Thursday, October 23, 2008
When I awoke this morning everyone was already up and going. Even the kids were outside working on different chores. Various animal sounds filled the air. Cows and roosters went about their business as well. I did some reading and preparing for the days activities while waiting for Enosh. When he was finished Elizabeth brought in some buttered bread and tea for breakfast. We visited over our meal about more church matters and then headed off to school. Before leaving I thanked Elizabeth for everything she had done while I was there.
We came to school and awaited the beginning of the church seminars which were scheduled for the day. While waiting I worked on my presentation. But I also took some time to play with the younger children. We played tag (I was the monster that had to tag everyone)and sang some songs. They are so intrigued by the Muzungus (white people)! When I would go outside, they all followed me out. When I came back inside, they all followed me back in! It was hard to get things done. Even after their classes started I would see young faces sticking their heads through the open windows to see what I was doing!
Finally, the men started showing up. At 10:30 Bruce arrived. Russ had stayed behind in Kisii because he had some things he wanted to get done and because he was feeling a little under the weather. Hopefully the rest will do some good. When Charles and Bruce arrived we found out they had another flat on the way to Etago. So Charles went back into Etago town to see about getting the tire fixed while we began the leaders seminar.
We had a total of 23 men in attendance. After an opening prayer Bruce began with his study on Biblical covenant theology (the same one he had done in Mombasa). After that I gave a presentation of the church calendar. We went through all the seasons of the church year from Advent to Trinity and I explained their meaning and purpose. I also handed out a pericope of Scripture readings that I explained could be used in the churches as an aid to preaching the whole counsel of God.
Since lunch was not quite ready yet we decided to quiz the men on their Bible knowledge by playing Bible baseball. It took them a while to get the idea, but they soon got the idea, and really enjoyed it. Finally lunch arrived and we all ate. It was the traditional African meal of rice with a beef or chicken stew poured over the top.
After our late lunch we continued with the seminar. Bruce presented a study of the 10 plagues that God sent against the Egyptians through His servant Moses. He showed how every one of the plagues was related to one of the many gods of the Egyptians. Here the true God was showing in a pwerful way that He was more powerful than the “gods” of the Egyptians. He is not just another god. The LORD is the one and only true God!
After finishing up and concluding with prayer everyone began their trip home. Bruce had decided to stay in Etago this time and I was returning with Charles to Kisii. Charles and I had a good visit on the almost two hour trip back to Kisii. That was one nice thing about staying in Etago – I didn’t have to endure the torturous ride to and from Kisii! But, alas, we will have to do it agin tomorrow morning!
When I arrived back in Kisii, I checked in on Russ and then went to do some e-mail across the street. Then we had a late supper and worked on reports and preparation for tomorrow’s presentations.
We thank the LORD for another wonderful day of study in His word and pray that He would continue to strengthen these men for their work in leading and feeding Christ’s flock!
In His service,
Nathanael
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
October 22nd - Etago
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
We are staying in a place called the Zonic Hotel in Kisii. This is a pretty large hotel (for Africa) with more than seven floors and about 12 rooms on each floor. The rooms varied in size with single beds, double beds, and multiple single beds. Russ and I shared a room on the third floor with two single beds and a bathroom and Bruce had another room with a double bed next door. The rooms had a sliding glass door that went out onto a small balcony overlooking the main road below. The bathroom was small with a toilet, sink, and bathtub. There was hot water but it was a unique Africa set up. You flip a switch on the wall which has a cord that goes to the shower head. It works like hot water on demand. No hot water from the sink or the tub spout. Also there was no toilet seat and no shower curtain! As we looked around the hotel we saw door handles that were missing, water damaged ceiling tiles, missing floor tiles, and all kinds of other maintenance problems. It looked like the hotel was built in a decade (or even centuries) ago. To our astonishment we found out that the hotel was built in 2002! We even saw a stone set into the front of the hotel with the date carved into it. Unbelievable!
We were supposed to leave at around 8:30 but because of delays didn’t get on the road until about 9:30. Pastor Enosh came to town because it had rained the night before and the road was under construction, so he wanted to make sure we found our way there. We also decided to buy gifts for the children of the school. Russ was in charge of buying the children Christmas presents from KINSHIP. So Russ, Charles and Enosh went to the store to buy 136 tootbrushes and tubes of toothpaste. You can imagine how long that would take!
After that was finished we left Kisii for the 30 mile journey to the church and orphan school in Etago. Believe it or not, it took us over two hours to cover that distance! The roads were wretched! There would be short sections of blacktop but the rest were heavily rutted mud, dirt and rock! Even the short sections of blacktop were full of potholes. Our poor little Toyota sure took a beating! The majority of the trip was at about 10 kilometers per hour or less! Part of the road was under construction, so hopefully it will be much better next year!
When we arrived at the school the orphans were all outside singing: “Welcome, welcome to our visitors!” They were all lined up in two lines, singing their hearts out! Greetings were shared with all the other church leaders and the teachers, and we were ushered through the singing children into the church to begin the festivities. Introductions were made, Pastor Fred gave a brief devotion, and the children began their program. They sang, danced, and even put on short skits for us. When they were finished we greeted them and passed out Christmas cards from the school children in Mankato, Minnesota, and the Christmas presents from KINSHIP. It was a long process for that many children!
Finally (about two hours later) the children were released for a very late lunch and we prepared for a meeting with the church leaders. We talked about matters going on in the church and found out how things were going with the two Etago students who are currently finishing up their first year at St. Peter’s seminary in Tanzania. It seems they are having some difficulty adjusting because of being Kenyan rather than Tanzanian like the other students. We plan to follow up with that when we get to Tanzania to make sure they are doing well. There were also some concerns raised about the leadership in the church. As we heard more about the situation we found that the churches here were really not following their constitution, which meant that things were not being run by the church but rather by certain leaders within the church. So we are going to look into this more and address the concerns of the members and work on establishing a working constitution for the congregations to follow so that the work of the church is carried out in an orderly way.
Because of the long trip back to Kisii, we had to make sure that we were on the road back to Kisii by 4:00pm so that we would be back by dark. Bruce and I had talked about taking turns staying in Etago staying with Enosh or someone else to have some time to spend with them. Bruce had come ready to stay tonight, but we decided it might be better if I stay so that I could talk with Enosh about this situation and work on preparing a solution. So Charles took Bruce and Russ back to Kisii, and I stayed in Etago. We walked to Enosh’s house which was a short walk down the road from the church building and school. We spent the next couple of hours talking about things as he showed me his land. He owns about three acres on which he grows tea, corn, bananas, and some pineapple, potatoes and onions. He also has three cows of different ages, a number of chickens and a small cat. His house is made up of two buildings. One serves as the living quarters with a living room/dining room area with tables and chairs, and two bedrooms. The other building serves as the kitchen where all the cooking and cleaning is done. The buildings are made with a wooden frame which is then filled with mud and coated with a glaze. The roof is covered with metal sheets. There are wooden door and window frames built into the walls with doors and windows made of wood. It isn’t quite like home but it’s much more comfortable than camping in a tent! By the way, there is no running water. That means no bathroom. They use a third building for that!
There is no electricity in Etago. They are working to get power line out there, but there is nothing yet. Most people, if they want to work after dark (which is at about 6:30pm to 6:00am) need to use kerosene lamps or flashlights. But Enosh has used the money from his crops to buy a small solar panel which he uses to charge a battery during the day. Then he uses the battery to recharge cell phone batteries, and at night it is used to run small florescent lights in both buildings. It is a small panel but it works very well! Enosh’s wife Elizabeth fixed a wonderful beef stew for supper and I had a great time playing with his four children (ages 11-3). At about 9:30pm everyone went to bed and by 5:30am everyone was up again. It was nice to be able to stay with them and very enjoyable, but I felt like I was putting them out with 6 people already in their small home.
Staying in a place like Etago, even for one night, sure makes one sit back and think about all the things we have in our country that we take for granted on a daily basis. We could do with so much less than we have!
In Christ,
Nathanael
We are staying in a place called the Zonic Hotel in Kisii. This is a pretty large hotel (for Africa) with more than seven floors and about 12 rooms on each floor. The rooms varied in size with single beds, double beds, and multiple single beds. Russ and I shared a room on the third floor with two single beds and a bathroom and Bruce had another room with a double bed next door. The rooms had a sliding glass door that went out onto a small balcony overlooking the main road below. The bathroom was small with a toilet, sink, and bathtub. There was hot water but it was a unique Africa set up. You flip a switch on the wall which has a cord that goes to the shower head. It works like hot water on demand. No hot water from the sink or the tub spout. Also there was no toilet seat and no shower curtain! As we looked around the hotel we saw door handles that were missing, water damaged ceiling tiles, missing floor tiles, and all kinds of other maintenance problems. It looked like the hotel was built in a decade (or even centuries) ago. To our astonishment we found out that the hotel was built in 2002! We even saw a stone set into the front of the hotel with the date carved into it. Unbelievable!
