December Update

December wraps up the 2011 and so much has gone on this year. We just finished the Book of Genesis and are about to finish the book of Revelation too! God is so good. The Church is doing very well. We had a service on Christmas day and they enjoyed it. It was a really powerful time of Looking at Christ and what it meant for Him to come to earth to be the perfect sacrifice. We also had a big church Christmas feast at our house that went really well. The people loved it. They were so blessed to have something like this. They said that most pastors would never do things like that at their houses.

Me and Layla are doing well. Layla got her papers though so she is officially an American citizen and a passport holder now! Thank you all for praying! This was a a BIG deal for us.

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Josh has had many opportunities to travel and teach in the past few weeks. He got to preach at a crusade and spoke to around 1000 people and a bunch or people got saved. The pictures below are of the crusade and a church that Josh shared at. There is a picture with a group of people all around him... That is a bunch of kids giving their lives to the Lord.


We thank the Lord for all of you who pray for us and support us! may the Lord bless you this Holiday season and remind you of just how great it is to serve such a wonderful KING.

November update- Giving Thanks

I want to start this update with giving thanks to the Lord for my family, friends, those who support us, His mercy in taking my grandmother to be with Him quickly rather than her suffering for a long time.

Thank all who have been praying for Laylas paperwork to come in! It finally came, we had an appointment for her at the embassy and we will be getting all of her documents in about 2 weeks. This is a big deal for us!



We were given an opportunity to go to a Bible study for college students and we both got to encourage them in “Studying to show themselves approved unto God” it was a great opportunity for the Both of us to minister together.



In the beginning of this month we had no idea what we would be doing for Thanksgiving but the embassy scheduled us to be in Nairobi right before that so we spent some time with friends for Thanksgiving.



Josh spoke at CC Nairobi and we both led worship there. The church was very blessed. They are really welcoming to us whenever we come to town.



The Church is doing well. Josh asked if there was anything that they would like a bit different and their response was “We would like to have 2 services on Sunday morning. They said it was to short and they wanted MORE time in church which was a blessing for us to hear. The following week we added another service so everyone comes for both! This was strange for us because that doesn’t happen that often in the States.





Practical Prayer needs:



We have Electricity issues in this country so because of that our fridge is pretty much fried. The Freezer doesn’t work anymore and the temp in the fridge is getting bad as well. Please pray for provision for this.



Health for Josh as he travels a lot more than Layla and I and he seems to get sick a bit more than us. He is always eating strange food and going into High Malaria zones.



Josh will be traveling back to Nairobi in 2 weeks to get Layla’s legal documents so for safety and provision for that too.

October

October Update

This past month has brought many things.

We started the month going to Nairobi and Josh got to share at a few places. The trip there and back was Layla’s first time on a bus and she did very well. Josh was asked to preach at Calvary Chapel Nairobi and it was a fruitful time. It was such a wonderful time getting to fellowship with some friends and be in the big city for a few days. Josh also got to share at a school in Nairobi.

This month has been filled with travel for Josh. He was asked to speak at a funeral way out in the bush. It was an interesting time. The funeral was in a valley surrounded by mountains there was no power, no running water. Josh has been told that he is not like other ‘Mazungu’ (White man) because when he goes to speak to places that are far away he sleeps with them in their houses, not in a hotel. This has been a cool testimony.
He was also able to go teach at a few schools in a place called Mount. Elgon. He spoke to about 750 kids at three different schools.

The Church is doing well. Josh has been teaching through the book of Revelation and it is so cool to see the church members going from afraid of what was to come and then see their eyes opened to the goodness of God even in His plan to judge the world in His justice. Their fear was taken away from the revealing of Gods plan for His people in getting them out of the way before He judges the earth. The pastors in this country have told Josh that the people are not smart enough to go through the book of Revelation which has cause a lot of fear in the people; which is why Josh is going through it. Lack of knowledge leads to fear and knowledge cast out fear. The people at the church in their new found knowledge of the book of Revelation is casting out the fear that they once had for it.

