Hello everyone,
We had a great but short time in the States this summer. Thank you to all of you who supported our fundraiser in Lake Wales, and to all of supporters in general! (As most of you know, Matt and Zeke were able to get their passports and arrived exactly a week after Kelly!) Kelly has started back at work teaching at Rosslyn Academy, and Zeke has started KINDERGARTEN! It’s been an adjustment, but he’s doing well.

Here’s some ministry updates:

Visitors

Recently, two of our ACO board members came to Kenya to see what was happening. They did a fantastic job encouraging and exhorting us to keep pressing on with the ministry. Our board does a beautiful job at helping hold us accountable to the ministry’s mission and vision, while helping us raise money too. It’s nice to have a board that cares for us.

SDM

In August, we had Christian Union representatives of 14 different university campuses come to our Kuza office for some leadership training. The director of our Student Discipleship Ministry (SDM), Victor Otieno, led them in the training. We also got to tell these leaders about Kuza. They were very excited about the training and expressed the desire to partner with SDM and Kuza. These student leaders lead more than 15,000 Christian college students in total. Partnering with them will allow us to continue to reach more and more for Christ. One student who attends the most liberal university in Kenya talked about a lot of difficult struggles of being a Christian on his campus. The university at one time shut down the Christian Union, which was the only campus ministry even available. Despite the challenges, their ministry has grown and has amazing stories of salvation. We plan to continue partnering with these leaders.

Pamoja House - Kibera

We have a new ministry called “Pamoja House - Kibera,” which is in the largest slum in Kenya. We have an existing Pamoja House ministry in Kilifi on the coast, but felt led to start a new Pamoja House ministry in Nairobi to reach out to people with disabilities and their caretakers. We’ve found that people with disabilities and their caretakers have minimal services available to them. Churches are also unsure how to minister to the disabled community. Pamoja House - Kibera desires to help these families with disabled children and equip churches to reach these families. Our staff members, Beryl & Gideon Thuku, are a fantastic team that are well equipped to meet such a task. Beryl has her Bachelor’s degree college in special education. Beryl's mother was a special education teacher at a boarding school, and Beryl grew up around children with disabilities. Gideon is an excellent discipler and helps families with disabled children to see the hope and glory of the gospel in and despite challenging situations.

Heartbreaking Yet Encouraging Story
One heartbreaking, yet encouraging story was that during a recent weekly Bible study with mothers of disabled children, Beryl found out that one of the mothers was giving her daughter with severe cerebral palsy porridge and tea only for all her meals. This had been happening for years. Her mother said that due to eating and swallowing difficulties, these were the only things the girl could eat. Pamoja House bought the family a food processor/blender and Beryl taught her how to blend healthy and more balanced foods for the girl. Something that seems so simple in America is inaccessible to some here. All of the mothers in the Bible study presented this mother with the food processor. They were so excited, and the mother of the girl cried tears of joy because of the thoughtfulness of the practical gift. There are many other stories like this. Pamoja House- Kibera strives to give the hope of the gospel and help disabled people and their caregivers feel the love of the gospel.

Other Pictures

Zeke's first day of kindergarten

Matt preaching with Justus (Kuza staff) on Pearl Radio in Nairobi.

Matt preaching at Zephaniah's church (4:12 member).

Zeke "organizing" his room.

Young adults bible study that Matt leads at our church.

We're grateful for all of you! Thank you for your continued support! 

The Elmores- Matt, Kelly and Zeke

Prayer Requests

Ministry

  1. Pray for our board members to continue to guide us in wisdom. Pray also a blessing over all of their families and businesses.

  2. Pray for wisdom to serve for Beryl and Gideon at Pamoja House - Kibera. Pray also for them to better communicate gospel truths in challenging situations.

  3. Pray for Matt to shepherd a young adult Bible study well at our church in Nairobi.

Personal

  1. Pray for Zeke- to develop bravery in learning, perseverance, and a love of learning.