The Land of Milk & Honey and Church Planting Continues

Greetings from the Land of milk & honey, it has been a tumultuous three weeks but nevertheless we have persevered and Terry is regaining her strength.   We are not able to do a lot of anything until Terry’s immune system is back to normal but perhaps that is God plan for us during for this season of life.   When I recall and retrace the tribulation of her illness which could have easily resulted in her death I can see just how far the grace and goodness of God has brought us from.   The pinnacle of just how bad things were compared to now can best be described by remembering the shear horror on Pastor Peter and Pastor Shadrack’s face when they came by the Eldoret hospital to pray for her.  At the time, Terry was as yellow as a Canary, delirious and I hope this does not gross you out but covered in blood from an extremely low blood platelet count.     At the time, little did we know that not only was she suffering from Cerebral malaria, bacterial infection, dehydration but also Type 2 diabetes.    That was then and this is now, she has had some side effects from all of the trauma but it does not look like she is going to have any long term damage.   It has been comforting for her to see her five grandchildren.

 It has also been comforting to know that we can count on God’s people first and foremost to pray during times of need and then to know that our brethren will sacrificially give hard earned financial resources to meet the financial needs of those serving the Lord.    Thank you for praying and for giving to God’s work and His servants.   Life in America is soooo different from life in East Africa that you actually find yourself going thru a small amount of reverse culture shock each time you re-enter the land that should be most familiar to you.    For example, going to the grocery store here in America not only leaves you with sticker shock but the amount of choices we have is simply unbelievable.   Then there are the more subtle changes like driving on the right side of the road instead of the left.   It is not good to turn into oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road.   And finally the water, it takes a few trips to the sink to realize it is ok to rinse your mouth out from the water and Oh, if you do not like the quality or odor of your water, just remember Pastor Jackson who during times of drought has to retrieve water from the same mud holes that the cows and goats drink from.   Folks, we are truly blessed to live in a land flowing with milk and honey.    In closing, you may be wondering about the work in Kenya and Uganda while we are in the USA, glad you asked!    While our work has been Missionary led it is not Missionary sustained.  We have trained our people that our work as Missionaries is temporary and the permanence of the work depends on their ability to continue the work that we have facilitated through teaching them from house to house and in public as the great Apostle Paul said.   We have led by example and showed them a Biblical pattern for Church planting which they can follow with success.   To that end, I receive pictures from Mt. Elgon this week and the Landmark Baptist Church at Cheptandan where they have completed the roof on what is our fifth new sanctuary this year.   Praise the Lord that they have such an industrious heart to see the Lord’s work continue.   This Church is so isolated and without any means to the transport the materials that each board and piece of tin had to be carried five kilometers on their backs by the members of the Church.

Church Sign

Purlins

Roof

Roof going on...

 We should remember them the next time Pastor calls for a “Church Work Day”.   One of the photo’s that blessed my heart is a group of men gathered around a video tablet watching one of our video lessons while we are 8000 miles away. 

 I love it when God blesses our plans and I love when a plan comes together.   We will be home for an undetermined length of time but rest assured we will be visiting Churches when Terry is able.   We thank you for your continued prayers and support. 

A Turn for the Worse: Part II and Making Decisions 'on the Fly'...

It has been two weeks since my last journal entry and we are weary and battered from the sequence of emergency events that has brought us back to the USA.   My mind is foggy so please forgive me if I am unable to express myself in a good way.

With that said, our last journal left us at a place where Terry had fallen sick to what we believed was Malaria. 

It turns out that she had malaria which went cerebral and combined with a very bad bacterial infection which ultimately produced a total shut down of her liver and kidneys.

She spent five days in serious to critical condition in a private hospital in Eldoret where they successfully treated her for both. 

It was recommended that we fly her to the USA to insure that there was no permanent damage.

So to make a long story short we managed to hire a company called Global Med out of Tampa to make all the arrangements to expedite her back to the USA.

http://www.globalmedservices.com/

We have spent the last several days in Tampa General Hospital thoroughly re-evaluating her.   She is malaria free but seems to have other complications as a result of the trauma.  We have experienced malaria alone and we have experienced many bacterial infections but combining the two along with dehydration was a nearly deadly combination.   In all of this, God continues to show himself faithful with His grace and favor each and every step of the way.   He would show up at the most critical times to direct, to provide, to bless and to meet the most pressing needs while going thru deep valleys.

