API USA Blog

April 10, 2017

Lodwar

It's Tuesday morning in Lodwar and it looks like another hot day in Turkana. Sunday morning I was invited to preach at Pastor Boniface's church, the Free Pentecostal Church, while Stan stayed at the hotel to rest up from his busy week down in Matete. I had flown from Nairobi after our conference in the Mara and Stan joined me when we touched down in Eldoret and we flew on together to Lodwar, getting in around 5 pm on Saturday. Stan immediately felt at home here in Turkana because it reminds him so much of Yuma, Arizona.

Sunday afternoon, we met with pastor's George Lokwawi and Boniface Lokuruka to plan out the week. We have several churches to visit and a church building to put up. We also decided to bring food, as well as building supplies to the church we are putting up in Lorugum because the drought has really raised the price of food around here and many people do not have enough to eat.

Monday morning was spent gathering all the supplies we need to take with us and we eventually set off for Lorugum around 3.

On the way, we stopped at the first church we helped to build in this area, Nataaba, and spent some time greeting the members who had gathered. The church building has become an attraction for people to build their homes around and there is quite a little community now around the church.

After an hour with the people of Nataaba, we continued on to Logurum. We met the pastor, Luka, and the church in the little building they have been renting. Pastor George and pastor Boniface took them through part of the first lesson in the gospel flip charts and they were so excited that it was in their own language.

Then we offloaded the food we had brought and went down the road to the plot of land they had been given for the church.

The fences in Logurum

The building site

As the supplies were being offloaded, George, Boniface, and the funde (contractor building the church), were making final changes to the building plans.

Stan was directing operations.

The funde and his workers will camp here until the building is done.

By the time we had finished, the moon was rising and the light was failing and we ended up traveling back through the desert to Lodwar, arriving around 9 pm.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Narok

I know it's past time for you all to be updated so I will try to summarize our first week here in Nairobi.

Stan and I arrived in Nairobi late Tuesday night where we were met by our associate John Kamau and taken to our hotel. The next morning we had breakfast at one of the many Java House restaurants around town and spent some time exchanging money and buying some necessary supplies at the Nakumat at Village Market. I went back to the hotel to work on the conference presentations and John took Stan downtown Nairobi to buy vinyl and other printing supplies he is taking to Matete.

Gary, Lesley and their friend George arrived at our hotel late Wednesday afternoon from their time in western Kenya where they were doing some infrastructure work for the medical camps and we got to spend some time catching up and doing some strategizing and future planning. Thursday we all had dinner together before Frank took them to the airport for their flight home.

Friday was spent buying books for the pastor's conference at the ACTS Bookstore and picking up the gospel flip charts for the audio bibles we are taking to the Masaai and Turkana people.

We also delivered some bibles to a pastor who is friends with one of my friends, Paul Moffet, in Puyallup. They had made connections in Israel in 2015 and Paul sent me with a suitcase full of bible to give to him.

Frank, another one of our Kenyan associates, and I took Stan to the airport to fly to Eldoret. Pastor Shadrack picked him up on the other end and delivered him safely to Pastor Moses in Matete.  We also managed to visit the brand new Two Rivers Mall near our hotel - the biggest mall in East Africa.

On their way out of the airport, Shadrack had forgotten to pay for his parking so he was ushered out of the line and back to the pay booth. By the time they had gotten out of the airport down the road a bit, the car that was in front of them as they were trying to exit the airport before they were turned back had been hit head on by another. Shadrack was sure that the Lord had prevented them from exiting the first time so as to miss the accident. A minor inconvenience was a blessing for Stan and Shadrack in disguise.

Frank and I arrived in Narok this afternoon after leaving Nairobi. We had attended the Immanuel Baptist Church in Nairobi this morning where I reconnected with the lead pastor whom I had met two years ago. I'll spend the night here and travel to Oloolaimutia tomorrow morning where the conference will take place, and Frank will head to Matete to be with Stan this week. Because of the weight allowance, Stan left all the heavy bags with Frank to bring with him.

Thank you all for your prayers and support for this work. I know that your prayers are working to keep us full of joy and peace in the Lord.  

Still Thursday September 1, 2016

I mentioned in my last post that after the rest of the team left for the US, I flew back to Lodwar.  I had several meetings with pastors there and handed out the rest of the audio bibles and flip charts that I had had to leave in Nairobi when we went to Lodwar the first time. Although I don't have any pictures of this, the expressions on the faces of the people when they hear the Bible for the first time in their own mother tongue is priceless; and all of them were insistent that I tell those who helped supply the word of God that this was a great ministry to them.  Thank you to all who contributed to this.

