Barry and Stacy Rosie

P.O. Box 2568

Kisii, Kenya

East Africa

October 5, 1987

Fraley's Chapel Church of Christ

c/o Jim Brown

Rt. # 8 Box 320

Corinth, Mississippi 38834

Dear friends and fellow workers in Christ,

Can you believe September is over already? Time sure flies! We've been thinking about all of you as you've been getting your children settled back into school, finishing up summer jobs and vacations, and settling into your autumn routines. We pray for you each day, that you are all well and happy, and working hard for Christ.

Barry and I are doing really fine. We are healthy, happy, looking forward more and more to the Big Event in December, continuing to labor for Christ to our best ability and learning to lean on Him more each day.

Oh! And have we had several occasions to lean on Him this month. Barry has had two more breakdowns and near misses in our "trusty" vehicle. These times (both of them) he was 120 kilometers (80 miles) from home on dusty, bumpy bush trails and had to tie the truck back together and limp home. Luckily he hasn’t been hurt. He figures the truck (or Satan) is really trying to get the better of him, but he thinks he's winning because he hasn't had to abandon it yet. As for me, this has strengthened my prayer life, as each day that I see Barry through our front gate in the morning, I begin sending up prayers of thanksgiving that the truck has held together for an other trip out to teach, and pleas that our Father will return him to me in one piece each evening.

Another reason we've had to lean on Him this month has been in trying to cope with the poor (or I should say non-existent) medical facilities in Kisii town. I went to a local medical clinic in Kisii to have my blood routinely checked. After three successive, poor test results

I called my doctor in Nairobi. She became very worried and ordered me into Nairobi immediately for a possible hospital stay, blood transfusion (a very risky procedure to have done in this country considering the AIDS problem) and iron shots. Barry and I did a lot of leaning on Jesus that week. We rushed into Nairobi and reported to the doctor who immediately repeated the blood test. As it turned out, all the tests done in Kisii were read wrong. I'm just fine; still a little shocked at the extremely poor medical conditions in Up Country Kenya. God has taught us compassion for these people who have nowhere else to go when sick but to a Kisii medical clinic. The Nairobi doctor assured me that the baby and I are just fine. She says it's going to be a very large baby. She does have two small concerns though that I would like you to pray about. I have the rarest blood type in Kenya, and she is a little concerned that these bumpy roads are causing too many contractions. I'm not worried though, just leaning on Jesus a little more.

Our work is going so well. I'm so proud of Barry who is gaining more confidence in the language, and more insight into the culture daily. Three of the four new churches are showing marked growth in number and maturity. Barry is working so hard, and. God. is blessing him and the new Christians so richly.

Because I've not been able to travel, I've attended worship this month on my own back porch with the deaf congregation, so I want to tell you a little more about them this month. We have a unique situation here in Kisii town. The Kenya government is not able at this point to provide many services for their handicapped people so most are forced to stay at home, depend on their parents, and live a relatively useless life. Kisii, however, has an Asian businessman in hardware who will hire any deaf person who walks through his door looking for a job. He provides them full time work, a place to live and one meal a day. The result; a very large deaf community in Kisii, all housed just over our fence, and very little religious influence. It's a wide-open harvest for Christ! And turning out to be a very successful harvest at that. Our numbers are growing weekly and it is so encouraging to see them developing in Christ, attempting to meet their own needs, and forming into a cohesive group of worshippers. One of the deaf Christians is an excellent song leader and has developed some new songs in sign with the help of his friends. Together the group is developing it's own signed singing. Simeon, the national Christian who has learned deaf signing, and whom you have heard me talk about before, preaches each Sunday and is attempting to train some of the men to teach and preach also. The deaf people meet together in smaller groups once or twice weekly for Bible study, and they all bring new friends to worship each week. This month, 14 deafs have been baptized into Christ bringing the number to 22. One very interesting thing about these people is that although they all come from some denominational background because of family influence, few have any real understanding of God or Jesus and His plan for us because no one has attempted to help them understand in their own language (signing) the Good News of Christ our Saviour. They are truly babes in Christ! Pray for them.

Until next month then. We love you, appreciate you, and pray for you daily.

For Him,

Barry and Stacy Rosie