September Update

Things have been going good. The Lord is amazing and continues to bless us and surprise us at every turn in life. He is are great love and our testimony is that God is good in every way. We are moving! We just had the one year anniversary of our big robbery last year and have been doing all we can to secure this compound that we live on so our family could be a little safer. We have been looking for a safer location but prices are more than we could afford. We have a security system now which has worked well to keep people out of the house but it does not keep people off our property. We have had our fence stolen 2 or 3 times (people just come at night and cut it), recently someone came on the property and stole a tire off Josh’s truck etc… Its not a safe neighborhood. Well the good news is, we finally found a house in a “Safer” neighborhood and the property is much smaller so the dogs would be visible from most points on the compound also it is off the main road. The neighbors say that they have lived there for 8 years and have never had an issue. This is an exciting prospect. We have all the money for our rent. What we need help with is to install the system with the security company and the steel doors. Kindly pray, and ask the Lord if He would want to use you in giving to this need. Thank you for your prayers and support. If you would like to help with this cost there are a few ways: Paypal: lawrencejosh95@yahoo,com Mail a check or cash to: Josh or Kelsey Lawrence c/o Ruthie Burke, 10325 hwy 127s, crossville, Tenn. 38572 Or Donate online by going to http://ssmfi.org/missionary/josh-and-kelsey-lawrence/ If you cannot help financially would you pray with us for these needs? Its always a privilege to get to see young couples serve Jesus and get married. Elijah has been on our worship team for some time now and asked Josh to marry them. Sunday the 20th Elijah and Ester were married. Its always a Joy in the church to get to celebrate this together. On the 24th Josh will be going to one of the Church plants from CC Eldoret and teaching the group of believers there in the Kakamega region. They are excited to have him come and we are excited to get to do this. He will come back with The pastor there and will be starting our school of ministry back up. Please pray for the church plant that the Lord will lead their Pastor by His Holy Spirit and that the Believers grow and are not deceived by the many different winds of doctrine. Please pray that the School of Ministry here in Eldoret is used by the Lord and lead by His Holy Spirit. We know that its "Not by might, nor by power but by His Spirit says the Lord." so we rely on Him to do the instructing. Please pray for all who will take the courses that the Lord will use them and teach them. There is a guy who has been attending our church since it started who was told that he has a brain tumor about 2 weeks ago. He has been on a waiting list to have surgery to remove it since that time. Would you pray with us for Franko? This is a very serious surgery and also very expensive for him. He does not have the money for it. If the Lord leads you to give to Franko for his brain surgery you can contact us. Thank you all who pray for us and support us. We are so grateful.

August Update.

Hey Guys, August was a month of Joy and new adjustments. We are happy to announce that Kelsey gave birth the Jael Moriah, our third child. We were blessed to have two of Kelsey's sisters came from America to serve our family during this time. They were pretty much the nurses to Kelsey in the Hospital, the cooks and the cleaners of the house. They changed a lot of diapers too!!! The Lord has shown himself so faithful to us in keeping Kelsey and the baby safe in the hospital, through providing for our needs and for caring for the church here. The Church is doing great, we have been trying to get a piece of land to lease for 10 years. We signed papers on it and everything and then lots of trouble broke out with a land dispute which is quite common here. We are praying that the Lord resolves this quickly so that we can pursue moving out of town and onto a piece of property. Please pray with us that the Lord would make things right and show us what to do for the church and for Land.

July Update

This month we are blessed to have a team come out here for a very quick mission trip. Tim Arbo and Alex Doten hand delivered a few big pieces of sound equipment for the church and we are happy to announce that it came without being damaged on the trip. This was a big deal because the Airport people here have been known to damage or cut wires to big pieces of sound equipment or things of that nature. Anyway.. ours made it safely. Our sound system has been acting on its own for a few months now and has become quite distracting during our services so we are very thankful to have this new stuff. It was also just so encouraging to have friends out here to minister with us and just to have some fun too. Josh took some of the members of our church along with the team to mahoho (one of our church plants) to encourage and teach the church there. Its always a time of excitement for everyone. In Kenya its a big deal to get to visitors. This was a time of Fellowship, breaking of bread, teaching and worship which included dancing!. Kelsey, Layla and Zephaniah also had their birthdays this month so it was packed with celebration.

February, March and April update

Its always a Joy to get to dedicate babies to Jesus Here are some Photos of our Church Baptism In March We also got to go to a Hangar dedication for Samaritans Purse and See Franklin Graham For those of you who support us, Josh and I wanted to thank you again for your faithful support and to give you a small update on what the Lord is doing out here with the help of your support. We do realize that the economy has been terrible and that is why it means even more that you have stuck with us. Thank you. There are many missionaries who have to leave the mission field monthly because of lack of funds and we are able to stay because of your support. The church is doing great and it is growing. We had a great Resurrection day service where many people came who don't usually attend Church. Its such a wonderful time to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and why He died, was buried and rose again. This weekend Josh gets to go to Calvary Chapel Vihiga who is partnering with Operation Christmas Child and as the Locals pass out gifts Josh and some other people from out church gets to share the gospel with those receiving gifts. It is a really good time to share with them that the Lord loves them and sent the gift of His SON! Thank you all who participate in packing shoe boxes for OCC and those who pray. Its a huge blessing to get to be on this end of it. This April I (Kelsey) get to go to her first missionary women’s retreat. This kids are finally old enough to stay without mommy for a few days and I am very excited to get this special time away to seek the Lord and to listen to a woman than me who has lived in Kenya for around 15 to 17 years. We have had a lot of flu and sickness in our family this last few months which has been hard to deal. Please continue to pray for our little family that the Lord will bless us with health and with strength. Josh is also going to do a wedding next saturday for Ben Lippert, the missionary who is serving with us at CC Eldoret. What a blessing it is to see! We are so thankful for all of you guys praying for us and supporting us.