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

Big God workin with little people

Big God working with Little people

For who has despised the days of small things? (Zech. 4:10)

As I have been reading through the Bible there has been this theme that always sticks out to me. It is a theme of God using the least likely people to do impossible tasks. Often times I ask the Lord a question that has been asked of Him for thousands of years.... “What can I do for YOU? I am nothing great!” Well God uses the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and He uses the weak things of this world to put to shame the things that are strong.”

I always thought that it was interesting that the women that were greatly spoken of in the Bible for bearing a child that would greatly impact Gods chosen people that the women were often Barren. So many of these women had trouble having children and God honored them in their older age. (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Manoah's wife (Samson's mom) and Elisabeth. All of these women were chosen of the Lord to bear something special but they were tried in their faith first. The Lord used these women who were talked about as if they had done something wrong and these women were the mothers of great nations, a mother of a Judge and the mother of John the Baptist. All of these women had their times of wilderness, times when they asked God “Have you forgotten me?” These were their days of small things but Great things came out of them.

Look at Gideon- He was a Humble man that had doubts just like we do. He was the one that threw a fleece before the Lord to see if God really was speaking to him. He not only did that once but two nights in a row. Gideon's reply to the Angel of the Lord when He was called to save his people was “O my Lord, How can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” Such Humility. God can use a man or woman with a response like that because it gives room for the Glory of God to be revealed through that man or woman. He was going to be the one to lead the Army of Israel into victory against the Mideonites. When Gideon was called to do this he was threshing wheat in a winepress; that doesn't qualify Him to lead an army into a heavy battle of which they would be greatly outnumbered.
Jdg 7:2 “And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.” God wants the glory for the work that He is going to do through us. God needs a man that Will bring Glory to HIM and not to Himself. That day God used 300 men to take out an army that was compared to the sand of the seashore. Israel and the surrounding nations knew that day that it was God that had won the battle for them. There was no way to take glory for themselves, they were to few.

We all know the story of David and Goliath. David was the least of His household. His father didn't even think of Him when Samuel came to his fathers house looking for the man that would be Gods chosen king. He was forgotten, he was the one in the field with the sheep. David fought not to make a name for Himself but was disgusted with how Goliath defied the Name of God. David wanted to bring honor to the name of God and won the battle. God could use this little David because there was room for His glory to shine.

I also think of Elisha and His servant (2 Kings 6)
2Ki 6:15-17
(15)And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? (16) And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. (17) And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
I love the Way that Elisha spoke with such faith to his servant. “Fear not: for there are more with Us than with them”. Elisha could not see the hosts of heaven when He said that. He knew His God and He knew that they were there. They were not visible, Elisha had to pray that his servants eyes would be opened. All his servant could see were the armies of the Syrians that wanted them. His eyes were opened to The hosts of heaven. I just think it is so neat, Elisha had to know the Lord really well before this happened to be able to say that in the midst of such a scary situation where there was no way out. God was the one that blinded the Syrians so that they could not touch them. God was given glory.

Then I think of Daniel, He was a man that was righteous in all of His ways. He served the Lord till He died. In the Beginning of the book you see Daniel purposing in His heart that He is not going to defile himself with the great foods and things of the King. Can you imagine how it would be to stand before a king and gracefully refuse all of the amazing foods that he is offering you? That is a bold thing to do in the first place and then He went on to say... “test us, watch and see if we do not look healthier than all the others”. He knew that his God would honor His decision to stay Holy and blameless. God would take care of Him.
Later on in the story in Daniel 6 Daniel was set apart, he was distinguished because people could tell he had an “excellent Spirit in him”. People could see the blessing and favor of the Lord in His life. The other governors were mad because the King was going to put the whole kingdom in Daniels charge so they were looking for something bad in Daniel but could not find a thing. They determined that they would find nothing unless it concerned his God. They knew that He prayed 3 times a day, they knew that He honored and obeyed God first in his life. They knew that He has a great prayer life so that was where they were going to attack him and they did.
The thing that I want to point out in all of this is not that Daniel was a great man but the fact that God molded and shaped this man in the days of small things. Daniel did not just wake up in Babylon this giant man. I believe that His prayer life carried over from those days when it was just him and the Lord. He knew his God, he knew the heart of His God and you can see it in all that he says.

