I have not written in a while but it certainly has not been because of the lack of anything to write about. My infrequent updates are because of busyness, internet trouble and laziness. Probably mostly laziness. :)

We had a great session in the Rift Valley Baptist College during the month of April. Our attendance was a little bit down due to some trouble in a couple of the churches but we still had 79 students. We taught eight different courses between the English and Swahili classes. A typical day saw me teaching the whole day between the hours of 7 am and 9 pm. The weeks are long when college is in session but the fruit and blessings are bountiful. My wife, Wendy, taught a class for the ladies only and it was a smashing success. It was her first time to do it and if you know my wife at all you know how nervous and scared she was. The unanimous testimony of the ladies is we want more. The best part was she had a great time doing it. She can now see better why I enjoy it so much when the college is in session and I am teaching.

I also had the privilege to again teach a class two weeks ago in the Lake Victoria Baptist College of Mwanza, Tanzania. I taught the book of Acts and again was impressed with the quality of students in the college. The only problem was all the teaching had to be in Swahili and I think I am just now getting over the headache it caused me :) A big thank you to brother Greg Wagoner for the privilege of participating in his college session.

I am writing this while I am in Nairobi. Tomorrow morning I will again leave for another trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two of our pastors from the Grace Bible Baptist Church, Isaac Mungai and Mike Njoroge left yesterday and I will be meeting them at the border of Burundi and the Congo tomorrow. We will then cross the border and go to the town of Uvira that sits on the very northwest side of Lake Tanginyika. Our desire on this trip is to finishing laying the groundwork so that we can begin sending men into the Congo on a full time basis sometime in June. The two most important things we wish to accomplish on this trip is #1 to meet with our lawyer who is handling our paper work, immigration issues and representing us to the government. We wish to have everything in order so that there is no problems while our men are living in the country. There are also a number of other important issues to discuss with him. #2 we need to rent a house for our men to live that will be within our budget. Our housing budget is $100 a month unless the house is also big enough to begin holding services then we would be able to go a little bit higher.

We are entering a part of the world that is in constant turmoil and is in reality a war zone. We are told through United Nation statistics that in the last few years there have been over 1 million slaughtered in genocide and war in the area we will be staying. I have personally heard the horror stories on how the rivers ran with blood and the crocodiles bloated themselves as they feasted on the bodies of those butchered. When we were in Uvira in late February we watched as the Congolese army found rebel gorillas hiding near the town, they arrested, stripped and then frog marched them to the army jail. A short while after we returned to Kenya the gorilla army invaded the town, shot the place up and broke out over 500 of their men from the army jails. There were a number of innocent civilians killed in the raid. There are two U.N bases built near the town to help keep the peace and they have helped some but not always enough.

We believe God has prepared our people for this awesome task of taking the gospel to these needy people. I cannot begin to explain the oppression that I begin to immediately feel when crossing the border into this neglected part of the world. Satan almost had me convinced during my first trip to the Congo that we could not do what God was leading us to do. I did not know how we could deal with the horror of the atrocities visited on these people and effectively build a church amongst them. I thought there must be some people much more qualified then us to do what it seemed God was wanting us to attempt. But through prayer and earnestly seeking God we are convinced that all that has happened to our people through the years and culminating in the election violence last year was preparation for this ministry.

Please remember us in prayer this week. Please remember our families that we leave behind in Kenya. I thank God for my godly wife who is willing to hold down the fort, deal with all the pressures of living in Africa and is willing without complaint to allow her husband to do what God has called him to do. God has also given us some national believers that have literally adopted us into their families and watch out for us as if we were their own family. It seems that this term God has been expanding our area of influence and has taken me away from the house for weeks at a time. I could never do that without a wife who was willing to trust God in ALL things. Wendy God be with you and I LOVE YOU! By the way Happy Mothers Day.

If you happen to be signed up with TWITTER you can get regular daily updates while we are in the Congo. I should be able to send them out by text message. If you would like to add us to your account so you can more effectively pray for us my user name is kenyanakuru or you can find me through my name- Robert Mickey Jr.

May God bless you and thank you in advance for your prayers.