The hardest part about the work that I’m doing is the fact that I’m here in Montana and the work is going on thousands of miles away in Kenya, and I can’t always see what is going on, but I know that God is doing work and I simply trust and follow His leading.  However, thanks tot he modern miracle (or curse) of technology, I can email quickly and get an update about the progress of the work.  The last time that I emailed Pastor David he let me know that the work on the children’s home is progressing rather rapidly.  The windows and doors have been put in and they are in the process of doing all the finishing which includes plastering the walls inside and out, and putting in the concrete floor.  After those things are complete, we’ll be able to furnish the building with bunk beds, tables, chairs and the like.  The teachers are doing well, we have three of them, two standard one (first grade) and one nursery school teacher.  Along with the teachers, we also have a man who is our security person, keeping watch at night and such.  God has truly blessed this work abundantly.  Pastor David has been using the food money that we collect here in the states sparingly in order to pay the teachers’ and security’s monthly salary ($100 for the first grade teachers, $50 for the nursery teacher and security).  So we have been praying that God continues to provide their salary, but not at the expense of the children’s nutrition.  Additionally, it is important that we begin to pay off the debt of our farming land which at the moment stands at $8000.  But I know that God is doing this work, it is not by my efforts or the efforts of Pastor David in any way.

So, things are going well back home in Kenya.  Here in the states I am gearing up for the summer, it will be my first summer as the camp director so I’m getting into my feet wet soon.  I love working here at the school, but I also long to be able to be in Kenya as well.  However, I know that God is at work here just as much as He is at work there, in fact He’s been laying a passage of Scripture on my heart that I’ve been dwelling on for the past week or so, it’s 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 it says, "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."  The questions that I’ve been asking myself lately are "What does it mean to let the love of Christ control you?" and "Am I living for myself or for Him who died and rose again for me?"  I feel that it is important for me to wrestle with these questions because their answers have a great impact on the work that I am doing, both here in Montana and in Kenya.  As I continue to meditate on the implications of this verse, I pray that you will also and that you will let God’s Word richly dwell within you so that it might change your hearts and challenge you to grow as it has me.  Be blessed.

P.S.  As soon as I get some picture sent to me from Kenya, I’ll post some of the orphanage progress.

Then I left for Kenya, and was thoroughly blessed by my time there.  I spent the first few days in awe of the changes that God had brought about in the previous eleven months.  We had the start of the children’s home, we had six sheep that we didn’t haven’t the year before, a small two-room nursery school, chickens, and our cows (Montana and Gift) were healthy and growing.  It was great.  I was introduced to our fundi (carpenter or expert) Joseph Omuse (another Christian brother), and we went to work continuing the building.  Additionally,  during my time there, I had multiple opportunities to preach in churches and for a couple of youth retreats.  Unfortunately, we had a little trouble transferring the funds over for building and our work was halted for a short while, but we found some other projects to do, like building desks for our school house and building a chicken coop and proper sheep corral with some other money that had been transferred over.  So I praise God for the work that I was able to help accomplish.

So, what’s next for this work and CTM in general?  Well, in Africa, my goal this year is to purchase an adjacent piece of land in order to farm and grow maize and beans and vegetables and so that we have a place to graze our cattle.  The target goal for that is $10,000 which is a bit on the steep side I will admit, but it gives us a platform to be able start ministry in that community.  Additionally, in the future, we would like to be able to expand our school to be able to teach all the children grades K-8, and then set them up with a sponsor who can help pay the school fees for secondary school (high school).  Stateside, though our goals are to establish Certain Truth Ministry as a legitimate non-profit organization to be able to give tax-deductible receipts for the donations that I receive and for financial accountability.  I am currently working on the paperwork part of that, and getting the official language down and then submitting it all.  However, there is a cost involved with starting an organization like this and I am looking a need of about $1000.  But I know that if this is something that God wants to work out, we will do the work of it and make it happen.

Please partner with me in prayer as I continue this adventure and consider the possibility of financial support of this ministry either for a project or on a monthly basis.  Thank you and may God bless you!

Here is the video presentation that I put together upon returning to the states.  A fuller report will follow soon.

My previous plans have changed regarding when I am going to leave for Kenya and who is going to go with me. After presenting the trip to my church this year, it was made abundantly clear that right now is not the right time to take others with me, not because it’s not necessarily what God wants, but because we are not set up for it yet on the Kenyan side. However, I am still planning on going over and will be leaving at the end of this month, November 29th. I will be gone for the whole month of December arriving back in the states on December 30th.

My goals for this trip are fairly simple and I am still open to whatever God has in store for me this year, but what I would like to see happen while I am there is:

-being a physical part of the building process.

-preaching.

-collecting information regarding the cost of furnishing the building when it is completed, the total running cost of food, clothing, and school supplies for the children, and what needs to be in place logistically to be able to bring others over to be a physical part of the work that CTM is doing.

-I am also hoping to become more adept at speaking Swahili so that I can translate when I have the opportunity to take others over with me.

-encouraging the brothers and sisters that I met and developed relationships with last year.

-whatever other works God has prepared in advance for me to do…(Ephesians 2:10)

When I return, God willing, I will have more pictures to share, which I will do here and on Facebook, and hopefully I will have a short video presentation of the work that God is doing in that area. Continue to keep me in your prayers for strength and provision. On that note, one last thing, I’ve kept track of all the funds that God has brought in for the building project and to date, He has provided $7280 USD for the building. That’s almost half of the total cost of the project!! The estimated total cost for materials and labor was $15,000 USD and God has already provided half of that! I am so thankful and awestruck by what He is doing in Kenya. Praise be to Him!!

I’m looking forward to hearing from Pastor David about how the building is going, last he told me, he had been running around trying to find building materials. I look forward to hearing from him soon.

What I’m really excited about for this year is the opportunity to take a few people with me. God willing, my plan is to take two to three young men from my church in Montana over to Kenya to participate in the building process.

I’m sure that we will have the opportunity to share the gospel as well and interact with the people in the area where Pastor David lives. I think that it will be a great opportunity for these young men to see another part of the world, to experience some of the culture, and to put their faith to the test to challenge it and see it grow. This is also going to be a wonderful growing experience for me as well, this being the first mission trip that I’ve led. I have been on many trips and traveled pretty extensively by myself, but I haven’t taken others with me before, so this will be a good challenge.

As I am preparing for this trip, I simply ask for your continued prayers and tell other people about this venture so that they may be praying for it as well.

On the financial end of things, we are also trusting God to provide the finances for our travel. Airline tickets for each person will cost between 2000 and 2500 dollars, along with a little extra money to cover transportation costs while we are in country, the total cost will be roughly 3000 dollars per person.

I would simply ask that as you pray for this trip, you would also pray about the possibility of providing part of that cost, everything helps. Just continue to keep us in your prayers as we head out. May God bless you in what you do. ~Eli

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15