Church Attacks

Many of you may have heard about the Sunday attacks on two churches in Garissa, a town in North-Eastern Kenya, about 200 miles from Nairobi. On Sunday, balaclava-clad men shot two police officers, stole their assault rifles, and then proceeded to shoot the worshippers at an African Inland Church. Grenades were also thrown into the church, as well as into a Catholic church. 17 people have died, and another 44 were injured. 36 people have been arrested in connection with the attacks so far, and this number is likely to rise as officials are attempting to gather as much information about the responsible groups. No organization has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet.

These "Black Sunday" attacks have been the worst attacks on a church in recent history, but they have not been the only attacks. There have been a series of small attacks on churches in Nairobi, mostly consisting of grenades thrown into church services. There have also been attacks on nightclubs, bus stops, and other public places.

These attacks have come as a result of a Kenya led invasion of Somalia that began in October of 2011. Al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda linked terror organization that has been battling for control of Somalia, had been kidnapping aid workers and others from the Dadaab Refugee Camp. Kenyan Armed Forces began an invasion of Somalia to force Al Shabaab back away from the border of Kenya in order to protect its citizens and foreign aid workers.

As a result of this U.S. backed invasion, Al Shabaab and other Somali linked terror groups began the assault on public places in Nairobi, threatening to continue their attacks on shopping centers, hotels, and places of worship.

Pastoring a church in Nairobi while this is going on is not always the easiest. There is the thought, always in the back of my mind, that there could always be more attacks. We have made decisions about where to shop based on terror alerts that we receive from the embassy, and we avoid certain parts of town that are known to be more dangerous.

Kenya's location in Africa - close to or bordering troubled states such as Sudan and Somalia - makes it a prime location for militant Islam to rise. Islam is the fastest growing religion in Kenya. Since the early 1990s, mosques in Mombasa (a costal town popular with tourists) and other towns have resonated with militant Islamic rhetoric. Radical imams have preached violence against Westerners, attacked the Kenyan government as the lackey of the United States and Israel, and called for the implementation of Shari'ah law. The Al Qaeda bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania were organized in mosques near Mombasa.

The church is under attack in Kenya. The rise of Islam is cause for concern. But the good news is we serve a great God. Adrienne, the boys and I have been called here to shepherd the flock at Living Water. What God has called us to do, we will do with all the strength that He gives us. Would you join us in praying for this country, this church, and our family?

* Please pray for those who were attacked, that the injured would heal quickly, and the families of those who died would find comfort.

* Please pray for the Church as a whole in Kenya, that they would reach out to the Muslims in the country with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

* Please pray that there would be no retaliatory attacks against Muslims.

* Please pray for the safety of the churches of Kenya.

* Please pray for Living Water Christian Fellowship, that God would guide us as we shepherd His people.

* Please pray for continued safety for our family, as we continue living in Nairobi.


Neema na Amani,
(Grace and Peace)

