Day 7 Schools and Turkey

Today was a busy day, but it was a good day. We were able to visit three different schools and I spoke again from the story of David and Goliath at all three schools. I stressed that God chose a shepherd boy to be king because he had the right heart and was faithful in what he did. Chaewook shared about the Koreadn education system and encouraged the students to do their best. Our talks were well received and we were invited to come back. We heard about a few more students who got high scores but are waiting for funds to go to school. I couldn't do anything, but offer to pray for them by name. We were able to meet with a few young men from Mutulu and then we went to Erastus' home for dinner. He had slaughtered a turkey for us and we enjoyed it.

Tomorrow we will depart around 10am for Nairobi and visit Nairobi national park. It isn't the same as Maasai Mara, but we'll be able to see quite a few animals. From there we will head to airport to catch an 11:55 flight back to Korea. It has been quite a trip packed into 8 days and I'm so thankful to have been able to come. It is going to take some time to process all that we have experienced and to think through what God is trying to teach us.

Praises:
The visits to the schools were great and the students and teachers were very happy to host us.
We made it safely with no motorcycle mishaps despite three flat tires.

Prayer Requests:
For safety as we travel back to Nairobi and Korea.
That Chaewook and I can get on the same flight
That we would be able to reflect on and process what we have experienced

Pictures from the Day

Day 7 Discussing Dreams

In Kenya there are needs everywhere you look and at times it can feel overwhelming. There are so many stories of children who are praying and waiting for money in order to go to High School or College. Sometimes you feel like you've given all you can and you can't help anyone else, but then you hear a story that touches your heart and you feel like you can't turn away. Yesterday Mbondo told me such a story.

Mbondo is in Bible College and runs a Saturday Bible club in Kibera. With over 1 million people Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa. The people live in poverty that is almost incomprehensible for people from developed nations. When I visited Kiberia in 2002 there was one outhouse for every 10,000 people. Mbondo ministers to some of the poorest of the poor. He shared that there is one 13 year old girl in his Bible club who got very high marks on the national exam. Her score is good enough to get into a good High School. The problem is that she is an orphan and lives with her aunt who is supporting her own child. They all live together in a one room shack. Her aunt is a bar maid and at times comes home drunk with different men to sleep with them in the same room where this little girl tries to sleep on the floor. It is impossible for her aunt to raise the money to send her to High School and so Mbondo is unsure of what will happen to her.

With 1 million people in the slum there are many more stories like this one and Mbondo and I want to be involved in helping on a larger scale than sponsor one or two children. It was out of the desire to help many children that ten years ago the dream for a private Christian school was birthed. With that dream there was also the dream of providing Bible training for rural pastors who have no hope of attending seminary and to raise up missionaries who will go to the unreached. The vision is that the center will be self sufficient so that even the poorest of the poor will be able to attend. Today I was able to sit down and talk with James and another pastor named Erastus about the first steps for these dreams.

From our discussion we decided that one of the first steps to establishing the center is to build a library for pastors. Most pastors in this area have few theological books and some only have their Bibles. One of the ways we can bless and equip pastors in this area is by providing a library. The library would not lend the books but would provide a quiet place to study, prepare sermons, and include a cafe where pastors can interact and encourage each other in their work. The library would also be able to host seminars and conferences to train, encourage and equip pastors. It would have a few businesses attached to it that would make it self sufficient. There is nothing like a library for pastors within the entire district. For pastors who do not have their own books and who have had no formal training it would be a tremendous blessing.

The dream is that the schools will be completely self sufficient and a gift of a tractor is an initial step to accomplish that goal. This tractor would be used in farming, hauling sand, bricks, water and clearing land. The tractor would save considerable cost in the building of the center, enable farm land to be more productive and generate funds that will be used to fund and maintain the center.

I'm not sure what 2012 holds, but I hope that by the end of it there is a library for pastors here and a tractor that is helping local farmers increase their yields and generating funds for a center that will provide a Christian education for the poorest of the poor, equip pastors, and train self supporting missionaries to go to the ends of the earth.

