October 2017 | The Things We Don't Know

THE THINGS WE DON'T KNOW
 

When we visited our feeding program at Endarasha, we had the opportunity to play games with many of the children who had come there for help. One of the games we played tested whether or not we knew which books were in the Bible. One person would shout out a name, and if that was a book in the Bible you would jump up in the air. I was relieved that none of the children jumped on such easy ones as "Bill!", but that they seemed to know their Bible well enough to make it a challenging game for us all!
Along with providing food and life skills, we know it's of infinite importance to also teach the gospel to these children. For nearly all of them, the idea of a loving savior who cares about them in their plight and doesn't leave them there alone, is foreign.
It's something they don't know.
Because they don't know it, it's far from their minds and not a concrete truth they can rely on.
We want them to know it. We want them to feel it and to believe it. That's why we teach it, that's why we show them the truth of scripture and the generosity of you, their brothers and sisters around the world who love Jesus and who support them.
It's the same reason we send you this newsletter every month.
We want you to know the things you don't know.
We want you to know more about the children and communities you are supporting. We want you to grow in your understanding that the children and adults who live in these communities and who love Jesus, they are your brother and your sister. We want you to feel affected by the truth that some in these communities do not know who Jesus Christ is, and we want you to be excited about helping us tell them.
When we pray for the work we are doing in Africa, we pray for another work that we also believe we are doing; the work of helping you understand that God uses people like you to do His work throughout the world.

You are an unceasing blessing to us and to countless people in Eastern Africa.

Thank You

WOMEN's MINISTRY - LIZ KIRIMI

In addition to the work in Limuru and the Misiri Slums, Linus works to train pastors and plant churches throughout East Africa and he and his wife, Liz, have a specific heart for the unreached people groups in Northeastern Kenya.
God has also given Liz a heart for the women in these areas, as well as in their own Misiri Slums. Feed.Teach.Hope. is currently working to build out a specific ministry to help support Liz's efforts with the women of Eastern Africa.
Please continue to pray with us for God's hand in this and watch for news to come soon!
 

September 2017 | It's About Helping

Our home state of Texas has been ravaged by flooding and destruction that areas like Houston and Port Arthur have never seen. Many of our supporters and all of our board members participated in multiple efforts to help those affected by hurricane Harvey. We made phone calls, checked on families, cleaned out destroyed homes, and prayed with and for those who had lost so many things. Just as Texas was beginning to clean up the mess, another hurricane hit Florida. Such devastation in just a short amount of time, but what we learned was that people like you were there to help.
Recently, a friend shared an article that pointed out something amazing - for many people, when FEMA finally arrived on site, homes had already been cleared and garbage stacked outside - by faith based organizations and churches.
By people like you.
You have helped.
You have eased burdens.
You have put others first and yourself last.

We are proud of you, our supporters, and thankful for each and every one of you.
Not only have you always answered the call to help a community in East Africa that God has connected you with through Feed.Teach.Hope., but you are diligent to stop what you are doing and move in to help when your home state has been so affected.

You are making a difference.

At the end of the day, we know that it will take much time for these areas of Texas to return to normal; but they will.
At the end of the day, it's about stewarding well the gifts God has given you, whether its finances to support a slum school in Africa or a hammer and crowbar to pull out ruined drywall.
At the end of the day it's about pouring yourself out for others in need.
At the end of the day, it's about being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.
At the end of the day, It's about helping.

Thank You

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HANNAH & JANE

Meet Hannah, 13, and Jane, 12. They joined Christlike Academy in January of this year and live in the Misiri slums with their Grandmother, Hannah.

When Grandmother Hannah met Linus, she shared their story with him. 
One day, Grandmother Hannah received a visitor from Nairobi. The guest had two small girls with them, both still infants. She informed Grandmother Hannah that they were her granddaughters and that she couldn't care for them. She said, "You can either keep them, or kill them.", then she left. Grandmother Hannah did have a son who disappeared in Nairobi over 20 years ago, but she did not know if these were her granddaughters. Still, she resolved to raise and care for them.
Hannah and Jane have been attending Christlike Academy and are being cared for with education, food, and clothing from your support of Feed.Teach.Hope. Additionally, Hannah has had problems with her ears and was able to obtain medical treatment thanks to your support.
Hannah and Jane have also now joined Sunday School classes at Linus's church and Liz has been meeting with them to share with them more about Jesus.
God is so good, and so are you - our partners.

