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!