BTV Update 11.19.11

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:16:36 -0600

Pastor James leaves for Kenya

November 20, 2011

Friends,

I want to share with you that pastor James returned home to Kenya the first part of last week, arriving safely. He had a great trip, visiting with many of our sponsoring churches and friends. He asked that I pass on his warmest farewell and desire for you to join him in Kenya next year. With many construction projects in Choimim and Mosoriot, church planting in and around these communities, we have more opportunities than ever for additional participation from churches, families and individuals. So, as you plan your 2012, keep Kenya in mind and the tremendous opportunity to serve.
As a side note, James is still processing this whole chicken, cow relationship?

Thank you for everything you do to promote the will of God, through the work of BTV.

From the Kenya team, Damon, Randa and Pastor James

Happy Thanksgiving!

BTV Update 10.28.11

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:14:38 -0600

Prison Visit, October 20, 2011

October 27, 2011

Friends,

Just back from Kenya, and I wanted to share just a quick note and express my appreciation to everyone who is helping to make the ministry of Build the Village so successful. James and I visited the Kapsabet prison where we had the opportunity to share the gospel with hundreds of inmates. There was an outstanding response to the gospel message and a beautiful prayer of repentance echoing between the buildings. To God be the glory!

Additionally, we left 100 New Testament Bibles with the prisoners, providing a refreshing word of hope and eternal life. In the photo above, two women from the prison are accepting the bibles for the ladies (one in black stripes and the other in the black sweater) and the young man to my left (not in prison clothes) is accepting for the male inmates. FYI, the lady to my right is the assistant prison commander, and a Christian herself.

Later that day, we delivered nearly 200 Bibles to a deaf school in Kapsabet where every child received a copy. For them, they could not express their appreciation in words. But, to see their smiles, this spoke volumes! Thank you.

Please keep the unnamed prisoners of this camp and the children and teachers of the deaf school in your prayers as they work through many personal struggles.

Blessings to everyone,

Damon, Randa, James and the BTV Team, Kenya

BTV Update 10.12.11

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:12:52 -0600

October 12, 2011

Friends,

We wanted to share this most current picture with you as our Children’s Center continues to grow! On Tuesday, we were blessed with a 3 month old child who was abandoned in a busy market. She’s the little one in the arms of the person in the top right of the picture. As you can see, we are really growing, we now have 17 children! We want to thank many of you for your support and prayers as God blesses us with the privilege of caring for these children.

Additionally, Damon will be traveling to Kenya on Saturday and returning to the States with Pastor James Esendi later in October. During Pastor James’ visit he will have the opportunity to visit with many friends and partnering churches. We sure look forward to his visit and know he will be an encouragement and blessing to many! We are certain he will be blessed meeting many of you!
Pray for us as we continue to serve and care for many like these in Kenya.

For the Glory of Christ!

Damon, Randa and the BTV team

BTV Update 08.10.11

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:05:09 -0600

Construction completing in the new activity house


Dennis age 1	Adelaide age 2 +	Michael 6 months

Friends,

It’s been June since we sent out our last email update and so much has gone on since then, so let us give you the highlights! As many of you were aware, Damon was in Kenya for 6 weeks working on certain construction projects along with a number of church groups that came to work in and around Choimim, Kenya. A great deal of time was spent organizing some really great teams this year…

And here’s the recap:

As a whole, the teams were able to speak to a large number of schools. We estimate that over 3,000 youth had the privilege to hear the gospel of our Lord, and many responded, praise God!
We were also privileged to share the gospel in the local prison and we rejoiced over the many who responded. While there, the women of our group shared special gifts - new “flip flops” as well as blankets for those who had blankets! What a blessed time, and truly an endearing and emotional visit, as you might imagine.

Additionally, groups visited a deaf school where the message was “signed” through an interpreter, and the kids enjoyed special VBS activities. These kids were so touched and so excited to have us visit – again a blessed, humbling and precious time.

Home to home evangelism was another key outreach event that we felt was blessed and a success. A super time for outreach, and again the response was great.
And if the groups weren’t busy enough, we painted classrooms along with the new activity center for Noel Children’s Center; we cleaned window frames and installed a water containment structure, to name a few household chores! We are so very appreciative of each team member’s cheerful servant heart! On behalf of the BTV team, we thank you with all our hearts.

While the groups were busy serving and sharing, Damon was finalizing the purchase of an additional 1.5 acres adjacent to the Noel Academy, celebrating the ground breaking of BTV’s new school (Northside Christian School) located in Mosoriot, Kenya, attending to the medical needs of the children and helping to organize the home coming of the three additional children pictured above! Again, praise God that so much was accomplished to His glory and for the loving care of His flock! Randa was able to join the work near the end of Damon’s visit to work with a local church team from here in Cary and also one from Gainesville, NC, and to spend time with the Children’s Center staff.

