A Village Experience

We traveled to Laisamis this past weekend to visit a village of new believers and check up on some orphans that are living there. 

It was my first time ever going to a remote village.  It was really an incredible experience. I am still processing my thoughts on it all. 

To be honest, my thoughts on the first day were very negative.  Immediately I was worrying about safety, internally complaining about the heat, feeling dirty, and wishing to be back in Nanyuki. 

But the Lord really worked in my heart in those 48 hours. 

By the last day, I wanted to stay longer.  I had gotten to know the people in the village, and especially the kids, and I wanted to sit with them under the tree for just a few hours longer.

The village is about 200 people in number.  They are from the Rendile tribe.

The gospel was first brought to them February 2010, which is when many of the people converted.  They do not have a pastor in the village, so there have been people in our ministry who travel up every month to preach to the village.  Not having a full time pastor has not allowed them to grow like they could be.  There is only 1 Bible in the entire village, and most of the adults cannot even read. 

We are praying that the Lord will provide a person who can work full-time with these people and disciple them in their faith.

Our weekend schedule allowed us to spend a lot of time with the village people. We went early Saturday morning and had some time of teaching.  Pastor Kalasinga preached on Jesus and the cross, and then Andrew preached about creation leading up to the cross.  We sang lots of songs too (none of which were in English, but it was still fun)! 

Saturday afternoon we left to go eat lunch and rest.  The afternoons are so hot there that almost no one works, they relax until evening (it got up to about 108 degrees).  We went back at 5 and the people butchered a goat in honor of us being there.  We were able to see the goat be killed, and then watch it cook over a fire for us to eat.  I have to say, this was a first time experience for me, and I would not mind too much if I don’t ever see it again.  🙂  But I did enjoy it, and knew that it was a special thing they were doing for us. 

This is the least-gruesome picture of the goat killing that we have. And that is my reaction while watching the goat being killed. Haha I tried my best to look normal (And yes, those guys beside me are laughing at me).

Sunday morning we went for the church service.  They start church by 8 am because if they wait much longer it gets too hot.  We sang songs and Andrew preached.  Church is held under a big tree right outside their village.  That is where we met each time we were there.  They have no church building, but are completely satisfied with sitting under the shade of a tree worshiping our Creator.

 

 

 

We are getting more connected with them: praying for a pastor, working on setting up a source of income for the people, finding teachers for the kids, and more. 

We don’t want to change the cultural aspects of their lives, but we are praying that the Lord will provide so they can have enough food to eat and they can provide for their families.  Please pray with us!!

 

 

Here is a video of the kids singing worship songs.  Precious.

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It’s Been Awhile

It has been a little while since our last post so I figured I’d give a quick update:

Abby and I have been busy in Nairobi the past couple weeks. We made the trip for a number of reasons. First we visited Ed and Kelli Compean. They took us to a giant garage sale at their son’s school for the end of the year. We were able to get great deals on various useful items such as a power transformer, music stand, french fry cutter, and more. This is also where we met the person we bought a car from.

After the sale, we met up with Jared and Amber Nelms. We had a wonderful time with them and Jared and I worked on things for TTI (see post below). We had a “Teacher Training Workshop” in Nairobi and then I flew to Kisumu, in western Kenya, to help with a second one. The goal of the meetings was to help prepare the teachers who will be part of training 500 church planters across Kenya.

After the time with TTI, we bought our vehicle. We purchased a 2000 Toyota Landcruiser Prado from a Korean Missionary who is moving to the U.S. It was a true blessing to find an honest seller who was very open about the condition and past use of the car. He also gave us a fair price and we didn’t have to wire money overseas to pay. We are so excited to have this new tool in the ministry and to have the freedom to visit the places God calls us to. This was a major answer to prayer.

After the excitement of driving our new car came the difficulty of dealing with Kenyan government offices. It took a couple long days and hours of standing in line to do the necessary paperwork, but it is now finished.

Now we are back in Nanyuki working with the orphanages, planning projects for the summer, and moving forward with everyday life.