API USA Blog

Today I met with Aketch Aimba , the executive Director of Pearls and Treasures in Nairobi Kenya. This pro-life organization offers crisis pregnancy intervention, post abortion support and counseling.  Again, there is a great need for a center offering medical services. We were able to tour the facility and meet the great staff and volunteers. 

The Kenyan Christian Professionals Forum and Ann Kioko also made us feel welcome during our visit to the organization this afternoon.

The Kenya Christian Professionals Forum (KCPF) is a group of Christian professionals from various denominations sharing the common values on issues of family, life and religious freedom and social justice.

Please pray for both organizations.

We have been blessed this past three weeks with great teaching, new friends and great memories. I look forward to home, seeing my kids and playing with the grandkids. Thank you all again for your prayers and support!

God Bless,

Ben Edwards

I spoke with a few pastors that showed me the heart of the pastors at this second training conference in Eldoret.  One lives in Mombasa at the far eastern edge of Kenya on the Indian ocean.  Another is in the mountains on the western border with Uganda.  Other pastors are here from the far southern border with Tanzania and some from far up north near the border with Ethiopia.   Moses ( there are two Moses here which really kind of messes with your head ) from Mombasa traveled by car for 24 hours over 400 miles, through the night, to get here.  That is how hungry these guys are to hear and be trained in the Word.  The roads here are worth highlighting.  There are some roads built in the last year that are perfect and smooth, but once you get to outlying areas, 'road' has a completely different meaning.  

Main road out of Lodwar that connects them with the South

The main asphalt road is elevated, but it so filled with deep potholes that everyone drives on the dirt shoulders of the road.  So, the road marks the path, but everyone is driving on everything else BUT the road.  So, to come over 400 miles represents a huge sacrifice.

This trip uncovered for me the need and desire for biblical counseling and discipleship in Kenya.  I found only one bible school in all of Kenya ( this was in Nairobi, the capital ) that offered coursework in biblical counseling and it was only one class.  There were no resources either for either personal counsel or biblical counseling training in any of the other major cities in Kenya, much less the outlying rural areas.  The pastors responded enthusiastically to the hope and instruction that the scriptures offer us as shepherds for ministering to their bodies.  Some want immediate help to incorporate it into their bodies now, some want additional training as soon as they can get it, and some now want to pursue formal training programs including getting their masters degrees in counseling.  We are now looking at and praying about how we can address the desires of these men to develop this area of their ministry at all of these levels on an ongoing basis.  Please pray with us as well.  We are spoiled with a wealth of biblical training in the states in every aspect of our walk.  We have become accustomed to it and take it for granted.  These men do not.  It is very dear to them. I hope they get this desire of their heart in fullest measure.

Lord, please bless these pastors and the men of the API Kenya team.  It was a privilege to serve with them these last two weeks.  May you be blessed and glorified by the work of your servants and may this work be sustained and expanded by your grace and for your namesake.  Please give us safe travels home and thank you for our families and church bodies that we shall see very soon!

Jay McBee

Dear Friends and Family,

Fish FM 97.1 Studio, Eldoret Kenya

It has been a remarkable time, this past two weeks, serving and providing pastoral support in the Kenyan cities of Nairobi, Lodwar, and Eldoret and teach on the Sanctity of Human Life. We all have been moved deeply by the hearts of the people and by the many needs they have.  

I have been blessed to have been able to share the Sanctity of Human Life and the work of Care Net of Puget Sound with pastors and organizations in Lodwar and Eldoret. The presentations at the API Pastors Conferences have been well received.

Yesterday I was blessed to be able to meet with the leadership of Youth for Christ here in Eldoret. In our meeting I met two young ladies that have had a vision of opening a center to support women in crises. I shared with them the programs and services of Care Net of Puget Sound and they were encouraged by the information I was able to give them. Through this meeting an invitation was given to me to speak on the local Christian radio station, which I was able to do this morning. What an opportunity to share the Sanctity of Human Life, the work of Care Net of Puget Sound and what Christ has done in my life. 

Eldoret is ground zero for abortions in Kenya. More abortions are performed here than any other city in Kenya. Sadly, there are no pregnancy centers. Pray that a center will be built to come along women and families in need. Pray for the unborn.  

