So after a long over night bus ride avoiding many holes in the dirt road from Kenya with little sleep, we are arrived into our seventh month and seventh country in this Race to Tanzania. We’re in Mwanza, the second largest city of the country, and located right beside Lake Victoria where you can see boats on the water as you go to town, and a highly populated Muslim area. I believe this will be an incredible month; and their flag has my favorite colors! But before that, let’s finish up Kenya.
Last Thursday was just an awesome day of ministry as I went house to evangelism with a pastor and had four come to Christ, and prayed over many other people who had spiritual or physical needs. Two were with a group of about then guys out in a field I just came up with and started saying hi to them. They were excited to talk and two came to Christ after an in depth presentation of the gospel with them; James and Simon. Another two was a young married couple, Donald and Eunice, who in their small mud house we shared the hope of Christ with them. After sharing with them, they really wanted to move the table to get on the floor but since there’s hardly any rooms they knelt on their knees and held hands. I laid my hands on them and they were led to Christ, husband and wife, with the hope of Christ.
Sunday, our last day, the team went to Nakuru Worship Center where I had preached the first service, Jed preached the second, and the day was full of goodbyes as we spent our last few hours with our ministry contacts and friends before heading to the bus stop. They cooked chicken for our last meal, which is a special guest meal. Kenya will be really missed and the friendships that were made, and there was many talks about them really hoping that we come back again for future ministry and partnerships. We’ve learned and grown a lot about the needs here that are serious, the passionate worship, and have been able to see God do incredible things.
Chalice, the blind husband who came to Christ, came to church last Sunday and the whole church prayed over him and his eyes as they had me come up and lay hands on him. Then Chalice spoke and thanked them and the Lord for all that’s going on. I found out more about his life. That he had a first wife who died, and he has three kids, and now Chalice is in a second stage of HIV/AIDS which has caused him to be blind. He also hasn’t been able to afford rent in the very small one room place he stays, and now he’s 20,000 shillings behind but the renter has never told him to leave and he thanks God for that. The church then told him they’d donate 5,000 shillings to help, and I wrote a card to them and the team members signed it and I put some personal money in it for him and Esther. But this is the first time he’s ever gone there, this story just gets better even after all these trials. Esther, his second wife now, is trying to work at a small food stand but barely makes much at all. I will never forget them and will always pray for them hoping that Nakuru will follow up with them.
After the church service I was asked to see a family to pray for a sick child. I went into the home and it was a child about one and a half years old; just skin and bones, even though it couldn’t talk you could see it was in pain. It was suffering with TB, it’s name was Gladys, and I asked them to hold it as I prayed for it. It coughed like six times in a row but was such an awful thing to see and experience. It was on of the hardest things for me to hold this child that looked like it was dying and like I had no control in such a poor family’s house, the hardest experience of the Race so far for me. Please pray for Gladys and Chalice after you read this blog.
Crossing the boarder was quite interesting as it only looked like small iron gates that could just keep cars out, but walking across your self was no issue at all. We met our contacts at our last bus stop, Pastor Paul (our main contact pastor) and one of his partners named Joseph (he’s going to be a really great person to know). They’ve already taken us in like a family and have shared what we’ll be doing this month.
