Our Kenya Household!

These are the people in our household. We pray together, work together, eat together, go to town, go to gatherings and meeting, and entertain guests together.

Kwa Imani!

The gathering last Sunday really focused on ‘faith’. The words ‘by faith’ were spoken at least 100 times it seems. Not in a repetitious way but earnestly desiring the spirit to come. Kwa Imani means ‘by faith’.  The people received the message with hope and gladness and readiness to do what God asked of them. They immediately began to pray and ask God what to do. 

The next day George found a place to lease from a lady he knows. She is an honest lady and wanted to lease to godly people. There were 4 others in line to see the land and wanting to have it. She gave us favor and first option to lease the land. We can use the tent for meeting until they are able to erect a portable building. This is a short story, because God moved quickly for these faithful people. George made an agreement with her and everything was provided. We will have a place to meet until we can find something permanent. 

This is the land God has given. There will be rejoicing and praises to God this Sunday!

A Good Weekend.

We got Wi Fi in the house now so we can do more blogging and web albumsJ It will actually save us money and we can disconnect when we leave so we don’t have to pay when we’re not here.

Our weekend was full. Friday is our “grocery shopping” day. That’s always an adventure. We go to Tusky’s for fresh bread and special items, WoolMatt for groceries and household needs, and the Gilani butchery for meat. We were delighted to find HELLMANS Real Mayonaise on the shelf and Heinz ketchup. This is not something you can count on being there so we bought 4 bottles. When it’s gone it’s gone. This is one place you can get cuts of meat resembling food rather than the animal it came from so most mzungus go there. We bought a grill for the Grill Master - that would be Tabach. He did the pork chops for us this time. They were well done and nobody got sick. Asante sana, Tabach!

Saturday morning we needed a little outing so Yahshana and I went to see Petranilla with Simon’s escort service. It’s a short walk, about 2 blocks. We surprised her and she was delighted to see us. She was working on a funeral dress. All the women are buried in white dresses and the men in colors. We visited for a while. Now if you go anywhere for more than five minutes you can count on Yahshana pulling out her crocheting. Everyone wants a cell phone purse, even Simon (I think he wants if for his mom;-). The children everywhere say, “how are you?” and hold out their hand for sweeties. If you don’t have a sweetie to give you just give them a handshake and they like that too.

We went home and got ready for the Kingdom Hikers meeting. The young people are excited about the friendships they’re making based on godliness rather than coolness. They know they need each other to walk with God in the world of sin and sorrow. They are a precious gift.

Sunday was a full day. We started with a nice breakfast. Beatie did some ironing for us. Michelle took a bath. George and Simon went ahead to set up the tent and music system. We arrived at about 10 am singing and praying. Noah and George usually team preach and teach. They talked about living by faith. This was particularly important because they are losing the lease on the land and church building. They need to believe God cares enough about them to provide a place for meeting. They were encouraged to seek God for what they can do to help find a place and what they can give. I love to watch Noah and George work together. Noah gives a message then George expounds. They have truly become friends and co workers for the gospel.

We went home to freshen up a bit for the ladies meeting. When we, Nellie, Yahshana, Chloe and I, arrived at Mama Lloyd’s house the ladies were praying. They prayed, and prayed and prayed. They never seem to tire of prayer. It’s a good thing when the Kenyans pray for you. Petranilla talked for a while, summing up the message of living by faith. Then we went around the room and introduced ourselves.  After prayers we ate a silent meal. I don’t know why they were so quiet but we went along. When in Kenya do as the Kenyan’s do. Petranilla asked me to speak to the ladies. I encouraged that I see spiritual growth among them. I talked to them about staying clear with each other, not gossiping but building each other up.  We ended with a song and most of the ladies went home.

Nellie

Petranilla

Mary Kathini

Mama Lloyd helps decorate the tent.

Mama Lloyd

We are getting tired and thirsty. We can’t drink the water and we had run out of what we brought. But it wasn’t over yet. We met with Mary Kathini, Mama Lloyd, Nellie and Petranilla to plan a ladies conference. Again they were timid to make plans. They said they wanted me to do it and they would support me. Again I told them it’s their church and they should let me support them. This is hard for them to believe they can do this. They asked if they could bring speakers from outside. Again I encouraged them to be the speakers. I know they have a lot to give and not to keep it to themselves. The talk got lively and they began to encourage each other to teach. We made a plan. They will all four teach. It was so sweet to see them encourage each other. Mary will teach about forgiveness, Nellie about worship, Mama Lloyd about hospitality, and Petranilla about being a godly woman. I had studied different subjects to teach about like the Kingdom of God, miracles etc. but when it came down to it they asked me to teach about conflict and relationships. Ok. That is what I’ll do. They want Yahshana to talk about teaching our children. It was so great to watch them blossom and open up.

