The Joy of the Lord, Building Challenges & A Crown of Thorns

Circle of Prayer and 'Joy of the Lord'....

We spent the last few days in the Kerio Valley with our Pokot brethren at the Landmark Baptist Church of Cheposabei. 

                                          Fresh Camel Milk

No break downs, sickness or flat tires this week, PTL!

........but heavy daily down pours of rain made the mud a real challenge to drive and work in. The upside was that the desert heat was quailed by the overcast skies.

In the end we give God the praise for what is a tremendous blessing in a region that averages less than ten inches per year. Each time we visit the village of Cheposabei I realize I report on how God has transformed the lives of these precious folks which is evidenced by the joy that we have seen grow throughout this village over the last three years.

Where there was darkness, there is now light through Christ. 

This time was different in the fact that their joy was very contagious as we worked hand in hand and side by side to build the house of the Lord.

I honestly cannot remember the last time we laughed and had so much fun doing God’s work in a remote interior village.

This is also something that is very counter culture and is one of the very lessons that Nehemiah taught his people as they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem; 

Neh. 8:10 "For the joy of the Lord is your strength. "

We definitely experienced great strength this week from the joy which is produced from an abiding faith and love in our Lord and Savior.

The new building process using steel instead of wood is providing great challenges as our men have never worked with steel before and the only blue print we use is from a picture that was given to me by another missionary who used this method several years ago. Given the fact that I am not a structural engineer or construction superintendent, we have had to make many design changes as we have gone along.

This is what I would refer to as a very fluid construction project.

Tinsel strength, load bearing and other building terms are somewhat foreign to me but as a country boy from Florida and a “Jack of all trades”,

I have a 'get~r~done' type of attitude and a willingness to learn from my mistakes and make changes as we go along.

Please pray for us as we attempt to build something that is God honoring and safe for God’s people to learn and worship under.                     Audience

Building

Hammer Time

Helpers

Women of  Excellence....

Runners

Drilling

Tension

Terry's Team

WORK CREW

It is easy when building a structure which is ministry related to get caught up in the process and practicalities of construction.  

But there was a single solemn event which took place in the Kerio Valley one day that caught our attention and brought us all back to our sole purpose in everything we do.

As we drilled, hammered, lifted and pushed forward, Terry was sitting quietly under a small shade with her very first namesake “Teresa” making a crown of thorns.  

“And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head.”

 Matthew 27:29 

Only a child of God can possibly know what the crown of thorns means as our Savior wore it when He was mocked and beaten on his way to Calvary.

Charles Spurgeon once said that crown of thorns was symbolic as a triumphal crown. While that may be true, the crown speaks to my heart of the great sacrifice and humiliation my Lord and Savior endured for me as He paid my sin debt.

My Lord wore my crown of thorns for me!

“Who defeats my fiercest foes?

Who consoles my saddest woes?

Who revives my fainting heart,

Healing all its hidden smart?

Jesus crowned with thorns.”

You see, Terry reminded all of us of something so priceless and special that day without ever speaking a word.  

We serve an amazing God who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.   

Thank you for allowing us to share what God is doing in Kenya, East Africa.

We covet your continued prayers as we look forward to His soon coming.

In His Service,

Chuck & Terry Fernandez
Kenya

Phil. 4:13

Thank You, Back In the Saddle & Kelsey’s Story

                                       Pokot at  Cheposabei

On Tuesday of this week we took a test trip to the base of Mt. Elgon to evaluate my recovery and to secure a plot for the Namarambi LBC.  

Special thanks to Bro. Russell Lyster and Faith Industries for purchasing this plot so that the Church and Christian school there can continue to grow.

Upon our return trip to Western I started running a fever again along with a persistent cough and dizziness. So Wednesday morning we decided to go to a local clinic for a blood test to see if I had Malaria. The blood work revealed high levels of a bacterial infection along with an inflamed throat. The Doctor put me on heavy antibiotics and some type of allergy medicine. Within a few days the fever was gone and the other issues subsided. I now feel like I am back to about 90% of my regular strength.

The only symptom remaining which is bothering me from this whole ordeal is my head is “swimming”. 

The best way to describe it is that I consistently feel light headed.

Hopefully that will go away as I finish all of these strong meds.

Terry keeps asking me how I feel and I keeping telling her my head is not right, she jokingly replies, "I have known that for years!" LOL.

Thank you, thank you and thank you for the many encouraging emails and prayers as they have helped me recover in a great way.

We praise the Lord for his healing touch and the power of prayer.  

If you ever want to encourage a Missionary,   just drop him a line and tell him you are fervently praying for him.

With renewed strength and vigor, we also traveled to the Kerio Valley on a foggy Sunday morning to deliver trusses and to worship with the Pokot at the Landmark Baptist Church of Cheposabei.       Foggy Morn

Flat Tire

Special Delivery 

Trusses

These young believers, like their new sanctuary are a work in progress. Sometimes mature Christians have a short memory of how far they have progressed and matured by God’s grace over many years of God’s patience and longsuffering.

We are continually reminded that while most of them have left many of the habits and practices they observed before salvation, they are still 'babe’s in Christ' that are definitely on the milk of the word.