On Tuesday I traveled back out to Nakepokan to see the progress on the new church building.  Pastor Thomas was actually weeping as he told me that they had been meeting under a tree for 12 years and never imagined they would be able to have a structure like this. He wants everyone who helped make this happen that they are forever grateful that brothers and sisters they don't even know made a dream a reality. The workers were not quite done when I leftt I was assured that by Wednesday they would have finished.

They even let me drive a nail or two.

Around 1 in the afternoon, (96 degrees in the shade!) we broke for lunch in Pastor Thomas' dining room. Much to my surprise, it was at least 10 -15 degrees cooler in here.

Pastor Thomas is on the left and Pastor George is on the right. George began the work here in Nakepokan and handed it off to Thomas.

Pastor Thomas also told me that now they can have a school in this building for their children, most of whom are not able to attend school because they are so far away.  Thanks again to all those who contributed to the Brad Pederson Memorial Building Fund to make this happen. 

Thursday September 1, 2016

It's Thursday evening at Jomo Kenyatta Airport and I'm waiting for my flight to board. It's been action packed over here for the last three weeks and I thought I'd better take advantage of the down time here at the airport to post some more.  It's now 7 pm and my flight leaves at 11:59. (Might as well say Friday!)  The picture above was taken at the home of Pastor Thomas in Nakepokan and was one of the best meals ever!  Goat stew, ugali and nyama choma (barbequed goat).

The rest of the team left for the US this past Monday as I flew back to Lodwar to meet with some of the pastors individually, hand out more audio bibles and flip charts, and take a look at the progress of the church building in Nakepokan.

The second conference was held as you know in Mwamba and we had 69 pastors and church leaders attend, many for the first time. One comment we heard again and again from some of the pastors who have had at least a little bible school was 'We never went so deep in bible school as we have here in one week'. 

Ben did another great job teaching on the sanctity of human life and engaging these leaders in good discussions on what they are doing in their churches to help women and children in crisis. Ben also took time during the week to visit the Crisis Pregnancy center in Eldoret, bringing videos, brochures, and informational packets from the CareNet Centers in the US to help this center in its work. Ben was even talking about seeing what we could do to get this center an ultrasound machine so I won't be surprised if Ben takes off for Kenya again next year with one under his arm.

During the conference, we stayed at a hotel about 20 minutes from the conference venue.  One of my team assignments was coffee maestro.  And as you can see, it was not only room service, but window service.

We were glad to reunite with Frank after missing him for the Lodwar conference.  Frank is our API USA associate based in Nairobi and although he is our main driver, he does it all.

Friday the 26th was our last day in Mwamba and we got the whole group out for a picture.

Thank you for your many prayers for us.  Although by the end of the week we were all tired, we were still in good spirits as we headed down to Narok to take a day in Maasai Mara.

We spent the night in Narok after a day of travel from Mwamba. We departed early Sunday morning for a Safari in Masa Mara. We had excellent weather and our driver, Simon managed to find all kinds of wildlife in the park. A few of the highlights included two "firsts" for the team; a rhino and a leopard. There were several other surprises including baby giraffes, jackels and a hyena. Pastor Michael managed to "smell out" a couple of male lions as well. Overall, it was a wonderful time despite an especially bumpy ride in and out of the park.

Alternate link to video: Here

Wednesday August 24, 2016

We are in our second full day of teaching here in Mwamba at Pastor Dennis' church with 60+ pastors and church leaders, and more arrived today.  Roger and Dan returned to the U.S. last Saturday and so we are left with the infamous four: Pastor Tim, Ben, Rob and myself. Here is a rare photo of the photographer.

I was happy to see my friend, Pastor Benson Ntuntai from Kilgoris show up.  Benson actually showed up before those who lived right in Mwamba.

Our registration team of Frank and Maurice.

Ben manned the book table, taking over from Roger and Dan in Lodwar.

The weather here is 20 to 30 degrees colder than in Lodwar and it was time to break out the coats and blankets.

Since our rooms are too small, morning devotions are held in the court between our rooms. I had a lot of jokes about my blanket, but I was warm.  7 am is a little chilly.  The coffee helps.

