springs of hope

It is surrreal that my friend and Pastor Douglas Poole and our friend and Art Director Chris Cox were just here. We were able to share with them some of what we deal with here in Kenya. This happened all quite suddenly so to think that they have come and gone so fast is Bitter sweet….so glad they were here..so sad they are gone already. We were able to do alot but not all that we had wanted to fit in. It was not enough time for sure. Another awesome thing that happen was to see have Douglas and chris met our dear friends here in Kenya and see how they all became so close so fast. It was so good.
They are all now so close and we all have this deep connection. This was a great experience for all involved. It was a once in a lifetime thing.

AFRICA
Where to start? There is so much to say, yet I am not sure words or pictures can give a true vision of
Kenya. All at the same time, it is by far, the most breathtaking and devastating place I have ever
experienced. I went to visit one of my oldest friends, Molly. She, her husband, Joe and 14 year old son,
Elijah have sold everything they own to build an orphanage…for facts and figures, please visit:
www.springsofhopekenya.org…At the moment, the building should be completed by the end of this year.
Work is all done by hand and very slow, but they are getting there…
Each day I spent in Nakuru was different. Molly and Jo do many outreaches to the local “mamas,” street
kids, and hospitals. Besides feeding and clothing these people, they are working to build the community
by getting the kids off the streets and into school as well as supporting the growth of small businesses.
Most of these people are surviving with barest of necessities, if any at all. Although the need seems
endless, I realized during my trip that it does not take much to make a large difference….one human being
at a time. Simon, for instance. A very special 14 year old boy that touched my heart among many. Given
up by a family that did not want him anymore, he has lived on the streets of Nakuru for over a year. Many
street boys (about 90%) succumb to sniffing glue to ease hunger and stay warm…Simon has not-he
admits trying it but did not see it as an answer…He wanted to go to school, become a minister, and help
fellow street kids. We had many lunches throughout the course of my stay and he is an incredibly gentle,
smart, well mannered boy. Even after living a very hard life, there is still a softness and strength to him.
During one of our lunches, he saved half his meal so that he could give it to another homeless child.
Pretty amazing from someone starving themselves. This is only one of many examples and I found him
very inspirational. What broke my heart, was seeing this boy lose the light and hope in his eyes. I learned
a lot from Simon and it was shockingly easy to help him….A meeting with the headmaster of Davis
Academy and basically a check…$850.00 paid for his tuition, clothing, supplies, room and board for the
entire year. Watching this special little person (again, one of many) come off the streets and go to school
was one of the best days of my life. The smile and rekindled sparkle in those eyes was worth every penny
and more. He did much more for me than I did for him and it will be my honor to keep his tuition paid
each year until he graduates.
I don’t feel I can write an ending about this trip because I think it only the beginning….What I can say is
that can you imagine being a child and living on the streets? Can you imagine your parents dying or not
being able to take care of you? Being sick and not knowing if you were going to be able to eat today,
tomorrow, or the next day? No family, no school, no clothes, no bathroom or shower? Can you imagine?
Seeing it was hard to believe and an easy choice to write a check.
To be continued…

Elijah came home yesterday for the weekend.
He loves the school and has already made many new friends.
This is an answered prayer thank you Jesus.
All he talks about is school we couldn’t be happier.
I am just getting over Malaria once again I take precautions but still get sick but at least I know the symptoms.
So can have it verified
We have had an interesting week Wednesday we were to attend the funeral for Robert.
The young man that recently died the family is still trying to raise the funds to retrieve his body from the morgue.
This poor family who have nothing must come up with this enormous amount of money (for Them)before they will release the body.
Corruption here is everywhere it makes me sick.
Today we sent the final amount to the elders brother so prayerfully this matter is over.
Anyways the funeral did not happen but something amazing did a women we meet decided to give her life to Christ.
Right in the middle of a dirt road but it went a simple prayer of salvation to a deliverance.
Six of us were praying over her it was a powerful moment.
The name above all names Jesus liberated this women freed her from bondage
It was a first for me and Molly I knew at that moment why we where here.
Please pray for a very close friend of ours her name is Monica Kerubo she is 42 with AIDS.
If I had more time I would go into her life story it is tragic she is in the local hospital in the AIDS ward.
Ward 12 its called the condition of the facility is gross falling apart and these are the most vulnerable to diseases.
And the way they treat them is sub-standard just pray for her she is a beautiful woman that has a very hard life.
Kenya is never boring life and death decision are made every day But Gods grace is sufficient.

