Lent consists of 40 days of fasting and prayer in preparation for Holy week Easter which is the annual commemoration of the passion death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The 40 days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert during which He endured temptation. The three traditional practices of lent are; prayer, fasting and helping our neighbours. Prayer is an indispensable part of our life, and even more so in Lent. During this time, prayer involves our listening to God who speaks in our lives and in the silence of our hearts. It involves believing that God has something to say to us, and that prayer is not just a matter of us talking to God. As you pray during this period, please consider the Ndoto family in your prayers.
Pray for Ndoto and its leadership; that we will grow in wisdom and continue to improve as an organization. Pray that Ndoto gets good, honest and dedicated future employees and board members who will work round the clock to uphold Ndoto’s beliefs and aspirations. Pray that the staff be people of integrity, God fearing and above all, servants, who will put themselves, last for the benefit of the students and the organization for the glory of God. Pray that God will create in us a desire to serve Him with all our heart and soul. It is the least we can do.
Pray for Ndoto’s Executive Director, Allison Schlack who is now in the United States touring and speaking at different events and churches about Ndoto and recruiting sponsors for our 110 students. Over the past two weeks God has provided over 10 sponsors through the meetings and events she has talked at. Praise God for being faithful and providing our new students with new sponsors! Pray that God grants Allison the strength to keep working hard for the students and the organization and the wisdom to provide leadership and steer this organization to the acme. Allison needs much prayer support as she faces numerous challenges in her work in Obunga: living in a different culture, communicating through a language barrier, and constantly giving herself in service. Please pray that she will have God’s strength and that her life will show the personal relationship she has with Christ.
Please continue praying for Ndoto and that God will continue to bless us and provide all we need to empower the youth of Obunga slum to dream of a better future for themselves and their community.
Remember one of our graduate students; Michael Omondi in your prayers. Having completed his pastoral course work at the Kenya Highlands Evangelical University, he has been doing his practicum at Prince of Peace Church, Obunga. For the 8 weeks he has been around, he has been engaged in the lives of the young people in Obunga, reaching out to them with the gospel of love. One of the things he has learnt from the kids and the youth is that they have been longing for someone to reach out to them. The kids and the youth have complained that people only preach to them but do not take their time to sit down and hear their side of the story. So many have preached the gospel that only condemns them. Michael has been keen on bridging this gap and has been reaching to them up to the work place and where possible, their homes and welcoming them into our church; Prince of Peace. He first began by reaching out to boda boda (motorcyclist) who gave him the chance to minister to them every Friday at the work place. Two have since accepted Christ. He has also started a bible study with the youth in Obunga. The youths attending the bible study have grown from the initial three to 15 members. As a young pastor, Michael has faced various challenges that many a times are discouraging and may falter his faith and desire to serve at the church. Just days after he started his practicum at the church, the senior pastor resigned under inexplicable circumstances. As such, Michael had to rise to the occasion and pastor the flock despite the fact that he had hoped to work under someone as this would give him the opportunity to learn from someone with more experience and who would guide him until such a time that he would be in a position to do it himself. He has settled, despite all the struggles and has the zeal and zest to serve his community by reaching out to this special but often neglected group; the youth in Obunga. His other challenges have been the lack of bibles to give to those who receive Christ during his preaching sessions such us with the motorcyclist a well as the lack of musical instruments for the praise and worship team of the youth ministry that he is establishing in Obunga. As he winds up his practicum this week, pray that God will continue to speak to him and show him how to serve Him and that our good lord will provide all he needs to bring the lost to Him for His glory. Pray that he will get the courage to minister despite the many challenges he has faced and continues to encounter. Pray that the lord prepares him completely for what He has planned for Him in the foreseeable future.
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| Bro. Edwin and Michael. The two volunteer with Ndoto and minister at the Prince of Peace Church |
Pray for our entire student fraternity, that they will continue to work hard and do well in school and walk closely with God. Specifically, pray for our high school graduates Irene, George, Nancy, Christine, Tobias and Phanice. Pray for God’s guidance as they make their course choices and plan to join the University for higher education later this year. Pray that they will chose the right academic programmes that will ultimately lead them to achieve their dream careers.
