Chavakali - Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him

This past weekend we took another evangelistic trip to Chavakali. Chavakali is a very small town located about 6 hours from Nairobi in western Kenya almost to the Uganda border. Driving there we passed through Kisumu, which is the town where Obama's grandmother still lives, but we missed seeing her. We arrived Friday night, checked into our motel, had dinner and headed to bed.

Saturday morning we went straight to the Chavakali Baptist Church and met with the pastor and some of the church members. We divided up into teams and headed out into the town to visit in homes.

We had many great visits. In one home, we met four sisters who were living with their widowed mother. They were explaining to us how difficult life was for them with no men in the house. We shared Bible stories with them from creation to Christ and all four sisters prayed to receive Christ.

In some homes the family members were already saved but they would always want us to stay and pray for them and their needs. Here is a young lady who was caring for her elderly grandmother.

Jeff was fascinated by this grinding machine. People would bring their maize here for the owner to grind into meal. Their main staple good is called ugahli and it is made with ground meal and water. They eat this everyday and it is very filling.

All of the children loved to follow us around because they rarely see a "mzungu" which is a white person.

After lunch we gathered back at the church for a time of reporting. Among all the teams there were a total of 37 people who prayed to receive Christ through the home visits. Praise the Lord!

The afternoon was spent in Bible teaching. Pastor Mike led the local pastors and church leaders. Dee taught the women how to sew an apron and a handbag hoping they might could make some in the future and sell them. Jeff and Jan worked with the children. We had over 80 children gather in a field under a tree where we taught them the story of Noah and the ark.

After the story, we gave each of them a picture of Noah and the ark to color. Apparently they do not have the opportunity to color very often and they loved it. We were limited on our crayons and it was such a joy to watch how they all shared the crayons with each other.

When the story and craft were finished we resorted to play time! We brought a jump rope and 4 bright colored Frisbees. The girls did the jump rope while the boys chased the Frisbees everywhere.

We gathered them back together again at the end of the afternoon and Jeff led them in singing some songs and then he told them a few more Bible stories.

But the day was not over. As the evening approached, we set up a large screen in the field and prepared to show the Jesus Film. We began showing the film around 7pm with around 50-60 people there. But by the end of the film hundreds had gathered to watch. When the film was over 77 people came forward to pray to receive Christ. Please be in prayer for these new believers as the church prepares to follow up with them.

Sunday morning the church was packed to overflowing. Jan and Dee had SS for the children, while Jeff led the youth, and Danstone shared with the adults. Then Pastor Mike preached during the morning worship service. As usual there was plenty of singing and the children did a wonderful dance routine for us.

After church we hit the road to head back home. It was a rough trip and we saw many tractor trailers that had crashed along the side of the road. This is a Petrol truck that had overturned.

But there was also beautiful scenery as we went up and down over the mountains. We traveled through many lovely tea plantations along the way. We also saw some of the tallest corn we have ever seen!

All in all it was another wonderful weekend in the Lord. Please continue to pray for the people of Kenya.

Machokos - He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear

This past weekend we traveled with Mike and Dee Dameron to a small town in the Machakos district. We left early Saturday morning and arrived at the church around 11:00AM. After the usual greetings, we divided up into teams to go into the town to share about Christ. This trip was a little different in several ways. This church was located in a small town instead of in the bush and the church was much larger with cement floors instead of dirt, real wooden benches and even had electricity! Our teams were much larger this time. Besides the missionary and their interpreter, we also had about 6 others to go with each team to observe how we were doing evangelism. This was to help them learn how to do it on their own after we were gone. Another thing was we went into the market place in the town instead of going to individual homes. Many people would tell us they were too busy to stop and listen. But there were others who stopped their work to listen to the Word of God. At the end of the day there were 35 new brothers and sisters in God's Kingdom. What a praise.

We returned to the church for lunch and had the usual meal of goat stew with rice and cooked greens prepared for us by the ladies of the church. In the afternoon, Pastor Mike lead 3 hours of Bible study teaching for local pastors and church leaders.

On Sunday we met back at the church for Sunday School and worship service. Dee and Jan led the children through the creation story and a craft while Jeff led the youth through a session of how to do Bible storying.