Again, we want to give a very special thank you to you who traveled and worked so hard for the Lord, serving the dear people of this area, and for those who helped fund the teams and the work of Build The Village this summer. As mentioned above in our update, thousands of children, 200+ prisoners and countless numbers of adults experienced the love of faithful followers of Christ Jesus. The Kenyans enjoyed one-on-one time with our groups, engaged in sporting events, shared a craft or two, and some even had their nails done!  Most importantly, all heard the gospel of grace and hope. Successfully exhausting to say the least. PRAISE HIM!
We would also like to share with you some of the new children of Noel. All three of the children as you can imagine had a very unhappy beginning to their life. But thanks to our loving God, He entrusted these dear little ones to our care. They are pictured above with an approximate age and all three are eligible for sponsorship. So if you, your Sunday school class or church would consider helping these children with their daily support, please give a call or email.

Praises and Prayer considerations:

First, please join us in praise to the Lord for a productive summer for His name sake. As each of us know, it’s a gift from our Lord to be used by Him for His glory.
Join with us in praising our Lord for the blessing of our mission school, Noel Academy at Choimim. Again, for the second year, Noel is academically ranked number #1 in the county! We are very thankful for and appreciative of our hard-working teachers, their dedication and commitment to the students, school and ministry. And of most importance, we give thanks for our special children, praying for them as they are ministered to and that they would understand and accept Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
We thank you, our supporters, again and again, for your generous prayers and support. Now with our new addition, we would greatly appreciate additional sponsorships for these 3 sweet new children, or even one time sponsorship gifts. Please pray that God would help us with these expenses as we support and minister to these little ones.
We desire to partner with a church or group for the construction of our new Children’s/orphan project at Mosoriot. With the center in Choimim 1/2 full, we need to set plans in place to start the second location.
Funding is needed to help finish the water filtration system for the Choimim project. The expected cost for the system is $30K. We have pledges of $21K as of today and thus we need an additional 9K to have this project fully funded.

Thank you again so very much of your prayers and your support. You must know that so many benefit from your gifts.
Looking forward to a cool fall.

Blessings,

Damon, Randa and the BTV team

BTV Update 06.06.11

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:03:31 -0600

June 6, 2011
3rd Children’s Home, Choimim, Kenya

I wanted to share with you the excitement of our new children’s home.

BTV Update 03.18.11

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:47:16 -0600

Sunday evening wind at Choimim
March 20, 2011

Friends,

Just wanted to share how a quiet Sunday evening can be interrupted with an unexpected heavy wind. It was after church a couple of weeks ago that a wind storm came up and blew off the top of this old building we use as a kitchen for the school. We were able to repair the roof a few days later.

The blessing in all this, God willing, we plan to replace this building in the next year as funds become available. Our plans are to build a dining facility with the same quality materials we have used in the other buildings. The new building will seat over 200 children and will be a major improvement over our current kitchen facility.

Concerning the orphanage, we are now under construction with the 3rd house. We hope to have this building completed in the next couple of months. The structure will be used as a multi-purpose building and dining facility for the orphanage.

Additionally, we finally have power to the orphan houses! It only took 14 months and dozens of trips to the power company to (complain:) get this accomplished! Thank the Lord, we now have lights and soon hope to have a water pump and washing machine in service.

Keep us in your prayers,

Damon, Randa and the BTV Team

www.Buildthevillage.org
PO Box 1151
Garner, NC 27529

BTV Update 03.07.11

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:43:44 -0600

Feb. 18 & 19th, 2011
Soccer teams that placed in our tournament play offs

Hundreds of children attended from 7 different schools

Friends,

Just want to share with you an outstanding outreach that we hosted on the campus of Noel Academy in Choimim, Kenya. A group of 3 great guys from Virginia traveled with me to Kenya just a couple of weeks ago. One of the purposes of the trip was to host a soccer camp and tournament for the area schools in our community. Well, as you can see above, it was well attended. Pictured above are the winning teams and their prizes (new soccer balls and jerseys). What you don’t see are the 1,100 plus people who attended the two day outreach. BTV thanks everyone who helped to make the project such a great success. Additionally, we look forward to hosting our second regional tournament next February since this was such a success in reaching so many from the local community.

Thank you again for partnering with BTV to help reach out and help so many children.

