My nephew Chad Stembridge of Stembridge Mill Moving Pictures helped us with the logo for the site. We hope to do much more with ARM over the upcoming years, and are grateful to God for allowing us to find this ministry while on mission in Lynch, KY this past summer!

We first heard about Build the Village during the application process for International Mission Board (IMB). We had also been in the process of planning for a Mission trip to Kenya in 2005 with our church, and originally was going to be working directly with IMB. There were a lot of problems, and eventually we were referred to Build the Village, who IMB described as their evangelistic outreach arm in Western Kenya.After hearing Damon Davenports story, and learning more about their solid plan of active discipleship long after the short term teams left, our Pastor, Al Wright, and everyone else were convinced this was solid, and scriptural. We suggested shooting some footage, and putting together something for them on that first trip; but were still a little uncertain, as communications to and from Kenya can be rather tricky. As we received word that we hadnt been called by IMB we shifted our focus back to the short term trip, and just continued stepping forward. Getting to know the staff of Build the Village was such a wonderful experience, and as we evangelized, and shot video every chance, we began to see the way God was, and still is effectively using Build the Village throughout east Africa, and beyond! Please take a look at the video produced, and visit Build the Villages website here.[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=1282371330104783017" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]

As we start packing, and make final plans, please keep us all in prayer. We will get more details at out last meeting tonight, so keep posted!

Damon is in Kenya right now; but will come back on the 7th, we look forward to talking to him with the latest in Nandi Hills!

We appreciate your prayers, and want to pass along a few prayer requests:

Please continue to pray for our team, 2 young men dropped off, and this will create a slight gap as they were to be doing construction mostly.

Lorretta and I will working on a new video project that profiles individuals whose lives have been touched by the Master’s hand through the work of Build the Village.

This past week was our church’s VBS, and the money children brought everyday went towards the purchase of soccer balls to bring to Kenya.

It’s been two years since our last trip and the exciting things God is doing through Build the Village are almost too many to tell! Churches have been established all across the Nandi Hills Region, Discipleship courses have touched many lives, and the Theological school has seen it’s first set of graduates this past year. Perhaps the most exciting news of all is the establishment of the first “Village Hub” in the village of Choimim where a church has been built and dedicated, a clean-water well has been opened, the preschool is up and running with it’s first class of students and the finishing touches are being put on the orphanage as of this letter. These are certainly exciting times to see God’s hand at work touching lives in real and profound ways with the living Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Two years ago, we were privileged to be a part of a church planting and evangelism mission trip to this region and to produce Build the Village’s first video documenting this work. This year we’ve been asked to produce a follow-up video in order to tell some of the stories of the lives being changed and the ministry being done in this region. This, along with the primary work of village evangelism, helping out with construction of the orphanage, assistance in the new preschool with materials and guidance, and the hopeful establishment of a local women’s ministry; is what our team hopes to have God do through us during this year’s trip.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the mission and ministry of Build the Village you can visit their website at: www.buildthevillage.org. Below is a list of items we will bring and leave for future use. Perhaps you’d like to send something along too!

• small sewing kits
• pencils and erasers
• yellow highlighters
• “emergency” candles
• sharpeners
• small umbrellas
• raincoats
• clothespins
• batteries
• flashlights
• ABEKA preschool curriculum
• twin-sized bed sheets

Thanks and Godspeace!

We have been blessed with the opportunity to assist IMB Missionaries Charles and Sandra Daniels, in Samburu, Kenya set up their website to keep their prayer partners and supporters connected with their work in Kenya. Visit the new Samburu website here.

To see photographs taken on the trip, take a look here: here:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=1282371330104783017" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]