Tirrim Secondary School just completed its annual Spiritual Emphasis weekend. It was a great time. Here are two highlights for which we praise God.
1. The first meeting, a student asked to accept Jesus into his life. One lost sheep brought into the fold! Then, at our closing, 8 more stood to say they wanted Jesus to be their shepherd. Please pray for these 9 – that God will truly change their hearts and give them new life – that they will see His power at work.
2. Another student gave a testimony on how he never knew what it meant to be a Christian until he came to Tirrim Secondary School. This is where he got saved and he’s so thankful.

Please pray for a principal for the school. Our acting principal David has done a wonderful job. Please pray God would call a man like David to replace him.

Pray for David Gargule, the directing manager of the Tirrim schools in Korr, and elder in the church. He has gained the respect of the Muslim community by his acts of kindness. Pray against the attacks of the Evil One and evil men and for His light to continue to shine.

This is an update on Hassan, a Rendille student in our school who is now in his final year of study. He continues to show extreme interest in Bible class. His mother died recently and this has saddened him. He has not seen his father since he was a small child and has been raised by his Muslim grandparents. Recently we found out that he’s been asking a lot of questions to our head prefect. Our head prefect is a boy who seriously wants to follow God. His name is Chulayo. We praise God that Hassan is asking questions and we praise God that Chulayo is seen as someone who might have the answers! Please continue praying for these two boys – that Hassan will find the peace he’s looking for in Jesus and that Chulayo will see God’s power working through him and giving him great wisdom.

Still keep praying for our Rendille Muslim students. One in Form 4 shows much interest but no definite steps yet. I have a new Bible class this year with one Muslim student who shows zero interest. But God can open hearts and minds. Keep praying for His word to break through tough barriers and for me to teach clearly in ways they can understand!

Please pray that the Rendille people will not be deceived or swayed by the new teachings of Islam, but will instead be attracted to the truth of God’s Word. Pray that their hearts will be hungry to know the truth, and that God’s truth will set them free.

Praise God for a new donation towards the literacy program, enabling it to continue. May God continue to use this program as a way for His word and truth to enter many traditional Rendille hearts. As people learn to read, may they learn to know the Living Word of God.

Praise for more work for food relief funds which are now coming to an end this week. Praise God for the work accomplished helping our community, and for the Word of God that has been sowed in their hearts. May many come to Jesus!

Pray for wisdom as the primary school is being pressed to over capacity with applicants. Pray for solutions that bring families to Christ and help students get an education.

We are sending off another new Rendille high school graduate to university and it feels a bit like sending sheep to the wolves. Pray for Somo. He will be living in the hostels, where many students explore their newly gained freedom from home rules and live lives full of sex, drugs and “fun”. May God protect Somo and keep him strong. Pray for Dibo and Andrew, two other graduates who continue with university studies – both are staying close to God and need His protection.

Tirrim Schools have begun another school year this week. Pray that every single teacher will catch the vision of the schools being a light house for Jesus. Praise God that the leadership of Tirrim truly want Christ to be the centre of the work. Pray that students will commit their lives to Jesus this year.

Praise the Lord for the many Rendille who have come to faith in Jesus Christ out of their previous fear of evil spirits. Pray for the many who are being pressured to exchange their African traditional religion for Islam. May they realise that if Jesus the Son will set them free, then they will be free indeed.

Please pray for two of my Muslim former students who met with me yesterday. Abdullahi and Elias. I’m in touch with them both off and on. Yesterday I asked them why they refused to become Christians. They said they didn’t know. One asked me why they should become Christians – in an honest and polite way. We had a good conversation. They have been in Christian schools and know God’s word. Another said that he didn’t see any difference between the Koran and the Bible. We had some good talks. Pray that God will work in their hearts. I believe they are open – but maybe not too serious about what part God plays in their lives.

Islam is targeting the Rendille for conversion, trying to turn them from their tradition of spiritism. But many Rendille are Christians, and are sharing the gospel with their friends and neighbours. Pray that the power of the gospel will win the victory in the hearts and minds of the Rendille.

Our Christian schools need godly Christian teachers. Pray for God to work in the hearts of teachers and that the fruit of the Spirit will be evident in their lives. Pray that mature Christian teachers can be found who are willing and able to teach at Tirrim school and share the gospel with Rendille students.

