Faith Church wishes you and yours a meaningful and blessed
season of celebrating Jesus’ birth.

We hope that amid the hustle and bustle, the joy – and even the stress
of all that the holidays bring, we might all remember Jesus’ words,
“Come to me all who are weary and heavily burdened and I will
give you rest.” Jesus came to give us rest. By placing our lives,
our trust and our hope in Jesus’ hands we enter into that rest that comes
from having peace with God. It’s as simple as receiving a gift
on Christmas day.

So, as we rest in the fact that Jesus is Savior and Lord, we
all the more give thanks for all that He has given us, even Himself,
as He truly is the greatest gift of all.

Merry Christmas and warm wishes for a wonderful 2008!

Snapshots from Kenya – Chepareria
 
            We spent a day and a half at Kapenguria visiting the Rev. Joseph Murupus Academy and community there and then began our road trip to northern Kenya.  About a half hour after leaving Kapenguria, we pulled off the road onto a “driveway,” which looked more like an abandoned two track logging road than a driveway.  We bounced along this driveway for a few minutes and then pulled into a compound of relatively nice buildings set in mountains just north of Kapenguria.
 
            Rev. Murupus then told us that the school in Kapenguria had been so successful and that so many people wanted to come to that school, that the people from this area wanted him to begin another school in Chepareria to serve them.  We had been surprised by the large number of students in Kapenguria and so assumed that this new school would have only a few students attending.  However, once all the students were assembled in the yard, we saw that there were well over a hundred students here and that for only 4 grades!

 
            Once again, Claire and I were seated in a place of honor along with Rev. Murupus and his wife, Mary.  The students then began singing and dancing for us class by class.  Afterwards we met with the principal and teachers for a short meeting.  We were again impressed by their commitment to the students and their desire to make a difference in the lives of all these children.

 
            In one classroom we noticed a schedule of the day and week printed on the blackboard.  The students begin their day at 7:20 a.m. and don’t end their day until 4:30 in the afternoon.  We began to understand more why this was such a good school and in such high demand.  The people in Kenya are eager to send their children to schools where they can get a good education.  It is one of the few ways that their children can improve their future.
 
            What struck us about this school, however, was that it was a little bit  “out of sight and out of mind.”  We weren’t aware that this school existed and it was almost an afterthought on the schedule.  Yet here were well over a hundred students doing their studies under very dedicated Christian teachers.  I don’t know for sure, but I can only assume that our gifts from Faith Church had helped some of these students as well.  These teachers were faithfully serving even though they were out in the middle of nowhere.

 
            In August, the teachers and students of our Sunday School wrote letters to the Kenyan children in an effort to make those children seem real to our children.  Rev. Murupus said that he wanted to make sure that the students in the school in Chepareria would receive our letters.  He wrote me the following:
“The Chepareria is very ideal, for that is what they have been praying for, and now I see a very positive response, it looks that your ways of thinking are similar to my ways. Immediately from 10 of August, we shall ask the children to write.  What will be the content is about their families, the cows, goats and the sheep, and where they go to the church, what are the most interesting stories in the Bible.”

 
            The phrase that caught my attention was “that is what they have been praying for.”  This is a group of dedicated followers of Jesus who are off the beaten path and longing for some encouragement.  This is something I think that we can relate to in our own experience.  As far as the Christian Reformed denomination is concerned, we are off the beaten path as well, sometimes laboring well under the radar.  Yet we are trying to be faithful in encouraging, teaching, equipping and serving our people and the people in the Nashville community as well.
 
            The last part of November we received 16 letters from the school in Chepareria, each addressed individually to those who wrote last August.   I am eager to learn about these “families, the cows, goats and the sheep and where they go to church.”  I think we have much we can learn from each other as we both seek to serve our God.
 
            The headmaster of this school wrote, “The entire school community, that is the teachers and pupils were very much happy.  They are really praying for you….  May God bless you as you continue praying for the school.  Give our regards to the rest of the church members.”
 
            Let’s keep encouraging this small school and community. They are eager to hear from us and we have much we can be learning from them.
 
 
Pastor Jerry                                                                                          
December 2007