A Word from Mark Kraybill, Chairman of Living Love Ministries’ Board:

The call that Solomon and Eunice have felt to provide a home for children in their native country of Kenya has been to the city of Eldoret, about 100 miles from their hometown. During a visit to the states last winter, Solomon met Earl Shirk from Ephrata, PA. The fact that a divine connection was happening became evident as the conversation progressed. Earl is a part of an organization called Symbios, which manages a children’s home for 30 children in Eldoret, Kenya. Symbios was looking for someone who had experience as an administrator, who could direct this existing home and help develop children’s training institutes. The experience that Solomon and Eunice have after being directors of Stansberry Children’s Home in Bolivia for the past four years was exactly what they were looking for.

Solomon started as a consultant for Symbios in February 2007. His administrative skills on site and in handling legal issues have been invaluable to them. He was recently appointed as the head of a task force that is developing a strategy to effectively operate the Symbios Children’s Home and the Baba Nyumbani Technical Institute (located about 50 miles north of Eldoret). There have been challenges throughout the last five months, but God has been faithful in many ways as Living Love Ministries and Symbios work together.

Symbios and Living Love are entering into a joint venture and planning to start a new partnership organization in Kenya this summer. A Kenyan Board of Directors that includes 4 Kenyans, 2 Americans and 1 Canadian is being formed. This Board will be responsible to manage the current Symbios Children’s Home (includes a school and a farm) and the Baba Nyumbani Technical Institute. They are also forming a Board of four Trustees which includes Ibrahim Omondi and Jim Pesce from Symbios along with Mel Nissley and Solomon Mwangi from Living Love. These four Trustees will be the legal owners of land and ministry assets in Kenya. They plan to purchase 20 to 25 additional acres to start a new children’s home, school and an agricultural training institute. Our goal is to raise $60,000 by July 31, 2007, to purchase land that is now available.

They will also need to purchase a used 4-wheel drive Toyota pick-up truck to provide transportation for Solomon & Eunice and to use during the construction process.

As a Board, we ask for your prayers during this time of change. In addition, your generous gift at this point will help us move forward with these major projects. Enclosed you will find a card and a self-addressed envelope that you can use for your gift. You will receive a tax-deductible receipt for your gift.

Many Thanks,
Mark Kraybill for Living Love Ministries

Greetings to You From Kenya

Dear Family,
It’s hard to believe that it is almost eight months since we left Bolivia - time surely does have wings! Some of you have been wondering what has been going on with us (someone thought we fell off the earth or migrated to Pluto). We are sorry this update is late, but we chose to wait longer so we can give you a better picture of what is happening in Kenya.

We arrived home on January 26th and were received with gladness by both our families. It was nice to see everybody again. Of course, Abby was the center of attention. However, she wasn’t ready for the all the Hi’s and the Wow’s. She made sure to stay close to Dad and Mum. She has taken her time to warm up to people, especially adults and we are letting her go at her own pace. We stayed in Nakuru (hometown) for two weeks before heading out to Eldoret (100 miles northwest of Nakuru). In Eldoret, God had already prepared a place for us to stay. For the past three months we were blessed to live with Solomon’s Uncle Sebastian pictured above with us. He had just bought a big house in Eldoret and was more than willing to host us. As many of you know, we didn’t have a house or property when we left the states, yet God had given us peace and we knew it was time to come back home. This is the amazing way God answered our prayers.

We moved into a rented apartment a month ago and what a relief it has been to unpack our suitcases at last. The house may not be as spacious as our uncle’s house but it is big enough for us. Abby enjoys running through the house and playing outside as I watch her from the kitchen window. We are so thankful that Abby has adjusted well, despite all these changes. She has picked up Swahili really well; but unfortunately, she has lost most of her Spanish, though she still has a few words. Our efforts to try to keep her on one language have not succeeded. We were hoping she would not follow the trait of speaking a mixture of languages like we do. Well, you cannot teach others what you do not do, so she now has her own mix of English, Swahili and Spanish. She will say things like “I want agua” (Spanish for water) or “food mimi” (mimi is Swahili for me).

I, Eunice, continue as a “stay at home” Mum. I feel this is essential for Abby, especially during this time of transition. However, I am getting some condemning looks from a few people that are wondering what I am doing at home. “Are you settling on just being a house wife?” Since many consider house-keeping in our culture a waste of time, the norm here is for one to get house help and find a “well paid” job.

We are currently attending a small church called Grace Bible Church, but we are praying for God’s direction in this area. The busy schedule of the last few years that continues even now has us feeling kind of burned out. We need bread from heaven – it is food from the Word of God that keeps us going.

We want to thank all of you who have been praying for us and pray for God’s blessing upon your lives. May the peace of Christ rule in your hearts now and always.

Eunice for Solomon and Abby