Jonathan, for the F5

Pray without Ceasing

It's amazing how long God let's us go in our own plan without asking Him for help isn't it? We can get wrapped up in our own lives and schedules and forget to rely on the Lord and pray and have open fellowship with Him. Jonathan and I have been so beautifully reminded that God actually wants to be a part of the ministry here in Kenya. With Jonathan, transitioning to a senior pastor position has come with challenges. With questions like we get from folks like, "What's your vision for the church?" "What's your church model?" In our hearts we know that this is God's church and He will do as he sees fit as long as we pray and come to Him with every detail. But somehow it's easy to get caught up in the thought of what we'd like the church to be like. We've come to the understanding that God wants our church to be a Bible-believing, pray-without-ceasing, loving, God-fearing, Holy-Spirit led church. We are confident that our God answers prayers. And He especially likes to use weak and humble things to confound the wise. Jonathan was wrestling over the Sunday morning message. We've been going through the Book of Revelation at the church and he's been feeling for about a month that God was asking him to go in a different direction. "But Lord, this is what we do. We teach the whole book, verse by verse, till it's finished." Then came the night before the Sunday morning message. Jonathan walked into the living room after a couple hours of studying, and he just looked defeated. I asked him, "How's it going?" He says, "I've got nothing." We both looked at each other and knew God was going to do something amazing. It unfortunately tends to be our most desperate time where we really call upon the name of the Lord for help and His mighty hand will always deliver us. Jonathan began to pray. He was led that night to a book called "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" by Jim Cymbala. It's the amazing testimony about the Brooklyn Tabernacle that God revived and restored through prayer. It's an INCREDIBLE book. We realized how much we've neglected prayer. We pray before meals, pray with/for our kids, pray when theirs a need from someone but not with the passion that comes from a prayer warrior who is aware that we our speaking to our Heavenly Father and He WILL answer. That night something amazing happened. Jonathan and I got a fresh wind and fresh fire that was beyond anything we expected. The Lord showed Jonathan what he should share with the congregation the next day. I've seen God move in my husband before, but not like this. I can't even describe that night to you but we know that God is with us. God is moving in our church, He has a heart and a vision for the people regardless of what we think should happen. It was stunning to experience God in such a fresh way that we had realized that we'd been trying to "do church" in our own strength for too long. Since then our passion has been renewed for prayer. We are excited to see what God will do with His people. We are humbled and amazed that God would work through us in this way. We have been blessed by those who pray for the church and for our family. We can tell you first hand that God hears and God answers prayer!

He is good!!

With Easter just a day behind us we are still basking in the memories of the blessings of yesterday. Jonathan had a Seder Supper with the whole church for Easter service and so many were blessed. It was so amazing to see people draw correlations from the Old Testament to the New Testament concerning the practices of this Seder Supper. Knowing that the Jews don't recognize Jesus as their Messiah, we as Christians can clearly see Jesus wrapped in every bit of the ceremony. It was amazing! I would have to say the highlight for me was watching a sweet woman in our congregation named Phyllis leaning forward and hanging on every word that was being said, taking notes. It was fun to watch the kids search for the hidden bread and see their excitement as they traded their found treasure for chocolate. Benjamin, now 20 months old was searching with the other kids completely unaware what the other kids were doing but he sure knew when it was time for chocolate! He began squealing in excitement and searching for the place where he saw Jonathan hide the chocolate. What an amazing day!

With the rains that have finally made it, we have had an influx of bugs. Poor little Benny got a bug bite on his arm that got infected and basically looks like a huge boil covering about 1/3 of his forearm. He's now on antibiotics and we are hoping it gets healed soon. With the rains, we always seem to get these flying termites (you might remember a post we had when we were at language school, where I had taken a picture of a pile of termite wings...bleh!)but we have witnessed "June bugs" coming in ENORMOUS proportions. Just this morning when I opened our front door, I witnessed THOUSANDS of June bugs dead on our porch. Thousands. It's nightmarish. I think they are mating at night and then dying? I don't know I have to look it up.

Update on Jonathan and the accident: We are so glad that Agnes, the girl who was hit is okay. She doesn't have recollection of the accident at all so she had called Jonathan a few weeks ago to ask what had happened. She told Jonathan that she's praising God that He allowed her to survive the accident and she's telling everyone what God has done for her. After Jonathan spoke with her over the phone he said he felt as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. His anxiety about driving and the accident seemed to really cool down. Please keep us in prayer for safety on the road. Just the other day I saw a man dart out from behind a huge truck and he didn't even look to see if their was traffic. I thought I was about to witness a horrific accident but praise God the car that was about to hit him braked barely in time. The pedestrian who had darted out kept a big grin on his face and trotted across the busy road as if he was not about to meet eternity. Mind boggling.

Last year, Calvary Chapel Missionaries/ministry leaders in Kenya gathered together for a retreat where we were refreshed and renewed. Next week will be our second Calvary Chapel Missionaries/ ministry leaders Retreat. We are so excited to meet new families that have come this year and reconnect with friends serving in different parts of Kenya. God is doing an amazing work here in Kenya and it's amazing to be a part of it.

