Today we had plans to visit two of the Etago congregations. Besides teaching the pastors and church leaders we also want to find time to visit the members in their congregations to encourage and support them with the Word of God. This also gives us the opportunity to see how services are conducted, discover the knowledge of the members, and see how things have changed with the congregations since the last time we were here. Some churches have a roof which they didn’t before, others have new doors or windows, some have been added on to. So this is very profitable for us as well.
So this morning we left for Etago at 9:30am and arrived at the church around 11:00am. We decided to take two cars since we needed both Pastor Enosh and Pastor Fred to go along. One church was led by Pastor Fred and another by Pastor Enosh. So in addition to Charles’ car we also took Enosh’s car. Bruce, Russ, Charles and Fred rode in one car, and Enosh, Jepheth, Enosh’s driver and I rode in his. I volunteered to ride with Enosh and what a ride that was!
Enosh owns a very old Toyota wagon that felt and sounded like it could fall apart at any given moment. The drivers door could not be opened from the inside (the driver had to roll down his window and open his door from the outside) and my door wouldn’t open from the outside! The windows had no rubber seal and rattled loudly as we drove down the road. The best part of the car was the newer cassette deck that was mounted in the dash which played Swahili hymns as we would around the Kenya countryside! First gear didn’t work very well, so whenever we were ready to start the driver would rev the engine to what seemed like full throttle before letting out the clutch! What a ride!
The first church that we visited was Kenuchi church. But before going there we were invited to the home of one of the founders of the congregation. This man had donated land for the church to be built and has a son who is attending his first year of seminary at St. Peter’s in Himo, Tanzania. At his home our whole caravan (plus a few others) were served rice, tea, and banana. We greeted the family and thanked them for their hospitality and then were asked to take a few pictures. Then we walked up the hill to where the church was. It was already filled with people waiting for our arrival. Because of time and our schedule to visit another congregation we had to shorten our visit here. They had quite a program ready to go, but we had to keep it short. They introduced key leaders of the church, introduced us, sang a couple of songs (one by a five man choir that was very well done) and then give us time to speak to them. Russ did the “armor of God” and I spoke on 1 Peter2 about being strangers and foreigners in this world. Bruce gave the closing prayer. Then we were off again to Chotororo. There was some concern that we might not be able to visit this congregation because of the roads. If it rained it could keep us from getting there and clouds were rolling in.
I was again in Enosh’s car following Charles and Co. On the way our wonderful car started acting up (more than usual) and then stopped! It was starting to sprinkle now and the other car was nowhere in sight. The driver popped the hood to have a look. He played with the carburetor, but couldn’t keep it running. Soon it was clear he wasn’t going to get the old beater running. Out of nowhere a few people arrived to help. The driver thought that it might be the plugs that were the problem, so he pulled four old plus out of the glove compartment that looked like they should have been retired already. He pulled out a piece of copper wire, stripped the end off with his teeth. The he took one of the plugs and held one end on one battery terminal while holding one end of the wire on the other battery terminal and sweeping the other end of the wire across the top of the spark plug. When it sparked he knew he had a good plug. This was repeated with each of the plugs! Now they had to find a way to pull the other plugs out. Off someone went to find some kind of wrench for the job while others intrigued by the sight gathered around to see if they could lend some mechanical expertise. Soon they had a wrench and pulled out all the plugs and tested them in the same way. They all fired (and looked a lot newer than the ones that had come out of the glove compartment), so now they had to go back in. But wait! They are all dirty now and can’t go back in like that, so what will they do? One man pulled a rubber hose off a plastic fitting and then put his head in the engine cavity, about thirty seconds later he came out with a mouthful of gasoline from the gas line! He grabbed the plugs and while rubbing them back and forth in his hand spit the gasoline over the plugs to “sterilize” them! What a job, huh?
By this time the rain had stopped and the hot sun was now beating down on us. (I have aslight sunburn on my forehead and neck to prove it!) The mechanics kept working away. They replaced all the plugs and then checked the plug wires using the same system. The rubber gaskets were pulled back to expose the metal which was held to the battery terminals. Three sparked, one didn’t. So the took the copper wire which had been used earlier, cut it to the proper length, and ran it beside the original wire and attached it at both ends. It was reattached to the plug and the distributor in the hopes that it was the problem. The car was started up again, but still wouldn’t stay idling. By now a really big group had gathered. At one point there were more than six men with their heads under the hood checking for possible solutions! I couldn’t see a thing! Next they took the carburetor apart (they were running it without an air filter on it). I’m not sure what they did, but whatever it was, it worked! We paid one of the men 150 shillings (about $2) for his help and were off again. I wouldn’t suck up gas for that much, but they were thankful!
On we went to Chotororo, which was Fred’s home congregation. In fact he had donated his own land to have a place for the church to be built. When we arrived after our long delay, we found the other group waiting for us. While we were having our engine rebuilt on the side of the road thy were enjoying tea and chapati!
Walking up the hill to Chotororo church...
From there we had quite a walk to where the church was built. It was a small building of about 25 x 60 made of sticks and mud walls with openings for doors and windows. It had a gabled roof with new metal sheets (offerings to the CLC’s MDF were used to purchase them). Our practice is to help churches put on a metal roof once they have secured their own land and have built the walls of the church. That way they are not depending on us entirely, nor do they get money from us to start a building which never gets finished. We work together in this way.
Pastor Fred also showed us land that he would like to see used for a Kenyan seminary some day. He is a very dedicated man, and it would be a wonderful thing to be able to have a seminary in both Kenya and Tanzania at some point in the future. Please keep this in your prayers.
After our visit to this congregation we returned to Etago. (Since we were planning to meet with someone in Etago, I was rode in Charles’ car this time! We went to visit the man who had caused a bit of commotion at the Etago meeting the previous day. He was the father of one of the Church Council members and the man who had donated the land for the Etago church and orphanage, but was no longer a member. We talked with him about his concerns regarding the church and told him things would get better now. We had a good visit and ironed out the problems voiced earlier. We are thankful to the Lord for that!
Then it was another long trip back to Kisii. On this trip home our muffler broke in another location and it dragged most of the way home. Tomorrow is Sunday, but Charles is going to try and get it fixed as early as possible so we can get to the church service at Omotembe tomorrow morning. We’ll see how it goes!
More later...
In His service,
Nathanael
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