All of the students except three reported on time for the February school session. These three faced challenges like children getting sick or just not being able to raise fare to school on time which is all understandable. We appreciate all that continue to pray for these students and for successful training sessions. All this would not be possible to put together without prayers.

Accommodation

All the students were booked into 7 tents with men in tents 2,3,4,5 & 6 while the ladies took tents 7 and 8. Tents 1, 9 & 10 were reserved for faculty. Paul and Fred shared tent 10, Randy was in tent 9 while Tom and Peter shared tent 2.  It was a great joy and privilege to be able to enjoy basic facilities such as toilet, shower and warm beds all which were not in place in the last school. We however faced a few workmanship issues which we tried to address in addition to the training.  All in all it was a great chance to try out our tent facilities with full occupancy and we hope we can run it in the future with minimum workmanship challenges especially plumbing.

One great testimony I want to report here is that one of our former student James Kimani called two days before the school began and offered to come serve the present class in cleaning up the tents and running errands as a way of giving back to the school because of the training he got. We praise God for such an offer which is a huge encouragement to all of us.

We also had the privilege of having our American brother Fred Moore staying with us at the tented camp and he was of great help in coordinating the repair of whatever needed to be worked on in the tents. We called him “the maintenance guy”.  We thank God that Fred could sacrifice to come.

In the December 2011 training we had to do with a make-shift kitchen, but for this school we had our kitchen up and running though some work continued in the course of the school. Basic facilities such as refrigerator, deep freezer and washing machine were also in place for this school.

The Lord also lined up for us great kitchen staff who worked hard to ensure that the pastors got all their meals in time. Both our two cooks were called William and so the kitchen was christened “William and William Café” in the February training.

Courses taught:

The Lord granted as in all other trainings great faculty for the training and the pastors were a great encouragement with a great hunger to learn whatever was taught.  Pastor Randy Larson traveled from the United States, Wisconsin; city of Sparta and the pastors literally drained him out.  He brought a great experience in ministry having served as a pastor for 29years.  The students asked questions across the board even outside his course.  Paul used him to tell the class how he did counseling as a Pastor and managed to strike a balance with other pastoral responsibilities.

• We have just completed building a “safari camp” replica on the property that has already housed two school terms (Dec. & Feb.) and the camp will be ready for group rentals later in the year.
• Each platformed tent sleeps up to four people with luxury amenities including private bath with toilet, shower, double sinks and covered deck.  See tent interior above.
• A large tented dining/meeting room is also available.
• A separate kitchen building has also been completed.

   Our next plans include the following:

• Landscape the tent camp area
• Plant our high-yield garden
• Construct an outdoor slate dining/events patio with fireplace
• Build a permanent classroom building with library

Our wonderful teachers are doing all they can to make sure that we don’t go home the way we came. Pastor Randy is a wonderful teacher who is teaching us on leadership. He is full of wisdom and we are tapping all what we could.  Surely this school is Divine since we have been divinely connected to him.  Paul, Peter and Tom are also awesome.  They are teaching us with passion, willing to give us their best.  May God bless them all.  Something else happened as God brought to us Fred.  He has been there for us, serving us, making sure that our stay here is comfortable.  This is a challenge to us, somebody coming all those miles just to take care of us.  He has been a father and a friend to all of us. He has made us feel loved. I believe he represents the love that our sponsors and United Methodist Church have for us.

CLICK TO SEE VIDEO

Divine Providence Training Center would like to thank all our donors for their generosity during the Christmas Season.  Such extraordinarily generous Christmas gifts will live throughout 2012 and even into eternity. Your gift will bless and train pastors, reach people with the Good News of Jesus Christ, provide a safe school for learning, and teach people how to garden and learn micro-enterprise; your gift will move DPTC toward becoming self-sustaining in the next few years; your gift will make an eternal difference.

“The students and staff of Divine Providence Training Center gratefully accept the extraordinarily generous Christmas gift from the donors at RUMC. We are constantly overwhelmed and humbled by your continued love and unrestrained willingness to help us equip our Kenyan pastors to serve our people in a way that is honoring to the Lord. We ask God’s abundant blessings upon RUMC and upon each of you donors as we share in God’s mission together.”

The Staff of Divine Providence Training Center,
Silas Waweru, Paul Njuguna and Peter Kinuthia

Here are some ways we plan to use your generous gifts.

Martha and her husband Paul have grown their church to  include over 100 youth worshiping weekly.  Many of these youth were at one time street children. The youth lead the praise band and are mobilizing local youth in the schools to learn more about Jesus.  Their testimonies are a witness to the Power of the Gospel to transform lives.  They additionally are using materials for Sunday school that members of RUMC sent on a regular basis and want more.

