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!

Return to Kenya coming soon!

We have our tickets! We'll depart June 15, 2011 for a 3 month stay with our friends and family in Nakuru,Kenya. As I think of all of them, one little person stands out in my thoughts today, Michelle Haviylah. 

She is the cute and mischievous 2 year old of George and Nelly. We call her "sticky fingers" because she is quite the explorer and believes that we should have 'all things in common'. She loves to play with the things we bring from America. So I wrote this little pictorial poem so that you too can meet our dear "sticky fingers".  

Safari and more....

Our safari was delightful! We not only saw the wild life of Kenya, except for the lion, but we saw the beautiful landscape and breathed the clean, fresh air of Rift Valley. It was a much need reprieve from the work, but not without it's own challenges. We have yet to go on a safari without some sort of car trouble. We got stuck in a ditch which we were able to get out of with the help of everyone pushing and pulling. But then the gears wouldn’t shift properly. We found a spot to work on it and out of the van and under it went George. Within moments a guard with a gun, and a worker came to assist us. The guard kept us safe from lions while the worker helped George determine what was the problem. We were able to drive away but not without a lot of clanking noise. We decided to go out of the park and get it fixed, then come back to finish our safari. As we were leaving the attendant said we would have to stay and let George go out and come back. Our tickets were for 24 hours in the park. They were afraid he would go out and exchange us for other tourists and not pay the price. No problem, we just went to the café to get some chai and wait. When George returned we were just finishing our tea and ready to continue our tour through the park. We went to the top of a cliff and had lunch. Of course there were armed guards to prevent us becoming lunch for the wildlife. We saw blue and orange lizards and had a clear view of the park and the town of Nakuru from our picnic pavilion. The day was absolutely beautiful and we had plenty of time to see all we wanted to see.  I am grateful to God for His creation speaks of His Glory!

Saturday we had a Kingdom Hikers meeting. Amy and Bob Miller led the meeting giving them some practical ways to begin working together and encouraging them to take care and watch over each other. Then we went to Helen’s house for dinner. Helen is a very humble servant. Her cooking is excellent. She is the clan leader and has demonstrated the life of God in such a way that her people love and respect her and follow her lead in taking care of each other and the neighbors. She has delightful children who are happy and secure and actively contributing to the formation of the Kingdom Hikers.

Sunday was our last gathering here in Nakuru. When we arrived the singing had already started and as we took our seats we all felt a spiritual battle coming on. We didn’t know what to do except pray and ask for God’s leading. Soon Noah was on his feet and giving an exhortation which chased away the enemy. It was a strong word and was received well by all. The young kids danced and sang for us. Then the Kingdom Hikers danced. We gave out baptism certificates, said our good byes, and then gave rice and beans to every household. We went from the church to Patrick and Christine’s while George had a meeting with the leaders. After that, Morelle invited us to dinner to meet her family. We are eating well, maybe a little too well. I’m feeling very stuffed.

Today, Monday, we visited 4 homes in the Lakeview clan. I really do love going to their homes. They are so amazed and grateful to us for visiting. One couple we visited have a business roasting and selling peanut, which they call ground nuts. We bought some and had a nice snack. We asked the husband why men don't come to church. He said they have to work. Noah encouraged him to come and ask God to make up for the time spent. He told about how Patrick did the same and has been doing well since he chose to trust God. He said he would be sure to come next Sunday and really seemed to mean it. I'm always amazed at how little it takes to encourage a Kenyan. All four of the ladies we visited said they like to sing. We encouraged them to start a choir. We said we would bring Kallah next time to help themJ

We went to see Mary our “priestess”. She took us to her land where she showed us how she is building a house out of bricks made with her own hands. As we stood in what will be the living room area I told her we would come back and sit here and have tea with her. She smiled really big and started pulling things out of her bag. She gave each of us a tea cup and poured us a cup of tea from her thermos. Then she gave us each a little plastic bag and served us meat cakes. The bags were to hold the meat cakes as we ate them. It was absolutely delightful to stand inside her mud walls with the sky above us, enjoying her hospitality! She says she will be done and moved in, in 3 months. The land was given to her because of her faithfulness in serving God. She says she will make new friends and bring them to church. She will!

We have 3 days left in Nakuru. Today we visited 4 homes; went to see Mary’s land. Later this evening we’ll visit Patrick and Christine to video tape their story. Tomorrow we’ll have lunch with Petranila; video tape Petranila, George and Nelly; go to Helen’s clan meeting. Wednesday we’ll stay home and pack; spend time with visitors who drop in and meet once more with the Kingdom Hikers. Thursday we’ll wait for George to go to his court date and pray they don’t put him in jailJ Then we’ll head for Nairobi. Our flight doesn’t leave until 9:55 pm so we’ll go to a reptile and aquarium zoo to see the rest of the wildlife in Kenya. Then we’ll fly 9 hours to Paris, but, we’ll only see the airport and hopefully the backside of our eyelids for a 4 hour layover, 9 hours to Newark, then Nashville, by then it’ll be Friday with a 3 hour drive to home sweet home! We should arrive at about 8:30 pm if all goes well.

