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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
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