You are making a difference.

August 2017 | Providence

 

The idea of choosing a person to lead always produces tension in those who are choosing and those who will be affected by the choice. Determining a good leader is no easy task, nor is it one that always ends up with positive results. Sometimes bad leaders are chosen and the result is catastrophic. Sometimes good leaders are chosen, and there are times of peace. Either way, whether a leader proves to be good, bad, or mediocre, we shouldn't be surprised by the outcome. Leaders will always let us down, because leaders are human.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” I Samuel 8:4-9

The people of Israel wanted a leader like the nations around them. A man to follow. A voice to listen to. A King to lead them. Until this time, God had led them through the words of prophets, but the people no longer wanted it this way. They wanted their own leader, just like everyone else.
They got him; and more. As time went on, they would begin to see that these leaders, unlike their God, would give in to sin, selfishness, laziness, and many other things which would draw from their ability to lead the people well. From here forward, there's no doubt that Israel would understand that choosing a leader wouldn't be easy, nor always result in good.

For our friends in Kenya, a recent election reminds us of this tension. At the writing of this letter, Uhuru Kenyatta has been re-elected as president; and already, protests have claimed the lives of Kenyans due to unrest at the election results.
As we pray for our family and friends in Kenya, and for the country and its leaders as a whole, we must remember that nothing is out of the providence of our God, even the leaders that are chosen. Paul tells us in Romans 13, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."
God is not absent in the choice of, tension around, nor results of, choosing a leader. Sometimes we choose poorly, God is there. Sometimes we choose wisely, God is there. Regardless of the outcome, God is present and still in control of all things.
Though leaders may rise and fall, our God stays constant. Of that, we can be sure.

“THERE IS NOT A SQUARE INCH IN THE WHOLE DOMAIN OF OUR HUMAN EXISTENCE OVER WHICH CHRIST, WHO IS SOVEREIGN OVER ALL, DOES NOT CRY, MINE!” 
Abraham Kuyper

Please join us this month of August as we pray for our friends and family in Kenya, for the children and teachers of our school, for our pastors, and for the people and leadership of the beautiful country of Kenya.
 

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We have WONDERFUL news!!!

Many of you might remember Purity. She was one of the first girls we met at Christlike Academy. Though she was quiet, she was smart and wonderfully sweet to us. As time went on we learned her story, a tragedy of abuse at an early age. Last year, her grandmother left the area and asked Linus and Liz to care for Purity as she expected to never return. Linus and Liz have been caring for Purity since then and recently have completed the adoption process and are proud to officially make Purity part of their family!

I know adoption is very close to our hearts and the hearts of many of our partners. Please join us in praying for Purity and the Kirimi family. If you have anything you'd like to pass on to Linus and Liz, please reply to this email and we will be sure they get it.

July 2017 | Faithfulness

I hope you know how thankful we are to those of you who pray for us, who inquire constantly about what's going on in East Africa, and who serve by giving of their time, talent, and treasure so that Jesus can be known on the other side of the world.
Your faithfulness is what makes it possible for Christlike Academy to continue on. While it has been a few quiet months for Feed.Teach.Hope. since Linus and Liz have returned home to Kenya, there have been some wonderful things happening at Christlike Academy.
Most recently, the officials from the County Education Board came to visit in order to provide Christlike with a confirmation of school inspection and registration. They found Christlike in good shape except for the need to cover the dusty areas with quarry chips in order to minimize dust. The dusty areas they speak of are the areas where the children play right now, the two additional plots that our wonderful partners helped us purchase last year.
We were able to cover those plots with quarry chips and receive the registration we needed!
Also, Christlike is currently being evaluated to have a Kenya National Exam Council at the school next year. What this means is that those students in Grade 8 will be able to take an exam which will help them continue on to High School. This is wonderful news and will mean much for the future of Christlike Academy. Please pray with us for this need!
God's faithfulness to Feed.Teach.Hope., through our partners, is bringing us to a place where we may be able to watch children from the slums attend and graduate high school!