As I reflect over the past 6 weeks I realize once again how quick I am to grumble and complain. I'm learning to be still and seek God's grace. Many times I need grace from God. He has always been faithful to pour out His grace for the mere asking. How quickly I forget! I’m assured that no matter what the circumstances His grace is sufficient for me. This is a reality I cannot live without. What a wonderful Savior we have in Christ! He turns all things to His purpose when I give all my anxious thoughts to Him. I feel more free to serve Him and follow His leading in all things. Then only do I see how much I have to be grateful for. What a privilege it is to serve the living God!

See you soon! Love to all!

(I have more pictures but I can't get them to upload so I'll try a web album)

Safari not!

Today we planned to go on Safari in the beautiful Rift Valley.  George says this is a good time to go because the animals will be moving around and visible.  I’ve been looking forward to this since the first time I came to Kenya. I am still looking forward to it because it’s 10am and we had to postpone the trip once again. Hopefully we’ll go tomorrow. 

The reason for the delay is that we have been having water problems since our first week here. It’s been working ok but not much pressure until Saturday when we got up in the morning and there was no running water at all. So for the last 5 days it has been on and off with Fred, George, Bob and the plumber in and out trying different solutions. It seemed yesterday we finally had it fixed with good water pressure. We went to town to get groceries for lunch and to the Safaricom store to fix Joy and Amy’s modem. Suddenly George gave abba the keys to the van and took off saying something vague about the water pump. So we waited for Amy to finish her business. A car pulled up behind us and blocked us in. About the same time the driver disappeared Amy walked out. No problem, this happens all the time. Abba went to find the driver of the car who had disappeared. He talked to the security guard who had no answers so we waited….. I thank God that I’m a midwife and have learned the valuable lesson of waitingJ Abba kept looking in nearby places but couldn’t find the man. Joy, Bob Miller, Amy and I waited in the van. After about 20 minutes we decided we might just as well have some ice cream while we wait. So Bob and Amy walked back to the store to get some. Now these ice cream bars are really good…chocolate covered vanilla ice cream on a stick … ummmm… They were only gone a minute or two when the dear driver showed up and apologetically moved his car. Abba got in the driver’s seat of our van and backed out. Now that may sound like a simple thing, backing a car out of a parking place, but it was not. With poor visibility Joy and I were trying to direct Abba – “Wait! There’s a pedestrian. Wait there’s a car, another pedestrian, a motorcycle, a bicycle, a pedestrian, more cars”. “Ok , Go NOW!” “What?” “Go NOW!” Whew! We made it. Now that we’re on the road abba noticed that Amy and Bob are gone. We told him to go back to Tusky’s (grocery store). As we turned the corner we saw them walking back towards the Safaricom. Joy and I yelled across the traffic of cars, motorcycles, bike and yes, of course, pedestrians, “Hey!! Hey!!” Everyone on the street turned and looked at us mzugus yelling out the window with a mzugu driver. Fortunately Amy and Bob looked too and crossed the street to board the van. We laughed and ate our expensive ice cream bars (295 shilllings each) while abba drove us home on the wrong side of the rode dodging cars, motorcycles, bicycles and, did I say PEDESTRIANS? When we got home there was no water again, Morelle was cooking dinner, so we got ready to go to a clan meeting.

The clan meeting was good. It was easy to find the little one room house because we heard the singing from a distance and were able to follow it to that house.This particular clan has been struggling with commitment to each other. Abba started by asking Joy, Amy, Bob and I to tell our story with God and why we were here in Africa. While they were speaking I was silently asking God what He would have me say to these precious ladies. I told them how God had brought me out of a horrible pit that I had dug for myself and that He had set my feet on a solid Rock, Himself, Jesus Christ. I told them that I am in Kenya to share the “abundant life” He has given and taught us to live.  Abba started by telling them that was exactly what he wanted to talk to them about, “abundant life”. Abundant life is not money, houses and cars but comes from giving to each other even the little we have, taking care of each other and living in each other’s hearts. He challenged them to take care of each other and to become the very best clan. That we would return and find them the most talked about clan because of their faithfulness to each other. They listened intently and agreed that they needed to do that. It amazes me that God has given us faces to express the life inside of us. When we entered that room the faces were sad and depressed. As we left they were full of light and life. The Word of the Lord had come through earthen vessels and filled their hearts and minds with His Love.

Back to the water story….. It wasn’t until breakfast this morning that we got the whole story. We really didn’t know what caused George to abandon us in town except that it had something to do with the water problem at home.  It seems while we were in town George got a frantic phone call from Beatty, the house girl, saying the plumber ran away and some men were there taking the water pump away. George went down to the agent and recovered our pump with a promise that it wouldn’t happen again. We have water again so I think I’ll close and go take a showerJ

Hopefully my next blog will be all about our Safari to the Rift Valley!


[I can't get pictures to upload so I'll have to try later.]