Church

December was a very busy time for the Church. There were children’s programs and special activities. My favorite happening though was a very special baptism in the ocean.

Baptism in the ocean. Don’t you love the fishing boat in the back ground? Matthew 4:19 – And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men

Kidnappings

As many of you have heard there are gangs taking over the country since the president was shot in July. They are kidnapping, raping and killing people. They are asking high ransoms for the release of the person and even then they do not always release them, they will kill the kidnapped person and also the person that delivers the ransom. 17 missionaries were recently kidnapped and held for 2 months. 5 were released because they were sick. The rest escaped during the night and walked for miles to get away from the gang members. God preformed a miracle just in time for Christmas. Sadly, one of our special friends is now very concerned as neighbors are telling him that gang members are asking questions about him because he has a house, a car and American friends. He is very frightened for his wife and 2 little children and himself. Please join us in prayer for the situation and gang members in Haiti. 

School

The children have been attending school, although not always in uniform to avoid being kidnapped. We are so happy as we had several new children sponsored in the last few months. One was a Christmas present for their dad. Another sponsor took on 2 more kids. As food becomes more scarce all the time, the lunch served at the school is all too often the only food the children have for the day. School is in session from 7 am till 1 pm. This gives the children time to get home and study while there is still day light as very few of the homes have electricity and now there is no fuel for generators. It is not easy being a student in Haiti.

Animals

We had several animals born in the last few months and several more ready to be born. We are most excited that several sponsors decided to give “their family” an animal for Christmas. And beyond excited that a church group in Ohio decided to collect money to buy animals for families in Gonaives. And whenever possible the animals will be bought from our families in the animal program! This program is doing what it is supposed to do! Helping families help themselves.

Containers , earthquake victims and blessings

Jackie hurt her knee in October and had to have emergency surgery done in November. Then there was a recovery period so she knew she wouldn’t get much done as far as Haiti was concerned. God had other plans!! First she was offered a whole container of soup mix to ship to Haiti. After finding several other groups to share the cost on the shipping container plans are under way to send this load out as soon as the arrangements can be finalized (the area where the food is has been flooded so it is difficult getting the container in and out on the muddy roads). We are more than excited about the thought of one million meals being sent to Gonaives and La Gonave Haiti!! Then a church in Florida has reached out and asked if we could safely get supplies to the earthquake victims. Ariol, our young man who is such a blessing to us, said he wanted to take it, There was so much stuff that he had to rent a truck!! Tarps, rice, beans, powdered milk for the babies, Bibles and so much more. They had to pass through an area that was controlled by gangs and ended up taking dirt roads to get around them. They arrived late so spent the night and the next morning Ariol spoke to the people about Jesus. They were eager to receive Bibles and listen to him. After everything was distributed they headed back over the mountain. And Ariol’s brakes messed up on his car. It started rolling back down the mountain and he knew he was going to meet Jesus very soon. But the car rolled into a big pile of dirt and stopped. It was getting late and the car would not drive so a stranger came by and offered to let them stay at his house for the night. They did and the man even helped fix the car and followed them all the way back to Port au Prince to make sure they were safe. What a blessing he was! But while the car was sitting for the night it was broken into and Ariol and the other guys things were stolen. Ariol did get banged and bruised up from this so we are praying for a quick recovery for all of them. Dr Leggette will be traveling there in January to treat people in the tent camps. We are also lining up 2 containers which will load the middle of January if everything goes right. If you are a sponsor and have a gift for your child please get it to us quickly. We can also use lots of loading help because several of our people have had surgeries, broken bones etc. 

Sophie, 8 was born normal. At 6 months she contracted cerebral malaria. Drooled and could not speak. When I laid my hand on her head and prayed a demon screamed and threw her off my lap. With her mother present we got her delivered. She no longer drools and is forming words.