Thank you for your love and continued prayers as we travel.

In His service.

Ben

It is Wednesday night in Eldoret and we just finished the second day of the pastor's conference here at EABC (East Africa Bible College).  We arrived in Eldoret last Saturday and had a wonderful dinner at the local Chinese restaurant.

Sunday morning, Ben and Rob and Frank and I visited the church in Mwamba, and Jay and Tim visited Pastor Shadrack's church in downtown Eldoret.

Monday was prep day for most of us as the pastors arrived and we held the first session Monday night. Jay and Ben were handing out the books and getting to know the pastors.

We have 46 pastors and leaders, mostly from western Kenya, but one is from Mombasa on the east coast, and two are from Lodwar who were unable to make the Lodwar conference.

As you might be able to tell from the pictures here, the climate in Eldoret is decidedly colder than Lodwar. Tuesday and Wednesday were full days, teaching from 8:30 in the morning till 9 at night with a few short breaks for lunch and dinner.

Rob is videoing all the sessions and he has quite the impressive array of equipment.

He also stays up late to shoot the stars. However he has been a little bit hindered by the extremely bright moon these last few nights.

Tuesday Ben was able to connect with the local Crisis Pregnancy Center in Eldoret and apparently he will be on a local radio show on Thursday.  The staff told him that they had been praying for this kind of connection for some time and they were extremely overjoyed at his visit.

We have two more days of this conference and then we are off to Narok and Masaai Mara.  On our way we will stop and visit with Pastor Reuben Luvanga in Majengo.  His church has purchased some land and is anxious to begin building a structure.  We will be bringing them some help from the Brad Pederson Memorial Building Fund. 

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support for this ministry.

We have just completed the first conference in Lodwar.    It is about the harshest area in Kenya.  Hot, dirt roads, homes surrounded by dirt, slums of 5' x 5' lean to's in the dirt.  Heat and dust characterize life here.  Wikipedia says that Lodwar has one of the highest average temperatures in the world.  Jan thru Dec, the average high never comes below 90 degrees.  There is no respite from the heat.  Most days after teaching or bouncing around in a 4x4 on a rutted dirt road to visit a remote church in the bush, I would be exhausted. Fortunately, we had air-conditioned rooms ( if the A/C did not break or power go out ) so we could pull the heat out of our bones.  Shower water was never heated and you never wanted it to be.

In this inhospitable area, I met pastors with a burning, heartfelt desire to serve God and His people.   Some of the most inviting men in the most uninviting surroundings.  What a juxtaposition.  It was a privilege and an honor to meet these men and to teach and encourage them from the scriptures.  I met with some of the pastors and for many, the support that our team offered in instruction and personal counsel was something that was of of great joy and comfort to them. They sat for 12 hours in an un-air-conditioned room trying to get as much as they could.  Not only were they taking in the teachings of Mike, Tim, Ben and myself, for their ministry and congregations they were taking home some well-needed personal encouragement. A pastor I met said that his congregation had been in despair and depression.  He has women in their 20s with HIV facing death - very common in Africa. Part of his congregation were attacked in a cross-border attack from the northern border and mothers and fathers were speared to death and children left homeless (which the church took in until the government could take care of them).  He said being there and seeing the blood everywhere greatly affected him.  Hearing him talk, I realized these guys were on the front-lines with the gospel and saw things that I, Lord willing, would never see or experience.  That I could have a small part in encouraging them was one of the most humbling things that I have been involved with.  Lord willing, I will have the chance to see these men again.

God bless these pastors.

Sunday morning we took off for Nataaba, a small village around 40 km from Lodwar.  Through the Brad Pederson Memorial Building Fund we were able to help this congregation put a roof over their heads this year.  We also brought with us some staple foods - ugali flour and beans, cooking oil, salt and matches, to distribute to the congregation. We had a wonderful time of worship with the church there under the leadership of Pastor James.

They were very happy to see these visitors from a far country and Ben got a lot of hugs.

We will be returning later this week with iron sheets and galvanized screening for the sides.