Layla and I are still doing well. She is learning all sorts of things like how to rip her pacifier out of her mouth.
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We had our friends Arie, Nasima and their 3 boys up from Nairobi for the last few days of the month. Arie spoke at the church. They were a blessing and encouragement to us. We all got to to go the Kakumaga Rain forest for fun so that was neat.

For those of you wondering, we are quite safe with all the war stuff going on but we could still use prayer for safety for us and our friends in Nairobi.


Please continue to pray for Layla’s paperwork to come through.
Church growth- in the scriptures, for the personal relationships with the Lord.
Wisdom for Kelsey to know how to reach the women here.

“Who am I, O Lord God...that You have brought me this far?”

Bongoma School outreaches

2 Samuel 7:18

September is ending And boy has it been a packed month. Gods Grace and provision has seen us through.

Layla is 10 weeks old and is growing well. I (Kelsey) and dong well too. I am leading worship with Josh and Staying at home raising Layla. Please pray for Gods grace to raise her in the Love and Knowledge of the Lord.

This month Has been a big traveling month for Josh. He was gone for four days in the beginning of the month. Last Tuesday he went two hours away to speak at three schools and a school of ministry college. That was such a good opportunity for him. He spoke at a high school that had 1000 kids and 74 of them gave their lives over to Jesus. Since then He has been asked to share at a a conference about 60 miles from here which he is doing today Tuesday and Wednesday (Sept. 27-28) and this weekend he is going to speak at one of the most popular High schools here. It has about 2000 kids there. Josh has met this guy that has a heart to go to schools and colleges all over Kenya and wants Josh to go with him to preach. There has been a lot of great fruit from this and Josh loves it. It is so encouraging to see all these doors of opportunity swinging wide open. He is now being asked to go off to some school about once every week.

The Church is doing well. People are growing. Our Prayer is that more people can come and hear the good news of the Word of God. We Had our first children’s class 2 weeks ago and another again this past Sunday. We don’t always have a class because there are not always children. But they have been blessed to have a class just for them.

The Prison ministry is also going well. The Prisoners asked last time Josh went if he could bring a pad of paper and a pen so that they can take notes so he was able to get those things for them. Its exciting to see people want to learn.

The Lord has been so faithful to take care of our family.

Prayer Requests:
That the Church would continue to grow

For strength, provision and the Blessing of the Holy Spirit for all this traveling and all the ministries Josh is doing.

Wisdom for leading the Church


Thank you all for all your Prayers, for your support and kind words of encouragement to us.

August

August has come and gone, the cold weather is starting to warm up (and yes it gets cold in Africa!) and we are excited about the warming of the weather. We have been planting a garden so that we can grow our own Veggies too! Anyway... to our update.

My (Kelsey’s parents had been here for a month and they left on the 4th. It was such a blessing for them to be here. My dad and Josh built walls in our new place for church. If I didn’t mention it last month... we moved to a bigger place! That is a huge answer to prayer for us. We were growing out of the last one and had no place for children and now we have 2 rooms.

Josh just got approved a few days ago to go into the local prison to minister to the guys here. He will be going to one wing of the building to meet with those guys twice a month and then at the end he will get to meet with all the guys in the prison in one big meeting. He wants to take different guys from the church each time and some local pastors other times.

This past few weeks has been quite busy; Josh has been cutting down trees for a local Bible college, teaching at a worship conference, meeting up with another church and doing house to house evangelism. They had 2 people give their lives over to the Lord when they were going house to house!

We have been quite blessed with the church members. Early this month 2 of the members came in, looked around and left; an hour later they came back with 2 chairs that matched the rest of the ones that we had. We were so blessed by them really making this their home and wanting to pitch in for things.

We have had some trouble with our car this month. We had a 16 wheeler crash into the side of it in the beginning of the month and last night when we came out of church it was broken into. They broke our door lock which is a bummer because you cannot leave your car unlocked in Kenya. Please pray for the provision to fix these things.

