“The situation is critical,” Kenya Hope’s Joy Mueller says, speaking to MNN from a remote village in Kenya.

“Crops are failing; when there’s nothing for the livestock to eat, the animal milk production goes way down, and these people rely on that. Milk is a major component of their diet.”

Mueller is on the ground meeting with partners to assess the situation first-hand. She says external crises like the war in Ukraine and the global food shortage make the situation even more difficult. “Ever since the pandemic, the economy here in Kenya has taken a major hit. And now, with the continual drought, it’s just getting worse,” Mueller says.

“[Between] last November and now, basic food necessities have all doubled in cost.”

A gift from you goes a long way to help. “There is no one else providing clean water, food relief, and the good news of Jesus Christ to [these villages],” Mueller says.

“You are the hands and feet of Jesus when you give to us and allow us to be servants on your behalf.”

Support Kenya Hope’s work here.

Local believers distribute food relief supplied by Kenya Hope.
(Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope)

Working hand-in-hand with local church partners, “we are giving out food relief monthly to our communities, just the very basics to help these people get by,” Mueller says.

“They are open to hearing about Jesus Christ and His love for them because we’re trying to show that love in a very practical way.”

Along with relief aid, Kenya Hope planned last year to keep students fed in 2022. “We did a very large planting of corn and beans by a river to irrigate [the crops]. This provides food for our school [feeding program]; we feed about 2,000 children every day,” Mueller says.

“The corn and beans really help the feeding programs go forward, so kids are still getting at least one solid meal a day.”

Header image depicts one of the many starving cattle in a pastoralist community. More than 2.4 million livestock, which pastoralist families rely upon for nourishment and livelihood, have died in Kenya. (Photo courtesy of Kenya Hope)

Earlier this week, Kenyan authorities paid nearly $3 million USD to 15,000 farmers to help them keep their livestock alive. At least 2,000 animals have reportedly perished due to drought in one county alone.

Drought or no, it’s not easy to locate water in the remote communities where Kenya Hope works. “It’s typical for them to walk miles to go get water from a river and then have to carry it back home,” Executive Director Joy Mueller tells us.

“[In drought] it’s even worse because if the rivers dry up, then it’s even a harsher, more serious situation.”

The importance of clean water…

Nkoisusu villagers used to gather water from a dirty pond.
(Screenshot)

According to the World Health Organization, 785 million people worldwide don’t have safe, drinkable water — water that’s located in or near their home, available when needed, and free from contamination. This includes 144 million people who drink directly from “surface” sources like streams or lakes.

Dirty water is a common problem in remote Kenya.

“Probably 95% of the people we work with do not have access to clean water,” Mueller says. “We have had people die from parasites or waterborne diseases.”

Before Kenya Hope dug them a well, villagers in Nkoisusu used a large hole in the ground as their water source. “When it rains, all the water collects there,” Mueller explains.

“This watering hole is not used just by the people, it’s used by all of the animals… goats, sheep, zebras, wildebeest, elephants.”

Animal waste isn’t the only thing polluting this water, Mueller adds. “They will spray their livestock for ticks and other things, and these chemicals go into the water.”

(Photo courtesy Kenya Hope)

Earlier this year, Kenya Hope teamed up with a California church to supply the people of Nkoisusu with clean, drinkable water. You can read about it here in Kenya Hope’s June newsletter, or watch this video summary.

As the drilling began, Mueller says her team wasn’t sure what to expect. “We’re in the Rift Valley, so sometimes your water can be salty. We didn’t know what kind of water we would get out of the ground,” she explains.

Thankfully, after drilling more than 600 feet into the earth, they found “liquid gold.”

“As the water came up and we tested it and even tasted it, it has almost zero amount of salt. It is the most beautiful, clean, sweet water and we’re just really praising the Lord,” Mueller says.

…and Living Water

Along with physical needs, Kenya Hope wants to meet spiritual needs in rural villages. They accomplish this through Pastor Training seminars, Vacation Bible School, Chronological Bible lessons and audio Bible distributions.

(Photo courtesy Kenya Hope)

During Mueller’s latest trip to Nkoisusu, one of the elderly villagers approached her.

“He was holding one of the audio Bibles and he said, ‘Last year, you came here and you gave me this audio Bible. I want you to know that this is my best friend now. I have learned so much from listening to God’s Word’.”

Learn more about Kenya Hope’s ministry here.

“Because we were able to give them physical clean water, they are very responsive to hearing and accepting the Living Water, the Word of God,” Mueller says.

How to help

In the coming weeks, a matching gift doubles every contribution to Kenya Hope’s clean water program. Even $5 can help provide remote villagers with clean water, Mueller says. Click here to give online.

“Physical water is one of the ‘ABCs’ of life. As we provide that to these communities, [it opens] the doors for us to share Living Water, which is God’s Word.”

Header image courtesy of the World Health Organization.

Pastor Harlan Macklin and his family next to the
tower at his church-based radio station.
(Photo and caption courtesy of Reach Beyond)

Honduras (MNN) — Reaching rural villages for Christ can be a challenge. When they’re only accessible by boat or plane and have very few means of efficient transportation, effective ministry can be nearly impossible.

