"Excuse Me"

"My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment." James 3:1

Here is a sampling of the teaching that is given in most Kenyan churches. This is from a famous pastor out here, who has a daily radio show:

Blessed Is Everything That Comes Forth From You by Joseph Prince

Deuteronomy 28:4
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your body…

The Bible records that Jesus’ spit healed a blind man (Mark 8:23–25), Peter’s shadow healed the sick (Acts 5:15), and handkerchiefs and aprons from Paul’s body drove out evil spirits and diseases. (Acts 19:11–12) This tells us that what comes forth from our bodies can be so blessed that it brings about blessings and miracles to others.

Indeed, God said, “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body…” He was not just referring to your children, or He would have simply said, “Blessed shall be your children.” No, God meant that everything that proceeds from your body will be blessed. All that is of and from your body will be of top-notch quality!

This includes your health. So even if your doctor has said that you have a particular medical condition in your body, just believe that God calls your health, the fruit of your body, blessed. And expect to walk continuously in divine health!

God calls your thinking ability, the fruit of your body, blessed too. You will impress your teachers and schoolmates in school with your mental prowess, or your superiors and colleagues at work with your innovative ideas and solutions. Your mental faculties will be of quality par excellence!

If you are married, you will enjoy a truly blessed marriage and a fulfilling sex life with your spouse. A secular song that laments, “I can’t get no satisfaction…” will never be true for you because God calls your marital relationship (both the emotional and physical parts of it), the fruit of your body, blessed!

If you are a parent, God calls your children, the fruit of your body, blessed. This means that they are special, having exceptional qualities. So the child you are taking care of is not just a child. You are holding a champion in your hands. He will grow up to be a general in God’s kingdom!

Beloved, because Jesus has paid the price — His body was beaten, scourged and pierced for you, all these blessings are yours. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body!


Thought Of The Day
Because Jesus has paid the price, everything that proceeds from your body will be blessed.

So, at what point do you draw the line? If I drink a soda, and then burp in your face, does that mean I have blessed you, since it proceeded out of my body?

This Health-and-Wealth Prosperity Gospel is found in most churches here in Kenya. They promise money, fame, and healings are guaranteed if you have enough faith.

The main issue here is that this line of reasoning stands in complete opposition to the Word of God. "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

What role does the sovereignty of God have in a world where your faith can force God to do something?

Please pray for the country of Kenya, that the Truth would be taught in a mighty way.

Blessings,
Jonathan

Ferguson update

Dear friends and family,

Let me start off by saying thank you to all who have been asking about little Abigail Gorden, who was bit by a Puff Adder a few weeks ago. We have been so blessed to hear of your prayers before the Lord. Abigail is recovering well and believe it or not, walking on her foot! Please keep our families in prayer with the wild life here. Although it is a huge blessing to be amongst such majestic creatures such as giraffe, zebra, lion, it comes with it's price too. We get some deadly snakes in the area and for an Orange County mama, I'm still learning how to handle all the "what if" scenarios when our kids go out to play. Praise God, a neighbor had advised us on a snake repelent that the Gordens and our family have put around the house.

We have some exciting things coming our way. This year has proved to be the season of change between our friends, extended family and ourselves. Jonathan has taught the last few Sundays at the church and is looking forward to what the Lord has for Living Water Christian Fellowship. The Gorden Family may in fact move their leave date to mid to late April so Jonathan will be taking the church very soon. Please keep all the details in prayer.

A few of the Calvary missionaries have gotten together and arranged a one day retreat for all Calvary Chapel ministry leaders and missionaries. The date if set for mid April. Our family is so looking forward to the refreshing the Lord will bring. What a treat!

Also another change for our extended family is my sister is getting married in Australia! She is getting married the seventeenth of February and we are so excited for this new season in her life. Please keep her and her fiance in prayer as they celebrate this joyous season of life! We love you Erica and Mitch! Many blessings to you both and Mitch, take care of my baby sister!

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers and our friends, the Gordens.

