Monthly Newsletter and Missions Update: January-February 2022:

Life at the Center

In December we celebrated the end of 2021 and shortly after, on January 19th, we celebrated a very exciting milestone - 1 year of Embrace a Street Child in Nairobi! Asper Kenyan tradition, a number of visitors joined us, including pastors, neighbors, government officials and representatives from partner organizations. All of them came to participate in the celebration and encourage our team and boys. Our special guest was Derrick Mwangi. In September 2021, after rehabilitation at Embrace Center, he was reunited with his family and supported to continue his education. 

On January 19th, he traveled from home to share his testimony of how God has used Embrace to rescue him from the streets and give him the start to a better, hope-filled future. He encouraged the boys to trust in the Lordand not run away from Embrace. Other boys shared about how their lives had changed since being rescued from the streets. There was singing, dramas, games and the Gospel message. And of course everyone enjoyed a delicious lunch with the biggest cake in Embrace history! We thank God for His Grace and faithfulness thus far. 

The past 2 months have been filled with many new faces for our boys. Teams and individuals from various countries stopped by our Center, some for a few hours and others for several days. They participated in daily programs and many used the opportunity to share their personal testimonies of how Jesus saved them. A few of the visitors had histories of drug addiction and it was a great encouragement for our boys to once again be reminded of the Gospel and that Christ is the only One who can save, free, heal and transform them. The “Choose Life Ministries” team visited us and leda seminar for our staff team and missionaries on the relevant topic of “Burnout Prevention in LongTerm Ministry”. 

Thank you to “Step30 Ministries” for generously donating another container to Embrace! We plan to convert it into a workshop which will be used for construction projects and training boys in various trade skills. We also welcome volunteers who are qualified and experienced in construction and have the desire to teach our boys hands-on skills. 

Reintegration

As we reflect on the challenges of reintegration here in Nairobi, we thank God for the 20 boys we have who are still home, of the 24 we have reintegrated up to date. 

Patrick Mcheusi was placed with his grandparents and returned back to school where he is doing well. Henry Kafiro, Michael Kimani andJames Mwangi are all older boys who have been reunited with their families, and are currently inactive search for vocational training opportunities to help prepare them for adult life and finalize the reintegration process. 

We continue to follow up with our boys at home who have been reintegrated through both Centers in Kitale and Nairobi and empowering them with the necessary physical, emotional and spiritual support. 

Vincent is in secondary school, and Johnte is finishing up vocational training in welding. Both boys shared this month how thankful they are for Embrace, and how God has given them a new life at home. 

Please continue praying for Brandon and Kamwangi, who have both been at Embrace since January 2021, and might have potential breakthrough sin their cases for placement soon!

Team Updates

We have been actively searching for additional Kenyan staff members to fill the positions of a Biblical counsellor, social worker and caregiver. It has been a challenge to find the right candidates since we are primarily looking for genuine believers with a desire to serve God through an employment opportunity. But we are thankful God answered our prayers and Washington recently joined our team as a Biblical counsellor! We hope he will fill in several gaps in the spiritual rehabilitation process at the Center as well as the spiritual growth of boys reintegrated home.

Please join us in praying for God to bring the rightpeople to serve at Embrace. 

Prayer Requests

Our hearts are heavy with the current situation in Ukraine. Our team is not unaffected. Our missionaries’ families, relatives, churches are directly impacted. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and we are using this opportunity to encourage our boys to think and pray for others in need. 

Embrace is praying for Ukraine! 

Thank you to all our partners who support Embrace prayerfully, financially or in any other way. May God bless bless you, your families and churches!