I would have to say it is hard for me to blog because what can happen in one day here is quite hard to put in to words.
I guess each day is like a new and unbelievable…I dont know saga or soap opera. Life for most is very complicated and difficult. We thought we came here to deal with orphans and there is so much more. I have now two more children who need to go to school, and another who is waiting to talk to us next Sunday. So many children here are abandoned. So we deal with children who have parents but they do not want them, Which is the case with alot of the street boys. I have had woman today tell me today she wants to give us her unborn baby. She is having twins and cannot support them both. That is just one of many things that happen when we go to church. Sometimes you have to just think “OH MY GOD” literally. Because he is the only one that can see us through this

Some of you may remember me talking about Robert Kamau he is the 17 year old boy who had AIDS,TB Rhabdomyo sarcoma…..I was told today that Robert has passed away. This a sad day for us as he was such a young man. Please pray for Robert. I know he is free of pain now. But my heart is so deeply saddened by this.

I have been a bad blogger I must admit and I am sorry. Alot has happened since my last blog. I had a longtime friend Julie Ewald come and visited for the month of August. We were able to show her all that we are accomplishing here, and also show her all the struggles of life here for the people of Kenya.
She was truly inspired, and went home with a renewed spirit, and a love for this place. She is hoping to develope something that she can make here and sell back in USA. We have a few ideas so please pray for that.
We were very happy because this street boy that Joseph had met when he was here last year during the clashes (Simon) is now in school and be boarded there with the help of Julie. We introduced Julie to Simon one day and we took him to eat. She heard his story about how he had been abandoned, and how he had been living on the streets for that last two years. She just fell in Love with him, and offered to put him school. He stayed with us for the weekend before he started school. He is now in school and thriving. We received a thank you from him and another boy we helped last week, and they are very happy,very thankful, and doing well.
Simon will come and stay with us during his breaks at boarding school and this is an answered prayer to have him in school. Something that we had wanted to do for sometime but due to the fact he is homeless, and we have no building yet it made it a little difficult. Thank You God for working through Julie!
Helen is good and we have helped her start her own business so that she can support herself and her children. Miriam one of her twins is in a childrens home for the time being as she was not thriving she had malaria, TB, and other problems, so we thought it would help Helen get on her feet because, it would be easier for her to only take care of Jeff.
Miriam is now better, and will be back with Helen in December.
I was able to be with Helen as she was Baptized, and that was a wonderful day.
The building is going up fast, and funds are going down fast so we keep praying that we are able to complete the project. The trusses go up today, and the roof should go up next week.
This is a big month for us as we support many childrens education…We could really make this a Ministry in its self as there are so many children that do not go to school because they cannot afford it, School is definetly not free here. I think they would like you to think that but that is far from true.

Well I am sorry for my lapse in blogging…so i will try to update you on as much as I can.
This past week we had some issues at the site where we are building. The men that we hired from that community were starting up with the men we have from our church community. To make a long story short it was not good, but it has been resolved. All this tribal rivalry can be upsetting, but Bishop Opicho spoke to the men about unity. That they are Kenyan!

This and other incidents were upsetting to Joseph, and he asked me on Tuesday morning where God was in all of this. (You wonder sometimes) I tried to reassure him that is why we are here. We are supposed to be the God in all this. Representing “HIM”

Well later that mornig we went to visit Mama Brenda…because on Sunday she spoke to me and asked me if there was any work she could do for us. She said she would do anything pick up trash what ever she had to do to catch up on her rent (she is 3 months behind and her rent is about $4 USD) and get food. She said it is hard to explain to Brenda that they have no food. She said children do not understand.

So we went and helped Mama Brenda catch up on her past rent, and get food for her children. We then met with a woman named Nelly. She is Taking care of 3 orphans herself. She tried to open a pre-school to pay for the children, but it failed. So she is doing what she can to help these children she has taken on. One being a small boy Solomon who i am very partial to. Solomon was abandoned by his mother, and his father is a drunk who abused him. He drops in time to time when he is drunk to see how he can hurt him, but Nelly tries to protect him. We helped nelly with food. She is a poor woman trying to make a difference.
Then we went to Visit Catherine. Catherine is the mother of three Ann, Grace, and Moses that I mentioned in my last update. I had to find out what was going on because on Sunday Ann told me that her mother would keep Grace, and Moses, and that she would come live with Me & Joseph. We had to find out what this was all about. We went and told Catherine what Ann had said. She explained to us through our trusted associate Daniel that in March Moses’ father (Ann’s & Grace’s father is dead)who is now hopefully gone had brought home a man who he said was his cousin. This man proceeded to try to Rape Ann. He did not succeed but Ann now has nightmares, and feels like she cannot trust her mother. We stayed for quite sometime to work this out. We are still trying to help Catherine start her business also.
As we were there Catherine explained to us that she thought she was in a hopeless situation at one time. That is when Ann met us and started seeing us at Jotham’s. She told her Mom she wanted to ask us if we could help them out of this life they were living. Her mother told Ann who is 11 that if she felt she could speak enough english to ask us she told her to go ahead and try. So Ann is the one that started our relationship with Catherine and her children. Catherine told us that she has seen God through us, and what we have done for her and her children. We talked more and before we left I asked her if we could pray for her. We Did and when we were done she told us she would like to accept Christ. We were thrilled. We then prayed with her, and she accepted Christ right there with us.
I am not writing this to boast but to tell you how faithful God is and that he truly affirmed what i had talked to Joseph about that morning. We are here to represent Him. God is in us and works through us!