We were supposed to leave at around 8:30 but because of delays didn’t get on the road until about 9:30. Pastor Enosh came to town because it had rained the night before and the road was under construction, so he wanted to make sure we found our way there. We also decided to buy gifts for the children of the school. Russ was in charge of buying the children Christmas presents from KINSHIP. So Russ, Charles and Enosh went to the store to buy 136 tootbrushes and tubes of toothpaste. You can imagine how long that would take!
After that was finished we left Kisii for the 30 mile journey to the church and orphan school in Etago. Believe it or not, it took us over two hours to cover that distance! The roads were wretched! There would be short sections of blacktop but the rest were heavily rutted mud, dirt and rock! Even the short sections of blacktop were full of potholes. Our poor little Toyota sure took a beating! The majority of the trip was at about 10 kilometers per hour or less! Part of the road was under construction, so hopefully it will be much better next year!
When we arrived at the school the orphans were all outside singing: “Welcome, welcome to our visitors!” They were all lined up in two lines, singing their hearts out! Greetings were shared with all the other church leaders and the teachers, and we were ushered through the singing children into the church to begin the festivities. Introductions were made, Pastor Fred gave a brief devotion, and the children began their program. They sang, danced, and even put on short skits for us. When they were finished we greeted them and passed out Christmas cards from the school children in Mankato, Minnesota, and the Christmas presents from KINSHIP. It was a long process for that many children!
Finally (about two hours later) the children were released for a very late lunch and we prepared for a meeting with the church leaders. We talked about matters going on in the church and found out how things were going with the two Etago students who are currently finishing up their first year at St. Peter’s seminary in Tanzania. It seems they are having some difficulty adjusting because of being Kenyan rather than Tanzanian like the other students. We plan to follow up with that when we get to Tanzania to make sure they are doing well. There were also some concerns raised about the leadership in the church. As we heard more about the situation we found that the churches here were really not following their constitution, which meant that things were not being run by the church but rather by certain leaders within the church. So we are going to look into this more and address the concerns of the members and work on establishing a working constitution for the congregations to follow so that the work of the church is carried out in an orderly way.
Because of the long trip back to Kisii, we had to make sure that we were on the road back to Kisii by 4:00pm so that we would be back by dark. Bruce and I had talked about taking turns staying in Etago staying with Enosh or someone else to have some time to spend with them. Bruce had come ready to stay tonight, but we decided it might be better if I stay so that I could talk with Enosh about this situation and work on preparing a solution. So Charles took Bruce and Russ back to Kisii, and I stayed in Etago. We walked to Enosh’s house which was a short walk down the road from the church building and school. We spent the next couple of hours talking about things as he showed me his land. He owns about three acres on which he grows tea, corn, bananas, and some pineapple, potatoes and onions. He also has three cows of different ages, a number of chickens and a small cat. His house is made up of two buildings. One serves as the living quarters with a living room/dining room area with tables and chairs, and two bedrooms. The other building serves as the kitchen where all the cooking and cleaning is done. The buildings are made with a wooden frame which is then filled with mud and coated with a glaze. The roof is covered with metal sheets. There are wooden door and window frames built into the walls with doors and windows made of wood. It isn’t quite like home but it’s much more comfortable than camping in a tent! By the way, there is no running water. That means no bathroom. They use a third building for that!
There is no electricity in Etago. They are working to get power line out there, but there is nothing yet. Most people, if they want to work after dark (which is at about 6:30pm to 6:00am) need to use kerosene lamps or flashlights. But Enosh has used the money from his crops to buy a small solar panel which he uses to charge a battery during the day. Then he uses the battery to recharge cell phone batteries, and at night it is used to run small florescent lights in both buildings. It is a small panel but it works very well! Enosh’s wife Elizabeth fixed a wonderful beef stew for supper and I had a great time playing with his four children (ages 11-3). At about 9:30pm everyone went to bed and by 5:30am everyone was up again. It was nice to be able to stay with them and very enjoyable, but I felt like I was putting them out with 6 people already in their small home.
Staying in a place like Etago, even for one night, sure makes one sit back and think about all the things we have in our country that we take for granted on a daily basis. We could do with so much less than we have!
In Christ,
Nathanael
Headed for Kisii
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
We planned to leave this morning at 8:00am for our trip to Kisii. We went down to have breakfast at around 7:00am. I am not a big breakfast eater, but I have to eat something because we never know if we are going to have lunch or not. So for breakfast they begin by bringing out fresh fruit. They have small bananas, pineapple, watermelon, and pawpaw (papaya). They also have a fruit juice called passion juice that is really good. They also serve either coffee or tea. Russ and Bruce get coffee and I get tea. We have been here so long now that the waiters know exactly what we want even before we order! They also offer eggs, served any way we want like. We all usually get Spanish omelettes. The eggs come with a sausage and either bread or toast. It is a pretty filling breakfast!
Charles arrived at around 8:00 and we loaded all our luggage. By 8:30 we were on the road headed northwest out of Nairobi. The land coming out of Nairobi is pretty barren. But the further north and west we came the more rich the land became. The land is used for many crops like corn, and tea. These are the main cash crops, but the people also have other smaller crops as well like potatoes, onions, and other foods. The land is very beautiful and almost every square foot of land is used for something. It’s also increasingly hilly and you can see the crop sections going right up the side of the hills. It’s amazing to see how profitably this rich land is used.
Things were going very smoothly, when Charles suddenly pulled to the side of the road and stopped. He said that there was a problem with the car - it was pulling to one side. We got out and found out that we had a flat tire! AAA to the rescue! Russ and Charles got the jack out and started taking the bad tire off, while Bruce and I unloaded the trunk to get to the spare tire. The bad tire was changed in record time, the trunk was re-packed and we were back on the road again! Nothing to it the way we do it!
We stopped for lunch at the Tea Hotel at around 2:30 in Kericho. While we ate Charles took the spare tire in to get fixed, in case we had any trouble. The roads are pretty good, but there are some bad sections with potholes everywhere and we want to be ready! We also found out that the car tires here use tubes just like our bicycles in the states. The reason for this is because of the poor rads. It seems that the potholes would be very hard on the seal of a tubeless tire, so the tubes work much better. To have the tire fixed cost about $15. That doesn’t sound bad, unless your are changing them all the time!
After an hour delay for lunch and tire repair, we were on the road again. We made it in to Kisii around 5:30pm. It was not a long trip in comparison with much of the traveling we do in the states, but it sure feels long because of the roads and the slow travel. It sure felt good to get out of the car!
After signing in to the hotel and getting settled in we took a little walk around to find a place to do some e-mail checking. After a late supper and some cards in the dining room, we retired for the night. I usually take this time to work on upcoming meetings, and presentations as well as writing reports on our visit.
Tomorrow will be our visit to the orphan school. We are all looking forward to it.
In Christ,
Nathanael
We planned to leave this morning at 8:00am for our trip to Kisii. We went down to have breakfast at around 7:00am. I am not a big breakfast eater, but I have to eat something because we never know if we are going to have lunch or not. So for breakfast they begin by bringing out fresh fruit. They have small bananas, pineapple, watermelon, and pawpaw (papaya). They also have a fruit juice called passion juice that is really good. They also serve either coffee or tea. Russ and Bruce get coffee and I get tea. We have been here so long now that the waiters know exactly what we want even before we order! They also offer eggs, served any way we want like. We all usually get Spanish omelettes. The eggs come with a sausage and either bread or toast. It is a pretty filling breakfast!
Charles arrived at around 8:00 and we loaded all our luggage. By 8:30 we were on the road headed northwest out of Nairobi. The land coming out of Nairobi is pretty barren. But the further north and west we came the more rich the land became. The land is used for many crops like corn, and tea. These are the main cash crops, but the people also have other smaller crops as well like potatoes, onions, and other foods. The land is very beautiful and almost every square foot of land is used for something. It’s also increasingly hilly and you can see the crop sections going right up the side of the hills. It’s amazing to see how profitably this rich land is used.
Things were going very smoothly, when Charles suddenly pulled to the side of the road and stopped. He said that there was a problem with the car - it was pulling to one side. We got out and found out that we had a flat tire! AAA to the rescue! Russ and Charles got the jack out and started taking the bad tire off, while Bruce and I unloaded the trunk to get to the spare tire. The bad tire was changed in record time, the trunk was re-packed and we were back on the road again! Nothing to it the way we do it!
