Are you ready? Are you ready?

Are you ready for Jesus to return? Come to Jesus! Don't you know He loves you so. Oh He loves so wide and long and high and deep. I pray you know this. Get ready. Because no matter what....you are going to die.

Stop celebrating Halloween. What are you thinking? Do you think this is a harmless cultural holiday? The roots are in evil. It is an offense to Jesus. I pray He reveal it to you and you love HIM MORE. But until then, let grace cover your sin because He has paid for all our sins.

I am so thankful Titus is in the USA! And I cannot wait to visit him and my sister Rose. Let them rest in the luxury of our worldliness. They pastor so many people and there is so much pain and so much death. There is so much need. Let them rest here in our lap. If I were overflowing with abundance, I would bring them here to rest. But I have given my overflow to the people there. and I cannot wait to return! I cannot wait! We are running into so many barriers but we overcome everything through Jesus! We are seeing so many difficulties, but we persevere through Jesus! Our Lord has given us everything we need for life and godliness. We are seated with Him in heavenly places! These light and momentary troubles are achieving for us a glory that far outwieghs them all.

Please be in prayer for my friend Christa and her husband Jimmy. He is headed over to Iraq for a year and I am praying for their spiritual health, their marriage and family health, and their joy in the Lord. Let Him be glorified in their lives and let his life be protected during this time. May the Lord give them faithfulness and purity spirit, soul, and body. May their children be comforted and taught in the Lord by family, friends, church members and may evil be far from them. May they love righteousness and hate wickedness all the days of their lives and serve the purposes of God in this generation. It is my joy to stand for them in their time of need.

A shout out to my new Arkansas sister, Melody! A worker in Kenya for those in need. May we tell stories by the fire for many years....

5 weeks 5 days to Kenya Trip

Time flies and I approach another opportunity to be in Kenya. As I look over my packing list, it occurs to me---those computer will need ADAPTORS! I am thinking back to packing boxes....I put some adapters in there somewhere. However, there are 36 computers that must be on the Kenyan electricity system. It is 220v with a three prong plug like the ones in England.
I must remember to ask well wishers to send packages with adaptor/converters along with immodium, ibuprofen, and antibiotic ointment. Those $55 dollar international Priority Post boxes would be excellent. They can take a few weeks to arrive there. Maybe I should request now?!?

TGD students joyfully unload the goodies for the community!

Sasha did not want to be left out of the work!

Nicole helps, too!

CONTAINER HAS ARRIVED!!

Here is a letter from Henry!

Glory to God,


He has made things successful. The equipment has reached Shibuli at long last. Everybody is in a jovial mood as we have been busy offloading the container. The equipment is now in the building safely. I am here with Pastor Steve and have been at the police base at shibuli to check on security issue on the equipment. The officer in charge has told us that he will be coming, thus we are waiting for him to do consultation and how we shall facilitate them. In addition we have Melckdek Anangwe on the guard whom we have been paying on a weekly basis.

May the Lord bless you guys for the good work you are doing for us here in Kenya.

Henry.

Video of the shipping container pulling away on the truck!

Now we pray for the safety of the trip and the security of the Cornerstone families near the TGD building. Thank You, Lord, for Your protection, in Jesus' name!

CONTAINER headed to TGD building. PRAISE GOD!

Thanks to Frank for sending this video. It has been a very long process for all of us!

Check out my new YouTube video of Catherine

Here is my TGD team of programming teachers.

Check out the video of Catherine:

http://www.youtube.com/user/stephanietexasrivers

2 Corinthians 4

1Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"[a]made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.



13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."[b]With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.



16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

DONATE TODAY

Please donate today at www.TGDonline.com and let's get that container unloaded into our TGD building! We are praying that storage charges will be low. We find out Monday. They charge us for days in the storage yard. Again, that $4500 wire getting tied up somewhere in the system was a terrible unavoidable delay. Then, as a team, we did not know how long and drawn out this difficult process would become. We are all learning.
We need to get the rest of the TGD building completed so that we can move towards a functioning computer lab and a medical clinic at the Kenyan level named "Dispensary." We desperately want and need the fence surrounding the compound to be secure. There are areas where it is merely barbed wire and even an open gateway at the back along a path. I think Titus has closed the open area--but we need a six foot brick WALL surrounding the compound. There are FAMILIES living there and the desperate poverty leads many to brutal criminality. We want to do what we can to be responsible regarding security. Help us by donating to keep intruders away from the riches God has bestowed upon this community! Help us guard  our investment and the lives of those we LOVE. Donate today online at TGDonline.

Stuck in Mombasa to get clearance items. NO EXTRA DUTY CHARGED!

Here is Frank and a view of the inside of the shipping container. All the computers are in the BACK. WAY BACK. Frank has his TGD t-shirt on in this photo! The team was not charged extra after they opened the container. There will be extra days for holding it in the warehouse yard, however. They will find out on Monday. The shipping yard is open 24 hours a day and they went late into the night--about 11pm. They were closing at midnight because of the holiday Ramadhan is over the weekend--and Titus estimated that 90% of the hauling and freight compaines belong to Arab businessman. Scroll down for Frank's email report and a photo of Walter, who is also there at the port.

