THE MISSION IS POSSIBLE

By Reverend Janice Lewis, President and CEO

Project Hope Global Outreach, Inc.

missionaryjanice@gmail.com

 PART TWO…A brief synopsis of last week’s article and today’s Major and small Donor Support

Matthew 28:19-20

King James Version

      “19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

This Scripture in the Bible is called THE GREAT COMMISSION.  It is the command of Jesus to his Disciples to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

After heeding the call to serve in THE GREAT COMMISSION, the last 17 ½ years in Nairobi, Kenya in 13 adjacent villages, I never could have done any of it without the help of my many supporters.

The Great Commission was the last recorded personal directive of the Savior to his disciples, and it holds the most pronounced direction for all followers of Jesus Christ.  It is the foundation for evangelism and cross-cultural missions work for us as Christians.

On Wednesday, June 6, 2006, I heeded the call of the Great Commission, to GO!

After a 29-hour flight, from Ft. Lauderdale, FL via London, England to Nairobi Kenya, it  was the beginning of 17 ½  years of my saying YES to Jesus’ command to SERVE.

I never imagined or could have written such a transformational, remarkable journey/phase of what God has done in my life.

I had the feeling deep in my heart that I had been chosen by God to Serve in Kenya and led by God to serve Orphans and Widows.

I met two Widows in my church who taught me how to serve Widows. Today, one of the Widows serves as my Project and Program Director. With God, she has helped me to build the Great Commission Program in all 13 villages. I could have not done it without Jesus and her.  I speak Kiswahili but not Mother tongue.

In 2007, I was invited to the Machakos Village by a manager where I bought my first cell phone in Kenya. I was introduced to 68 widows.  Some had been practicing witchcraft for decades but after I started teaching a Bible Study in the village, many accepted Jesus Christ, whom they called Yeshua.. After a few months, some began to cry out to Jesus calling on the Name of Jesus with conviction like I’ve never heard before.  Many are now Evangelist.

One of the times, I had health issues, asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia and spent five days in the hospital.  But, as God always does everything for the best, He didn’t allow me to go into the hospital until two of our Mt. Olive church members had arrived in Kenya to serve and support me in missions.

     The Lord used both of them mightily as they went into the villages nine days without me.  I thought I had to do the work on my own, constantly micromanaging as poverty often doesn’t allow even the one you want to trust to be trusted.

With the missionaries traveling to the villages alone,  showed me a lot and truly allowed me to know that when God sets something in order, it will continue, in spite of.  This was a period when we were on high security alert and the roads were filled with some danger. Both went every day in spite of.

As I lay recuperating in the hospital, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “I gave you the vision, but you are not the one to do all the work.”  In the scripture where it says, “…the harvest is plenty, but workers are few” is indeed true but I so much thank God for sending them to help me do the work.

While sick, the Lord again spoke to me and said, you have developed and trained the staff to go out and work hard but you haven’t  done enough to teach them about Salvation.

As soon as I got out of the hospital, I immediately started a Bible Study in my apartment with staff and the Lord blessed it.

Many of my staff had been saying they were saved as they thought going to church every Sunday made them saved.  I began to teach them as it is written in God’s Word,

     Romans 10:9-10  King James Version

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

God knew but I didn’t know how the people, my leaders who I was serving needed to be taught about Salvation.  They were overjoyed to know and understand what Salvation really meant.

Most have now introduced salvation to their family members, friends and other tribesman and doing a great job telling what SALVATION means.  One of my workers tells it very boldly as the Holy Spirit often makes her shout it out loud.  Most of the workers attend village churches and now evangelize to many others as they walk up and down the roads to fetch water.

A couple of church groups in U.S. sent Bibles and I was able to give over 200.  All of my staff including most importantly the Security Guards that worked in my compound received one.

My Widows who are of the Akamba Tribe average in ages 42-99. The location of this project is about 2.5 hours from Nairobi.

I went to the Widows village twice a week to have prayer meetings and Bible Study. It is now taught weekly by Widows that have accepted Jesus Christ.

We built three chicken farms with our own brick making machine.  The Widows and Widowers made all the bricks for our projects.

We also made liquid soap from multiple chemicals.  They sell it to the schools and churches in the village and to the villagers.  I brought in a lady from the Kikuyu Tribe to teach them how to make soap.  I constantly invited different tribes in to work with the Widows.  I taught them that tribalism is not good as many people have died from it.

Our largest fundraiser is making beautiful hand-woven baskets out of sisal, which looks like an aloe vera stalk.  We have sold thousands of dollars’ worth in America which has helped them with self-sustainability.  Many of them now have bank accounts and really save their money.  They often want me to buy some special food but won’t spend their own money.