We stopped for lunch at the Tea Hotel at around 2:30 in Kericho. While we ate Charles took the spare tire in to get fixed, in case we had any trouble. The roads are pretty good, but there are some bad sections with potholes everywhere and we want to be ready! We also found out that the car tires here use tubes just like our bicycles in the states. The reason for this is because of the poor rads. It seems that the potholes would be very hard on the seal of a tubeless tire, so the tubes work much better. To have the tire fixed cost about $15. That doesn’t sound bad, unless your are changing them all the time!
After an hour delay for lunch and tire repair, we were on the road again. We made it in to Kisii around 5:30pm. It was not a long trip in comparison with much of the traveling we do in the states, but it sure feels long because of the roads and the slow travel. It sure felt good to get out of the car!
After signing in to the hotel and getting settled in we took a little walk around to find a place to do some e-mail checking. After a late supper and some cards in the dining room, we retired for the night. I usually take this time to work on upcoming meetings, and presentations as well as writing reports on our visit.
Tomorrow will be our visit to the orphan school. We are all looking forward to it.
In Christ,
Nathanael
October 20th
Monday, October 20, 2008
Today is a national holiday in Kenya, known as Hero Day. It was originally like our Presidents Day, in honor of the first Kenyan president, Jomo Kenyatta, but now it has been expanded to include other national heros as well. Since this is a national holiday, all the government businesses are closed, and many individual businesses were also closed, or opened later than usual. Charles needed to get some work done on his car, so I made arrangements for Paul to pick us up and take us to Kangari - one of the largest churches in the Nairobi area. We were supposed to leave the hotel this morning at 8:00, but it didn’t work out that way. Paul had some problems with his car battery, and that delay our departure until almost 10:00. This actually worked out for the best since Bruce and Russ has some errands to run early in the morning and they were not able to get them done because the shops opened so late. The delay gave them time to get that finished by the time Paul arrived.
Charles our faithful driver and his trusty steed!
From the Hotel Southern Blue we drove north east out of Nairobi to Thika which is another large city outside Nairobi. We passed the Delmonte pineapple plantation, and the university where Paul teaches Nuclear Chemical engineering. But then our route northwesterly. Up, up, up into the hills we drove on our way to Kangari. We left the dry plains behind and entered a different world. This land, which is much higher in elevation is very fertile and is used to grow coffee, bananas, and tea. This area is very hilly, but it is full of beautiful green plants of many colors. Jackaranda trees were in full bloom with their purple flowers standing out in contrast with the greens. We also saw a few yellow Oleander trees which were very beautiful as well. On the hills the farmers have dug out steppes in order to facilitate working on the steep slopes as they harvest the tea leaves. It is a very prosperous area, but with few modern features that are enjoyed in the big city. They are a generally hard working people who are content with the lesser things in life.
When we arrived at the church the members were signing a hymn in English – “I am a soldier of the Lord.” It fit in very well with Russ’s presentation of the Armor of God, so after Bruce spoke the opening hymn, Russ spoke first. After another hymn (with parts in English) I was asked to speak. I spoke about the pictures used by God in Scripture to describe our relationship with him. The picture I used was the deep rooted tree in the book of Jeremiah. We don’t want to be the kind of tree that has no roots and blows over in time of drought and storm. The one who trusts in the Lord is described as one who has deep roots and will be able to stand in times of difficulty. I reminded them that our strength comes from the Lord through the power of His Word, so we should treasure it, use it and proclaim it faithfully.
Then Bruce, Russ and I sang “God’s Word is our Great Heritage”. We all start with the melody and then we break into parts. I continue with the melody, Bruce takes the tenor and Russ the Bass. I think it sounded pretty good, but I’m not exactly sure what they think about it!
When that was over we thought the service was closing, but Paul asked Bruce to speak as well. So Bruce told the story of David and Goliath and explained that our power is not in spears, slings, or swords, but in the Name of our Lord Jesus. The congregation then sang “Kum ba ya” (with the English verses) and we closed with a prayer by Pastor Jeremiah.
After the service, we took a congregational picture, and then went back inside to meet with the pastors and leaders of the churches. There were about 10 stations that were represented by the people who gathered here at Kangari today, since we didn’t have time to visit all the stations. The congregation has all the men sit in the front of the church with the women and children behind. The pastors all sit together to the side. We had a good discussion with them and pray that the spirit would continue to instruct them in the Word that they may proclaim His Word faithfully.
After our meeting we were invited to join the church pastor and leaders for lunch. We were served rice with mixed vegetables like cabbage, carrots, onions and a kind of green pepper. Chicken and African “tortillas” were also served. After that we were offered a dessert of mixed fruit with bananas, papaia, and other Kenyan fruits. After more visiting we said our goodbyes. I was really hoping to be able to see Mt. Kenya, but once again it was covered by the clouds! This will probably be the last chance we have to see Mt. Kenya on this trip.
As we were getting ready to leave, we found that Paul’s car wouldn’t start! His battery was dead again. So one of the locals brought a battery and a couple of wrenches. We assumed that they were going to switch out the batteries, but to our amazement (and fright) they were going to jump it. Not with jumper cables, but by connecting the terminals of the two batteries with the metal wrenches! Believe it or not, it worked! (Disclaimer: Please do not try this at home without a professional African mechanic! Thank you!)
So finally at around 3:30 we began our return trip back to Nairobi. We had a little bit of trouble on the way back. Just as we were coming out of Nyeri, we ran into a traffic jam. At first we thought it was because of all the people heading back into Nairobi after the holiday weekend. But as we continued along we found out it was an accident. A matatoo (mini bus for public transportation) had crashed into the dividing wall. The matatoo was pretty beat up, but it didn’t look like anyone was hurt. After that it was smooth sailing back to our hotel.
Tomorrow we leave for the 400 km (250 mile) trip to Kisii so we have to do some re-packing. We have too much luggage to take all of it to Kisii, so we are going to leave some bags here and pick them up when we return. We have a number of bags that have to go to Kisii, and will stay there, so we hope that we will have enough room to take everything to Arusha next week.
We are all doing well, and are staying healthy. We thank the Lord for that as well as for all the progress we have made with the work here. Thank you all for your prayers.
In His service,
Nathanael
October 19th
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Today is our last day in Mombasa. We got up this morning and packed up our things getting ready to leave Kigotho’s Hotel and Apartment. Charles arrived at about 8:30 am and we loaded up and got on our way. We were scheduled to visit one of the Mombasa stations for the church services on our way back to Nairobi. We drove back through Mombasa, across the bay that separates Mombasa from the mainland, and back to the west toward Nairobi. We passed the station we visited yesterday at Mariakana, and continued another 15 minutes or so to Samburu. This station was not as big as the one in Mariakana, and had recently moved from one building in the village to another. When we arrived the members of the congregation were inside praying in preparation for the service. They invited us in and had us sit in chairs at the front of the church as is the custom here. There were around 35 people there and most of them were women.
Picture of me by a "gator" near our Mombasa hotel.
There were a few children, but not as many as in other stations that we have visited. There were even fewer men, and those who were there were the leaders of the church. The members were very well dressed. The women wore dresses of bright colors, and the men all wore dress pants and button up dress shirts. Even the young children wear very nice clothes. It is easy to see that this is an important day, and that they want to wear their best attire as they come to worship their Savior. The service started with a beautiful hymn by the congregation, after which we all stood up for prayer. Pastor Simon asked that I give the opening prayer. Introductions were made so that everyone would know who we were and where we were from. Then Simon offered us a word of welcome and addressed the congregation and asked them to be attentive.
Russ began with his presentation of the Armor of God. He again asked for a young volunteer to use as his “Soldier of God” as he put on the armor, piece by piece. The people listen very attentively and many of them even had notebooks in which they were taking notes.
After Russ was finished the congregation sang another hymn. It is amazing to hear these congregations sing without any instruments or notes to follow in a book. They sing in harmony and even sing in a kind of round in which there are multiple layers being sung at once. It is very beautiful, and the more I become familiar with Swahili, the more I catch and understand in their hymns. Parts of the hymns they sang this morning were also in English, which was easier to understand.
When the hymn was over it was my turn to speak. I used the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew as my text. I focused on the fact that we cannot get into heaven through our own works. God in His love and mercy not only invites us to His wedding feast, but He provides the perfect wedding garment of Christ’s perfect righteousness for us, freely! How dare we ever try to get into the wedding feast by our own righteousness!
Then Bruce asked if we could sing a hymn for them. Bruce summarized the thought of “God’s Word is our great heritage” so that the people would know what we were singing, and then we sang it in parts. Russ and I sang the melody and Bruce the tenor.
Although we would have liked to have stayed for the whole service, we were not able to because of the length of our trip back to Nairobi. So we prayed for the Lord’s blessing upon the congregation, and were back in the car again.
