Tabitha Retreat

May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.  II Thess. 3:5

Last month fifty Tabitha women leaders came from miles around to share three days together.  The pampering at this retreat was the fact they didn’t have to gather firewood, carry water, or cook during this time.  Some walked four hours to get there. The draw?  God’s Word and fellowship with other sisters in Christ.  Not only do each of these ladies have vibrant relationships with Christ, but they are all committed to reaching and teaching other women with God’s Word.

Our purpose for the retreat: II Thess.2:16,17 – that our hearts would be encouraged by Christ and strengthened for every good deed and word.

The setting – A children’s home on a steep slope in western Kenya.

Many of the leaders didn't know each other, so we had some get acquainted games.

Worshiping together was a joy!

Reports of God’s faithfulness were given by each team, as well as several personal testimonies.

We awakened to the morning mist.

The Lord directed our hearts into His love during our morning personal devotions.

Linda, Peris and Pastor Koech taught on Ministry Teams from I and II Thessalonians.

As we learned biblical qualities of ministry teams, we met in teams for evaluating ourselves.

Praying together as teams was a big part of our retreat.

Chai time, three times/day – kept us warm and kept the fellowship flowing!

Each of the eight centers presented special numbers.

And the top center leaders who meet together monthly, sang our song for 2014, which they had composed from Psalm 95.

Thankfully, the dining hall which served as our teaching hall, could convert to a recreation hall for an afternoon of ladder ball.  This space was a blessing, as it was wet and cold outside.

The ladies had lots of fun playing and cheering on their teams in this sport, new to them.

More teaching…

Exercises in collaboration.

Some pastors came at the end to greet us, and we had a time of prayer for those leaders whose husbands are still unsaved.

Our host leaders bade us farewell.  Sarah, second from the right, manages the children’s home along with her husband, teaches primary school, and is one of our top Tabitha Bible study leaders.  Her husband, Pr. Koech, says she is a changed woman since she began leading the studies three years ago.  Her love for the Lord and for the Word runs deeply.  We thank God that this is true for most of these top fifty leaders.

Prayer requests:

As the ministry grows, changes are always needed in dividing up groups, bringing up promising leaders into more responsibility, making changes where things aren’t going well…  Pray for wisdom for Peris, Pr. Koech and myself as we pray and confer together with some of our other leaders.

We desire to get some of our studies published this year.  Pray for clear steps forward in this in the first three months of 2015.

We are continuing our study of the Gospel of John, beginning the 16^th chapter.  Pray that each of the members of our 200+ studies will be impacted each week as she meets Jesus in the Word.  Pray that each woman would share with her children and husband the truths she is learning and that they would also be drawn to Christ.