Its Christmas time already! --Our December Update

OUR NEW HOUSE

Here is just a quick little update on Josh and I over here in Kenya. Things are going well. We have been in our new house for about two weeks and love it. We just found out that we have an avocado tree which is a sweet little blessing from Jesus.

Josh taught at a pentecostal church Sunday, December 19 and it went really well. Our prayer is that the Lord would have used josh to really give the people a hunger for Gods Word.

WE got our Motor Bike which is how we get around town. Yes both of us ride on it which will become more difficult as the baby grows more over the months. Driving around here can be quite scary; there are road laws but nobody obeys them so please pray for safety we have already had a few scary moments.

So for the Big news! Our first Bible study is going to be held on January the second at 5:00 at the Fish FM radio station office in town Eldoret. Reuben Kigame has graciously allowed us to do Bible studies there till we find a place bigger. It can probably only hold 10 people which will be good to start off with. We will however need a new place once it grows a bit.

Reuben has also told Josh that he would like to put all of Josh's teachings on air weekly and give Josh a radio show too.

Please continue to pray for the people here that the Lord would give them a hunger for Gods Word and not just go to church for entertainment.

Please pray for the Lord to continually provide for us as He is continually faithful to do so.

We wish you all to remember Our Christ's Birth this season and what it is He came to this world for. He came to redeem His people because of His great love for us. What a blessing!!! Remember the Lord!

November update-- Finally in Kenya!

 I love the Giraffes

 Josh is great with animals

 Beauty in Kenya

Josh bought the Oranges and the Big box of chocolates as a sweet gift to me and the little chocolate for the baby.

Josh and I had a wonderful time with his family and with our newest friends from Calvary Chapels all over Missouri! We took off from St. Louis on November 16th and arrived the next day in Nairobi. It has been quite an adventure. We got off the airplane, bought our three months tourist visas and walked out to find Robby and Elizabeth and their daughter. We found them no problem. The first thing they said to us when we got there is “welcome home!”. How fitting is that? It was a relief stepping into Africa, our new home. We got into their car that has no top on it and piled all of our belongings up through the roof. We were quite thankful that it didn't have a roof for that very reason--we would not have been able to fit all of our things. We got on the road and then we had a very heavy downpour for the 45 minute drive. It was the perfect entrance into Africa.

It has been a great time in Africa so far. Neither of us have gotten sick from the altitude or anything else out here. We have seen plenty of wild animals due to the fact that we are staying in Nairobi right on a big natural reserve park. We have seen lots of Giraffe, Rhinos, Gazelles, Ostrich, Hippo and we hear lions roaring. It has been a unique time.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving a bunch of the missionaries gathered together for a big Thanksgiving dinner so that was a nice surprise!

We have made many friends in Nairobi and they have all been such a blessing. Josh got to teach at a Calvary Chapel in Nairobi and that was a big blessing. Today, November 29th, Josh drove to Eldoret to look for a house for us there. I am praying that we can be in by Christmas. We have been living with other people for our whole married life and are excited to have a place of our own. Especially because we are going to have a new addition to our family!!! I am 8 weeks pregnant! We will be having the baby over here in Kenya and are very excited. But that is a lot of extra prep stuff too.

We are hoping to start a Bible study soon, depending on when we get into Eldoret. We are so excited for what God is going to do and how He has brought us this far.

PRAISE:
We made it safely here to Kenya
We had a great time in the States
We have made some great friends here so far.

Pray for the Bible Study that we will be starting. That the Lord would bring the right people with hearts to serve and know our great God.
Please pray that a house is provided for us quickly and that it is in a safe place.
Pray for this new pregnancy and for our baby's health.
Continual health and Gods protection. 

love you all

Josh and Kelsey

October Update

Our Update for October

Josh and I started our journey leaving Maine on the seventh and we have been running ever since. We left Maine and went to New Jersey and stayed with Jon and Nicole Pollick (some friends of mine from Bible college) for two nights so we could share at Calvary Chapel North Plainfield. This was another time of refreshment and blessing.