Please pray for a high school student named Hassan. He is a Muslim. He’s been in a Christian school for years, so has heard a lot about the Bible. Recently, he’s been asking lots of questions in Bible class and last week he asked to come talk about the Bible. I was excited and prayed a lot before he came, but by the time it worked out for us to meet, I think he got cold feet. We talked, but mainly about his family, not about the Bible. He knows the door is open for him to come any time. There’s a real spiritual battle going on for his heart and mind. Please pray for God’s power to overcome. He’s a nice boy, hard working and needs Jesus!

“Break the power of Islam over Rendille hearts and minds by opening their eyes to the truth of Your Word.”

This coming week we will be checking Proof 3 of the complete Rendille New Testament. Several copies will also be going to Rendille for community checking in several villages. At the end of October, any last-minute changes that might emerge will be done. Once those have been processed and checked, the New Testament will be ready to go for printing! Praise God for his faithfulness in watching over this process. The growing Rendille church is eagerly awaiting God’s Word. Pray for good success.

Please pray this for the Rendille: “Lord, break the power of Islam threatening to take over the Rendille hearts and minds. Open eyes to the truth of God’s Word.”

The boy mentioned earlier, Abdi, came to his senses after much prayer. He has left Korr to be with his parents who live elsewhere. He still needs prayer. The school is allowing him to return the end of August when our final term begins, but he is returning under a number of conditions. Pray for the young man – he is sad and feels alone in the world. His family has given up on him, basically due to his anger issues. He needs Jesus. May this last term be one that touches his heart.

Praise the Lord that the Rendille church is growing spiritually, and that there are Rendille believers taking the gospel to other villages where people need teaching. The Rendille are traditionally animists (dealing with spirits) but Islam is making inroads. Pray that the influence of Islam will be broken and that even the Islamic leaders will be saved.

The adult literacy has actually began, with two classes! It’s very exciting. We have 40 adults in the classes. Pray that God will use these to bring more into His Kingdom. As mentioned before, God has greatly used these classes in the past and key Christian leaders today came to know Jesus through this ministry. Pray that we can find funds to enable these classes to continue in 2018.

God has reopened a wonderful door in the Rendille world. One of the most amazing tools that God has used to bring Rendille into His Kingdom is Adult Literacy. This program was shut down some years ago due to lack of funds. However, a couple in the UK has given funds to get the program going again. We have enough funds to carry us through December and maybe into April 2018. There are trained Rendille teachers and godly Rendille evangelists ready for the job! We have the funds to open one village class now. Pray that God uses this class for His glory and that He will provide so that we can expand classes into other  villages. It is such an outstanding outreach program and excitingly uses Rendille to reach Rendille!

Abdi, a Rendille student, has a “Christian” father and a Muslim mother – they are separated. He says he’s a Muslim, but he’s not fasting this month of Ramadan. However, Abdi has a temper problem – he can become very destructive. I was just beginning to have a good relationship with him and having some talks, when something happened with other teachers that set him off. Last weekend he went on a destructive binge and has now been suspended. But God is able to work and we need prayers. Would love to see God’s power released!

Pray for Hassan, a Form 3 Rendille student. His Christian parents took him to Ethiopia to live when he was a small child. At some point, his grandparents collected him and brought him to Kenya and raised him as a Muslim. He is a bright student and has been in Christian schools most his life. But his happiest memory is when he first was able to fast for Ramadan. Would love for God’s word to penetrate into his heart. He knows the Bible well, but the enemy is strong. Pray for his deliverance.

The Rendille have strong churches and believers in Christ in some villages, but other villages are teetering on the brink of becoming Muslim instead of traditionally animist. Please pray for many Rendille to become evangelists, traveling to those villages that have not yet embraced the gospel. Pray that they will not exchange one false religion for another.

Pray that God will use this devastating famine to draw people to Himself. Many are struggling to survive, watching their means of support and source of food (animals) dying in front of their eyes. Even our schools are struggling to afford food for the students. Prices have tripled since January. Pray for people’s terrible need–and God’s gracious rescue–to turn many to Christ.

In spite of the devastating drought, the local Rendille church members have been supporting their pastor and partially supporting an evangelist in a daughter church every month, as they had just committed to do before the drought began. This is an amazing show of faith and maturity and sacrifice. Pray for them to continue and not lose heart.

Because of the ongoing drought in north Kenya, God’s people have been sending funds so the local church can purchase and distribute food. When the food is distributed, 2 Rendille evangelists share God’s Word. Over 90 “Treasures” (Bible solar players) have been given out, as people beg for spiritual as well as physical food. The Rendille pastor in charge continues to ensure fair distribution to all, setting up systems and observing financial accountability for all purchases. A Muslim leader asked our pastor where the food was coming from. The man then thanked our pastor for his work.

