Broken Arm, Broken Hearts & Harvest Time

                      Terry's Evangelistic Team in Netima

This week brought one of those phone calls in the middle of the night that every parent or in our case, Grandparents, dreads to receive.

It was 3 am and our first born Son, Chucky, called from the back of an ambulance on his way to Arnold Palmer’s All Children’s hospital with our Grandson Chuck IV who had fallen from a tree and broken his arm at the Elbow.

These types of events in the life of a foreign Missionary continue to be the hardest days that leave you feeling helpless because of the great distance and if it was not for our faith in the Lord, it can almost be intolerable.

We can say it is absolutely heart breaking when your children or grandchildren are going through the trials of life and you are so far away that you cannot be there for them. We know that we can do the most important thing, which is pray, and we know that 'all things work together for God for those who love the Lord' but there is still a longing in our hearts to hug and comfort our children and grandchildren.

Make no mistake about it, it is not Malaria, Bilharzia or culture adaptation that is the hardest part of mission work, it is the separation from your loved one’s that never goes away and does not seem to get any better with time.

Jesus knows the depth of this pain and struggle and it would be impetuous Peter who would ask him what they would receive because they had forsaken all to follow him. Jesus compassionately answered, Matt. 19:29 "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life."

It was especially hard for Terry as she had to fight back tears all day during evangelism when she received multiple phone calls and pictures of our little guy in the hospital.

From time to time we must all continue to push forward and work with and through the pain during the trials of our faith. The reports we received indicated the surgery went well as they installed two long pins in Little Chucky’s elbow, however, we ask you to pray for a complete and total healing as he has experienced some nerve damage.

We also found comfort from our evangelism team of 14 brothers in sisters in Christ who prayed for Little Chucky as we preached the gospel in the village of Netima. 

We have been praying for this village for over a year now as there are several members of the Landmark Baptist Church of Mayanja who walk as much as ten kilometers from Netima to attend Church and have a huge burden for their families and neighbor to know Christ. It is harvest time in Netima and as we trekked in fields of the farms with heavy hearts as the people were out reaping and preparing the harvest. We have somewhat of an unwritten rule that we will not interrupt people who are hard at work but many of those in the fields dropped what they were doing and begged us to come and give them something from God’s word.
    ***click on picture to enlarge for better viewing....

Harvest and Teaching  from the Bible

Terry's  Evangelism

Terry Teaching

The harvest time is a great reminder of our work as witnesses for the Lord Jesus for we simply plant, water and then wait for God to give the increase. We would see an increase of ten folks who would profess Christ during Netima evangelism for the harvest is truly plenteous.

 

God continues to answers our prayers for the lost that;

A. That God will bless them,

B. That His Spirit will prick their hearts,

C. That God will open their hearts and minds to His word and His Son,

D. That God will save them.   

We will not leave the folks who professed Christ without discipleship as they were invited to attend services at Mayanja and we have started a new Bible study in their village with a young man who will travel weekly to Netima to teach these new converts.

                        Evangelism Team in Netima...

Chester Moore's Evangelism Team in Netima

 

The Lord ’s Day was spent at the village of Soysambu which is one of our newest outreaches that is developing quit well. In nine month’s they have outgrown the house where the Bible study was started and they are now filling up the tent one by one. 

Each church or outreach has its own personality and character. Some have members who are primarily women, some are primarily made of men and in the case of Soysambu, the majority of those who attend the weekly Bible study and service are seniors. Seniors in this culture are respected and revered in a great way as they make up the leadership and elders within a village. This is seen as a tremendous blessing for this new outreach for they will have many that will follow them.

Thank you for allowing us to share our hearts and lives with you as we preach the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world.

We covet your continued prayers.

Chuck & Terry Fernandez`                                                                                              
Kenya
Phil. 4:13