On our way back we stopped at a restaurant different from the one we visited on the way down. The food was much better here. While we were there we took a look at a curio booth which was selling all kinds of carved animals and African trinkets. It was amazing to see the detail on the hand carving.
We arrived back in Nairobi at about 6:30, just as it was getting dark. We looked desperately for a n open cyber café, but couldn’t find any. We decided to eat supper at a hotel we stayed at last year, which had wireless internet, but that wasn’t working either! So much for getting e-mails out tonight! So after finishing supper we journeyed back to Hotel Southern Blue and checked in. After getting settled in I had to make a few calls to Paul and Charles in order to make sure that everything was arranged for our meeting in Muranga tomorrow.
We pray for the Lord’s continued blessings upon our work here!
In Christ,
Nathanael
October 18th
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Today was another very beneficial day. We began the day meeting with two of the Nairobi church leaders. Our goal was to address some concerns that had been raised regarding the work of the churches in Nairobi and Mombasa. We were able to get to the heart of the issue and arrange for a meeting with more of the pastors and leaders in the Muranga area on Monday to talk more about these issues.
After that meeting we left our hotel to meet with the leaders of the churches in Mombasa. Charles had arranged a meeting area for us and the seven Mombasa men to meet for a seminar. It was an open air meeting room which was connected to a restaurant. We began our meeting at about 10:30 and had to be finished at 2:00. We began with introductions so that everyone would know each other. One of the men, the leader of the churches in the Mombasa area, was at the Nairobi conference, so we already knew him. Another man I remembered meeting at our conference in Muranga last year.
After the introductions we began with prayer, and I started with an overview on the books of the Old Testament. I had prepared a brief outline of the Old Testament books in chronological order, and went through a review of those books with them. The purpose was to show that the Old Testament should not be set aside and left unused since it is still very valuable for us today. I also pointed out the many places in these books where Christ is spoken of and pictured.
Church leaders attending the Mombasa conference
After the first study we took a break for lunch which was served in the room we met in. It had something for everyone. There was a beef mix, roasted chicken, ugali, rice and several type of vegetables. The meat here is not as good as in the states. It is usually pretty tough and usually has bones attached to it. If you were to see some of the animals over here you would understand why. It certainly isn’t like the cattle I saw when growing up in Nebraska! The cattle here are pretty thin and often have ribs showing through their skin. But tough beef is better than no beef (which is what we had in India)!
After lunch Bruce took over and used the rest of our time to talk about Biblical Covenant Theology. He contrasted the Old covenant in the time before Christ with the New covenant which came after Christ. He pointed out that the old covenant was a two-way deal (an agreement between God and His people), where the new covenant was a one way deal (or a will) which depended only on God. He also provided for them a handout which outlined these two covenants.
After our meeting we took a little bit of time to stop and see the Indian Ocean. As we were leaving the meeting hall, we passed a Matatoo which was being pushed by three men. It had some sorts of mechanical problem and wasn’t running. As we drove by Russ yelled out the window, “Haraka, haraka!” (That means “hurry, hurry!”) We can’t take him anywhere. And he’s even more dangerous with a little knowledge of Swahili! Even after that we were able to safely make it to the Indian Ocean. There we viewed the Indian Ocean poured into the bay which goes up to Mombasa. This bay is a natural channel that separates the mainland from a peninsula on the other side. There is a ferry that is used to transport people from one side to the other.
While we were there looking at the white caps coming in from the ocean a couple of little kids came up to us and asked him for some money for food. They were pretty ragged looking and your heart went out to them. Then as they were pressing Russ harder one of the kids turned and in his hand behind his back he had an ice cream bar! So much for my heart going out to them.
From there we headed back through Mombasa and inland once again to visit one of the Mombasa churches in Mariakani. It was about a one hour trip to get to this congregation back along the same road we used to come into Mombasa yesterday. This was a larger congregation which was meeting in a rented building that was getting too small for them. It was a metal structure, with metal walls and a metal roof. They had handmade benches for congregational seating and a table for an altar. They had chairs set up behind the altar for us to sit in. The building was about 25x 50' and had between 70-80 people inside. The women and children sat on the left side and the men on the right.
Russ did his Armor of God devotion and Bruce gave the “sermon” for the service. He talked about how we cannot climb our way to heaven through our works, but how Christ climbed down from heaven and became man in order to bring us to heaven through His works.
After the service was over we spoke to the leaders of the church. Once again one of the maim problems they are facing is having enough Bibles. They primarily speak Swahili in this area and have asked for help in getting more Bibles for their people. I told them, just like I have told others, that buying Bibles for our churches here is a priority for us, but also have to remind them that there is a limit to how much we can help, depending on how much money is available, and we will help as much as we can.
This congregation is hoping to be able to build its own building in the near future. Land has been donated nearby and they are looking forward to having their own building somewhat larger than their existing structure. We pray for the Lord’s blessing upon this congregation.
Back to Mombasa we went. On the way back to the hotel we spotted a pizza place and decided to stop there for supper. We ordered two large pizzas and enjoyed some time to relax and visit. Bruce, Russ, Charles and I finished off the two pizzas and were quite satisfied. It was pretty good pizza!
Instead of going directly to the hotel we asked Charles to drop us off at the Nakumatt (African mall) so we could do some e-mail and shopping. When we were finished there we enjoyed a refreshing walk back to our hotel. By the time we arrived at our hotel it was almost 9:00pm.
After working on a few reports it was off to bed in preparation for another long travel day back to Nairobi tomorrow.
In His service,
Nathanael
October 17th
Friday, October 17, 2008
Road trip! When we made the arrangements to go to Mombasa, I was thinking that it wouldn’t be much longer than the trip to Arusha, which I was on last year. But it was quite a bit further than I thought! And not only was it quite a bit longer, but the road from Nairobi to Mombasa is currently under construction, which makes it quite a bit longer. It is not longer because of detour, but because the half of the road we had to travel on was in very poor condition. Many kilometers of the road going out of Nairobi toward Mombasa was little more than a dirt (or rock road). It reminded me a great deal of my childhood traveling on the dirt roads of Nebraska out in the country. The only difference was back then I was usually riding in a four wheel drive pick-up truck and now I am in the back seat of a tiny little Toyota Corolla!
It was a pretty boring drive. The land is pretty desolate and very dry, and doesn’t change much. Most of this land is grazing land for cattle, goats and sheep, but we also saw a few monkeys along the way! There was a section of land that was dedicated to growing sisal, which is harvested and used for making rope. This land was very similar to the land between Nairobi and Arusha, Tanzania to the south. We saw some termite mounds that were as tall as a man, bat nests hanging from trees and other typical Kenyan scenes!
We stopped for lunch at the half way point, and ordered “chips” (french fries) and cold cokes. Then we were back in the car again for another 4 hours or so. We left at 9:00am from Nairobi and arrived at around 5:30pm.
As we approached the city of Mombasa we began seeing more and more semi trucks. Mombasa is the major shipping port of Kenya and a the main means of transporting those goods inland is by semi. The commercial shipping companies and containers that we saw along our route was simply staggering! Finally we were able to see water. The water we saw though was not the Indian Ocean as we thought but the bay that separates Mombasa from the mainland. We crossed a bridge over the Bay and saw huge ships lined up and ready to unload (or load) their cargo.
We had called ahead to reserve three rooms at a hotel that Charles suggested. They told us that we needed to be there by a certain time or they would give our rooms away. When we arrived we found that the place was about empty! And not only that but the rooms were not really singles, they were more like a small apartment! After looking them over (and finding out the price) we decided to share one room instead of have three. Each room had a bedroom with a double bed, a bathroom, kitchen (with a fridge), and living room with two couches and two chairs. It was a nice room but I didn’t think it was worth what we had to pay for it. The cost of this one room was almost twice what our two rooms were at the Southern Blue in Nairobi. But this is a tourist area, and it was the cheapest place in the area!
After checking in and unloading we decided to walk down the road to the local internet place to do some e-mail. We also found a mall close by that we decided to check out. It was good exercise for us after having been in the car all day!
Tomorrow is another big day as we meet with the church leaders of the Mombasa churches, and visit one of the churches. We ask the Lord for His blessing on our work!
In His service,
Nathanael
Road trip! When we made the arrangements to go to Mombasa, I was thinking that it wouldn’t be much longer than the trip to Arusha, which I was on last year. But it was quite a bit further than I thought! And not only was it quite a bit longer, but the road from Nairobi to Mombasa is currently under construction, which makes it quite a bit longer. It is not longer because of detour, but because the half of the road we had to travel on was in very poor condition. Many kilometers of the road going out of Nairobi toward Mombasa was little more than a dirt (or rock road). It reminded me a great deal of my childhood traveling on the dirt roads of Nebraska out in the country. The only difference was back then I was usually riding in a four wheel drive pick-up truck and now I am in the back seat of a tiny little Toyota Corolla!