Our God does not waver in his faithfulness to us and we are constantly in awe at his provision and guidance.

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At Christlike Academy, staff are sent out periodically to check on students and their families in order to pray for them, offer guidance and counseling, and to discuss the performance of their children.

Some of these recent visits uncovered rather harsh conditions for one of our students, Violet. Linus and Liz are working with the family to end these conditions.
Violet has been a student at Christlike for some time. Because of her conditions at home, she has developed health issues.
Please pray for Violet that these issues would end and her family would repent and correct these conditions.
We know God is faithful.

May 2017 | Pressing On In Rest

The month of April (and some of May) was a month of celebration for us here at Feed.Teach.Hope. Our Pastor in Kenya, Linus Kirimi, and his wife, Liz, were able to travel to the United States and spend a few weeks before heading to Missouri for Linus to graduate with his Master's Degree. 
While they were here with us, they were able to have several meetings with churches interested in helping to support the mission of Feed.Teach.Hope. in Kenya. More importantly, though, they were able to rest.
We treated them to a restful stay nearby, taking care of their food and travel and also including them in dinners with various families from Christ Community Church of Magnolia. We were also able to enjoy having them with us on Easter. While there was some work done while they were here, there was also plenty of time for rest. They admitted this was the first "vacation" they had ever had.

Rest is becoming an increasingly elusive thing, not just for our friends in Kenya, but also for us in Western society. We are constantly busy with any number of things, always trying to find time to squeeze this thing in here and that thing in there. This is especially true for those of us involved in some type of ministry. We often hear, see, and feel the stories of burnout and exhaustion which sometimes lead to sin or some walking away from ministry altogether.
Christ calls us to something different.
Christ demands we rest.
Believe it or not, some of our busyness actually reveals a lack of faith. When we are determined to fill our every minute with tasks and work related to some goal we are shooting for or responsibility we maintain, and we don't work in a regular rhythm of rest, we are essentially saying "I am so important that this will not get completed unless I am doing all the work for it, at all times".
One of the purposes of rest is to remind ourselves God is in control, not us. When we remind ourselves of this in our everyday lives, it becomes a stabilizer of the foundational truth in our salvation - that Christ has done it all. Too often we begin to cross Western values of hard work and reward with how Jesus rescues us; we can be tempted to think "If I work really hard, Jesus loves me more."
The truth is that Christ has already done the work, and according to John 19:30, that work is finished.

What we fail to remember is that Christ is actually the one making all things possible. All things are held together by Him and put into action by Him. This is not to say we should neglect hard work and keep ourselves from difficult tasks, as Christians we should be the hardest workers. However, if we never rest we are never acknowledging that ultimately our work is out of our hands and in the hands of Jesus.

Our times of rest allow us to enjoy the other things that God has graciously given us; food, drink, family, friends, community, and nature. All of these things are enjoyed during our times of rest and should be a reminder to us of the God who created them how they all ultimately to point to Him.
By working in regular times of rest with our schedules of hard work, we are all the more easily reminded of a God who calls us to find all of our joy in Him, and we are all the more reassured that it's in His hands, and not ours.
It is for that truth that we should be especially thankful.
 

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We are excited to announce CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS for those of you who would like to support the work of Feed.Teach.Hope. through your business.

Our friends at Lucid Books have asked to help further our work in Kenya as a Corporate Partner and we are thankful for our relationship with them.
Lucid Books is a Partnership Publisher with a desire for gospel advancement through the publishing of excellent books. Lucid works with their authors to make the publishing process as simple as possible and they support their authors through the entire process from start to finish.
We are proud to call them a partner as they support our work in Kenya and as we come alongside them in their hope to further the gospel through print.
If you would like to know more, visit their website at www.lucidbooks.net.

If you would like more information about a CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP, please email: info@feedteachhope.org.