The past 2 weeks at CMM have been a whirlwind of activity and changes. Last week we had another hearing in court regarding receiving a portion of our compensation (75%) that is uncontested and then settle the remaining issues in ongoing hearings until done. The judge looked to be inclined to release the 75% but decided to hold all funds until the hearing is done. However, she also decided to set a full day aside on June 18th and hear and finish our entire valuation case with all witnesses and testimonies. After June 18th our lawyers expect she will rule within 3-7 days after that. The ‘good news’ about this is that this main case should be over before July and hopefully we are paid by then. It means that once decided then it is over, and we will know exactly the amount of funds we will have to move forward. Before the judge’s decision to complete our case, we estimated that if we had received the 75% that it would be 6-12 months before it was finalized (systems move slow in Kenya). Thursday’s ruling was not what we had hoped for, but this will turn out to be positive if it is all over within another 2-3 weeks.

We had also filed an injunction to have the court stop the train at CMM until we were paid. The judge declined that injunction since the project is a national project. We now have no legal basis to try and stop the train. However, the ‘good news’ here is that all of our compensation was sent from the National Land Commission in February to the courts and we are not dependent upon the government having the funds to pay. Once the judge rules our money should be forthcoming (Kenya forthcoming not America forthcoming).

We also received a visit from Kenya Railways accompanied by 2 police commanders giving us a veiled threat that since they have paid us, and the train is now approaching our place they might come and start removing the buildings. Their position is that the Railways has paid our award and it is not their problem that we are in court. We also heard from several others sources that Kenya Railways most likely was planning to come and take our buildings. We were also informed that KR already had planned to bring the GSU (similar to SWAT) to make sure no one interfered. So without a court ordered injunction we could not stop the deconstruction of our buildings. So, the next step was to cooperate with the Chinese Construction Company in allowing them “early entry” to build more pillars.

The Chinese made us a cash offer if we would let them start constructing some of the pillars remaining to be built on our property. They would pay us per pillar, non-refundable. After seeing that we could not stop the progress, we negotiated for the remaining pillars. So, we reached an agreement which the funds from this will pay for moving expenses, some deconstruction that we are doing for things we want to salvage as well as give funds for CMM to operate during this interim period.

We also rented a place for storage (another miracle story), hired 2 big trucks and last weeks started the move. By the time you receive this update most all of CMM will be moved. With our only option to finish this in the courts, we made the very difficult decision to let it all go and move out. The ‘good news’, the money from the Chinese is providing for all our needs for the move and all other expenses (staff paid this week)!!

I am copying a couple of pictures below of some of what’s happening now (Warning: Disturbing Images). The train is at the dormitory and is stopped there and will be for a couple of weeks. The dining has been deconstructed and is on its way to Joy Divine. The pavilion has been deconstructed and will be reconstructed on our new place. We are salvaging many things from the dormitory until Friday. It will be imploded this week-end.

To say all of this has been an emotional roller coaster is an understatement. Through all of this we have not let go of the vision God gave my dad and mom and Debbie and I for CMM. We keep looking at it during this battle and season knowing that once we have what God has promised, the end result will be worth the journey to accomplish it.

There is too much to share of all that has been happening; the challenges, the miracles, the ups and downs, the victories. We believe that this month is our victory month. If not, then July is it!

Thanks so much from the bottom of our hearts for all the prayers and encouragement. Prayers have been prayed all over the world and God is answering them. Please continue to stand with us and we will enjoy this victory together soon.

God’s Got This!
Ronnie

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