African Update # 12 2009

             
                                                       The Battle

Saturday was another good day with the young Kenyans. They are beginning to bring their friends to the meeting and we are having some good discussions about what it takes to follow Christ. After the meeting about half of them came over to our house and hung out. Then around 3:00 they began washing our tent. The dust and dirt have been terrible the last few days and the tent was filthy. We got our neighbor to move his car and the kids rolled out the 40 x15 tent and began to scrub it down.

                                                                             

What started out a difficult job quickly turned out to be, what can only be called as a free for all and miniature Water Day. In the end, everyone was soaked, the tent was clean, and everyone had a great time. Joel loved it.

The busy week had left all of us very tired. Amma was exhausted and had to stay home from the Gathering and rest. Joel was still a little weak from his bout with the African flu that he said, caused him to be the sickest he had ever been in his life. George and I have been working through some language misunderstandings, details of the financing program, tense situations with people and the planning out the last 4 weeks of our visit. There is so much to do and so little time to do it in.

To say the least, the week had left us weak and tired. So when we arrived at the tent 10 minutes before we were to start, and there were only 3 or 4 faithful people there, it was a little discouraging. To add to the general feeling of hopelessness, there came a drunk stumbling around, about 15 feet from the tent, scowling and mocking when we talked. George tried to get started, but the heaviness was growing. The spirit of heaviness was thick in the air.

Just at that moment in walks Judy. Judy is a beautiful young Kenyan woman who is the one that leads us all in praise and worship. Now as some of you know Judy’s name comes from the word Judah, meaning Praise, which may give you a hint which tribe she’s in. You could tell she felt the heaviness and it visibly weighed on her. She whispered something to George and turned to face, the now 10 or so people in the tent. Her actions next, can only be described as pulling her spiritual slingshot out and putting a rock in the forehead of the spiritual giant of depression that was taunting the armies of God. She spoke in Swahili, and though I could not understand the words, my spirit leaped within me. For 15 minutes she prayed, exhorted, and danced, almost by herself, before the Lord. Soon she was joined by another warrior named …Judy. The two sisters of Judah praised God with almost visible strength coming in to them each moment. Soon all of us were our feet and beginning to praise God with loud praises. It somehow reminded me of what happened at Standing Stone Park.

Suddenly we were singing, dancing and routing our spiritual foe with shouts of great joy. Even the drunk man began to dance as the Spirit of God filled the tent, and spilled over outside the tent. Soon the flood gates opened up and people poured in, filling every bench, chair, leaving standing room only. One of our men stood up and invited the wide eyed drunk man to come in, but he said now he was too tired and had to go home. When it came time for me to speak, I gave glory to God and honor to our two courageous sisters.

We prayed for Amma to be strengthened and to feel better that day. The Lord blessed my speaking His word and people who had come for a visit began standing to tell of their desire to be a part of this family. What a day! There must have been some awesome prayers going up for us. What a turnaround. This also, was the week we had decided to attempt a photo shoot, so immediately following the gathering we cleared the tent and began to take group pictures. It was difficult to get everyone in the picture, but everything went ….picture perfect. We had just enough time for "hanging around" fellowship and get the tent down, before a sudden storm came up with a light rain that settled all the dust. When we arrived home, we were greeted by a smiling Amma who told us that she had not improved till 45 minutes ago when “all of a sudden” she felt better.

Yesu Asifwi Sana…praise Jesus much.

To all the watchmen and women who pray for us diligently and faithfully. Thank you; and May God bless you as He has blessed and cared for us here. Pray even more, that the people who sit here in the great darkness will see the Great Light that our Father is raising up in Nakuru. Pray for our visit to Eldoret, Kenya in two weeks. Pray for the Micro-Financing program we are working on here. Pray that in all things God would extend His hand to honor our great Messiah and King. May all praise be given to our Warrior King for his love and constant care of His beloved people.

To give you a perspective on what’s happening here, I am including two pictures that span 2 years time. The first one below, on the left, is when Shammah , Nathaniel and I were visiting here in 2007. Of the 17 Kenyans present in that picture, only 4 are still here. The picture on the right was yesterday. There are 145 + present.

Much, much grace ….. your sent ones.