One Happily Thing

Hi friends, 

Thought you might like to see and hear from our friends in Kenya today.  They are always sending their greetings out to you and our church members.

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The youngest girl they call "Christin", they say because "she looks so much like you!"  Had to smile at that.  :)

Their trip to Nairobi and meeting President Hicken was wonderful to them

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Singing women and men. 

You & I wouldn't recognize any of the songs they sing.  They are unique because they are received from within their faith. When the people need direction from God, they fast, pray, and then receive the answer by the Spirit in the form of a holy song.  The message is precisely recorded as received, in a journal (as above), shared and distributed to all of the members of the branches, to record in their own journals.  They will then spend the following days and weeks in practicing and memorizing the song, to remember and follow the message forever and teach it to their children.  

As a recent example of a teaching that they received, they've told me that a short time ago the Spirit directed them to begin to hold regular combined fasts as a congregation, as well as fasting at individual personal times (which is the only way they had previously been fasting). Now at all branches, they are beginning to put the regular combined fasts into practice.  What faith.

Recently Kilonzi shared a special "message-song", when I told him that someone here had asked me if he and the others had given up, or over time had stopped communicating with me. Although I had been hearing from them, it was becoming less frequent, so I took the opportunity and asked Kilonzi if they felt at all discouraged through the months, about this whole spiritual project, and he said:

Here we have no problem with that. Only that we can not tell what GOD wanted, because he is the one who initiated all this, and all plans are under him .

So it is just yesterday in the church we sung song telling us how we should be patience like JOSEPH how he dreamed, sun moon and stars kneeled for, and it was after how long for that dream to fulfill!? Also Abraham was promised a son at late age, and after how long did he wait ? and it came to fulfill!   Also prophet ISAIAH prophesied about the birth of baby Jesus, and it came to fulfill after 900 years!   so i can not worry about you coming here, if GOD said you will come you must come, even if when, but GOD WORD ARE TRUE.        DO YOU BELIEVE THAT ?

 Then the song continued and insisted that we should remain patient and strong and wait for GODS WILL TO BE DONE it was concerning waiting for whatever GOD has promised us, whatever has been promised through prophecy, it will come true one day .you remember that i told you, about the prophecy which said that white people (american s and other ) will come to Kenya because of the word of GOD ? then those are the prophecy we are being told to wait patiently for. also remember about patience MOSES was said to rescue israel from slave... after how long did they wait? .israel were promised canaan and after did they wait to be taken there ? believe me or not if we are true christian we must be strong in faith and be 100%patient"

(After I told him that his words had made me happy : )

"I tell you one happily thing is that, you trust, i trust, then even one day we shall stay together forever in heaven. nothing will separate us saints"

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Thanks for letting me share these things today from our friends.  They send their love and greetings!  

Enjoy your day!

-Christin

Six Elders and Brothers Travel to Nairobi Mission Office

Hello Friends of Kenya Seeds story and  People,

Sometime soon I will write the history of the events that led to our trip being cancelled, our heartache and the undying faith of the people,  then the amazement at the wisdom of God when a death and other things  happened during those days that we would have been away from our families.  But today I hope you will read and then pray with us.   I'm writing to let you know about a special trip that will be happening in Kenya while we sleep tonight (Thursday).  Stake President Tolman along with Kenya Mission President Hicken encouraged me to invite the Elders of their church to go to Nairobi to talk to President Hicken in person. They did call him, and six of the brothers and Elders of their church are scheduled to meet with him at 10:00 a.m. Friday (1 a.m. Friday our time).  They will sit together at the mission office and discuss their stories, questions, and desires. They are serious about this visit, because they will be representing their people, and wishing to carry forth the will of God according to what they believe He has told them, which is that their people should meet with ours and discuss the things that the Lord has given to us.  They have asked us to please pray for them:

"Pls help by prayer, because Jesus want us to be one.  So it is our time to look how can we be one... as I said before: Ephesian 4 passage 1. 