Please continue to pray for the paper work for Layla to become an American citizen. Its quite expensive and a big process.

Pray for the members to the church to continually grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wisdom for Josh as he leads the church in worship and in teaching of the Bible.

Wisdom for Me to raise up Layla and for energy to take care of her.

May the Lord bless you all,

With love from the Lawrence family
The painted pictures are right before church...
There are some pics of church while the guys were building
Josh cutting down the tree
And Layla getting dedicated to the Lord

July Update... Newness

This month has been filled with waiting, new joy and sweet reunions.
We started out this month waiting for our new baby to arrive along with my (Kelsey’s) parents flying in from the States. They flew in on my Birthday and took us out to eat which was wonderful. Josh and my dad have been building shelves for me and they hooked up my NEW Washing Machine that the Lord provided for us!!!! Did I tell you that Calvary Chapel Bangor bought us a new washing Machine??? They did and man is that a blessing!

We have been praying about moving into a new building for church because we have no place for children’s ministry and also it is getting crowded. The Lord provided most of the money needed to get into the new building which is awesome! Also it has a bathroom on the same floor as our church room. This is a big deal because in the place we are in now it is 3 flights up. Josh will need to build partitions in the new room we are getting which will be no problem but it will need a little work. WE
WE were approved today so we can start work whenever we want!

Layla was born on July 15th after 40 hours of labor. She was born by an unexpected C-section but she and I both came out safe and healthy. She was 7lbs 4oz. 19 and 3/4 inches long. She is such a new, wonderful blessing and addition to our lives. Thank you all for your prayers for a safe delivery for the both of us. The Lord showed himself strong on our behalf which is no surprise to us. He always does!

My Dad is teaching through the book of Galatians which is a huge blessing for the Church. One of the guys in our church found out he was going to be going through that book so he went home and read it. This man came and told my dad this after one of the teachings and said after reading it alone that he was really glad it was being taught because he had no idea what it meant. Praise the Lord for another opportunity to share the Word of God and to bring understanding.

Prayer requests:
People to grow in the grace and Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Quick processing for Layla Birth certificate and paperwork. (Usually that takes a very long time!)

Continual provision for the new church rent

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Josh, Kelsey and Layla

June Update

June Update

June has been very busy but a great blessing. It started out by us preparing for the team from the States to come visit us for two weeks. It is ending with us looking and possible locating a building for our church to move to. So lets go into detail a little bit more....

The Calvary Bangor team got to Nairobi on the 7th so we went down to meet them. It was great! The day after they got here the pastors wives of the different Calvaries and the women from the team all threw me (Kelsey) a Baby shower. It was so sweet and a nice comfort to have some old friends there as well as new ones. While we ladies were doing that Josh, Jonathan (Pastor of Living Water Christian Fellowship) and the guys from the team all went our to minister to the men from The U Turn program here. They all shared their testimonies and it was a powerful time. Jonathan said that he has never seen the guys there open up as much as they did; staying and asking questions afterward. The next day the whole team went to some big orphanages and got to give one of them a bunch of school supplies and backpacks to the kids that needed them the most. Everyone involved was so blessed to be able to see the Lord provide and to give and receive.

After four days in Nairobi the Team, Josh and I made our way to Eldoret for the next 10 days. The trip to Eldoret had many challenges

including Flat tires, running out of gas, getting pulled over twice and being asked to give bribes “or else” and many more things. It was supposed to be a 5 to 6 hour trip and turned into a 9 hour trip. It was crazy but the Lord provided for each situation and it was a blessing. While they were at our house we got to do many things. We visited and got to give school out school supplies and backpacks to the orphanage that Josh and I have gotten to know (Mwangaza). The team painted the school that is attached to the orphanage “Mwangaza” and got to make some good friends at that ministry. It was a real blessing the Mwangaza and to our team getting to serve with them. The kids loved everything. Thank you to the Lord and to Calvary Bangor for bringing all that stuff out and for coming to bless the people here.
While they were here Josh also took them out to the bush and they passed out over 100 Bibles to 3 different churches out there. One man got saved at that time and a little girl was healed of a very bad fever when the guys prayed over here. The Church was so shocked and blessed with what the Lord did there.