We just completed 21 days of prayer and fasting. GOD breaks through and shifts happen. Not always what we imagined but HE is always for our good. It is an election year in Kenya. Violence is something we are rising against this year. Pray as the pastors are speaking and taking a stand in their pulpits. Pray as we travel to minister in some of the strategic counties in this land. I have privilege of speaking in local churches and sowing seeds in faith for unity.

 In worship on New Year’s morning I saw angels carrying stones to the altar. Some stones were bright with fire and some flickering. Some engraved with fruit of the spirit. Some being washed gently in the river of GOD. When chaos and turmoil come we are the living stones that will give refuge to those in darkness and fear.

Thanks to Margaret(orphan dresses), Fleurette(street survival packs) and MAMA project for mirconutrients. I apologize I did not get pictures of first two because I let the pastors distribute to their neediest families. We were able to bless 4 different churches, 3 Maasai clans, and 40 Compassion families.           

Please check out our website www.tshkenya.org or email us [email protected]. Pray. We have prayer updates weekly. Contact Grace Plaster [email protected].  You can donate on website or see what our projects are. Mailing address TSH PO Box 481 Harleysville, PA 19438.   

Dear Friends,
We pray God’s blessings over your life this new year! One of
the most challenging Scriptures in the Bible for me, and perhaps
for you as well, is the passage of Scripture where Paul tells us to,
“Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16). He also tells us, “To give thanks
in all things” (1 Thess. 5:18). With all the chaos and all the
difficulties that each of us has gone through in our lives, in our
families and in our jobs the last two years; how can God ask us
to thank Him for these things? These are thoughts that all of us
must deal with as we go through life following our Lord and
Savior. Many times, we do not understand what God is up to in
our lives by allowing such difficult circumstances. However,
what I have learned from the Lord through times like these is to
trust His sovereignty and to trust His goodness. God’s Word tells
us that, “a sparrow does not die without God knowing
it” (Matthew 12:7). It also tells us that God, “has every hair on
our head numbered” (Matthew 12:7). The Bible also tells us that
God, “holds all of our tears in a bottle” (Psalms 56:8). If God
know all these small details of our lives, how much more He
sees and understands what we are going through when we pass
through difficult times. Our God is a good Father (Romans 8:15)
who has promised us that He “will work all things for our good”
in our lives (Romans 8:28) no matter what the circumstances are
that we may be passing through.

As you read in the last newsletter GCOMs Christmas
outreaches went well in December in Acuna, Mexico but
unfortunately, I left Mexico with a tickle in my throat and in
several days, we were all sick with bronchitis. After more than a
month of battling bronchitis, we are finally all coming out of it.
Joshua and I have been working on year end donation receipts
through this challenging time and you will soon be receiving
these in the mail. Sorry if they are a little bit later than usual!

In mid-December, Four Winds Trucking from North Dakota,
picked up a semi-trailer full of ministry supplies from Canby, MN
and Omaha, NE to bring to Laredo, TX. From there a forwarding
agent friend, Alejandro, crossed all the Gospel tracts, booklets
and Books of John into Mexico for distribution. Other ministry
supplies that we will soon cross into Mexico are used steel and
used wood for church construction, blankets, clothes, windows
and doors for churches, a car for a needy pastor, blessing bags,
chairs and many other miscellaneous items. These 16 pallets of
literature have gone to Belize, Guatemala, Mexico and to Dallas,
Texas for distribution. We may distribute some of it in Austin, Tx
as well. To get the literature to Guatemala people put the
literature in bags and a pastor crossed the bags of literature by a
wooden raft over a large river into Guatemala for distribution.

We have been helping a church in Ensenada, Mexico to put a
roof on its church. The Omicron virus has affected the completion
of the Yaqui Church near Obregon, Mexico, and other projects we
have in central Mexico. We received a call from a close pastor
friend from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico warning me of the dangers of
returning to Mexico as virtually everyone was sick. The hospitals
are full and unable to take new patients for days. There are many
restrictions throughout the city and churches and outreaches
could only have ten people in attendance and any meetings had
to be outside. Please pray for protection over the people of
Mexico and that I will be able to minister in Mexico again soon
personally. Meanwhile, we work through our contacts in Mexico
to spread the Gospel in areas where there are no restrictions.
This is the advantage of this opportunity to spread literature
throughout Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. The restrictions of
the various countries do not affect the ability of churches and individuals to spread God’s Word. The distributors go out in many small groups all over the city or town with God’s
Word and so God’s Word is spread without restriction.

