Change Is So Exciting!
By Dawn Brown
Life is full of twists and turns, isn’t
it? When we see those events as
positives, life is wonderful and as Christians, it gives us opportunities to
praise God for the blessings He bestows upon us. What about those situations that don’t seem
so appealing? What about the hard things
of life that we typically dread or the really horrible experiences that make us
feel like we’re suffocating; when our closest loved ones have chronic illnesses
that only promise to worsen, when we have life threatening illnesses ourselves
or when death takes a young family member that we, in our humanness, have
deemed to be too young? How do we handle
our feelings towards the Lord in those times?
Our lives in the Brown family have had all of
the above and more in the last 5 years, and from my fleshly perspective, we’ve
been pretty heavy on the lousy side.
For me, in some ways, it’s harder to focus on
the Lord in the highs. I have to be very
diligent in not allowing myself to get so wrapped up in the gift that I forget
the Gift Giver. On the other hand, in
the times of deepest despair, what choice do I have but to cling tightly to the
Lord? It’s in those times that I have
been most likely to see His hand, even when I don’t understand. I can rest peacefully knowing that we can trust
Him in ALL things.
Life changing events in our lives are just
that. They actually change our
lives. I started the ministry of Child
Arise in 2009, at the prompting of the Lord, to come along side Elizabeth
Mativo, after her life changing event; the death of her cherished husband, and partner in the mission of sharing the
Gospel to some of the hardest and most dangerous people groups of Kenya. God used that time in her life to show her
the needs of the widowed women and orphaned children in Mbooni. I knew without a doubt, I was to be a part of
that.
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We are
thankful for the blessing of 17+ years with our daughter-in-law, Rachelle, who
is greatly missed and the newest member of our family, baby Simon who wasn’t
yet created at the time of this picture.
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Now in 2018 my life is so very different than it was in 2009. So many things have happened in our family
that I never imagined. Out of necessity,
the Lord has changed my ministry focus to less outward and more inward; to my
mother, our son, and our grandchildren.
Interestingly enough, still to widows and orphans.
Where does that leave Child Arise?
I have had little time to devote to the ongoing needs of this
ministry. The Lord continues to minister
through Elizabeth Mativo with the spiritual needs of the women and children,
but their physical needs continue as well.
I have spent several years praying for God to provide the right
person to take over Child Arise Kenya Widows & Orphans Ministry. I have to admit, patience hasn’t been my
strong point here.
I am pleased to announce that as of December 1st,
Child Arise will be under the leadership of our new president, Dr. Joseph
Onesimus!
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The family of Joseph Onesimus,
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Joseph is so qualified!
We’ve known him for 21 years and I eventually dubbed him “my Kenyan
little brother”. We, along with my parents
and siblings’ families “adopted” him into our “American” family. It was because of our close relationship that
we met his parents, Pastor Onesimus and Elizabeth Mativo.
Joseph and his wife, Faith, live in Elgin, IL where they are
raising their children, Aaron 12, and their 2 year old twins, Ethan and
Jolynn. Joseph is proud to be an
American citizen since 2005.
Joseph, as the son of selfless missionaries, knows firsthand, a
lot of the plight of the poorest children of Kenya. He wasn’t orphaned, but they were poor and
didn’t always have food. Sometimes his
only clothing was his school uniform.
Valuable insight for leading this ministry.
The Lord used Joseph to oversee the construction of the Child
Arise clean water borehole, the towers, pump installation, etc.
Faith,
Joseph’s wife, served with Elizabeth in her ministry for several years. She knows and loves many of the women and
children. She will be an excellent asset
to the ministry assisting Joseph.
In
addition to his full-time position as an Estimator and Assistant Project
Manager for a roofing company, Joseph is Interim Pastor at Chicago Swahili
Chapel and will finish his commitment in December, when he will take over Child
Arise.
I
will spend the next year mentoring Joseph and I have volunteered to keep
accepting and recording donations, making deposits and sending funds to
Kenya. We hope you will commit to
praying for us during this transition.
Prayer Requests
Please
pray for Child Arise during this transition period and that the learning curve
with go quickly.
Dennis just finished his university
education and will be graduating this year. He is now ready to look for a job
and start a life of his own. Child arise has supported Dennis for 10 years!! This
is the first Child Arise educational fruit. God is faithful.
Pray for our students who will be
doing end of year exams in order to move to the next grade that the Lord will
give them a peace of mind and provide for their next year fees.
We have a young gentleman who will
be joining university next year. He has
been called to Maseno University which is quite far away from home. We also pray for provision for his fee and
other necessities required. He is a very
bright young man.
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100% of your donation goes to Kenya!
Donations can be made to
Child Arise Kenya
Widows & Orphans Ministry
827 5 Ave Dr W, Andalusia IL 61232
309-798-2596
dawn@ChildAriseKenya.com
ChildAriseKenya.com
Child Arise Kenya is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax-exempt ministry
