Choosing to TRUST

The following is our end of the year letter that we sent out. 

Choosing to TRUST

I married a visionary man. God has given him many visions and great plans! He has equipped him to trust fully in God’s Great Visions. I, on the other hand, like to think realistically… not too far out there…. stay in the comfort zone. I want to know what everything will look like in the future and how it will all work out, and hopefully it will be all happily ever after with minimal bumps and obstacles on the way. My man challenges me daily to get out there and trust in our GREAT GOD. Let me give you a few examples of how David has been such a great leader in trusting God and His visions.

            A year into being married to my man, we went for a month to Kenya at the end of 2009. Before departing for Kenya, we had talked about our heart for orphans and needy children and our desire to start an orphanage. David had told me that he would like to get the orphanage started before God took away our vision and gave it to someone else. I was terrified at the thought of starting an orphanage and having such a big responsibility of so many children.  In high school, I thought I wanted to be a foster Mom to HIV babies here in the States.  The Lord had greater things planned for me (and David).  Within the month of being in Kenya, God had already orchestrated all of the people to help us, places for children to stay, and 13 dear sweet children who needed help and needed to hear about Jesus and His saving grace.  God and His wondrous ways blew me away!  All the children God has brought to us have tested negative for HIV…we thank the Lord for their good health.

            When God set in David’s heart that it was time to buy 5 acres of land to build a permanent home for the children in early 2011, I was there thinking, “How can we come up with enough money to buy and build something for the children? How can we raise money to do all of this? This is too big!” God again showed me that He had networked the people already to donate enough money to buy the land set aside for us. He also already had the Medlin family (missionaries to Kenya for a year in end of 2011-2012) and their home church GraceLife and many other donors ready to step up to fund the building of the big house for the children! God is so awesome!

            

        When God moved the Medlin’s onto another mission, God gave David the vision to move our family to Kenya to live and work at the orphanage. I, on the other hand, kept fighting God’s nudges, not wanting to leave my comfort zone of America. I had moved many times when I was growing up, but I never had to be the grown-up moving and making such big decisions! I could not fathom being comfortable moving with our two young ones (Lily – almost 3 at the time and Levi - 1 ½ at the time) to such an exotic place. Well, in June 2013, God had us take a leap of faith to Kenya to trust Him and to love on the children He had brought us! What an adventure full of spiritual growth!

         Within the first month of living in Kenya, while we were shopping in Eldoret, we got a call from the police. They told us of an abandoned newborn baby boy (with his umbilical cord still attached!) and asked if were we willing to take him in and to care for him (June 29^th, 2013). The village elders had tried to locate the baby’s mother but no one in his village or the surrounding ones knew of anyone having a newborn baby boy. It didn’t take David or me long to think about what we should do. We both knew God was telling us to take care of this child and to name him Moses. Here is where I see that my faith and trust in God had grown. David and I both knew God would take care of all this newborn’s needs! Moses is now a healthy little 2 ½ year old boy so full life! We love how God works and provides!

            

        I wanted to write all of this out so you can get a glimpse of how God has worked in and through the Grace of God Children’s Project. I love to think about God’s power and how He continually asked me to trust Him and David throughout all of these times. So now I am choosing to TRUST in David’s vision of having a school on the property of Grace of God Children’s Centre in Kaptagat, Kenya. I know that God has His people networked and ready to complete the fundraising of $5,650! Will you consider joining us and choosing to TRUST GOD to complete the building of this school so it can open its doors January 2016 for the new school year? Just think how your end-of-the-year tax deductible giving could go toward helping Grace family and the children in the community get quality faith-based education!

Laurel Cheromei for Grace Family

(David, Hillary, Christine, Sharon, Levi, Ian, Vincent, Dennis, Brenda, Winnie K., Lucy,

                    Victor, Moses, Kipchumba, Mercy, Lily, Gideon, Winnie A., Timothy, Derick)

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14

May God be praised for what He has done in

2015 for Grace Family through your involvement!

