December 2012

Dear Friends, Since we got back to Kenya there has been a lot happening here. Josh has picked up all his usual ministries and it has been such a blessing. Prison Ministry Just before Christmas Josh went to teach at the prison and 10 men stood up to receive Jesus in their hearts. The Lord is working in this prison. We pray that the Lord will continue to work in the hearts of these men. CC Eldoret The church did very well while we were gone. They we also pretty excited that we came back. For the last 2 weeks josh has given an alter call at church and 2 weeks in a row, one person raised their hands to receive the Lord. We did a Christmas eve service where we did a teaching, worship and a meal. It was such a nice time of fellowship. We are registering with the government to become a society, please pray for this process. We really need this to go through quickly and without a problem. If there are no problems it will allow us to be able to do many different kinds of ministries here such as: School of Ministry, Officiating Weddings, boarding houses etc. .. Our Personal Family Over the last few years our security has kind of been an issue so Josh is putting up a fence for us to make our property more secure. I really praise the Lord for the provision to do this. Kelsey is Pregnant with our second child. Please pray for a safe pregnancy and safe delivery. She has been having a bit of morning sickness during the days so it makes it hard to be out and about during the day. Layla is growing fast and talking more and more. She is doing really well. Josh is busy running around doing paperwork, ministry and the projects on our house. He is excited to have another baby. Well That’s all for now. Thanks all for the prayers and support. We couldn’t be out here if it wasn’t for all our our friends and family praying for us and supporting what we are doing.

September-- October

September -- October Update Medical Mission work

Church girls receiving shoes

I Know it has been a few months since I have updated this so Let me fill you all in on what is going on with the Lawrence Family. The beginning of September was spent on getting ready for our first Furlough to the States; but not only that, also on hosting a team from Belfast Maine to come to Eldoret to minister to Our church, to us and the community around us. Lets start with the Mission team. They arrived on the 3rd and hit the ground running. While they were here they did street evangelism in the surrounding areas of Eldoret. Calvary Chapel Eldoret also joined them on these outreaches. So many people were so open to talk about the Lord and open their lives to the team to minister. The following week we has so many new faces in church wanting more of the Word of God. The team also brought many things such as, shoes, toys, coloring books and crayons and Bibles to pass out the church and to orphanages and to a village that we at times minister in. Everyone who received a gift was so grateful for the Love of Christ that was poured out on them. So many people said that they had been praying for the Lord to provide some of these things and this was an answer to their prayer. One woman also said that it encouraged her to wait and trust that the Lord would answer her other prayers. The team also went to a place called Vahiga county and did some medical mission work. There is a big Jigger problem among the very poor, it is a tiny flea that gets under the skin and turns into a worm. This gets into the blood and if not taken care of, some have to have legs and arms to be amputated or even death in serious cases. They gathered about 100 or more people together and helped them get rid of these awful things but also preached the gospel to all those waiting. It was a great time of ministry for them. They also did some work on our church painting walls and our floors and built walls for children’s ministry. It looks beautiful now, this was a great answer to our prayers. After the team left... so did we. We have now been in the states for over a month. In this time we have visited family in Arkansas, Missouri and Maine The Lord allowed us to go to a Pastors conference which was incredibly refreshing! We thank Him for that. Currently we are in Maine sharing with a different church every week of the things God is doing in Kenya and Josh has had many opportunities to teach the Word while we have been here. It has been so wonderful to see faces that we have not seen in 2 years. Layla has been a bit sick since we have come to the States, she could use some prayer. This trip has been a little hard on her since we have been traveling so much. The Lord has been so faithful to provide for our every need and we praise Him for it. This week Josh just took off to Go with a team to New Jersey to Help with Disaster relief (Cutting down trees, repairing and bringing the gospel into some devastating situations). Please pray for safety for Him and his team as they do this and also for the Lord to open peoples hearts for His precious Gospel. He is also teaching at Calvary Chapel Bangor, Maine this coming Sunday and is excited about that. I (Kelsey) get the opportunity to share with the Ladies at Lincoln Christian Fellowship this Saturday morning and I would appreciate your prayers that the Lord uses me to Minister to his Ladies there as I share the Word with them. I may have missed things but this is the gist of what has been going on with us. Please continue to pray that the Lord provides continued monthly support for us as it does cost something to minister and live in a different country.

