jambo brother? in our area of strength

Transcription

1 GRINDSTONE As of most recent, I've been in Bomet and Sotik, Kenya; about eight hours from where I live in Nyeri, or 215 miles. Remember, I m covering the entire nation. A lot of great missionaries have been there before me and the church is strong. Great respect to all those who have gone before me; they have done a great work in the name of our Lord. A local preacher, Erick Chepkwony, met my wife and me in Bomet and he accompanied me to the high schools. I actually was put in contact with Erick while in America visiting with Judy Jennings in Texas. Erick has graduated from the Great Commission School in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a confident pubic speaker and may make a great addition to this program. We traveled around his home area, Bomet and as far as Sotik, booking schools to speak to their students. It was difficult! Three barriers proved difficult: schools were giving test, schools were breaking for mid-term (similar to Spring Break) and principals were absent - attending a nationwide principals meeting in Mombasa. With these three things in the mix Eric Chepkwony causing conflict, it helped Erick and I to travel to different districts that had a little different time tables. We were able to book a school for everyday of the week.

2 As I spoke to these school, I noticed that the students were responding slightly different from other students who have received this same message. The message was cutting them harder than others. These schools are hit hard! By that, I mean: the public media and peer pressure have influence many of these kids into a sexual relationship before marriage. When I talk to them about the goodness of maintaining their purity for marriage, many were overcome with grief. Hope for a second chance is there through Jesus Christ! Drugs are also prevalent among the high school students. The students are facing great adversity today. If they are not prepared properly to face these challenges, they will fall to disease and short life. The church is coming to the rescue! We are talking to these students specifically about the issues that are challenging them: sex, drugs, and peer pressure. We are preparing them to face these challenges by educating them with the word of God. We are motivating the students with scientific evidence. This program is changing the hearts and lives of over eighty percent of the students who attend. The program is called: RIGHT CHOICES! And it's making a huge impact! Erick wrote me an concerning his follow-up work and going back into these schools we had visited. It is only proper to pass this onto you as you are supporting this Lord's work. I have not changed this in its grammar or spelling. Listen to Erick as he describes his experience when going back to talk to these schools we visited with our program:

3 jambo brother? I hope you are find in the lord, we are doing well over here. our young queen is growing big every day,, I hope the same case with your beautiful daughter. I had revisited the school we visit last term and Amazingly getting incredible comments. students and staff are very happy for the impact we made with our program. I interacted with teachers and they pointed for students whose life was change after we left. in KAPKESOSIO SECONDARY, the issues case of immorality drop down and many turned from that behavior. teacher mr. mutai also said that the lesson of Boy-child material shaped the boys in the school. he quoted some few students who had displayed man-hood in their character, by demonstrating it in at homes and schoolalso the staff said their work has been easier than before, discipline cases has come down. in KYOGONG HIGH SCHOOL, it's was the same thing, teachers is praising us for taking our program on the right day. students are showing outstanding performance after we left. discipline cases also has come down. after meeting with students, teacher stanley langat invited me to his office of counseling and guidance, and opened his record to me. really students changed their characters and behavior. no hilarious cases has been noted from thembecause I wanted to collected feed back from the schools, I also asked if they noticed our weakness during our presentation because I wanted to see our areas of strength and weakness. in our area of strength all the schools are congratulating us on our topics, we are touching the real issues in life, drugs, dating and marriage, peer group and boy-child material are real.

4 also they praised us on style presentation, power point, humor, enthusiasm and time bound. also our equipments impressed them, generator, speakers and projector, self equipped! it's impressing that KYOGONG borrowed the Idea of power point presentation and they had started to use it in their class work on the weakness side. they said that we didn't give time students to respond we need to have some videos to boost our presentation increase time of presentation, 3hrs is short. in my observation,your program is perfectly timely and non-comparison, Right choices program is the best and it is from God purposely for this and next generation. I am planning to visit on Friday KAPCHEPTORORO in kericho to refresh students and get their response. Greg, the reason I am doing this is because I want this program to be strong and learn more from the people.