The best part of this growth process is that they are getting a steady diet of God’s word through our many visits and through their young Pastor Loquardo whom we are still training.  

They are being transformed by the renewing of their minds little by little and day by day.

At the close of the service, I shared a picture of Kelsey Morris and the Morris Family as they have been instrumental in giving to the construction of our first steel sanctuary in the Kerio Valley.

 

Terry and I met Kelsey and the Morris Family at teen camp in 2007 where we shared our ministry and hearts for the lost people of Kenya. Little did we know that Kelsey and a group of youth would later be involved in serious automobile accident which would take her life and injured several others.  

                                              Kelsey

While our hearts are heavy when hearing of this tragic story we praise God for Kelsey’s testimony of salvation and for her family’s steadfast faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  

We also praise God for her heart for God’s work and particularly for the fact that somehow God touched her heart for missions and the lost through our deputation visit to that summer camp in Kansas almost five years ago.

The Morris family have partnered with us to do God’s work here in Kenya and it is an honor and privilege to see Kelsey’s legacy and love for missions live on by being a blessing to others.    

Her heart of love for God and God’s people is known by the Pokot tribe in a desert region of East Africa.  

            Kelsey's Love for Missions~Living Reality

I’m reminded of the words of Jim Elliot who once said,

"I would rather live a full life ~than a long life. "

Please continue to pray for the Morris Family and please continue to support young folks going to summer camp as you never know how God will change their life and what an impact they will have on the kingdom of God.  

                        Terry's Banana Bread Blessing

In His Service,

Bro. Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez

Kenya

Phil. 4:13

Rough Week & Turning the Corner

Let me preface this journal entry by saying that I am not a “poor me” type of person or somebody who is looking for attention. However, I do want to remind those who join us on this journey of faith that I have purposed in my heart to share our “experience” as transparently as possible so that our Heavenly Father may be gloried and the name of Jesus will be praised.  

With that said, this week has been one of the roughest weeks we have experienced since we arrived on the field in January of 2009. We were unable to hardly get anything done this week with regard to ministry other than translating a few sermons into Swahili as I was fighting a third straight week of some pretty serious illness that effected almost every part of my body. Let me also say that medical care here in Eldoret is better than the clinics in the interior but you would probably not take your family dog to most of the facilities here and the best tropical disease clinic in the country is located five hours away in Nairobi. So needless to say we commonly experience a wide range of regular occurring minor illnesses which we generally have learned to self diagnose and are able to purchase multiple meds without prescriptions which are readily available at a very inexpensive cost. I guess sometimes you pretty much have to become your own best Doctor while living on the foreign field. What makes this week different is this is actually the third week in a row with symptoms that have been regular occurring and growing in intensity which raises a lot of red flags.

Those symptoms include: Fever, rash, headaches, joint ache, abdominal cramps, L.B.M. and chronic fatigue which has resulted in the loss of twenty three pounds. To make a long story short, those symptoms appear to be related to a very common disease known as Bilharzia (Schistosoma Mansoni) (Google: Bilharzia+Lake Victoria) which is very easily contracted from the first thirty feet of the water in the largest fresh water lake in the world, Lake Victoria. Not only have I experienced the exact symptoms of this disease but I was in Lake Victoria seven weeks ago where we baptized and also bathed (with clothes on). Additionally, my hunting buddy, Chad Harris, who was with me on that trip has suffered the exact same symptoms as I have over the last three weeks. He took treatment for Malaria, which he regularly experiences, two weeks ago and the symptoms did not go away. Researchers say, the easiest way to diagnose Bilharzia is symptoms + exposure = treatment. Here is the interesting thing about this water borne disease, it can stay in your body with a ten year life cycle where you can suffer with many other great vague symptoms which can become serious or you can take a single curative dose of three tablets at a cost of $1.00 and be done with it. As you can probably guess, I took the meds three days ago and the fever is going down, the aching is minimal and lets just say the others symptoms are going away as well. Now before you get to excited, let me also say that if those symptoms come up again this week, we travel to the tropical disease clinic in Nairobi and start all over.

In Closing, there is no doubt that your body surely affects your spirit and this week, even though I have had the best caregiver in Terry, I have felt more discouraged than ever before. Satan definitely uses weakness in our bodies as an opportunity to buffet us, which is what I have experience this week like at no other time in recent memory. For those of you who pray for us regularly we thank you, and we ask you to pray that God will continue to strengthen us both physically and spiritually. While the week was somewhat rock bottom due to having to cancel our ministry plans to travel back to Lake Victoria because I was in bed most of the time, there were some things for us to be encouraged by.

While we were providentially hindered, our preachers from Mt. Elgon traveled into Uganda to preach the gospel where fourteen where saved.

Additionally, while we had to cancel our teaching seminar at Lake Victoria, one of our young converts and preachers named Kennedy from Lake Victoria stepped up and taught for two days. In the end, we were encouraged that God’s people whom we have trained are doing what they are supposed to be doing without us and that is our mission goal.

Sorry I have not attached any pictures this week as it was not a pretty sight.

