We are on the road again. We have rented an eight passenger van to get us around for the next 5 days. Charles will be driving us to Kisii, then to Mois Bridge, and then will bring Todd back to the airport on Wednesday. So we had to pack up our things and be ready for our pick up at 9:00am. We loaded the van to the max with 6 of us plus all our luggage. Mike had three big bags himself for his longer stay here. It was 9:30 before we got on the road, and it was about a six hour drive to Kisii. On the way we drove through the Great Rift Valley, which was a striking scene. We started up a long climb and when we reached the top you could see the expanse of the valley below. The road down was managed but with no little amount of trepidation on our part. The roads were good, but there were no side rails on the edge of the road and sometimes it was a sheer drop into the trees below. And most of the drivers were not taking it slowly, either!
The valley is pretty dry especially at this time of year, but the land greened considerably as we neared Kisii. The fields were abundant with lush tea bushes, sugar cane, banana trees, corn, and the occasional papaya. Kisii is only about 30km from Lake Victiria, so it gets rain throughout the year. It is a very beautiful land.
We arrived in Kisii a little after 3:00pm and checked into the Zonic Hotel. We didn’t have reservations, but we weren’t worried – the Zonic is usually lucky if they have more than 6 rooms occupied at any one time (it has 5 floors of rooms!). We settled into our rooms and found them in varying states of disrepair. Our room was missing two light fixtures, and the sliding glass door to the balcony off our room did not close all the way because of the bowed frame. Russ and Stephen’s room was also missing lights and a toilet seat, and Mike’s room was missing the door handle! None of us had any hot water, either!
A view of Kisii from the balcony of our room at the Zonic Hotel.
After four years of staying here, I’ve had enough. While Mike, Todd and I waited for the Etago seminary teachers to arrive for our meeting, I asked Russ and Stephen to go with Charles and check out come other hotels in the area. They came back with some good news. They had checked out several other hotels which were cleaner, bigger, and quite a bit cheaper than the Zonic. So we are planning on checking out of the Zonic tomorrow morning – permanently. I’m kind of excited about it!
Pastors Fred, Joseph, and Enosh arrived at the Zonic at about 6:00pm. They were slowed by a brief thunderstorm which poured down rain and made a mess of the country roads they have to travel to get to Kisii. We all gathered in the second floor restaurant of the Zonic and discussed the Etago seminary program over Cokes, tea and coffee. There are four seminary students here who are being taught by Pastor Fred and Pastor Joseph. The only funding that they are receiving from us is a monthly sponsorship of $35 per student through the CLC’s KINSHIP program. But due to the limited nature of our support, they are only able to conduct classes one week per month. They are using the church building in Chotororo as their seminary classroom, dining hall and dormitory during that one week a month. This is not a nice church like ours, mind you. This is a mud walled building with a dirt floor, and this is where they learn, eat and sleep. It breaks our hearts to know the desire of the students to learn, and the desire of these pastor’s to teach, but to hear the struggles that they are facing as they try to do this. But there is little more that we can do, especially right now since the MDF has no money in it. We are going to see if maybe KINSHIP can help by offering a yearly grant to help subsidize the seminary and assist with the work they are doing there. We also brought two boxes full of books which will be used by the students and teachers at the seminary. Dogmatics, Bible History, Bible Dictionaries, a laptop and much more which were all given by members throughout the CLC. We are thankful for all those who are assisting with the work here by donating these resources for the work here, and those who are supporting the individual students through KINSHIP. Your help is needed and appreciated!
We all gathered in the Zonic Restaurant for our Seminary meeting.
It was a two hour meeting, and later than we anticipated, but very important in getting a better grasp on what is being done and what is still needed. May the Lord continue to bless the work of these teachers as they build a foundation for these younger men in the precious Word of God, and may He bless these four young men as they grow in the knowledge of their Savior and prepare for serving Him in the preaching ministry! Tomorrow we will have the opportunity to meet with the seminary students at Chotororo, so we look forward to that as well.
In His service,
Nathanael
In His service,
Nathanael
“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” – 2 Timothy 2:1-2
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