St. Luke's Ministries International - We are so fortunate to know and work with our dear friends Pastor Joshua Atieno and his wife Abigael.  As a couple they glorify God with their lives and live out the definition of 'pure & faultless religion' as described in James 1:27 (NIV): "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Pastor Joshua Atieno and his wife Abigael have a church, orphanage, school and widows center located in the small village of Miwani, about 40 minutes east of the city of Kisumu, near Lake Victoria.  Daily the couple lay down their lives to look after the spiritual, physical and mental needs of many orphans and widows.

 
The lord called me into this service of serving him just when i was about 10 years old. The lord brought to me in a  dream many widows and orphans and asked me to feed, shelter and clothe them. I had no idea how and where to get the resources to do this assignment from the lord in a dream. I cried together with the widows and orphans and saw food dropping from heaven to my hand to give to the widows and orphans. The joy inside my heart was great when i saw everyone was fed. I fed when everyone had been fed.When i woke up, i was a lone in the room when i went outside, i saw my mother scrolling on the ground crying in bitter pain. My father broke her leg with a iron bar. I cried and asked God if this is the dream he gave me. I did not get the answer.
 
My parents divorced within six months leaving me helpless. I feared my Dad because i thought he could harm me the way he did to my mum. My mother was remarried somewhere, i i had to stay with my grand mum who was a widow. My dad abandoned the home. The Old grand mum took care of me and with one two years she passed a way. I had no choice but to make it to the street to go on with life.

My life in the street was so bitter, i cried again to the lord to ask him if this is what i dreamed, and i gain no answer. The lord led a priest  who came to me one Day to ask me if i could go back to school. I said yes, He took me in and within a few years my mother got me. I was pleased. the priest released me to go and stay with my mum. After staying with my mum for about 3 years, she passed a way too. This was the greatest painful experience i had in my entire life. No where to go again and i must come to you now lord- this were my words a week after my mums burial.
 
The lord was still faithful to me and saw me through in life. I got  my education well and went to a teacher training college in Kenya. There the lord now met me personally and directly and i accepted him as lord and Savior. I met my wife Abigael in the college whose background was almost the same. Abigael's mum also went under the same situation. We became husband and wife, fully called and committed to the lord. In 1996, the lord opened a door for me to go to America for further studies. My wife Abigael stayed back home and waited upon the lord until i came back home in 2003. six-seven years a way from your family was a great test from the lord.
 
While in America, i saw people throwing away good things they have calling them trash. I almost ended up psychiatric hospital when i carried  a sofa set thrown a way a long the road. I wanted to keep items until i get back home with it. My room in the college was full of what my college people say were junk. I wanted to send them back  home to my people and i knew i was not mad but full of compassion to my people.
 
I saw poverty by choice in America as compared to poverty by force in Kenya. I almost collapsed when i worked 24/7  washing dishes in the American Hotels. I could not understand why people call off from their jobs. The money i was getting i was sending back home to help build widows houses. I built seven widows houses back home when when i was still in a student in America.
 
I saw people trusting on doctors to solve their health problems as opposed to trusting on the lord for healing. I saw all night street light in America as opposed to almost alnight darkness in Kenya.
 
Since the lord brought me back home he has  built so many widows houses, many orphans are in school both primary and secondary, he has built a church of it kind in the rural community, he is about to bring clean water in the rural community. He is about to built a school for the orphans in this community. The dream  i had is coming truly after about 40 years. Glory be to the lord.
 
we need friends to join us to get child sponsorship for these orphans, i need to feed them, shelter them, clothe them and educate them. May the lord bless all that have helped this dream come true.
 
Pastor Joshua And Abigael