God Bless you all,
Adrienne for the F5

Big Changes for the F5

Friends and Family,

We thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Looking back on this last year, there have been lots of sweet times with the Lord and lots of rough patches where we've grown as individuals and as a family. I (Adrienne) was looking forward to 2011 as a year where adapting to life here wouldn't be quite as difficult and hoped we would get into our own "groove" in ministry and life in general. In Proverbs 16 verse 9, the Bible reminds us that "In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the LORD establishes their steps." This verse is the one that stands out as I share the beginnings of a huge change for the Fergusons. Last week was the beginning of the events that took us completely by surprise. Robbie, Sr. pastor of Living Water Christian Fellowship, shared that the Lord is directing them to Western Samoa. The Gordons plan on moving late May to early June. With that, he has asked Jonathan to take over as the senior pastor of the church. Jonathan has accepted and we are both sad we are losing such beautiful friends and excited about what the Lord will do in the next few months and the years to come. So please keep the following in prayer:

The Gordon Family as they wrap up ten years of ministry and life here in Kenya and direction as they head on to W. Samoa
Jonathan as he is praying for everything that involves taking over a church (vision for ministry, personal time with the Lord)
The saints of Living Water Christian Fellowship
That God would be glorified through the transition
Prayer for furlough plans as we may have to make some changes to our plans

Merry Christmas!

Hi there friends and family,

Boy are we missing you all this time of year. The Christmas cards are coming in from friends and family and we are so thankful to be a part of all of your lives. It's so neat to see your pictures and to hear the latest happenings of your lives!
A few days ago we settled into our temporary house. We are house sitting for a German family while they are in Germany. I can't tell you how the Lord blessed us in this house. It's incredible! We are right on the Nairobi National Game Park and we woke up our first morning to three giraffe right outside the window!
Last night we spent an early Christmas dinner with the Kliebe Family. It was the first time all month that it actually felt like Christmas. The Kliebes made a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy,biscuits and pumpkin bread. We made orange sorbet and peppermint hot chocolate (with real candy canes that my grandma sent us!!!)It was truly a night that we will not forget. There's nothing like friends cooking in the kitchen together, sharing great fellowship, eating a great meal, playing a game and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. God is so good! Enjoy the pics from last night.














Merry Christmas and God Bless you!

Quick Update

Hi friends and family,

There has been so much happening on this end and not a minute to write about all of it!

First of all, THANK YOU Refuge family. We got your cards of encouragement and all of your gifts that you sent for Baby Ben! What a blessing. (For those that aren't at Refuge, our church family sent us DOZENS of cards with an amount of money they contributed towards Benny for a baby shower. Some index cards had an amount of money for diapers, clothes, wipes, baby blankets...everything one would get for a baby shower! We were and are beyond blessed. We also received those that contributed towards getting us our plane tickets for our furlough coming up in October of 2011. We were so touched at such thoughtful gifts.)

Living Water Christian Fellowship is doing amazing. We've been going through Hebrews 11 and the church is excited to look at the pillars of the faith and be encouraged. What a blessing!

The midweek studies are doing well. We have just a few that attend but they are growing in the word of God. The midweek studies will have the month of December off and will pick up in January. I, Adrienne, have had the privilege (thanks to my super duper husband) of attending the Wednesday study through Revelation. Truly exciting times we are living in!

The Fergusons will be moving AGAIN! We have some German missionary friends that will be leaving the country for 8 months and needed house sitters. And seeing as that we have a VERY expensive plane trip to pay for and they were willing to charge half the rent we are paying now, we jumped at the opportunity! Moving day is 8 days before Christmas. With that, please pray for our house lady whom we employ, Mary. She needs a job and right now there is nothing that has come her way. Also for a woman who lives with us named Agnus. Angus and Mary are both sweet sisters in the Lord whom we care deeply for. Agnus also needs a job.

Jonathan and Robbie, pastor of our church, received and exciting opportunity to do a Bible answer program on a local radio station called, "Family Radio". The one hour program is titled "The Mirror". The idea came from the verse in James chapter one which says, " Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do." Kenyans can text in their questions and have them answered live. The first airing of the radio program was tonight and went well. Please keep the program in prayer as Jonathan will be assisting answering the questions with Robbie a few times a month on Sunday nights.

We had an excellent Thanksgiving. We had all the traditional food we would normally have in the States. Every person contributed food to bring so our great big Thanksgiving had about 40 people including kids. We ate Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, mango salad, rolls, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake and a great big chocolate cake to celebrate some birthdays. We had a great time and left the house in a turkey coma! (Sound familiar?)

We didn't make the group Thanksgiving pic because we were running late but here are the neat missionaries we spent Thanksgiving with.

The Lord Bless you this holiday season and we will shoot out another update very soon!

Love,
The Fergusons

Never a dull moment...