Before Pastor Mike preached the sermon, we enjoyed different groups as they praised God through song and dance. The children were amazing as they performed precision movements along with their songs, sometimes even using tambourines and drums.

The guys did a quick set up and following the worship service, everyone stayed to see the Jesus Film presentation. It is always fascinating to observe how people respond to different portions of the story of Christ. Many times at different parts of the movie when Jesus does one of His miracles, the entire crowd will break out in applause. God is so good and He speaks to His people in so many different ways!

Homa Bay - Tellin' The Story

This past weekend we traveled to Homa Bay en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homa_Bay on Lake Victoria for a weekend of sharing Christ's love with those who have not heard.

We traveled over Friday, stopping in Ogembo to deliver the new bunk beds for the orphanage. On Saturday morning we were greeted at the church by several local pastors who were going to be our interpreters for the weekend.

Jeff made friends with the children right off the bat.

Jeff and Jan being introduced to the pastors.

We were then introduced to our interpreter for the day, Moses. Moses is a pastor in the area and also the associational leader for the Baptist Convention.

The morning started off well as we shared with this gentleman, his wife, and friend. All three prayed to receive Christ. After we prayed with them, we encouraged him to get involved in a church and told him to come see the Jesus Film that night. We also told him that now that he knew about Christ, he should share the Good News with others. He then asked us if we would go with him and tell his brother's family what he had just heard!

After we shared with his brother and his wife, they too prayed to receive Christ. What a wonderful way to show how much he loved his brother. How exciting! What a lesson for all of us. Once we have heard the Good News, we need to tell others, especially those we love.

One of our stops during the morning was to meet the lady who opened her home to the church before there was a church building. As the church was forming, they met under this tree in her yard.

We used the Creation to Christ Bible stories to share. Jeff is a wonderful story teller. He did wonderful job of keeping their attention.

These three young men all prayed to receive Christ. We only had a few Bibles to hand out so we told them they would have to share.

After a very productive morning for the teams, we returned to the church where the ladies made us a wonderful lunch of rice, ugahli, sukuma wiki, goat, and pineapple.

After lunch we divided up and spent some time in teaching the adults and children. Later on we showed the Jesus Film, which is always a blessing. At the end of the film, Pastor Mike issued an invitation and 13 people came forward to pray to receive Christ.

This sharp young man is Victor. We met Victor first thing in the morning on the road. He said he already knew about Jesus but we invited him to come and see the Jesus Film later on in the day. After viewing the film, Victor was one of the ones who came forward and prayed to receive Christ as his Savior! We love watching the way God works. He also came back to the church on Sunday morning and Pastor Mike gave him a Bible. We hope to hear more about Victor in the weeks to come.

Sunday, we went back to the church and held Sunday School. Jan and Gail worked with the children while Neal led the adults. Sunday School was followed by the worship service which is always preceded by plenty of singing and praising.

Jeff sharing with the church.

Pastor Mike Preaching with Moses interpreting.

This is Pastor Kenneth, the pastor of the church, with his wife Evelyn. Please be in prayer for them as they have much follow up to do with the 114 people who made decisions for Christ over the weekend!

Sweet Dreams at the Orphanage

This weekend we had the privilege of delivering a wonderful gift to the orphanage in Ogembo. You may remember reading about this orphanage when we went to visited there back in February. Well some friends from Heritage Hills Baptist Church in Conyers, GA read the article and were moved by God to do something to help the children. Since 24 children were sleeping on three twin beds, we felt the best thing was to get them more beds. Since the orphanage has a dirt floor and termites are a big problem here, we had bunk beds for both the girls and the boys dorm made of metal. Brand new mattresses were bought for the beds and then the gift was topped off with new blankets for everyone.

We were able to load everything into and onto a four wheel drive Land Cruiser which worked well since the trip up the mountainous dirt road was a rough one. Even though the ride was rough, the scenery at the top of the mountain was magnificent.

The lady here with the blankets is Evelyn. She is the primary caretaker for the orphans.

We were not able to get a picture of the beds assembled and in place because we were on our way to Homa Bay for the weekend and we still had to get back down off the mountain and travel four more hours before dark.

