Our Teaching Topics and Our Prayer Needs

Greetings, All!

We appreciate your prayers and encouragement so much, so I wanted to give you an update so you'll know what's going on and how you can pray for us, and how you might help us, too.  Remember you can contact us at dawnbrookkenya@gmail.com.

We are only 13 days away from our Mission trip to Mombasa, Kenya, and have learned a little more about our trip. Yesterday our group leader for SOMA (www.somausa.org) received word from the Bishop of Mombasa concerning the topics we will be covering at the Clergy and Spouse's Conference where we will be teaching.  They are good topics, and so much can be said on all of them that we will have to rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us to what He wants shared!  Here is the relevant portion of the Bishop's email:

As we continue to prepare for the forthcoming Clergy gathering, I wish to report the following to you:

1.We expect around 100 clergy and their spouses to attend.

2.The venue is yet to be confirmed but will be in the vicinity of Mombasa City.

3.Payment for accommodation is a challenge to most Clergy who serve in rural areas but we wait upon the Lord.

4.Topics to be covered should include

               a) Evangelism and Discipleship

               b) The clergy and his/her family

               c) Clergy Spouses

               d) Personal life of a Clergy etc.

Dawn and I both feel that these topics are ones the Lord has prepared us to share as He sees fit.  Even though we aren't experts, we have had to learn about them while sitting at his feet.  However, the Lord must have a lot he wants to encourage and bless them in, and I feel so unworthy.  But where I am we are weak, He is strong. Please keep us in prayer that we will only do what we see the Father doing.  (Jesus [said], "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." - John 5:19 - May it be so with Dawn and I!! )

Dawn and I are also looking at 1 Corinthians 2 as a chapter of preparation for our trip.  It is a reminder, among other things, to focus on Christ and him crucified instead of our accumulated wisdom and preparation, to rely on the Spirit's power, and to listen so we can reveal to others what the Lord shows us.  May he be glorified and revealed in our midst as we are with our African brethren!

We have been preparing the things we'll need on our trip - mosquito netting, appropriate clothing (I'll be dressed in formal clericals most of the time I'm there!), and so forth.  We've almost completed our dosages for Typhoid, and are not having any bad reactions from it. Thank you, Lord Jesus!  Regardless, we pray that we will be protected from sickness and accidents.

The latest giving report shows we are almost half-way to meeting our budget requirements.  For all of you who have given - thank you for sowing into us and into the Kingdom!  Our need is upon us, though, as we have been asked to be fully funded by August 6th, and we are leaving on August 16th.  Would you ask God if  you are to be part of our Supply Team?  We believe that God opened the door to us to go, and expect that there is a way he knows about to fund this, but  please join us in praying that we are fully funded in time.  God is able, and where he calls he will provide, as he has invited some of you to join this work through giving towards it.  See our budget page for more info on what we are paying for.

Again, you've given us wonderful encouragement, prayer, and financial support.  We are grateful that you are joining us in this Mission that God has ordained - and you are surely a part of it as you remember us in prayer, give towards it, encourage us, give us travel tips, and so forth.  We are so glad that we will be travelling on your behalf, too!

In the meantime, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might,
Brook (& Dawn)

3 weeks to go!

We are 22 days away from leaving as I write this, and things are continuing to move on.  Here's a short update:

• We got a round of shots (innoculations).  Dawn had to get her first dose of Hep A/B, and yellow fever.  I got my last booster round of Hep A/B.  We have several more to go, and will be taking Malaria pills for several weeks during and after the trip, but we're making progress!

• Donations are coming in, too.  We have received, at our last update today, $1852 of our needed $6575, and I am so grateful for how people are supporting and showing their belief and trust in us.  I'm also a little anxious, realizing we still need so much to be able to go on the trip.  The tickets have been purchased by SOMA, so at least we will have to pay them back.  Keep this in prayer for us, please!

• Dawn's passport has been processed, and should be in this week!  Alleluia!

