The Wooten's Window
Greetings to everyone from a cool, July morning here in Nairobi. In Kenya, we are in our winter, so our days are getting cooler. Not quite cold, but very cool temperatures. I am writing to you from a small Café sipping on a very nice coffee and thinking about how good God has been to Sharon and me over the years. We have a wonderful family that we miss most of the time but are so thankful for God’s blessings on their lives. We have the most faithful friends and supporters who have stood with us for many years to do this work. On August 20th, Sharon and I will have been married for 41 years, been in ministry for 41+ years and will have been serving in missions for 25 years. Many of you have partnered with us for much of this time, and we are thankful beyond what words could ever tell. We pray often that God will bless you with the same kindness you have blessed us with, and that it will be poured out on you in good measure, pressed down, and running over. Thanks for praying for Kenya in the past few weeks. We have had some political unrest, but we are well, and I have not heard any news of loss from our churches.
We have been extremely busy since I wrote my last newsletter and wanted to give you an update. I do encourage you, if you are not a friend on Facebook, please look for us there. I’m listed as Ron Wooten and Sharon is listed as Sharon L. Wooten. We try not to over post, but we do try to keep you up to date with what is happening.
In April, we had great Easter Celebrations in our International Church here in Nairobi, and God really blessed us over the entire weekend. We received many reports from other churches in our region of a sweet outpouring of God’s Spirit and heard testimonies of many people coming to Christ. The week after Easter, we had two teams arrive in Kenya. One team came to help Water for Nations, an IPHC Well Drilling Ministry. They had raised funds to dig a well and came to do ministry at an IPHC church in rural Kenya. The second team came through Kenya in route to our work in South Sudan with Hope4Sudan (H4S). We helped to plan and organize the H4S team on the ground in Nairobi, and it was such a joy to have both teams. They both really poured out their hearts to help our people in Kenya and South Sudan. Lives were touched for eternity, and in very tangible ways with eyeglasses, water, medicine, clothing, food, and many other things. While the teams were here, Sharon and I also conducted two Great Commission Equipping Conferences (GCEC). One was at our Kenya HQ in Nairobi, and the other was in Maua, Meru area in central Kenya. Both seminars had over 50 participants, and we trained the GCEC Phase Two training in both of these meetings.
Ron teaching during a GCEC in Nairobi.
There were three more of these conferences and two Women’s Conferences that we could not attend. Sharon and I both taught lessons and Sharon preached a powerful message at one of the conferences, and afterwards, Pastors prayed at the altar for the longest time. To close April out, I (Ron) traveled to Rwanda for five days of meetings and planning for our General Conference that is to be held in August. This meeting went well, and we hope the plans made will push through and that God will help us have peaceful elections for new leaders.
Prayer time following Sharon's sermon at the Pastors' Conference.
We launched the month of May with an East and Sub-Saharan Regional Meeting that included leaders from eight of our nine countries. We had at least one leader represented from every country and most countries had three. These leaders represented Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan. Our only country not represented was Egypt. It was an awesome time together and I received so many heartfelt thanks from our leaders. After the meeting was over, they were already asking when we can do the next one. I am also appreciative that most of our missionary staff in Kenya made an effort to attend these meetings. The teaching which covered two Phases of GCEC training was great.
Leaders at the GCEC.
We also got to hear devotions and reports from all the different countries. Personally, this was my favorite part. The leaders gave testimonies of miracles, salvations, and new church plants. Our undercover Kenyan missionary who goes in and out of Somalia, gave a report that really touched all our leaders’ hearts. When all the 2023 statistical reports came in, we saw a phenomenal growth with 208 new churches and 70,686 new members. As they say in Kenya, "Utukufu Wote Kwa Mungu" (All the Glory to God). But I personally want to give a great thank you to all our leaders in our region for working so hard and taking the Great Commission as a personal call in their lives. We had one week to rest and catch up on the endless paperwork, and then I traveled to Egypt to meet with our churches in the Egyptian city of Assiut.
The journey to get to our churches is a bit rough, but when I arrived safely after an overnight flight, a day to sleep in Cairo, and a six-hour bus ride, it was well worth it. Our leader, Rev. Emil Said, had invited me to a special service where the church was ordaining four young pastors. In the past year we have seen two of our older Egyptian pastors pass away and the church has been praying for young men to be raised up. This was such a special service, and I was so happy to attend. The sanctuary of the church was packed, and many others were standing in hallways and seated in overflow rooms. There was anointed worship, several of our Pastors shared special messages about the men being ordained, and then we had the service and prayed for the blessing of ordination over the men. What a beautiful time of prayer and seeing these young men accepted by the older men and the congregations. They had asked me to preach, and I spoke about David’s anointing by Samuel and the waiting and trusting God for almost 15 years, until he became King. After this, the people gave gifts, hugged them and shook their hands, gave them Clerical Robes, and there was a lot of rejoicing.
Pastor's Dedicated in Egypt.
We spent the following day on the road visiting the remaining churches I had not visited on my last trip. I was overwhelmed by how our people have built buildings and ministries under so much oppression and persecution. God is Good. On Sunday, we had services and I traveled overnight to Cairo to fly back home.
Children in Egyptian church's Kids Church.
Sharon and I cannot thank you enough for how you have partnered with us through your prayers, support, and friendship over the years. We cannot do what we do without the 100s of financial supporters we have, and more people than we could count who pray for us. We are blessed and favored to be able to represent you in this beautiful place God has called us to serve. Thank you, thank you, thank You!!!