But we did have time to go into the church and listen to the children from the school and the orphanage sing us a couple of songs before we left.

Many people from the community came to greet us and thank us for such a wonderful gift. Thank you so much Heritage Hills friends. We only wish you could have been there to see the smiles and receive the hugs we received on your behalf.

Just for Giggles and Grins

After a limited survey (my four children), the consensus is to share this on the BLOG.

If you’ve been keeping up with the BLOG, you may have seen the post where the ladies went on a retreat a few weeks ago. While the ladies did their thing, Neal and I rode around the country side. We came up on the "Taidy's Restaurant" in Eldama Ravine. I picked up this brochure. It would appear that someone pulled out the English dictionary and went to the "make me sound smart by using big words" section. Hope you find this as humorous as I did.

This is Africa (You’ll have to add your own Ryan Seacrest voice).

The hotel featured a Mother Theresa wing, a Kofi Annan wing, a Nelson Mandela wing, and (drum roll here) a Barack Obama wing. With the many Barack Obama things seen here in Kenya, you’d think he is the president here.

Evangelism/Medical Clinic in the bush

Last weekend three missionary couples traveled into Maasailand to share Christ's love. The ladies returned to Oltinka Baptist Church in Emali to conduct a medical clinic and AIDS awareness seminar. At the same time, the men traveled out further into the bush to share stories of Christ with different small groups.

The men made their first stop at the home place of a man who introduced them to his three wives. As Neal began to share Bible stories using the Bible Storying Cloth, a small group formed to hear what he had to say. (Because most of the lost world does not read, the storying cloth is used by missionaries to teach people by telling them the stories of the Bible chronologically from creation to Christ. Learn more about the storying cloth at http://www.imb.org/main/lead/page.asp?StoryID=5892&LanguageID=1709

One of the goals of these trips is to help disciple the church leaders. Three members of Oltinka Baptist went with the men to interpret and to learn how to better share their faith. Here you see one of them taking notes on what was being shared.

You have heard of living in mud huts before, well here, that is truly how they live.

The Maasai women are exceptionally beautiful women. We just love this shot.

After sharing at the first home place, the men moved on to another site that was a church beginning to form under a tree. At this location, Mike preached and Jeff sang. One man prayed to receive Christ as his Savior.

The men also carried some Bibles with them to give to those who needed them.

They also carried a rubber ball and some Frisbees. Unfortunately the acacia thorns ended the ball fun very quickly, but they were able to teach them how to throw the Frisbees.

The men ended the night by showing the Jesus Film, using a generator and a large screen they took with them.

Back at the church the ladies were setting up the medical supplies for the clinic. Stephen Juma, the medical director at Brackenhurst Conference Center in Nairobi, came along with us on the trip. He examine patients and administer medications. A couple of the men from the church were there to organize the people and interpret. Each patient would come into the clinic where Jan would take their blood pressure, pulse and age. They would then go see Stephen with their medical complaints. Dee worked with Stephen to measure out and administer any medication that needed. Then Gail would give every man, woman and child a dose of de-worming medication.

We stopped about 30 minutes for lunch. When we returned, Stephen led a seminar on AIDS awareness. Everyone was very attentive and some even asked questions. Their best question was, "When are you going to come back and test us for AIDS?" So now we are trying to obtain some AIDS test kits to return and test them.

After the AIDS seminar, it was back to seeing patients. The men were so gracious to allow the women and children to be seen first, before they came into the clinic. The last patient was seen right at dark. In all, 103 people were treated that day. The youngest was nine months and the oldest was 78 years old. It was a great day in the bush!

The Great Vitamin Caper

This is a funny story describing typical third world Africa bureaucracy.

Last week, Jan's Sunday School class at Heritage Hills sent us several packages loaded with goodies. Two of these packages contained vitamins.

