This week is the beginning of what seems to be one of the biggest answers to prayer for the past three years concerning the work we have begun in the village of Mtepeni. When I met Pastor Nzaro for the first time, nearly 3 years ago, we prayed over the land, his church and the mud school. I knew God was going to do something special there. After making plans for the extension of the existing building, refurbishing the church, tearing down the mud school building and preparing for the new school to be built, we discussed the future of the property and how we could expand if necessary. At that time, the owner of the land next to ours was not even willing to discuss the possibility of selling us a portion of his. But through lots of prayer, showing ourselves friendly & Christ like, and several discussions, his heart has been softened. Last week he called Pastor Nzaro and Jackson saying that he was now wanting to help the church/school with some land. He has 4 acres next to our one and he is willing to discuss the sale of the one acre that runs next to ours.
Anyway, to get to the point, the land owner next to us is willing to sale the acre we want for only 500,000KSH which is $6,666.00 (about $2,500 less than most of the land around us.) The negotiations are still underway but I feel that we will reach some sort of an agreement by the end of this week. On Saturday, Nzaro, Justin, Jackson, our lawyer and another pastor are meeting with the owner. If all goes well, the land surveyor will come out next week, mark the land and plot it. The lawyer will draw up the documents and the Title Deed process will begin. Missionary Jim Horne and Crossroads Fellowship have also agreed to put up 100,000KSH ($1,300 US) to help with the purchase of this land should it go through next week.
Here in Kenya, if you are running a Primary School, KG1 through Standard 8, you are required to have enough land to accommodate toilet facilities, play area (soccer fields) and ample room for the children. Our prayer is that MBEWAU ACADEMY (name of our school in Mtepeni) will grow to this level in the next 10 years. With 30 kids in 11 classes, this will mean 330+ kids, teachers and staff. With this additional acre, not only will we be able to have all of these things but we can hopefully build Pastor Nzaro a home one day and move him and his extended family of 9 out of the 12x12 area that have lived in for the past 10+ years. We could also build a clinic where many can come to be seen. The church at Mtepeni has already begun planning a Sports Ministry where they will open the compound 3 days per week in the evenings for the young people to come and play sports (currently volleyball and a SMALL soccer area). With this additional land, soccer will attract thousands that will come to play and then hear the word of God preached after each game.
We have several short term missions teams coming to visit this summer. Please pray that God will lead people to help us buy this piece of property and to sponsor the feeding of these children on a monthly basis.