Thank you for your love, your prayers and your support.

In His Service,

Chuck & Terry Fernandez
Kenya

Because He Lives, Blessings and Uganda Outreach

Much of this week was spent recovering from illness which is all part of the norm of living in a third world country.

Thankfully, I have a great resident nurse in Terry. Between malaria type symptoms and stomach issues, the week was not as productive as usual but we did manage to get five more trusses fabricated for the LBC at Cheposabei and the truck to the shop again.  

We also managed to travel to the base of Mt. Elgon for Easter Services with the Landmark Baptist Church of Mayanja.

This young church family and their Pastor continues to mature in their faith as they worship and serve the Lord together. We had a great Easter Sunday service as we studied and celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.

                               Easter Offerings

God gave me great liberty in teaching these young Christians that because of the resurrection our faith and our preaching is not in vain.

As the songs says, “An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives, because He lives I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone, because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives.”

What confidence and hope Jesus gives us through His resurrection!

Terry was blessed with several blessings, as usual this Sunday. She had the joy of passing along books made by children in the kindergarten and first grade Sunday school class from Fort Cooper Baptist Church to the children of the Landmark Baptist Church of Mayanja.  

Thank you, Ft. Cooper Baptist  Church

These small connections, which God allows us to make are truly touching and unites believers together in Christ who are thousands of miles apart. She also received a really nice laying hen and was honored with another name sake that was born to a family in the church this week.

Another 'namesake' for Terry....what a blessing!

In closing, there is something else that really blesses my heart concerning the LBC at Mayanja. Not only have we had the privilege of bringing these folks to Christ but we also are enjoying their spiritual growth. This is nowhere more evident than when the Church starts reaching out with the preaching of the gospel. Keep in mind that these young Christians are meeting under a tent but are now sending preachers from their Church into Uganda to preach the gospel where dozens have already been saved.  

                                  Goodbyes 

We are simply moved to tears when we think of how far they have come and where they are going as they obey the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ to

 “go ye therefore and teach all nations.”

We can truly relate to the joy John experienced when he wrote in 3^rd John 1:4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth”.

I say, Thank you Lord for allowing us to be a small part of your great work by your amazing grace!

In His Service,

Bro. Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez
Kenya

Phil. 4:13

Desert Heat, Thorns & Sanctuary Construction

 Prayers

Most of this week was spent in the village of Cheposabei which is located near the border of Uganda in the Kerio Valley constructing our first sanctuary in our work with the Pokot tribe. Working in the intense heat (110’) can be somewhat dangerous but we managed to keep ourselves hydrated with cases and cases of bottled water.
As you can see from the pictures, we have changed from using wood to steel for construction for the following reasons:
  #1. Deforestation has become a real issue country wide and is making wood more scarce which in turn has has increased the price two fold since we started building three years ago.  

#2. Processing the wood has also become an issue with fuel, oil, maintaining the chainsaws as well as transportation costs.  

#3. Finally, the termite issue is a real concern in the Kerio Valley as they will devour wood in short order. So building with steel is now a more cost effective and efficient method of construction for us. The building will still look somewhat indigenous with mud and thatch walls but the frame is steel.

                                 First Truss Up.... 

African Tool Box

Assembling Truss

Cement

Children Gathering Rocks

Solomon Digging

Hot but Happy :)

Tent Inside New Sanctuary

While we brought our team of builders in from the Mt.Elgon region, the members of the Landmark Baptist Church of Cheposabei worked hand in hand with us and particularly the women. You see, in Pokot culture, the women are responsible for building the family home. They waited patiently in the intense heat so they could contribute to God’s work by digging the holes for the posts. They also gathered rocks and a specific type of sand to be mixed with the cement.

                            Mamma's Digging

It was truly a thing of beauty to see the men, women and children of the church come together to help build the house of God.     Jesus School

During day one I must have had ten thorn punctures that went through my shoes like a hot knife through butter. What amazes me is that the children walk around barefoot and rarely step on one, oh well, I guess that is what we call “home field advantage”. 

                       Thorn N Shoe

 

Day two I kindly asked the women if they would sweep our work area free of thorns which they gladly did after an entertaining day of watching me remove thorns from my feet.

We accomplished our major objective of setting the posts and a couple of trusses while more are being fabricated here in Eldoret. Spending three days in the village continues to help grow our relationship with these believers closer and closer and you really start to feel like you are part of the village family. Our conversations become longer and more personal and I often have to stop and think of how we are viewed in a village that had never heard the gospel or never had another white man enter their village. The celebrity status is interesting but it is the love for one another in Christ that is special to me. Our desert worship services were nothing short of heavenly and I continued to be humble with four eggs given to me by a elderly man who had walked many kilometers from a neighboring village as well as a jar of honey the ladies sent home to Terry.  
                                                                Eggs Gift

There are now five neighboring villages that we are preaching the gospel in. We had no idea three years ago how God would use this village he led us to so that we may reach many others for Christ.

Our theme verses this week were:

Psalm 121:1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. Vs 2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

Please continue to pray this Pokot outreach ministry.

In His Service,

Chuck & Terry Fernandez
Kenya