The Rendille live in scattered villages and these villages move several times a year. One village that is not far from us is Rungumo. It’s actually several villages and they range from 4 -8 miles away from ours. Not far if you have transport – but a long hot walk if you go by foot. These villagers are hungry for God’s word and requested that someone come teach them. A Rendille lady evangelist, Ndubayo, and Samuel, a mason who works with us, have begun holding Sunday services there. 200 come – including children! There is a little shelter with a tin roof where there used to be a kindergarten class, but it had to close down due to lack of funds. Samuel and others from the village have resurrected this school and hired a temporary teacher to continue the classes. This year there are 40+ students. And under this structure the villagers have met on Sunday. They overflow the building. Praise God for the interest in hearing God’s word. Pray for a person who can come teach them on a regular basis and give them a good foundation of the Christian life and walk. There is a battle going on for the Rendille hearts – Islam is making inroads all over northern Kenya. We need God’s power and we need people to help fight in this battle!

Just had an encouraging as well as scary conversation with a Rendille friend of ours. He commented that in Korr, the Muslims are not making headway. There is a strong Christian presence and God has been using the Christian schools and the church as a tremendous spiritual force in the area. However, 2 hours north of Korr is another large Rendille settlement – Kargi. It seems that Muslims are making huge inroads into that community. There is a big battle going on for the hearts of the Rendille – pray for the God of the Bible to win this battle! Pray that the church in Korr may remain strong. Pray that the schools can continue as they struggle for their financial subsidies needed to enable them to continue. Pray for areas outside of Korr’s influence – that God will provide workers and open hearts for His Kingdom.

A previous Rendille pastor has made a decision to join politics. He wants to represent the local community well and show godly care and concern for the constituents – in contrast to the many corrupt politicians that exist. Elections are in August, and this man, Joshua Turuga, needs prayer as he tries to lead a godly campaign and speak God’s wisdom and words around the area. He has many good ideas of how government funds could be well used to truly help communities develop and to have an honest politician would be wonderful. He is also aware that this job will not be easy, but hopes with God’s help, he can be successful.

We have a praise item for God’s working among the Rendille. This past December the church in Korr found it needed a new senior pastor. The men in the church met and made some faith based decisions that show great growth and maturity. They chose a pastor from among the elders who is a man who truly loves God. But they also decided that the local church needs to fully support this pastor financially. This has never happened in the church’s history and the first Sunday in January the leadership challenged the congregation to assume full responsibility for their pastor – they need to feed his family, care for his physical needs and pray for him. It was a very good service and a strong step of faith. Many in the congregation stood in unity and with the promise to take care of their pastor. Please pray that this will become a reality this year. Pray for Pastor Erot as he knows he needs God’s power and strength to lead well.

One prayer request sent some months ago was for the Rendille women – that they would find God’s love for them in a very male-oriented world. Heavy on our hearts has been the wife of our pastor who passed away in January. People from all over the world sent money to help with funeral expenses as well as to help the widow as she was left with 4 children, pregnant with a 5th and no bread winner for the family. The church leadership collected the funds and diligently set them aside. However, the men were reluctant to give the money directly to her as women are considered unable to handle money well. They struggled with many ideas of what to do and how to ensure that this lady used the money well. Meanwhile relatives were coming to the wife and to the leaders demanding that they get the funds and distribute them. The relatives were very unloving towards the wife even accusing her of causing the death of her husband. I was able to encourage her to write the church leadership with her thoughts on how she would use the funds – she wanted to put some into accounts for her children and also have some for living expenses and delivery of baby expenses. She said she had been very quiet but felt comfortable doing this. The great answer to prayer is that the leaders finally decided – after months of indecision – to give her all the money and told her it was totally up to her as to what happened to the funds – if she wasted them, that was her decision. This was a tremendous break through and answer to prayer to see the leadership change their thinking and we are so grateful. In addition, it has given this woman dignity and she has been able to God’s working in her life. As a side note and additional prayer item – she had her baby, a little girl, but mysteriously, within 24 hours, the baby died. No one knows what happened – she just seemed to choke a little and died. So this dear woman needs prayer. Her name is Faith – may God increase her faith in a loving God.

