Several Activities (I) - 1 - Baptisms

- “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” – says Jesus in Mark 10:14. – And the parents and godparents brought their children to the Holy Baptism on June 8th. Four (4) children were baptized: Richard Masita, son of Joseph Sure and Irene Kerubo; Clinton Omae and Michele Kwamboka, children of Alfred and Teresa; and Titus Monari Mokaya, son of Joash and Serah.

Joash Mokaya Omambia, Serah Kithei Mokaya, and the children: Venice Kwamboa and Titus Monari Mokaya.

Alfred Nyambinya, Teresa Kerubo and the children: Clinton Omae Nyambinya and Michelle Kwamboka Nyambinya.

The children, the parents, the godparents and pastor Omodhi. – If you have non-baptized children, let us know. We will book a visit to your house to give you a teaching about the baptism and you can bring the children to Jesus through the Holy Baptism.

Several Activities (I) - 2 - Visitors

Roger Theimer and Robert Meyer visited Kenya (end of May, beginning of June). They had several contacts with organizations, people and with the ELCK. They met Bishop Obare on June 3rd.

– Roger is Children’s Pastor at King of King Lutheran Church, Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He led the Bible Study at the Pastoral Staff meeting on June 3rd. He demonstrated how to tell a Bible Story (or a Bible Event) to children, focusing always on Jesus.

They visited the church and facilities at “Spring of Life – Kibera”: Emmanuel, Robert, Roger and Dennis.

– Roger met the children from the nursery school-Kibera at the lunch time…

– and they visited the slum too.

They were hosted by Lídia and P. Carlos and enjoyed their time in Kenya. – Their plan is to come back in two years and organize a training seminar for children’s leaders. – God bless them and their plans.

Several Activities (I) 3 - Wedding and Anniversary

Justus Mokoronto Nyang’au and Bodil Njordalsbakke had their civil wedding on May 21st, and they received God’s blessing for their joint life at the English Service on May 25th (and at the Swahili Service on June 8th). – Justus is the General Manager of Scripture Mission and Bodil is Teacher at the Norwegian School of the Scripture Mission.

The Norwegian community from Scripture Mission from Tanzania and from Kenya attended this special service…

and all congregants were happy and thankful about that wedding.

God said: “For that reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)

The best-man was Mr. Jason M.Nyaribo (one of the elders at UHLC), and the best-lady was Astrid Yri, who sang two hymns during the ceremony.

They invited their friends and relatives for a reception at the Scripture Mission Conference Center Hall after the service.

Many people talked to and greeted the new couple.

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– Rev. Osmo and Arja Harjula celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on June 1st in Finland. They sent two messages and pictures:
"Dear Rev. Carlos and Uhuru Highway Lutheran Church, Nairobi,
Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We have had some very nice days together with our children and grandchildren here in Finland. Tomorrow we celebrate together with our families and the congregation the 40 year anniversary of our wedding in the same Alexander Lutheran Church in Tampere, Finland. Osmo also preaches in the Holy Communion service.
Arja & Osmo Harjula"

"Dear Friends
Thanks for your messages & prayers during your service at Uhuru Highway Lutheran Church. We attended to the service in Tampere Alexander Lutheran Church which was Arja's home church during her childhood. Osmo was the preacher in the service and after the service we took some pictures and attached you get two of them. The Day was wonderful when we were able to celebrate with all our children and grandchildren.
Yours Arja & Osmo"

Several Activities (I) - 4 - Visit to Kibera and Kwangware

– Pedro Henrique Yacubian, Secretary of the Embassy of Brazil in Sudan, and Thais, wife of Adam Jayme Muniz, Secretary of the Embassy of Brazil in Kenya, visited our congregations in Kibera and in Kawangware with Pastor Carlos and Lídia on May 23rd. Emmanuel and Lorna (Pastor Dennis’ wife) were our guides in Kibera.

They visited the Nursery School in the basement of the church; the school facilities are being remodeled after they were burnt last January.

At the slum, they could see the railway…

...which was turned over during the pos-election violence.

Sally, one of the HIV/AIDS women leaders from the congregation, joined us in the visit.

We entered the deepest part of the slum to visit one of the congregants
where we met many children.