5 thanks and be blessed hope to see you soon ERICK This is Greg, again. Weaknesses: "three hours is too short!" Ha! That cracked me up! I laughed out loud! If your preacher preaches for twenty minutes on Sunday morning I do nine times that in a day! five days a week. We are getting the word of God into the high schools. Do you know how hard it is get an administrator to give me three hours with their students? They look at me like I'm crazy: "The students are going to get up and walk out on you after thirty minutes." Some principals try to negotiate with me: "What if I give you an hour?" The program starts at 2 p.m. and goes until 5 p.m. If I have a school in the morning session, we go from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. That gives me two hours to shut down at the first school, pack up, load the car, travel to a restaurant, eat lunch, travel to the second school, sign-in at the next school, meet the administration, unload, unpack, and set up again. It's tight, but we get it done. By the way, when I speak at two schools a day, that is six hours of public speaking in a single day, eighteen times what your preacher does on Sunday; and they love it, they can't get enough of the word of God! When all is said and done: "three hours is too short!"

6 Weaknesses: "we need to have some videos to boost our presentation!" I was thinking the very same thing! I don't know exactly what kind of video these people had in mind when they made their suggestion. Some people want pictures of mutilated genitals, devastated by a sexually transmitted disease. I've seen those before and the shock and fear factor can go a long way. The video I'm trying to work into the program is not graphic in nature. I wish to show individual's telling their story about how they have changed their heart and their life and repented from those bad paths and others who have firmly committed not to enter into that kind of a life style and maintain their purity! We need to hold in front of the eyes of our youth examples of other people who are making right choices in their life! Our children need to witness others making positive, wise commitments in their life that are difficult and long term and have lifelong effects and rewards. When they see their peers making those decisions, it will play an influential role in their life making it easier for them to take the same decision. This is the kind of video I want to add to my program! AWESOME! Weaknesses: "we did not give time for the students to respond." That's true. It used not to be that way! I use to take questions at the end of my program. Collecting question from four hundred students is very time consuming. The time it takes them to think of a question, to write the question on a paper and to pass the question to be collected consumed a lot of time; an eternity when you are standing in front of an audience. After a few months of collecting questions I realized the majority of the questions were the same. I simply added the material (the questions they were asking together with the answer) to the program and saved the time of collecting pieces of paper from four hundred students. Do you know what the number one asked question was among the students? "What is virginity?"

7 How sad, I thought! They have traveled life's journey and reached high school and they have never before heard the word virginity nor knew its meaning. It is important to respond to individual's questions. Some people may have a specific question like Peyronie's disease that is troubling them specifically or symptoms they are experiencing from a sexually transmitted disease and they have no one to turn to. Time for individual questions is very important and I understand it to be necessary to put back into the program. Follow-up may Our two families be the perfect time for these questions. I'm working on a plan to have the local Sonia, LaurieAnn, Greg, preacher in the area to revisit these Erick, Gladys, Brenda, and Gideon schools. This program will be even more effective with follow-up! The local preacher can review material, scripture, and scientific evidence. The local preacher can introduce new material. The local preacher can answer questions! Am I putting too much on the local preacher? YES! The church needs to get heavily involved in our communities seven days a week, not once a week in an out of the way location so as not to disturb anyone. We have the Word of life! Erick, his wife Gladys, and baby Brenda

8 THE CARIS FOUNDATION I received a phone call from a long lost friend of mine: Jane Gitahi. I met Jane through a friend in America, Larry York out of Tennessee. Jane worked at the Nairobi Great Commission School in Kenya; that s where I met her. She has since moved and is working with Jim Reppart, an American missionary, at The Caris Foundation in Kenya. And they are doing a great work with single mothers and orphans! The story I was told: the big dog back in the States got tired of the overwhelming number of orphans and widows and said: ENOUGH! I m tired of the never ending stream of single mothers and orphans that just keeps growing and growing. Do something on the side of prevention! (Paraphrased.) Ken Bolden, American missionary, found a seven minute video at: and sent it to Jane. In return, Jane called me. Malindi High School (Boys) with The Caris Foundation Mapimo Polytechnic where language was a barrier I spent over a week with The Caris Foundation and spoke to seven different schools. A man named Duncan Ziro traveled with me to the schools and it was very fruitful. We even did two schools in one day. Duncan and I spoke at an all boys high school, an all girls high school, a mixed boys and girls high school, an elementary school, a polytechnic (language proved to be a barrier there), some high schools were day schools and other high schools the students stayed in dormitories a boarding school. It was an honor to see some else become a part of the solution!