With warm regards,

Damon, Randa and the BTV Team

BTV Update 2.15.11

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 11:52:32 -0600

Noel Academy, Choimim, Kenya.
Desks in the 3rd school building

Friends and Supporters,

For most all of us it's been a cold winter and the opportunity to get outside for construction projects has been difficult. But for us in Kenya, the season is opposite - it's hot and dry, and the weather is optimal for catching up on our many construction projects. Pictured above are our new desks that are now being used in our new 4th grade class in the 3rd school building. Twenty-six students no longer have to share desks as is common in the lower grades. We want to take this opportunity to extend our many thanks to our friends with Colonial's children's program for helping to raise the funds necessary to provide the desks you see above. A big thank you!

As you are reading this email, staff are completing a large septic tank structure for the children's center at Choimim. We have been handicapped in growing the program do to the issue of discarding waste water. By the end of next week the tank should be complete. I know that this is not a glamorous project to discuss, but with the completion of the system, we will be in a position to accept additional children to the center. We are blessed currently to care for 12 children, and with the completion of the system, we anticipate our houses will be maxed out by the end of this year with 12 additional children.

Other items of interest:

Starting in a week or so, construction staff will begin the completion of the 3rd Children's House at Choimim. The house will be used as a large meeting home for all the Center's kids. They will have a place to go spend time, listen to music, read, watch vidoes, enjoy meals together and fellowship collectively as a family.
Work has begun to establish a new daughter church approximately 2 miles away from Choimim. We will be using two of our Elders to establish the new congregation.
On February 18 and 19, BTV staff and friends from the US will be hosting a soccer camp and competition for the children in the area as an outreach. We are anticipating in excess of 500 children to join us during this event. Please pray for the children, for the staff and for the Word of God as we share with the children and the spectators our greatest opportunity, a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We continue to thank each of you for your prayers and your financial support. We can never say it enough, thank you. Your generosity makes these projects possible and your monthly sponsorship helps to keep the lights on, Kenyan staff employed, children warmed, educated and fed and the Word going out among the children and the community at large.

This year, we would like to ask for your consideration in our new work. We need to raise $75,000 to build our 1st school building in the community of Mosoriot, Kenya. The work needs to begin soon to beat the rainy season, and must be ready by January 2012. We plan to open the building, God willing, by the 5th of January. In doing so, we will open immediately 3 classrooms for preschool aged children and employ 5 Kenyan's. Please consider your participation in this expansion of our ministry as we desire to holistically reach this community for Christ! Please check out our website Buildthevillage.org to make a donation or contact Damon Davenport directly 919-606-4847.

We pray for God's continued blessed for the work of BTV and for each of you. Please, let us know how we can be a greater encouragement to you as we strive to serve together for His glory.

Damon, Randa and the BTV Team (Kenya)

Happy New Year!

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:33:06 -0600

Happy New Year Wishes from the Children at Choimim, Kenya

Friends,

We hope all is well and that you have had a blessed Christmas and are looking forward to a wonderful New Year. Additionally, we wanted to share with you our Christmas and New Year's celebration from the children at Noel Children's Center, Kenya. Just the other day we celebrated the birth of Jesus and thanked God for our many blessings. We also shared gifts as a means of expressing our love for each other as an example of how God the Father shared with us the greatest gift, Jesus the Christ.Our prayer for each of you is for a wonderful and meaningful new year in the Lord.Thank you for your love, your prayers and your support!

May God bless you richly,

Damon, Randa and the Build the Village Team

BTV Update 12.16.10

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:22:06 -0600

Approaching the completion of the 3rd school building.

Merry Christmas to you!

The team wanted to take a moment of your time and bring you up to speed on some of the activities at Noel Academy, Choimim, Kenya, and the outreach opportunities we have shared with so many of our church groups.

First, our third school building is nearing completion in the next couple of weeks, and God willing, the doors will be open for the new class of students reporting to 4th grade at Noel in early January. In the picture above, the walls are up, the roof is on and the finishings are underway. We want to thank everyone for their personal gifts and their sacrificial time spent helping to make this project a reality for the children at Noel Academy. With the beginning of the new school year, we will be blessed with educating over 200 children, employing 14 full-time Kenyan staff and sharing the word of God with the next generation of Kenyan movers and shakers.

Second, the opportunity to reach out to the community schools conducting VBS was an overwhelming success this year. A few thousand were cared for, loved, played with and the gospel shared. In one of our visits, a group from Hickory Grove Baptist joined us as we shared with a group of 200 vocational school students. It was great to see our group working in small groups with the students, answering questions and sharing their testimonies. Later, the students gathered in the cafeteria and the gospel was shared. To the glory of Christ, many raised their hands in front of their classmates in a public expression of their personal desire to receive Christ Jesus as their personal Savior.

