It's a Wrap!

We just wrapped up our four week mission trip to Kenya and to say it's been eventful and successful is an understatement. WOW just WOW. We had HUNDREDS accept Jesus as Lord and Savior during two Wholly Yours Ministries outreach programs, consisting of crusades and revivals, in two locations spanning a total of nine days. We had multiple thousands in combined attendance.

We ended our outreach programs with a baptism service the morning after Christmas and it was amazing! It was held at 7:00 a.m., since we were heading to the airport afterwards, and there were still sixteen to show up to be baptized. This was an amazing number since Kenyans seem to celebrate throughout the night on Christmas night. I know this to be the case because we could barely sleep due to the celebratory "noise" that lasted all night long, even in our rural neighborhood. It seemed more like New Years or the Fourth of July celebrations in America, only ALL NIGHT LONG! Kudos to those that made it! We plan on a number of baptisms during January as we follow up on the new converts. This baptism service was held in Ogalo (Mumias) since the crusade just ended on Christmas night. Baptism services had already been held in Budalang'i, the location of our first crusade. Our desire is to get a portable baptism pool so we can baptize each night after the outreach ends.

During our stay we also carried out two Wholly Yours Ministries "Love in Action" programs consisting of jigger removal and food distribution. We visited a small rural community and thirteen children came to us who needed treatment for jiggers. We discovered that the jigger removal procedure has changed, from actually cutting the jiggers (chigoe fleas) out, to a much less invasive method. The new method consists of applying a solution on the affected areas, usually the feet, over a two day period after thoroughly scrubbing, washing, and soaking the affected areas in a solution similar to lysol. This kills the jiggers, allows the healing process to begin, and is so much less painful than using a scalpel. It was such an honor to wash and treat these children's feet and help them get rid of these parasites. Thanks to everyone who supplies funds for this program and thanks to the Wholly Yours Ministries team. Well done!!

Regarding the food distribution, we were able to supply sugar, flour, rice, oil, salt and soap to around 60 widows and widowers. We had the recipients meet together in groups (one group per location) for the distribution. This grouping also served as a social event for them, as many live quite secluded lives. We were ecstatic that we had enough funds to cover the cost since it was around $13 per person. Thanks to everyone who gave to make this happen! Two distributions have been held so far, one in Budalang'i and one in Ogalo. WYM team members, Pastor Kalvon Onyango and Mukisa Godfrey will be traveling, towards the end of this week, to the church Wholly Yours Ministries had built in Katekwan Uganda. They will meet with Pastor Enoka Kaisu, pastor of Katekwan, to distribute to widows and widowers there. We weren't able to do it prior to Christmas day due to scheduling conflicts, and we apologize to those expecting us. Lord willing, they will have food to celebrate the beginning of the new year.

This not only wraps up this mission but the 2023 year as well. Thanks for everyone who prayed for us and gave to make this happen. This isn't just our ministry, this is YOUR ministry too. Thanks for partnering with us in 2023! This mission has cost over $7000 and we're so happy to say we had donated funds for most of it! We even had donations to cover over half our airfare! God bless y'all for partnering with us! Generations of peoples lives have been changed positively because of your prayers and giving.

Another reason for our trip, other than to reach the lost and help the needy, was to plan for the future. We have many LARGE goals for 2024 that we need prayer and financial support to make happen. We dream and plan big because our God is big! We're still seeking the Lord's direction and planning so we have not nailed all the details, but we are planning large community projects on the medical, educational, and occupational fronts (consisting of land purchases, brick and mortar). This is in addition to our outreach crusades, conferences, seminars and revivals. We also hope to expand our "Love in Action" programs, sustainability programs, and continue our teaching through our Wholly Yours Ministries Bible Institute. We can only do this if you help us!

Thanks for taking the time to pray for us, follow us during our travels, and financially support us. We need individual donors, corporations, businesses and churches to sponsor us monthly to help us fulfill the vision God has given us. We are not a church, but an independent ministry, so we rely totally on donations. My wife and I are members of the Church of New Beginnings in Glade Spring, and they sponsor us, but we need more than one church supporting us to fulfill the vision God has given us. We are very grateful to the leaders of our church, the leadership team and Pastors Jeff Wallace and David Gilliam, and the congregation. They are such faithful suporters of Wholly Yours Ministries, partnering with us, embracing us, and loving us. We love our church family!

Please partner with us in 2024. You're sowing in good ground when you contribute to Wholly Yours Ministries as all the donations go directly to programs. If you'd like for us to come to your church or organization and share our ministry vision with you, just let us know and we can schedule it together.

Please consider donating before the end of the year so your donations can be deducted for the 2023 tax year, according to IRS tax guidelines. Wholly Yours Ministries is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Giving now will also allow us to have funds to pre-plan our programs. If programs aren't supported financially, they won't happen.

You can give through our PayPal account (whollyoursministries@gmail.com), our CashApp account ($WYM59), direct deposit into our WYM bank account, or through the mail to Wholly Yours Ministries 483 Oak Hill St. NE, Abingdon, VA 24210. For direct deposit, contact me for account and routing numbers. In fact, any method you choose to donate, we'll make sure to accommodate you, even if we have to drive to where you are and pick it up😊 If you're sending through the mail, just make sure it's postmarked by December 31st to be able to use as contributions for 2023.

God bless each of you! I know you have been overloaded with Wholly Yours Ministries blogs the last couple weeks, but many wanted us to keep them updated during our mission. The next blog will be sometime the early part of February, so Lynn Fullen - WYM Ministry Coordinator for North America, and I, take this opportunity to wish each of you a very Happy New Year along with the entire Wholly Yours Ministries team!

Wholly Yours in Christ

Rev. Paul Havens

Wholly Yours Ministries

Founder and President