It is in those days of small things that God prepares you to stand before Kings and speak the name of Jesus Christ, to set yourself apart from the practices of the world. Do not despise the days of small things. Each hardship, each victory, each battle and each time of wilderness is molding you into the person that God wants you to be. All of those things are forming you into Gods image. All of those things will not be wasted God will use them later in someone else's life to encourage them. Treasure those times of character building and go along with the ride; worship God the whole way through.

I am so thankful for all the stories of God working with little people, of God reaching down to work in the life of man. I am so thankful that Jesus came to earth as a man so that He could relate to us. I am so thankful for the blood that was spilled so that I could be white as snow. So that one day I will be in Heaven with Him, looking into His eyes and seeing the Love that died for me. Thank you Jesus for all of these reminders. Thank you for buying me back from my sin and thank you that I can have a deep, personal relationship with you. I treasure my time with the Lord; you know there really are times that I have to say “I don't want to read right now but I will do it anyway” or “I cant lift my hands but my heart will forever worship you.” He is worthy of everything that we can give HIM!

Pursuing Love

Today I read one of my favorite books, the Book of Hosea. This is always such a sweet picture of the Love of the Lord for His people. It is a book of God pursuing his bride that was a harlot. It starts out with God telling Hosea to go find a wife in harlotry and to marry her and have children. He was to love this wife that he bought out of harlotry. The reason for this was because God had a message that was going to go out to His precious people that were doing the same thing to Him. Hosea was going to be the one to carry the message and God wanted Him speaking with the Heart of great passion that God had for His bride. God first dealt with the heart of Hosea.

See this message that God had for His people was calling her to love and repentance. This was going to become very personal and meaningful to Hosea because He would be going through the same process with His bride. He was going to buy her out of harlotry, dress her in fine clothes, feed her, take care of her and Love her with all his heart, He was even going to have children with her. She had security in His embrace. Israel had security in the embrace of God but she wandered, we all wander at times. Why do we do that? It is a weird thing how we like dogs run back to our vomit even though it is not good. Even when She left the loving groom God says "I will Allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak words of comfort to her heart." It was still a time of him pursuing the heart of His bride even when she had hurt Him. He loved her!

When I was in Israel we were in the Judean wilderness and our tour guide was explaining something to us about the wilderness. He said "you know Christians treat the wilderness as a place of punishment but in biblical times that is not how they saw it at all. They would go to the wilderness as a place to get away and see the Lord and hear his voice. This was a place to meet with God. It was a good place to be. God said that he was going to take her to the wilderness to speak to her heart. How sweet those words are!

My friend Jessica was reading a devotion thing to me today and it was sweet. It was God saying to His bride "There is no spot in you." (They defined spot at the littlest thing that would go away in a few days.) "You are perfect." He was looking at His bride through the eyes of Love. He did not choose to say there is not huge scar found in you. Our Lord loves us so much and we are His bride. His heart is to pursue His bride and speak to her heart. He will deal with the sin. He will require repentance when it is due but he will take you back with His gracious, Huge arms of love. How greatly He wants to do that!!!!
God hates sin, He will judge, but His love stands firm and He is reaching out His hand to restore!

Kids with Power Tools

You know... I have been reading in Jeremiah and been thinking it is so cool how the Lord would tell Jeremiah to go places for him to see something from God. Well the Lord showed me a little something cool today while I was working with my dad.

