It is hard to believe we are ending the 3rd quarter of the year already and about to embark on the busiest end of the year time. Here’s what’s been happening in September…
This month always starts sad for the Kingsbury family, as the 2nd is Amber’s birthday. Amber would have been 17 this year and finishing high school. This is a time when we pause and wonder what kind of young adult she would have been. What would have been her passions, likes and dislikes? Would she have had a boyfriend? What colleges would she have been investigating? What would she have ended up majoring in? It’s sad thinking of the life that could have been and we continue to pray for inner healing for family members, and especially for Josh, Nicole and Micah. But even as loved ones exit this world, others are born. Tamara, the Orungas’ daughter celebrated her first birthday this month. Happy birthday, also, to my (Chari’s) sister, Luanne!
Marriage Ministry Trainees during one of the sessions at Ukarimu House
In family ministry, we are gearing up for the final session of Reality Check 2024, in which our Marriage Ministry Trainees (MMT) will all have an active role. These trainee couples have taken on major facilitation roles in this year’s course for young couples, seeking to build their marriages on a firm, godly foundation. We plan to combine this final session of Reality Check with a graduation ceremony for the ministry trainees, who have been in training for these past 2 years. We anticipate a wonderful time of wrapping up both the training and the course for young couples in October. One of our own trainee couples will be in charge of planning the session and organizing the other facilitating couples, while I plan the graduation fun. Watch this space.
Couples engaging in a couple’s activity in the Marriage Ministry Trainees Session
We continue the search for a couple to take over the directorship of the marriage and family arm of Ukarimu Ministries. We have been working with a couple, exploring the possibilities, had an initial meeting on the 21st with another prospective couple already in marriage ministry, and are also considering a third couple, in this MMT cadre, who have proven to be quite advanced in their capabilities and initiative in ministry. We certainly appreciate your prayers as we seek God’s wisdom and guidance to find the right couple for this ministry. Thankfully, we still have a couple years before we need to turn things over.
I (Chari) just finished facilitating a 3 day series of sessions (16th—18th) online, with the ladies fellowship in Nairobi Chapel, Green Park on Loving Our Husbands—Loving Through Good Communication, Loving in Conflict, and Loving Through Submission. The final session was a tricky one to conduct as I sought to dispel myths of submission, explore what it is, why Christians need to practice it, and how it is God’s best and deepest way of loving. This series was a challenge because we are still quite new at this church, so I am not well known and it was a virtual online series. I am used to in-person speaking and realized how dependent I am on the visual and audible cues a speaker gets from live audiences to gauge how the message is being received, if it is being understood, and what adjustments may need to be made. A speaker does not get any clues at all from staring at black squares on a screen! Nevertheless, a consistent 27 ladies attended each night, and plenty of positive feedback has been received. I thank the Lord for helping me.
On the 15th Ukarimu House hosted a neighbourhood potluck dinner to welcome our newest neighbours, who moved in at the beginning of the month. They are a family of 5 and it is nice to have more children in the neighbourhood. For awhile this place was beginning to feel like a retirement community. Now, we have small children, teens and kids in between. We love having families around. In addition, we have another resident in Ukarimu House, bringing the number of student residents to 3.
A note from Chip:
Last year I and a small group of other Kenyans began creating a not-for-profit organization to focus on helping organizations, communities, governmental bodies, and nations, to establish themselves as ethical entities. We are calling ourselves Ethics
Core. We already have a contract for training with a Kenyan data company that is developing Artificial Intelligence platforms, to help establish ethics at the very core of their work. Although we are offering our services to both Christian and non-Christian organizations, all of us involved in the project are committed to ethics founded on our Christian faith. I’ll report more when I can. We appreciate your prayers as we get this project off the ground.
Let’s hear from the Orungas on student ministry and their family news…
It has been a great start of the month and term. Ukarimu Campus had been so silent while the students were on break. We resumed the fellowships in the second week after school opened. Praxis Fellowship had a turnout of 33 students while Serefatha Sisters had 6 ladies attending. Ironmen hasn’t had attendance since the January term we keep hoping that we will have new students join. We will be planning the sessions in our next meeting. We are also planning a training on student evangelism here at Ukarimu House by Life Ministry (an organization that works with students in university campuses, training them on evangelism and encouraging them to make disciples). This will take place sometime in October and we plan to extend an invitation to other members in the community who would be interested in the same.
Students during Praxis fellowship engaging in a group competitive activity
Ian is still working on graduate course applications for the 2025 fall semester at Azusa Pacific University, Taylor University, and Wheaton University. We are still in prayer to be accepted and granted a scholarship in any of these universities. Ian has submitted the documents needed by the campuses and is awaiting feedback. We are figuring out how to raise more funds for the education and living expenses, once accepted.
Regarding the same, we have applied for Tamara’s, Braylon’s and my passports. We are waiting for communication from the immigration office on the date of collection.
Beyond Hockey has been running smoothly, it’s amazing how the kids show up for training even when Ian or any other trainer is unavailable. They start with the warmup and divide themselves into groups for a match and after a cool down, put all stuff back in storage. It is really encouraging. I went to church and a lady asked me “What did Ian give the kids that they show up even when it’s about to rain, and none of them fails?” I would reply, “being with someone who loves what he does and has a passion for it”. Girls also started showing up for the trainings, though not as consistent as the boys.
Lastly, on the family front, we are all doing well, including Braylon and Tamara. Our house help is still doing well with the children. She loves how Braylon calls her “Cawo” in the intention of saying Carol. She is the best we have had up to now. Our biggest prayer is that she feels at home with us and continues to enjoy working with us. Since she came, I feel like was just let out of a cage. She is a blessing to us, enabling us to do the work of ministry more effectively. Thank you for the continued prayers and support you accord us. Ukarimu Ministries still stands because we have people like you and us, who believe in the vision.
Back over to the Kingsburys…
We have finally paid off the latest stage of construction at Ukarimu House, though we still have some major projects that will eventually need to be done, including completing the pavilion, installing a major filtering system to remove the salt from our water so we minimize corrosion on all our plumbing and appliances, and finishing the roofing for all 3 buildings on the compound (currently covered with raw metal sheeting).
However, currently, the Ukarimu Ministries car is very aged (21 years old) and we are beginning to spend a lot just keeping it going. This need has become rather urgent. If we could raise $25,000 U.S., together with some funds we have been putting aside for this, we could replace it with a good, functional vehicle. Would any of you would like to help us replace this car?
Please check our website at www.ukarimumin.org for guidance in how to help. Please be sure to mark it ‘preferred for Ukarimu Ministries’ or ‘preferred for replacement Ukarimu vehicle’ and we would put it aside for the car replacement.
Thanks to all of you who have contributed over the years to make this vision happen. We are deeply grateful to all of you for partnership in this ministry, through finances, moral support, skills support, and especially in prayer. We pray God blesses you richly.
Blessings!
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