We came home exhausted but fulfilled. It was a good day!

Miracles happen.

This trip has been different than our previous visits. We are growing and changing in the way we relate to the church in Nakuru. Our confidence in our purpose is growing as God sends His messengers to validate His word to us. During our 8 months at home in Rose Creek we were dealt with and built up. We learned from other missionaries like Steve Saint (www.itecusa.org) . We’re learning what to do but, more importantly, what not to do. We have no desire to come and bring our ways to this foreign culture. God works in many ways and is not limited like we are. He has prepared the hearts of the people here. It will take much courage for them to stand up for what they believe and become the people of God in Nakuru.

One thing we are doing is after breakfast each morning we read from Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest. We talk and pray before we go about the business of the day. This morning we talked about what happened on the way back from Nairobi. Our close call in the accident could have been such a tragedy. I believe miracles happen to show us the compassion of God towards us. What we experienced was no less than a miracle. So often we doubt the working of a miracle because they come in such subtle ways. We talked about our thoughts and feelings during the moments of the accident. Traffic was heavy and even in the best of circumstances we are usually on the edge of our seats (as close as you can get with a seatbelt onJ) because of the different ‘style’ of driving here.

George was overtaking a semi truck on a 4 lane highway. Usually the vehicle being overtaken will slow down for the overtaking vehicle. The truck didn’t slow down. Now in front of us was a petrol tank semi truck. George said he didn’t want to get too close to the petrol truck so he cut it too close with the semi he was passing. Our van clipped the left front of the truck taking our rear bumper off and doing damage to the semi’s head light. Noah said he thought we could have easily flipped the van and if George had put on brakes or swerved we would’ve hit the petrol truck.

As I watched the scene from the back seat, I felt anxiety as he started to pass. I didn’t think he could make it and I noticed the petrol truck. This is the only time I have felt seriously anxious in traffic. I said a prayer, then I felt a sense of calm in the midst of the storm. When we collided with the truck we all felt the protection of angels. That very morning before we left, Tabach had prayed for “protection of angels in traffic today”.


I didn’t know how George would react but God gave him so much grace. He pulled over and went to talk to the driver of the truck we hit. This man was very upset. George was very calm. He helped the driver to calm down and they discussed a solution. At first the man wanted to call the police. That is not the best way to go here. You can easily have to sit in jail until the insurance company settles the issue. They made an agreement to settle by George paying the damages and making a written agreement. The man called him the next day to thank him for keeping his word. He had heard tales of bad outcomes from other truck drivers and was grateful for an honest man.

We are thankful and so needful of the prayers you pray for us. God is hearing and answering. Keep praying.

I read this today by David Wilkerson. It inspired me to look for the miracles of God in everyday life. I hope it will inspire you too.

IN THE MIDST OF A MIRACLE

by David Wilkerson

You may be in the middle of a miracle right now and simply not see it. It may be that you are waiting for a miracle. You’re discouraged because things seem to be at a standstill. You do not see any evidence of God’s supernatural work on your behalf.

Consider what David says in Psalm 18: “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken…. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured…. He bowed the heavens also, and came down…. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice…He sent out his arrows…he shot out lightnings”

(Psalm18:6-9, 13-14).

You have to realize, none of these things literally happened. It was all something that David saw in his spiritual eye. Beloved, that is faith. It’s when you believe God has heard your cry, that he hasn’t delayed, that he isn’t ignoring your petition. Instead, he quietly began your miracle immediately when you prayed, and even now he’s doing supernatural work on your behalf. That is truly believing in miracles, his marvelous progressive work in our lives.

David understood the foundational truth beneath it all: “He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19). David declared, “I know why the Lord is doing all this for me. It’s because he delights in me.”

I truly believe in instantaneous miracles. God is still working glorious, instant wonders in the world today. In Matthew 16:9-11 and Mark 8:19-21, as Jesus reminds the disciples of the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000, he is asking them and us to take note of his progressive miracles and their role in our own lives today.