We offered prayers at the home of the congregants and her neighbor asked us to pray at her little house too. After this we walked through the railway and visited Sally’s house too.

From Kibera we went to Kawangware, where Pedro and Thaís had the opportunity to hear about the Orphans’ Feeding program…

and to see the children.

We also visited Teacher Veronica’s school, which receives support from the church too through Heart to Hearth Orphans Children Center.

– The school has the nursery class in one room, and from the 1st to the 4th grade in another room.

– Deaconess Mary was our guide in Kawangware. In the picture: Deac. Mary, Teacher Veronica, Lidia, Thais, Pedro and another teacher.

Several Activities (I) - 5 - "Spring of Life" - Kibera

Pastor Dennis Meeker was in the USA during April and May. Bishop Obare, several Pastors and Evangelists led the service during his absence. Pastor Carlos was in charge of the service on May 18th; he was the preacher and the celebrant. The Elder David Maseno lead the liturgy in Swahili.

Josephat Suweh translated the sermon into Swahili and offered the prayers.

The two choirs sang…

and worshiped the Lord.

Several Activities (I) - The Lutheran Hour Ministries

– We announced this special Nuru (Lutheran Hour Ministry) activity on April 26th on the previous BLOG. After this, I received several pictures from Nuru, that I want to share with you – The Cross Fire – a youth music team from the USA, were at the seminar and they sang for the participants. – Mr. John Maina (in the middle of the picture), Nuru Director, was the host of the event.

– Around 400 kids were gathered

and they all received spiritual food and a lunch

The teens were exited about this opportunity to meet teens from other congregations. For some of them this was their first gathering.

– Around 70 teens and youth were gathered on Friday and Saturday, learning and worshiping the Lord.

Several Activities (I) - 7 - Do you know these people?

– Gilbert Aluoch, his wife Berther Onyango, and their children: Rebecca and Aaron Onyango. Their eldest son Allan is in the school and couldn’t come that Sunday.
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George Masongo Mochiemo studies at Matongo Theological College and came to our service on May. He was one of the Sunday School Teachers at UHLC, and received a scholarship from Mrs. Erica (a Brazilian living in the USA) to study at the Seminar.

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Hilaire Ngoy Mwanana, his wife Christine Mutinga and the children: Michael Ngoy and Danny Kibenze. They are from Congo and Hilaire is studying in Nairobi. His father is the General Secretary of the Lutheran Church of Congo.

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Prof. Dr. Christian and Marlene Roschmann. He is Director – Rule of Law Program for Sub-Saharan Africa of the “Konrad Adenauer Stiftung”. He is from Germany and she is from Brazil; both speak Portuguese, which is good for Pastor and Mrs. Carlos to speak with them in their mother language. – They moved to Nairobi last January.

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Pastor Charles and Anita were introduced in the last BLOG. But after this I received a nice e-mail from Pastor Charles, which I share with all:
"Rev. Charles Jackson and his wife Anita.Pastor in Arsim Samburu. Charles is originally from Alberta Canada andhad served there for 6 years before coming to Kenya in 2001. They startedwork by building a traditional cow dung house just North of Wamba to learnlanguage and culture for 8 months. Then they lived in Ngilae for the next 4years to work as a pastor and literacy teacher in the area. Since their coming back from furlough in 2006 they moved up to Arsim to help with thecongregation there as a Samburu pastor took over the congregation in Ngilae.Arsim is just the name of the area. It actually was known on the old mapsas the "Arsim Watering Hole", as it is a source of water even amidst thesevere droughts. In 1982 ELCK came to Arsim to start a church. Pastor BobWard and his wife Jeanne were the first workers with the ELCK in northern Samburu. Jeanne was also a nurse and started a small dispensary. It has grown into a regular dispensary reaching over 100 km radius from the Arsim Area.Anita: Is an Adult Literacy Teacher as well as Teaching English as a SecondLanguage for some of the Samburu women. She leads various Bible Studieswith the women and mentors four women who are especially keen in growing in their faith and sharing with others. Anita is from Minnesota America,In Service of the King,Charles (and Anita) Jackson "

Let’s maintain them and all in our prayers.