After the service we handed out the food we brought and everyone went home with something to eat.  Pastor Leonard later told me that Pastor James had said that there were many in the congregation who would not have had something to eat that day had we not brought the food. Turkana is going through a very hard time and there are people dying of hunger everyday, due in part to a government that has largely ignored their citizens there.

Ben and Jay headed up the food line.

It was a great joy to worship and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Nataaba. 

Please remember them in prayer before the Lord.                            

It was a happy ride back to St Teresa's

We started the day with some early morning conference planning and time together in prayer.

From there it was straight to the coffee house for breakfast and of course... coffee.

Then off to the Village Market to get the phones and internet sticks setup and topped off, money exchanged, followed by a quick trip (is that possible) through the Masai Market.

Ben is looking for bugs.

Checking out the baskets

 Then a jet-lag induced nap back at the Hampton House followed by a mile walk for pizza and back to the Hampton House to carefully re-pack all of the gear since we drive to Eldoret starting at 6am and then fly to Lodwar after that.  Some gear is left in Eldoret for use when we return after the Lodwar Conference.

The Kenyan roads can be a dangerous place so please uplift the team in prayer as Frank drives us to Eldoret and also for the flight that follows to Lodwar. 

We had a fairly uneventful trip from Amsterdam to Nairobi.  We had some delays (pilot initiated go-around on approach), the stairs did not match up with the airplane and had to be re-positioned and the luggage took forever to show up.  Frank was waiting for us and the process of loading all the luggage and getting it to the vehicle all went well. We can already see how the covering in prayer is felt as we go through the logistics of travel.  While we were loading the trailer, Jay laid down his laptop bag so that he could help load.  A car pulled out in a tight turn and "ran over the bag". No damage as the wheels somehow just missed the bag.  We are at the Hampton House now and looking forward to a good nights sleep.

Ben grabs an opportunity to send off a few emails

We just landed in Amsterdam after an uneventful flight from Seattle.  We connected up with Tim and Jay and have a short layover before continuing on to Kenya. Please continue to pray for our travel and our brief time in Nairobi before we head North to Eldoret and then Lodwar.

Wednesday February 4, 2015

Take Off

Dave Johnson, Stan Skinner and I took off Wednesday afternoon from SeaTac for Amsterdam and a connecting flight to Nairobi.  We all got there a bit early and had to wait an extra hour because our plane was late in arriving.  We used the time well. (Scroll down to get the whole trip)

Although we were an hour late arriving in Amsterdam, our boarding gate for the flight to Kenya was right next door as we came out of the plane. 

We landed in Nairobi Thursday evening and made it through customs fairly quickly. Stan and Dave even managed to smile for us after nearly 20 hours of travel.  Stan is waving his visa form here.  Apparently proud that he made it through the medical screening set up prior to entering the visa line.

Friday February 6

Friday was a very event packed day. All of us were jet lagging and even though we got to bed the night before rather late, we were all up before five.  We exchanged our dollars for schillings, got supplies at Nakumat, waited in line at Safaricom forever and then went to the Masai Market.

Of course we started the day with Java House.

Stan and Dave having a great time haggling.

After spending some time and not much money at the market, we drove into Nairobi to meet one of Stan's contacts for sign making and materials.  Stan was pretty excited to find suppliers for the sign business he is setting up in Matete for Pastor Moses. 

Then we drove across the city out to the ACTS bookstore on one of the most congested roads in Nairobi. However the bookstore was worth the wait.

Friday evening we met John and his wife Margaret and their new little girl, Eliana, at Brackenhurst for dinner.

Saturday February 7

We took off this morning for Matete after Stan and Dave packed the rig.

Along the way we stopped at the equator to take some pics.

In Eldoret we stopped to rest for a bit at Pastor Shadracks home. Stan appreciated the stop.

Damaris, Shadrack's wife, has almost completely recovered from a bout with pneumonia and a recent miscarriage.  Some of you were instrumental in her recovery through your prayers and financial support.  When Shadrack called me to tell me how sick Damaris was two weeks ago, he said that he wanted to take her to the doctor but they required payment in advance and he didn't have it. Through the generosity of many, we were able to send him the necessary funds to take her to the hospital. When he examined Damaris, the doctor said that if he had waited another hour, Damaris would have died. Praise God for His perfect timing!