Third, the land for the second Build the Village project has been acquired! This is a 10-acre area located in Mosoriot, approximately 30 minutes away from our Choimim project. In 2011, we hope to have a site plan completed and begin the fund raising for this exciting project: a new school, an orphanage, a new church to replace the rented structure and a guest house for our friends and coworkers.
We are so excited about how God is using this ministry and partnering so many individuals and churches with the work. We thank Him for your consistent prayers, support, encouragement and personal participation. The BTV Team thanks you for making this real and helping to reach, teach and love so many to the glory of Christ!

In partnership with you and to the glory of Christ,

Damon, Randa, James, the Build the Village Team, the 160 children at Noel Academy and the many little ones at Noel Children's Center wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas

BTV Update 08.30.10

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:35:31 -0500

Friends,

Wanted to catch you up on the summer activities at Choimim, Kenya and bring you up to speed on the financial progress. First, the summer has been very busy with a large number of volunteers traveling to Choimim. We have been blessed with medical, sports, construction, evangelism, discipleship, and teaching teams this year! The efforts of so many have been a tremendous blessing for the church, Noel Academy, the Children's center, the schools and the community at large.

The medical team held several programs including a health clinic and first aid training along with biblical discipleship and instruction shared with hundreds of community members from the village at Choimim.
The evangelism teams were blessed to have many opportunities to share Christ. We thank God for the privilege to witness so many professions of faith.
VBS teams worked in numerous schools acting out dramas, crafts and face painting and engaging the students in games of soccer. It was humbling to watch how intently the children were watching the faithfulness of Christ acted out. We sure look forward to eternity where we might know the impact of our efforts.
Women's ministries - what a summer for the women of Choimim! There were several opportunities for the women to fill the church classroom and gain exceptional instruction and experience the encouragement, service and love from other Christian women from the states. Truly each woman involved was blessed by those special ministering opportunities!
Construction efforts this summer - wow - you had to watch out this summer for the amount of work that was getting done by the volunteer teams! Moving sand, rock, mixing concrete and filling footings just to name a few activities. Our construction team worked tirelessly and amazingly to help get our third school building well on it's way to completion.

In summary, this was a truly a fantastic year for our volunteers and a tremendous blessing to both those who ministered and to those who were ministered to. Thousands of children heard the gospel in their schools, many adults accepted Christ Jesus as their personal Savior as a result of home-to-home evangelism and many of the church members of Community Baptist Church were greatly encouraged and strengthen in their personal faith in Christ Jesus.

Please keep the prayers coming, thanking God for everyone who has helped minster in Kenya this year and for those new believers who will join our fellowship in Choimim. Additionally, we want to ask if you will continue to pray for the sponsors for Noel Academy and the Children's Center and children. We have been blessed this summer with a new van, funding to finish the second children's house, funding that will help us complete the third house (which will be used as a community house for the children of Noel Children's Center) and for the financial commitment to complete the third school building. PRAISE OUR LORD, this will nearly complete phase 1, only short of a dining hall for the children at Noel Academy.

God willing, the construction will be completed by April 2011 in Choimim.

For 2011, we are excited to announce a new ministry opportunity, the establishment of our second BTV project in Mosoriot, Kenya. We'll share more details concerning this work soon. We'll be praying that you and your church will consider this new harvest potential in 2011.

Thank you again for partnering with us and for your prayers,

Desiring to glorify our Savior,
Damon, Randa, James and the BTV Team

BTV Update 07.03.10

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:22:21 -0500

Ashford and Alvin, at Noel Children's Center July 3, 2010

Friends,

It's been awhile since we have communicated with you concerning the activities at Choimim- these summer months are slipping by so quickly! So now we want to take this moment to bring you all up to speed with the activities along with our prayer requests.

The Church:
We continue to be blessed by the outreach efforts and discipleship programs. The church was maxed out last month during the graduating ceremonies. There were 17 students that graduated from Winchester Theological Academy. These students represented a number of our own church plants and three other denominational church leaders and pastors. Some of the students look forward to continuing their education later this fall as they attend our Associates program.

In the last three months, the church collectively baptized 41 new members to the congregations. And currently there are several new prospects for membership in our new members' classes awaiting completion of the introduction class prior to baptism.

New church plant: Please pray for the several mission teams coming out in the next few weeks who will be helping to start two new church plants. The leadership for these two new churches will come from the Elders who feel called to senior leadership positions.

Noel Academy:
We continue to be blessed of the Lord with so many bright children and how well they are performing, not only within the school, but also within their school district. With the test results back from the District Office, Noel Academy is still ranked among the top five among 49 schools.