August 2012

August 2012 This past has been so encouraging and fruitful. August started out by the laying on of hands to ordain 2 Elders and 1 deacon. We are so blessed to see leaders rising out of the church and just wanting to help. These men stand out as godly men who love to serve. Since we are leaving September 23rd to go on furlough to the states, this has been most timely for the church to have some established leadership here while we are gone. One lady came up to Josh after the service just to thank him for recognizing Kenyan leaders, this meant so much to her because it is easier for them to go to Kenyan leaders in certain situations. We are very thankful to see the Lord raise up leaders at the church.

Testimony from Faith Sareto Kelsey has been going through Daniel with one or the college ladies in our church and it has been such an awesome time. She shared some things that the Lord has done in her life through this and gave me permission to share with you. (This is a paraphrase of what she said) Studying Daniel has been such an eye opening experience for me. I never knew that there would be prophesy in there, I though it would have been stories like The lion’s den and the fiery furnace. When I used to think about prophesy it was something that I just figured I would not understand but studying this book has showed me that it can be simple if you can just work for it. This book has also helped my spiritual life because it talks about the reality of Christianity. It is not always easy as a Christian but the Lord gives us the strength to go through the trials. I never thought before that somebody could take me as I am, but the Lord does. He takes me faults and all rather than the way that friends in the world. Studying through this book has really taught me a lot and increased my faith seeing all the specific prophesies fulfilled. This week we are getting a mission team in to come and serve with us here in Eldoret. Please pray as they will be doing many different things such as: Medical clinics and Malaria awareness, Construction on our church and visiting orphanages. Please pray for safety and good health for the team and that the enemy would not hinder the work that the Lord will do. Please also Pray For us that as we prepare for our furlough there are so many things to get done is this short time. Pray that the Lord would take care of the church as we go. Please pray for our finances as we are trying to take care of things in advance. Thank you all for your prayers. Josh, Kelsey and Layla.

July Update

Friends and Family, Thank you for all the prayers you have prayed on our behalf. It means a lot to us. Layla turned one year old July 15 and started walking right away. She is growing and progressing so fast. She is still learning to talk but isn’t quite there yet. Josh is continuing to do a lot of street evangelism this past month with the members of the church and it has been a blessing seeing them go from deathly shy to having courage in Jesus. Please pray that this will impact the town.

We got to dedicate a little baby at the church last Sunday. Her name is Horeb, this was an honor to be able to see the parents hand over their baby to the Lord.

We have started a small church choir for worship which has been a blessing. Josh is teaching through the Book of Acts since we just finished the book of Mark. The Church is really enjoying simple teaching of the word of God.

We are really preparing the church for our absence since we are going on furlough late next month. Pleases pray for them as we leave, they are not so excited that we are leaving. We have been trying to encourage them to stay faithful anyway. Will you also join with us in praying for provision to be able to leave here. There is much to do before we can go? We also need prayer for the Lord to provide a car for our time in Missouri and then our time in Maine. We know the Lord cares about these needs so please lift them up to him. We just had some sweet friends come stay with us. They are missionaries from Kisumu; a town 2 hours from us. It was so nice having sweet fellowship with them.

June Update 2012

June 2012 Update Praise Report... This month the Lord has provided for a sound system for the church! This is huge since we moved into a bigger place and had great need of one. We have gotten a lot done in the church building. It is going slowly but surely. We are working on it as the Lord provides. This past month Josh and a few of the guys have been going out sharing with people on the streets of the Love of Christ. There we at least 4 guys that decided to give their lives to the Lord. Pray that they will find a good church that teaches the Bible and that they will continue on as the Holy Spirit convicts them of their sins. This was a huge encouragement to the guys in our church that went out. They are a little more shy, so to see people being convicted and then giving their lives to the Lord was a huge encouragement to them. You know, most people will say that they are Christians but cannot even quote a Bible verse. Please pray for the members of the church. A lot of people still come and go once they realize that we are serious about the teaching of the Word of God and not putting all our focus on “hand outs”. Pray that the Believers would cherish the Lord and the Word of God and would go out and share with others. We go to go to a place called Mois Bridge because the Lord has provided the funds to dig a borehole. Josh has been doing a lot of work to try to get everything done right. In the country people don’t do proper land agreements because it costs money and time. This has been a very difficult process because everyone wants a bribe to do the right thing. Please pray for this process that the Lord would break through the corruption and heal those parts of this country. Also we will be coming to the States for furlough and we have a LOT we have to do here first, physically and financially to make sure everything is in order in our absence. Please pray that the Church would be able to receive from a different pastor. Please pray for provision for all these things. Layla is growing fast, trying to walk and talk. It makes for a busy household. Kelsey is doing well too! These pictures are from the meeting to get the plot for the well. Thanks for all your prayers