As we were driving to Missouri we got a call inviting us to go to a pastors' conference that would be happening the following day. We decided to go and, man! What a blessing it was. Gayle Erwin was one of the guest speakers along with Terry and Nancy Clark doing the worship. Josh and I were so encouraged to be able to go.

Since we have been in Missouri our days have been filled with working hard and trying to prepare to go to Kenya. We have also had some great time hanging out with his family. Linda, Josh's mom has been kind enough to let us stay with her while we have been here. 

We have been speaking at a few more places than we thought. Josh and I got to go to Teen Challenge and stay with them for a day. We participated in their annual walk-a-thon where they raise money for that program. This was just a blessing to be able to help out with since it was such a part of Josh's life. Josh got to teach the 130 guys in the program for an hour and it was a big blessing.

It has been nice to be able to get to know Calvary Festus and the Calvary Chapel in Washington, MO. We are always so blessed that people that you have never met become family right away. We also got to go share with a Non-Denominational church in Kirkwood, MO. It has been such a welcoming time with many different churches and believers. We are so thankful for the opportunity to get to go share what we are doing in Kenya and what the Lord has done in our lives. God is so good!

Thank you all for praying for us; we definitely need it.

Please pray that the last two weeks that we have here will be fruitful and that God will use us here in Missouri. Please pray for protection against the wiles of the Enemy and that the Lord will provide all that we need.

 Sweet Blessing from Jesus! It was my best friends birthday and she was visiting her family in South Carolina from England and her husband Tom flew me out as a surprise.

 

Visiting with Jon and Nicole in NYC

 Josh and I with Terry and Nancy Clark. They have been so instrumental in my life and they didn't even know it. What spirit led worship leaders.

 Us with the Leaders of CC Festus, MO. at the pastors conference.

 It was Josh's birthday October 14th so his sister Yvonne took us out to Japanese.

 Us in St. Louis

Josh and I in NYC

Praise Report

Josh and I were accepted for Shepherd's Staff Mission Facilitators, Inc. which means that they will be taking care of our monthly support and financial paperwork.  This is a big relief to have this taken care of.  Many of you guys have been praying for us concerning this so thank you for your prayers on this matter.
Here is the Link for our shepherds staff page.
http://shepsstaff.org/jlawrence.aspx

We are going to be speaking at Grace Fellowship in Lyman, Maine on September 26th and at Calvary Chapel North Plainfield in New Jersey on October the 10th so if you all could be praying for that too it would be greatly appreciated.
Another thing to be praying about... things are getting rough lately. The cars and work tools have been breaking down, we got food poisoning in the beginning of last week and Josh got hurt at work at the end of the week so things are getting a little bumpy but we still move forward and praise the Lord for all His blessings. 

If you would like to help support us as we go out on the mission field you can go to the Shepherd's Staff link and even donate online.

Get Ready, Get Set, GO!

Well August is gone along with the summer. It was nice while it lasted and now the days are getting colder and shorter. In the end of August Josh and I. got plane tickets Kenya, so we will be leaving the States November 16th. It is a busy, exciting time. We are planning on leaving Maine the first week of October and driving to Missouri  We will speak to about four churches along the way. Once we get to Missouri Josh will be working a bit and we are going to be getting to know Calvary Chapel Festus, who will also be supporting us. We are excited to be a part of their fellowship for a few weeks. This next two months are going to be busy and we will be moving around a lot.

Ruben, our contact in Africa, told us that he would have a house waiting for us to rent when we get to Eldoret! Praise the Lord for His glorious provision. Ruben also told us that once we have the Bible study up and running that he wants to put Josh's teachings online! What a blessing. Things are just coming right together; he also told Josh that he was going to put him on the radio weekly for a question and answer time.

Please continue to pray for us as we still need quite a bit of funds to get out there and to take care of housing and paperwork amongst other things like shipping our household goods there.

Here are some pictures of events from this past month.

Out on a lake in a paddle boat. (We got to stay on the lake for 3 days for Labor Day)

We got to go Sailing on the ocean with friends that same weekend and had a blast. 

His favorite line was from "what about Bob" (I'm Sailing.... I Sail...)

My Sweet Jessica 

Josh steering the boat. 

Right after this picture the boat tipped over quite a bit cause the wind took us away.

This past year in a nutshell