Wednesday, April 8, 2009

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.

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