June 22, 2011

God is so good to choose the likes of us to do His work. May we always hear His voice and do His bidding no matter how great the cost. Our first gathering was absolutely inspiring. The people are strong in spirit. Many half hearted people, people who came for the wrong reasons - like expectations that the mzugus (white people) would give them money - are gone. The worship was in spirit and in truth. The message was received with joy and thanksgiving, but not without a sobering thought of counting the cost to build the church with living stones here in Nakuru.

The place we have met for 3 years has been sold and the church in Nakuru will be ‘homeless’ soon. This was discouraging to many people. We were able to encourage the saints with our story. We were once homeless too but not for long. We know our Father has a place even better for us here. I think He wants to bring us closer and will put us in a place to facilitate that. I love the adventure of it all.

Monday Petranilla dropped in for dinner. After we ate my good friend ‘Shannah and I had a good conversation with Petranilla and Nellie (that's Nellie in the picture). We talked about what it means to be the church not just talking about it. We talked about the women’s conference. They wanted us to tell them what to do but I said, “We are here to help you but this is your church and you have to hear God and make the plans. He will order the steps. We want to help you and equip you with what we know and have experienced, but it must be yours not ours.” We didn’t come here for a humanitarian purpose but to help build the church, that it will be a light shining in the darkness for all of Nakuru, Kenya, Africa and the world. We told stories of our life. They had questions. Would they be taken advantage of? Would it cost them their businesses? Boy, did we have stories about that. Even as Jesus gave His all, we want to learn to give our all together. We want to learn to walk humbly in the earth. We want to learn to love even to our own hurt. After we talked doubts came into my mind. Did we go too far? When I went back to our room I could tell Noah was getting a bit discouraged. We went to bed for much needed rest. Adjusting to time changes, culture differences, not having clean clothes to change into and wondering where our suitcases were gave plenty of opportunity for the enemy to inject his venom. But these ‘light afflictions work in us every day, an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’ 2 Cor 4: 17-18

That morning Noah checked his email He was given a word from a man we met in India 6 years ago. This man was awakened in the night. God spoke to him about the work He wants to do in Africa and that He has chosen Noah to do it. He said things he couldn’t have known. (For the whole story read abba’s blog, part of the 'We Got Em' blog. You can click the Abba’s blog tab at the top of my blog page to read it). We were so encouraged! We needed that word.

Since our bags were still not here we decided to go back to Nairobi to get them ourselves. George made a lot of phone calls to find out where they were and how to get them. We had been given many untrue promises that they would be delivered each day. So we loaded up in the van and took off. Chloe decided to stay home. She had all her PINK bags. Next time we will all use pink bagsJ

The weather is nice and cool every day so the drive was pleasant. We knew we had arrived in Nairobi  because of the traffic and air pollution, so we found our way to a parking place, got out of the van, and took off running behind our Captain leader George. He had a Red Bull on the way. We didn’t. we were grateful we didn’t have heavy backpacks on our backs this time. We got to the Turkish Airlines office after a security check and were lead to our bags. We wanted to hug and kiss them. We are so American. Our possessions are so important to us. God is giving us opportunities to examine ourselves in this area of our lives. It really wasn’t that bad doing without. I thank God for these experiences. It is actually very freeing to learn what you think you need is not really necessary at all. We can do without so much of these seemingly needful items; things which prove to be no less than items of mere convenience. The airline employees were apologetic and kind to us. We were grateful and left with our bags and made our way through traffic out of the ever growing city of Nairobi.

On the way home we stopped at our favorite rest area, about halfway between Nairobi and Nakuru. We had some lunch and did some bird watching. 


These are the same birds that make their nests in the Dr. Zeus trees. 
I call them Thing 1 and Thing 2 etc. We continued our journey not knowing that an accident awaited us as we entered Nakuru. (details on abba’s blog). We are thankful for the outcome which could have been much worse.

We got home in time for dinner. Petranilla showed up again. She really wanted to talk to Noah. They had a good talk. She told us she had been troubled by the things we were saying. She said she had to repent of putting her faith in man, (that would be us, the mzungus from America). She will put her faith in God to provide a place for the church to meet. This was a big step of faith. Noah began to calculate the amount of money we spend on renting a meeting place for ladies meetings and kingdom hikers meetings. Plus the rent for the building all added up to an encouraging amount. The people will seek God for a place and it will be their faith that leads them to it. She gave Noah some encouraging words very similar to the ones in the Indian man’s email.