• Our word from God has been, "Be strong and courageous."  So we will continue to trust that He is going to bring things together, and that this trip will glorify Jesus and bless this group of Kenyans and Americans that will gather in His name.

Thank you, friends and family, for your support and encouragement.  May the Lord bless and keep you!

-Brook (and Dawn!)

The Letter's are going out this week!

Hi all, thanks for looking today.

We are getting ourselves together. This week is support letters go out and we get shots! Ouch. Brook only has to get one because he went to Bolivia a few years ago, but I have to get 3. Yuck!

Remember, we are all on a journey. Take a look at yours today and see where God wants to take you.

<3

The Scoop on our Missions Trip to Kenya!

Dear Friends,

Dawn & Brook are going on a missions trip to Kenya August 16-30, and we invite you to be part of the team!

We will be travelling to the other side of the globe to equip leaders in the Diocese of Mombasa in Kenya for the work of the Gospel. This is a people deeply committed to the Lord Jesus and they prove faithful to him by reaching out in His name to their cities and communities.  Mombasa as well as all of Kenya is increasingly Muslim, and desperately in need of the Gospel to go forth both for the sake of their current living situation as well as their eternal destiny.

We have been specifically invited to be a part of a small, select team organized and trained by an Anglican missions organization called SOMA (Sharing of Ministries Abroad - see www.somausa.org for more info).   SOMA was recently invited by the Bishop of Mombasa, The Rt. Rev. Julius Robert Katoi Kalu, to bring a team to train the clergy, lay leaders, and their spouses to minister to those God has placed around them through the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit.  

How can you join our team?

We have several ways...

The Prayer Team is our first and greatest need

Going to a third-world country is cause for prayer itself.  It is a long way from home and our 3 precious daughters (who will also need to be lifted up in prayer).  Moreover, we will be on the front lines in the battle raging even now for the souls of men and women, and expect there will be spiritual and real resistance to our efforts to teach, train, and refresh other pastors and leaders.  We will need prayer for numerous areas, including:

• being thoroughly prepared for this mission
• all the logistics - including funding, passports, shots/inoculations, travel, etc.
• safety
• our family at home
• that God would lead us, giving us wisdom, insight, and power to do all he is calling us to do

Would you join our Prayer Team?  We have a coordinator that can keep you appraised of our prayer needs and who can collect and pass on to us your encouragements, impressions, and guidance as God gives it.  Currently our prayer list is on our Kenya Mission website at https://sites.google.com/site/dawnandbrookgotokenya/pray-for-us.  If you’d like more information, let us know and we will include you on this most important Team!    Remember:

• The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. - James 5:16b (AMP)
• Prayer can transcend geography;
• Prayer can transcend the laws of nature;
• Prayer can dispatch angels; and
• Prayer can activate the very will of God on earth as it is in heaven.

The Supply Team is another way to join us on this mission.

Some are called to give financial gifts and these are part of the Supply team, as are those who provide for other special needs (ethnic clothing, Bibles or books to give away, etc.) We have a very short time before we leave, and are already making purchases and preparing for the trip.  We need to raise a combined $6575 to cover the expenses for both of us, and we have a month to do it!  

Donations are tax-deductible, and can be made to Holy Cross Anglican Church via our secure web-donation site (https://www.holycrosspodcasts.org/donate?nologin=true) or by sending a check with “Kenya Mission” in the “For” space to Holy Cross Anglican Church; PO Box 776; Loganville, GA 30052.

Would you contribute towards these expenses? For your information, a breakdown of our expenses can be found at our website: https://sites.google.com/site/DawnandBrookGotoKenya/home.

We very much look forward to joining with you, our friends and family, in this Mission.  We thoroughly expect that we will, by the grace of God, sow good things in Kenya, and that we will also be changed by those we serve there.  The faithful in Kenya are rich in faith, and confident in the Lord.  May we be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith (Romans 1:12).

Faithfully,

Dawn & Brook Batchelor

dawnbrookkenya@gmail.com

https://sites.google.com/site/dawnandbrookgotokenya/