Saturday, February 27, 2010

Funeral Saturday

Hey team, just got back from a loooooong day! 6 hour funeral, over 3,000 people, I preached Jesus, Anna (7 year old who goes to our school, daughter of the man who died) never let go of my hand the entire time. Real 4 Christ will pay the school fees, food fees and uniform fees for Anna and Samson (her 4 year old brother who started in our "baby class" this year) as their widowed, unemployed, uneducated mother has no where else to turn. The majority of the time, when a father/husband dies here in Kenya, life comes to an abrupt halt for the wife/mother and her kids. Pray that we will be JESUS to these precious people of Mtepeni, Kenya. Pray that we will find sponsors for the nearly 70 children that now attend MBEWAU ACADEMY.

God Bless!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Death on the Kenyan Coast...

The value of a human life in most third world countries is fragile at best. Here in Kenya, it is certainly no different. Yesterday, while staring at a pool of dried blood on the floor of a home, one of our pastors shared one of the saddest stories I have ever heard, one that will be etched in my mind for many years to come. One of the women in the church (names & places have been omitted for privacy) was murdered by several people during the middle of the night. From what witnesses and the police can tell, this was not a "theft gone bad", these people came to the house for one purpose, to kill. The reason, for this brutal act will shock you! This lady was making some "trinkets" to sell and her competitors thought she was taking away their business, so they eliminated her. The cost of the goods was about 10 cents!! This young mother & wife, was killed over pennies.

Minutes later, as I stood by the bed where her husband laid, through tears, he shared this story with me. He had cuts on his head, arms and legs. His head was swollen where they had beaten him with a club. He kept asking, "why would they want to kill my wife, she did nothing wrong?!" Unfortunately, I had very few words of encouragement to give as I was standing there in shock of what I had just heard. We prayed with him and did our best to comfort him.

The story does not get better...... This couple has more than a dozen children they care for, many are orphans. Several of them attend one of our Christian schools here and have more needs than we can begin to count. This week, each of those kids are struggling with the loss of their mom and with the near death of their dad. They will experience grief that I would not wish upon any child. They will be forever changed by these series of events! The funeral will take place on Saturday.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend that funeral as I will be attending another funeral at the same time in Mtepeni. The father of two of our school kids was hit by a motorcycle and died Monday night. He leaves behind a wife in her 20's, 5 kids, 2 are twins that were born 10 weeks ago. I will share more about this story in our Quarterly Newsletter next month.

Please pray for Lisa and I as we try to comfort these families. There have been a total of 3 deaths this week (3 funerals this Saturday). Pray for the spouses and kids left behind as they have to try to pick up the pieces, pay the bills and go on living without a loved one. Pray that we can win the lost who will come to these funerals. Pray that God will be given all the glory and honor through these situations.

It's been a sad week in Kenya...Chris & Lisa

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

We found a house!

Hey Team,

We have had another great week in Mombasa. Most mornings Lisa and I get up, share FRESH fruits (mangos, bananas, melons, pineapple, etc) have our devotions, chat on SKYPE with whoever happens to still be awake in the USA and then we head off to Mtepeni. The class building will be complete this Monday. We made a few upgrades like running water to the small room on the end that Lisa will use for her clinic, adding security lights on the corners of the building and security bars on the office and storeroom. I will be sending a dozen or so pics next week on FB, look for them.

PRAISE: We have found a vehicle and a house. They were both WAY TOOOOO expensive but Mombasa (actually most of Kenya) seems to be getting that way. The vehicle is coming from Japan and should arrive in 6 weeks. 8 1/2 year old Prado (small SUV), 75,000 miles, good 4WD work truck for nearly $30,000!! :( The home is nice, tropical flower gardens, 4 bedrooms, compound yard inside of a compound community with security on all four corners, bars on all windows and doors, SAFE, SAFE, SAFE!! :)

UPCOMING PROJECTS: In April, we hope to break ground for the feeding center/cafeteria/kitchen/chapel building. This is GREATLY needed as we plan to have 5 classes going in January with 20-30 children in each. This building will cost just under $20,000. We need $8,000 next month to begin the foundation planning. Please pray about how you might be involved with this need.

MISSION TRIPS: There are THREE groups coming so far this year. (1) In April, Bob Nichol & Dean Chollar with CrossWay International will be coming for a short week to "dedicate" the water well they installed at Mtepeni. They will also preach a Pastors Conference and travel to the South Coast to see the 5 acres we are planning to develop in the future. (2) In June, Hallmark Baptist and MANNA Worldwide will be bringing a 50 person team to visit many of the MANNA sites, "dedicate" a new high school, spend some time at Mtepeni and OFFICIALLY open the new classrooms that Hallmark and others helped build. (3) In July, a group from SA, TX will travel to Mtepeni with a team to help finish building the new Feeding Center. They will also spend time with the children, evangelize, and do many other things. We still need about 6-8 more people to join this team. If you have any interest in HARD WORK and LOTS OF BLESSINGS, this is the team for you. We are trying to ship a container full of building supplies, tools, generator, playground equipment, etc. two months ahead of this team. If you or someone you know can help donate any of these items, that would be TOTALLY AWESOME!!! :)

Well, that's enough for now......

Love, Chris & Lisa Moore

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Happy Saturday!


Hey Team,

We are doing fine here in Mombasa. Found a vehicle but have to wait 6 weeks as it is coming from Japan! :) Still looking for a home, prices have nearly doubles in the past two years. A decent home goes for around $1,500! :) Had the funniest thing happen to me this morning. A man came to our door and said the following: "Migu ya gari amelala" which literally means "the foot of the car is sleeping" which was supposed to mean "you have a flat tire"!!! :) Swahili is AWESOME!!! :)

Love and miss you all. When we can, we will turn on SKYPE every morning from 7am-8:30am. (We are 8 hours ahead of EST, 9 hours ahead for you TEXANS) Please give us a shout sometime....

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Big Blessing!!!

Here is the BIGGEST miracle. We get off the plane in NAI and head down to Immigrations which can take an hour+ when they want to be rigid. We went to a new line that had just opened and within 5 minutes we were done. Then went down stairs and the first 20 bags that came off the belt, all 8 of ours were there. Again, we usually lose a peice or two each time we go and wait for Kenya Air to call a few days later, Then we left and got stopped to inspect each bag and tax us on what they found, well I "loved on this man" and within a few minutes he let us through with no bags checked or opened!!! AIN'T GOD GOOD!!!!!
-Chris Moore

Monday, February 1, 2010

The Journey Begins!!!

Jan 31...Our home church, Hallmark Baptist, hosted a going away service for Chris and Lisa. It was a really touching service. Chris sang "What Now?" and showed a slideshow with pictures from past missions trips. After that him and Lisa gave their personal testimonies and shared their hearts about Kenya, family and Real 4 Christ Ministries. The whole church gathered at the alter with Chris' parents and sister to pray and send them off with God's blessing.

Feb 1...Today they flew to Kenya. Please pray for safe travel, quick processing of their resident visas and id cards, housing and getting their shipping container. Sometimes things move really slow in Kenya and all of these things need to happen so that they can get ready for the first team to arrive in June.

We will update the blog on a regular basis.
God Bless!!!