The holly spirit said there are God people in Asia, Canada, America, all of the warld.  I know it is true. So tell elders there to unity in prayers.  I ask God to give us wisdom and He will assist us because He is ONE who do everything.  Amen."

Yesterday the Grandma of the Mwangangi family passed away.  They have a funeral to prepare and carry out, people to comfort, and so much to do.  The head Elder of this trip to Nairobi is the father of that family:  

Naturally I expected that the trip would be delayed because of his family funeral.  Today when I asked him if they are changing plans, his response was:

"No, because tomorrow -Thursday- we do burial. After that, we travel to Mwingi at night.  We want to board Nairobi bus from 4 a.m. in order to reach Nairobi from 7:30-8:00 a.m. Let put it in God hands."

Asking for your prayers for them  tomorrow night, and thank you for caring for the Lord's children all over the world.

Your Sister,

Christin Shumway

It is Time

It has been four months since the last post, and, although they have come as slow as a drip from a faucet, pure blessings have indeed come, sincere prayers have been answered, and led us to this time that we -both the Kenyan people and I- have been long awaiting...we are going back to Kenya!  

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ALRIGHT.  

To catch you up...last Spring, using facebook across the world, the people and I began to discuss our hopes for another moment in time together. They communicated repeatedly the joy that they felt, and the excitement that was spreading throughout the branches in their church.  They asked that next time, could I please come with the accompaniment of Elders from our church, so that our Elders and their Elders could all talk and learn of things of God, discussing what spiritual knowledge He has shared with us, and with them....because to know and do His will is their greatest desire.  They know in faith that God has prepared the way for this event, and during our stay they will take time for powerful and sincere prayer, to ask what God would like them to know and do, and obey fully the answer that He will most certainly supply.

  Two things I know in my heart of hearts:

  1. The church is true

2. These people are true- and sincere.  

Together, this brings some really beautiful possibilities.

But what to do about it? I knew that missionaries had never been out east of Nairobi (only south-east, near Mombasa), nor are they allowed there, because of their duty to the "areas of strength" where they are assigned.  I still had no successful way of contacting them.  I began to consider talking to others who would be willing to go, but I knew, by the way that I felt, that the timing wasn't right, things were not right.  August was the first time that the people said that they could get off of work and school for a combined meeting with us.  The next would be December.  I knew by what the Spirit was telling me that I shouldn't be making any plans yet.  So I told them no, not yet, God says not now.  They were confused as to why, but trusted in my heeding the Spirit, wanting the will of God, and were kind and patient about it.  They later said, Maybe we can pray for December, then.

I continued to pray, and to wait for and ask for support and counsel from leaders in any way that I could, as I did not feel that it would be right or safe to go without the blessing of a leader over the work in Kenya, and certainly not without the blessing of the Lord.

As we awaited word, and hearing the steady pleas from the people to please return again and bring word about God's messages. We began to talk about what we could do for the people, but the nagging feeling that we needed at least a nod from someone of authority, was relentless.  

At that time, I talked with a friend who had located an email address that could reach the Kenya Mission President directly.  With that information, and a new hope, I spent 3 days composing an informative and soul-bearing letter to him.  The email address was a success, and only 12 hours later, Kenya Mission President Hicken replied!

In his response, President Hicken kindly provided me information about what limitations of resources that they had for new investigators who live outside of the "areas of strength," stating that in Kenya there are many small groups of people who wish for a branch, but the physical ability for them to join the church and attend with all of the blessings of sacrament, priesthood leadership, and everything else necessary for church membership, has not physically come to their areas yet, and thus they cannot yet be baptized.  

I agree that baptisms and babies alike, should not be had unless you can nurture them.

Did that mean, though, that these people who are genuinely asking, should continue to live in darkness from the truth and joy that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored?

