FAIR SUNSHINE

God's faithfulness bears fruit. To be so privileged as to serve our King and Lord by teaching these young minds about the excellencies of Christ is incredibly humbling. In May of 2023, the Lord's work began with just eight students; today, there are now twenty one. In the months that passed, some have left or were taken by their parents to attend conventional Roman Catholic mass, yet more still came. When we first arrived here, we prayed that Father would open doors for us to share the gospel with the families living in this compound. In His wisdom, God sent us the children in answer to our petition. By reaching two generations rather than just one, they will be the ones to deliver the gospel to their homes and save us valuable time.  Their families may not listen to us, but they will surely listen to their children. Since then they have taken up a study of the covenants, and the attributes of God, which the teachers simplified in easy-to-understand format geared towards the ...

This Sunday was a review of the lessons from the past month. The children who have been with us for 14 months have responded so wonderfully to the catechisms that I cannot begin to praise God for deepening the children's understanding. The Old Testament's main ideas, starting with the Genesis' prophecy of the coming Messiah up to Joshua, required about a year to study. Much grace has been given to the teachers who put their hearts to pray for the children, and going the extra mile by burning the midnight oil, studying for the lessons, often well into daybreak. It gives me great joy in encouraging them that their labors in the LORD are never in vain, and that they have been given the privilege of shaping these minds who would one day, Lord willing, be granted saving grace. They have a hand in affecting these children's lives who in turn will be the very ones to take the gospel into their homes, to their parents, and to their siblings. God is able to do more with the litt...

Father blesses the work by taking the Children's Church in a more experiential direction: the consciousness of the reality of the heart's corruption even in the little ones. We are totally inadequate to communicate the salvation of Christ, and we know our help comes from the Lord alone. Molested children are common here. It is a silent plague where parents and relatives themselves are often the offenders. We taught the children that their bodies were gifted by the Lord to be theirs alone, and no one else, except by their own mothers on necessary instances, can touch or see it. They were given warnings to be aware of when another person starts touching them where they are not supposed to be touched, and to wear clothes that cover a good portion of their bodies. One item in our monthly prayer and fasting includes the bringing out of many secret sins, in the children, and in the churches. It is of great comfort to us that our brethren from Lubbock, Texas and New Mexico are lifting...

The absence of an affection for God amongst toddlers, children and young adults of Christian families in many, or almost all churches (I say all because I can safely assume that families who attend church during Sundays have fathers who do not lead their families in daily and intentional worship in their homes,) stem from the unfulfilled obligations of the parents in raising their household in the Scriptures and in the fear of the LORD.  It is a pathetic excuse to say we simply do not have time. What we really are saying is either one of two things: I do not know I was supposed to lead my family daily in worship, or, I do not want to make time for it. These are the same people who can sit for hours fiddling with their gadgets, or watching movies, or doing other 'important' things. In our modern day we are simply detached from the reality of God and assume that just because we attend church our children will automatically learn God. We lazily delegate the teaching of our childre...

The children's Genesis book study comes to a close ( by the Lord's grace), and anticipation is high as we announced the start of our Exodus study next week Lord willing.  This is our second major review of the events taken up from creation all the way to Joseph. The study of Genesis was a great opportunity to thoroughly explain that God created only male and female, to talk about the perversion that is homosexuality, and its modern day attempt to corrupt children's minds and destroy the family.  Today's reviews were about the experiential application of Scripture. To teach them how to react biblically regarding scenarios with their family, friends, about forgiveness, telling the truth, the evils of lying and cursing, and Christ's finished work on the cross being the only way back to God apart from works.That salvation is through Christ alone. It was very humbling to hear them answering advanced trivia about Genesis and about our catechism studies. Here the children ...