We finally reached Matete around 7 pm and reunited Stan with his friend Pastor Moses.

ps. It is really hard to get Stan to smile for the camera. I have to offer him treats.

Sunday February 8

We had a wonderful time with the church in Matete this morning after a much needed rest and a great breakfast at our hotel, the Downhill Springs.

After the service, we ate lunch at Pastor Moses' home, and Stan played Santa Claus as he handed out gifts that he and Mary had packed for Moses' family.

Monday February 9

We spent the first part of Monday setting up the sign shop so that Stan could train the workers.

We had suggested the previous day that it might be possible for us to install power at Moses' residence which is only about 70 meters from the church and that we would calculate the cost to see if that was possible.  However when we got there Monday morning, Moses already had someone digging the cable trench.  Apparently we were committed to the project.  I'm just glad we had Dave along - he is a man of many talents. He took a look at the situation, calculated what we needed, and he and I and Frank headed off for Bungoma to buy the necessary materials while the ditch was being dug.

While we were in Bungoma, we met Dr. Charles for lunch and he showed us where he is setting up his new clinic.  He was awakened one morning a few weeks ago by someone who told him they were demolishing the building in which his old clinic was located.  His landlord had not seen fit to notify any of the tenants of the proposed demolition and he rushed to get his things out of the building they were demolishing.

I stayed in Bungoma as the conference in Amagoro was beginning that evening, and I will be staying there all week. By the end of the day, Stan and his team had produced their first printed t-shirt.

As always, there are interesting scenes on the road - like these guys hitching a free ride on a gas tanker.

Meanwhile, I was in Amagoro setting up for the first evening session of the pastor's conference.  Watched intently by a very interested group.

After setting up the church, we went for dinner by candlelight.

And then returned for the evening session. We have power and light in the church thanks to a generator.

Tuesday February 10

Tuesday morning Stan and Dave were back to work in Matete.

Of course every job has its fans.

Dave split his time between laying wire and helping Stan with his project.

And I was in Amagoro starting the first morning of the conference. Right now there are about 40 out of the 55 expected attendees. Since most of the pastors either walk or catch public transportation - matatus - arrival times tend to be variable.

Together for the Gospel provided these books for the pastors.

Every day we held a question and answer time after all the sessions were finished.  Pastor Reuben Luvanga does most of the interpretation for us and he does an excellent job.  At least that is what all the students are telling me since I don't speak Kiswahili.

Wednesday February 11

This morning I called to see how the Matete team was doing and found out that everything was going great, except that it seems the heat press was somehow damaged in the flight to Kenya.  Apparently one of the heating elements was broken and Dave spent the day trying to fix it.  We are praying that he can get it working because we already have orders to fill.

Since Stan and Dave had to go into Bungoma for parts, they decided to drive a little further and drop in on the conference at Amagoro and surprise me. Stan looks thrilled with the idea.

Back in Matete, Pastor Moses started burning the bricks they had previously made for the construction of the new shop for the sign business.

Thursday February 12

In Matete, Dave and Stan and Frank kept at it to get the heat press working and finish the wiring job.

In Amagoro we finished the 4th day of the pastors training.

I also received some pictures from a church in Turkana called Nataaba on the progress of the construction of their new building.  When we were in Lodwar last August, with money from the Brad Pederson Memorial Fund we had purchased materials for them to build this structure and delivered them to the church.  However, once they began building, a dispute ensued about ownership of the land and they had to relocate. They finally found a plot of ground not too far from the initial plot and began building last week.

The church was very grateful for the help and send their greetings and thanks to API USA and Summit Christian Fellowship and to all who contributed to the work.

They were very grateful as well for the bibles we sent them as most of them have never had a bible.

This is Pastor James, pastor of the church at Nataaba.

Friday February 13

Today was the last day of the pastors conference. And as with all the sessions, we spent a lot of time in question and answer mode. All the questions were very good and indicated a good grasp of the material we presented. I was very encouraged by the obvious passion to understand the word of God everyone displayed.