President Hicken continued by saying that we were welcome, as any church members are, to go anywhere in the world and share our testimonies and faith and love with them as brothers and sisters and as friends.  He could provide copies of the Book of Mormon, and, to a limited degree, visits from missionaries to them every couple of months, until the day that the church is able to support them as converts, if that is their wish.

We were so glad to have contact and support from President Hicken!  He even called my Stake President, and together they discussed the matter for a long while. All obstacles were now removed for the next step, albeit not for baptism, but I never did feel that masses of immediate, spontaneous baptisms was imminent, because of the sheer numbers of those involved.  The greater the numbers, the more patient one must be for change, in order for all to be converted in heart, as they are truly a people.

  So I prayed about what to do next, who could go, and more specifically who should go, and certain priesthood men whom I know came to mind.  Without sharing the personal nature of the things that they had been experiencing, it became evident when I asked them to come, that the Lord had already been preparing them for this. With prayer and a lot of faith (especially from their trusting wives!), they agreed to go to meet with the people in Kenya. 

I knew then that I needed that confirmation from the Lord that it is right to plan another trip to Kenya.  I used direct text messages to ask for prayers and faith from my friends in Kenya, during the time that I was prayerfully seeking an answer.  I knew that they would fast with their prayers, from both food and water. 

I still remember that I was at the movies with my husband, when a text came in... (yes, my phone should have been off  ;)  )......from the father Mwangangi who hosted us.  He has broken English, so normally uses his son to communicate to me, but this time he wanted to text me himself. 

He said:

"Aleluya, amen. Yesterday we are in prayer, up to morning. We meet in other church place. Greet others. Amen."

I realized that he sent me that text at 1:30 a.m. Kenya time.  It meant that he and the Elders had met in a special church area to pray, and they had just finished their 36th hour of fasting and prayer together for us.

And I was at the movies.

I cried -sobbed- there in my movie seat, when I got the text.  (It didn't help that I was watching a preview of a movie about 3 Africans who came to the US out of hardship).  My tears were out of humble awe for the faith of these beautiful people.  How grateful I am to know them.

That night, I knelt to pray and to ask.  I experienced then for the second time in my life, a physical and spiritual sensation of peace that completely overcame me. It made me smile in my heart as I enjoyed the answer, and I knew that I could now, in confidence, go and tell them that we will come.

The other men and their wives had their own way of receiving the answers in the way that they personally needed, and since then, we have been meeting and planning, preparing, and sharing the joyful word to the people that yes, we will come, in December!  It was immediately shared with all of the branches in their church, and they are making some kind of lovely preparations which we will only discover when we arrive.  They are saying that they are making the time very efficient for discussing together spiritual matters of the Kingdom of God. They also wonder what we like to eat. :)

 I wrote again to President Hicken asking about how he and I can best stay in touch as the plans to visit Kenya are being made, and a few days later I received this:

subject: Hello from Kenya

Sister Christin Shumway,

This is Elder Pehrson (America) and Elder Maduna (South Africa) from the Kenya Nairobi mission, and we would love to keep in touch and assist you.

We will be able to help you with your request to visit your new friends in the Mwingi area. I understand you were planning to come in December, can you tell us more about that? Will you please send us any contact information like names, phone numbers, etc. for the people in Mwingi so that we may be able to make some initial contact? Or do you think it is better that we just wait and go with you in December?

Let me know what you think, and we will organize so that we can assist you. 

Thank you for your interest in God's children here in Kenya.

-Elder Maduna

-Elder Pehrson

The missionaries can come!  Wonderful news!  EVERY thing is a go!  God is so great!

So we are planning, preparing, joyful, and praying that something like Ebola (not yet in Kenya) will not stop this from happening, but that the beautiful possibilities will roll out, and bless the lives of these beautiful people with the joy that is found in the true and restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  All we can do is what we individually and together feel that the Lord wishes us to do, and feel so grateful and so humble for the opportunity.

Please, if you wish to help us to go and bless those in Kenya, consider donating to this cause.