We purchased a brick-making machine.  It has helped us to keep money coming in.  The Widows/ers make their own bricks for all buildings.  They make and sell bricks and often loan out the machine for rental.  We have some Widows that are very business minded.  They make sure they collect every penny whenever the machine is rented.

The Widows make beautiful jewelry from cow horn, magazines, plain seeds and beads.

We have received large donations of used eyeglasses which helps them to see better.  Many have cataracts but we don’t have the means to get their eyes checked. I pray that Doctors and Dentist Without Borders will one day be a blessing to my orphans and widows.

We are soliciting for doctors, dentists and educators and all those that are willing to serve with the foreign mission’s projects.

There is an urgency to dig a well for the Widows/ers. Many of the Widows walk miles just to collect water.  They then carry two buckets in their hands and one on their head. The water sometimes last less than a week when they have to share with an animal.  The soil where we will dig a well or borehole is filled with red clay dirt and large stones so only a drilling machine can be used.

Having clean water can help them in so many ways as WATER IS LIFE.  With a well, they will have clean water to drink, no more cholera outbreaks, water for their crops, bathing and much more.  They will also be allowed to sell the water to the villagers for about 25 cents a gallon to help with remaining self-sustained.

In 2007, We purchased four acres of land in a very rural area where hundreds of orphans live.  We built a small library and our first real toilet and a security guard house using our brick making machine.

A carpenter from the village made all of the seats in the house.  A prize possession was a real toiled dug 30 feet with a real commode, so no one has to stand over a hole.

• 5,000 pineapple seedlings were purchased and planted. The pineapples were sold to purchase food for the orphans.  The sale of the pineapples helped in purchasing the material to make the school uniforms, ringworm medicine, de-worming medicine, toothbrush/toothpaste, haircuts, and retreats…  Some of the pineapple plants continue to grow on their own and have never been replanted.
• A feeding program was started to serve the orphans one meal daily.
• Healthcare

   Non-stop teaching of HIV/AIDS prevention programs.

   A Volunteer Nurse  a doctor and a dentist gave physicals and HIV/AIDS test.  The kits were donated by Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA.

• Agriculture  (we utilize local labor at minimum costs)
• We planted and harvested Cassava, something like a white potato. Americans donated seeds and the harvest was thoroughly enjoyed by the Kenyans.

In 2007, we built a small school and library for the Masai Tribe.  Over 5,000 people have used our facilities.

• A well was dug in 2007 by a church who later came and joined me in missions for two weeks.
• A Bible Study is taught once a week.
• Healthcare Program Taught HIV/AIDS prevention with condom distribution

Buildings a state of the arts library was built for $45,000 in 2019. It has served over 5,000 people per year and has become the focal point in the entire community.  The presence of this Library in the Masai Village, where due to poverty, only one percent can afford to buy a newspaper, has been transformational.  Every day there used to be a constant line waiting for the opportunity to read about current events in Kenya.  College students, teachers and professors were coming from far away to use the computers and wi-fi.  Someone gave the collection of 2006-2008 of National Geographic to our library.  Some of the children saw animals for the first time.  They live where all the animals of the jungle are but had never seen one.

• Over 4,500 Books and Magazines were donated from America
• School supplies have been donated by many churches.
• We were able to cement four floors in the school. The children were suffering from respiratory problems and clothes dirty from sitting on the dirt floors.
• Two of Mt. Olive’s members help cement the floors as I was in the hospital suffering from pneumonia, upper respiratory problems and asthma. I’m grateful that God continue to send Missionaries to serve.  I thank God more for the great help.  Years earlier a church from MS came, paid for the sand and put down new floors.  Because of the humidity, the floors became damp and disappatiated.

The children are crowded into the classrooms.  Five or six children sit on a small bench where only three should sit.  We purchased lumber and made new desk for all the classrooms.

Also, we became prouder when our school took the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam in November 2019.  We managed to get a high score of 296.  Over the years, Our Math exam students, came in at Number One , five times out of 18 constituencies.

We celebrated our math teacher, Joseph Muema who received an award and certificate from the Top School Board in Nairobi, Kenya.  This was a first.

Joseph would come in an hour early before school started, to tutor the students, preparing them for the exam.  They are a phenomenal group of children.

We continue to pay the teacher’s salary quarterly.  Joseph was given a raise for his great teaching skills. When I met Joseph at the school in 2007 he only paid $800 a year, yes less than $100 a month.  Teachers that do not have degrees are paid by the students once a month.  The rule is for every student has to bring 100ksh which is really way under a dollar right now.

