MEET JOHN MUNIU

Picture of the week

2 of the girls during their ROPES ( Rites of Passage Experience) in Mt Kenya in Dec 2006.

John is a quiet 16 year old boy from Fuata Nyayo slums in South B. He is the first born in a family of one boy and three girls.  His biological father is jobless, alcoholic and is not able to offer John any form of assistance (financial, emotional, etc). His stepfather (Linus) conducts a small bin collection business in industrial area. His mother Florida is a peasant farmer in Kakamega.

Initially his mother lived in Nairobi and worked as a casual worker (potter , cleaning homes and washing clothes in South B estate). In 2004 her husband decided to marry a second wife in search for a son and Florida was asked to go back to Kakamega and live with her mother in law. John stayed behind and sat for his KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) in 2005 and scored 344/500 marks.

December 2005 he visited his mother but the step grand mother sent him away to his uncle in Trans Nzoia district. When he came back to Nairobi in January 2006 his stepfather asked him to look for a job since he was not in a position to pay school fees for high school.

A well-wisher advised John to resit the exams, work hard and score above 400 if he hoped to get a scholarship. The well-wisher offered to meet his school expenses for the whole year in a school within the same slum and to ask the stepfather, Linus, to accommodate him for the same period.

In July 2006, Linus second wife was blessed with a baby girl; Linus sent her to Kitale and married a third wife. A month later he asked John to look for alternative accommodation since he was not his biological son. John moved to live with his maternal aunty who works as a hairdresser in Nairobi West and earns Ksh 6000 per month.

Despite the circumstances he was under; John trusted God, worked hard, and scoring 420 marks in the exam. Starehe Boys Centre which was his first choice could not offer him a place though he had qualified, due to their age limit of 14 years for Form 1 students.
John has been offered a place in Jamuhuri High School (a day provincial school), but he needs to be in a boarding school so he can concentrate on his studies. Applications have been made to Upper Hill Boys,  but nothing is forthcoming so far.

John has a gift of leadership, is submissive, forgiving and is able to stay above the waters even in very challenging situations. Even though his step-father refused to stay with him, John still honors him by paying him regular visits. He dreams of completing his studies, and then using his income to educate his siblings and other children in similar circumstances.

Nairobi Chapel has offered him a full scholarship, but he has no school to go to. Our prayer is that he can find a seat in a good quality government boarding school because he is such a bright boy. Please join us in praying for him. Maybe you can do more . . .  and help him find a placement in a good school. If so please pass by the Benevolence Desk and speak to Karen.

Gal 6:10 “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Pastoral Care. Do you know of a member who has been bereaved recently, is in hospital, or has gone through trauma? Please, please call our office on 6752346/ 0725650737 or call Rose Muiu on 0722317961 to let us know. We want to care for our members well, but have no other way of knowing unless someone informs us. Once we know we do a great job at responding and being at their side . . . but only if someone let's us know first. So  if you have the news, take it upon yourself to alert us immediately.

Bereaved: Margaret Irungu, sister-in-law to Charles Mwai (Road Chef) passed away last week. Pray for her family.

Sick: Pray for David Kuguru, a Chapelite in the the Diaspora who has been diagnosed to have a malignant form of blood cancer and is in hospital in the USA. Pray the family in this difficult time.

First Friday: Invitation to an extended worship experience like none other!
Date     :  Meeting this Friday, 2nd Feb.
Venue :  House of Grace, Langata Shopping Centre
Time     :  6:00 – 8:00 pm
Cost     :  Free

Job Opportunity: Nairobi Chapel is looking for a Admin & Finance Manager to help manage the growing administrative side of this growing ministry. Please join us in praying for the right person for this important post – someone with a passionate love for the Lord and his work, high standards of excellence, team player, professional and with a sense of calling to the church. More details available at the Information Desk.

Join The Worship Team For March: March worship will be special. Our regular worship team will take a break, so we're calling on all those proficient, musically gifted members among us, who would like to join together and facilitate worship on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of March to list up their names at the Information Desk or in today's bulletin insert, so we can meet you.  Needed – both instrumentalists and vocalists.

New believer's class: Have you recently committed your life to Christ? On Sunday 4th (next Sunday)of February 8-10 am, we will begin a new believers class here at the tent. Please sign in at the information desk.

Marriage retreat: Our annual marriage enrichment retreat will take place this year on April.
Venue: Turtle Bay Beach Club
Dates: Sat 28th – Mon 30th Apr (we travel down Fri 27th April evening and are back Tue 1st May morning)
Costs: 25,000/- per couple
Facilitators: Pastor Muriithi & Carol Wanjau, Pastor Richard Munala (USA)

Creche: The Crèche at the back of the tent is full. We have therefore set up a second space at the front of the tent for parents with infants who are not yet crawling (the back space works best for toddlers as it is sealed).

Web-Mail Trouble: Our web-site mail (info@nairobichapel.org) has been down for the last 2 weeks. If you sent mail using the web-site, could you please resend it to us? We may have missed it. You can also use our nchapel@wananchi.com address.

New Telephone Lines: Please note these numbers down. We now have new landlines you can call to get in touch with us. (020)3871815, 6752346, 3861103, 3864224, Cell; 0725650737, 0736279379

Sermon CD's available immediately after the service for 100/=. Alternatively, download them free from our website (www.nairobichapel.org). We upload the days sermon on Sunday afternoon.

ROPES: This is the last day of registration for all prospective 2007 ROPES candidates. If you have not signed up, please do so today at the Info Desk.

Xpressions: This Sunday the youth have their first Xpressions service for the year. The service is from 10.30am to 12pm at the cricket pitch.

Ex-candidates: If you completed high school last year, please sign up at the info desk for a new engaging program starting soon.

Wedding Bann: Brenda Mtawe Owuor and Kevin Ochieng Ouma on 14th February, 2007 at Nairobi Chapel Ngong Road. If you have any legal reason why this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, kindly contact us.

Sunday school: Parents, the children's Sunday school begins promptly at 10:30 am. If you have a child aged between 2 – 13 years, please send them to their class before the main service begins. 2 – 5 yr olds have to be personally registered, and will not be let out until the person who registered them in comes to collect them.