EMAIL FROM FRANK

Greetings,
Today has been the most gruelling of all days. We spent the whole day with custom officials, first waiting on queue to be served and then going through the rigorous inspection and verification.
We were shown our container and asked to verify that the seal was intact. We did so and then the seal was broken and the inspection and verification process began.
Though there were issues such as undeclared items in the container, we thank God because we were NOT surcharged nor did we incur any penalties after the several hours of inspection. We were pardoned and asked to be more careful next time.
Our agent then sealed the container with another seal and since we finished the exercise quite late in the night, we have to wait until Monday before obtaining the clearance documents from the head of department who had left earlier leaving us with the inspection officers.
Thank you for your prayers. This was the most difficult part of this exercise and I thank God for pulling us through. Our next challenge will be on Monday when we calculate the CFS yard storage charges, organize transportation and get the container to Kakamega.
I have attached a few photos of the container. Photographing within custom warehousing is strictly prohibited so we were allowed very few specific shots.
Regards...
Frank

They ARE STILL STUCK AT THE PORT

Here is Walter

Christabel waits for the Shipping Container

Christabel practices programming with one computer but right now--Sept 10, 2010, Frank and Walter are with Titus opening the shipping container at the Port Authority. Soon Trinity Global Development will have 36 computers. At first, we will only store them in the new building, but when we go there in November, I pray we are able to make a couple of them available even though the second floor of the building is not yet complete. God is with us giving us victory. We are so excited to bring knowledge, skills, and abilities to the talented young people of Western Kenya. God bless them in their thirst for a higher way of life through their diligent work as God provides. 

Quick email from Titus

Okay--I'm keeping you posted on the container through this blog. The newsletter posting is now WAY down below this....but as my Sarah used to say as a little preschooler, "It's no mattering, Mommy. It's no mattering." Meaning: "Don't worry, Don't be sad. It is okay."

HERE IS A QUICK EMAIL TITUS POSTED TO ME TODAY:

Steve and Stephanie
I write from Mombasa Kenya its hot and humid about 33 celius we Frank and Walter are here i don't have much role since its an agent duty and he is doing well so far.Its a long process than thought there is a whole sea of containers as many as your eyes can count never been at the port my first experience.The agent that Frank used seems to have planned ahead otherwise it can take even months to get through and the port guys get picky and stubborn so that dumerage charges go up but Good Lord on our side may verify container tomorow thursday our time i led a special prayer at church last sunday for speedy clearance of container God will see us through.Frank has been diligent and articulate with his work all container clearance is done through a computer system in Nairobi so we are on the que waiting hopefully tomorrow morning we can verify container and open the palets and so on.Thanks for your patience and sacrifice when clinic up and going the people will rejoice and God will be glorified when the computer school is up and going the name of the Lord will be lifted up we love you and appreciate your effort towards Kenya.
Titus Khamala

Cornerstone Mission
Kenya East Africa

EMAIL FROM FRANK

Today Bishop Titus, Walter and I spent the whole day at the port. Our container was on the queue for inspection and verification and by the end of the day, we had not been served yet. The queue was quite long but our agent was really pushing to see if we could be served sooner.

Tomorrow we start off again at the port in the morning.

We are trusting God that we should be cleared by weekend. I am quite tired and exhausted so I will be retiring to bed early today.

Shipping Container--scroll past photos below for more...

The shipping container saga continues. How could one thing be so difficult? We press on.
As we speak, the team should be at the Port Authorities breaking the seal and looking in at Mombasa. However, you can never be sure. Kenya does not work like the USA. There is so much inefficiency and it is well tolerated by locals. I am not sure how Titus manages emotionally, but he knows his government, he knows his culture, and he manages to be at peace through Jesus. He comes here and sees a completely different way but then goes back home to deal with all the beauracracy and frustration.
For example, the bank made out a check for the container. You know, something like a cashier's check. When Frank tried to use it to pay shipping fees or container fees--it had a typo. It was rejected. He could not get another one made without getting that check back to Kakamega---ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY OF KENYA! So he had a courier bring it to Henry. When Henry took it to the bank, it was going to be another DAY before he could write a new check. EVEN THOUGH FUNDS WERE NEVER DRAWN AGAINST THAT CHECK. How crazy is that? But it is typical AND I should add--it is a small problem compared to some things you run into while trying to do business there.
Praise God I was led to send over extra money to cushion the fees. We needed every tiny BIT of that money to switch funds around while waiting on that check.
Therefore, we are more days behind and the team is accruing hotel and food fees. The container is accruing holding fees. There was already a 21,000 kenyan shillings fee that we were not aware of ($280.) Titus needed to fly over to Mombasa to save time. I'm praying they can get it done today and go home--but we'll see. It is all in God's hands.