Pray also for our students Elizabeth, Kevin Ogoye and David Otieno (Pastor) who recently lost their mom. They are now orphaned and Elizabeth despite her tender age has been forced to play mum to her two siblings. We have established that they don’t have relatives who can take care of them now that their mom is gone. Their mom only had one sister who is too old to take care of them. Pray for the emotional strength at this point, that they may accept the fact of their parent’s death. Pray for them to trust God’s character at this point and that they will accept that Jesus is the One who holds the keys of life and death. Pray for them to understand that no aspect of their life is outside of God’s absolute sovereignty and control – that God is always in control. May they understand that circumstances and the evil one cannot outsmart God. Pray for them as they work through their emotions. Pray that they will understand what is really going on in their hearts and that they will be able to release all their doubts, pain, emptiness and sorrow to God. Pray that they will know God as El Shaddi, Jehovah Jireh, the God who sees our need and then provides for that need.
If all else fails with respect to where they’ll stay, we hope to accommodate them at the boys’ dorm where Caleb, Lawrence and Wilfred stay. The only challenge would be how to help Elizabeth since we don’t have a dorm for the girls yet. However, we trust that God already has a plan, and that He will provide for her. His word tells us that He works in ways we cannot see and that there is no situation so chaotic that God cannot from that situation create something that is surpassingly good. He did it at the cross, and he is doing it today. Pray that His will be done in the lives of these special kids.
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| Ogoye Kevin, David Otieno (Pastor) and Elizabeth Awino outside Ndoto premises days after their loving mom passed away |
Pray for Akili prep school, that it will continue to grow and provide quality education and support literacy, education and development in Obunga. Praise God because the school now has a population of 80 pupils.!!! God has also blessed us with two amazing teachers who are so good with the kids.
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| Akili prep school pupils with teacher Jacinta, Mwalimu (Erick), Michael and Teacher Jacinta (aka Min Greg). We have two Jacintas 🙂 |
Pray that God will continue to use Ndoto graduate students to give back to the community through this school and that it will provide knowledge and information which will ultimately help the pupils in their attempt to organize and break the circle of illiteracy. Pray also that the school gets volunteer teachers from the USA to help develop its curriculum that will ensure unique and quality education tailored to meet the needs of the kids in Obunga. Pray also that the school feeding program will be a success despite the numerous challenges it faces.
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| Pupils feeding at the school during lunch break, below, students out for a Physical Education (P.E) exercise |
Pray for Ashley Reed who will be moving to Kenya this summer for 6 months to work with our discipleship program. Pray that God will raise up people to support her in prayer and financially to ensure that her trip is a success. Also, pray for her as she prepares her heart, that God would show her what she needs to know as she prepares and give her wisdom to disciple our girls. Pray also that more people will join her and Allison in this journey for emotional support and companionship.
Pray for our sponsors, that they will continue to faithfully give to support the students and keep them in school. With your support, Ndoto has been so blessed by God over the past few years and has grown so much from 29 students in 2009 to 110 students this year, 2012. It has been a long journey, but worth every minute. Part of that journey has been stepping out in faith to do some radical things like in June of 2011 when we took in 55 new students without knowing where their sponsors would come from, but trusting God to provide. Praise God because out of the 55 new students, only about 13 do not have sponsors now!!!! Thank you so much for your financial support and your prayers for NDOTO over the years. Your prayers are making a difference right now in the heart of Obunga. All students are in school and in impeccable school uniforms unlike before when they used to attend school intermittently as a result of constantly being sent home for school fees. Pray that God will speak to more people and that they will come out to support our mission. In June this year, we will be taking another set of students for 2013. Pray that God will give us the wisdom to select the students with genuine need to join our program. Pray that God will reveal to us those He has chosen.
We recruit supporters that will sponsor a Ndoto student at either $35, $50, $75, or $100 a month depending on the student’s level of schooling. I thank you for your support and for taking this journey with us. VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.ndoto.org
Keep praying, because when God’s people pray, the world changes!
PRAY!!! PRAY!!! PRAY!!!