Additionally, the third school building as many of you know has been waiting for funding before we could finish the construction of this five classroom building. Praise the Lord, a portion of the money has been raised and the construction of the walls for this building has begun! We are still in need of funding for the roof and windows.

Prayer request: God willing, the roof and windows will be funded and the building completed so it may open to the 4th grade students January 1, 2011. The estimated cost to complete the roofing and windows is $10,000.00.

Noel Children's Center:
We continue to be humbled that many government officials continue to see our commitment to love and serve children along with providing quality accommodations at Noel Children's Center, superior to most in our region. With that praise also comes the overwhelming need to provide for more children. Since we last communicated with you, we have added four new children to our ministry, thus to our lives. Pictured above are two of our newest children, Alvin and Ashford. Their mother Adelaide was a beloved staff member at BTV Choimim, and whose burial site is behind the boys in the above picture. You may recall Adelaide passed way earlier this year from complications arising from malaria. The extended families have rejected the children and thus they have been placed with us to raise. We are blessed by these two precious children who have been a part of BTV since construction began in Choimim. These two precious boys bring great joy to our lives. Both of them are very loving and eager to please. Maybe you would consider helping to support these boys. We have 2 other little ones under 6 months that we want to feature in an upcoming update, these 2 sweet ones also in need of support. Please let us know if you would like to participate in sponsoring any one of these special ones.

Along with the addition of children we have added new staff, food consumption has increased, and the cost of health care and the new burden on existing facilities have begun to press us for additional sponsorship. Now with 12 children, we must begin to transition three (older) children from the baby house to the next house. Yet, we lack a septic tank and some basic furnishings to open this house. God willing, we pray that sponsorship will come and we can construct these needed items for these children.

Please pray with us as we seek the $4,000 needed to construct the septic tank and an additional $1,200 for the household furnishings, including beds, bedding, furniture, and etc. Please also pray with us as we await the electrical power to our children's home. We paid the fees for the service line back in January, but have yet to receive from the power company (Kenya Power Co.) the electrical hardware and service. God willing this will be soon.

We praise God for each of you, thanking Him for your continued encouragement, prayers and support. We certainly could not succeed in reaching, loving and nurturing so many without your participation.

Give us a call or drop an e-mail, we would love to share more with you.

We hope you enjoy your 4th of July holiday weekend, giving praise to Him for the great blessing of the freedom that we share in Christ, and our country.

Have a blessed summer,

Damon, Randa, James and the BTV staff

BTV Update 04.01.10

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:45:00 -0500

Our dear sister in Christ, Adelaide

Friends,

It's with a heavy heart we share this sad news with many of our friends who have visited the Build the Village project in Choimim, Kenya and who have shared in the joy of knowing Adelaide first hand. In the evening hours of March 31st, Adelaide went home to be with the Lord. She was struggling to overcome malaria during which time she suffered a miscarriage and died from the complications.

Please pray for the two young children, her mother, and so many of her friends who loved her very much. We can rejoice in knowing that Adelaide is now home in the loving arms of her heavenly Father. Her contagious smile, servant heart and gracious hospitality will always be remembered. We will all miss her so very much.

May God grant us all peace and comfort during this time of mourning,

Damon, Randa, James and the BTV Team Kenya

BTV Update 12.27.09

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:57:35 -0600

Noel Children's Center, 5 of the oldest pictured December 26, 2009

Friends,

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and can spend the next few days catching up on some rest! We would like to share with you that the children at Noel Children's Center had a great Christmas, thanks to many of you! We were blessed to add five new children to our program this year and two of them just a couple of weeks ago. This has allowed us the opportunity this Christmas Season to share with them the love of Christ and bring some sense of structure and family to their lives. They surely are a blessing to our Kenyan staff and to us, and we are privileged to reach out to these precious ones in need of tender love, care and guidance.

Two children recently delivered into our care were victims of child trafficking. The children, both approximately two months old, were sick and dehydrated when they came to us. Of the two, the female child has improved and seems to be doing well. But sadly the little male child died last Sunday from his health issues. This was very difficult for our staff, as you can understand. We would like to ask that you keep them in your prayers.

As many of us look forward to 2010, we would like to remind those who will be considering their year end gifts to please consider helping us to finish the 3rd school building for Noel Academy. This facility must be completed by January 2011 to allow for additional classrooms as the school expands.

We also want to thank several of you for your gifts concerning running electrical lines to the Children's Center. We are delighted to report to you that we have received the funding and God willing, we look forward to having power in the children's home by the middle of January - amazing!!!

We would also like to mention that we still have many opportunities for individuals and groups to help in Choimim, Kenya this summer. If you desire
more information, please email your interest as soon as possible.