Unfortunately I did not get a lot of pictures of the conference but I did manage to capture Frank at his finest.  Frank is our API associate who does just about everything for us.  He's particularly good at waiting.

Frank probably had the hardest job of us all.  He was on the road early, driving from Matete to Bungoma to pick me up and deliver me to Amagoro.  And then turn around and head back to Matete to work with Stan and Dave.  Then he would come to Amagoro in the late afternoon to take me to Bungoma and head back to Matete.  He also was taking Dave all over to try and find parts for the heat press.  Unfortunately Dave had no success in finding the part he needed.  But he did manage to get the electricity hooked up to Pastor Moses' house.

The firing of the bricks was a success as they were unveiled today.

And everywhere Dave goes he finds friends and admirers. (It might have been the candy he carried in his pockets)

Saturday February 14

Today we held commencement exercises for two of our graduates - Pastor Dennis Makutu and Pastor Shadrack Mogesi Mwita who each earned their B th degrees from API School of Ministry.  Many thanks to the dean of the school, Dr. Franklin Clark for his passion and drive to bring this kind of education to the pastors of Kenya.

Sunday February 15

While Stan and Dave attended the service in Matete once again, I spoke in the church in Amagoro at the request of Pastor Leonard Ekea.  Currently the children's Sunday School classes are held outside while the adult Sunday School is going on in the auditorium.

The nursery is located inside.

In the evening, I joined Dave and Stan at Pastor Moses' home for a celebration dinner.  Judith, Moses' wife, showed off her new Wonder Bag she received from Mary Skinner as she made us dinner.  It was nice being all together after a week in separate locations for this last meal with the Matete crowd.

Monday February 16

Today was a travel day and we took off from Matete in the morning to travel down to Kilgoris.  Along the way we made a few stops.  The first was in the village of Majengo where two of our friends live.  The first stop was at Pastor Michael Omega's home. Michael is an evangelism trainer with E3, and he facilitates our evangelism training wherever we hold our Medical Mission Camps, to train the local pastors and church members in personal evangelism.

Stan was intrigued by the pig pen.

We also met with Pastor Reuben Luvanga who has a church in Majengo; and then we traveled down to Kisii where we were joined by Pastor Shadrack's wife, Damaris, who just finished her work there.  We got into Kilgoris around 7 pm and spent the night at the Seasons Hotel.

Tuesday February 17

We spent the morning and early afternoon visiting with some of the pastors in Kilgoris that have been part of our pastor's training conferences for a few years.  The leader of this group, Christ Gospel Churches, is Bishop Samson Kenteyia and we took the opportunity to visit his church that is in the middle of being remodeled and enlarged.

We also visited with Pastor Jackson Mongaine, of the Kenya Assemblies of God,who was a participant in our 2013 conference in Kilgoris.

We then traveled to Pastor Benson Ntuntai's new church plant in Olangabolo.  This church has received funds from the Brad Pederson Memorial Building Fund to raise a new structure.

We are hoping to raise more funds to help them finish the project and enclose the structure.  Pastor Benson also asked if we could bring our floor crew and help pour a cement floor. I told him that since the church was on top of the hill and far away from water, that might be difficult.  He replied that it was no problem - he would just bring the water up by donkeys.

We finally left Kilgoris that afternoon and traveled to Narok to spend the night before going to the game park at Maasai Mara.

Wedesday February 17

Today we spent touring the game park in Maasai Mara.  Although it is not the migration season, there are still plenty of animals to see.  Here are pictures of some of them.

 We took a lunch break at the oldest lodge in the park - Keekorok Lodge.

We also took some shots while on the border of Tanzania and Kenya in the park.

Along the Mara river, we took a nature walk with an armed park ranger.  I felt pretty safe until I asked him if he had ever had to fire his weapon at any aggressive predators on this walk, and he said, 'Oh yes, many times!'

Thursday February 19

We left Narok in the morning and drove back to Nairobi for the flight home that evening.  On our way to the airport, we stopped to eat at the Mombasa Road Java House and met the owner of the hotel we stayed at in Matete.  Her name is Daisy Kanainza and she is the youngest Senator in the Kenyan Parliament.  She was very interested in our work in Kenya.

