God continues to provide
Wednesday, 8/19 we showed the Jesus film at the Salvation Army Youth Rally where around 550 young people were in attendance. The power was off and they had arranged a generator, so we were able to still show the film. As usual, the power came back on near the end of the showing.
Thursday, 8/20, we attended a church leadership meeting of about 25 people with Charles in a different location than last Sunday. I was asked to speak to the women leadership, and I spoke on prayer and addressed the need for them to intercede for their people and areas of influence. Ray was asked to teach and as he was teaching, the rain began, then hail!
The building we were in had a metal roof and it was so loud that Ray couldn’t be heard. He stopped teaching and recommended we all spend time in prayer; we began to pray out loud. This went on for around ten minutes.
The rain stopped and the sun came out. Ray was teaching on 2 Chronicles 7:14 and pointed out that the prophet Elijah prayed for rain in the Bible, I Kings 18, and we were praying for the rain to stop so we could continue with the teaching. God still answers prayer today! At the end, we answered questions on the teachings and were asked to pray with people. One young woman was very emotional, asked for deliverance and gave her life to Jesus. A second women asked for prayer for her sick child.
On 8/21 we reviewed the costs for the roof and realized that there were needed items omitted from the original list. As we were discussing how to meet the need, another donation came in through our website. God has been so good to provide all the funds needed for the roof including the items not on the original list. In addition, He also provided additional funds to continue with the necessary modifications that are required to complete the building.
We are now at 65% of the project goal! Thank you Jesus.
On 8/22 we were able to see some of the progress being made to the school building. The wood had been delivered, and the trusses were being built.
Enos had a small pavilion built on the home property to hold small gatherings of people and be protected from the weather.
Sunday, 8/23, we were up early to be at the Salvation Army prayer service by 5:30am. Major David asked if I’d give the message. I spoke on Mark 1:35 referring to Jesus getting up early to pray. We attended their regular service. Services in Kenya, unlike in the US, last 2.5 hours or more.
Tuesday, 8/25 we met again with the same group from last Thursday. The pastor mentioned that the child we had prayed for was healed and was present. Praise God!
Ray taught two segments, discipleship and on the principles of living a life set free. We also teach this class at our home church, The Ark, in Texas. In between those teaching, I presented The Father’s Love Letter and explained how much God loves each one of us.
The pastor, Noah, shared that over the past week and a half what we had been teaching on, many new people have come to the church, and several have given their lives to Christ. Praise God! At the end of the meeting, we were presented with fresh bananas and asked if it was okay to call us their pappa and mamma. This means; to pray for them as our children and they would pray for us as their parents. They prayed a sweet blessing over us and our travels.
On 8/26 we got up early and left for Migori to visit with Captain Simon and Getray. They had been transferred last December to the Salvation Army Church there. They had asked if we would show the Jesus film to the girls they minister to from the Kamsaki Girl’s high school. We arrived by noon. We had a wonderful visit and a meal with them. Since our meeting was at 6:30pm we decided to check into our hotel. What should have been a 15-minute drive ended up being 30 minutes. We had to take a diversion around the city due to a bridge failure on the main road. Secondary roads are mostly hard to drive and filled with many potholes.
We were back at the church by 6pm to set up the equipment to show the film. The girls that board at the school were arriving that day to begin their classes. Forty girls showed up to see the film. We introduced ourselves and Ray asked them if they wanted to watch the film in English or Swahili. They chose English. We got back to our hotel around 10pm.
Back up early to be at the church again at 6:30am to address the girls that arrived then for the meeting. This time more girls had arrived at school and 57 were able to attend. The girls led the worship and then we introduced ourselves. I spoke about Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord….
Ray taught on reading, memorizing scripture and the books of the Bible. He also sang the Bible Song, to the tune of the Gillian’s Island theme naming all 66 books in the Bible. This is sung in many children’s summer Vacation Bible Schools in the US.
We left the church at 8am to pack our bags, have breakfast and check out of the hotel. But before we could leave, we were presented with a live chicken, which is an African custom for appreciation. No, it’s not coming back to the US with us!
We picked up Getray by 10am and headed for home. Getray’s mom and family live about an hour from our home in Bukura. We had the honor of meeting her family. Her father now deceased was a Pentecostal preacher and her two brothers are preachers and church planters. We had plenty of interesting conversations.
Unfortunately, due to the many bad roads from Migori to Getray’s family home, the chicken did not survive the very bumpy car ride. Before we left for home, Getray’s mom replaced the dead chicken with a live one! This time we placed him in a better spot in the car for survival!
We headed home, picked up a few groceries and made it by 5:15pm. Surprise, our power was out, but fortunately it came back on an hour later!
This will be our last weekend in the village. On Monday August 31st we will be traveling back to Nairobi after being 50 days in Bukura and Western Kenya.
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