Thank you again for your prayers and support in making the Choimim project so successful. We wish you a very blessed, Happy New Year!

Damon, Randa and the BTV Kenya Team

BTV Update 12.09.09: 3rd Noel Graduation of our Preschool Class

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:40:31 -0600

Friends,

We're excited to share with you a picture of our 3rd graduating Preschool Class of Noel Academy in Choimim, Kenya. This was a fun day of celebration (and it was all day) for the students, teachers and parents of these children. This class of 35 students has been promoted to the 1st grade and will begin their class in early January.

With the new school year just weeks away, we are working to finish the last few construction items before the children report. Additionally there have been desks and bookshelves to build, books to purchase (with special thanks to a supporter who has funded this project!), a teacher to hire, along with new cooking pots and utensils to buy to accommodate more mouths to feed! A lot of work has been done and still more to go, but truly an incredible blessing to be apart of these kids' lives. Again, we want to thank each of these who have helped to make this all possible. Your prayers and gifts have helped the staff of BTV to impact this wonderful village community. With the start of the 3rd grade class in January, we will be hiring a full-time Chaplin whose sole focus is to minister to our children, their parents and our staff.

Please keep us in your prayers as we begin construction of the 3rd school building (you can see the foundation in the background) in the middle of January. The construction will focus on the walls and roof until funds are available to finish the building.

Concerning Noel Children's Home, we want to thank so many of you who have helped to build buildings and beds, who have donated the much needed supplies and clothing for the children, and those who have provided sponsorships to our new arrivals. We are excited to tell you we have two new infants coming this week! Please keep us in mind this holiday season, we are currently building two new cribs for these two little blessings. With these two new children coming this week, we will have maxed out the 1st children's home. The doors of the 2nd house will thus be opening soon, very soon.

This is a picture of me and Moses in November during recess at Noel Academy. Moses has been with us at Noel Children's Home for only a couple of months but has made the transition to our family and the school very well!

Some have asked about Christmas gifts for the children at the Home and for the School. Here are some things for your consideration:

1. New blankets and mattress for the two new children we are receiving this week, $200.00.
2. New socks and shoes for the children at the Children's Center, $520.00
3. A table, 10 chairs and rug for the Children's Center, $600.00
4. Funding to run electricity to the Children's Center, $1,500.00
5. Help with the purchase of a used van for the School and Children's Center, $10K
6. Funding, one time gift of a commitment over 12 months to help finish our 3rd Children's home (foundation is complete), $15,000

Thank you again for your many prayers and gifts, with the Lord's blessing and your faithful prayers and support we have done much in the last 4 years, may it all be for His glory. May each of you have a wonderful holiday with family and friends this Christmas season as we celebrate the fulfillment of prophecy, the virgin birth of our savior, Lord and Holy God.

Merry Christmas!!

Damon, Randa, and the BTV team

BTV Update 11.29.09: Setting the Electrical Meter

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:30:05 -0600

Friends,

I'm happy to share with you this exciting event, the setting of the electrical meter at Choimim! Thank God, we finally have power now in the hostel, church and in the school. Something so simple that will be used to help change the lives of many. We want to thank everyone for their prayers and support to help make this a reality.

Though we still have challenges ahead - improving our water sources, finishing the 3rd school building and orphan home and replacing a vehicle, we are very thankful for the facilities and opportunities to serve so many in need.

Please continue to pray for us as we look forward to our largest school attendance, over 180 children, who will be starting in January 2010, and for the privilege to love many more orphaned children by opening our second home in the early part of 2010.

Many God continue to bless you richly,

Damon, Randa and the BTV Team

BTV Update 11.01.09

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:22:49 -0600


Noyta, Age: 7 months	Collins, Age: 1 year

Friends,

It's only been a couple of days since our last update, but as is the case in ministry, things change quickly. We would like to introduce to you our newest arrivals to Noel Children's Center in Choimim, Kenya, Noyta and Collins!! These precious children were picked up by our staff from a hospital in Kapsabet mid last week. To share just a little of their background, Noyta was abandoned by her mother at a village market and Collins was rejected by his family do to the issue of incest.

With the addition of these two, the total number of children at Noel Children's Center is 8. The maximum number of children per house is 10, and God willing, we should have this home "maxed out" by early next year. Upon maxing out the occupancy of the first house, we will open the 2nd house which is of equal size and can also become home to 10 children. The reason for the smaller homes is to provide a more nurturing environment.

As we have asked before, again we would like to ask that you forward this email to your family and friends as we seek to raise sponsorship for these two children. The typical sponsorship is $65.00 monthly per child and can be spread out over a couple of families. We send out monthly pledge statements as a reminder and as a receipt for the gift.