Mission 2015

February 2015- what a great blessing again to have Tom, Jay and Pat to visit Grace family! They built a sawmill shed at GOGCC, played with the children, reached out to the community and shared the love of Jesus!

It was great to have Liberty University mission trip 2015.The team achieved the following through your support and prayers for His glory: 

•       Started to build the outer walls of 3 classrooms at GOGCC (Grace of God Children’s Centre) for a school we hope to start in January 2016!

•       Organized a sustainable agriculture workshop at GOGCC and helped with some farm work

•       Track construction where it was measured out to be a 200 meters track with 4 lanes

•       Sports ministry at GOGCC which was a week long track camp to prepare for a track meet at the end of the week

•       Free Medical clinic in 4 locations (Kaptagat, Pokot, Kapsigot and Maasai Mara)

•       Distribution of food to the needy families in Pokot

•       Washed feet as a sign of God’s love and provided them with shoes in Pokot

•       Distribution of clothing to the needy families in Pokot, Kaptagat, Kapsigot and Maasai Mara

•       Witnessed to various people during revival and evangelism meetings

•       Constructed two water towers at GOGCC for reliable water source

•       Visited schools and played with children and spent time in the classrooms

•       Played games with Grace family and showed them great love and attention

•       Built 2 houses for the needy out of timber and corrugated iron sheets

Other Praises

•       January 2015- The Harambee Foundation team visited again to help some local students have scholarships to attend high school, played with Grace family, held running races for the local community.

·       Thank you, God! Electricity is now available at Grace of God Children’s Centre (GOGCC). We have been praying and waiting for the electricity for the last four years

·       Container full of various donated items including a tractor is already on his way to the orphanage (Grace of God Children’s Centre). We currently trust the Lord on all the details of the container clearing and delivery to the orphanage in Kenya

·       We raised $911 to help stop Jiggers in Kenya.  This will be enough to treat 60 or more children currently with Jiggers. We would like to thank everyone who donated!

·       Addition of 2 Goats to GOGCC through the support from our friends from Harambee Foundation and the Grand Valley State Cross Country Team. One of the goats is named Laker after the XC team name!

·        11 people - mission team will be heading to GOGCC in January to start the construction of the second story in the big house. This will enable us to add more orphans to our family. They will also open the new school if it is God’s will.

·       Two of our children (Sharon Jelagat and Christine Tsindori) at Grace Family did their Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), results will be out in late January 2016. 

2016 prayer needs:

·       Volunteers to teach or tutor Mathematics and English at the Centre’s school.

·       We are praying for 100 people to donate  $50 towards building .The construction of the school (3 class rooms) is going on well, though we are running out of funds at this point. We are praying and hoping that we will finish the school construction before the end of this year so we can open the three classrooms in January. Please help us complete classrooms (plastering-$600, concrete-$1,200, windows and doors $600, Furniture and blackboard-$1,750, Labor $1,500, Estimated total still needed=$5,650)

·       Funds to finish up construction work the at Centre to enable us to accommodate more children

·       Child sponsorship, we are praying for people to help sponsor a child in need

·       We need gently used or new Bibles towards our Bible ministry

·       We also have at least 2 mission trips scheduled for 2016. We are praying for God to provide a medical team to tackle with various medical needs in Kenya.

·       Money to help Container-clearing and delivery by December 27, 2015

Thanks again for your generous support to Grace of God Children’s Project in 2015. God is good; he has achieved many things through YOU for His glory at GOGCP. The goal of GOGCP is to continue to make a difference in the lives of children who need help. With the help of donations from supporters such as you, we will continue to see more and more orphans and poor children succeed in life! We will also continue to see many lives impacted for Christ in many communities. We pray that you will be again part of God’s blessing at GOGCP in 2016! God bless and thanks again.

 Sincerely,

David Cheromei for Grace Family

President/Founder, Grace of God Children’s Project