As I prepare for retirement from the foreign mission’s field in Kenya, I am concerned that without additional financial support, they will become financially strapped.  I pray for donors and donations to come even after I retire.  God willing, and I have told some, I will pay them for one year out of my social security which will be $10 to each teacher that does not have a degree.  After that, they are on their own.

Joseph wants to attend college, but it is so expensive.

In another village, we dug two wells, one, the water comes up out of the top each morning before the lid is open.  The villagers call it a Blessed Well.

Since 2008, New Mt. Olive Baptist Church became sponsors to the SOS Children’s International Villages in three areas in Kenya called Buruburu, Mombasa and Kisumu.  There is placement of a lady acting as a Mother/Parent and 10 children are housed, five girls and five boys.  We provide their food, clothing, transportation, medical, school fees… Because of challenges after the pandemic, all funds are on hold.

Two of the orphans that were sponsored by New Mt. Olive Sponsors, came from our Machakos Widows village.  The children were adopted by SOS.  Both were total orphans, both parents died of AIDS.  Thank God the AIDS crisis is no longer as severe.

We have three families that have sponsored total orphans between 9 and 15 years.

Also, a couple from New Mt. Olive gave support to three teenagers (2 boys and 1 girl) and their grandparents by purchasing food, school uniforms, basic clothes and shoes (all three got shoes for the very first time in their life in 2008).  The grandparents do not have money and both parents of the children died of AIDS.

Another family has taken care of a girl from the age of three to when she joined the university this past April.  The mother became the orphan’s mother and they talked once a months for up to two hours.  The sponsor mother, deceased,  has passed on but the husband and family continue to meet some of her needs.  This past April, the sponsor father purchased her a smart phone to use in her studies for her first year of college.  The sponsor father also talks with her every Saturday and gives her fatherly advice.

Another former member of New Mt. Olive has sponsored a little orphan boy from our Widows village for over 15 years.  She continues even today to purchase shoes, clothes and what his heart desires. They talk on the phone every chance they get. His in boarding school.

I thank God for everyone who has given any support towards the missionary work in Kenya. Our focus is Orphans, Widows and Wells.

I want to thank my primary Donor, The New Mt. Olive Baptist Church under the Leadership of Pastor Marcus D. Davidson.  I will forever be grateful for the Late, but great, Dr. Mack King Carter, for listening to the Call God placed on my life to send a Missionary to Africa.  Dr. Carter loved hearing about my service in Kenya because He had been obedient to send a Missionary to Africa.

• I want to give a heartfelt thanks to the other major donors;
• New Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Magnolia, MS, Pastor Yvonne Lewis;
• Unity Baptist Church, Pastor Jeremy Greer
• Thompson Missionary Baptist Church, Jennifer Lindsey
• Harper’s Baptist Seminary, funds given under the leadership of the late Rev. Willie Tobias and Rev. Henry Taplin
• New Providence Missionary Baptist Church Rev. Steven Caldwell and Zethel Surrency
• International Free and Accepted Modern Masons and order of the Eastern Star Detroit, Michigan
• Sherman Missionary Baptist Church, Sherman Senior Missions Society – Pastor Rev. Michael Otkins, President – Sister Ruth Evans and Treasurer Sister Essie Rowe

And to every person and organization that has ever donated or given support.  The work would not have advanced without all your assistance

I thank God for every Missionary that came to serve:

• New Mt. Olive Baptist Church Members, Rev. Cyrus Pettis, Jana Davis, Katherell Morrison, Doris Love, Pam Johnson
• Antioch Baptist Church – Pastor Arthur Jackson – former members that served David Lawyer, Michael Bryant
• Thompson Baptist Church Members, Jennifer and Dennis Lindsey, Jackie and Greg Maxwell, Kenny Gatlin and daughter Kayla, Carolyn Fenn, Candy Mitchell, Ashley Hodges

The Story proves that THE MISSION IS POSSIBLE because we have served over 14,000 people in our 13 Villages.

On Saturday, November 11, 2023, God willing, I will be retiring from the Foreign Missions field, Kenya.  You are invited to attend an event to be held at the Signature Grand, 6900 W. State Road 84, Davie, FL 33317 on Saturday, November 11, 2023 to reflect on the 17 ½ years of service profiling all 13 Villages and the transformation of lives, many accepting Jesus Christ and now leading self-sustained lives to get their Daily Bread.

I am humbled by all of the support that have been given.  Thank you from my heart. You helped prove that…

THE MISSION IS POSSIBLE!