This is Dennis Makutu, the host pastor of the conference.

Thank you all for your faithful remembrance of us in your prayers.  Everyone is healthy and energized by the ministry here.  We have three full days of teaching ahead of us and two days of travel. Please pray for the team and for all the pastors and leaders that have come.  Pray specifically that the word of God would be active and transforming in the hearts and minds of both the speakers and the hearers.

Saturday August 20, 2016

It's early morning here in Lodwar and we have finished the pastor's conference and are preparing for the graduation this morning. We have five graduates this year and they are really excited about it.  We've had a wonderful week of teaching and learning and building relationships with our Kenyan brothers and sisters. Here are a few pictures from this week.

Pastor Tim

Ben Edwards

Roger Johnson

Roger Johnson

Pastor Dan

Firewood delivery

Prepping for lunch

Ben had a friendly visitor one evening. I think he emptied a whole can of pesticide on his guest.

The whole week was a wonderful time with these pastors and leaders and the power of the word of God was evident in their lives as one pastor's testimony bore witness: 'Now I have discovered myself I have been in my preaching without knowing the messages that I have been teaching. I realize that I had been teaching wrong doctrine and have cheated many people to the extent that spiritually they are dead.'  And then he asked the question: 'So what can I go and tell them and how can I do it so that I can take this good doctrine that I have been given and feed them. Where do I start?'

Thank you for all your prayers for this ministry and please continue to pray as we travel to Mwamba for the next conference.

Thursday 18, August 2016

(continued from Tuesday)

After the service and handing out the food, we visited the site where the new church building will be located, and we gathered around and prayed, dedicating this place to the proclamation of the gospel and the glory of God.

Pastor Thomas lives nearby and we visited his home.

Of course the trip was not complete without getting stuck in the sand. Fortunately there were plenty of people around to help. But Dan did most of the work. 

We eventually made our way back to Lodwar without more flat tires or other issues and gratefully rested at our hotel, St Teresa's Pastoral Centre.

We arrived in Lodwar Kenya Saturday the 13th and have been preparing for this year’s Pastoral conference. This year’s study is titled Shepard to Shepard: An Exposition of 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus.  I will be speaking on the Sanctity of Human Life with focus on God the Creator, the humanity of the unborn, our responsibility as Christians and sexual integrity.

Sunday we were blessed to be invited to a church, two hours outside Lodwar, and spending time with the congregation and the tribes people. I am always moved by all those I meet.

This year I am again traveling with Mike Sandberg, Pastor and Director of Pastoral Development, Rob Hostager, Pastor Tim Bourgeois. New to the team are Pastor Dan Mason and Roger Johnson.

The team meets each morning in prayer and devotion. This to me is a very special time and the best part of the day.

Next week will be at the Pastoral Conference in Mwamba with meetings in Eldoret with Youth for Christ and Jane Osoro to discuss crises pregnancy intervention, post abortion support and medical equipment needs.

Thank you again for your prayers and support.

God Bless,

Ben

Tuesday August 16, 2016

We are in Lodwar right now, beginning the 2nd day of our pastors conference.  The theme of this conference, and the one we will be doing next week in Mwamba, is Shepherd to Shepherd: An Exposition of 1st & 2nd Timothy and Titus. I intended to start this blog much sooner but our whirlwind schedule and sketchy internet connections doomed that from the start.  Surprisingly we are getting very good reception at the school where we are holding the conference.  So to bring you up to date -

l arrived 8 hours ahead of most of the rest of the team last Thursday after several airline delays.  Four members of the team arrived Friday morning at five: Rob Hostager, Roger Johnson, Dan Mason and Ben Edwards.  Ben and Rob linked up in Amsterdam with Roger and Dan who were traveling from Portland. The last member of the team, Tim Bourgeois, did not arrive until Saturday morning at 2:30 am, which was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was the lack of traffic in Nairobi; the curse was the fact that I had to get up at 2 am to go pick him up.

Meanwhile, the rest of us spent Friday preparing for our trip; getting our communications equipment squared away, exchanging dollars for Kenyan schillings and buying souvenirs at the Masaai market. Of course the first order of business was to eat breakfast at one of our favorite spots - Java House.

Friday evening we had a great dinner at a place called 360 Degrees Pizza.

Saturday was our travel day to Lodwar.

Roger and Pastor George Lokwawi meet.