We then opened Tabach’s missing suitcase that was packed with the blue choir dresses and shirts we brought from home, the ones we used a couple of years ago in the village. We told her they were for the choir here and they could use them however they chose. A squeal of delight and laughter came out of Petranilla, as only she can do, to express her gratefulness. She found one her size and put it on right then and there, and wore it home.

I slept well that night, praising God for the His abundant Life He has given us.

Well, it’s Sunday and I am ready to start blogging. It was an interesting trip to say the least. We boarded the first plane to Chicago with ominous signs from the start. Although we had reserved good seats in the middle section, they chose to exercise their right to move us all the way to the back. Yes I mean the very last row. That’s not too bad except you can’t recline and it’s very noisy because it’s right over the engines. The good thing is it’s right next to the bathroom and it’s only an hour and a half flight. Ok, we can do this. I put in my earbuds and listened to Cademon’s Call and Fernando Ortego and played games on my iphone to pass the time. Now for a refreshment offered by the very southern Tennesseean flight attendant. She made her way to the back a little out of breath, to serve our preordered drinks. Just when she thought she was done with her service to all us anxious passengers we hit some ‘turbulence’ which caused my orange juice to transfer from the cup in her hand to my lap. She was horrified that such a blunder could happen to her so I reassured her I was ok, not to worry. Had I know these were the only clothes I would have to wear for the next 5 days I might not have been so gracious. Good thing I didn’t know. Ah, let the adventure begin.

We arrived in Chicago safe and sound. Safe and sound? Does that mean of sound mind? We were safe. We found our way to the number 5 terminal by tram, went through security which can be a real work out. After passing the screening process we looked for a place to eat only to discover all the eating places are on the other side of security. So out we went, found a food court and had our last American meal for 3 months. We had hoped for a nice restaurant but this terminal only had a food court. We did manage to find a pretty decent grilled chicken ceasar salad. We enjoyed our meal and went back through the security check. It is a bit of a hassle but well worth it to make our journey as secure as possible so we won’t complain. 6 hours later we boarded our plane to Istanbul, Turkey for a 10 and a half hour flight. It was an eventful flight, long and tiresome but we made it through 2 nights in one and arrived safely with just enough time to make our connection to Nairobi. Another 6 hours and we were finally at our destination – Kenya, Africa. Only to find that each of us, except Chloe, were missing a suitcase. It took some time to file the report and we were assured that our bagbags would be delivered to Nakuru the next day…NOT! It’s still Sunday and we are still waiting.

I have more to say but since I am now the only one with internet access and everyone wants to use my computer to check email I will close for now and continue this blog at a later date. For pictures worth a thousand words check out my picasa web album.

African Adventures

We are preparing to leave for Africa soon! We have nine people going this time and we’re excited to see what God will do! Here’s our travel agenda:

Abba, Amma and Yahshanna are leaving June 15th and returning September 14th (yes, that’s 3 months)

Tabach and Chloe will be leaving with us on June 15th, and returning July 20th.

Doug, Tara, Brandon and Khale will be leaving July 26th and returning September 14th.

We will be having conferences and meetings for Kingdom Hikers, Pastors, Men, Women, and children. 
We will continue the F.I.S.H. program (Financing Indigenous Self Help) and will initiate a new program called L.E.A.R.N. (Letting Educational Adoption Reshape Nakuru) to help send kids to school. Education will help enable people to get jobs and take better care of their families. Hunger and lack of health-care are a major problem in Nakuru. Many parents do not have an education themselves and want their children to be able to get better jobs. Please consider sponsoring a child and/or contributing to the F.I.S.H. program. 



 
Letting 
Educational 
Adoption
Reshape 
Nakuru

L.E.A.R.N.  is a program we are developing to help support school age children  in Nakuru, Kenya. Many times families go hungry in order to send at least one child in the family to school. For only $100 twice a year you can adopt a child’s education by paying their school fees, uniform and book costs.  
You will receive a picture of your adopted child and you will be able  to actively support and encourage your child by writing letters and following their progress in school. 


If you are interested or would like more information please e-mail me at:  rcvkenya@gmail.com 

Your thoughts and prayers for us are invaluable and they help us do the work we are called to do. You can follow our blogs to keep up to date. We will truly miss you!