Of course we are very excited to have the privilege to accept, love and nurture these children, yet now we are in a situation were we need to let our friends and donors know of a coming need, the construction of a new children's home, our 3rd. We're not pushed now, but if the past year is proof of how quickly God will provide children for our care, then we need to get moving! We may just max out the 2nd house early 2011. With this in mind, we desire to put a seed in your heart that we will need your help in mid 2010 to help construct a new children's home. A house is $30,000 plus furnishings.

The issue of abandoned children any where in the world should be a major concern to us all, especially the Church. Without intervention, these children grow up on the streets, if they survive that long, and their lives are downright heart breaking and difficult to even watch from a distance. Many times they run in packs, steal, eat from the trash on the streets and sniff bicycle tire repair glue (or whatever) to get high, which just burns up their brains. We the staff of BTV are dedicated to live out the love of Christ daily by taking in as many abandoned children as possible. We must keep them off the streets, we must provide a loving home environment, we must help to provide them with a quality education so that they too will have the chance to compete in a global market, and most importantly, we must teach them of the love and grace of a loving Father, helping them as we can to develop a relationship with a God and Father who will never abandon nor reject them. This is a momentous responsibility, but it can be accomplished by fostering partnerships (individually and corporately), seeking your prayers and if possible your financial participation. Please keep BTV and the children in mind as you seek to glorify our God through your generous giving.

May God bless you and keep you: God prosper your labor with help from above; May His smile be your reward and His glory your goal. - Anon.

For His glory,

Damon, Randa and the BTV staff

BTV Update 10.28.09: New computer desks

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:22:39 -0600

Friends,

It has been a few weeks since we sent our last email update. Well as you can imagine there is much to talk about. Just a couple of weeks ago I was in Kenya spending time with staff, organizing new construction projects and working with a great group from Charlotte, N.C. who traveled to Kenya to work with the children at Choimim, teach in the Bible school and work among the women members at one of our sister churches in Mosoriot. The mission was very successful and a great blessing to so many who interacted with them. The staff of BTV would like to extend our deepest appreciation and thanks to this team for their hard work, commitment and dedication to toward this successful mission.

As many of you know, BTV was blessed with a generous financial gift to help construct and equip a computer room at Noel Academy. This room will allow us the opportunity to equip the classroom with ten modern computers. Well, we're happy to share with you that the construction of computer tables has been completed (shown above) and the computers have been purchased! God willing, a mission team comprised of members from several area churches will travel to Choimim in early February to set the equipment in place and orient the students and teachers. Please keep this project in your prayers as we continue to provide great opportunities to the children and to the villagers of Choimim.

Another tremendous blessing, we are nearly fully funded (cash and pledges) to build the third school building at Noel Academy. With work scheduled to begin in early January, the completion of this building will provide the additional classroom to accommodate a complete stream of students K-8th. We want to thank each of you for your prayers and support in helping to make this project a reality. We truly hope that you are blessed knowing that in some small way your partnership with the ministry has helped to make the lives and futures of hundreds of children brighter, that together we are reaching many for Christ, our ultimate goal.

Please consider traveling to Choimim this summer and join our team in our construction efforts or teaching in the local schools, ministering to the children at Noel Children's Center or to just join in on a game of soccer with the neighborhood children (there's only a few of hundred J).

To share some of our up coming needs and prayer request:

1. The school needs a school van. We sold our car to help stop the hemorrhage of costly repairs, and unfortunately this leaves us without a car. The proceeds from the sale of the car will need to be matched with an additional 10K before we will have the funding for a good used van which we will convert into a school van

2. Consider helping with the construction of the administrative block. The 4th building will have the school library, administrative offices and a health room. This wing will cost approximately 65K. This final building will complete the first stream for the elementary school.

3. We need books for the 3rd grade class. We would like for someone interested in supporting Noel Academy to consider purchasing the school books for the new 3rd grade class that will start early January 2010. The cost of this project is $1,200. The books are shared and will be with the class for several years.

4. Prayer request: Please keep in your prayers our offer to hire a new Headmistress for Noel Academy. She has an outstanding background in early childhood education and is currently working in one of the finest private schools in Nairobi. Her acceptance of our offer would be a great blessing for the work at Noel Academy.

Again, thank you for continuing to pray for BTV and for helping us to meet the objectives of this, His, ministry. May He bless you and keep you close.

In service for His glory,

Damon, Randa and the BTV Staff

BTV Update 09.14.09

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:09:34 -0500

Moses, 2 1/2 yrs.