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When our courier went to the post office, they would not release the package because it contained pills, heaven forbid. They sent him back with a card asking the strength of the pills and how they were to be taken. We sent back a message that they were daily vitamins. They then sent back word that a doctor would have to see the pills and release them. After waiting a few more days, we decided to go to the post office with our courier and see if we could help negotiate a release of the hostage pills. So, this morning we rode downtown to the post office and with the help of Sammy we tried again. Now they were saying the doctor had seen the pills and was requesting a letter from our doctor with a prescription stating what the pills were and how they were to be taken (Are you kidding, they’re daily vitamins!). We again stated that they were only vitamins and there was no prescription for them. She said sorry, it was out of her hands and we would have to go see the doctor to get it cleared up!

After pleading some more, the clerk finally took us to her supervisor. Jan brought a bottle from the house that contained exactly the same vitamins. She showed it to the supervisor and tried to explain that they were just vitamins. She agreed to send us to the custom's supervisor and let her decide. Once in the customs office, we opened one of the packages and showed her that the pills in the baggies matched the pills in the bottle. She said, “Oh they’re supplements”. We finally found the magic word. She wrote out a letter for each package and sent us back to the original supervisor. Now a value had to be assigned to each item in the packages. So, they sent us to another lady who emptied out both packages, wrote everything down, and assigned the value. Now it was quite obvious she was just pulling the values out of the air because she never used any reference material. Who cares, we’re finally making progress. We then took the slip she gave us to the custom's cashier in the post office. She then gave us yet another slip which must be taken to the bank to pay the customs fee. Kenya has to limit the number of people who handle money because it has a habit of not making it into the till. We walked several blocks through downtown traffic to the bank. Sammy stood in line and paid the fee and then we walked back to the post office with the receipt. We thought we would be done then but, noooooo, that would be way too simple. We had to stop at the custom's cashier again. We then went to the station to pick up the actual packages. Then we had to stop at another station to pay another fee. Who knows what that was for. Three stations later we were headed out. But wait, we had to stop at the exit so the guard could verify that our many slips matched the packages. Quick, run, we have our SUPPLEMENTS! We ended up visiting with 10 different people before we got out the door. It was a true adventure and really made us appreciate all Sammy does for us at the post office on a regular basis. The whole procedure, counting getting to and from downtown, took us almost three hours.

Jeff just keeps muttering something about how broken the system is and how this is just one example of why this country will stay a third world country for a long time to come.

Mombasa - Missionary Delivery

As you saw in our previous post, we were able to go to the coast and enjoy a couple of days of rest and relaxation. We have shown you some pictures of the rough places we have stayed, so here is a shot of the nicest place we have stayed, the Milele Beach Hotel in Mombasa. It is actually the Presbyterian Guest House and they give missionaries a discounted rate.

There were two pools. This is the one right outside our room. Since we are so close to the equator, the water was on the warm side but still refreshing from the brutal heat.

Jeff did his customary thing of rising early to get pictures of the sun rising on the Indian ocean.

One of our friends in Nairobi had told us about Akamba Handicraft village. As a matter of fact, he had brought us back a couple of wooden carved elephants the last time he was in there. Akamba is a carving village located in Mombasa, so we went there to check it out. The village was started years ago by a missionary who was doing evangelistic contacts through business adventures. They now have an agreement that allows missionaries to shop in their wholesale warehouse. We were overwhelmed by all the carvings and the great workmanship that we saw.

Jeff searched and searched among the carvings and got himself a few more elephants to add to his herd already started at home. We also purchased a carved giraffe with a little baby with her. Jeff particularly like this one because it's head is tilted up like it is eating. He wants to place it next to a plant.

After we made our purchases in the warehouse, we went out back to watch some of the carvers at work.

We also watched as the packers would wrap up these huge carvings that were going to be shipped, literally, all over the world.

Since we do not have air-conditioning in our home, we enjoyed just resting in our air-conditioned room during the heat of the afternoons. Most of our meals were provided with the room so we enjoyed the Kenyan foods without even having to leave the hotel. We did get out and take a couple of walks on the beach. There were no sea shells to be found, but there were several outcropping of rocks. So you know us, we had to collect rocks instead.

