WordofGod+Guacamole+Mofongo@Sweetfellowship

  

Tit 2:3The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

Tit 2:4That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
Tit 2:5To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
                                      Pastor's Wives

This week Terry organized, led and taught a three day Women’s seminar near the base of Mt. Elgon. The ladies in attendance came from fifteen different Churches located in three different regions to include our newest Church plant in Uganda.
There were nearly two hundred women in attendance over the three days.

While each of the Churches we have helped establish are totally Independent, we have formed a fellowship of Churches based on our strict adherence to fundamental Baptist doctrine.
The list of benefits for these types of seminars requires more space than I have on a one page blog/journal entry, however I will list just a few of the many benefits.
A. As you can read from Titus 2, older women teaching younger women is totally scriptural,
B. Women make up as much 75-90% of the membership of our Churches,
C. Each woman in almost every Church generally brings around five children to the Church and we have one Pokot Mama from the village of Kalas named Monica that has thirteen children,
D. there is much needed fellowship among Christian women and especially our new converts.
Not to be forgotten, is the fact that God has blessed me with a wife that has such a heart for these “Wamama”=”Women”, that she pours her life into theirs so that they might know the blessings from being a Christian wife and mother.
Terry has developed into an amazing teacher.
My heart was touched each day as I watched her teach from the Word of God on the family, prayer and evangelism.
Her knowledge of scripture accompanied by her genuine love for these ladies has transformed her into a teacher that has the God given ability to hold the attention of her audience and reach into their hearts and homes.    Bread Lord's Supper

Q & A

                                          Women Praying

The Bible says that the older women are to be teachers of Good things.
She is teaching them how to rightly divide the Word of Truth and how to love their Husbands and their Children with the love of Christ.
That is priceless!
This seminar also gave her the opportunity to spend time teaching the rest of the Pastor’s wives how to prepare the bread for the Lord’s supper.
Each day after the spiritual food,Terry taught them a few new dishes that they are able to cook with ingredients that are indigenous to their home.
She has taught them how to bake banana, pumpkin and corn bread in previous seminars and has graduated to teaching them dishes with a Latin flavor.
The dishes at this week’s seminar included:guacamole, which is very popular worldwide, mofongo which is fried plantain based dish from Puerto Rico as well as Ugali balls.

Guacamole

Ugali is the staple food for East Africa and they were amazed when Terry showed them that you can simply roll it up in balls and deep fry them.

That is our proud Southern heritage coming out right there!
Southerners deep fry everything!
They loved all of the new dishes they learned but the guacamole was the most popular.
Terry and I have participated in every facet of their lives and while we are not here to make them American we are enjoying sharing some our Hispanic and Southern culture with them.
I keep telling Terry that she is going to start some new East African cooking trends through her cooking legacy.
One day perhaps the East African history books may record that these dishes originated with American Baptist Missionaries.
That is pretty funny.
The last item I want to share is that Terry’s ministry to the women has reached a place of maturity where her personal disciples are starting to teach, that is called bearing fruit.
Succeeding generations is one of the tests of our teaching and this seminar also included four sessions taught by Mama Sporta, Mama Roslyn, Mama Mary & Mama Angus.
                                      Roslyn Teaching

Sporta Teaching

Mama Mary

Mama Angus

Four of these women are ladies that Terry has personally taught and mentored over the last five years.
In conclusion, we are pretty beat up from a twelve hour day yesterday in the Kerio Valley to visit the LBC at Chepasobei.

We always enjoy worshiping with our Pokot brothers and we were able to check the progress of the brick walls.

They are coming along slowly but we have to remember that it is hard work making and laying bricks.
Thanks for tuning in to our Missionary Baptist Church planting news and lives.

God Speed,

Bro. Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez
Kenya

Construction Zone & O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing

 Here in Kenya, I am affectionately known as “Missionary Carlos”.  

 When we arrived in late 2008 I discovered that our Kenyan brethren could not pronounce “Chuck”,  it would come out sounding something like “Jack or Shark” so I just told them to refer to me as “Carlos” which is my given name.  

However, this year I am thinking about changing my name to “Bob the Builder” due to the fact that our Church development plan has brought us to the place where we are ready to start our fifth new sanctuary since January. 

Terry and I collected the steel poles and trusses this week from our fabricator here in Eldoret.

His name is Sebastian and each time we visit him he asks how his namesake is doing in Florida.  He is so proud of the fact that we have a grandson named Sebastian as well. 

                                         Sebastian the Fabricator

Seabass, his namesake

 

In any case, our house is starting to look like a construction zone again with a pile of steel ready to be transported up Mt. Elgon.  

It will be a great challenge this time of year with the daily rains on Mt. Elgon but we have done it before by the grace of God and God willing we will be able to do it again.    Terry has been studying diligently in preparation for her Women’s Seminar this coming week. 

