On the road again...

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Friends in Christ,

Today started unexpectedly. We were supposed to be ready to go at 10:00 for our visits, but at 7:45am we received a call from Charles saying that he was at the hotel with some of the men from Nyeri and they wanted to visit! We were all still in bed after a long day and late night the previous day, so it caught us a bit off guard. But we got up and Larry and I walked up to the lobby to meet with them. We were updated on what was going on with our churches in the Nyeri area, and had a good visit with these men. We wrapped up at a bit before 10:00, ate a quick breakfast, packed our things, checked out, and were ready to load up and head to Nyahururu by 10:30.

It was a two hour drive from Nyeri to Nyahururu across increasingly dry landscape. When we arrived in Nyahururu we saw corn that had tasseled, but that was no more than two feet tall! Much of Kenya has been facing a harsh drought for going on four years now, and many of the people are suffering. It is a heart wrenching thing to see. Our congregation tried to help as well, but there is little that they can do. In spite of the severe drought, the Bougainvillea tree outside the Miano home boasted beautiful red flowers. If only the corn could thrive like that!

When we arrived we were greeted by Pastor Miano and his wife. They welcomed us into their wooden home and gave us boiled chicken, chapati, and vegetables. Although we were not very hungry we ate what we could, and it was very good.

Following the meal we gathered around the word with a few others who had been able to come, to encourage them with the Gospel during this difficult time of drought. We pray that the Lord would send rain for these people soon, according to His good and gracious will.

After about an hour and a half in Nyahururu we began the long journey back to Nairobi. We made it back to the Southern Blue at about 7:00pm.

After settling back in and eating supper, I set out to go through the over 250 pounds of books that we brought over from CLC members in the states. These books were donated by individuals, schools and churches throughout the CLC and will be put to use here in many ways. Some will be give to the new seminary that is starting in Arusha, Tanzania. Other books like Bibles and catechisms will be given out to pastors and evangelists throughout East Africa. And some children’s books will be given to the Etago orphan school. They will all be put to use in the work of ministry here in East Africa. We give thanks to the Lord for all that our fellow members have done to assist the work here, and ask that you keep the work here in your prayers. There is so much to do, and so little time to do it.

In His service,

Nathanael Mayhew

“The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2).

The visitations begin

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Today was the start of our real work here in East Africa. Larry arrived on flight 117 at 7:00am this morning, and made it through customs without trouble and with all his luggage. Charles picked him up from the airport and brought him to the Southern Blue Hotel. We sat down together and enjoyed a very large breakfast of tea, coffee, and fruit juice, fresh watermelon, pineapple and papaya, cereal and hot milk (we don’t drink the milk cold here because of bacteria), toast, sausage, and eggs made to order. I’m not much of a breakfast person when I’m home, but I have to eat breakfast when in Africa, because we usually don’t eat a lunch. My son Luke will be glad to hear that I am eating breakfast!

Today we are heading north to visit several congregations north of Nairobi in the Nyeri and Nyahururu areas. We will be staying overnight in Nyeri, so we packed up what we needed and stored the rest in a storage room of the Southern Blue. At 10:00am we were on the road again. As we journeyed north out of Nairobi the landscape changed from a dirty mass of humanity to a beautiful and lush countryside. We were headed towards Mt. Kenya in central Kenya, a fertile and rich land used for growing tea, coffee and bananas on steep hills.



The first group that we visited was in Mahiga. This is one of the house churches that have been established in central Kenya, north of Nairobi, and in the area surrounding Nyeri. This was a very beautiful area rich in crops, and the birthplace of the current president of Kenya. The homes in this area had electricity brought in by wire, and were furnished with lights and other small electrical devices.

This congregation is fairly new and is served by a young man who is studying with Charles. He and the congregation are eager to hear and proclaim the truth of God’s Word. During our visit we had the opportunity to share the word of God with them and to encourage them in their walk with Christ. In many ways this small congregation reminded me of many of our “preaching stations” or house churches in the U.S. They meet regularly and are served by a willing and able man who going through training with our other men in the Nairobi district.

From Mahiga we traveled out of the rich lands near Mt. Kenya to the more barren and dry lands near the Aberdare Mountains.

Here we visited an older house church in Gatarakwa, which we had visited last year. There were fewer people here on this day because many were working, but the congregation has been continuing to meet, and grow in their knowledge of Jesus the Christ. This congregation was started by a large family in this area, because of their desire to grow in the truth about Christ. There are many other churches in the area; Catholic, Presbyterian, Full Gospel, Seventh Day Adventist, and African Free (i.e. Pentecostal Anglican church), as well as Jehovah’s Witnesses. But they realize that these churches are not teaching the truth and are eager to preserve among themselves and proclaim to others God’s saving truth. Thanks be to the Lord for giving these people such a dedication to hold on to and continue to learn His message of salvation in Jesus! Because of the rural areas of these stations, many of the people are in need of Bibles in their own languages. The pastor comes and teaches and has his own Bible or a Bible for use in the church, but most of the people do not have their own Bibles. This is an one area where we would like to help, but there are so many...

After visiting this station we returned to Nyeri where we checked in to a hotel for the night. By the time we arrived at the Hotel it was after 7:00, so we had been on the road for most of the day. Larry, Russ and I shared a room, which although it was nice, did not have hot water! It was very nicely furnished, but I personally would have rather slept on a mat on the floor where we had hot water, rather than the other way around!

Tomorrow we will meet with the leaders of the churches in the Nyeri area, then will travel north – across the equator – to our church in Nyahururu, and then the return trip to Nairobi.