Maersk Alabama

Today we had a real treat! We had to make a trip to the coast to escort a new missionary family to their assignment near Mombasa. We decided since we were at the coast, we would stay a couple of days and get some rest. Jeff got it in his head that we should try to find the sea port to see if, by any chance, we could get a glimpse of the US ship Maersk Alabama that was hijacked by Somalian pirates last week. We wandered around town for a while, into some pretty scary areas, looking for the port. Then we came up on a secured area with guards and police. Jeff was determined to be found trying, so we drove up to the gate. The Kenya Port Authority Police stopped us and Jeff asked him if the US ship Alabama was docked there and if it was could he take a picture. The police asked for our ID. We were pretty sure he was talking about some journalist ID but Jeff handed him his Kenyan resident ID. We parked and went into an office where they gave us permission to walk to the docks! As we walked, Jeff stopped and asked another officer where the Alabama was and would she escort us to the ship. She agreed and walked us about half way there where she turned us over to another officer, who quickly became our friend, Mike. Mike walked us all the way to the ship and let us take all the pictures we wanted.

While Jeff was taking pictures, we saw a film crew there and he asked them if they were doing a news story on the Alabama. They said yes. When he asked who for, they said for NBC and the story would air on the Today show today at 2:00pm. They asked Jeff if he was also doing a story and they were surprised that we had been allowed to come in and take the pictures since he was not. I guess God knew how determined Jeff was and just paved the whole way for us.

As we were headed back out, we were stopped by an officer that was not happy that we did not have an official pass. Fortunately Mike was still with us and he shared that we were missionaries with the Baptist Church and the officer’s attitude changed. Then Jeff began to witness to him, and he asked us many questions about Jesus coming back to earth again. It turned out he was already a believer but apparently had some questions. We left him all smiles. Then Mike walked us all the way to our car talking to us the whole time. It turns out he has worked as a Port Authority Police in that port for 22 years! Before we left him, Jeff asked him if he had prayed to receive Jesus Christ and he assured us that he had, but he also had questions. What started out to be one of Jeff’s crazy ideas, God used to bless us and two Kenyan Police Officers.

Check it out!

Ladies Bible Study Retreat

Every Thursday night, Jan meets for Bible study with a group of ladies who all live on the Baptist Mission Compound. Most of them are Kenyan ladies who work on the compound, three are missionaries. We have been studying the MasterLife program together. We have Bibles that are in both English and Swahili so that everyone can understand what is being said. One Thursday night a month, the group will work on crafts. The crafts are sold to help support missions and supplies for the group.

The proceeds from the last sell were used to fund a Bible Study retreat for the ladies in Nakuru. On Friday afternoon eleven ladies and two gentlemen escorts loaded into a van and headed out. Three hours later we arrived at an IMB owned home that is being rented to a former IMB missionary, who was presently in the states. As you can see, the house was a large house and when we entered, we felt like we had just stepped into a page of a "House Beautiful" magazine. It was beautifully decorated and finely furnished.

Friday night Jan led a prayer session for the ladies. We are always humbled by their sweet prayers for others.

There are two domestic workers who live at the house and they prepared all of our meals for us African style. They also provided chai and homemade cookies twice a day. Each meal was served a nicely decorated table and we felt like royalty all weekend.

Saturday we had an open forum where the national ladies could ask the missionaries any questions they might have about children, families, school or health issues. Then in the afternoon, Laura Lee, an IMB missionary who speaks fluent Swahili lead a Bible study for them in Swahili which was a real treat for everyone.

We also had some time to relax on the peaceful grounds that were covered in beautiful plants and flowers.

We told the ladies to come in very casual comfortable clothes to relax in, but instead they all dressed up and wore beautiful outfits the entire weekend. Here is a picture of Jan with Rose in her traditional Kenyan outfit.

While the ladies were having their sessions, the men took off and visited the interesting country side. They stopped at the Menengai crater and were awed by God's creation. http://www.webkenya.com/eng/safari/nakuru.php#see11

They also stopped so Jeff could have his picture taken standing on the equator!

After our session on Saturday, everyone was given a beautiful Kikoy wrap. Here is a picture of all of the lovely ladies in their new wraps which can also be worn as a shawl.

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we again loaded up the van and headed back to Nairobi, refreshed and revived. God was so gracious to not only allow us safe journeys but also a great time of sharing His Word and each other's company.