Much love received! We went to the post the other day looking for an Easter package my grandma and sister had sent and although it hadn't come, we were surprised to get a couple SWEET packages from our fellow "Refugees", the Hinrichs Family and the Shuerke Family. The kids were blessed with some new books, some cool "grow a bug" little plastic bugs that turn enormous when we put them in water (just in time for the rains!), and a really cool letter from The Shuerke (yikes, spelling??!!!) family who blessed us with some books for the kiddos and enormous encouragement. Thank you so much, Refuge Family for praying for us and sending us sweet gifts of love and encouragement. The kids have been talking about their friend, Wyatt, in America, and asking us what we think Wyatt likes. It's so cool to have those connections even though they've never met! Our God is so good! If you are reading Shuerke Family and Hinrichs Family , thank you so much for the blessings!

As I'm sitting here typing I'm listening to Watermark's Album "The Purest Place" and listening to these lyrics from the song "The Purest Place" which are resonating with me in reflection of all that's happened:

"If there's such thing as too beautiful If there's such things as too wonderful If there's such thing as too marvelous Jesus it's You, Jesus it's You"

God bless you guys!

Accident Prayer and Praise Report

Hi friends and family, Thank you for always keeping us in prayer here in Kenya. Last night, while leaving Calvary Chapel Nairobi's Bible College, there was a woman standing in the middle of the road with her back to on coming traffic attempting to cross the road. When Jonathan saw her he slammed on his brakes but there wasn't enough time for the car to stop and the woman was hit. We are praising God that she is okay, Jonathan and a family member of hers took her to the hospital where she was completely examined and xrayed and she has no broken bones, fractures or any serious problems resulting from the accident. Please keep her in prayer as the next days/weeks(?) she will no doubt be in pain. Please keep Jonathan in prayer as he is very shocked by the accident. Thank you, Adrienne

Refreshed and Renewed

A little over two years ago we moved our family of four into an exciting adventure in Nairobi, Kenya. Excited to start a new life as "missionaries" we began an intensive language coarse to learn Kiswahili. We knew little about how anything would pan out. Did we have enough money to make it to next month? How would we get a car? We coasted on trusting in the one and only thing we knew, God called us and he would be with us. Everything was exciting because we were taking God at His word. About a month into our move, everything from within me cried out for my life in America. The comforts, the certainty, my friends, family, convenience. Although I've never seen this first hand, watching me was probably a bit like watching a drug addict give up their habit. I frequently called home in tears over hearing their voices, I craved to walk through malls sipping coffee, I craved my independence. One thing was for sure, I was sinking. I would be crippled somedays with thoughts of helplessness, fear, anxiety. Just a bit of peace was all I wanted. In my mind I knew peace came from our Lord but in my flesh I wanted just one more hit of America, a coffee shop, a bit of shopping, anything to get my mind off of my quiet, unfamiliar, uneventful, frustrating life. We began to wake up from awful nightmares and an alarming event where a frightening confrontation between our guard and a drunk really caused me to pray and read God's word faithfully. I understood for the first time what I had to change in my life to hold on to God without resentment or fear. I begged God to become our hope, our light, our familiar place. I wouldn't take back these two years in Kenya for anything. It was in this desert where I found the only well spring that became my refuge. And Jesus met me there. When I've spoke to wonderful families such as some missionary friends of ours. I've always wondered how they have this unshakeable trust in the Lord. It was because God has placed them in fires that they clung to the Lord. I am in a lot of ways like a new born baby, clinging to it's mother, waiting for the next feeding, tired, joyful one moment, in tears the next. These last two years have been precious for my personal growth in Christ and have been priceless as a family. We have grown together in Jesus and in his Word and have seen the work of His hands. The best part and worst part about being a missionary is we don't actually have any long-term plans. God holds it all. The work God has done in our lives has proved that He will never leave us or forsake us and He is absolutely faithful, even when I am faithless. We attended the missions conference this past week and were renewed, refreshed and reminded that this work in Kenya is His work, not ours. He gets all the glory and praise because He has done great things in us and in His church! We praise Him because He is letting us be involved in His precious church, He's working in us and He's not finished with us. We are so thankful to have spent this precious time with our family and friends. A special thank you for all your love and support during our visit. We will be flying home, Tuesday, Jan. 17th. We are excited to kick this year off, praising our Lord for the great things He has done in 2011 and we are excited to see the great things He has in store this year!