Also, while I am unable to go into Mexico, I will be working on
the book that God has put in my heart to write telling about
God’s protection for us and working through us in Mexico. We
hope to be able to get everything set up to set up our GCOM
Child Sponsorship Program.
Thanks for all that you do to help GCOM to impact souls for
Christ throughout Texas, Mexico, and Latin America. We treasure
your faithful prayer and financial support, and donation of
ministry supplies for Mexico. You and your family are always in
our prayers! We so treasure your partnership with GCOM!

In Christ’s Love,
Rev. Kevin, Sylvia and Joshua Rosendahl

Dear Friend,

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ ” Romans 10:14-15

Thank you for bringing the Good News to the children of our island state! January is the height of summer ministry here in Tasmania, and we have been rocked by a large wave of COVID. This is only the second real “wave” for Tasmania so it’s a lot for people to get used to. However, that has not stopped ministry. While the number of children coming to events has suffered, God has come through time and time again, and new children that we have never reached before have come to both of the holiday programs so far. In both cases, adults (and a teen) had to be out due to catching COVID or being in close contact, but God raised up others at the last minute so summer programs haven’t had to miss a day! With so many businesses and other kids’ programs having to close due to staffing shortages, this is an act of God! Our summer ministry teacher training was held on Zoom, but this provided an opportunity for workers from clubs to be held in different parts of the state to attend together. It’s great to still be able to put technology into practice when you need it.

A few stories: At City Park, a Muslim child came along. I explained to the Mom that we would have a story from the Bible. Mom said she was ok with that. She had an appointment to go to. Of course, we will be glad to be a place for the child to be.

At City Park, two new children from an African country who had been separated from their Mom were finally reunited as borders opened in Australia. One of the first things they did after getting settled into their new home with Mom was to come to holiday club and build with Lego. I couldn’t really tell if they spoke English or not yet as they were very quiet. I pray that they will begin to feel assured in their new country and that we could be a little part of that.

After club at City Park one day, a couple of the Christian children stayed around to help me record puppet skits to be used in the Devonport holiday club the next week. They were being missionaries even though they couldn’t come with me to Devonport.

At Devonport, the puppet team that was to perform the skits with me was out due to COVID. However, a couple little girls in the club were eager to do puppets themselves, so I got them to be part of the puppet team. One of them had been to club in previous years, and I saw her growing in her leadership ability.

At Devonport, we had a little boy from London who was visiting family in Tasmania. He seemed a bit antagonistic to things from the Bible, but I am thankful that God allowed us to plant some seeds. For those who aren’t involved in children’s ministry during this time, I’d like to ask for prayer for strength for all the behind-the-scenes things that need to happen to keep ministry running in a safe way for the children. The two most time consuming of these for me is sanitizing all the Lego every night after club as this takes a couple hours of my evening and putting craft packets together for each craft so kids can have all their own materials in their own little plastic bag. These things are well worth it for children to hear the Gospel and meet together in person, but I would ask for prayer that I once again find joy in doing these smaller, necessary tasks.

Praise and Prayer: ·        

Praise that God is sovereign over all things and has seen fit to continue to allow us to share the Gospel and teach in person. ·        

Pray for next week’s Lego holiday club in George Town as this is a new geographical area for the ministry some of you have been praying about for a while. ·        

Pray that children would come along as foundations are laid for ministry there. ·        

Pray that children would be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ in George Town. ·        

Pray that God keeps the workers free of COVID this week so that no one has to be out next week.

In Christ for the children,

Stephanie