I will sign off for now but promise to continue with my updates on Hellen and her twins, and Joseph who could not get back to school.

Love & Blessings
Molly

Well we have been here for a little over 2 months now, and we are starting to get used to living in Kenya. I can tell you that 2 weeks into it I was missing family and friends something awful. We took sometime for ourselves about 2 weeks ago and went on our first weekend trip to Samburu. It was a much needed time for our family, and we saw many animals from Cheetahs to Lions, and Giraffes, and Tons of Elephants.

We also moved into a place on the 2nd we are renting, and we are very happy with it. We were thankful for the time we were able to stay with Bishop Opicho & his family, but it is nice to have a place we can call home. We have plenty of room so we are ready for anyone who would like to come, and visit us here in Kenya. We would love to have you! There is plenty of work to be done here. Construction, Medical, VBS, many kinds of outreach projects, and there is always time to see this beautiful country & it’s people.

We are happy to say that the Care Center is moving along nicely. Monday we should be pouring the cement, and picking out our stones that we would like to have on the building. We can hardly believe that we are at this point, and if it had not been for God, and how he works through people like you this would not be possible. Keep praying that we continue to move forward, and that we do not run out of funds. God has brought this project this far. We know He will not stop now.

We have been assisting some women who have HIV so that they can start some small businesses, making them able to support themselves and their children. At times this can be hard as their situations can be heartbreaking. There is Helen who I have mentioned before. She returned home with her children to have them not only get sick again, but get infested with bug bites. She lives in a mud home, and the bugs have taken over. We are working to help her move to a new home, and then help her and her babies by seeing how she can start a small business to support herself & her family.

There is also Catherine, and her children, Grace, Moses, and Ann. All who are very dear to Joseph & myself. We do not know her status, but she has been made to leave her home by her “Husband” and she had no where to go. We assisted her with finances to move, and now we are looking to help also with a small business. We can help Helen for approximately $200 USD, which will provide her with her first month’s rent, funds for a business, and enough to get her a small bed, and a charcoal stove to cook on. She needs to get herself & the babies off the ground so they will not get sick. We have paid for Catherine’s first month of rent which is about $25 USD, and she needs about $50 more to start her business. This could be a great project for an individual or a group at church.

We are meeting this Sunday with the youth at All Nations Springs of Life to plan future outreach activities. We will be doing outreach activities to the Street Boys, and we would like to go back to Ward 12 at Nakuru General Hospital, and pray and talk with the patients in the AIDS wards. We have also been talking to a Head Master at a local school here about mentoring some of the 35 boys that attend there that were former street boys, and seeing what we can do to help them stay on the right track.

But we ultimately know that we cannot accomplish any of this without God, and his unfailing grace, and you. What I have expressed to you in this update is only a fraction of what is happening here. There is so much more, and as I said we cannot continue the building or reaching out to help lift up those in need without you. Please continue to pray for us, and the people we serve. Pray for the continuation of construction for the Care Center so that we can help the children more effectively. We ask for you to pray about continued support for us as moving here and starting our lives completely over has come at a cost.

We ask if you have made a commitment to help us monthly please send that in for July. Again, we thank you for your love, prayers, and Support! For more info go to WWW.SpringsofHopeKenya.org

Love & Blessings, Joseph, Molly & Elijah Bail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

It has been sometime since i wrote, and so much has gone on. We have been to the school to visit the boy we returned, and he is doing well Thank God but how A moment with another boy who is in the streets can wreck you. How you try to get him back to school after he has left, and they will not take him back because of foolish decisions he has made which we understand, but it is hard to deal with, and how you have to be stern, and tell him you cannot help him at this time while he cries. It breaks my heart. So if anyone wants to take a chance on a 15 year old boy named Stephen to go to school let me know.

We met with Simon today and he is on the streets because his Mother & Father both remarried, and left him to fend for himself. We are praying that once we move to our own place we maybe able to help him by giving him a place to live.

We were told about a young Samburu girl who is orphaned and 12 years old, and has been betrothed to a 67 year old man. We will do whatever we can to make this not happen.

