Zedekiah Mkagwa spent his time on earth in two sections. His life before he met Christ and his life after that day that he met the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  For him, it was very [...]

I have been silent for a long season of rediscovering true north in my walk with the Lord. Today, the silence ends. Today marks the day of great loss and at the same time, great gain. This day, [...]

The Year 2022 is new and yet, as we start this new year, we still have old battles that we are facing. The state of our times have been described as a swirl. There are so many realities today [...]

Today marks the 37th anniversary of the day we first arrived in Kenya to begin our journey of a lifetime. Molly will also add some thoughts from the trip that started on Valentines Day when we [...]

Have you ever noticed in the Scripture that FAITH, HOPE and LOVE are intertwined?  I was encouraged by this recently and wanted to share it with you.    We can keep on working, and laboring for [...]

The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. Ps. 147:11 Christmas time is a great opportunity to give gifts. I love the sheer delight on the faces of [...]

We love this business of rescuing children. On our Facebook post for today, we highlight the life of one of our KKV kids, who, quite frankly would not be alive today if it weren’t for the [...]

2 Chron. 7:14 ‘Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their [...]

Molly and I recently reconnected with a dear friend, Keith, who lived with us in Kenya for several months in 1995.  Over breakfast, Molly and I discovered that he has been on dialysis for the [...]

Dear Encouragers Family and Friends, Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John [...]

The year has begun and we are almost a month into it already. How quickly time passes by. I was reminded in my daily reading today that time and life are both gifts that I cannot control. What I [...]

Merry Christmas from the village. We are so happy that we were able to spend some quality time with our beloved kings kids this past month. We come bearing wonderful reports of God’s [...]

Guess what? It is only 71 days till Christmas. How are you doing on your Christmas Shopping list? At Encouragers, we are offering THREE WAYS to give some Christmas Cheer at KKV as you shop for [...]

Molly and I have known for a long time that there is power in thanksgiving.   During our 37 years of marriage and 35 years in ministry, we have made it a practice to thank God, even in difficult [...]

We are on a quest. We are on a journey. We are on Sabbatical. We have so much to share. Many who love us and have stood with us throughout our past 35 years in Africa and with Jon’s parents, [...]

We have been dreaming about building a guesthouse and initially kicked off the project at the beginning of 2019. We have been have been promoting it via our snail mail news letters and on social [...]

We are so blessed that not just one company has come along side us to help us raise money and awareness in the marketplace. We have been favored in two different ways… The first way is [...]

Hi, fellow Encouragers and friends of KKV. We are so excited to announce the new Kings Kids Village Store, where we can shop and help fund Kings Kids Village at the same time. A friend of Kings [...]

Greetings from Danville, Illinois. We just arrived on Wednesday after a grueling 14 hour flight from the middle east to Chicago O’hare. We are on an adventure of our lifetime as we head to [...]

Well, it is time to let you all know what is happening so far concerning the guesthouse. We have had quite a month since our last post and video letting you know of our plans to build a [...]

As I begin, I must state clearly the fact that anything we are doing that is producing something of value and of goodness, it is not of our doing, but the fact that somehow we got a bit of a [...]

We are excited… We, meaning all of us here are Kings Kids Village, are very excited. A few weeks ago, we had a visit from our good friends at New Life Home, a home for abandoned babies here [...]

“You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you [...]

Happy New Year from Nairobi, Kenya. We are so excited to announce our big project of the year 2019. As we speak, site clearing is happening as we begin our dream KKV Guesthouse. As we look to the [...]

Hi guys… Giving Tuesday is coming up on November 27th (One month from today). We are launching a campaign to bless our KKV Staff this Christmas. For more details, sign up to receiver our [...]

We are so excited to present our newest video about Kings Kids Village. We hope you will enjoy it and share it around. Thank.s, Jon and Molly – Nairobi, Kenya

These are exciting days here at Kings Kids Village. This is our year of new beginnings. Tray and Lydia are onboard officially at KKV and have joined us on the Encouragers Unlimited Team as well. [...]