I'll definitely keep you posted!  ;)

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• Ways to help:
• We want to bring the following things when we visit them.  We also welcome donations of old laptops, tablets, and cell phones, helping them bridge the gap between poverty and financial security which can only be reached with the help of technology and communication.  Email me for any other ideas or questions you may have.

SEE PRODUCT INFO HERE:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006FW3JM8/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

• Humanitarian: clean water straw filters (as many as possible): $20 each 

                                 

PRODUCT INFO:  http://www.amazon.com/LifeStraw-LSPHF017-Personal-Water-Filter/dp/B006QF3TW4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412920740&sr=8-1&keywords=clean+water+straws

Thank you for reading, and for considering helping us to bring light and blessings to some of the most sincere and faithful people, offering their trust and faith and countless prayers to God, who I know loves his dear children in the bush of Kenya.

Christin & Brad Shumway

1911 Enchanted Park Drive

Spring, Texas 77386

832.620.4680

kenyaseeds@gmail.com

*I'm also on facebook!  ;)

Jenga/ Priesthood Involvement

A friend of mine says that my head is always filled with analogies.  Today my mind is filled with Jenga analogies.

If you have ever played Jenga, you know that it is a stacking game, using rectangular wooden pieces.  You  first stack the pieces forming a tight rectangular building,

 then continue building higher, using loose pieces from the original construction.  



In my mind, I keep thinking of the loose pieces, and the way that we poke at the ends of the blocks to see which ones will come loose, so that we can use them to build upwards, without putting at risk the integrity of the increasingly fragile building.

I can see before me something that has been built up by someone's hand.  I see that things have been prepared.  But the work isn't finished, it hasn't reached its full potential.  

I also know that although this started with a single friendship, it has grown into something involving many souls, and this isn't meant for me to do by myself.  It is time to start building with priesthood and missionaries, people who are authorized and have keys over the work in the Kenya area.

The original intent of the forming of this Kenya Seeds blog was two-fold.  One reason was to share the story,  and in so doing to testify of many things that I know, including that God is still a God of miracles, and that he sees and loves his children everywhere in the world, and that if we are only willing, he can and will use us, even as imperfect as we are, to reach them with the truth that they long for, near or far, by the hundreds or one-at-a-time.

The second reason was more private at the time of the blog beginning.  After arriving home from Kenya for only a couple of weeks, the word of our visit and discussion had spread throughout the branches of their church, through their church members and leaders.  A few days before creating this blog, I was receiving messages from them, pleading for me to return with Elders holding the priesthood, to share more about our church with their church. They said that at least 1000 and perhaps several thousand Kenyan people would gather and listen, if we could give them plenty of advance notice so that they could make arrangements for such a grand event.  When I read this, I knew that even though I had tried countless times to contact the Kenya Mission Office, it wasn't happening and I needed to try something more;  this was growing heavier and it was time to attempt to advise the brethren.

Without sharing too much, I want those reading to know that I took these things to local authorities; they responded with joy and were supportive, encouraging me to write about it in short, executive summary form in a letter (and also to create this blog for more detailed reference information, the blog link included in the letter), which they would then hand up with their own endorsements, to the brethren.  The information was given, and I have been told that word will come.  I am awaiting counsel from them on how this unique situation should be handled.

It has been weeks now, and I am told that these things take time.

Meanwhile, I try to keep the path warm and the relationships with the Kenyan people alive, but hope is growing frail with the drawing out of time.  

Frail like the Jenga building.  

I continue to call and email the Kenya mission office (although with no response), send scriptures and messages to the people (still getting a beautiful response), send followup messages to the brethren (awaiting a response), and search my brain for any other thing that might lead to something moving forward in the right way.  I see an image of  Jenga game, and I see myself  "tapping the blocks" looking for loose ones that will push through, and can be used.....any possibilities that can help to forward the work, but not insistently pushing forward so hard as to damage the already beautiful formation. 



