Day 7 The Final Day of Ministry

Our final day began much like the others with worship and prayer following breakfast.  We didn't get to sleep until about 2 am and so we started a bit later than we were expecting.  Fortunately in Africa, if you are only 1.5 hours late you are still on time.  We had a wonderful time of worship and then we headed to Kavonge primary school.   Before we met with the children we had the opportunity to meet the staff.  We prayed for the deputy head teacher and she got instant relief from some back pain. 

Praying for the Deputy

The children were pretty excited to see us.

The Team Singing for the Students.

The team was unable to perform their dance because the batteries on our portable "PA system" were dead, but once again the saxophone was a huge hit.  Andrew gave his testimony and I spoke about how righteousness helps a nation to grow.  

From Kavonge we traveled back to Mutulu.  After the healings that took place on Sunday we received a call asking us to visit a home.  We were told there was an elderly woman who was sick.  When we arrived we found out that she couldn't walk, couldn't feed herself, would only eat porridge, couldn't speak in coherent sentences and was talking to the dead!  It seemed much bigger than we were prepared for, but we began praying and worshiping.  We prayed for close to an hour and a crowd gathered.  She was able to walk with support by the time we finished praying, but there didn't seem to be any significant change. (*Edit I received a message from Mbondo shortly after this post that she is not walking now, she has been able to take a little rice, but her condition remains unchanged)

Some of those who had gathered to watch us pray.

It was disappointing.  Up to this point there had only been one person I am aware of where there was no significant change.  So many people had been healed, why not her?  I don't know, but I've learned to keep praying.  I know God has not healed everyone, but he has healed some.  If I focus on the fact that God does heal and keep praying I continue to see him heal.  If I  focus on the times when God does not seem to answer immediately, then I become reluctant to pray.  When we finished praying for the woman I started praying for other people in compound.  The daughter in-law of the woman we prayed for was healed of pain in her body.   There were five others on the compound who got healed.  I'm not sure why the six were healed and nothing significant seemed to happen with the woman we came for, but if I had gotten discouraged I would have never prayed with the six.

From this home we walked to Mutulu.  We heard that people had been waiting at the church for us to come and pray for the sick.  We had been delayed and apparently some had left.  We were told to eat lunch first and we went to the clinic to have a simple lunch of bananas, bread, jam, and soda.

Lunch in the clinic.

After lunch I headed over to the school, while several team members went to the church to pray for the sick.  From what I was told all those who gathered in the church were healed.  I had this driving desire to pray for sick students and I went to find Alex the head teacher.  Alex gathered the students in an assembly, but then I couldn't help but start sharing with them about how God had blessed the school with a field.  I'll save the story for another post, but God provided money and a bulldozer to create a soccer field on top of a mountain (/large hill).   After sharing the story, I began calling out sicknesses and problems and students began coming forward.  It became apparent that praying in front of the whole student body would not be a good idea so we sent the sick students into a classroom.  By the time we finished calling out ailments there were between 20-25 students in the classroom.

At this point the team had finished praying for the sick at the church and came over to help pray.  We divided into three or four teams and began praying for the children.  Child after child was healed, most after very brief prayers.  There were a few children who we prayed at length for.  One girl had been horribly burned on her arm and her range of motion increased and pain decreased.  There was another girl whose back was severely twisted so that one shoulder was several inches lower than the other.  She had a foot that turned in and limped along slowly.  She looked as though she was crippled rather than just someone with a limp.  We prayed for her at length and there were gradual improvements.  We continued praying for her.  After finding out that she was not a Christian I asked if she would like to know Jesus.  She said yes and I was able to lead her in prayer to receive Christ.  When we had finish praying for healing she had improved dramatically.  Her foot was almost straight and her shoulders were much closer to balanced.  She still walked with a limp, but it wasn't nearly as severe.

Byeong and Ji Ae with Joseph.

Theresa teaching the children some dance moves.

Our trusty means of transport.

After praying for the children we were running late for a program at James's church.  The church is called Mwangya Church of Christ.  They have purchased land and have built the foundation and are currently meeting in a tent like structure on their property.  Church building projects can take a long time in Kenya because many of the church members do not have regular jobs.  

The foundation of the church.

The current structure.

 We once again put on our program, though with dead batteries we were unable to perform the dance.  

It is significant that people had heard about healings a few nights prior and had brought some sick to be prayed for.  The man who had the regular nosebleeds was feeling strong and in attendance!  As I got up to preach there were two children who began crying.

I asked if they were sick and the answer was that they had come to be prayed for.  With their loud crying it was going to be difficult to preach so I decided we could pray for them first.  I had assumed the problem was a fever or something like it, however as the children were brought forward we saw that they were severely handicapped.  The first child a three year, constantly cried and could not be left alone.  He was unable to stand, his eyes did not seem to track movement, and he could not fully support his neck, his back was quite crooked.  The six year old was in similar though perhaps worse shape.  She could not support her neck, had a twisted back, twisted legs, and could not unclench her fists.  It was clear these children would need much more than a minute or two of prayer.  

We prayed briefly and then I asked the team to continue praying for the children while I preached.  They prayed and prayed and prayed.  During my whole sermon they were praying for these children.  I preached about Jesus's healing power.  When I finished I asked if there were any sick with back pain.  An elderly woman raised her hand.  I asked the pastor's wife to pray for her and she got healed.  Then I asked the elderly woman to lay hands on the lady next to her with back pain and pray for her healing.  The next woman got healed.  Then I asked about eye problems.  A young girl came forward and shared she had itchy eyes.  We prayed for her and then I asked the girl to lay hands and pray for the next woman with eyes problems.  She did and that woman got healed.  It was just like the prophecy in Joel 2:24-25 ESV

And it shall come to pass afterward,

    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

    your old men shall dream dreams,

    and your young men shall see visions.

29 

Even on the male and female servants

    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

First we had a middle aged woman pray for healing, then an elderly woman, and then a young girl.  The Holy Spirit used each one to bring healing.  During this whole time the team was praying for the two children.  I called some of the members led by Pastor Kim to continue praying for the sick so I could pray for the two children.  As Pastor Kim and the others prayed people continued to get healed.  Meanwhile some of the members continued to intercede for the two children. We prayed and prayed.  We lost track of time. After nearly two hours of prayer the three year old was doing much better.  He had stopped crying, he could hold up his neck, he could stand, and he could track the light with his eyes.  By the end of the prayer time he was sitting on his mother's lap!  I heard from Mbondo yesterday that he can know play by himself.  Before he would cry constantly and had to be held at all times.  Now he can play while the person taking care of him can attend to other household duties.  

We then turned our attention to the six year.  I believe Hannah and Theresa had been holding her for over two hours at this point. One significant thing that happened was that she could not open her hands, they were no longer clenched fists, she had also stopped crying and was peaceful.  We began praying and Pastor Kim took out the guitar.  We prayed and worshiped, worshiped and prayed.  We were crying out asking God to heal this child for the glory of his name.  We lost track of time and spent another two hours in prayer.  There wasn't the dramatic improvement as there was with the younger child, but the legs were no longer twisted like before and her neck seemed to be firming up.  Again we don't understand why there was dramatic improvement in one child and only slight improvement in the other, but God does heal so we keep praying.

Praying into the night.

We finished praying and found out that we were 4.5 hours late for dinner!  Even in Kenya that is a little extreme.  We hurried over to Pastor Erastus's home and had a nice meal.  We finally made it back to the house about midnight, exhausted.  We packed and cleaned things up because we needed to wake up at 4 am to get ready to go to the airport.