02/09/14

Here we are in Amsterdam waiting on our flights home - Tim to Los Angeles, and Rob and I to Portland and on to Seattle. As you can see, we've gotten hold of a little bit of the U.S. here in the form of Starbucks to while away our four hour layover.

We've had an amazing trip as you can probably see if you've been following our blog. But we are thankful to be getting home after three weeks on the road. We are sincerely grateful to all of you who have kept us in your prayers.  The only time any one of us was not feeling well was two days ago when I think I got hold of a bad piece of apple pie at Java House in Nairobi.  But that was short-lived and I was feeling great the next morning.

Monday and Tuesday we filled with activity as we nailed down all the final tasks we had to complete before we left, but we also got some much-needed rest at the Hampton House. One of our last stops was at the Kenya Bible Society where we purchased some Bibles for the churches in Lodwar in Kiswahili and Turkana.  We had intended to purchase those in Lodwar, but we couldn't find any.  So we are shipping these to one of our pastor friends, George Lokwawi in Lodwar to deliver to the churches in Nataaba, Juluk, and Nakingol.

In His service for His glory,

michael

31/08/14

Friday afternoon we traveled to Narok where we spent the night.  Early on Saturday morning we got up to travel to the game park in Maasai Mara. The annual migration was on and there were literally millions of animals to be seen.  Here are some of the animals we saw.

Young male lions

Pretty bird

Cheetah

Guinea hens

Tembo - elephant

All of the lions we saw were resting

Buzzards enjoying a meal - circle of life stuff

Baby hippo

Sleeping croc - they sleep with their mouths open and birds come and pick their teeth

Mama simba and her cubs

Cape buffalo

The pride had made a kill and eaten and left this one to guard the food

Baboon

Male osterich

Twiga - giraffe

A silhouette shot of the migration of wildebeestes

We had a great day in the park and as we were driving home, we came upon a wreck that had just happened minutes before.  Apparently it was a one-van accident when the driver lost control on the gravel road.  No one was badly hurt beyond scrapes and minor aches.  As we were miles from anywhere, we piled all the luggage of the passengers on the Prado and took six of them back with us to Narok, leaving the driver and one other to deal with the police.  They were still in shock from the accident, and they couldn't understand why perfect strangers would be so kind. Somehow we managed to squeeze ten of us in a vehicle that only comfortably fits seven. Good thing they were all young people and fairly thin.

Again we want to thank all of you for your prayers to God for us and we thank Him for His mercy and grace.  We are in Nairobi for two nights until we fly back to the US on Tuesday.

31/08/14

It is Sunday evening and we are back in Nairobi so I'll try to catch you up on all the news. We have had a busy two days since the commencement exercises for the graduating student of the API School of Ministry.  Friday we held the commencement exercises, graduating four students: Pastors Fred Anyule and William Odhiambo with Certificates in Biblical Studies; Pastor Moses Biketi with a Bachelors in Theology; and Pastor Leonard Ekea with a Masters of Biblical Studies. Pastor Tim Bourgeois gave the commencement address and on behalf of the API School of Ministry and Covenant Bible Seminary I handed out the diplomas.  Here are some pictures of the event.

29/0814

Today is Friday and the last session of the conference here in Eldoret was held yesterday.  Pastor Tim and I have been teaching through the book of Genesis and all the pastors and leaders here have let us know just how much they have been blessed by this study.  They were also blessed to receive a copy of Pastor Tim's 150 page Genesis Devotional that we had copied and bound into books here in Eldoret for them.  We will be holding a commencement exercise this morning for four graduates - Pastors William Odhiambo and Fred Anyule with Associate of Theology degrees, Pastor Moses Biketi with a Bachelor of Theology degree and Pastor Leonard Ekea with a Masters in Biblical Studies.

Here are some shots taken during the week.

Pastor Tim with Pastor Benson and Pastor Geoffrey

Rob with Pastor James

Reuban, William, Dennis, Jeremiah

William and Emily Odhiambo, Ursula Ekea, Fred Anyule

Valentine's baby

My little friend

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for this conference.  God has been good to us and we have been blessed with His presence, power and protection all through this time.

