Equip Family Ministry Update-2018
Greetings Friends,
We had a great summer or, as is in Africa, winter, as June and July are considered winter months. This was perhaps the coldest it has been since our arrival 3 years ago. It could also just be that our bodies are now so accustomed to the warm weather. Something else that happened weather-wise, to our joy, was the unexpected rains in July. The area we live in doesn’t have water, so we depend on harvesting rain water. The rains were so heavy we believe we harvested enough water to carry us to the next rainy season in December.
We are also thanking God for our son’s wonderful marriage ceremony. He married his college sweetheart Erin, thus making us proud parents-in-law. The wedding was held in Red Wing, Minnesota. Please pray for them as they settle in their new lives, that God will continue to bless their union.
Ministry Stories
Thank you for partnering with us. We had a wonderful time encouraging the Church in Malawi while working alongside the wonderful team from Westwood Community Church, Chanhassen, Minnesota, and Malawi World Relief. It was wonderful to see the Lord use our Leadership and Family seminars there.
God also gave us a reason to smile through the testimony of a pastor. He attended one of our seminars a couple years ago while an unbeliever. He was enslaved to alcohol and was abusive to his wife, but happened to stumble into our event, and later received Christ as his savior. After accepting Christ, he went back to his village and started a small fellowship that grew into a church. He testified that his ministry grew through using the Marriage Enrichment materials we had shared. It was wonderful to hear his wife affirm the transformation in her husband’s life.
We barely unpacked our suitcases from our trip to the US before going to Mombasa. There we hosted 71 couples for a Marriage Enrichment Retreat, November 7 – 9. The Rev. William White and his wife Cynthia from Dallas, Texas joined us for this event. Rev. White and I attended seminary at the same time and both of us have a heart for ministry to families in the local church. He is the Discipleship and Family Pastor at Friendship West Baptist church in Dallas, Texas. They were gracious enough to accept our invitation to be part of our ministry this year. We thank God for using their ministry to minister alongside us in Mombasa, Kenya.
The Whites also joined us for the Western Kenya Marriage Conference, November 17 – 19. The conference was hosted in partnership with a group of churches in the city of Kitale, close to the border of Uganda. Again the Lord proved His favor on our ministry with a wonderful turn out and great ministry to the couples in Kitale. Thank you for praying with us.
We saw the Whites off as they returned home to the states and immediately began to prepare for our final marriage event at Karura Chapel in Nairobi. At this event we trained 16 couples on how to minister to other couples through mentorship. We are so excited about this group and very hopeful for what God will do through them as they minister to other couples.
Exciting News!
Finally, we thank God for the partnership we have developed with International Christian Missions Services (ICMS). ICMS is a non-denominational, cross-cultural organization that oversees Christian mission organizations around the world. ICMS will provide administrative resources to support spiritual and financial accountability to ensure IRS and CRS compliance on the part of EFM.
As of November 2019 all new donations to EFM will be processed through ICMS.
NOTE: If you have previously set up automatically recurring donationsto EFM, you will need to discontinue those donations, and set them up through ICMS. The instructions are as follows:
To Make New Donations to EFM:
- Go to equipfamily.org.
- Click Donate at the top of the website. You will be brought to a new webpage.
- Click Donatein the middle of the webpage.
- You will be taken to the ICMS website.
- Follow the instructions there to setup your preferred donation method.
If your support is via a check, Please continue to send checks to:
Equip Family Ministry
P O BOX 490877
Blaine MN 55449
USA
Thank you for your support and prayers.
Richard and Muthoni Munala