There were many more things that the Lord did through the team being here but those are just some highlights.

Now we have one of the guys from the team (Carl) staying with us for a few weeks longer and it has been a blessing. He is taking the church through the book of Jude for the next few Sunday nights.

We have been praying to find a church building for our little growing church that has an extra room for children’s ministry. Josh an Carl went out looking and found the perfect building that has 3 rooms and it is perfect to be there for a while. It is a significant price increase from our last rent so we would need the Lord to do a miracle in providing for the first 3 months rent and security deposit. Please pray with us for the provision and if anyone would like to get involved in helping with that cost please email us and let us know.

Prayer requests:
For provision for this church building that we are trying to get.

Our Baby is due on the 14th of July so for safety for Kelsey and the Baby as we are having the baby in Eldoret and they are a little more underdeveloped than Nairobi.

For spiritual growth in the Believers that are coming to the church. That they will be real and serious about wanting to serve the Lord.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.
Josh and Kelsey

Plodding Along.... Our May Update

I Can’t believe how fast May has come and gone. Josh and I have been in Kenya for almost 7 months now! That time has flown by so fast.

This month Josh has been working with the prison ministry try to get in there to do Bible studies. I believe that he has favor with the warden about getting in there. He and a friend will be going in as often as the prison will allow to go teach the men in the Prison about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are praying that there will be nothing that hinders this opportunity.

We are once again looking for a building to have church in. Our lease is up in a few months and we have a few people who want to bring their families but there is no place for the children. All this to say; we could use prayer for the cost of a bigger place and to find one that will be perfect for this ministry. There are a lot of buildings here that just don’t want churches in them.

Our team from Bangor, Maine is coming in next Thursday on the 2nd of June and we are excited to see them and work with them. They will be doing some orphan ministry, giving away Bibles to different churches out in the Bush and will be doing some work on a school out here that is connected to the orphanage that they are going to be ministering to.

Thank you all for your prayers and support

Things to keep in Prayer:

The church to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ

That the Word of God would take root in their lives and would cause change in their lives and in the community around.

For the ministry that the team will be doing when they get here and for their safety while traveling.

For Kelsey as she is on partial bed rest trying to not go into early labor and for the safe and timely arrival of our new baby

We love you all

The Picture with the 3 of us in it is with our Friend Steve we were driving back from Nairobi in our new car. The view behind us is in the Rift valley.

Josh and Kelsey

Our very LATE April Newsletter

April went by so fast. We had the Calvary Chapel missionary conference that we went to in the beginning of the month. What a refreshing time of fellowship that was! The Lord really used that time to speak to and to encourage us. We got to meet other Calvary missionaries and get connected with fellow workers out here!

We had the Back to the Word conference that Josh was putting together with another Pastor in Eldoret and it went very well. Josh taught probably 7 sessions and we had some Calvary pastors from Nairobi come up and share as well. The people loved it! About 85 people showed up at this all day conference and it was a real blessing. Pastors that came were challenged to stop relying on their own ideas of how church should go and what to say at church but just to get back into the Word of God teaching line upon line and precept upon precept; the was it was explained in Nehemiah chapter 8. The men were encouraged to explain the sense of the scripture rather than try to just make church entertainment. I believe that they really took this challenge back to their churches..

WE said goodbye to our good friends Robby and Elizabeth Gordon. They handed over their church are moving to Samoa to start a new Calvary there. This was a sweet but sad time. God is so good. They donated some baby stuff to us and blessed us with a car! This was such an answer to prayer for us. They also gave us some things for the house. They are a great example of pouring out their lives and hearts for the Lord and His people and have blessed many in Kenya!

