springs of hope

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