Mercy:

Mercy and her husband Francis live in an area that is largely Islamic and underdeveloped because of gang control. As their church grew a price was put on their heads. They confronted the gang leader with boldness in Christ stating that if he needed to behead them, do it right then and there. He was amazed at the strength of their conviction and wanted to know about the God they served to be so bold. Over time Mercy and her husband have led this gang leader to Christ and now are being invited into the homes of the gang members to share the Good News of salvation and how to walk with the Lord.

Mercy also has mobilized 15 young women- she calls them babies having babies – and is using her training to teach them how to raise their children in a godly manner and to be godly wives. Additionally Mercy has about 25 children she is nurturing in the Message of the Savior. She believes these children will lead their parents to Christ as it is easier for them to come to church initially rather than the parents due to Islamic pressure. One of the children has risen up as a child prodigy. He is a three year old boy and he has led his mom and others to Christ as each week after the service he goes out and stands up on a table or stones and repeats what the pastor said. He also leads little children in songs and praise. Amazing what is happening in this area.

Lucy:

Pastor Simon’s wife Lucy went to the True Identity workshop in July, a women’s ministry led by RUMC’s Jennifer Brommet and her daughter Carina. Since then Lucy has taught other women in her area the True Identity message. Now the men want their own True Identity workshop and one of the pastors is adapting the message for men and even posting this on Facebook..

Judy:

Judy is the wife of our Dean of Students and she has taken the True Identity message to the school where she works and also to her church. She wants to grow the message amongst adolescent girls.

Samuel:

We visited Samuel at his new church of 60 members in July.  On the November trip we discovered that his church has now grown to 100 plus members and is looking for a larger space to hold services.

At the time of the visit we saw decking proceeding and tents nearing completion after some brief interface with our construction expert Fred. Another challenge is the septic system and its ability to model our principles of earth friendly applications. Fred was a great resource in instruction here and we are trying to raise money for a grey water and waste system that will water our gardens and not overload the environment. Electricity is also a challenge with outages daily so we hope to find a donor for a generator so that we can overcome the erratic delivery of power that supports the security fencing, our water pump and the kitchen operations. All in all we are moving on our journey of discovery in the building project.

Our students will arrive and have tents overhead and bedroom furniture in place, but they will have to share a common outhouse until the plumbing is complete and cook in the fresh air. But the faculty is prepared to proceed “as is” in order to be faithful to our mission of training pastors. They are assured of God’s faithfulness in all of this.

Students will participate in landscaping around the tents and in helping us set up the basics. They will be donating their time and energy at spare times to help us each session to make this sustainable retreat center a reality and we are blessed to have their help.

Join RUMC in the spirit of Advent Conspiracy which is an effort to unravel the commercialized Christmas that our culture has created.  Instead of spending fortunes for multitudes of gifts that are neither needed nor in some cases wanted, try to Spend Less-Give More.  Give gifts for Christ’s birthday that will glorify Him and increase His Kingdom.  Start a new tradition of giving gifts of eternal value in honor of your loved ones.  Join RUMC in giving to Divine Providence this Christmas.

Here are several ways you can start new and meaningful traditions:

• Ask others to make a donation to Divine Providence instead of giving you a material gift this year.  Substituting even one gift in this way will make an impact, and this year whatever you give is matched.
• Choose within your family and/or with certain friends to forego some or all Christmas gifts in order to give to the work of Christ.  Imagine how much more meaningful (and simplified) your Christmas celebrations will be!
• Honor the memory of a loved one with a gift to Divine Providence.
• Pray as a family for God’s continued blessing and provision for Divine Providence and pray that He will continue to impact a dark nation for Christ through the pastor/students of DPTC.

Thank you for helping to create a spiritual legacy that will strengthen and multiply God’s Kingdom in our world.  You will reap the joy of enjoying Christmas as it was meant to be.  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ~ Luke 2:14

Thank you for your continued support.

Make checks payable to Roswell United Methodist Church and mail to: RUMC, 814 Mimosa Boulevard, Roswell, GA 30075.  Earmark for: Advent Conspiracy, DP before Dec 31, 2011.

Here are some ways your gift big or small helps us. Consider what a gift to DPTC will do:

• $5 buys a Bible for a pastor who may have only pieces of one.
• $10 will feed a student for 10 days; over the span of 2 years a student will spend 104 days in school.
• $25 provides bus fare to and from the school for one session; there are 4 sessions per year.
• $30 buys a text book for a pastor.
• $50 buys a goat for a pastor’s family.
• $60 buys a set of pots and pans so we can cook for the pastors.
• $75 buys a bed for a student’s room.
• $80 buys a desk and chair.

Our curriculum focus is biblical literacy, the role of a pastor, counseling and missions. Our ultimate goal is holistic training with additional education in such areas as micro-enterprise, high-yield farming, health and hygiene, HIV/Aids education and testing, computer skills and appropriate technologies.

Follow the visits in our blog…. See trip video here….

Stephen and his wife thank each team member for the visit and the encouragement.

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