 I Thank God for her and I am so blessed to have a wife who is able to teach the women in our associated work the Word of God.  

Women like Terry are extremely hard to find in this day and age but the women here are able to see the love of God  in action through Terry’s personal ministry to them and the children. 

This week we got a call from one of our Landmark Baptist Churches in Western Kenya, LBC Namawanga which was planted by another American Baptist Missionary. 

They explained that their Pastor, Wycliffe Wekesa Malone,  had died and they wanted me to come preach the funeral.

Now before I go any further, it is important to understand that when God called Terry and I to Kenya, our prayer was very similar to what we see in the Apostle Paul’s writing in the epistle to the Romans: 

 Romans 15:20  Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named,

lest I should build upon another man's foundation.  

While we love and pray for the other Missionaries in our associated work here in Kenya we wanted to be sent where Christ was not named and we did not want to build on another man’s foundation. 

It would be through this heart’s desire and prayer that God would open the doors for us to start planting Churches on Mt. Elgon, Lake Victoria, the Kerio Valley and Uganda.  

So needless to say, we have focused and concentrated all of our efforts in areas where no other Missionary had worked before.   I believe this is one of the keys to the increase God has given us over the years and I believe this an important ministry philosophy that will work anywhere in the world. 

Find somebody, somewhere who has not heard the gospel. 

In other words, Go where nobody has gone or where is no one is willing to go.

Alright, enough preaching! 

I would not say that we have isolated ourselves but this type of Church planting philosophy has limited our contact and exposure to other Churches in our associated work which were started by other Missionaries.

With that as the background of this week’s request to preach the funeral, it did not take me long to reach the conclusion that an opportunity to preach the gospel and honor a Man of God who died while serving the Lord surpasses any of the aforementioned circumstances or ministry politics which should have no place on the mission field.  

It is always right to do the right thing and I believed it was God’s will because the family and the Church specifically requested me.  Congregation  at Memorial 

Congregation

Congregation

Coffin

The funeral lasted all day as there must have been around one thousand people in attendance. 

The introductions and testimonies alone lasted four and half hours. 

Pastor Wycliffe was well loved by many people but perhaps the most moving part of the service was when hundreds of students from the schools he has taught at over the years filed by the casket one by one touching it softly.   

As we moved through the order of service the crowd continued to swell.

I do not get nervous preaching to large crowds but I do pray that God will hide me behind the cross so that Jesus would be lifted up and draw them unto himself.   

 

 I preached the death, burial and resurrection for the lost and about the hope and comfort God gives us through faith in Christ.   The results are up to God and we may never know on this side of eternity who or how many where saved but we do know that an opportunity was given through the preaching of the gospel.          Choir

With that many people in attendance my hope and desire is that they would be numbered in the great chorus that would sing.
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing in honor to our King. 
 Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer's praise
The glories of my God and King
The triumphs of His grace
My gracious Master and my God
Assist me to proclaim
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name

So come on and sing out
Let our anthem grow loud
There is one great love
Jesus
Jesus, the name that charms our fears
That bids our sorrows cease
'Tis music in the sinner's ears
'Tis life and health and peace

He breaks the power of canceled sin
He sets the prisoners free
His blood can make the foulest clean
His blood availed for me

He speaks and listening to His voice
New life the dead receive
The mournful broken hearts rejoice
The humble poor believe

Glory to God and praise and love
Be ever, ever giv'n
By saints below and saints above
The church in earth and Heav'n

There are so few words
That never grow old
There are so few words
That never grow old
Jesus

In His Service

Bro.Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez

 

Everyday Life, Building Progress and Happy Mother's Day

Looking back at our week in review, we have slowed the hectic breakneck pace we set since the beginning of the year.  However, even during the times of forced slow down when we are not on ministry safari doing evangelism or discipleship training in the Kerio Valley,  on Mt. Elgon or at Lake Victoria, we are still busy fabricating poles, trusses, windows and doors for the five new sanctuaries we are trying to complete this year. 

Additionally, Terry is getting ready for a Women’s seminar for the ladies in our associated work on the 22nd, 23th & 24^th of this month.  Teaching

Prayers

Then there is the less glamorous part of foreign mission work and that is just living life.

Tasks like purchasing food, paying bills, ie: rent, electric, internet and phone are all part of our everyday life in East Africa.   Let me add that nothing here happens fast and things are not generally well organized so the simplest of task in a developing country can be difficult.

Let me also add that if you are not accustomed to waiting for prolonged lengths of time to accomplish the simplest of tasks you will live a very frustrated life.  Fortunately, both Terry and I have assimilated well and after nearly six years we have adopted the Kenyan moto:  “Hakuna Matata” = “No Worries” or “Haraka, Haraka hiena Baraka”= “Hurry Hurry and there is no blessing”. 

