Sunday

Hello from Team Etago,

Yesterday was our last day at our location. We were privileged to bring the word of God to a prospect church near Emesa. They were formerly part of a different synod, but have expressed interest in joining our synod here in Kenya.

On these weekends we have been teaching the 7 C’s. These lessons start from Creation and go to Judgment day. Essentially, they are the history of the world through the eyes of a Christian. God has blessed us in that at every church we had been at the children have already learned about God’s plan for the world. They are able to intelligently answer our questions and recognize the lessons we are trying to convey. It is wonderful that these small children know about their Savior and God’s plan for salvation.  It truly is comforting to know that not only our redemption has been taught, but also deeper Bible truths.

Yesterday the Lord presented us a different sort of opportunity. As I mentioned before, this church has expressed interest in joining our synod. Our group and a couple of our Kenyan pastors went to this church. We met with the leaders of the church and spoke to them about their beliefs and our beliefs, discussed the role of men and women in the church, the proper attitude of a Christian, the proper outlook of a leader and many other things. We continually turned towards Scripture and referenced our thoughts with the Bible and many of the men there quite clearly were given some new things to think about.  Afterwards, we started with our 7 C’s lessons, not really knowing what to expect. As we started presenting our lessons something incredible happened. Throughout every lesson, from Creation to the Flood to Christ to Judgment day, every eye, both young and old was on us. It was a very different experience for us. We asked the children if they had learned a lot and they responded with an emphatic, “Yes we did!” (or the Kisii equivalent of it).

After the lessons, we were invited once again to the secretary’s house and had ugali, black night shade, and goat. The “mamas” there thanked us for coming and told us that they also had learned much during our lessons. We were given Swahili names and begged to stay in Africa or to send people to them every year. We realized how much our visit meant to these people, who wanted to learn the truth of God’s word. We are grateful to God for this opportunity to bring our message and fellowship to this new congregation.

As we were writing the first part blog, Wickliffe just walked in with Boston and said hello. These boys are in standard 8 at the school. Wickliffe is a very intelligent student who is near the top of his class. Unfortunately, he comes from an especially struggling family and might not be able to continue on to high school next year due to finances. He is one of those students who has shown a great aptitude for learning and has displayed his knowledge both of school and the Bible during our lessons. He has some minor health problems and can’t afford to do anything about it. He is determined to improve his living conditions, and his dream is to become an engineer and see America, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Wickliffe is just one of many students who has a background of hardships yet perseveres and keeps his trust his God. Please keep him and all the other students here in your prayers.

Today we had to leave Etago to journey to Nairobi. Some of our group along with a number of the school children began the morning with hiking up the hill across from school and watching the sun rise. The same group of children stayed with us until we were leaving Etago, and a couple even ran down the hill after us as we were driving away. Our hosts were kind enough to drive us to Kisii where we were then able to catch a bus to Nairobi. The goodbyes in Etago were difficult, but as several people reminded us, this is not the end, but rather the beginning!

Now we are in Nairobi, reunited with the other mission helpers, and ready to share our inspiring stories with each other over the next few days as we make our way back to the states.

In the Lord,
~ Team Etago