Well this month (May) has many things in store. Josh is sharing at The East Africa Bible college tomorrow (May 9th) for a chapel service. Next Sunday he is sharing at another church in Eldoret right after our Sunday Morning service.
Oh by the way... did I mention we started our Sunday Morning services?? We started May 1st and it has been just a few people but it is such a blessing. Our evening services are the biggest. Praise the Lord for bringing people to hear the Words of God.

Next month we have a team of 7 or 8 people coming out from Calvary Bangor Maine and we are preparing and getting excited for that. We are going to be visiting orphanages, Painting a school for the Orphans, Going out into a church in the bush to teach at their church and pass out around 100 Bibles. It will be such a blessed time.

Prayer requests:
For the team coming that the Lord provides for everything leading up to the trip.

That there will be fruit from the conference last month.

For Calvary Eldoret, that the Lord continues to lead us in how to lead this church and the Lord works in the lives of the people here.

For continual provision for us living out here.

Also for Both Josh and I for health. There have been some big sicknesses going around.
We love you all...
God bless you.
Josh and Kelsey

A look back at March

Lets take a look at March

This month has been busy....


It has been exciting for Josh and I to see the opportunities that the Lord has presented us with in this past month.

Once again we are starting to grow out of our church building, We have had 17 to 18 people coming to the Bible studies and only have a few seats left in the building. We have been trying to get buildings little at a time so we are not paying for a lot of extra space that we are not using but are starting to grow out of our facilities. We are praying about some other options and will let you know if anything happens with that. This is an exciting problem to have!


We have had a guy here (Peter) from Nairobi that has stepped up and started leading worship on Thursday nights which has been a blessing. Its always encouraging to see people wanting to help out.


We have been given a car from a friend here and this is a huge blessing too. It can get to be quite dangerous around here riding around on a motorcycle all the time because the cars here do not respect them. We are constantly being driven off the road so the blessing of getting a car is huge. Its not really a car that you would take on long distances but it will be such a better solution for driving around here. It will be safer for our baby girl too! So praise the Lord for this as well!


Josh has gotten chances to share with a group of about 50 college students this past Wednesday and I think it was received really well. This Sunday coming up Josh will be sharing with The African Inland Church teens and he is very excited about that. There are so many opportunities in different churches to share the Word of God. Speaking of... Josh has been asked to gather a bunch of teachers for a conference that this one church called "Mercy Ministries" is putting on. Josh is in charge of teaching four sessions and gathering all the other teachers to teach about 13 more. They are going for three days going from 5:30am to 9:00pm. The conference is called "Back to the Word" which is such an important topic. We could use your prayers in preparing for this conference. There should be able 300 people coming. This will happen Easter weekend.


We are also very excited because we got our work permit to live in Kenya for three years. This does not actually mean that we can work in Kenya, just that we can stay here as missionaries.


Josh and I are going to a Calvary pastors conference on the 11th for two days so this should be a good time of meeting other Calvary Pastors and to get some good fellowship.


Thanks for all your prayers. may the Lord bless you richly,


Please continue to pray for the Lord to use us in the lives of the people in our church

Pray for continual provision for Josh and I and for the church needs.


Here are some pictures of Josh and I with some kids at the Orphanage that our church is coming to and that we are starting to get involved with.
There is a picture of Josh and I leading worship together. Other pictures of ministry here.

February Update

February Update

Sorry its been so long. This has been quite a busy month.
Last time you heard from us we were looking for a new place to do our Bible Studies and since then we have found one. We were growing out of the Fish FM. Library and needed something bigger. We rented it about 2 weeks ago and had our first Bible Study there on sunday. The lights did not work for the Bible Study which was kinda ironic because the rest of the buildings lights were working. Just not ours. Coincidence? I think not. Before the service started three college guys walked up wondering what we were doing. We invited them to the Bible Study and the first guy said that he was not born again and he wanted to know “the steps”. Josh told them the Gospel and all about Jesus, the second guy said that he was back-slidden but wanted to come back to the Lord. The three of them came back for service later. It was a blessing being in our new place.