Happy Mother’s Day’ Mama Stern On the eve of Mother’s Day 2018, our thoughts go to our Mama Stern, who was at our side on Mother’s Day, 2017 here in Nairobi. Today, although far away from us in [...]

Kings Kids Village is now officially on Instagram. Check us out… and tell us what you think. Jon and Molly

I don’t know why, but this last year went by very fast. We were in the US for Christmas till mid January, 2017 and before you know it, we are celebrating Christmas again. As fast as 2017 [...]

Praise God, everyone! We are so grateful to God and give Him all the honor and glory for what He is doing at Kings Kids Village. We count it an absolute privilege to know and be in the lives of [...]

Dear Family and Friends, I am doing fine. Life is different living in America again. Our church in Lincoln is celebrating Christmas by having a big international banquet. We have several [...]

We are so excited to see Giving Tuesday finally here. What a great time to give a gift that will mean the difference between life and death to a child. We are in need of more cash flow for our [...]

We are very excited to report that construction on our Chicken house is almost finished and should provide enough space to raise 350 broilers at a go.  Even though this project has been an uphill [...]

We continue to prepare and pray for our Kings Kids Village students who are taking national exams. To the left, you see (top left to right) Jimmy, Alex, Sammy, Miguel, Davis, Cynthia, and bottom, [...]

Kenyans have been praying for peace, justice and mercy up to and during Kenya’s national elections held last week. Election season also tends to bring with it a change of pace as many [...]

We have exciting news to share with you all. JBloom jewelry designers are partnering with us to promote Kenyan made jewelry and financially support Kings Kids Village. The founders of JBloom, [...]

Dear Friends of KKV. Molly and I have just returned from a whirlwind trip to the US getting mom settled into an independent living section of a retirement community in Lincoln, NE, the city she [...]

This year is proving to be a challenge for us in the area of parenting. Our longer-serving parents are getting up into their mid 70’s and needing a rest from the hard work required to [...]

March 29th started as an extra ordinary day for Grandma (Eleanor) Stern. It turned out to be far more than that. In her mind, she had been invited to speak to the Nairobi Lighthouse Church staff [...]

Today, we are excited to announce the launch of our new Encouragers Unlimited Ministries website. Our old site needed a heavy overhaul on design and functionality to stay up with the times of [...]

2017 is turning out to be an exciting year of development at Kings Kids Village. We are looking at two sustainability projects, 1. A Guesthouse and 2. A chicken broiler project. Both are daunting [...]

Here we are at the end of another wonderful year at Kings Kids Village. We stay busy here with 47 kids and 27 staff members. The gardens are bursting with good food, the students are busy in [...]

We are excited about our first ever KKV Boot Sale coming up this Saturday here on the campus of Kings Kids Village. What, may you ask, is a boot sale? It is a yard sale for people to seel just [...]

Our long term goal at Kings Kids Village is to be totally off the grid of one of the most expensive Power grids in the world… that of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company. At present we [...]

Things are happening at the village these days with the construction of our fish ponds nearing completion. We have hit a small snag. They ponds must be dug about one foot deeper to fully address [...]

We are really back into the full swing of things here at KKV. After a wonderful Christmas and New Years, we are working hard at getting some more projects underway! In case you haven’t [...]

We are grateful at Kings Kids Village for another year of God’s grace and favor. We have been the benefactors of His provision and help. One of the most significant things we have seen Him [...]

This has been a busy season for Molly and I as we have taken on new responsibilities at our local church here in Nairobi as interim Link Pastors in June of this year. Sorry for the silence. Our [...]

Each year, May through August, we brace for a shortage in giving. It seems to be a pattern the past few years, and I just heard from my sister that this year is no exception. We are $4,000.00 [...]

Change is in the air here at Kings Kids Village. We are so excited about all that is happening. Construction of our fishpond is underway. Many hours of labor have already gone into it due to [...]

I have to say that in nine times out of ten the sound of dripping water would be quite annoying. Today is just the opposite. It is a cause for rejoicing! For the last five days we have been [...]

