Thursday, Oct 21st, 2010

We got ourselves to Kitale and waited at the Iroko restaurant for Pastor Isaac to meet us. It was during this wait that we received a call from our friend Leonard telling us that he had an uncle and a friend who also wanted to know our Jesus and asked if we could meet with them on Sunday after church. Seeing no need for them to wait until Sunday to meet our Jesus, we encouraged them to visit us at Zippy’s shamba (farm) this evening. What a great way to start our day!

Once we joined up with Pastor Isaac, we were taken to the Bishop Bireech Bible College in Kitale where we blessed Steven (the director) with the gifts given by Ekklesians to assist their library. He was visibly moved by the generosity of people he has never met. After taking chai (tea) in Steven’s office we toured the partially constructed women’s dorm. It seems there are many women who wish to receive training at the Bireech College but the school is wisely only building as they can afford rather than going into debt. Unfortunately, they ran out of funds before the metal roof could be attached and the rainy season has been so severe that there is now the possibility of erosion of the brick and mortar. We stood inside the shell of a building and prayed for God’s blessing not only to complete the dormitory but to fill it with women who would impact their communities for the Kingdom of God.

Next stop, the Tumaini Orphanage (Children of Hope) to deliver clothing generously donated through Ekklesia. A beautiful work is being done here but in two visits we have only seen the system in place to help the children. The children have been attending school in town (their schooling is not received at the orphanage). We need to plan a visit some other time for a Saturday so we can see all their beautiful faces and bring them encouragement from the United States.

Bishop John Musilla of the Kakamega congregation of LCM learned that we would not be making a trip to visit his churches this time so he made the three hour trip to Kitale to share lunch with us. We invited Pastor John Nabruk to join us and had a great time talking about the work the Bishop and his people are doing with the orphans from the tribal warfare of a couple of years ago.

Score one for the enemy when Leonard showed up at the shamba (farm) drunk. We knew alcohol was his battle in becoming a believer in the first place but had been in prayer that he would be able to overcome it. His friends drink and Kenyans are very social people so in order for Leonard to socialize, he thinks he can spend time with his old friends and just not drink . . . or not drink as much. Which didn’t work out well for anyone tonight since his friends were calling us on the phone and sounding drunk while Leonard was standing right before us trying to conceal his condition. We talked for awhile and then sent him on his way; no point trying to talk rationally to an irrational man. We would speak with him again when he was sober.