“Jambo” dearest prayer warriors, supporters, child sponsors, church family, family and friends,
We pray that you are all doing well in the Lord and staying safe, healthy and strong. My family and the ministry in Kenya are doing well. We are very sorry that we have not been in touch with you for a long time. God has been keeping us very busy, protecting us in all areas and using us in a mighty way. Thank you so much for prayers and support as we continue to serve the people of Kenya. Here are some of the things God has been doing through your prayers and support:
The Grace Family children and the Centre:
The Grace Family children are now back to school after a 9 month break because of the pandemic. Moses is in grade 1, Mercy Joy Jerop is in grade 4 and Allan Kipchumba is in grade 5 at Grace Family Educational Centre (The school on our property). Gideon Kiplagat is grade 8 at the local public primary school. Timothy Kipchirchir and Victor Kirwa are Freshman, Dennis Kiprurui is a Sophomore, Winnie Awino, Brenda Kiptoo, and Naomi Kemboi are Juniors in all different boarding high schools. Ian Kipyego, Vincent Kipkorir, Winnie Kiptoo are all seniors in High school. Sharon Jelagat joined a Women’s college in Nairobi and Christine Tsindoli is taking some college classes to upgrade her grades so she can get into nursing school. Hillary Ndoli completed his classes and will have graduation ceremony in April. Hillary has started his new job as at a paint shop making paints from raw materials as he had studied Chemical Engineering in college.
We continue to get closer in becoming self-sufficient. We have lots of vegetables (collard greens, spinach, cabbage, green onions, sweet potatoes), chickens and cows. God blessed us with a new calf recently, Sunny, a couple of weeks ago. This will help us with fresh milk production for chai in the morning and cream to add to the greens for supper.
Grace Family Educational Centre (School):
Our school is now open and running well. We have had a lot of adjustments and new rules due to COVID-19 requirements. Please pray for the teachers, staff and students as they embark on this new journey. The school now has 121 students! May the Lord give us wisdom in how to help with the transition and encourage everyone. The government gave schools the directives to add more desks, have several more hand washing sinks and more toilets and other various class requirements to be done. We have finished all the projects at our school, Grace Family Educational Centre. Thank you so much, we would have not started school without your prayers and support.
Outreach and Community Projects:
We completed the house project for the needy family in our church. Can you imagine having seven children with a one-bedroom house and a small kitchen? My goodness, can you imagine three teenage girls and the four younger boys sleeping on the floor in their tiny kitchen? We want to thank those who supported this wonderful project for God’s glory! So many generous people helped us when I put the word out on Facebook to donate to help complete their home with 2 bedrooms and a living room! They are now in comfy home!
The community requested me (David) to lead a community water project that has been stagnant for over 15 years. We have worked over three months (all day, for six days a week). This have taken more of my time since March 2020. God has enabled us to hand dig trenches and lay pipes for four miles from a fast flowing river in the forest. Water has finally made it to some communities. We connected water to three primary schools including our school and the Centre and one high school. About 50 families have received clean water so far. We are still working on it even though we have run out of pipes and funding from the county. Please keep us in your prayers. This is a life time project that will be of great impact to the community after it is completed. It will serve a population of 50,000 when it is all done.
We were able to send some food to Pokot during all of the flooding, they experienced in 2020. Thank you so much for those of you who assisted with donations.
Grace Family Fellowship (Church):
Grace Family Fellowship is almost at full capacity in the three classrooms that we use at the school. Around 100 people are attending weekly. We thank the Kenyan government for the few adjustments in regards social distancing and seating capacity. We have also been doing lunch hour prayers with our church members and gathering on Wednesdays for fellowship at someone’s home. We had a Women’s retreat in October where they were taught and played some funny games. The youth of our church have been meeting on Saturdays for fellowship and games. The youth and some of the church members continue to reach out to our nearby towns by picking up trash and sharing the Gospel with individuals. The youth really enjoyed this outreach project and loved sharing about the love of Jesus. We thank God for allowing us to have local opportunities to share the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We were able to raise $12,000 during our fundraising towards the building of the church. We are starting to bring in materials and we hope to start the foundation before April. We will try to organize another fundraising in the near future because over $30,000 is needed for the completion of the church building. We have seen God moving in a mighty way since we opened our doors to have a church for the whole family. We have seen people delivered, healed, and blessed in various areas of their lives. Our church mission is to reach out to the lost at Cheptigit (our community) and beyond.
We hosted our Third Pastors Training at Grace Family. We trained 25 pastors and had two people from America help with the training (Pastor Wade from Kansas and Donna Johnson from Virginia). Jayden Parker from Virginia also came with Donna and was such a joy to have around as he played with all the kids and helped in teaching the children Bible stories. The Pastors training was very successful. We are planning on having another one this year at the end of April.
The Lord has also given me (David) many opportunities to head out to high schools and churches to spread the Gospel and teach the Purpose Driven Life and Celebrate Recovery.
NEEDS AND PRAYERS:
We do ask for your help in boarding school fees for our children in high school. We are also still in need of Grace Family child sponsors as some of the children are not sponsored right now. Keep the Bees family in Kenya (David, Laurel, Lily, Levi and Lucy) in your prayers and financial support as we continue to serve here in Kenya. We would like to visit America this summer if it is God’s will.
We pray that we can get a few donations to help with the needy in our community especially during our outreach programs.
We are praying for God’s provision of 2” pipes to able to distribute water to various families in the community. We have already completed the main pipe line.
We would like to buy a new motor after the repairing the pump for the 689ft well dug in 2018 on our property. The well is now clean and in a good condition. The drilling company came back to flush the well this last month. This was a double blessing for us. Keep this need in your prayers.
Let’s partner together for this work God has given us. Please join us! Many thanks and much love, David and Laurel Cheromei
“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
And he turned to me and heard my cry.
…Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.” Psalm 40:1,3
You can send a check to:
GOGCP- David and Laurel Cheromei, 191 Rocky Hollow Rd. Atkins, VA 24311
or use this link to support us as God leads you: http://www.graceofgodchildren.org/give/
go to General and in the memo: “ school fees”, “church building”, "Bees in Kenya", etc.