 Our one trip to the interior this week was to worship with the Landmark Baptist Church at Ndivisi which is located at the base of Mt. Elgon. 

                                                  Inside New Sanctuary

New Sanctuary

The rainy season has started and it was extremely muddy and the roads, trails and paths we traveled were very slippery.   It is for this reason we run the best mud terrain tires money can buy and we simply would not be able to visit many of our churches without them and four wheel drive.   Walking down muddy paths with running water up to your ankles is not something Americans generally experience while dressed up in their Sunday best to get to Church but is the norm this time of year in Kenya.                                      Muddy Roads

The LBC at Ndivisi under the Leadership of Pastor Peter is really making great progress on their new sanctuary and is nearing completion. 

As you can see from the pictures, they still need to install windows, doors and cement the interior floor.    During the Sunday service, one of the members brought one bag of cement as a love offering.  

It may not sound like much but that one bag represents about one weeks pay in Western Kenya.

Not to mention it was very moving to see the man and the Chairman of the building committee kneel and pray over the bag of cement together as they gave it to God. 

Since Sunday was Mother’s Day and since they do not observe Mother’s Day in Kenya, I took the liberty to teach the congregation about our tradition in America of honoring our Mother’s.    It was during that time that I presented Terry with a painting that our daughter Carla has commissioned by a local artist in Eldoret.  

Terry was both surprised and touched by this expression of love. 

It is on these type of holidays and special occasions that we miss our family the most and our hearts are somewhat torn from being so far way from those you love. 

In closing, I want to wish my Mother, Faith Fernandez a HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! 

Thank you for being a great Mom. 

Abraham Lincoln once said,  "I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life."

God Bless All of Our Mother’s

Bro.Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez
Kenya

Kerio Valley Evangelism, Uganda Tent Raising & The Missionary's Wife

Teaching 

Terry and I just returned from three days in the Kerio Valley and Uganda.   While our hearts are running over with joy from experiencing God working in so many lives through saving faith, serving faith and sanctifying faith, our bodies are weary and battered from hundreds of kilometers of interior trails and paths.   I thank God for calling us to do His work in East Africa and we feel extremely honored and privileged to go in Jesus name, but I often ponder the uniqueness of this calling to literally hazard our lives on hard, rough and rocky roads to bring the good news of the gospel year after year.  However, we do not have to look far to find this same pattern repeated by preachers of the gospel through the pages of the New Testament and by other Missionaries who have gone before us.   In any case, we will definitely need a couple of down days to recuperate this week.    Our first stop would be at the village of Moriweris to do village evangelism and to follow up with our new converts there who have been saved for around a month.   Desert Evangelism

Evangelism

                              

They have been assembling themselves on a week basis to listen to the audio Bibles we left them in March.  The importance of these follow up visits accompanied with basic discipleship teaching cannot be overstated as we feel such a sense of responsibility to bring these babes in Christ to a level of maturity where they know how to daily walk with God and will be able to stand firm in their faith and doctrine.   This level of commitment on our part helps confirm their salvation and builds a strong relationship that goes beyond anything this world has to offer.    Next to living out Christ in our own lives, bringing these dear folks to the saving knowledge of Christ and properly disciplining them is our greatest priority.   In addition to village evangelism and discipleship training at Moriweris we also delivered new pews and repaired old ones at the Landmark Baptist Church of Cheposabei.

This is extremely noteworthy because the Church has numerically outgrown the original amount of pews and is now in need of more.   We praise the Lord that he has given the increase!  By the way, when is the last time your Church had a seating problem? 

After visiting Moriweris and Chepsoabei we crossed the border into Uganda to visit our newest Church located in the village of Kakaron to deliver the new tent and for worship service. 

                                                Alter Prayer

Alter

Since our last visit in March, the Church family has doubled in size and I was beginning to wonder if the tent we brought was going to hold everyone.   We had a great day of worship and many came forward at the end of service to receive Christ.  God’s presence was truly felt among His people and He is truly doing something great through this local indigenous New Testament Church at Kakaron.   They had a teen choir that was unlike anything we have heard since we arrived in Kenya in 2008. 

The harmony that was as good as anything you would hear from a professional choir;

Terry and I were simply amazed. 

Our three days concluded with Terry teaching the Pastor’s wives how to bake the bread for the Lord’s Supper.   These are the more practical hands on lessons that could easily be overlooked but are also very important when it comes to the ministry.   

Mwilimu

Terry is an amazing woman and help met that enhances our ministry tenfold.  I could not image not having her by my side every step of the way.

As I processed the pictures from this week’s travels, my heart was truly touched as I looked at all that she did for me and others.    Check them out for yourself and you will see a woman of faith in action.                         Terry Desert

Terry Helper

Terry Heart

 Thank you for praying, for giving and for those of you who take the time to respond to these glimpses into our hearts and ministry here in East Africa.

 

God Bless,

Bro. Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez
Kenya