May Update This month has been busy with construction, travel and moving. I told you last month that we got a new place for the church which is great but there was a LOT of building required before we could move in. Well We are in! There is still a lot to do; more children’s ministry rooms, insulation walls and so on. But the great thing it.... we’re in! We are so excited to have a bigger place so that we don’t have to sit on each other anymore. (That’s an exaggeration but it is close enough to the truth). We had our first Sunday service yesterday which I will post a picture of. The Lord has provided a car for us that is much better on gas mileage and will save us so much money! This is also a huge blessing because Josh will not have to take Matatus (Death Busses are what I like to call them) to the bush anymore. This will allow us to travel a bit more for ministry and other things too! This also means that when Josh travels Layla and I might be able to come. We are so blessed and excited about this. But with the car comes a little bit of sadness. Our friends who sold the car are moving on out of Kenya to go serve the Lord elsewhere and we will miss them greatly. We see a great need for a sound system for the church so right when we moved into this new place we started renting one. This means that we greatly need one of our own. This will cost no less than about $1500 to get us started. Please pray with us for this. We know that the Lord can provide and will provide for that which He has called us to do. Pray for wisdom for Josh when making decisions about what to do next. Things are going well with the family. Layla is growing and learning more and more how to keep her mama busy. She is trying desperately to walk but hasn’t managed to do it yet on her own. Kelsey Is so excited to have some ladies to disciple. There have been two in particular that have approached us to say they wanted either a mentor or some discipleship. We has one girl coming over every Tuesday and they will be going through a book of the bible together. Please pray for wisdom for me (Kelsey) for how to minister to these women and show them just how awesome a relationship with the Lord is. Pray that I will know how to study the Word of God in a simple way that makes sense to them. Thank you all for praying. You all are such a blessing to us.

April

New Happenings: Praise the Lord we have found a new Church building that is not a whole lot more expensive than the place that we are in now. It is three times bigger and should be able to hold our church for a while. It is still in town which is a big deal for us; seeing as though town is a central location and we have people coming from every direction. We have a LOT of building that needs to take place now including building a very big wall to divide the place we are renting from other parts of the building. Please pray for funds for this project as building here can be expensive. The church is very excited. Last week we had at around 20 kids in our tiny children’s ministry room and they couldn’t even sit down. It was PACKED! We are leaving just in time. We are excited to say that we are laying our hands on 2 different leaders in our church. We have one deacon now and one elder! This is really exciting to see people stepping up to fill their place in the body of Christ. They are a HUGE blessing and encouragement to us. We also got to go to our new annual CC Missionaries retreat which was wonderful! The Lord spoke in such beautiful ways, encouraged our souls and it was wonderful to see friends too! Josh also got to teach at this retreat which was really cool. Many people were greatly blessed. About the Family: Layla is growing faster than we can keep up with. She says a few words like “Mama, Dada, Papa, and Hi” She just learned how to wave yesterday which was really exciting for us. She is trying desperately to walk and terrorize the whole house by emptying every cabinet she can find. Our family is doing well. Not to many sicknesses lately and we are praying that it stays that way. Prayer Requests: For more leaders to be raised up in the Church. For the Lord to send some people to help with the ministry that are trustworthy.

March update and testimonies fro church members

March Update

There have been some really cool things going on in the lives of our church members that I decided to give you a few testimonies of what is going on in their lives.

Emmanuel- He stood up in church and gave a testimony of what the Lord has done to heal him. He told us that for 23 years he was a crazy guy on the streets; often taking of his clothes and running all around town naked. He would come to his senses and really not like who he had become. Finally he prayer “Lord why can’t you heal me?” He said that once he prayed this that he was healed. You would never know he was a crazy person now. He is a man who has been in the teachings at the prison that Josh teaches at. He has been released on the weekends and now comes to our church! Praise the Lord for restored lives.

Abel- Abel is also a product of the Prison ministry. He was released about a month ago and is now at our church every time the doors are opened. He is being discipled by Josh and is a big encouragement on how the Word of God can change lives.

