Gord Martin & Doug Loveday - Kenya update #4

Update #4 from Kenya

Let me tell you a little more about the well! When we arrived, the Masai community was already there to welcome us. They lined up in two rows so that we could walk up between them. They welcomed us and together we walked up to where the borehole was. It was exhilarating to be with people who had longed for water for so long, now it was right in front of them. They sang, prayed, clapped and were glad together. When I was given the opportunity to speak, I was choked up. But it was a joy to talk to them and to remind them of Isaiah 35 where Israel was promised that they would have streams in the desert!

We have continued our training sessions here in the Kaijado area, rural churches. It's very rare that they receive guests from a place like Canada. We have been most well received! We repeated the same sessions that we did in Nairobi. Today we moved to a different location. The little church was jam packed for the sessions and then we had another 10 year celebration for VMK outside with a beautiful cake. And of course; the Masai people have their own unique form of dancing it's not very hard to pick up!

Tomorrow we are looking forward to having a joint church service. I forgot to tell you we walked to the top of a very high hill to meet the pastor and a few people from his church, just to bless and encourage them. It was a long way to the top, out of breath, but very worthwhile.

After the service tomorrow we return to Nairobi. We will have our COVID tests on Monday morning with a 3 hour turn around time. We leave for home from Nairobi at 6:10 on Monday evening, arriving home in Toronto at 8:10 on Tuesday morning. Sounds short, I can tell you it's not.

Please pray that our Covid test come through negative. We can't board the flight home without it.

Thank you again for your support and encouragement.

Gord

Camp El Faro in Ecuador

Camp El Faro (where we have sent teams from WBC in previous years) sent us a video of the camp session that just happened 2 weeks ago. They wish to thank us for our contribution to help make this happen. Watch and be blessed! (It’s 2 minutes long).

Gord Martin & Doug Loveday - Kenya update #3

There is a lot day to say! Or Sunday service started at 9 and lasted till about 2:00 PM, followed by food, conversation and photographs until 4:30 or 5:00 PM.

Almost everything happened in that service; the worship team and the congregation sang, swayed, moved and danced! Doug and I both preached. There were special performances by singers and dancers. Have a look at my Facebook page for video evidence!

And did I say it was hot? Their sanctuary was packed with about 600 people; and it has a tin roof. It was like a sauna in there! On Saturday when Doug was doing his last session, it began to rain – hard. It was so loud on that tin roof that he had to wrap it up early; plus people were gathering and placing buckets because of all of the leaks in the roof.

Today we had an excellent meeting with the VMK board. We worked through our future plans for leadership training with a sharper focus on training leaders who have capacity to train others.

You may remember that in my email just prior to leaving for Kenya I mentioned that we need some used laptops. Jerry Organ put me in touch with Dr Tom Musli who provides refurbished laptops for schools in all of Kenya. We had a great time with him yesterday and again today.

Tomorrow we are going to a second region where we will repeat our training sessions followed by another long service on Sunday. We will be in the middle of the Masai district and may not have Internet connections again until Sunday evening.

While we are in that area, we plan to visit the miracle well that was drilled a couple of weeks ago (300 metres deep).

Thanks again for your encouragement and support!

By the way, I have a mouse in my room.

Gord

Gord Martin & Doug Loveday - Kenya update #2

So much happened today, how can I remember?! Flexibility matters more than scheduling. The last half of this morning we crammed three sessions into one which resulted in a dynamic Q&A time with the church leaders.

25 churches were represented at the conference although not all were present for the whole conference.

There was a high level of appreciation for the ministry of vision ministries Kenya. This was especially evident in the celebration time later this afternoon. Ishmael, the ED of VMK was honoured and appreciated along with his wife Molline. They have served faithfully and well. There were speeches, music and dancing. Did I say dancing? Oh yes!! If you check my face book page you will get a little taste.

There was a 10 year anniversary cake, bubbly champagne like drinks to spray in the air, singing Happy Birthday, more singing and dancing. Gifts were given to those who contributed to the conference. They gave Doug and I each a beautiful shirt and a scripture verse to hang on our walls. We started at 10:30 this morning and finished at about 7:00 this evening.

Doug and I are now preparing to speak tomorrow morning at the host church. They have a 6:00 a.m. intercessors prayer meeting. A 7 a.m. leadership training session followed by two Sunday morning church services. They are expecting a big turn out.

Thanks for your support!

Gord Martin

Vision Ministries Canada

Gord Martin & Doug Loveday - Kenya Update #1

Greetings to all of you from Kenya,

 We had Internet issues here which kept us from communicating as we had hoped.

After a looong day and night of travel we were ready for the restoring miracle of sleep! The modest hotel we have stayed at each year has undergone a significant upgrade – even has an elevator. The rooms are now quite nice. I woke up once in the middle of the night to discover a mosquito, inside the mosquito netting. I said good night to him and slept on!

Faith Alive church, in a slum neighbourhood, is hosting our Nairobi conference. It’s a new member of the VMK network of Nairobi churches. Their worship team are terrific! God was with us, in a powerful way, both through the singing and the speaking. Thank you for praying! 17 churches were represented yesterday, perhaps another 6-7 today. These church leaders are our primary focus but members from the host church attended as well.

• The theme, “Put me to the test says the Lord your God”, has gone over very well!

• This afternoon Doug spoke on sexual wholeness, his talk was big hit!

The pervasive poverty is a powerful presence at every turn, overwhelming.

After the sessions yesterday, I was talking with some of the young children who were there. One of them brought me a chair, then each of them ran to get a chair and I was surrounded by 8-10 inquisitive children, ages from 6-12. Tell us stories about your country! Was the airplane we came on in space? Was Canada farther away than Uganda? They  couldn’t get close enough!

On a sad note, Doug Lovedays’s brother-in-law Paul and his wife Annie who are missionaries in the Philippines, have been sick with COVID; she died of it a few days ago and, last we heard he was still very weak. Pray for Paul and their family.

Thank you for your encouragement and support!

Gord Martin

Vision Ministries Canada

145 Lincoln Road, Waterloo, ON

519-501-5933 cell

www.vision-ministries.org