Pastor Shadrack is our API Associate who travels ahead of the team arranging all the logistics for our trip.  And he does a great job.

Saturday evening we had dinner with some of the pastors of Lodwar, and the Lodwar executive team of the Lodwar ministerial, and checked into St. Teresa's, a Catholic retreat center in Lodwar.

Sunday morning we bought maize, beans, rice, cooking oil, matches and salt, loaded up the vehicles and set off for a church in the interior called Nakepokan. It was only 52 km from Lodwar, toward the South Sudan border, but the condition of the road and the inevitable breakdowns, turns this into a 3 hour trip. The first flat came about 30 minutes out of Lodwar.

The second one came about an hour later.

Both breakdowns involved flat tires and thankfully we dealt with those fairly quickly. I'm just glad that we had two spares. There was a brief moment of panic when the vehicle slipped off the jack and headed off the road at one point however.

Ben tried to help with the air pump Roger bought to inflate the soccer balls he brought.

It was decided that the problem was the load on top was too much for the tires below. My personal thought was the problem had more to do with the condition of the tires than the weight.  But what do I know?  We unloaded the top and continued the rest of the trip without another flat.

After about three hours on the road, (and off the road) we finally made it to Nakepokan.

We met the church of Nakepokan at their place of worship under a large tree.

When they saw Roger, they immediately recognized that he deserved the chair of honor. The rest of us got a log to sit on.

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Pastor George Lokwawi planted this church and handed it over to Pastor Thomas.

Pastor Thomas Eipa

After the service, we handed out the food we brought to an appreciative church. Pastor Dan, Ben and Roger handled the duties.

Thursday February 4, 2016

It's great to be back in the Pacific Northwest after three weeks on the other side of the world.  Although Stan and I were blessed in so many ways throughout this trip, we are thankful to be home again.  Thursday morning, Frank and I traveled to Kisii where I was meeting some pastors from the Kisii area, and he went on to Matete to retrieve Stan.  One of those pastors had contacted API USA online and requested the meeting to see if we might help them in training the pastors and leaders of their area. We had a very fruitful meeting and I invited them to attend our next pastor's conference in Eldoret. 

Stan and I met up again in Kisii on Friday, the 29th of January and traveled to Narok.  The next morning, Stan and I were off to the game park in Maasai Mara for an all-day safari.  Our driver and guide, Simon, is one of the best in the park and we saw every animal in the park except for that elusive leopard.

On our way back to Nairobi Sunday morning, we took a break to take in the view of the Rift Valley.

And we tried on some of the local headgear.

When we arrived in Nairobi, we went to Frank's house to have lunch with his wife, Caroline, and his daughter, Vanessa.

Baby Ricky was sleeping.

Stan and I had one last dinner at 360 Pizza Sunday night before flying home Monday.  After three weeks of Kuku and chips, ugali and sukumoweke, we felt like we hit the jackpot, finishing off some great Italian pasta dishes with espresso and gelato.

Stan and I would like to thank all those who invested in our trip with your prayers and financial support. We both came home feeling that the work of our hands was blessed by God and used for His glory.

Sunday evening January 31, 2016

If you've been following this blog, you'll remember Stephen Lobolia, a missionary to the Toposa people of South Sudan. I asked him to let us know a bit about his mission there and I wanted to share that with you.

SOUTH SUDAN MISSIONS MINISTRY WORK.

BACKGROUND AND SALVATION

My name is Stephen Lobolia, from Turkana, Kenya. I was brought up in an unbeliever’s family, my father being a pastoralist and a witchdoctor. Early 1980s I am told there was severe drought all over Turkana. My mother was the first wife among many others. My father sent her to go and benefit from relief food which was distributed from Lodwar by NGOs. I was young by then. My mother decided to take me with her. So that is how we came to live in Lodwar and access education.

My other brothers decided to leave pastoralism and accompanied us in Lodwar. One of my elder brother left school due to negative peer pressure. He began to indulge in drugs. Staying away from our father my elder brother took the responsibility to be the bread winner. His business was selling drugs. Now here I was made to be involved in the business. I was trained to be the transporter of the drugs. I was assured that you are young and the police won’t suspect you. I thank God because I was almost caught ones but escaped.

My salvation story. I ever hate to have access to gospel witnesses. I kept escaping every moment I saw them coming to me. One day, noon time, the sun was really hot and i laid in the house, I heard someone knocking the door. It was Pastor John who was led by my friend to me. That was the day I gave Jesus my life after knowing I was lost heading to hell.

