Tuesday, June 26, 2012

News from Kenya



NAKURU, KENYA


We started coming to Kenya 5 years ago. We came to see a miracle. Not of healing or prosperity but the greatest miracle of all – the manifestation of unity and brotherly love amongst believers of different emphasis. A kingdom is made up of many and various peoples, with different skills and gifts, but with one King who leads them all and calls them according to His purpose. The Kingdom of God is like that. Our King, Jesus Christ, has a desire for all people of God to learn to work together, loving and helping each other every day. Here in Kenya wazungu, (wazungu is the plural form of mzungu – Caucasians. Swahili doesn’t add ‘s’ at the end of words), and  Kenyans are working together to make a safe place for orphans and widows, young people, families, pastors from many different churches and missionaries. We are learning to love God and each other so that there will be a bright light breaking forth through the darkness in one the fastest growing cities in Africa - Nakuru, Kenya.

Amazing Life Fellowship - reaching to the sky.


 That unity is growing steadily every day. God is giving us out reach situations. We aren’t sitting down and making plans everyday but we are praying and seeking His guidance. He’s bringing us into His plan for Nakuru.

Janet and Elkana sing 'Praise Him in the Storm'


On Father’s day Janet and Elkana sang the song, Praise Him in the Storm at our gathering. This was very special because they are the brother and sister that lost their dad in a motorcycle accident last year. Janet had expressed how hard this day was for her and I’m sure it was for Elkana too. It was so sweet to hear that song coming from their hearts on this day.

Christine - 'Warrior Queen'


Christine Ware is an amazing Kenyan woman. She was responsible for saving lives during the post election violence of 2007. She is very active volunteer in community services teaching classes and visiting the sick and needy. She has a family of her own with 4 girls and 1 boy. Even though she lives in the slums herself, she never tires of helping people. We named her the “warrior queen” because she fights for people. She invited me to speak at a community health meeting of about 30 or more men and women dedicated to help improve health standards in Nakuru. It was good to teach them about how the western diet is taking over their country. Many of the health issues are digestive disorders. Now that the medical health care has saved so many lives from infectious disease, such as malaria, there will be more nutritional diseases to contend with. The western food industries have introduced many processed non healthy foods – coke, sodas, margarine, white bread etc. I am warning them of the results of such a diet. They are amazed and indignant that they have been deceived into thinking those are healthy food. Kenya has wonderful organic produce and organic meat available fresh every day. I encouraged them to make healthy choices. I told the story in Daniel chapter 1, where the Hebrew young men made a stand against unhealthy diet and convinced the king’s officials of the benefit of healthy eating. There were many questions following and I had fun answering them. I hope to be able to do more workshops.

Boys home playground - Butterfly and Makena swinging


We went to visit Johnny and Kate’s boy’s home yesterday. They are helping a Kenya couple, Ali and Virginia, with 6 orphans. They operate like Daniel in India and consider those boys their family. The place is humble but very beautiful. They have landscaping around and a nice little playground. Johnny found Ali years ago when he had nothing and lived on the street. He took him up and helped him grow in God and prosper in such a way to help these children. Virginia, his wife, keeps a very tidy, simply beautiful little house. They’ve build a small nursery school that will soon teach 60 children. We shared goat meat with them enjoying fellowship. William, was also with Johnny. He’s a missionary from Massachuses looking to start an orphanage here in Kenya. So he was visiting to see what has been done and where he wants to go with his ministry.

Aowen


I went to Nairobi with Kate and her sweet little 2 year old, named Aowen. I got a real experience of traveling in Kenya the way the Kenyans do. We took a Matatu, that’s a 10 or 15 passenger van, (we took the 10 passenger – it’s roomier and has a good driver). We used matatus, taxis, and buses to get around town. First we went to an outdoor/indoor mall called Village Market. We couldn’t think of buying anything- Very pricy- But we had a nice lunch and enjoyed walking around. There’s a water slide park there for only $3 for the whole day, a bowling alley and a movie theatre. From there we walked to the U.S. embassy to replace Kate’s passport. The whole family lost all their passports through the Kenyan immigration office. That happens here. We stayed in a mission house which reminded me of the Tennessee state park cabins. It was comfortable and safe so Kate and I spent the evening into the night talking and sharing life stories. The next day we had breakfast in the cabin and went back to a different mall. We found the Masai Market which is a very indigenous open market for crafts and entertainment. It was fun. After lunch we found our Matatu with the help of a nice young man and headed home. Our little traveler, Aowen, was so good the whole trip.

Noah teaching the teens.


Noah has been busy with pastors influencing them towards unity. They are so open and searching for a deeper walk with God.

Teens praise and worship


We went to a high school boarding school Saturday to interact with the kids there. Two of our Kingdom Hikers are students at this school, Evelyn and Lloyd. Lloyd is very burdened for his fellow students. They are being drawn into worldly ways. We went down a very bumpy road for about an hour to get there. We were welcomed by the Christian Union which is a group of about 8 kids dedicated to God and not ashamed to show it. After spending a little time with them a large group of about 200 kids gathered in the auditorium. We sang and shared with them encouraging them to stand for their faith and do the hard thing, make right choices and consider the consequences of those choices. The response was at the end about 3/4ths of them came forward to be prayed for. We only had 3 hours this time but the teacher in charge asked if we would come back to do a 3 day conference for the kids.

Many come forward for prayer



Tomorrow we go to Nairobi to pick up Doug, Zach and Suzie from the airport. We are so excited!! 




We miss you all every day. Thank you for your emails and comments. They mean so much to us.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for the update! Great stories :)
    Love you & miss you dearly Amma!

    Love,
    Chasah

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  2. Thanks Havi, this was a full and wonderful update. Especially exciting about the high school --- 75% asking for prayer or making a commitment to doing the right thing!?! Wow, that's amazing....and then the school asking you back for a 3 day conference! Who is like Yah? And then the health talk you had. Never realized that people in other countries would assume white bread and soda is good for you because "the Americans" send it over. Keep releasing the captives!! So thanks again. You gave us things to thank God for, and new things to pray for. Very excited for the work you all are putting your hands and hearts to.

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  3. Thanks Amma. I enjoy your blog and pictures!

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  4. Thanks Amma. I enjoy your blog and pictures! Love, Rachel

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