May Newsletter

Welcome Baby Okoth!

Josiah Thomas Okoth was born on April 2, 2022. He has brought much joy to our family over the past 6 weeks. Josiah means God is our support and healer. We believe his life has brought much healing to our hearts after we experienced difficult loss and heartache over the past 7 years. We are thankful for his life! 

Labor and delivery came with a set of challenges that made recovery take longer than hoped for. I had lost a significant amount of blood, and it took me awhile to feel confident on my feet again, even after receiving a blood transfusion before being sent home.  Thank you for praying with us. Today we are all doing well, despite sleepless nights, ha! 

Furlough 2022

Have you ever tried to take a passport picture of a 6 week old? A passport photo can only mean good news, we are coming home! We had hoped to make it home this summer during Kenya's elections, although with passport appointment delays at the embassy (delayed up to August 2023), we really didn't think it would be possible to come home this summer or even next! 

However, we were accepted for an expedited appointment, and we will be home the end of June. Praise God! We will be in the U.S. until the end of August and hope to see you! We are beginning to schedule speaking engagements and opportunities to share more about our plans for the future. We will share our schedule with you soon! Please feel free to reach out if you would like to partner with us while we are home! 

GNMA New School Year

One of our first outings with Josiah was to GNMA! Our new school year began at the end of April and just before we hired two new teachers as we added a third grade classroom this year. We now have 6 grade levels and over 200 students at GNMA! We enjoyed meeting with the staff and preparing for students and parents on opening day!  

We also had an official visit from the Department of Education of Kenya. They assessed our school and were very impressed with our teaching resources, infrastructure, and how we have made the school affordable for the community. We have anticipated a visit from them for over a year, and we are thankful for the good report that we received. 

Marriage Conference

In March, Good News Fellowship had a Marriage Conference and over 60 people attended. We had guest speakers that are our friends and often encourage and teach couples. The lessons were interactive, the sessions were dynamic, and couples left encouraged and strengthened. In June, we will have another Marriage Conference led by a team from YWAM Tanzania that specifically outreaches to families. 

Since the pandemic, so many families have been affected. We are thankful for opportunities like this where we can focus on strengthening their foundation as they lean into the Word and God's direction for their family. 

I broke our policy...

When I moved to Kenya, I took over the Child Sponsorship Program. One of the things that we needed to improve on was our policy. Over the years, we continue to change our policy to fit our program and to make sure we continue to grow and work effectively. 

One of our policies is...a child can't be admitted into our sponsorship program until we have a sponsor for that child. We often do interviews of 20+ children, create profiles, and then search for sponsors. However, this week, I broke that policy, because of a sweet boy named Victor. 

Victor was born the same week as Eliana. As they both grew, we could tell Victor wasn't growing and reaching his milestones. We reached out to the mother and took Victor to the doctor. The doctor said it was malnourishment and encouraged the mom to continue to feed him well and give him supplements. Time passed and Victor still wasn't progressing. The mom left our church and recently came back. 

When I saw Victor again at our church, almost 5 years since I had seen him last, he still wasn't in school and you could now tell he was mentally challenged. The mom didn't have any answers or assistance from doctors or the government. She is with her child 24/7, she loves him immensely, but you could tell she needed help. 

She ran in front of our church one Sunday and fell to her knees and cried out to God in her mother tongue. I was in the front row and couldn't understand anything she was saying, but in the same way, I knew everything she was saying. I went up next to Mama Victor, knelt beside her, held her hand, and prayed with her. Cried with her. In that moment, I told God I am breaking our policy. I wanted to admit Victor to our sponsorship program, but I was unsure if we could find a sponsor. I was going to break our policy!

We later called the parents, looked for a special needs school, and are now partnering with the family to educate Victor. Just last week, Victor had his first day of school! His mom called with great joy saying, "God has removed my shame." 

We still don't have a sponsor for Victor. Are you interested in learning more about him and sponsoring him? Sponsorship for Victor is $50/month. We don't know yet what his future education looks like, but we know his life will be brighter! 

Lasagna Dinner- Thank you!

Once again, we had a great Take N' Bake Lasagna fundraiser! With over 200 pans of lasagna ordered and we profited over $5,500 for GNMA Dining Hall! 

Thank you to everyone who ordered, for all of the wonderful chefs in the kitchen and a special thank you to businesses that partnered with us to help keep our cost as low as possible! 
Thank you- 

Thrivent Financial
Oak Fire
Best Bargains
Piggly Wiggly
Lake Geneva Meats
Walmart Delavan
Walmart Burlington 
Walmart McHenry
Walmart Lake Geneva
Woodmans

ATTENTION: Youth Groups, VBS, Sunday School, Student Councils, and Christian Schools

SCHOOL VAN FUNDRAISER!

Some of our students walk to school, but some students live too far away to walk to school. Good News Migwena Academy bought our first school van in 2021, and it brings over 80 students to school every day. The van is FULL! We need to purchase another van so that we can safely transport our students to school every day. 

HOW YOU CAN HELP? 

We believe kids and youth can help make a difference by partnering with GNMA to help purchase another school van. Sunday School! Youth Group! VBS! Schools! Set a goal for your group: $500, $1000, $2,000 or MORE, and together we can reach our goal of $15,000. 

CONTACT US!

Let us know if you want to join the challenge by e-mailing hollyandfred@goodnewskenya.org
We would LOVE to provide you with a custom made video just for your group along with promotional material to help spread the word and reach your goal! 

Praises & Prayer Requests

Good News Kenya is a 501(C)3 non-profit corporation, so your donations are tax-deductible. All GNK projects and missionary support is funded by churches, friends, and family who have decided to partner with us in bringing the Gospel to Kenya. Thank you for being co-laborers in bringing the hope of Christ to Kenyan communities.