I don’t have the desire to share all the details but God has overshadowed what has been the most trying two weeks of our ministry.  We have prayed for wisdom each and every step of the way as some of these agonizing decisions had to be made within the heat of battle. 

We don’t know what the future holds at this time but we do know who holds the future.

In addition to your prayers we need your financial support.  The cost to get her back to the USA was nearly $18K, so if God puts it on your heart,  any and all special offerings would be greatly appreciated at this time.

You can give through the link below or through our Sending Church: Ft. Cooper Baptist Church, 4222 S. Florida Ave., Inverness Florida, 34450. 

PAY PAL SECURITY & Credit Cards:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=DVMPV47K5HGUA

Thank you to all of you who have been so faithfully praying for Terry for we know that without your prayers we would not have made it this far.

       Best Rx yet! 

Kason, one of 5 Grandchildren (two more girls on the way) loving on his 'GiGi' at arrival in Tampa General Hospital trauma ward. 

Please keep her in your prayers as she is still very weak and may take up to a month to fully recover.  She is far from being out of the woods so to speak.

We will keep you posted and let you know how things progress over the next couple of weeks.   God keep you and bless you.

Bro. Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez
Kenya/Uganda

A Turn for the Worse, The Value of a Soul & Another Milestone

As I write this journal entry, my heart and prayers are continually going up Terry who has been in bed for three days now, unable to eat and in a significant amount of pain.  I ask you to join me in prayer for this faithful servant of God who has sacrificed greatly for the cause of Christ.   Our Churches here are praying for her as well.   We celebrated her birthday on Monday of this last week and after visiting a new village she took a turn for the worse during the later part of the week.
 
We have followed our normal routine of self evaluation and self medicating when we regularly experience bacterial infections of various types, she had not responded well to the meds so we will head to a clinic in the morning for testing and treatment.  Since our attempts have not produced results she could possible have something else like Malaria from sleeping out in the interior, we just don’t know at this point.  Remember there is no emergency room here but we do have a Western trained Doctor in Eldoret and we do know and work for the great Physician.   This brings me to my next thought, and that is the value of a soul.    As Terry lies suffering from whatever she has contracted while doing evangelism,
                                        Landmark Baptist Mayanja Evangelism Team
                                                                                             Prayers at the new village of Chenjeni

 God continually reminds me of the value of a soul.   In Terry’s case, she and her group of servants led ten people to Christ this week before she fell sick.    The Bible says that God would have spared an entire city if Abraham would have been able to find ten righteous souls and of course we know that there is great joy in heaven over one sinner that comes to repentance.  Luke 15:7  I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.   God help us to remain conscious of the fact that we will give an account for every idle word, deed and thought and help us to continue to set our affections on the things above.    To that end, this week we had the blessed opportunity to meet with the Landmark Baptist Church of Mayanja which is located at the base of Mt. Elgon for village evangelism.
The Church invited Terry and I to participate in what is now the third neighboring village they have reached for Christ.   They have been sending their Associate Pastor Moses to the village of Chenjeni over the last year and have now established a weekly preaching point for these new converts.   We had a great day going hut to hut (Acts 20:20) evangelism and saw forty people bow their heads and receive Christ by faith.

The Testament pattern for Church planting being repeated again and again here in Kenya and Uganda.   Our cups are overflowing to see people that love God enough to obey his commandments and love their neighbors enough to teach them the Word of God.    The book of Hebrews says that the world is not worthy of such, but praise be to God he is raising up servants and sending them out.   For our part, we remember the struggles, the barriers and challenges starting in 2009 searching and seeking God’s will to find the village of Mayanja, a village ripe and ready with people who would received Christ.   It is hard to convey the joy of seeing our early converts follow Jesus in scriptural baptism, unite and assemble themselves to keep the Lord’s commandments and then see Men of God called and sent out is more than we deserve.   In addition to village evangelism we delivered and assembled the pews for the newly completed sanctuary.   The entire Church family pitched in for assembly and they were very excited to receive this new blessing.

As we reach the milestone of the new pews, which signifies the completion of our joint building efforts, many of the Churches are giving their old pews to the new outreaches.    These are the growth lessons they have learned for they know where much is given, much is required and that it is better to give than to receive.  The unity and continuity of the work the Lord has allowed Terry and I to be a part of is a beautiful thing. Thank you for allowing us to share our journey of faith and please remember my dear wife this week in prayer.

God Bless,

Chuck & Terry Fernandez
Kenya

The Joy of the Lord IS Our Strength!