We go back to the original problem of getting the container over before the NGO. Titus was requesting the shipping list but we could not get the shipping list until we finalized the sale with medical bridges. we started the NGO process in January but the crooked lawyer took advantage of us and did nothing more than create a constitution, which I could have done myself. In fact, once we started the process ourselves, we WERE required to update that constitution to look like a sample one offered by the government. We totally redid the one the lawyer did ==and his was just a re-write of the one we did for the federal government. So he did nothing for us, but lie.

we are not discouraged, however. We recognize that our brothers and sisters in Kenya must live in this sort of corrupt environment and must endure indignities from all around. Could we do less? Would we run from the lawlessness to the safety of our own world? Safety is an illusion. The only safety is in Christ and we rest there. We give our money to God and we guarantee the donations of our partners. We take the loss. We stay focused on Jesus. We stay committed to the people. I am sure we have not seen the last of the conflicts, violence, corruption, or pain. We have our eyes wide open. We have compassion on the people there who we love and support.
The NGO has not come through because although we were at the VERY LAST STAGE, Frank has to be at Mombasa and cannot be in Nairobi for the final interview. God knows this. We are willing to bear the burden of getting this precious equipment to our community. It is costly, it hurts! We have suffered--but it doesn't compare to the suffering they endure. Babies dying within 8 hours of getting malarial fever? Blind-folded, hands tied, abducted then (mercifully) thrown out 50 miles later into a thicket? Cockroaches? Hospitals without guaze during births? without sterile technique? or guaze left within the abdomen after surgery? We want to be part of the solution. It is not easy. We press on for Jesus. We just want to give and love and serve. I praise God that by His grace we even WANT to do such a thing. Let Jesus be glorified for He loves His people more than I can imagine and He loves me like that as well. That is what powers me.

HE sustains the fatherless and the widow

Psalm 146
1 Praise the LORD. [a]
Praise the LORD, O my soul.

2 I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.

4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,

6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,

8 the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.

9 The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD.

SCROLL DOWN FOR NEWS!

Frank is one of the leaders at TGD.
Catherine is our star student turned teacher--way to go, Catherine!

Please check out Frank's brief video on www.YouTube.com/user/stephanietexasrivers

THEN BOOKMARK or add a shortcut to your computer. uh-huh! uh-huh! you can do it!
:-)

Everyone who checks it out gets a prayer of blessing from ME in the name of JESUS!
Oh how He loves us!

Duncan- His story featured in September Newsletter

We love our TGD students. We bless them and praise God for them. We thank YOU for making such a difference in their lives!

Keep scrolling for SEPT TGD NEWS... or email me with any questions!
sarivers@sbcglobal.net

TGD NEWS

The wire of $4500 went through! We were so elated. We have had a very difficult month and turmoil within the team. I am so thankful that God has given me a vision and a hope! He has been a strong anchor during this time--and a sister who insisted I rest in the Lord. (But I AM resting! No, you are not. Yes, I am resting! No, you need to rest. Oh my, yes, I need to rest. Oh, Jesus, how precious is your peace and how deeply I needed to drink of you.)
So you were checking for news, right?

The container is ready at port and the team of Bishop Titus with TGD team members, Walter and Frank, is heading to Mombasa. Although the NGO status is SO CLOSE to completion that we are at the last step--the container will not wait. If we had NGO status (Kenyan Government Charity Status,) then the container could go through Duty free. We are just trusting the Lord that everything is HIS and He can spend it as He chooses. We had prayed that the NGO process (begun in January but thwarted by a crooked lawyer) would be far completed before the container arrived and that we would have an exemption certificate. It did not turn out that way and so we pay, like everyone else, and in the future, we will not have to do it. We are not dismayed. We are not turning back. These are not "problems" these are opportunities for action steps. We are overcomers and cannot be defeated. We always win in Jesus.

That container is bringing over $100,000 of medical supplies and 36 computers with office equipment to a needy community. Our building has one completed floor which we have finished out for security.

We are going to store it up until we have the funds to complete the second floor. It will not take as much, so we encourage everyone to be generous and donate SOMETHING towards the building! It will be a great center of blessing and will require little ongoing support as just a computer lab. If God provides funding for the clinic, then we will open the clinic--and then, OH BOY, the faith to proceed will need to be strong. Even now we wait to see if God chooses to send faithful regular generous givers dedicated to the community clinic.

It takes strong dedication to serve in Kenya. WE ARE STRONGLY DEDICATED! We love our brothers and sisters there and we long to enlarge the family of believers. But no matter what the faith (or none,) we willingly and joyfully serve the poor and needy there alongside one another there and look troubles full in the eye. We will not leave them in their sorrow or trials. We have come to be a blessing and a blessing we will be.

Pray that our wire goes through!

This is a woman who makes sugar cane molasses. I just put her in here for interest...
It is September and I haven't gotten a newsletter ready! We are consumed with getting that container to our building. It is ready, at the port. It costs $9300 to pay for it and 1000 to take the container from the port (to be returned when the container comes back empty.) We have wired money and there is $4500 trapped in the pipeline somewhere. We sent a wire transfer on August 16th and it still has not arrived. I have my bank there searching and my bank here tracing it. Between the two, we are sure to find it, but I needed it YESTERDAY! (ACTUALLY LAST WEEK!)And my team tells me that I am racking up fines as we speak.
Please pray with us that God would put the wire through and we could get that container into our TGD building. And then we need to build a fence to protect Titus and his family from robbers. Please pray for their safety.