Out of the Bush

Nimeokoka. I am saved.

Wow, it's been a long time since I've been able to update.... I've been out in the Bush, away from pretty much any form of communication for the last 3 weeks. That part of the ministry is over now, though, and I've returned to Nairobi to spend the last 2 weeks doing various ministries and having a little "tourist" time. I have much to share from being in the mission field, but unfortunately my time is limited, so a short overview will have to do for now.

My Kenyan partner Ezekiel and I stayed with Pastor Samuel Ndung'u at a small town called Kimanju, which is in Maasai land away from most of Kenyan civilization. We also ministered at the towns of Musul and Ewaso, travelling the few kilometers to each via the Pastor's motorbike, which was a new experience for me. The area is very dry due to a prolonged drought, which has been a big struggle for the people, who generally survive off of their animals and have been unable to properly take care of them now. There are also many wild animals; we saw elephants on a number of occasions as well as some giraffes as we travelled back today. Also, due to the lack of water, we were only able to shower about once every 3 days, and we had to ration our drinking water as we travelled to different areas.

We experienced a variety of work with the Pastor and his family. He has been a missionary to the area for the past 8 years, so his work is both pastoral for the 3 churches under his jurisdiction as well as evangelistic. We helped with both sides of the work during our time.

There were several days where we evangelized by going house-to-house in an area witnessing to the people. Though many people live in the town centers, most live out in homesteads including up to 4 generations from a single family. Also, being a mission field, we encountered many people who said that they had heard about Jesus or the Gospel before but didn't know anything about it. We had numerous opportunities to witness to people simply by showing up (Kenyans love visitors) and sharing a simple Gospel message to them, asking if they would like to be saved. Praise God, we saw 10 conversions during our time!

For the pastoral work, we were involved in preparing and giving sermons all 3 of the Sundays. Ezekiel took the first week, then I took the other 2. We also gave some seminars on 2 occasions to help the churches understand some Biblical principles such as tithing or health. For many of them, it was the first time that they had heard anything about these subjects, so I really felt like we did a good thing by providing these lessons.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and I really hope that I'll be able to stay in touch with the people there, and they're already saying that I need to come back sometime, hopefully with some family. ;-) The only downside really was that the last day, I became sick with what is probably Malaria. Thankfully, I seem to have had a very minor case and was able to get some medicine very quickly. Though I'm feeling almost completely better now, please keep me in your prayers that it won't become a problem. Also, please pray:

• For the people of the Kimanju/Musul/Ewaso area, that they would be blessed with rain soon.
• That the churches would be blessed and grow in numbers and maturity, and that their many needs (I'll be bringing back a thorough list) would be provided for.
• For the new Christians, that they would be able to connect with the church and begin a good walk with Christ.
• That I and the others who have become sick during the past few weeks - about 6 of us as far as I know - would get better soon and without much hindrance to the ministry.

And praise:

• That we were kept safe during the past few weeks during the assignment.
• For effective evangelism and other work during our time.
• For the hospitality of the Pastor, his great family, and all of the people we were able to meet.
• That I already seem to be getting better from my illness and that it came at a time that didn't disturb any of the ministry we had to do.

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."
- Phillipians 2:14-15