It was a pretty boring drive. The land is pretty desolate and very dry, and doesn’t change much. Most of this land is grazing land for cattle, goats and sheep, but we also saw a few monkeys along the way! There was a section of land that was dedicated to growing sisal, which is harvested and used for making rope. This land was very similar to the land between Nairobi and Arusha, Tanzania to the south. We saw some termite mounds that were as tall as a man, bat nests hanging from trees and other typical Kenyan scenes!
We stopped for lunch at the half way point, and ordered “chips” (french fries) and cold cokes. Then we were back in the car again for another 4 hours or so. We left at 9:00am from Nairobi and arrived at around 5:30pm.
As we approached the city of Mombasa we began seeing more and more semi trucks. Mombasa is the major shipping port of Kenya and a the main means of transporting those goods inland is by semi. The commercial shipping companies and containers that we saw along our route was simply staggering! Finally we were able to see water. The water we saw though was not the Indian Ocean as we thought but the bay that separates Mombasa from the mainland. We crossed a bridge over the Bay and saw huge ships lined up and ready to unload (or load) their cargo.
We had called ahead to reserve three rooms at a hotel that Charles suggested. They told us that we needed to be there by a certain time or they would give our rooms away. When we arrived we found that the place was about empty! And not only that but the rooms were not really singles, they were more like a small apartment! After looking them over (and finding out the price) we decided to share one room instead of have three. Each room had a bedroom with a double bed, a bathroom, kitchen (with a fridge), and living room with two couches and two chairs. It was a nice room but I didn’t think it was worth what we had to pay for it. The cost of this one room was almost twice what our two rooms were at the Southern Blue in Nairobi. But this is a tourist area, and it was the cheapest place in the area!
After checking in and unloading we decided to walk down the road to the local internet place to do some e-mail. We also found a mall close by that we decided to check out. It was good exercise for us after having been in the car all day!
Tomorrow is another big day as we meet with the church leaders of the Mombasa churches, and visit one of the churches. We ask the Lord for His blessing on our work!
In His service,
Nathanael
October 16th
Thursday, October 16, 2008
East African Pastoral Conference – day two. It was another very beneficial day. We always begin with an opening hymn, but this morning, while waiting for a few of the men to arrive, we had a special treat. We started by singing a familiar hymn in Swahili “God loves me dearly” which is in the Swahili hymnal. Then one of the men (who is from Uganda) taught everyone a hymn. He taught us all the chorus, and he sand the main verses. He was a young man, but had a very good voice. Then Bruce taught them a song. They all picked it up right away, and we all enjoyed it very much. Russ was put in charge of going online and printing off the words of some familiar hymns so that everyone could sing along. But after awhile our English (from the German and Latin) hymns may become a bit old to those not used to them like we are. So it was nice to be able to mix in some Swahili. I always enjoy the singing of these hymns. The men are usually familiar with the melody of these hymns, if not the words. They also have their own musical arrangements for the different voices that really make the hymns come alive. So very enjoyable!
Finally the others arrived and we began. After the opening devotion and the singing of another (English) hymn we started right away with the papers. The first paper was presented by Pastor Jesse Angowi, who is the teacher at the seminary in Himo, Tanzania. He presented a paper on faith and ethical decision. The point of the paper was to point out the distinction between the roles of law and gospel. There is a natural law in the heart of human beings, and there is a revealed knowledge of God’s law. But the way to salvation is not by keeping the law but through faith.
After some discussion I was given the opportunity to present my paper on the meaning of the phrase “from the foundation of the world.” In this paper we considered the passages where the phrase occurred in Scripture and saw how it vividly described the manifold work of God in accomplishing our salvation. At the end of the presentation there was time for questions and discussion of the paper. After finishing the papers, time was given for announcements, and then we concluded with a hymn. Russ had chosen “Onward Christian Soldiers” for the hymn. This same hymn is found in the Swahili hymnal, so we decided to alternate verses. We sang the first verse in Swahili, the second and third in English, the beginning of the fourth in English and then sang the final chorus in Swahili. It was a wonderful way to close out our general pastoral conference!
After our close, lunch was served so that those men who had to return home could get back on the road. During this time I was busy meeting with the various groups about their plans to return home, and making arrangements for visiting their areas later on our trip. I was so busy visiting with people that I didn’t even have time to eat! Meals here usually consist of either rice or ugali (which is a mashed corn that looks like mashed potatoes but much more firm in consistency) with a meat stew and some kind of vegetable. It really wasn’t a big deal since I have gotten into the habit of not eating lunch anyway.
After lunch was finished we met with each of the groups individually, and began to say our temporary goodbyes. Most (if not all the men) will be seen by us again later in our trip. It was a very busy and profitable day. We also had the chance to talk with a lot of the men about their local congregational work and how it is going.
At around 4:00 we finally wrapped everything up and headed back to our own hotel. Even though the conference was over, we still had a lot to do. Tomorrow we are leaving Nairobi for the very long trip to Mombasa. So we spent some time working on reports about the meeting, preparing for the trip and meetings in Mombasa, packing and some time at the internet café just up the street from our hotel.
Later in the night we had a visitor. A lady that Russ had met at the internet café stopped by the hotel and wanted us to meet her pastor. They are connected to a Presbyterian church here in Ngala (a suburb of Nairobi). We visited with them for a little bit, and Bruce gave the man a book to read that defends the inspiration of Scripture. We are going to try and meet up with him again at some point when we are back in Nairobi to see if he has any other questions. All this developed from a friendly conversation with a lady who worked beside the internet café! We pray that the Lord would bless this contact as well.
Well off to bed, we have a long trip tomorrow, so that’s all for now.
In His service,
Nathanael
Thursday, October 23, 2008
October 15th
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
Today was the first day of our yearly East African Pastoral Conference. We had planned for around 17 pastors, four from each area (Nairobi, Kenya; Etago, Kenya; Arusha, Tanzania and Himo, Tanzania). Last night there was some concern that some of the Tanzania men would not be able to attend since they had not arrived and because I was unable to reach them by phone. But we were pleasantly surprised when we heard that everyone had arrived who was supposed to, plus we had a few additional men as well. In all, we had 25 men in attendance, which included Bruce, Russ and myself. We also had more papers to present than we expected, which was also wonderful. At about 8:30 Charles picked us up at the Southern Blue and drove us to the Kijabe Hotel where the conference was to be held. After meeting new men and exchanging greetings with those who I knew from last year in the courtyard, we climbed the four flights of stairs to the hotel conference room to meet the rest of the men and begin our conference. I knew the majority of the men who were there, and many of them were surprised that I had remembered them from last year.
After some opening remarks, an opening devotion and hymn, Bruce got things rolling with a study on the End times with special emphasis on Millennialism. This was a great and very beneficial study because of the heavy influence of Reformed theology in this part of East Africa.
Most of the pastors who attend the conferences can read English, although they do not all speak it well. While all the papers are presented in English, we have the presentation translated into Swahili for the benefit of those who do not understand English as well. Because of the time this takes we are not able to get through as much information as we would like in the time that is available to us. It is our hope that in the future this conference will become an exclusively English conference, in order to get more accomplished in the short time that we have.
After lunch Pastor Fred from Etago, Kenya was given the floor to present his paper on the Kings of the united and divided kingdoms. Pastor Enosh of Etago followed him with an overview of the Gospel of Mark, and then Pastor Gondwe of Tanga, Tanzania finished out the day with a study on Pastoral Theology and the ministry. Questions, comments and discussion followed each of the four presentations.
We finally brought our meeting to a close at around 7:00pm and agreed to begin at 8:30 tomorrow morning, in order to get everything done before lunch when many of the men would have to start to head back home again.
It was another long day, but it is always such a wonderful time. I enjoy the time that we spend together in the Word growing in our knowledge of the wonderful mysteries of God. But I also enjoy sitting down with the men and learning about their work and the challenges that are before each of them. After such a beneficial day today, I very much look forward to tomorrow.
Nathanael
Today was the first day of our yearly East African Pastoral Conference. We had planned for around 17 pastors, four from each area (Nairobi, Kenya; Etago, Kenya; Arusha, Tanzania and Himo, Tanzania). Last night there was some concern that some of the Tanzania men would not be able to attend since they had not arrived and because I was unable to reach them by phone. But we were pleasantly surprised when we heard that everyone had arrived who was supposed to, plus we had a few additional men as well. In all, we had 25 men in attendance, which included Bruce, Russ and myself. We also had more papers to present than we expected, which was also wonderful. At about 8:30 Charles picked us up at the Southern Blue and drove us to the Kijabe Hotel where the conference was to be held. After meeting new men and exchanging greetings with those who I knew from last year in the courtyard, we climbed the four flights of stairs to the hotel conference room to meet the rest of the men and begin our conference. I knew the majority of the men who were there, and many of them were surprised that I had remembered them from last year.