Yohann- a 14 year old boy who was a street kid that has been coming to our church for a few months ago. He has been coming to the church every week for months now. He helps out where ever he can! He told us that he was tired of living on the streets and all that living on the streets implies. We have a prayer book where church members can write down prayer requests and he wrote that he would love to be going to school. When he told us that he wanted to be off the streets we took him to this ministry that is for street kids wanting to get off the streets. He is now going to school. Having 3 meals a day and comes to church with is on Sundays. He has been on the streets for 6 years and is now getting opportunities to be restored in a few different areas. Praise the Lord for this.

Some things you can pray for us for are:
We are in need of a car that Josh can take to the bush and that that will be cheap to drive. We have found one but we really need prayer for provision to buy this car. Please keep this need in prayer. This car that we are getting is perfect for us.

We are more in need for a new church than last month. The church is growing so fast, we had people standing at out Sunday morning service. We need wisdom on where to find a place.

February Update

I want to start off this February Update by saying thank you. Thank you for your faithful prayers for us. Thank you for your support and thank you for your words of Encouragement throughout this month. It means a lot to us

This month a prayer request has been answered, The Lord has provided a Projector for the church! The Church members seem to love it, they can clap during worship now without needing to hold a song book. And speaking about the projector, we are also going to be starting to use it to play teachings at church during the week. People will be able to come in during their lunch hour and listen to the Word of God being done through the week.

Another praise... Josh has been teaching at the local Prison and the guys seem to really be receiving the teaching and the Lord working in their lives. There have been a few guys on death row coming and listening so we are praying for their hearts. A few weeks ago a bunch of the prisoners were asking Josh if it would be ok for them to lie at their court hearings and still know that Christ was in their hearts. Josh was encouraging them to tell the truth and receive the consequences for their actions. Well one of those guys told the truth and was let out and is now going to our church. He has zeal for the Lord. He is soaking up all that he can and has shared his testimony at the church to encourage the others. Please pray for this man. He will have a tough time ahead but wants to live right.

Prayer Request... I have been telling you that we are growing out of our church building again. Well It is steadily growing and we need to do something about it. Everything in town is to expensive and we would really like to have a place that we can own and pass on to the church when the Lord moves us on. We would hate to keep paying an expensive rent and not have it going toward something that we can leave to the church. Please pray for this need. We are going to have to move no matter what. It looks like we are going to need to move out of town which might be a deal breaker since people don’t have cars.

We love you all..
Josh, Kelsey and Layla.

Oh and little miss Layla is now crawling and has 2 teeth. We can’t believe how fast she is growing!

January

January update.

Well January started a new year with new opportunities. We are so thankful that the Lord has brought us through 2011 and are excited to see what He has for us in 2012. This past year has had some challenges, Huge blessings and interesting situations. I will say that this new year has presented some awesome things for us to be able to help with.

The a few weeks ago we were contacted by someone in the States saying that they wanted to pay for a WELL to be dug somewhere of our choice. This is not a cheap thing but the Lord really put it on their heart and asked us to oversee this whole project. There has been a church that Josh has been visiting about a hour away that has no electricity or running water. In fact they have to walk a Kilometer away to go and pay to use someone else’s WELL and then walk all that way back with their water. Obviously this is not an easy task. This is the place that we want to dig the WELL. We are so excited for the doors that this will open since the Church there is going to be the one to be giving out water. We hope it will be an awesome opportunity for people to have their physical needs met along with being introduced to the Living Water, The Word of God.

In the beginning of last month Josh traveled to a town also out in the Bush and taught the Word to about ten churches all gathered together under a tree. He had a great time but had to be taken out early because there were threats that some of the pastors were going to take him by force for ransom. This is not the most encouraging thing for us since we are spending our resources to come reach them. This is something we would like prayer for. There is a lot of greed for money and people just seeking to get all they can out of you here. The Word of Faith movement is huge out here and it is cause so many problems especially with the most poor of people. Please pray for deliverance from this and also for safety for our family.

On another note, our church is growing fast and we are going to have to move again because we are outgrowing our church building. We are hoping to get something quite a bit larger so we can be there longer. The problem is... it is very expensive to rent big rooms in town. Please pray for the Lords abundant provision for our church.


Thank you all for your support in prayers, in words of encouragement and in finances.

Josh, Kelsey and Layla.