As I leave the house this morning, I glance at the dresser and see my camera. "I should take this today," I say to myself. "Right, when am I going to have time to take pictures of the kids at the playground when I'm most likely going to be nursing, holding the baby and feeding the kids lunch." So I leave it on the desk, safe and secure and unable to give you the evidence of today's adventure.
Today Jonathan is studying for Sunday service. Every third Sunday Jonathan teaches as well as Mondays, Fridays and occasionally Wednesdays. Today was the perfect opportunity to get the kids out of the house so daddy can study in peace and quiet. Days like this usually mean an adventure, to say the least, for mommy.
I leave the house, hopeful that today will go somewhat smoothly. 3 year old Josiah, 2 year old Christopher and 8 week old Ben are in the car, ready to terrorize the day. As we pull up to Carnivore, a local restaurant and playground, I grab the kid's packed lunch, pull out the stroller and pull out an anxious Josiah and Christopher and a screaming Ben. I can feel my cappuccino on the horizon, just inside Carnivore. We navigate through the parking lot as I crazily banter directions to the kids so they just get inside the doors of Carnivore safely. We get to the playground and the boys sit down for lunch at a nearby bench. Their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches resting on their foil "plates" and the boys begin to eat. I nurse the baby. "Okay, things are going smoothly, I'll just go a few feet away to tell the waiter to bring a coffee." I get up, order the coffee and I look up to see the kids have left the bench to go on the slide despite my directions to sit and eat and then play after they have finished. I give the waiter my order when I hear two screams from the playground.
I look towards the slide as I see a monkey enter into the play area. I run over to the play area where two stiff-screaming boys are holding pieces of their sandwiches. One monkey, perched on top of the bench, with a mouth full of peanut butter and jelly, glares at me out of the corner of his eye, worried I will take the remaining sandwiches. I take the kids away from the monkey and carry them safely to another area. The monkey appears panicked as Josiah and Christopher scream and now, Baby Ben is crying in his blanket covered stroller. The monkey eyes the boys, then Ben, then me. The monkey seems to be surprised and worried that he caused such a commotion. I would say the monkey looked remorseful had I not seen him eating and collecting the sandwiches frantically. The monkey's family rests on the tin roof of a nearby structure, waiting for their portion. We surrender the sandwiches gladly. Now not even ten minutes into out playtime we are on plan B.
After glancing at the expensive prices on Carnivore's menu, I decided to go to the local grocery store to get something more reasonably priced. I remembered they had a small arcade inside the grocery store area and the kids could play. As I approach the waiter requesting the bill, two young Kenyan girls approach Josiah and Christopher. Now, for some reason, Kenyans seem to like to tease our children. I don't think it's because they want to see them cry, or do they? They approach our family and begin to admire Baby Ben and ask the usual question they normally ask when seeing any of our children, "Please, you will let me go home with this one." This absolutely panics Josiah and Christopher. This interrogation lasts 15 minutes until the waiter finally brings back the bill and makes change. The conversation went something like this, "Are these two twins?" (Meaning Josiah and Christopher). "No, they are 16 months apart." "And what's your little girl's name?" "Well, he's a boy, his name is Benjamin." "Please, let me take this one home," the young girl directs the question at Josiah. Josiah, "NOOO! That's my baby." "But I will take him home and he will be my baby." Panicked Josiah glares her in the eye and says, "NOOO, this is MY brother!" The relentless teasing about taking the baby home inevitably leads to teasing about taking Josiah and Christopher home. The panic increases in the boys and I think, "Why do you guys do this? Can't you see that this upsets them?" The kids are in full hysteria as I keep interjecting that they won't take anyone home. Then the girl's say, "What if I take your mommy and daddy." "Really???" I think. I calm the kids down and politely try to move things along as I assure the kids that we aren't going anywhere and neither are they.
We load back into the car, off to the grocery store to continue our adventure. On the way out I notice a Kenyan man in his twenties wearing a bright tie-dyed shirt with the words on the back, "Nifty, Nifty, Someone's Turning Fifty!" Now this isn't the first time I've seen something like this. The second hand clothing stores in Kenya are where most Kenyans get their clothes. We've seen a Kenyan wearing a "Smith Family Reunion" shirt with a happy white family on the front. Or a Kenyan man wearing a Little League jacket with the team name, city and state on the front. Even shirts that have come from Disneyland or other theme parks from America. This has given me a broad sense of the "big picture" of things. Although this seems silly and even alarming to us, it's a minor thing here. They are just clothes to cover your back and keep you warm. Nothing more. Mostly we've observed that Kenyans typically dress very well. The women are usually in nice dresses, kangas or occasionally in a pants suit. Always nice shoes, a pair of high heels. Men are dressed in a pair of nice slacks and usually a button down, long sleeved shirt. Even if they are farmers, pouring concrete or doing strenuous work. On our first trip to Kenya, this had surprised me. I thought that I would see more Kenyans in grungy jeans and t-shirts. I am reading a book where the author makes the point that to buy clothes such as jeans and t-shirts is a luxury, usually reserved for rich people. After chewing on this bit of information I thought, "Of course! If I made a small bit of money, I would save it to buy something that looked really nice to wear to work and to go to church in." If you came to Kenya you may observe that Kenyans dress much better than the foreigners.We observed a Maasai man today that fascinated me with his traditional wrap on the bottom half, his staff in hand and a business jacket. Truly wished I had brought my camera today.
Well, as our day wound down, it ended much like it began. Removing an anxious Josiah and Christopher from the car and a screaming Benjamin. They scurried on back into the house. Another day conquered.