Last month I wrote about a one-legged beggar in Korr who struggles around with some ill-fitting metal crutches and comes to our house frequently. His physical needs are overwhelming – hunger, pain from his crutches, 2 babies and wife to feed…. However, this past week he came and while we were chatting, he began talking about how God is the One he needs to go to. The Rendille believe in a god who provides. But then this man pulled a little Treasure out of his dirty cloth wrapped around his waist. Treasures are Scripture on tape with music and songs and read with great dramatic skill. Treasures have been done in many different languages, one being Rendille. These little players are solar powered – perfect for Korr where the sun shines every day without fail. These Treasures are simple – they have buttons to play and to stop – no further recordings or erasures. He told me he was listening to this Treasure and played some for me to hear. I’m thrilled he has this Treasure and may God use this to teach about Himself and draw this man and his family to the God of Bible who promises to supply all our needs! God is the One with power to work in hearts!

There is a beggar in our village who lost his leg as a teenager in a tribal raid on Rendille cattle. He walks around town with the aid of some metal crutches that are mismatched and uncomfortable. We tried to even them out a bit with the welder. When we first met him, he was miserable and a grouch. We listened to his story and also advised him to say “Thank you” when he received help from us. He always says Thank you now, which is nice to see. He has been to church a few times.

Several years ago he told us that he was looking for a wife. He went all over to village after village and finally got one. He now has 2 children. His older child, around 2 years old, threw a rock and it hit the baby in the eye. Apparently the baby can no longer see out of that eye. This beggar lives by getting hand-outs from anyone whose willing to give. He’s not really a “nice” person but his life is really tough.

First, pray that he can know Jesus as his Savior and Lord. Secondly, pray that there could be some kind of change in his circumstances to make his life a bit better- though I don’t know what that could be – but God could figure out something if He wanted to! Thirdly, pray for our attitude towards him. We do not enjoy our transactions with him as they are so burdensome. He’s always so full of overwhelming problems. We can’t possibly fulfill all he needs, so it’s difficult facing him regularly. We need to see him as Jesus sees him and have wisdom in our interactions and conversations with him.

There is a young Rendille student – Form 2 (10th grade) – who has been chosen to be the school head prefect. Usually the new head is chosen from the Form 3 class (11th grade), but there were no good candidates this year. Pray for Chulayo. He has shown a past of seriously wanting to serve God. While in Standard 8 (8th grade) he formed a group called Warriors for Jesus. They would get up every day at 5:00 to pray as a group. He will be challenged in his leadership role. His ethics will be challenged as students like head prefects who let them get away with disobeying school rules and regulations. Pray for him to have balance in his leadership, love for his fellow students and humility. It’s a big role. Above all, may his love for God develop during this time and may he stay true to the truth. Sometimes it is even more difficult to stand for Jesus in so-called Christian schools!

Pray for the leadership in the Rendille town of Korr as they think about what stance the church schools should take regarding Muslim students. The leadership has taken a strong stand against students leaving school to attend traditional pagan rites and practices, but the Muslims have been treated differently. Students have been allowed to go to the mosque on Fridays for worship and they have been allowed to attend religious festivals. These policies are now being revisited. Pray that insight from above will be given and there will be unity of spirit in what God would like to see practiced. Along these lines, pray for the Muslim students in the high school as they are being confronted with God’s truth on a daily basis. Pray for the seed of God’s Word to penetrate and take root. It is very difficult for a Muslim to break loose from the tight community holds of their religion.

The Rendille in their poverty, will often not take a sick person to hospital, because it will cost money. The result is that the person then sometimes gets seriously ill. Then the relatives will use traditional medicines, often with very harmful effects. Cutting out the epiglottis with a razor blade is often done for a sore throat. So is cow dung on a burn. Pray that they will learn to trust the Lord for health, for finances and for all of their lives!

The church in Korr has 3 church plants in process. All three need Rendille men to come, interested in hearing God’s word. Women and children come, which is good, but we are praying for the heads of the homes to see the importance of knowing Jesus. Pray for these three new baby churches:
a. One in Namarei – it has an evangelist named Joel. He loves God and needs prayer as he leads the services each week
b. One in Nagaan – has people from Korr who go each Sunday to preach – but there is no one who visits and pastors during the week.
c. One in Dubsahai – this group has an appointed evangelist. Many come, but mainly children.

The Rendille in their poverty, will often not take a sick person to hospital, because it will cost money. The result is that the person then sometimes gets seriously ill. Then the relatives will use traditional medicines, often with very harmful effects. Cutting out the epiglottis with a razor blade is often done for a sore throat. So is cow dung on a burn. Pray that they will learn to trust the Lord for health, for finances and for all of their lives!