From all of us at KKV, we pray that your Christmas was filled with the joy that only Jesus can bring, and that the New Year will bring greater revelation of His love for you. Christmas day proved [...]

We are so excited to announce that Kings Kids Village has its first high school graduate. Essy has worked very diligently to achieve this, and has completed her studies with a great B average. We [...]

Ephesians 3:20 (AMP) says “Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and [...]

Dear friends of KKV. We are excited to announce that the final money has come in to fully pay for our new Education Resource Center construction. This includes a new front security wall for the [...]

It has been far to long since I have updated this blog. While I can not give a promise of a weekly update, every effort will be made to post on a more regular basis. If I would even dare to keep [...]

There is such an air of excitement here at Kings Kids Village. So many awesome things are happening. We are all so happy that Lydia has returned to us, and very proud of her. She has returned [...]

A new way to help Encouragers Unlimited and our main project, Kings Kids Village, is by shopping at our Mall online… Our cause will get a percentage of every purchase you make… [...]

We have all had times in our lives when we wonder how we will get through without going a little insane. The last couple of weeks have been that way around here. The great part of it all is [...]

This week we harvested our first honey. Some months ago we purchased a “bee box” and moved a nest of bees into it. One of our groundskeepers, John, went out at night and scraped the honey from [...]

It has been a very busy week . The Club 8:12er’s (age 14 and up) have been having many practices for their upcoming concert. Our older kids are part of this evangelistic outreach hosted by [...]

There are times when school breaks can be a challenge. For many children, having structure keeps things going smoothly; ours kids are no exception. Sometimes we have a team of volunteers here to [...]

This week we celebrated the ending of another awesome school term. We had a time of praise and worship that was led by three of our girls. The students were honored for all of their hard work. [...]

Many thanks to all of you who have been praying for us this past week. God has heard your prayers, and this week has been much better. On Saturday, we had a team of 20 ushers from Nairobi [...]

This has been a very challenging week here at KKV. There have been two funerals this week. The first was for a distant relation of the Stern family. Their relative came here to Kenya to bury his [...]

This is a sad story, but so true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. There was a little girl named Ruth, born in 1985. She lived in Nairobi with her mother. The father was [...]

We have some very exciting news! God has blessed us with a wonderful volunteer social worker named Catherine. Over the last several weeks Catherine has been doing all the legwork from office to [...]

Dear Friends of KKV, Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have come to the conclusion that the Educational Research Center building project is too far from completion to have a dedication [...]

On Wednesday, Terri and Paula, two of our volunteers, came and helped the kids to make string bracelets. They took the kids by age group, and patiently instructed them. All of our kids, as well [...]

We have good news this week. Evans was released from the hospital on Monday. He is home and doing much better, although not yet back in school. Please continue to pray and believe with us for his [...]

Construction has been moving along very well on our school building. We are almost ready for roof rafters over the entire school. Along with the school building there is construction of a new [...]

We were so happy to meet Paula and Terri, our 2 newest volunteers. They will be coming every Wednesday to do painting, arts and crafts with the kids. The kids will be divided into age groups and [...]

We bid a fond farewell to Miss Jane on Sunday. She was such a blessing during her stay here. Besides many painting lessons with the kids, she taught our house moms to bake bread. We always had [...]

It has been a challenging week having Evans in the hospital. What is so heart-warming is the willingness of so many to spend time with him. He has had someone with him for the entire week and a [...]

It has been an eventful week here at Kings Kids Village. One of our boys took a fall off a bicycle and injured himself. The next day he was complaining of pain in his side. A couple of days later [...]

Many of the kids enjoyed an art lesson and some time to paint with Miss Jane on Saturday. She taught about proper brush strokes and caring for your supplies. She also showed the how to paint [...]

Sunday afternoon, after a time of praise and worship, the kids were treated to a great surprise. Life Church International in Bloomington, Indiana purchased as well as made clothes for each of [...]

Jon, Molly and the family have returned from their brief vacation in Lamu. It was a great time of family bonding, and they were very refreshed. As their van pulled into the compound, all the kids [...]