Ephesians 2:19-22 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Adjusting to American Life

We have been in the states for about six weeks now and we can hardly contain the whirlwind of events that are swirling around us. One of the main reasons for coming out was to be a part of my

younger sister, Kristin, and her fiance, Kevin's wedding. We have been swimming around in the world of wedding events at my grandmother's house (where we are currently staying). With less than one week till my sister's big day and all of the wedding events and other appointments it was inevitable that someone was going to get sick. So here I am, day 2 of residing in what I refer to as "the bat cave" and loading myself up with orange juice, Emergen-C, 7-up, tea, soup, Nyquil and whatever else I can get my hands on to heal up before the big day. And most importantly, staying away from everyone else in the house is absolutely ESSENTIAL. Not only are the bride and groom at the same house, but the ring bearers (Josiah and Christopher), the officiator (Jonathan), and of course two bridesmaids (myself and my sister, Erica). So everyone is avoiding my sick space like the plague! But I am so blessed that they are all still taking very good care of me and everyone seems to be chipping in to take care of the boys. Benjamin has started walking and he is SO great at his balance now. A minute ago I left the "bat cave" and saw him walking around and balancing so much better. It's such a sweet time to have family all around and to have our little Benjamin in the beginning stages of walking. We enjoy seeing family get a kick out of him too. We were surprised by my sister and brother-in-law who flew in from Australia on the day before Thanksgiving. We thought they were coming in on Friday but the surprise was on us this time!!! We have never had the chance to meet our Australian born brother-in-law, Mitch, so we were beyond blessed to meet such a precious addition to our family. Cheers mate! Thanksgiving was an absolute dream for our family. The company was amazing and we got to connect and catch up with so many family members. The time was precious, so refreshing and dear to me. I even signed up for the Long Beach Turkey Trot and ran my first 5K before the Thanksgiving festivities began! I wanted to update the blog with a few pictures of what we've been up to while we've been here. I hope you enjoy them!

Fergusons are here, SURPRISE!

We are so blessed and thankful to have made it here to California safely. After traveling with a 4, 3 and 1 yr. old for 19 hours, we were praising God for our sanity! We were so excited that we had our whole family and friends believing we were coming home on November 10th when the WHOLE TIME we had planned on coming in Oct. 19th. We had each and every surprise planned for months and we could hardly wait till we were finally embracing family after two long years away from them. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. Our first thoughts as we came back into America were, "Wow, everything is so big and open here." And we were in awe of all the advertising. It's funny how much we can forget by being over seas for just two years. Jonathan has been invited to speak at a few churches to share what the Lord has been doing with us in Kenya and to teach some studies. We are so excited to meet new friends and are thankful for the opportunities to share with other believers. Tomorrow Jonathan will be teaching at a church in Arizona called Cross Connection International Fellowship. Please pray that the fellowship is blessed by the teaching and pray for opportunities to minister in this sweet fellowship. Things have been a whirlwind since we've arrived and we ask for your continued prayers for our family as we adjust for this short period of time. We will be in California till mid-January. Special thanks to my best friend, my grandma, Judy, for running around all over town to get everything in the house so we didn't have to worry about coming home and having to shop for diapers, find a high chair or stroller, get food. And thanks for keeping up the web of lies on our behalf so we can surprise the rest of the family. Special thanks to our F5 care team; Linda and Ross, Dorrys,Susan and Les, Katie, Nikki, The Copalbo Family and the Hinrichs Family for the goody basket and for all of your arranging and running around on our behalf so we can settle quickly. We just love you guys and are so thankful and blessed. We thank you again for your out pour of love for our family. If you would like us to share with your small group or church, please contact Jonathan Ferguson at mungubariki@gmail.com. Love, The Fergusons