only five days of seeing first-hand what this amazing couple does and how hard they work at doing it, my life has been changed.
The support you give to the Fernandez Family both in prayers and finances is greatly needed, appreciated, and being used greatly for winning souls…souls that live in areas of the country that are otherwise untouched by missionaries. Each and every day is an adventure and, although Bro. Chuck does not make a big deal of this, they come within inches of accidents every day because of the horrible traffic, very bad roads, and very slippery, muddy roads coming down from the interior. I experienced this first hand. Simply getting home from church is another great adventure.
As far as my experience goes, words can hardly express what I have witnessed. The Christians in Kenya are so faithful to God, and He definitely has preeminence in their lives. American Christians, including myself, can learn a lot from the Christians here in Kenya. Today, for instance, the Sunday service started around 10 a.m.
Five hours later we were finally making our way down to the river for baptism service.

Then after baptizing twenty people (and me experiencing my first ever opportunity to baptize), we headed back to the church for about 30 minutes more of services, and then lunch was served at about 5:00pm.

By the time we had dropped one of the national pastors off at his village, it was past dark. We arrived back in Eldoret at about 8:20pm, twelve hours after we left the house. In America, we have forgotten what having genuine church is like because of our fast-paced lives, including fast-paced ministry.

We want to get our hour in on Sunday morning, hour in on Sunday evening, and perhaps to show up on Wednesday night if we are feeling ok. And if the pastor preaches too long and our restaurant plans are ruined, we start criticizing the pastor. Let us learn a lesson from these Christians who do not have the fast-pace of the world to distract them. They were honored to have us visiting from America, but I was the one who was honored…honored to be around such wonderful Christian people.

Please pray for Pastor Peter, Pastor Shadrach, Pastor Daniel, and Pastor Alex as they pastor their wonderful congregations. I love them all dearly, and wish I could be here in person like Bro.Chuck is, to see their works continue to flourish. If you, as a supporting church or individual, could possibly ever get to Kenya to visit, please do so. It will change your life. It surely did mine. My Fort Cooper friends will get a very complete presentation from me and dad when we return to the U.S. Please pray for safe travels for us back to the states this coming Thursday and Friday.”

It has been such a pleasure for Terry and I to have a father and son team as our first visitors from Ft. Cooper BC and it has been a week that none of us will forget. We have worked them hard and still have a couple of days left to do Eldoret Street Evangelism and Bible Studies as well let them visit one of the game parks on their way home.
Thank you for allowing us to share what God is doing on Mt. Elgon and Western Kenya.
God Keep You and Bless You,

Chuck & Terry Fernandez
Mt. Elgon and Western Kenya