Simonsen’s

 

December 2021 Prayer Letter

 

 

 

This letter should get out in time to wish all of you the happiest of New Years. We enjoyed hosting our missionary team for an Ethiopian meal at our house on Christmas Eve. Over the years, Sue and I have learned to make most of our favorite Ethiopian dishes, but we still send someone each year to a restaurant in Nairobi to get a couple of things that are difficult to duplicate. Our thirty-eighth wedding anniversary was on December 17, and we had a nice Chinese meal out after a visit to government offices in Nairobi.

The church 
Much work has gone into getting the new church property more usable. The three buildings we use have all been painted, sidewalks and steps have been laid, and much work has been done in cleaning the plot and preparing the parking area. Heavy rain over the last month has delayed our last major project – putting in a new toilet building. Once that is done, we will be able to remove the toilet that sits right in the middle of our parking area.

The Lord and our supporting churches have blessed with the finances needed to replace our temporary meeting room (originally built as a chicken coop) with a permanent church building. However, building material costs have risen considerably in the past year because of supply shortages and a good friend who sells those materials recommended we wait for several months and should see prices back near normal again. For that reason, we will probably delay that building project until we return from furlough next August.

Church attendance has been excellent with about twenty adults and forty children on most Sundays. We are recognizing a definite acceptance by the Gatukuyu community that was not there when we were meeting in rented rooms. They now know we are there to stay!

College
Independent Baptist College of Ministry has completed its thirteenth year of training Kenyan church leaders. The 2022 academic year will begin with modular classes January 4-7 followed by our annual Spiritual Life Retreat. Regular classes will resume on January 18. I will be teaching Introductory Greek on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Family
We will be traveling to the States at the end of March for a four-month furlough. It will have been nine years since our last furlough. We really should take a longer time in order to visit all of our supporting churches, however, available coverage of the Gatukuyu church plant will only allow this short time in the States. While we recognize the importance or reporting to our faithful supporters. I do feel that the reason they support us is for us to do God’s work in Kenya.

Daniel will be traveling with us and will be working in the States as much as possible and Aaron is hoping to begin deputation as a missionary to Kenya as soon as he completes his master’s degree.

In Kenya for Christ,
Rick, Sue, Aaron, and Daniel Simonsen

 

 

Simonsens
PO Box 38 Thika 01000
Kenya East Africa

drrick64@gmail.com
Mobile: 254-733-552-810

Mukwonago Baptist Missions · 1610 Honeywell Rd. · Mukwonago, WI 53149 · USA