Friends,

It’s always a blessing to share with you the joys and heartaches of our work in Kenya. With this email it’s our joy to share with you our newest addition to Noel Children’s Center, “little” MosesJ. He comes to us from a children’s home that was closed by the Kenyan government. James Esendi, our staff director in Kenya, reports he’s a loving child and is in very good health. As we plan to start him in the “Baby Class” at Noel Academy and as we comfort him in his new home, we would ask that you please include this little one in your prayers.

Additionally, events over the past couple of weeks continue to show the hand of our loving Father. We have been blessed by several generous donors who have now made it possible to equip a new computer lab at Noel Academy! God willing, we hope to have the new program up and running by the end of February 2010. Additionally, we are closer to raising the money needed to finish the 3rd school building. We have collected $11,000 in the past several weeks and trust that the Lord will provide the balance, $25,000, to finish the school building.

We plan travel to Kenya in October and will be working with several groups who will be involved in community outreach, teaching in the schools and community, teaching at Winchester Academy along with making renovations to accommodate for the computer lab. Additionally during this visit a group of us will be surveying several new locations for potential future expansion. Please be in prayer as we work to serve and bring glory to our God, Jesus Christ.

A quick report on the churches, we praise God as we report they are healthy and doing very well! The pastors have worked hard to organize the churches and develop weekly Bible studies and outreach programs, and they have seen many come to faith in Christ. Over the next couple of months the church hopes to identify a new “hub” location and establish a new district church (Community Baptist Church of Kenya). This effort takes tremendous prayer, planning and commitment of resources. We pray that God will raise up new partners for this exciting opportunity to go, making disciples and glorifying the risen One.

Tthank you again for your continued support of the ministry of Build the Village, for your prayers, your continuous words of encouragement and for your presence on the field. We also send a special heartfelt thank you to each one of you who help sponsor the 5 children at Noel Children’s Center as you continue to pour out your love and compassion to these special little ones. Our newest addition Moses is currently unsponsored, and we would like to ask if each of you would share with someone in your family, church family, or office setting this special opportunity to sponsor him. The cost per month is $65.00 but can be shared among a couple of families so not become a financial burden. Should you have an interest please email and let us know your intent, we would love to hear from you.

As God continues to work out His plan of redemption through each of us, we stand amazed at His goodness when yet we are so weak in our flesh. For this, give Him praise, and with us, thank Him for His mighty deeds. May all we do glorify Him, and God willing, change the life of just one…

To His glory we serve,

Damon, Randa, and the Kenyan BTV Team

BTV Update 08.21.09

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:09:28 -0500

Electrical transformer in place

Friends,

Praise the Lord! Just a quick yet very exciting note to let many of you know that we now have electricity for the project at Choimim, Kenya! We are so privileged to help impact this community for Christ and thank you all for praying for this particular project. We truly give thanks and praise God for allowing for this opportunity and that it will be used only for His glory.

So, for our returning visitors planning to come next year, bring along your old memories of sitting in the dark with your flash lights and candles burning :) and enjoy along with our new guests the modern convenience of electricity, taking advantage of the opportunities this gift will undoubtedly bring.

Also, another tremendous blessing we want to share with you, we have received a pledge of 10K to help develop and equip a computer education center at Noel Academy. We pray that we will have the computers purchased, connected and operational by the early part of next year. With this program in place, we will be teaching our students computer technologies and opening the classes up to the community to teach them the basics of computers and software applications. This will be a great outreach tool to the community and to those who continue to avoid the church.

For groups considering to travel to Choimim next year, please consider helping to teach our students to use Biblical software along with teaching financial stewardship to the community at large. We are also looking outside of Choimim to establish our second BTV project. As the Lord continues to bless this Choimim project we are compelled to seek out other communities with the gospel and develop opportunities to serve.

As always, we deeply appreciate your prayers and support. Please keep us in your prayers!!!

Striving to serve Him well,

Damon, Randa and the BTV Staff

Recent news

BTV Update 11.19.11

BTV Update 10.28.11

BTV Update 10.12.11

BTV Update 08.10.11

BTV Update 06.06.11

BTV Update 03.18.11

BTV Update 03.07.11

BTV Update 2.15.11

Happy New Year!

BTV Update 12.16.10

BTV Update 08.30.10

BTV Update 07.03.10

BTV Update 04.01.10

BTV Update 12.27.09

BTV Update 12.09.09: 3rd Noel Graduation of our Preschool Class

BTV Update 11.29.09: Setting the Electrical Meter

BTV Update 11.01.09

BTV Update 10.28.09: New computer desks

BTV Update 09.14.09

BTV Update 08.21.09