In His service,

Nathanael

“Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13).

Safely arrived in Nairobi

Monday, October 26, 2009

Friends in Christ,

After an arduous 24 hour trip, we Russ and I safely arrived in Nairobi at 9:00 pm (Kenya time) last night. Disappointedly, Larry did not make it... yet. We had trouble checking in at the airport due to the cancellation of another flight that was headed to Amsterdam via Chicago. These passengers were shifted to our flight, which resulted in having too many people on the flight. I checked in first and made it on the flight, but Russ and Larry were on “stand by” for this flight. By the time we made it to our gate they had one more spot available so Russ was able to get on as well, but not so for Larry. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 4:15 and the next flight out didn’t leave until 8:30. The real problem was that this later flight wouldn’t arrive in Amsterdam until after our flight left Amsterdam, so he wouldn’t be able to catch up with us until Nairobi. So much for all together!

Minneapolis was severely overcast when we took off, and we really didn’t see any landscape below until we had crossed the border into Canada. Soon after that it started to get dark, so there was no chance to see any of Greenland or Iceland. As we passed over England I did get to see the lights of Manchester and a few other cities far below – this was far more interesting than the open ocean. I was sitting beside a woman who lived in Cologne, Germany, and was returning home from a week of working in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. We discussed the differences between Germany and the U.S. as well as other things – it was interesting discussion. We finally landed in Amsterdam at around 6:00am and had a four hour layover waiting for our Nairobi flight.

The flight to Nairobi was much better than the flight to Amsterdam. I was extremely tired and was able to get some sleep after reaching our cruising altitude of 32,000 feet. It was pretty clear and I slept as we crossed most of Europe. I awoke to see the beautiful sight of the Alps in northern Italy and enjoyed seeing several Italian cities along the western coast bordering the Mediterranean sea. We even were able to see some of the mountains of Sicily poke through the clouds in the distance off the toe of Italy! The beautiful blues of the Mediterranean soon faded into the dusty beaches of Lybia. I have never seen land so barren and desolate as that which is found in North Africa. Hours went by with nothing to be seen below except for sand and a few clouds! It makes a person realize just how inhospitable the desert really is.

When we finally arrived in Nairobi at about 9:00 pm it was dark. As soon as we debarked from the plane we could feel the drastic temperature difference from Minnesota and Amsterdam to Nairobi. It was quite warm, though not hot. We had our declaration form and swine flu sheet (anyone entering Kenya from a country with a substantiated case of swine flu had to fill out a page assuring that they were not sick) already filled out, so we passed quickly through the passport check, exchanged money, picked up our checked baggage, and made it through customs in record time (about a tenth of what it took us last year)! In fact we had to wait for Charles this time! With him came several other men from the Nairobi area churches.

We decided to stay at the Southern Blue Hotel again this time, since we had such a good stay last year and because of the convenient location. We settled into our rooms and went to sleep, in eager anticipation of the start of our work tomorrow morning.

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever!” (Psalm 106:1)

East Africa trip 2009

Preparations are being made for the fall visitation to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Russ Schmitt and Mission Board member Larry Hansen will also be travelling with me again this year. Here is our tentative schedule, Lord willing:

Russ, Larry, and I will be flying out of Minneapolis/St. Paul late in the afternoon on Sunday October 25th. We will have a short layover in Amsterdam where we will switch planes and will arrive in Nairobi around 9:00 pm on Monday October 26th.
We plan to visit the Nairobi branch churches October 27th through the 30th and conduct a one-day seminar for our pastors and leaders one of those days.

On October 31st we will travel south to Arusha, Tanzania to meet up with Pastor Jeremiah. We will be there November 1st through the 6th. Here we will also be conducting a one-day seminar as well as visiting Pastor Panpani's districts where the majority of our work is being done among the Masai tribes. We also hope to be able to meet with the leaders of the LCEA to discuss recent issues that have arisen there in the past year. We pray that the LORD would bless these meetings and visitations to the glory of His name!

On Saturday November 7th we will travel to back to Nairobi. On Sunday morning we hope to visit a church in Nairobi and then travel to Kisii in the afternoon. We will be visit the orphan AIDS school in Etago on November 9th and finish preparations for the Joint East African Pastoral Conference which will begin on November 10th and continue the 11th. This will be held in Kisii, Kenya, not far from the shores of Lake Victoria.

After the conference we will be continuing on with Pastor Jeremiah to Uganda to visit the brethren there. We will travel to Uganda on Nov. 12th, visit the brethren on the 13th, and on our return to Kisii visit a new contact in Mois Bridge, Kenya who has requested that we start a Lutheran Church in their village. May the LORD bless our work in this new area of Kenya!

We will be back in Kisii/Etago November 15th through 18th during which time we will be visiting congregations and conducting a one-day seminar for the leaders of the churches in the Etago area.

On November 18th we will return to Nairobi. On the night of the 19th Russ, Larry and I will be flying out of Nairobi. We will again have a several hour stop in Amsterdam, and, Lord willing will be back on the ground in Minneapolis around 1:00 on Friday November 20th.

Please keep us in your prayers during these coming weeks, and ask the LORD to give us wisdom to instruct our fellow believers in the all-important truths of His precious Word; that he would strengthen the faith of our pastors, leaders and all our people there; that He would give us strength and stamina during these very busy and long days; and that He would use this visitation, through the preaching and hearing of His Word, to increase His kingdom! May the LORD, our Trinue God, be with us and bless our faithful proclamation of His Word of Truth.

In the service of Christ,

Pastor Nathanael Mayhew