This was the start of a burden to reach members of our family. After I finished secondary education 2002, I talked to our church to send me to Kalokol, 55 kms away from home to start a church. This was the place we used to do our illegal business and my brothers lived here. My brother and his family got saved. We started fellowship in his home. They were among the 8 first converts we baptized and the Baptist church started 8^th of Feb 2004. I served this church until May 2013 when I resigned for South Sudan Missions. By now three churches exist and two bible study areas around Kalokol area near Lake Turkana.

CALL TO SOUTH SUDAN

2009, was my first short term mission trip to South Sudan. It was among the Toposa people group. The first impression was when I was sharing with a group of Toposa women. In the middle of the conversation one of them stopped me. She said,” we are hungry buy for us alcohol.” After we finished conversation and left the imagination did not leave my mind and my heart. To me this was a spiritual need.

Since then, God put Toposa burden in my heart. As I was pastoring the Kalokol Baptist Church, I was just longing for ministry in South Sudan.

For several years I began planning short term mission trips reaching the least reached Toposa people. I have loved Apostle Paul’s perspective on the verse below,

Romans 15:20 “And so I have made it my aim to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation. Continue praying for Bruno and Mumaina.

May 2013 I resigned pastoring and pursued my call for the missions work. I got a sending Church in western part of Kenya. The commissioning service was done Oct 2014. The challenging part is raising funds for this work. It has been going and coming back to Kenya since.

TOPOSA PEOPLE

These are agro-pastoralist people. Majority are illiterate that depend on livestock for their livelihood. Also most of the Toposa are polygamist. Many practice witchcraft. People tie sticks around their waists and wear animal skins for protection. In absence of rain they sacrifice animals to their diviners for rain.

Because of cows, Toposa and our Turkana people practice cattle rustling. Many among these communities have lost their beloved ones. My first mission trips were full of fear due to the two tribes hostility and hatred. God made them to see me as a friend not an enemy.

TWO BIBLE STUDY GROUPS STARTED

I have started two Bible study groups among Narijon and Nyangia.

Most of the worship is preferred done at night. The reason being at day time the people take care of their livestock for grazing and taking to water.

Other disciples to pray for are Elijah Lobeyo, Aurelio the government administrator and the chief Peter Locham.

MY FAMILY.

I am married to Patricia Lobolia. God has blessed us with three children. Our first borne is a girl named Grace 8 years, followed by Joshua 6 years and Ashley 6 month.

PRAYER REQUESTS.

We plan to stay in Nyangia. We pray for providence of land and resources to construct house to stay with my family.

Also we pray for means of transport.

Our support has not been consistent. We pray that the Churches will obey the Great Commission to support global Evangelization.

Yours in the great Commission

Stephen and Patricia.

Reaching the least reached people group- The Toposa.

Sunday January 31, 2016

This will be the second post today since the internet is zinging along, and a follow-up to Tuesday of last week.  Wednesday, we visited another church plant under the direction of Pastor Silas McKalluh. 

I've known Pastor Silas for about 7 years and we've helped his congregation in Longoria with a church building.  But Silas also has a heart for church planting and last year he planted a church in another village called Magena.  The church is using a rented school room but wants to put up their own structure. However, one of the stipulations of receiving help from the Brad Pederson Memorial Building fund is that the church own their own property.  And as of Wednesday they did not have any property on which to build.  But that didn't stop us from going out to visit the church.

When we arrived, several church members and elders were there to greet us.  After we talked for a bit, one of the members who owns some property nearby, said that he was donating land to the church in order to build. So we walked over to the piece, took some pictures and in prayer, dedicated the property to the Lord.

We had brought some building fund money with us, and so after looking over the building plan and cost estimate, we left them with $1,500 to begin construction.  Before I gave Silas the money, I asked him when they would start. 'Tomorrow!' he said with a smile.  And as we left Kilgoris on Thursday morning, we passed by the site, and they were already hard at work clearing the site to build.  On Friday I called Pastor Silas and he told me that they had already put in the foundation and expected to finish the building next week.  He promised to send pictures.

Sunday January 31, 2016

I am doing a bit of catch up today because we finally got back to Nairobi and fairly decent internet.  The order is a bit mixed up since the blog I wrote for Thursday actually posted and I hadn't given you anything since Monday.  So this one will focus on Tuesday January 26.

