Don Jacobs led in a song of thanks for the food. Following the lunch we moved right in to the meeting with Marlin and Rosie Givens from Palmyra leading us in songs of praise to the Lord and Rosie accompanying on her accordion. Rosie actually started the time with a beautiful accordion solo.
Samuel Muikia, from Baltimore, MD, asked who will share the Word. He was asked “will you do it?” He gave a challenging personal testimony . He was raised in a Christian home and taught to pray, to attend church, to give a tithe. But as he got older he chose the paths of sin. In 2004 he prayed a sincere prayer of repentance and received salvation. The Word he chose to share with us was from Exodus 2:9. He applied the words of Pharoah’s daughter to each of us: “take this baby [life] and nurse him for me and I will pay you.” We are given the task of caring for Jesus when we receive him in to our lives. We must be attentive to his wishes. We must move at his call and obey his commands. Christ wants to ‘grow up’ [mature] in us. And there are rich rewards for ‘taking care of Jesus’ ! It was a unique word and we were blest in hearing it. "Glory, glory, Hallelujah! Glory, Glory to the LAMB !"
Millicent Njuguna sang a solo “Feed My Sheep” which she has written and she sang to the music of the CD she has produced. Mary Njenga, [the wife of Rev. Johnson Njenga Kamau an ordained Presby-terian minister now attending Lancaster Bible College] gave her testimony praising the Lord for salvation! Miriam Njuguna from Lititz, gave testimony in her Kikuyu language and Mary interpreted it in to English. Miriam had been a religious person – even serving as deaconess in her church in Kenya – but she didn’t know Jesus personally. Later she was saved and the gospel became a living Word in her life. Paul Ndungu told how he was orphaned at a young age. He didn’t expect anything good to come in his life – but God made it possible for him to get an education and he came to America and studied at Evangelical Seminary in Myerstown where he obtained a doctorate in ministry. He is now the Executive Director of OnFire Agape Ministires, Inc., reaching Kenya for Jesus. (Check this ministry on the Internet. ) Cindy Hess who works at Landis Homes praised the Lord that by continually looking to Jesus she lives in peace! Wayne Lawton commented about two sisters who are now with Jesus: Kathryn Hess and Martha Keener. Kathryn attended the fellowship meetings and supported this ministry monetarily. Martha attended earlier and showed such compassion – she will never be forgotten! With these sisters in mind , Marlin led in singing “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be, when we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory”!
After the meeting Tom Hess led a group through the Gospel Gardens that he has been preparing with the Lord’s help for the past number of years. Millie Maust of Collegeville and others were so impressed with the gardens but lamented the lack of rain which would have enhanced all growing things. Some of the children headed for the water slide and swimming in the small creek. Some adults and teenagers took rides across the field in the ZipLine. Carol Martin was so frightened she called out “Jesus, help me, take away my fear” then she zipped away and came back saying “Oh, this ride was so much fun and it wasn’t what I expected. This was the lesson the Lord wanted to teach me today. I am not to fear when things look hard! He will be with me!” Then she began to coach others “just let go – turn loose --lift up your feet. It isn’t frightening at all. You will enjoy it”. Wayne joined the children who were swimming and they wanted him to come down the water slide which he did. He forgot to remove his expensive hearing aids. But Vanessa Kinyanjui told him “that’s okay, we’ll buy you some new ones” (Oh for the faith of a child!). [The hearing aids are working – and do not seem damaged at all – Praise the Lord !]
Dick & Esther Miller of Palmyra, former missionaries to Zambia commented “In the book of Acts there are many themes – but fellowship is an important one and we really enjoyed the fellowship here today” Nevin & Barbara Kraybill of East Earl, former Tanzanian missionaries said “ Despite the heat, it was refreshing to be with God's people and especially the large group of Kenyans who attended. Thanks, Wayne, for your leadership in this group. To God be the glory!”
PS In addition to this report Don Jacobs has posted some photo's and a brief report on the Revival Website - take a look . . . . .http://revivalupdate.blogspot.com/2012/07/fellowship-gathering-at-tom-and-janice.html
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