 TO THE BETTER HALF OF OUR MISSION TEAM...TERRY!

Terry and Moma Rosyln

Terry & Children

This week has been one of those painful weeks for Terry and I both have significant back pain resulting from the intense schedule we have run over the last two weeks.  Normally, we will travel into interior regions for a day or two and then have a day or two to let our bodies recover from what can only be described as a “beat down” from the roads, trails and paths we travel to deliver the word of God to the lost and the saints.    From the looks of all that is on our plate over the next few weeks, it does not look like we will have much opportunity to allow for healing.    In any case, we learned a long time ago that from time to time an athlete must play with pain and so do Missionaries.   God has blessed us with such great health over the last ten years and we are ever mindful that we wake up and live each day by His grace.   Please continue to pray for God’s overshadowing and favor with regard to our health.
                                                       Construction

New Sign Namarambi

In addition to building pews, delivering signs and of course the never ending task of studying and translating God’s word we visited one of our first Church plants, Landmark Baptist Church of Namarambi which is located at the base of Mt. Elgon for Sunday worship service.    This Church continues to grow and mature under the leadership of Pastor Daniel and the Christian school is busting at the seams.    The growth is so significant that they have bought three plots of land since we help start the Church in 2009. 

                                                               Preaching

                                                                          Nanaranbi

In addition to passionate singing, teaching and praise, we had the privilege to worship with Missionary Stephen Lobolia who is a Kenyan national now serving the Lord in Southern Sudan. 

By the way, it gives us great joy to see our Churches supporting global missions!

                                             Missionary Stephan (left) and Pastor Daniel

It was awesome to recreate the trail of faith that started with Pastor Daniel leading his son John to Christ, God then called John to reach the Turkana tribe located in northwest Kenya where he led Stephan to Christ, who has now led a Sudanese man named Aurelio to Christ and has surrendered to preach God’s word in Sudan as well.   Three generations of preachers who have literally led thousands to Christ and still going strong preaching the gospel where Christ has not been named. 

 Our final task this week was to get two more solar powered video tablets in the hands of our Pastor Daniel and Pastor Peter.  These two men are our most mature Pastors and Preachers, however they reminded me that while they are long in tooth they are not too old to continue to grow and learn God’s word.
                                                Pastor Daniel and Solar Video Tablet

Video Tablet

They are excited to continue their seminary education in the setting of their own home.   In addition to the video lessons, the solar panel and battery will provide these families with enough power to light their home with solar lighting.   This is a significant savings as they no longer have to buy kerosene on a weekly basis.   Special thanks to those of you who have given offerings to include your special VBS offerings given by the kids towards this worthy cause.  God is using you all to the uttermost parts of the earth.   We covet your continued prayers as we press towards the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus.  

Killer Convert, Goodbyes & Ekklesia

 

Please forgive me if this journal is somewhat lengthy however, this week was both exceptionally busy and exciting.   The week started with us traveling to the Kerio Valley with our Arkansas guests, Pastor Clayton Hall and his son Carson to assemble new pews at the Landmark Baptist Church at Cheposabei and village evangelism in the village of Morweisi.   The pews are one of final steps in the building process and whatever the Pastor and Church family want to accomplish from this point on will be done without any financial assistance from the Missionary.    Benches

New Benches

Windows

We have come along side this church family to give them a solid Bible education as well as a permanent meeting place to worship the Lord for many years to come.   Terry and I have great joy in seeing the labor of our hearts and lives reach this place of maturity and while we glory not in our own ability we do glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The next day we would travel deeper into the interior to the village of Morweisi for village evangelism. 

We arrived very early and I have to believe it was God’s timing because we actually caught several men still at home preparing to travel.  You see, most of the time when we visit these Pokot villages we only find the women at home as the men always seem to be away with their herds or looking for food. 

We saw several men receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and one of them was a known killer named Asalise.  

                                  Asalise  (left) Wilson (in blue) & Pastor Loquardo       

New Audio Bible in Pokot Mother Tongue

One of the young evangelist from the LBC Cheposabei named Wilson Moses who traveled with us to help us translate told us of a time when he had to lead two Army soldiers to Morweisi to capture Asalise for killing another man.

 The Pokot tribe is one of the roughest, toughest and seems to be the truly forgotten tribe of Kenya but not forgotten by God.   These villagers are coming to Christ one by one and they are starting to assemble themselves on a weekly basis to praise their God through His Son, Jesus, and to learn His Holy word.   Asalise is not the first killer to be converted and will not be the last.