After we got things going at Olochani, Frank and I took off for Ololui with Pastor Reuben Twala.  API had helped this congregation which was meeting under a tree, construct a building for worship.  We went out to the church to see how things were.  I should have known it wasn't going to be easy, particularly when we ran into a small river we had to ford.

Things didn't get much better as we actually got stuck in a tremendous bog which broke some things we had to do road repairs on.  I say, 'We' but it was actually Frank who got dirty.

Nevertheless, intrepid travelers that we are, we finally made it to Ololui church.

The man on the right is Pastor Reuben, and he wanted me to pass on the church's thanks for those who gave to see this building finally built. The man on the left is Pastor Samwel of Olocentu church, another Brad Pederson Building Fund project that was completed two years ago.

The next project for this church is a concrete floor and water drains.  The property on which it is built is very wet during the rainy season and water comes into the church.  They have a plan to channel the water away from the church and are awaiting funds to complete it. I told Pastor Reuben that we would put this project on our list of projects to complete.  If you would like to give toward this project, you can either send a check to API USA, PO Box 235047, Encinitas, CA 92023-5047 or make an immediate donation by clicking on the MoGive page to the right of this one. Just click on the Pastoral Development tab in Campaigns and follow the directions.

Thursday January 28, 2016

Today I am in Kisii, while Frank heads back to Matete to pick Stan up and then we'll head to Narok.  Yesterday we finished the floor at Olochani.  It's been four days of hiking up and down the hill so Frank and I certainly got our aerobics in.  The following pictures will help take you through the process. After the ballast and concrete was laid and dried overnight, the next step was the sand and cement mixture.  Butch and Dave and Tim will notice this is a little different process than our other projects.

As the sand and cement are mixed, it is troweled onto the floor. Here the funde (foreman) is forming and trowling the pulpit area - what the Masaai call 'the altar'.

This next picture is strictly a shout out to Butch who asked his former boss to contribute to the project.  He came through with gloves and an emergency medical kit.

All the guys were really grateful for the gloves.  Thank you Butch!

Today the final finish was applied to the floor. Come in and see!

The white dots on the floor come from the sun streaming through the nail holes in the roof - which for some reason, doesn't leak.

Pastor Benson Ntuntai and the Olochani church want me to express their great gratitude for those who gave to make this happen. With the floor in place, the church can now serve as a school for the surrounding rural area.  The nearest school is about 5 km away and this will give the kids living around here a chance for an education.

Monday January 25, 2016

Today we began work at Olochani to put in a concrete floor.  The first step was getting to the site.  We can't drive there so we carried what we needed up the hill, a walk of about 1 km. I know it doesn't look particularly steep from the camera's viewpoint, but it is. The trees you see in the far distance are fairly close to the summit.

Frank had to help push the piki piki up the hill. Unfortunately I don't have an extra camera man or you would have seen me lugging some of the rest of the boards up the hill.

Since the first order of business was to excavate for the slab, Frank took the opportunity to rest a bit as there were not enough jembes to go around.

However as soon as that was done, it was time to begin the foundation fill.

While the crew was busy on the floor, the carpenter was working on building doors for the new latrine outside.

Trimming the door with a panga.

Meanwhile, the pundas (donkeys) were bringing the water for the project.

The water is stored in bigger containers on site.  The way it looks, those donkeys are going to get a workout bringing water up the hill.

The cement cart arrived, pulled by a tractor and the bags were offloaded to be used tomorrow.

Tomorrow we'll start pouring the floor and Wednesday we'll do the finish coat.

Sunday January 24, 2016

Since the internet seems to be working today, here is part two of Sunday's blog.

Yesterday, Frank and I left Stan in Matete to continue his work there to head down to Olochani, near Kilgoris in the Transmara region of Kenya.  We are helping the church in Olochani put in a concrete floor in the church they built with the help of the Brad Pederson Memorial Building Fund. 

Today we attended the service there with the Olochani church.  It is located on top of one of the hills around Kilgoris with a commanding view of the surrounding area.  The only drawback is that there is no road to the top, so we walked for nearly 1 kilometer, huffing and puffing to the top.

And before you ask, yes it's kind of like being in a tin oven when the sun is out.

Pastor Benson Ntuntai has a small congregation with a lot of children. Here is the Sunday School class.

And here is the church in Olochani.