Some parents of the children in our class also take them to the neighboring churches who give out gifts to attendees. The teachers there are surprised that the children know the books of the bible more than they do, and can explain their way through the Genesis narrative. This is great encouragement to us. It has also come to our attention how the students when playing outside keep silent and do not participate when the more rowdy children start cursing and behave badly. By God's grace we are teaching their young minds not to look at the problem when dealing with stressful situations in their family life. To respond instead by looking to God and trusting in Christ. God is working a change in the hearts of these blessed ones. We are now teaching them how to pray. The LORD is good.

God has continued to prosper His work here, growing this week's attendance from a class of just a few kids when we first started. I will never grow weary of emphasizing that we only prayed to begin a work among the families here in the compound, and Father has abundantly answered above what we asked by drawing the children to Himself. It appears that the change in the families would affect the younger generation rather than the older, that it would originate within their families rather than from the outside. God is to be praised for His wisdom. One mother told us that she frequently finds her son watching Super Book and reading his bible. And there are numerous indications that some of the kids are actually reading the Bible on their own. When they respond to questions from their teachers that I didn't anticipate them to remember or know the answer to, I am always in awe as I listen from behind my study. We express our gratitude to God for their tiny voices. They can now re...

This was the first major review of all the past lessons in the Old Testament, Catechism and the Decalogue we've covered since the children's church began several months ago. The sheer enthusiasm they bring every week is just so humbling and encouraging. These children belong to a large clan of conflicting families. They practically despise each other, but now by God's grace their children enjoy fellowship with one another. This is something that was not here when we arrived three years ago. Originally we thought of accepting only those above 9 years of age, reasoning that those below 9 might only distract the older ones. But the Lord in His word said not to hinder the children from coming to Him. So now we are thankful even for our little ones. God has blessed our concern by touching their hearts with exemplary behavior: they are very attentive, love participating, and are well behaved. We can only pray the LORD would use these little ones to minister in their own homes and...

Yes, children are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Children born during one’s youth are like arrows in a warrior’s hand. How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! They will not be put to shame when they confront enemies at the city gate. Psalms 127:3-5

We have been waiting on the LORD since being sovereignly placed in this location the very first month of year 2000. Wondering yet as to how we can lift up Christ with no resources or support, save for God's faithfulness. Since starting with our nightly bible study series He has been pleased to bless His work not only with souls but more importantly with the right direction as to how to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. For us it is of no importance to start a work for Christ, if it be not according to His prescription. From the lesson of Nadab and Nabihu, God has clearly revealed how He is to be worshipped.  We would not have learned about the beautiful practice of elevated reverence for scripture and its proper place in sacred worship if Father had not sovereignly taken us from our previous denominations. Furthermore, it is evident from His placing us on the route of scriptural worship that He takes great care to ensure that we have a lamp at our feet and a light at our path. Ev...

Father has provided us the means to purchase bibles in our pursuit of putting His word in the hands of the children, to be distributed freely, and teach them the habit of opening the scriptures, not just listening to it read to them. To familiarize them with stories from both testaments and show how Christ is pointed at in the old, and fulfilled in the new, and that He can be seen in every story; how Christ is "written in the volume of the book," and inculcate the truths of God by way of catechism questions and answers. The end of every class is great encouragement to us in this work. Each one can recite the 10 commandments at will, but it will require God's grace to give it life in them, to be understood, and eventually lived out. This we thank God for and plead His hand.

Our new teacher, Grandpa Willie ( Lolo Willie ) has appeared three times now assisting in teaching the children regarding questions on the New City Catechism. The children are reportedly more excited now than ever to attend each session, typically lasting 30 minutes, which includes a short overview of major stories in the bible. Since their families do not open the bible in their homes, it is good that we are enabled to assist the children by presenting the bible to them in its proper context and in a biblical fashion, emphasizing that the Word of God holds supreme authority above all.  We are currently in the Old Testament. We have included simple typology, to show Christ in every story. After this, we move on to the questions and answers of catechism consisting of 51 important subjects of the faith. It gives us great joy every time we hear the children answer past questions on their own, declaring "we are not our own but belong to God." Lastly, the children recite the 10 c...