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Pastor Moses (aka “Papa Bear”) and myself
Our contact Pastor Moses Khaemba is a local pastor. He is also bishop over the churches of that denomination in the area. He is a teacher at the local Seminary or Bible School as well.

He has a commanding presence when preaching or talking. If you spend five minutes with him, you become inspired to become a better Christian disciple. 

We have nicknamed him “Papa Bear.” I will try to describe some of the reasoning for his nickname. We have nicknamed ourselves “baby bears.” This will give you some indication of the man we have spent in ministry with this month.

“Papa Bear” is protective of us like we were his cubs. During our first week of ministry, Pastor Moses had his friend Pastor John drive us to and from the local elementary school in Bikeke (a local neighborhood of Kitale). Pastor John brought us to Margaret’s house for a short visit and treats. Margaret is a local teacher in Bikeke. By the time we had finished, it was dark out. Pastor Moses had told us at the beginning of the month that we needed to be home by dark. This was for our own safety. 

Pastor John: “Praise the Lord!”
As we started the drive home, Pastor John said that Pastor Moses would not be happy with him. Christina, our team leader, turned on her phone and immediately received a phone call from Pastor Moses. He was calling to make sure that we were safe and that nothing had happened to us. It turned out that Pastor Moses had been calling Christina and Pastor John’s phones for the past hour. Christina had hers turned off since we were in ministry. Pastor John had dropped off his phone at home to charge his battery. Before he did that, Pastor John had told Pastor Moses that we would be back by a certain time. When that time came and went, Pastor Moses became anxious. 

When we finally drove up, Pastor Moses told Pastor John “I hate you.” He was kidding, of course, but we could tell that he had been stressed for our safety. While eating dinner, we were told that Pastor Moses had been so nervous that he could not take his tea. He also had decided he could not stay still any longer so he had been waiting by the road since the time we were supposed to be back (an hour and a half).  

On our last Saturday together, some people from our team (Angela, Cara, Christina, and Mary) and Team Rodeo (Allan, Ginger, and Greg) went to Mount Elgon to climb to the top. As the group was coming back from hiking Mount Elgon, the car door near Christina swung open. Papa Bear said “Baby Bear! What are you doing?!? Stay in the car!” Christina stayed safely in the car. The group was able to close the door and lock it so there were no more mishaps.

He also is cuddly like a teddy bear. You see him smile and feel like you should be giving him a hug. He has such a tender heart for his family which makes you want to hug him even more. He calls his wife Rosalyn “my friend.”   We have nicknamed her our “Mama Bear.” Pastor Moses talks with affection about and to Rosalyn. They are very much in love. He is a proud father as well. We have been able to spend the past month with his youngest sons Oscar and Edwin. Their other children were at school so we did not spend much time with them.