After some opening remarks, an opening devotion and hymn, Bruce got things rolling with a study on the End times with special emphasis on Millennialism. This was a great and very beneficial study because of the heavy influence of Reformed theology in this part of East Africa.
Most of the pastors who attend the conferences can read English, although they do not all speak it well. While all the papers are presented in English, we have the presentation translated into Swahili for the benefit of those who do not understand English as well. Because of the time this takes we are not able to get through as much information as we would like in the time that is available to us. It is our hope that in the future this conference will become an exclusively English conference, in order to get more accomplished in the short time that we have.
After lunch Pastor Fred from Etago, Kenya was given the floor to present his paper on the Kings of the united and divided kingdoms. Pastor Enosh of Etago followed him with an overview of the Gospel of Mark, and then Pastor Gondwe of Tanga, Tanzania finished out the day with a study on Pastoral Theology and the ministry. Questions, comments and discussion followed each of the four presentations.
We finally brought our meeting to a close at around 7:00pm and agreed to begin at 8:30 tomorrow morning, in order to get everything done before lunch when many of the men would have to start to head back home again.
It was another long day, but it is always such a wonderful time. I enjoy the time that we spend together in the Word growing in our knowledge of the wonderful mysteries of God. But I also enjoy sitting down with the men and learning about their work and the challenges that are before each of them. After such a beneficial day today, I very much look forward to tomorrow.
Nathanael
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
At Hotel Southern Blue, Russ and I are sharing a double room. It is a small room with two single beds and a small bathroom. The bathroom has a shower with “on demand” hot water – which offered me my first hot shower of this trip. Even though it is a bit small, it is a nice and comfortable room. The cost is about $30 a night and that includes a free breakfast with fruit, eggs however you like them, juice, coffee or tea, and just about anything else you might want. What’s more, the people here are great. They are extremely welcoming and helpful.
This morning Charles brought several pastors by who were in town early for the conference. One of them was Pastor Yumba from the Congo, Pastor Simon from Mombasa was also there as well as Pastor Charles from Nyahururu, and his son who serves another congregation even further to the north. It was a very good meeting, as I had the chance to find out about the work in the Congo and the Mombasa stations. Our plan is to be able to visit the Mombasa churches at the end of the week.
Originally, we had planned to visit one or more of the local Nairobi congregations in the morning, but we had a number of pastors who had to come to Nairobi early because of travel schedules. So those visits were cancelled. It was also not possible to do this in the afternoon because Charles needed to be available to pick people up when they arrived in town, and that was to happen throughout the day. So we had the afternoon free. This was a wonderful thing for me because I received some much needed time to prepare my presentations for the conference tomorrow. It also gave me some time to get to the cyber café to do some e-mail (for the first time since arriving in Africa) and printing of papers for conference. I worked on a couple of presentations, not knowing exactly how many papers we were going to need. Late in the day, when people should have arrived, I began to be concerned that one of the groups from Tanzania was not going to make it.
In the evening, after getting things ready for the conference, Charles picked us up to head to the airport to meet Bruce Naumann whose plane was to arrive at 7:40. We arrived at around 9:00, and found Bruce waiting for us. Thankfully he hadn’t been waiting there very long. It was great to see him (along with all his luggage). We had the chance to visit with him and fill him in on the events of the past few days and the plans for the coming few days, got him settled in, and all went to bed, in preparation for the start of the conference tomorrow.
Then, at about 1:30 in the morning I received a phone call from Charles, telling me that a few more men had arrived. Even if it was the middle of the night, I was glad that they had made it safely and looked forward to seeing them all in the morning.
In His service,
Nathanael
At Hotel Southern Blue, Russ and I are sharing a double room. It is a small room with two single beds and a small bathroom. The bathroom has a shower with “on demand” hot water – which offered me my first hot shower of this trip. Even though it is a bit small, it is a nice and comfortable room. The cost is about $30 a night and that includes a free breakfast with fruit, eggs however you like them, juice, coffee or tea, and just about anything else you might want. What’s more, the people here are great. They are extremely welcoming and helpful.
This morning Charles brought several pastors by who were in town early for the conference. One of them was Pastor Yumba from the Congo, Pastor Simon from Mombasa was also there as well as Pastor Charles from Nyahururu, and his son who serves another congregation even further to the north. It was a very good meeting, as I had the chance to find out about the work in the Congo and the Mombasa stations. Our plan is to be able to visit the Mombasa churches at the end of the week.
Originally, we had planned to visit one or more of the local Nairobi congregations in the morning, but we had a number of pastors who had to come to Nairobi early because of travel schedules. So those visits were cancelled. It was also not possible to do this in the afternoon because Charles needed to be available to pick people up when they arrived in town, and that was to happen throughout the day. So we had the afternoon free. This was a wonderful thing for me because I received some much needed time to prepare my presentations for the conference tomorrow. It also gave me some time to get to the cyber café to do some e-mail (for the first time since arriving in Africa) and printing of papers for conference. I worked on a couple of presentations, not knowing exactly how many papers we were going to need. Late in the day, when people should have arrived, I began to be concerned that one of the groups from Tanzania was not going to make it.
In the evening, after getting things ready for the conference, Charles picked us up to head to the airport to meet Bruce Naumann whose plane was to arrive at 7:40. We arrived at around 9:00, and found Bruce waiting for us. Thankfully he hadn’t been waiting there very long. It was great to see him (along with all his luggage). We had the chance to visit with him and fill him in on the events of the past few days and the plans for the coming few days, got him settled in, and all went to bed, in preparation for the start of the conference tomorrow.
Then, at about 1:30 in the morning I received a phone call from Charles, telling me that a few more men had arrived. Even if it was the middle of the night, I was glad that they had made it safely and looked forward to seeing them all in the morning.
In His service,
Nathanael
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
October 13
Monday, October 13, 2008
After a good night sleep I awoke at about 6:00am. I did some work on a Bible study which I was preparing to present to some of our local pastors and church leaders. At breakfast we met three other men who were also in the area doing “mission work.” They were from the Boston area, and were visiting churches in the area. One man, Eric, was a business man, and he introduced us to the others. Jim was an older man who had lived in Kenya for over a year and was a Physical therapist and Dave was the pastor of the group. It was interesting visiting with them for the short time we had.
After breakfast I made arrangements to use a “conference room” of the hotel for our pastor’s meeting. Soon Charles arrived with two of the men both named David. I talked with them about how things had been going in Nyeri since I had visited last year. When we came to Nyeri last year, we did not have any churches in Nyeri – only contacts with men who were interested in learning more about our church and teachings. One of the men has done a great job going through the catechism with Charles, and there are others who are progressing more slowly, but are excited and eager to learn more. When the other men showed up we sat down together and talked about the progress of the group and how to further the Gospel in the area. I also took some time to go through a brief Bible study with them to build them up in the knowledge of the truth and to strengthen them in their faith. We had a very profitable discussion, and I look forward to seeing them in the future.
One of these men has been corresponding with me by e-mail during the past year, and has a small congregation in his home just outside of Nyeri. He works full time as a distributor for Coke, and is working to preach the name of Christ through the beginning of a home church as well. He had made arrangements for us to come and visit his home and meet some of the members of his church. We did not have much time here either since Charles had scheduled another congregational visit that afternoon, but we did visit with them and encourage them through the word, and they seemed genuinely thankful that we had taken the time to come and see them.
I have to say that Charles has been doing an excellent job of making all the necessary arrangements and keeping us on schedule. And as our driver and the church leader of this area, it is clear that he knows his way around, and has been making visits to these congregations during the past year. By the way, I have never seen an African driver take out a map - even in unfamiliar territory. They will just pull to the side of the road and ask someone for directions! But even that does not happen often!
After leaving David’s home, we left Nyeri and headed back to the north once again to visit a new congregation in the area. This group also meets in the home of a young man who owns about 600 acres of land. He and his brother inherited the land from their father and work some of the land to raise maize, potatoes, and onions. Because of the dry climate most of their land is used for grazing goats (one of which we had for lunch!). They also raised many chickens which wandered around the fenced in yard and laid several eggs while we were there. We know this because we heard several hens cluck loudly which is what they do after laying an egg to brag about their accomplishment (a possible sermon illustration there). While this area was very dry and out in the middle of nowhere, it was very beautiful land with rolling hills and flat plains.