Today I found myself outside looking at the wood pile in our paddock and I wanted to help my dad by cutting it. I started to think to myself... I wonder if my dad would let me use the chain saw. I went outside to ask him about that and he gave me a look that reminded me of when I was a kid. He told me that I was probably not strong enough to handle a tool like that. He told me the danger if I messed up and then instantly pulled me into a different project that he was doing. (It was as if he was saying, “you may not be able to use that but I will let you do something else.”) I was reminded of out Father in heaven. We at times ask him to do things that are way to big for us. He is so gentle in how he responds. Sometimes He will let us do Great things but others he knows that it would hurt us greatly if we had what we asked for. My dad let me help him take apart and rebuild something that would not hurt me. I really did feel like a little kid working with my dad. I was excited to spend time with him. He let me use other tools and let me do things to help him. The Lord really did show me his heart in this. He gave me something else to do. The Lord will put tools in our hands and grow us little by little. I know that at times I was in the way of my dad but he still wanted me there helping him. The Lord puts things in our hands and he does not need our help but lets us be a part of what He is doing of His work. My dad put a different tool in my hand than what I wanted... you see He is a master carpenter/contractor he knows what he is talking about and he can handle all of those tools ;but I well... could not. Our Father in Heaven does not want to discourage us but also does not want to cripple us but putting something in our hands that we cant handle. How cool is our God? My dad is a great example to me and shows me the love of our FATHER in heaven. I am honored to be able to help in the little things and grow with the things that He puts in my hands. This is a little lesson I learned today.

I remember when I was a kid my dad would let me go to work with him and back then I could do a lot less that now. I was more in the way back then too but our father is patient and lets us try and fail. If you feel like you have been asking the Lord to do something and he says no for now, just know it is for you good. That does not mean that he is done with you or cant use you. It just means that He has something different for you. Just go with it. Learn from Him. And be patient.

Life is but a Vapor

The Longer I live my life and see people battle against cancer and hardships I realize, life is but a vapor. Some people win against this battle and some loose. There are some that battle with a smile on their face looking to the hope of Salvation; they look into the face of Jesus and to the promise of heaven. Joy comes on their face and peace is in their voice. There are others that do not look to such joy but look to the despair of it all. Their faces suddenly age, their hearts turn from careless attitude of the world to bitterness and anger. Why did this happen to me. While pondering this and learning more of my Savior and Master I see more clearly, my life is not my own; I was bought at a price so I MUST glorify God with my body. My time on earth is not for me to pursue worldly pleasure, it is not for me to have the best time ever but it has a greater purpose. “The Chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”. What of those people that are not fortunate enough to have heard of their Savior? How sad is it that there are some who have never heard of the extent that Jesus Loves them personally? So many times I get caught up with pitying myself for some of the hard things that I go through and then I look to the cross; I find myself falling on my face and looking up at the face who died for me. My little trials suddenly turn into a breath that comes and goes. My Lord, right before He was crucified was sweating drops of blood because of what He was going through. He was about to have EVERY sin of EVERY man from times past until eternity put on His shoulders and was going to bear the judgment of GOD. He was one Man about to do this thing. How deep the Fathers Love for us… Those words suddenly seem so small.
I have been watching a girl that I don't even know hear that she had cancer and her eyes are fixed on the face of Jesus. She has no other choice then to look upon her Savior who loves her and focus on the good things that he has promised her. Through the pain of the situation she worships the Lord and meditates on the One who is unchanging. She realizes that her life is not her own and has come to accept that her life may never be the same but says that if this will glorify the Lord the most than she is able to say “please Lord let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done.” How beautiful are those words? I am encouraged by the Life of a girl that I have never met. The world looks on us Christians to see how we are going to react in the face of trouble and pain. Are we drawing from the everlasting life that Christ has promised us? Are we choosing to trust in the One who gave His life for us so that we can have life abundantly? What is the purpose of my life? 1. To glorify God; let people see Him in my life. That means that I don’t life for myself but for His purpose. What is His purpose? He wanted a relationship with mankind and that has never changed. He loves every man and woman and wants their love but won’t force it; it is a choice of ours. 2. To Enjoy Him forever; this is a good thing not a Tyrant demanding love. We get to enjoy Him forever, that means that we will love being with Him and it will last forever. It will be fun. It will not be miserable.
I am so grateful for those people that shine even when they are going through such hard times. Their purpose remains, “not my will but Yours be done”. This brings the Joy and peace in the midst of the storm. Remember if you follow Jesus Christ all eyes are on you, people watch to see if your faith really means what you say it means and they watch the closest when you are in your deepest trial. You set your gaze on the One who never changes and look to the Joy or your salvation. Life is but a vapor… therefore Glorify God with your body. Jesus is the commander and “if you disobey orders people could die.”
Thank you Katy Haney for you example. Your life glorifies God and people you don’t even know about are encouraged by your life.