Thursday 31 December 2009

Plans developing.

The timeframe and locations for this mission will be as follows.

sunday 17th to friday22rd January - Ministering in the city of Bungoma.
sunday 24th to Tuesday 26th - Ministering at church in Eldoret.
Wednesday 27th to friday29th - ; ; ; ; Kisumu.
sunday 31st to Friday 5th February - Nairobi {gospel fire church}
Sunday 7th to friday 112th - Church of the Lord {Nairobi}
Sunday 14th to thursday 18th - Mombasa

Tuesday 15 December 2009

My situation was difficult. I believed God wanted me to go on a mission trip to Kenya for 5 weeks but my workplace policy was such that I could only take two weeks time off at a time. After praying about the matter I approached my manager who pointed out that nobody was given five weeks off. He then said that he would, however consider it and to come back to him at a later date. It was at that 'later time' I approached him again where he told me to put my request in writing. I should at this point share with you one or two complications.
Firstly our church will be sending a team ouit to Romania next year and I really want to be there.
Secondly I have a plan for a local mission in Northampton which would mean taking yet another week off.
In short, even if I were to get the five weeks off for Kenya I only have five weeks holiday entitlement per year. How would I get the time off to go to Romania and be part of the local mission as well?

I recieved a letter back from my employer stating that firstly I WOULD BE GIVEN THE FULL FIVE WEEKS I had requested! Secondly they would only be prepared to give me two weeks of it as holiday entitlement. The rest would have to be taken unpaid. This took me aback a bit. After all I simply can't afford to take three weeks off work unpaid. However within the hour my manager approached me asking me if I had read the letter yet and suggested a way {without any word from me} how I could be financially covered for the rest of my time off. The way he has worked it out means that I won't lose a penny for having five weeks off work .Everything is covered! What's more, because I have only taken tow weeks of my holiday entitlement I still have time for the Romainia trip and the local mission!!!

God knows exactly what he is doing even when we don't see how it can happen!!!

regards...Steve

Wednesday 2 December 2009

This is a mission trip that, according to natural logic at least, shouldn't be happening.

A few months ago at work during one of the quieter periods my mind began to dream up my ideal trip and I wrote out what I would like to do if I could take all five weeks of my holiday entitlement from work. I should explain that this was very impractical because my workplace does not allow people to take more than two weeks off at any one time. Nonetheless I figured it didn't do any harm to fantasise and besides, I strongly believed that God wanted me to return to Kenya and if it was His will then nothing could stop me.
I also did a basic costing and the total I needed was way out of my league at the present time. I figured that if God wanted me to go then, like last time, He would provide for me financially. Anyway much as it is fun imagining how things could be there is a difference between writing something down and actually doing something about it and after my initial excitement I began to think in a more level headed manner. I mean, after all, for something like this to happen it really would need divine intervention and how did I know for sure that I wasn't being over ambitious?
Later that same day I received a text out of the blue from a friend of mine at church called Patsy. This is what is said.
CAST YOUR BURDEN ON THE LORD AND HE WILL SUPPORT YOU. HE WILL NEVER ALLOW THE RIGHTEOUS TO BE SHAKEN.....Psalm 55 v 22

This was my burden. The thing that was on my mind that I didn't know how to resolve and here was someone who hardly ever texted me sharing a scripture with me that seemed to relate exactly to my situation. If God will not allow the righteous to be shaken then this plan MUST come to pass. He will not allow anything to get in the way. That text was the prompting I needed at exactly the right time to put in a request for five consecutive weeks off work and begin to prepare for the next mission trip abroad. In these next few posts that I will put up over the coming days and weeks I am going to share with you a series of events which to my mind are so clearly miraculous and evidence that God does indeed answer prayer.

God bless you...Steve

Monday 30 November 2009

Kenya 2010 - The next mission.

I am pleased to announce that at long last I will be returning to Kenya for another mission trip. This has been on my heart for a long time. In fact on only my second day there I knew I would return. This has come about because of God's miraculous leading and provision and therefore has something very important in common with the 2008 mission.

I will be leaving the U.K on January 15th 2010 for a period of five weeks. {This time on my own} and will be visiting several ministries in my time there. I hope to share some of how this trip came about {particularly God's hand in it all} shortly.

regards...Steve