Visitors are always an occasion to drop by, and this grandma was no exception.  She had never been to the church, but when she saw a musungu, she couldn't resist climbing up to see.

Tomorrow we begin the floor project and as you can see, the materials have been stockpiled, brought up by donkey.

Sunday January 24, 2016

I had more to say on Friday's blog but the power failed and I didn't get a chance to finish.  Thursday we headed up to Mt Elgon to meet with some of the Ndorobo people at a place called Labot.  They don't actually have villages as such since they live in the bush on individual plots, but they have community centers in places on the mountain where they gather to trade and swap news.  The road has been much improved since the last time we tried to reach Labot, but it eventually ran out and we walked the remaining 4 or 5 km up the mountain.

Frank and I were accompanied by Pastor Leonard and another pastor, Dunstan Musungu, who originally came from this area.  As we arrived at the center, people began coming to see who the visitors were.  Since they live so high up the mountain and in a place difficult to reach, visitors are rare and treasured. Pretty soon we had about 25 men and women gathered around in a circle and Pastor Leonard and Dunstan began to introduce themselves and share why we had come.

We brought an audio Bible called the Proclaimer with the New Testament in their language. An audio Bible is very important in a remote region like this as most of the inhabitants do not read or write any language, including their own.  All Kenyans are supposed to learn to read and write English and Swahili starting in the 1st grade.  However, places like this have very few schools and consequently very few of these people are taught to read and write.

After introductions and some explanation, we started the audio Bible and immediately they were transfixed.  None had ever heard the Bible in their own language.

After about 30 minutes, Pastor Leonard then explained that he would be back with his team to continue with the audio Bible and asked them to invite others to come and hear.  As he was talking, some excited conversation broke out among them with lots of pointing and gestures. It turns out that the person reading the Bible on the Proclaimer was the brother to one of the men listening! In fact he is the one in the middle in the picture above.

Pastor Dunstan and Pastor Leonard will be training teams of men to take this audio Bible into other centers in Mt Elgon, as well as another audio device called a Saber.  The Saber has Bible stories in their language, Saboat, that present the gospel.  Their intention is to begin going into centers all over this area in Mt Elgon with the gospel in Saboat. We have provided the team with one Proclaimer and five Saber devices, but more are needed.  The audio Bible is so effective in these areas because as an oral culture they more easily identify with the spoken word as opposed to the written word.

The hotel accommodations were rather sketchy so we decided to head down the mountain to civilization.

Thanks to all those who donated funds to get these audio Bibles into the hands of faithful men. Pray for Pastor Leonard and Pastor Dunstan as they pull together a team to bring the gospel to the Ndorobo.

Friday January 22, 2016

It's been awhile since I had access to decent internet so I'll try to fill you in on where we were and what we've been doing this week. Stan's been having a blast at Pastor Moses' place, training Pastor Moses and a couple of others on different sign-making techniques. He's also been training to be a piki-piki driver.

And he's been playing hide-n-seek with the kids. Where's Waldo?

Actually he's been hard at work with Moses and his crew.

And he's been making friends with the staff at Downhill Springs - particularly the cooks.

He also made it a point to check the readiness of the security guards.

He's been visited by dignitaries as well.

This is Moses, his son, Shallom, Senator Daisy Kanainza, and Stan in front of the new home Moses is building.

Monday Stan and Frank and I spent the morning in Bungoma getting supplies for both jobs, however I hung out at the Elegant Hotel because they have free wifi that actually works. In the afternoon Frank and I finally made it out to Mwamba where we were helping Pastor Dennis and his church put in a new floor. This project actually took three days but I think you'll agree that the result is beautiful.  The pictures that follow document the stages of construction.

Here is the Mwamba church.  This is one of the first churches the Brad Pederson Fund helped to construct.

Initially the floor was excavated out to allow for the new materials.

The next day we began mixing the concrete, sand and rock on the floor.

The next step, on the next day, was to apply the second layer of finish floor.

Meanwhile, Pastor Dennis was trying his hand at being a punda (donkey) drover.

And as everyone knows, these carts are strictly first class.

And here is the finished product.  In finishing the floor, the 12" elevation change from side to side was corrected as well.  Now the floor is level.

We want to thank all of you who have contributed to this project and to the Brad Pederson Building Fund, particularly kudos go out to the Beads for Brad ladies who have done so much to raise awareness and money for this fund.