The congregation is being served by a young man by the name of Daniel who has gone through instruction with Charles in the catechism and is continuing with additional, more in-depth studies. Russ spoke to the congregation about the Armor of God and used a suit of armor to be even more descriptive (I tried to put a picture here, but our Internet connection is too slow).
When Russ was finished I spoke to this small group about Jesus’ picture of the sheep and the goats and used the illustration of the animals they had around them to show that it is by God’s grace that we are saved. It was an interesting visit. This was a very wealthy family compared to many others in Africa. They lived on their own land, grew their own food, and sustained themselves on what they made themselves. Yet they would probably be considered very poor in comparison to most people in our country. A little wooden shack for a home on what might be considered a small farm. But they have the one thing needful, eager to sit at the feet of Jesus. That is true wealth!
After the short service there we got back into the car for the return trip to Nairobi. Once again I was hoping to be able to see Mt. Kenya on our trip home, but it was covered with clouds. After another long trip we arrived back in Nairobi, just in time for rush hour! I generally wouldn’t consider a 3-4 hour drive all that long. But driving from Madison to Eau Claire on nice Wisconsin interstate is a completely different animal from driving from Nyeri to Nairobi on African roads! After riding on the “interstate” roads over here you get a new appreciation for our roads in the states – even those that are seemingly constantly under construction. The roads are so bad over here that the tires on his car could use re-alignment at the end of every day!
We settled into Hotel Southern Blue on the northern side of Nairobi. This wasn’t a very good part of town, but it was close to the hotel where the Pastoral conference was going to be, so we decided to stay there instead of our usual Nairobi hotel. The rest of the evening was spent in preparation for the big pastoral conference for which people will start arriving tomorrow.
Nathanael
After a good night sleep I awoke at about 6:00am. I did some work on a Bible study which I was preparing to present to some of our local pastors and church leaders. At breakfast we met three other men who were also in the area doing “mission work.” They were from the Boston area, and were visiting churches in the area. One man, Eric, was a business man, and he introduced us to the others. Jim was an older man who had lived in Kenya for over a year and was a Physical therapist and Dave was the pastor of the group. It was interesting visiting with them for the short time we had.
After breakfast I made arrangements to use a “conference room” of the hotel for our pastor’s meeting. Soon Charles arrived with two of the men both named David. I talked with them about how things had been going in Nyeri since I had visited last year. When we came to Nyeri last year, we did not have any churches in Nyeri – only contacts with men who were interested in learning more about our church and teachings. One of the men has done a great job going through the catechism with Charles, and there are others who are progressing more slowly, but are excited and eager to learn more. When the other men showed up we sat down together and talked about the progress of the group and how to further the Gospel in the area. I also took some time to go through a brief Bible study with them to build them up in the knowledge of the truth and to strengthen them in their faith. We had a very profitable discussion, and I look forward to seeing them in the future.
One of these men has been corresponding with me by e-mail during the past year, and has a small congregation in his home just outside of Nyeri. He works full time as a distributor for Coke, and is working to preach the name of Christ through the beginning of a home church as well. He had made arrangements for us to come and visit his home and meet some of the members of his church. We did not have much time here either since Charles had scheduled another congregational visit that afternoon, but we did visit with them and encourage them through the word, and they seemed genuinely thankful that we had taken the time to come and see them.
I have to say that Charles has been doing an excellent job of making all the necessary arrangements and keeping us on schedule. And as our driver and the church leader of this area, it is clear that he knows his way around, and has been making visits to these congregations during the past year. By the way, I have never seen an African driver take out a map - even in unfamiliar territory. They will just pull to the side of the road and ask someone for directions! But even that does not happen often!
After leaving David’s home, we left Nyeri and headed back to the north once again to visit a new congregation in the area. This group also meets in the home of a young man who owns about 600 acres of land. He and his brother inherited the land from their father and work some of the land to raise maize, potatoes, and onions. Because of the dry climate most of their land is used for grazing goats (one of which we had for lunch!). They also raised many chickens which wandered around the fenced in yard and laid several eggs while we were there. We know this because we heard several hens cluck loudly which is what they do after laying an egg to brag about their accomplishment (a possible sermon illustration there). While this area was very dry and out in the middle of nowhere, it was very beautiful land with rolling hills and flat plains.
The congregation is being served by a young man by the name of Daniel who has gone through instruction with Charles in the catechism and is continuing with additional, more in-depth studies. Russ spoke to the congregation about the Armor of God and used a suit of armor to be even more descriptive (I tried to put a picture here, but our Internet connection is too slow).
When Russ was finished I spoke to this small group about Jesus’ picture of the sheep and the goats and used the illustration of the animals they had around them to show that it is by God’s grace that we are saved. It was an interesting visit. This was a very wealthy family compared to many others in Africa. They lived on their own land, grew their own food, and sustained themselves on what they made themselves. Yet they would probably be considered very poor in comparison to most people in our country. A little wooden shack for a home on what might be considered a small farm. But they have the one thing needful, eager to sit at the feet of Jesus. That is true wealth!
After the short service there we got back into the car for the return trip to Nairobi. Once again I was hoping to be able to see Mt. Kenya on our trip home, but it was covered with clouds. After another long trip we arrived back in Nairobi, just in time for rush hour! I generally wouldn’t consider a 3-4 hour drive all that long. But driving from Madison to Eau Claire on nice Wisconsin interstate is a completely different animal from driving from Nyeri to Nairobi on African roads! After riding on the “interstate” roads over here you get a new appreciation for our roads in the states – even those that are seemingly constantly under construction. The roads are so bad over here that the tires on his car could use re-alignment at the end of every day!
We settled into Hotel Southern Blue on the northern side of Nairobi. This wasn’t a very good part of town, but it was close to the hotel where the Pastoral conference was going to be, so we decided to stay there instead of our usual Nairobi hotel. The rest of the evening was spent in preparation for the big pastoral conference for which people will start arriving tomorrow.
Nathanael
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Firtst day
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
When we came out of the airport Charles and Paul were waiting for us outside. We were also introduced to another man named Titus who was working in one of our newer churches in Nairobi. As soon as we had our bags loaded into the boot (aka: trunk) of the car we were on our way. We did not go directly a local hotel to get a good night sleep – we made the long trip up to Nyahururu just across the equator. This is one of the congregations that I visited last year where the members of the church did not have Bibles. They are not in the same place they were last year. They were not able to afford the small building they were renting, so they are meeting at the pastor’s home. They have quite a few more members this year though, and are in need of more Kikuyu Bibles. While some of the people understand Swahili, they are Kikuyu people and understand their own tribal language the best.
Because of delays in our trip we were not able to make it to Nyahururu in time for the morning worship service. I was really looking forward to being there too, especially since they were going to be performing the baptism of 8 children during the service. So many of the members came back in the afternoon to meet us. When we pulled up to the house where the members were gathered, the people came out of the yard and greeted us with singing, eager to welcome us. We shared a short gospel message with the 20 adults and 25 children from Ephesians 6 on the Armor God gives to us through His Word.
There were also a very large number of children at this congregation. Sadly, we found out that many of these children had been deserted or orphaned, and were being cared for by some of the ladies of the congregation. This seems to be a real problem in this part of East Africa. Some of the children have lost their parents to sickness or accident, others have simply been deserted. The people of the churches here are often stepping in to help these children. Of course many of these people have little themselves.
We had only a short stay in Nyahururu because we had to get back on the road again for our drive south to the large city of Nyeri. When we drove from Nairobi to Nyahururu in the morning, we came on a road which was West of the Aberdares mountain range. On the way to Nyeri we took a road which took us to the East of the Aberdares mountains, between the Aberdares and Mt. Kenya. I was looking forward to seeing Mt. Kenya again, but it was completely enshrouded in dark clouds. Russell remarked that it reminded him of what the children of Israel might have seen as they looked up to Mt. Sinai in the book of Exodus.
We made it to Nyeri in the late afternoon and check in to our hotel – ready and very eager to get some much needed rest. We calculated that by the time we went to sleep on Sunday night, it had been over 60 hours since the last time we had slept in a bed!
We stayed at a place called the Green Hills Hotel, which is where Dave, Larry and I stayed last year when we came through Nyeri. The first thing I wanted to do was take a shower after our long flight and road trip. Imagine my great dismay when I discovered that there was no hot water! After taking a cold shower (which was better than none at all), settling into our rooms and getting something for supper we returned to our rooms. With only a few short naps in between, we didn’t care that it was 1:00 in the afternoon back home (9:00pm Africa time) - we were ready for bed! My body clock was so mixed up on the trip over here that I have really had no trouble adjusting to Africa time. I am thankful for that.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Arrival!