Can I get an AMEN! 

After our travels to the Kerio Valley we said goodbye and put Pastor Clayton and Carson on a shuttle to return to the land of the free and the home of the brave.

                                                               Tent Making

It would be back to the salt mines for Terry and I as we fabricated, painted and prepared the new tent to be delivered this week for the organization service at our newest Church plant at the base of Mt. Elgon in a village named Chemondi.  

                                    Mt. Elgon

 

We baptized twenty new converts and help organize this third generation Church plant. 

Baptism

Baptism Joyful Church Family

This “ekklesia” or called out assembly voted on their new Pastor, Victor who has been trekking down from the top of Mt. Elgon for the last three years to reach this area with the gospel.

Church Vote

These folks are His converts and we were excited to do our part to confirm our doctrine and give them a solid discipleship program to help move them forward in their faith. 

                                       Prayer for new Pastor, Secretary & Treasurer   

Just like in the book of Acts 2:41-47, they gladly received the word, they were baptized and added to the Church.  Our job is to help them continue in the doctrine handed down from generation to generation by Jesus and His apostles and to continue in fellowship and praising God. 

                           Chicken gifts given to Terry and Pastor Peter's wife, Sporta

Please pray for this newly organized Church family as they covet together to keep the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ.   Thank you for allowing us the privilege to share what God in doing in this amazing Church planting movement.

My Kenya Experience, by Clayton Hall, Temple Baptist Church

My son, Carson, and I left for Kenya on July 28th. Before the trip, I had prayed for two things: First, that God would use the experience to change us. And second, that we would be a genuine blessing to Chuck and Terry and the churches in Kenya. I can confidently assert that what I've witnessed and experienced in Kenya has been a growth experience for me, and my son too, I think. And I feel like we were a real help and encouragement to the missionaries and the churches we visited.

I grew in my understanding of this culture and people. I suppose I always viewed Africa as a sort of God-forsaken place. Unbearable heat, flies, disease, and risk of ferocious animal attack. And I viewed the people as unfortunate. This isn't true. The country is beautiful and in many ways bountiful. The weather was splendid. And the people were some of the most industrious, noble, and kind that I have every met. As the sun rose over the Kenyan horizon, the streets bustled with the activity of men and women fueled only with a cup of chai and slice of bread in their bellies to provide a meal for their families that evening. The believers I met carried this industry into the church. I met pastors who would walk miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers) to share the Gospel with neighboring villages. Who traveled a day's journey, stayed overnight, just to meet me and my son. I heard accounts of the villages we visited of drunkenness and violent relationships that had been eradicated by the power of the Gospel, with those who formerly strove against one another, now striving together in the Lord's work as members of the local church.

And I genuinely felt like we did a good work while we were there. Or more correctly, that we participated for 10 days in the same good work that Chuck and Terry have been doing for 6 years. We dug, and hammered, and nailed to get the church building up. We saw the challenges in logistics of getting materials to these remote places. We saw the challenges of finance in the expense to erect a church house. We saw the young children gathered in the shadow of that new church house, and I couldn't help but hope they would find themselves as part of that assembly someday due to the effort being made. We experienced the physical pain of bouncing around on the very bad roads. When my son complained about his shoulder slamming against the inside of the truck, I thought of how Chuck and Terry have done a lot more bouncing around, and have a lot more aches and pains to show for it.

But the greatest encouragement was the churches that have been established. They are alive and vital. They are Scriptural. And they are on fire. They meet with enthusiasm. They worship with fervor. They love one another and love their brothers and sisters in Christ from the US. And they love the lost, going out to share the Gospel with neighboring tribes, meeting under trees to teach until the assembly grows to need a tent, and then a metal roof, and then a complete building. They have zeal for Christ and the Great Commission. 

The seeds that Chuck and Terry have planted have taken root. They are growing. They are spreading. And they are bearing fruit themselves. I'm blessed to have had the opportunity to see and lend a hand to this work. My church is blessed to support this work. And the people of Kenya have been blessed to have been on the receiving end of this work, and will be blessed for generations to come. 

PS - Chuck and Terry were the most gracious hosts. They welcomed us into our home. Fed us. Clothed us. And protected us. My son is still raving over Mama Terry's lasagna (It was really good). They really set the bar for hospitality.

Thanks,

Clayton Hall

Temple Baptist Church

Bald Knob, AR