Kenyan men and women

It's typical to see women in Kenya who are responsible for much. You can see many Kenyan women taking care of daily tasks with a child strapped to their back. They can be responsible for the household tasks, child rearing and even hold down a job. We've seen them carrying HUGE bundles of wood for miles and miles, even in old age. We have found that often the case is the men will work or try to find work but wont help much around the house or even with the children. The women are expected to have the household chores done, keep the children quiet and provide an income for the family. Due to limited jobs and Kenyan culture, there are many instances where the men will sit around and the women will find the work. (Not all, but a lot) Mary, our house lady even explained that when mom's have babies, other women will come to help for a month and then they are expected to maintain their regular work at home, get up with the baby at night, feed the family and any unexpected visitors. Mary even explained that it is very normal to have women going through depression during this time.

It has been interesting observing the reaction of Kenyans when we go out in public and Baby Benjamin is crying. We have found that Kenyans don't really let their babies cry. I have heard this from a few missionaries and observed it when our house lady, Mary, immediately remedies Baby Ben's crying by picking him up. We were in a taxi a few weeks (due to car troubles) with Baby Benjamin and Josiah. The taxi driver looked at me in disbelief as Baby Benjamin was crying (he hates the car seat) and I seemed rather calm. He finally said, "Isn't their SOMETHING you can do to keep the baby quiet?" I saw the taxi driver's discomfort and took the baby out of the car seat to try and ease Ben's distress.

So what's the big deal about the baby crying? Well as I thought through the cultural aspects of the situation I came up with nothing. Until today. I was meeting some moms at a local restaurant called Carnivore. We try to get together on Tuesdays for a play group. Carnivore has a huge playground and the kids can play for free (very rare here). As we entered the play area Benjamin cried the whole way in. I quickly passed by the coffee shop, "Dormans" located near the play area. I asked in desperation, "Are you open yet?" "Just a few minutes ma'am," he replied. I returned with Ben in his stroller and a blanket covering the opening of the stroller so he could sleep. The barista looked up and said, "That one was crying so bad." Already frustrated with the way things started out today I replied, "Yep, that's what babies do at this age. They cry." He agreed,"Hmmm...they do. Even mine. When my little girl was small she was always crying." Seeing the discomfort in his eyes as he recalled the days of his little girl's infancy, I asked curiously, "Didn't you know that babies cry? Or did you expect your wife to stop her from crying?" And he said, "Yes. When I come home I don't want to hear all the crying." Hmmm...there it was. It is the woman's responsibility to keep things running smooth. No interruptions. No crying or disturbances from the children. Any mom at this point is probably wondering how a woman can be responsible for keeping small children from acting out in public or keep babies from crying, even when fed, changed and burped. Especially if they have multiple children.

The redeeming part for Kenyan men that changed my thinking:

So I continue the conversation, hoping for a chance to start a relationship to share the Lord (especially if we will be returning weekly). He explained that his daughter was now 17 months old and he takes his daughter every Wednesday for just daddy and daughter time. WOW! A VERY rare thing to hear about. He explained that he has the dates with his daughter because he remembers growing up and not spending quality time with his parents and he wanted it to be different with his child. That and he would get the opportunity to give his wife the day off. What a guy! This may not seem to be much to those of us women who have husbands that are "hands on" but this is HUGE for Kenyan men.

I have resolved to not conclude anything from my limited experience with these observations. I hope there is a generation of Kenyan men that will love their wives and share the burden of daily tasks and responsibilities.

-Adrienne