That’s the case in Puerto Lempira, a tiny fishing village on the coast of Honduras. But with modern communication technology, even this village is not unreachable for Christ.

Honduran Pastor Harlan Macklin dreamed of using technology to reach his people with the Gospel. That began to become a reality when a Reach Beyond radio technician, as well as an engineer from Ecuador, helped construct a radio station in the pastor’s church.

“When we arrived, there was a tower standing with nothing on it, and there was a studio building all finished and painted,” Tim Zook, the radio technician with Reach Beyond, says, “We couldn’t touch the walls, it was so new because of the wet paint. And so we set up all of the studio equipment on the counter tops, and then in the portion of the building for the transmitter, we set that up with a large UPS and also did the surge protection in the grounding. We worked for a week to put all this together.”

A village as rural as Puerto Lempira may seemingly have no use for modern technology. But with cell phones being a common possession for both the young and old, and even the most basic models able pick up an FM signal, radio is an effective form of ministry.

“Pastor said in a telephone call after a few days of operation that he was very pleased with the coverage,” Zook says. “In other words, the signal went beyond what they were expecting.”

Moravian Central Church is home to the new radio station. (Photo and caption courtesy of Reach beyond)

As the station spreads the Gospel, others are being encouraged to do the same. At the station’s dedication ceremony, a pastor from a nearby village asked how he could start a Christian station of his own.

“The tower was built and…stood up by a local welder, and he was willing to do the same thing for this other pastor. So he’ll probably get the local welders to make him a tower as well, and we’ll do the process all over again,” Zook says.

Can you help provide the funds necessary to help this station and others continue to spread the Good News? Click here to learn more about Reach Beyond’s radio ministry and how you can support it.

"About 25 to 30% of these pastors…are looking to do more. They're looking to reach out to other villages," says Dan Smith of Paradise Bound Ministries.

Paradise Bound works with the Timothy Leadership Training Institute to train 60 lay pastors from the rural regions of Guatemala. They're giving the biblical training these men need to lead a church but could never afford or access.

"They've never been to seminary, they've never been to any type of biblical institute before," Smith explains, "but yet they felt the calling and the need to start a church within their own village.

"When we say 'rural church,' we are certainly talking about very remote churches in Guatemala, in villages that very few people live in or can even get to."

Smith says pastors who work alongside Paradise Bound will travel to isolated villagers, pick up the leaders-in-training, and bring them to the ministry's training center three or four times a year. The Timothy Leadership Training Institute provides training material and teachers.

"They send down wonderful teachers to work with us, work with our facility, and give these pastors the training they need," says Smith.

In addition to some leaders' hearts for the isolated, the training makes them perfect missionaries.

"They already know the language, they know the culture, and now they'll be perfectly trained to be able to go out and either go back to their own village, or go out to another village," Smith explains. And, "it's not just that they're interested: they're already starting to do something about it."

Some lay pastors have already planted house churches of between 30 and 40 members.

"They've been gaining so much confidence in the abilities that they're learning…that more souls are coming to Him," Smith says. "We're just excited about where this is starting to go and what we see as God's work among us, and in these pastors."

The program's first set of lay pastors will complete their coursework in April 2014. Over the years, relationships have formed between pastors-in-training and Paradise Bound. Smith says the ministry recently came to a startling realization.

"Many of these lay pastors are farmers in their village," he explains. "They're trying to eke out an existence and yet be the shepherd of that church. They don't have the time to do both and to do it well."

As Paradise Bound searches for ways to help sustain new lay pastors once their training is complete, you can help them reach the finish line. Click here to support the training of lay pastors in Guatemala.

"None of these pastors have to pay for their training," says Smith. "We're doing this 100% free to them."

With your financial help, the Gospel can keep advancing in Guatemala through lay pastors. With your prayer support, more people can come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Sign up for daily prayer updates from Paradise Bound here.

"The first thing we always ask for is prayer," Smith states. "Continue to pray for souls coming to know Jesus Christ as their Savior."

Mother Teresa Hospital serves the needy in both rural villages and city slums, operating as the Bangalore Baptist Hospital's satellite clinic. Through mobile clinics, disease prevention and community education, BGR works at this center to help rural villagers gain access to medical services they need.

Now they're expanding their medical outreach to include eye care and pregnancy services.

Since 2010, BGR and the Bangalore Baptist Hospital have worked together to improve healthcare access in 40 villages. Over 3,600 patients came to Mother Theresa Hospital that year, and nearly 700 people received help through mobile clinics.

The ministries focus their efforts on vulnerable people groups: women, people with disabilities, and the elderly. A tailoring unit helps women gain job skills and opportunities for employment, while a community-based rehabilitation project seeks to improve life for the disabled.

By meeting physical needs, medical workers are able to point to the Great Healer, Jesus Christ. Pray that God's healing power will draw more people to know Him.

Click here to support this project financially.