Josh has had different opportunities to share at at least 3 different churches and another pastor asked Josh if he could teach at a conference that this guy wants hold. It would be on Easter Sunday and Josh would have to teach after our morning service and right before our night service. But it is a great opportunity. He is being asked to go share at a lot of different places. At times we will go to a church and the pastor will just announce that Josh is teaching when Josh never knew about it. They love to have white people share.

We have not started Sunday morning services yet. We are expecting to do it in the next few weeks, maybe a month.

Josh is on the radio making announcements about our church and since then we have gotten a lot of phone calls about Christianity in general or just Biblical questions. We had a girl call that I (Kelsey) got to talk to. She was having trouble with her faith and needed desperate help. She didn't know how to come back to the Lord. I got to Minister to her, tell her how to come back to the Lord and encouraged her to read the Word daily. I told her to start with the book of John and 2 days later she writes me to say that she has read 6 chapters and she was finally getting it. She said that it has been helping her so much and that she has been sharing what she is learning just in the few days will all her friends. Its so beautiful to see the excitement of a new believer loving the Word of God.

Its such a blessing to see what the Lord is doing in this place. The harvest truly is plentiful and the Lord is working in this place.

Oh and we have a new addition to our house. Our friend Chatty is a missionary here and needed a place to stay for a while so for the next few months she will be living with us.

Please continue to pray for:
The services that the People will gain a Love for the Lord and His Word
Provision for us and the church rent.
The Churches we get to go visit at that they will receive a hunger for More of Gods Word.

January Update

This month has gone by so fast I can hardly believe it. Here is what has happened since the last time we have updated you all. I am sorry I can’t post pictures till I get my computer cord fixed. It broke about three weeks ago so it will be some time till I can put pictures up. I will however post them when I get my new chord.

 We started our Bible Studies on the Second of this month and they have been going so well! We started out with 5 people not Including Josh and I and have grown to 11 of us total! We are seeing great fruit from it. The Place we are meeting as I have told you is a little library and it is perfect size for us right now but, with the way things are growing we are going to need a bigger place in the next few months. Please pray for provision for a place that we may be able to rent for the Bible study in the near future.  We have so many excited people that have told us that they were so glad that we are doing this Bible Study; there are no other churches here that teach the whole council of God.

Josh and I have been visiting different churches and it is unbelievable how little of the Word is being shared. It has been sad for us to see. All of this just gives us a greater burden and heart for the people of Eldoret. We have been hungry for the Word being taught in the churches that we attend on Sunday morning so I can’t imagine how all of the people attending these churches feel. Actually they don’t know any better. We had one lady tell us, of the church that she was going to “This church is bad but I will commit to it anyway” we weren’t quite sure what to say to that.

This one kid has blessed Josh and I in particular, he will walk about 12 miles or more to get to the Bible study twice a week. He says he just loves Jesus and wants to know more about him. Josh was dropping him off at his house one day and found this great spot to pray. It is up on a hill out in the farm country. He took me there this past Wednesday and while we were up there this other kid came up to us asking for money. Josh told him that we didn’t have any money to give (literally “Silver and Gold have I none, but such as I have I can give to you”) but had his Bible and said that if this guy wanted he could share with him the Bible. Josh asked this kid (Jeremiah) if he was born again and Jeremiah said that he wasn’t. Jeremiah said that Josh could do a little study with him right there so Josh shared with him; told him about Jesus and What he did for him and asked Jeremiah if he wanted to become saved. He said, with tears in his eyes “Yes”.  He did not have a Bible at home so Josh gave him his Bible. There was so little that he knew about the Bible, I am excited to see what God does in his life.  Please pray for Jeremiah and his new walk with the Lord that the cares of this world will not choke him out but that the Word of God will spring up in his life.

Prayer Requests:

Continual Provision for us living here

For the African people in general that they will not see our white skin and see nothing but money but that they would see our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ

For the Bible Study that the Lord would speak so greatly to the precious people attending and bring more in.  We want to see people thoroughly equipped in the Word of God lacking nothing.

Thank you for your continual prayers.

May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you

Josh and Kelsey