9 PEPPERDINE BIBLE LECTURESHIP Pepperdine. Was. Awesome! Simply unbelievable! If you weren't there for the Bible lectureship, it was great! The keynote speakers covered the book of Revelation. They spoke about the bigger picture of Revelation and the victory of Christ. The speakers did a great job dancing around the interpretation of numbers and creatures and times. It was brilliant. As for us non-keynote, small classroom guys; we did okay, too! I spent forty-five minutes racing my audience on a journey of peril, long suffering, and victory! We raced uphill and downhill, around the bend and through the creek. In the end, it was the journey of cultural devastation that Kenya is undergoing and the church is a part of the solution. We have the answer! Almost every problem Kenya is facing is tied back to sexual immorality. The comment I received most after my talk was: "This program is needed here in the States!" Also: "This program is relevant everywhere in the world!" This program is directly addressing the issues that are, literally and figuratively, killing us. It is bringing light to a dark world. And the affect is everything you would expect from the word of God. I enjoyed immensely sharing my story and this Lord's work at the Pepperdine Bible Lectureships! The program was well received by those who joined the class! We, you and I, need to get this program more recognition for the kingdom of God. We are building the body of Christ! Is there anyone who can help with an introduction or recommendation to the Harding Lectureship directors and or the Oklahoma Christian Lectureship directors. I'm bringing a very conservative topic and a great story about the success of the church and the power of the word of God. I need your help! I need your favor! I need a champion! This program needs the publicity the Harding Lectureships has to offer. I

10 need a solid, powerful letter of introduction; I need a solid, powerful letter of recommendation. More than one letter couldn't hurt. Is there anyone who can help with an introduction or recommendation to the Harding Lectureship directors. Is there anyone who can help with an introduction or recommendation to the Oklahoma Christian Lectureship directors. QUEENSVIEW CHURCH OF CHRIST The small village congregation where I worship is doing fine. In fact, they are doing fine in my absence. For weeks on end I have been out of town, either at Pepperdine or in another town speaking at schools. The congregation is doing good in my absence. Mama Eunah is teaching the Sunday school class and Sila Okal is preaching. Matthew was baptized on Sunday.

11 LAURIEANN ANGELA CLODFELTER My new daughter LaurieAnn Angela Clodfelter is growing faster than my wife and I can keep up with. At six weeks old, LaurieAnn was wearing clothes labeled for a six month old baby. Today at eleven weeks old she is wearing clothes for a twelve month old baby. Someone explained it to us this way: the China made clothes are labeled according to their own babies whom are very small. Okay, if you say so. She is not over weight for her age,12.25 pounds at ten weeks, but appears to be tall. At least she seems to be tall the way she keeps outgrowing these outfits! Thank you so much to all those who helped us with baby "things!" Your generosity has really helped us. Thank you! I cannot believe how much babies demand as far as time, attention, energy, and resources. Sonia and I have been mobile, on the road, traveling to different high schools for the past five weeks straight; from when LaurieAnn was six weeks old until today, eleven weeks old. We have uni outfits she was wearing when we began the journey that she cannot wear anymore.

12 Sonia and I sing as we travel down the road from high school to high school: "I've Got Peace Like A River" quickly turned into "I Can Pee Like A River!" I've never seen anything like this. LaurieAnn likes for me to bathe her. Sonia like for me to bathe her! Sonia likes the way I give LaurieAnn a bath. I am the official bather and I am the official pooh diaper changer. I tend to be able to handle the goo better and contain it from spreading all over the living room from the contaminated area. LaurieAnn hasn't had any illnesses and we are seeing that she gets her baby shots. We are grateful to God for the way He has blessed us. In Him, Greg Clodfelter gregkenya@yahoo.com Please send tax deductable charitable contributions to my sponsoring congregation: Kenya Mission Andrews church of Christ 201 N.W. 2 nd Street Andrews, Texas 79714