What joy we experienced as we saw the faces of our kids light up as Sue and I delivered Christmas gifts. Both Sue and Molly spent hours sorting sizes of donated clothes, hand-picking gifts for [...]

What a wonderful week we have enjoyed here at KKV. It is great to day by day see a bit more of the walls for our new school. Progress is going well and we are very excited to see the vision [...]

This Christmas break from school has been a very busy one for us. During this time we try to arrange for our kids to visit relatives in their home villages. Many of our kids have an aunty or [...]

We were blessed by 25 members of our cell link coming for a visit this past Sunday.  They blessed us with a catered lunch and spent some time playing games with the kids. “Santa“even came with a [...]

Last Sunday we were blessed to have about twenty-five of our cell link members come to visit us here at KKV. They came and spent a couple hours with the kids playing football (soccer) and other [...]

We were startled by a loud crash early last Saturday morning. After getting out of bed and looking around, we wondered if we were dreaming and went back to sleep.  When we were awakened a few [...]

What an amazing day we had this past Saturday! Many of our “Friends of KKV Club” joined us for the official ground-breaking ceremony for the Mary C. Hensold Learning Resource Center. The sun was [...]

Every year in November we at Kings Kids Village send letters to corporations here in Nairobi asking them to consider making a donation. To date three corporations have responded. Windsor Golf [...]

What an amazing week we had here at KKV. We learned that our van would not be out of the shop for us to use on Sunday for church. Rather than make many extra trips with the personal vehicles we [...]

We here at Kings Kids Village are so very excited! Our blueprints for the new building have finally cleared all five steps needed before we can officially break ground. It has been a long process [...]

Just a short note to celebrate the fact that the blue prints for our new building program have cleared all five steps for approval and will be officially ratified in a board meeting set to take [...]

Sunday afternoon was so amazing here at KKV. We had a bus and several personal vehicles come rolling into the compound. About 70 people from the Nairobi Lighthouse Church’s Insight School of [...]

Last Saturday was a wonderful success. Ten of our kids, accompanied by Tray, Jim and Sue, attended the outreach sponsored by the Nairobi Korean Church. There were 15 orphanages from the Kassarani [...]

Wow is all I can say about our Kings Kids this past Sunday. While they were performing “Extraordinary” the congregation was spontaneously giving them standing ovations. They truly are [...]

This entire week, nineteen of our kids have been preparing a presentation for Sunday. Nairobi Lighthouse Church is featuring Kings Kids Village as its mission focus for this month. The [...]

We want to welcome Jon and Tray back to KKV after their trip to Mombassa and Lamu. They had a great trip and left Christen in Lamu for her 3 month mission trip. We can’t wait to hear her great [...]

We have really missed Tray this week. He is our resident genius at keeping the computers running. Our kids are blessed to have computer classes, where they learn typing, measure their reading [...]

We have a new addition! Last Saturday Teacher Nicolas and his wife Tina had a baby girl. Her name is Liora and she weighed in at 4.1 kilos. Mom and baby are doing well. We send a big God bless [...]

We had a wonderful time with “Uncle Bill,” who arrived here last Thursday afternoon. He taught our kids some songs, and they were able to teach him a couple as well. The kids loved the teaching [...]

On Sunday Kristen, Anna and Essy left for a five day mission trip to Kitui with several other teens from Club 8:12, the youth group from Nairobi Lighthouse Church. Their purpose was to serve and [...]

Momma Tabitha returned yesterday from a trip to her home. She took Judy and Sifa to visit their relatives, and also Andrew so he could have an outing with her. While there, Tabitha was helping to [...]

On Saturday we bid a fond farewell to Ian, Emma and Merryn. They came from the UK and were volunteers for a month. They blessed the kids with their great Bible stories, games and crafts. They [...]

July 31st was the closing day celebration here at Kings Kids Village. This year we chose to have it on a Saturday so many friends of KKV could attend. Our kids did an amazing job with the [...]

This week we would like to highlight KKV’S involvement in the community. Jon has been a member of a grass roots program called Local Area Advisory Council for the past 1 ½ years. LAAC is a [...]

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