We have been in contact with numerous cases of children orphaned by AIDS or just plain thrown away. For lack of another word. Tossed out like trash. i am sorry to be so blunt but it is mind boggling. We know this is all the learnig process. As we said there is so much to do. We have put in for our work permits, and will then meet with the children Dept here.

On a very good note today we broke ground on the foundation. Jotham spoke to the men who are working, and let them know how important this project is to God, and that we need unity, as we have two differnt tribes working together, and there has been some tensions due to the recent clashes. We then prayed, and anointed the ground with oil. Then Joseph & Jotham broke ground.So now we can start laying the foundation. It was very emotional for us. It has been a long time coming and obviously we need this building soon. the sooner the better.

We have also met some people from Austrailia. They are Mary and Ivan. I believe we have mentioned them before, but i feel they will became dear friends. They have a baby orphanage here, and we really enjoy their company.

Helen, and the twins are in a childrens home at the moment. We will be seeing her and the babies within the next few days. We will also be visting her home, with another Ministry that helps people dealing with AIDS, and see if it will be possible for the babies to return. It may not be a good environment for them to return to.

Please pray for us, and the discernment that we need when being pulled in so many directions. We need to know where we will best serve the children of Kenya and How we will best serve our Lord and Savior.

My last blog did not go all the way through…so Alot was missing at the end of my story. Needless to sy praying with Rachel for her salvation was so powerful. i talked and prayed with her and Joseph prayed as he rubbed her back gently he could feel the bones she was so weak.

Monica is now home, and she is better but we hope to help her with some of her food needs because she will get sick again if she does not have any food.

Friday we met a man named Ivan from Austrailia. He and his wife mary have a baby orphanage not far from where we are building. We have heard of them, and this meeting was unexpected, and pleasant as he invited us back to where there place is for lunch, and we were very impressed. It was a top notch facility, and i hope ours will be so nice. It is a bit larger, and we realize we will probably need more land in the future. We not only enjoyed meeting them but the 35 beautiful children in their care. Mary & Ivan were awesome, and I hope to become friends with them.

I can briefly over view the last few days. Saturday we visited Jothams daughter in Kericho where her school is. It is beautiful countryside with mountains, greenery, ansmany tea fields. Very lush, and green. we visited the site of the project, and it is coming along. We have the land almost leveled.

Sunday joseph was not well so went to church,and later that day we went out to a New church that Jotham has just started in a place called Ngoogoo. yes Ngoogoo.
He started it under a shelter that cattle dused to stand under to get out of the elements. We traveled with some others singers, and pastors, andyouth from the home church in Nakuru, and it was quite something. They do not have a church in this area so the people, and the children there are so Happy. It is in a very rural area, and it is actually the are where Helen is from. That is how we first came to know abotu her. Her sister was there with her son, and on of Helen’s other children. She wanted me to see where the live, and I have to say it is nt a place for sick children. It is mud, and one room. One very small room with dirt floors. They are also consdered squaters at this time, and will not be allowed to stay there much longer. So now Helen is still in the hospital,because the twins have fever, especially Jeff, and they beleive they may have Malaria.
So we need to pray for them. They need a place that is asfe for the babies, and close to town so Helen can get treatment.

Monday & Tuesday we ran in to some of street boy friends. Bought them breakfast. Some of these stories are so complicated. They can be hard to disiffer. Most tell you want to go to school, but with no where to stay, and figuring out if they are orphans or runaways it is hard. We have tried to help A boy Stephen, and it is a long story, but the school he was attending will not accept him back because of the issue of him leaving. This is where you have to really pray and ask for God’s guidance to show you the ones you can, and cannot help. It is hard, and without the resources we have to come to the conclusion that we have to focus in the building so we have place to run this all from. A place to take orphans, and we have to work through the system to find out who and can, adn cannot help. It is hard because youcan be pulled in so many ways.

We went out to the land to check on the site on Tuesday, and also visited Helen & the babies. They look so much better, but we are glad they are getting the care they need for the time being. We also brought candy for all the children in her unit. There are so many. Many with burns, and one girl who has been there for 3 months her name is Gladys. She has swelling on the brain. Her head is large, nad her mother holds her while we talk to her. We know she was once a normal little girl, adn we try to make eye contact with her, and she seems to listen. We feel for her ,and her Mom who stays with her there with her little son Evan who is about 2. I really was praying for her to be healed, and i do believe she will be.
I would like to ask for you to pray for all the people we come in contact with. As we were leaving the hospital we ran into a friend whose sister has AIDS he was there to take her home. She is in what maybe the final stages. Please pray for her. A miraculous recovery. She has 2 children.
I would also ask that you pray that God would Bless us with the resources we need to do this ministry properly so that we can help more people, and have a facility that we all will be proud of. We know that it is just beginning, and we need his Grace, Love, Patients, and for him to Bless the work we are doing here in Kenya.