Friday, October 10, 2008
On Friday night Debra, Julia and Mark dropped me off at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport at about 7:30p.m. I met up with Russ Schmitt (from Mankato, Minnesota) who has made a couple of previous Mission helper trips to East Africa and will be traveling with me again this year. We were able to get checked it right away. In addition to my two carry on bags, I packed two boxes to check and have brought over to Africa. These boxes contained the many theological books and several laptops that were donated by CLC members since my trip last year. As you can imagine, they were very heavy, especially since I packed them so they were just under the weight limit of 50 pounds for checked bags. After getting our boarding passes and checking our extra items, we made our way through security. Although not as difficult as security in Atlanta, this was quite a process. The security procedure is to take any laptops out of your bag and place in a separate container so they can be scanned separately. When I went through security I received quite a few chuckles and comments as I pulled out not one, not two, but three laptops out of my bag! Some of the security people must have wondered if I had gotten my laptop bag from Mary Poppins’ while others made various friendly comments about the three laptops I pulled out and sent through. My other bag caused some trouble too. They pulled me to the side and asked me to open it up because there were a few things they couldn’t make out on the scanner. I was carrying the two battery chargers for the extra two laptops and four electric voltage converters (one for my electronics and one for each of the three laptops I was transporting over for the churches and seminary here). So they went through my bag, but I didn’t have any other trouble.
From there we made our way to our gate where we sat and watched (what we hoped would be) the last of the American news media’s spin on the current presidential campaigning. Since we won’t be back before the election in November, Russ and I both voted before we left. Yet we both agreed that we weren’t going to miss all the political bickering that goes on between now and then. We will look forward to hearing about the outcome of the election in November, and will keep the situation there in our prayers.
At about 9:00p.m. we began boarding our Airbus 330 for the trip to London. By 10:00p.m. we were off the ground and looking down at the lights of the Minnesota cities below. Since it was an over night flight there was very little to see on the eight hour flight. The first thing we were able to see after the sun came up was the beautiful Irish countryside as we began to decrease altitude over Ireland. Then it was a quick trip across England and to the Heathrow airport. We went ahead six hours on the flight and arrived at around 11:30a.m.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
In London we had to change airlines, from NWA to Kenya Air, so we had to exit the terminal, collect our checked bags and check them again. We had an eight hour layover in London. We had discussed going out and seeing some of London while we were there, but we were both tired and it was very expensive to have our bags stored, so we decided to kill time at the airport. We tried to catch a little shut-eye in a quiet part of the airport and ate lunch at “Wetherspoons”. At around 3:00p.m. we returned to re-check our bags, and went back through security with our carry-ons. Although I did get a few comments about the laptops, I didn’t have any problems with the items in my other bag. Since our gate hadn’t been set yet, we found a British Airways gate that was empty and where we could get electricity. Russ tried to catch up on some sleep while I worked on preparing for our pastoral conference. After a while people started filling up the area, waiting for a plane headed back to Seattle in the US. I met a couple of men who were from Spokane, and had been in Sudan doing mission work for another organization. They had to leave early because of an uprising of the rebel army in southern Sudan.
Not long after they left, the gate for our flight was announced. We made our way to the opposite end of the terminal to wait for our boarding call. Once at our gate, we found an open area and I laid down to rest while Russ kept watch on our things. At a little after 7:00p.m. they began boarding and we were in the air by 8:30p.m. This time we were on a brand new Boeing 777. The seats were much thinner and were very uncomfortable compared to the Airbus 330. This was another over night flight, and so there was very little to see. I was able to see the lights of London and the lights of Paris, but not much else. This was another flight over eight hours, and here we “lost” or went ahead another two hours in time, arriving at about 6:00a.m. Kenya time on Sunday morning.
I had already purchased my Kenya visa, but Russ had not, so we were in two different lines. My line, although slow, went much faster than the line Russ was in. I was through by 7:00am, collected all our checked bags and waited another hour before Russ came trotting down the stairs to the baggage claim and customs area. He was able to get a visa without any trouble, but the process was much slower. When I went through customs they wanted to know what was in the boxes. I told them that they were books, but the lady who was running the lane wanted to see for herself. She asked me to open one, but didn’t have anything to cut the tape I had used to wrap the box. After struggling for a while with the tip of her ink pen – and only opening the top of the box a very little – she finally told me to go on through!
On Friday night Debra, Julia and Mark dropped me off at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport at about 7:30p.m. I met up with Russ Schmitt (from Mankato, Minnesota) who has made a couple of previous Mission helper trips to East Africa and will be traveling with me again this year. We were able to get checked it right away. In addition to my two carry on bags, I packed two boxes to check and have brought over to Africa. These boxes contained the many theological books and several laptops that were donated by CLC members since my trip last year. As you can imagine, they were very heavy, especially since I packed them so they were just under the weight limit of 50 pounds for checked bags. After getting our boarding passes and checking our extra items, we made our way through security. Although not as difficult as security in Atlanta, this was quite a process. The security procedure is to take any laptops out of your bag and place in a separate container so they can be scanned separately. When I went through security I received quite a few chuckles and comments as I pulled out not one, not two, but three laptops out of my bag! Some of the security people must have wondered if I had gotten my laptop bag from Mary Poppins’ while others made various friendly comments about the three laptops I pulled out and sent through. My other bag caused some trouble too. They pulled me to the side and asked me to open it up because there were a few things they couldn’t make out on the scanner. I was carrying the two battery chargers for the extra two laptops and four electric voltage converters (one for my electronics and one for each of the three laptops I was transporting over for the churches and seminary here). So they went through my bag, but I didn’t have any other trouble.
From there we made our way to our gate where we sat and watched (what we hoped would be) the last of the American news media’s spin on the current presidential campaigning. Since we won’t be back before the election in November, Russ and I both voted before we left. Yet we both agreed that we weren’t going to miss all the political bickering that goes on between now and then. We will look forward to hearing about the outcome of the election in November, and will keep the situation there in our prayers.
At about 9:00p.m. we began boarding our Airbus 330 for the trip to London. By 10:00p.m. we were off the ground and looking down at the lights of the Minnesota cities below. Since it was an over night flight there was very little to see on the eight hour flight. The first thing we were able to see after the sun came up was the beautiful Irish countryside as we began to decrease altitude over Ireland. Then it was a quick trip across England and to the Heathrow airport. We went ahead six hours on the flight and arrived at around 11:30a.m.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
In London we had to change airlines, from NWA to Kenya Air, so we had to exit the terminal, collect our checked bags and check them again. We had an eight hour layover in London. We had discussed going out and seeing some of London while we were there, but we were both tired and it was very expensive to have our bags stored, so we decided to kill time at the airport. We tried to catch a little shut-eye in a quiet part of the airport and ate lunch at “Wetherspoons”. At around 3:00p.m. we returned to re-check our bags, and went back through security with our carry-ons. Although I did get a few comments about the laptops, I didn’t have any problems with the items in my other bag. Since our gate hadn’t been set yet, we found a British Airways gate that was empty and where we could get electricity. Russ tried to catch up on some sleep while I worked on preparing for our pastoral conference. After a while people started filling up the area, waiting for a plane headed back to Seattle in the US. I met a couple of men who were from Spokane, and had been in Sudan doing mission work for another organization. They had to leave early because of an uprising of the rebel army in southern Sudan.
Not long after they left, the gate for our flight was announced. We made our way to the opposite end of the terminal to wait for our boarding call. Once at our gate, we found an open area and I laid down to rest while Russ kept watch on our things. At a little after 7:00p.m. they began boarding and we were in the air by 8:30p.m. This time we were on a brand new Boeing 777. The seats were much thinner and were very uncomfortable compared to the Airbus 330. This was another over night flight, and so there was very little to see. I was able to see the lights of London and the lights of Paris, but not much else. This was another flight over eight hours, and here we “lost” or went ahead another two hours in time, arriving at about 6:00a.m. Kenya time on Sunday morning.
I had already purchased my Kenya visa, but Russ had not, so we were in two different lines. My line, although slow, went much faster than the line Russ was in. I was through by 7:00am, collected all our checked bags and waited another hour before Russ came trotting down the stairs to the baggage claim and customs area. He was able to get a visa without any trouble, but the process was much slower. When I went through customs they wanted to know what was in the boxes. I told them that they were books, but the lady who was running the lane wanted to see for herself. She asked me to open one, but didn’t have anything to cut the tape I had used to wrap the box. After struggling for a while with the tip of her ink pen – and only opening the top of the box a very little – she finally told me to go on through!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Future Updates
Pastor Nathanael Mayhew left for Africa last Friday, October 10. He will be in Africa until the beginning of November. Check back for future updates from Pastor Mayhew.
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