It's a game of patience, requiring a steady hand and a gentle approach.

I don't know what will come, or how it will play out.  In my mind's eye, I hope that it will be God's will that me-- or even better my husband and I-- or even my family will be asked to go to visit Kenya alongside some authorized brethren of the priesthood, bringing missionaries of the Kenya area, and together we'll go out to the bush to bring the message of the restored gospel to those beautiful and remarkable children of God who have been prepared and are waiting.  I imagine my role simply being one of loving the people, serving the sisters and children there, and, at the gathering, together with the father and my first Kenyan friend, Kiaruuh, telling the story of how those prophesied things had come about in miraculous ways, and how it all had led to this moment.  Following our stories would come introductions to the missionaries and priesthood authorities, where our Elders would talk and share with theirs, and from there, everything that the Lord has been wanting and promising for the people to have, would be given. 

 I know enough about these people to know that they are united--  they worship is in groups, prayerful each day as individuals and as a family, then gather by the hundreds, in branches, twice per week to testify and share.  There is no one head leader, no paid preacher.  They haven't even officially named their church.  When something special is brought by a gift of the spirit to one of the group, they share it with their Elders, who pray for confirmation.  If it is found to be truth and of God, it is written down in a book and shared with the other branches through a network of meetings and gatherings, and the revelation is integrated into their worship.  In total they have tens of thousands of members of their church.

These people work purely without question through the promptings of spirit, and what is given as truth from God to their Elders, they pray about for confirmation, then trust and act upon it as a united people.  

Here are some quotes that I have gotten in the last month from some of my Kenyan friends:

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  From a Kenyan friend:  
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    i can remember in one of messages i told you we preach god whom we know beyond any doubt that he is the talking god. i told you to come and pray together and we wait our god to take us a photo give us the results . We see our selves and we related with our lord
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    6/7, 12:52pm
    

    Christin Francom Shumway
    

    Can you please explain again that last paragraph? I think I understand the first half of it but not the last, especially the last sentence
    

    
    
  • 6/7, 1:04pm
    

    
    
    

    I mean whatever we want from our god, he is always ready to give us. 
    

    
    
  • Am saying that you come and we all pray god together and shall tell us many things

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(A few days earlier, a grenade attack had happened elsewhere in Kenya and I had expressed my sympathies for the people of Kenya) 

Friend from Kenya: We want to share with you what we were told yesterday in the church from the book of Matthew.  The five wise virgin girls and five others were not wise.  The Holy Spirit encouraged us to know our position.  Are we wise enough to keep the spare oil so that by the time he comes, our lamp have enough light?

At church they have greeted you and your family, and told you they are proud of you.   Imagine! We informed the church about you in America, and they are eagerly waiting for you! 

 Don't mind about terrorism, God is there for us, and as you know, these are the last days when it was said that many shall fight, and there shall be no peace, because these are the signs that Jesus is very near, so our work as Christians is to pray for our heart, and for the everlasting life, which is very very near.  Trouble on Earth will never end, dear friend.

....That is roasted maize (corn) from the shamba (crop).  You left them (when they were) like seedlings.  Just see the fruits of rain.  Even yesterday evening it rained alot.  Praise be to GOD

Maize in my shamba.  Do you remember?

Have a good night, I am off to school (he is a teacher).  Greet Dallin, and all your children, and moreso Brad. 

Me: ...It gladdens my heart to hear a lot of good messages from your family, and to know that you care a lot.  I have shared some of the messages and stories with my family and church members, and they smile and say hello to you.  We will continue to pray and look forward to the time that we can say that we are coming.  We will give a lot of advance notice when it is arranged, but know that a lot of details need to happen first, because it is a very complicated process.

But I am working at it constantly, and will never give up.

Kenyan friend:  Which process surely know that God is the greatest processor, and he will process everything.  Do not mind (worry)

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I just looked online and learned that Jenga is an African Swahili word meaning "to build."  

Fancy that.  :)