Pictures from the Day

Local Steakhouse

Day 6 Answered Prayer and Sugar Cane

This morning I asked Mbondo about an old lady that we had met ten years ago when I first came to Kenya. She was old then and I wasn't sure if she would still be alive. He said that she was still living and that we could pass by her house on our way to visit some others. We made it to her house in the early afternoon and when we arrived she was bursting with joy. She shared that she had been praying this morning we would come and visit her. We had not planned on visiting her and I had not thought about her for quite some time, yet this morning we made the decision to visit her. It made me think that we have such a wonderful God who would care to answer the prayer of an old lady in a remote village by reminding us to visit her.

I had first met her ten years ago when her ankle was swollen as large as a grapefruit. The church had asked me to pray for her. I didn't know what to do and quite nervous. Then I was asked to share something from Scripture. I had no idea what to say and offered up a desperate prayer. The story of Peter and John healing the crippled man came to my mind. I had no idea where this story was in the book of Acts and suddenly felt more desperate. Someone handing me a Gideon's Bible and I asked God to at least help me find it if he wanted actually share it. I opened up the Bible and the first thing my eyes saw was the heading “Peter and John heal the crippled man” instead of feeling revealed I felt worse. I questioned God by saying “You want me to share about the crippled man who God healed to the crippled woman who is not going to healed?” Yet in my heart I knew that I needed to share from this passage. I offered up what must have been one of the weakest homilies ever given on that passage and close by saying with no confidence “I believe that someday God will heal you too”. When I prayed for her I made sure to include the phrase “heal her in your time” so that when she didn't get healed I could explain that it wasn't God's timing. But it turned out it was God's timing. The next day we went back to visit her and found out that the swelling had gone down and she was walking. Two days later we went back again and found the swelling had gone down more and she was working in her garden. The following day I brought the nurse to examine her ankle and he was able to wash and dress it and the ankle completely healed. It was good to see her again and she still remembers the time God healed her ankle through prayer.

After we visited with her we spent some time at other homes eventually winding up at the home of William and Sarah. We ate sugar cane, roasted goat meat, and drank a lot of tea. It was a great way to end to the day.

Day 5

There is something about Africa that is different from any other place. BBC.co.uk used to have a page called “Why I love Africa” and people would write a paragraph about what they loved about Africa. There wasn't a “Why I love North America or Europe page” because people don't think that way. But when you visit Africa there is something about it that gets into your heart. Africa is different and I love it. I love riding on a motorcycle on the bumpy, winding back roads while the sun is past its peak and shining gently while the breeze is blowing in your face. The landscape is amazing with the fields next to the road and the green mountains in the distance. As you ride on the motorcycle somehow everything comes together to create this symphonic experience that is breathtaking. In moments like that all I can think is “God this is wonderful, thank you for letting me be here”.

Today we worshiped at James' church. There were a few things that were striking, one is that fifty people worship in a room smaller than my living room. The second is that the children sit through a two hour long service without a problem. The third is that they sing and sing and sing some more. I don't even remember how many songs we sang, but we sang and sang and sang. I almost wonder if we sang more songs in one service than WOLIF does in one month. The certainly enjoy singing songs of praise to God. Chaewook was able to share his testimony and I preached from Isaiah 9 the same sermon I preached on Christmas at WOLIF. We believe that the people were encouraged.

From there we went to Tulia to eat a quick lunch before heading to another church. We ordered cokes and some bread. When I asked Chaewook what kind of soda he would like he answered “No, I can't drink any more coke!” James was more than a little shocked. This would be like a Kenyan telling a Korean that he doesn't want to eat Kalbi anymore.

After finishing our lunch around 2:00pm we headed to “The Praise and Worship Church” where the congregation was waiting for us to arrive. Along the way Mbondo got a flat tire. This was our third flat tire. The first flat tire was the day of the first youth seminar and delayed us several hours. The second flat tire was the day of the second youth seminar and delayed us an hour or so. The third flat tire now happened on our way to church. Fortunately, James was able to find a handy man in a nearby shopping center who came and fixed the flat for about 70 cents.

We arrived at the church around 3pm to find the congregation waiting for us. They had already finished their own service but were still singing as they were waiting. It was clear that they love praise and worship.

It is difficult to imagine a congregation waiting so long for visitors in Korea. Time was short, but we were able to introduce ourselves and I was able to briefly challenge them from Acts 1:8 to have a vision to send missionaries to the unreached. The leaders expressed their appreciation for our visit and invited us to come back again.