Today got off to a rough start. Mike and I were going to go to Chotororo to teach the Kisii church leaders in a seminar while Russ and Stephen stayed in town to run errands. But Mike had a problem – he couldn’t see. His contacts failed to clean themselves because the solution leaked out of its container during the night and his glasses had broken in the rough travels from Uganda. Since he was practically blind, he opted not to come. Russ considered coming with me as a replacement, but thought he might be more valuable here in Kisii, assisting Mike to get his glasses fixed.
The church at Chotororo can as it is seen up the hill from the road below.So I rode out to Chotororo on my own. It was a one and a half hour trip out to the home of the seminary, and since it had rained heavily the night before, the dirt roads were not in very good shape. I was glad that the driver we had found was a good one, because these road were not going to be navigated by an amateur. He did a great job and didn’t bottom the car out a single time!
We arrived at the church / seminary at about 10:00am and began shortly after as the rest of the pastors and leaders arrived. We opened with a hymn and them Pastor Joseph led us in a short devotion and prayer. They gave me the floor and I taught for three and a half hours on the Division of Christian Churches and the difference between the Reformed and Lutherans on the Sacraments. Fourteen men were present from 7 different congregations. The driver also joined us for the study. He has a Catholic background, so it will be interesting to see if anything develops from what he heard. Three of the seminary students were also in attendance with the church leaders today. In addition there were two men who asked if they could attend the seminary. I will ask the KINSHIP if they have sponsors available for these students when I return home, with the hope that they will be able to join the seminary in Chotororo.
Kisii sem students with pastors (from L to R): William, Pastor Fred, Jeremiah, Isaac, Pastor Enosh, myself.
We stopped at 1:30pm for a lunch of bread and soft drinks, and over the lunch break it was noticed that the skies were darkening. Here in the Kisii area, it can rain everyday, and some days very heavily. When it does, it can make transportation very difficult and even dangerous. Out of concern for those traveling, we decided to cut things short, end our session and release everyone to return home before the storm hit.
The 14 men that attended our Kisii seminar in the Chotororo church.
The three men from Misesi rode with me since we were going to be driving right by the turn off to Misesi. It was good that we left when we did, because it started to sprinkle, and finally turned to a deluge. The wipers couldn’t keep up, and I thought they might just give out completely! Then to make matters worse, hail started coming down too! Thankfully it didn’t last long. By the time we made it back to Kisii (at around 4:00), it had almost stopped completely – at least for the time being.... There will be more tonight or tomorrow again. It would be interesting to know how much rain they get in this area a year. I would guess it is a lot.
When I went to check on the guys, they were all resting. It has been a long and hard couple of days. If you just keep going, your body doesn’t recognize how tired it is, but when you get the chance to relax, it seizes the opportunity. It usually takes me about a week to recuperate when I return home. At first I thought it was just that my body needed to readapt to the time change and adjust my internal clock. But I think that there is more to it than that. I think that after five weeks of “go, go, go” here in Africa with very little down time, that when I get home my body is actually in shut down mode, forcing me to take the rest that it needs. Anyway, I’ve pressed these guys hard, and I was glad that they had the chance to get some needed rest today. I talked with Mike about this since he will be staying here, and reminded him that it will be important for him to take time off and let his body relax so he doesn’t overdo it. I figure I only have five weeks here, and I want to make use of every day possible, because I won’t get another chance for 11 months. It will be different for him since he will be staying longer and have more opportunity. We are down to less than a week now. May our Great God who has called us out of darkness continue to bless our service to Him in His kingdom work!
In His service,
Nathanael
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ” – 1 Peter 2:9-10
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