25/08/14

Sunday morning we all went to the church where Dr. Douglas, who works with Gary in the Medical Ministry Camps, is a pastor of evangelism. There were probably 1200 people in attendance and I was asked to give a greeting.

The speaker was a well-known preacher from Nigeria who was dressed in a stunning white, silk suit with alligator shoes and bold tie. He gave a show-stopping performance, capped off with an altar call that appealed for those who wanted a blessing from God to come forward with a 5000 schilling offering.  When not enough were inspired to bring the necessary, he then reduced it to a 2000 schilling blessing and got a lot more to come forward. Gary and Rob and I declined to purchase and walked out.

Sunday afternoon was spent in planning and prep for the conference that started on Monday.  And then Sunday evening we were invited to Dr. Douglas' house for dinner with his family. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures but again we had a feast and a very enjoyable evening.

Monday morning we started the conference with prayer and devotions at six, breakfast at seven, and the first session at 8:30 going on until 9 at night. That is basically the schedule for the next 3 days culminating with a graduation ceremony on Friday.

And as you can tell from this picture - it is about a 50 degree difference between Lodwar and Eldoret.

Right now it is raining again and fairly cold as we end this first day with a hot cup of chai.

25/08/14

Saturday afternoon Rob and Tim and I went to the Lodwar airport to get on our flight to Eldoret.  We also were able to take Leonard and Shadrack with us for their first airplane flight ever!  Initially, there were no seats available for this flight.  However, FLY 540 has never reckoned with the power of the God we serve.  We asked the Lord for seats on this flight Friday, and when we went to the office Saturday morning, they just happened to have two seats available. Imagine that! 

We also spent some time in the local market looking for those particular things that would remind us of Turkana.  I'm holding the local equivalent of a combination chair and pillow called an ekacholong.  All the men carry one of these around with them.

As news got out that mazungus were in the market - we were swamped by people who wanted to sell us their personal ekacholongs and other things.

When we got to the airport, we met a group of Spanish university students who had been in Kenya for a month and were on their way back to Nairobi for the flight back to Madrid.  We had about an hour to spend before the plane arrived so Shadrack and I began engaging these guys in conversation. We had a great discussion, asking them about their travels and life in Spain.  We also were able to share the gospel with them and they were engaged but ultimately uninterested.  However we told them that we would be praying for them so if you would join us in prayer for Paula, Alvare, Irene, and Jovi for Jesus to reveal Himself to them and save them we would appreciate that. They actually thanked us for even thinking about praying for them.

We arrived in Eldoret around 6:45 pm and were met by Gary and Frank who gathered us and all our luggage and we went to a great Chinese restaurant that Gary had discovered.  We had a feast!  Leonard and Shadrack were very skeptical about Chinese cuisine at first - but they were soon wolfing it down.

Tim and I are making sure our bags are getting off here and not traveling to Eldoret.

23/08/14

After the conference ended Friday afternoon, we bought some iron sheets (corrugated metal roofing), nails, fasteners and all manner of other stuff and headed out to the church in Nataaba.  This congregation had purchased some land on which to build a new church and the Brad Pederson Memorial Fund donated about half the cost of putting up the structure.  On the way, Rob found a tower he wanted to climb.

When we arrived at the old church site, we were greeted by many of the congregation gathered together singing and dancing.

Needless to say they were very happy to see us.  I had come here in February of this year and smiles of recognition told me that they remembered my last visit.

She's actually smiling.

I think Leonard is preaching and Shadrack is interpreting - or they are just trying to pose for the camera.

We visited the site of the new church where construction was not at all advanced since I left there in February.  I hope to see a completed structure soon. Leonard has promised to send pictures.

On the way back to Lodwar we ran into a wandering herd of camels and Rob jumped out to take a closer view.

We reached the end of the Lodwar Pastor Conference today. It was truly blessed by the Lord from beginning to end. Here are some of the significant things from my viewpoint. The pastors here were very engaged with the teachings and responsive to what they were learning. Having done three Pastor Conferences previously in India, these pastors were the most excited and appreciative for all the teachings. Many described to me how deeply they had been impacted by our studies and that their ministries to their churches would never be the same. The chairman of the pastor’s association was deeply thankful and wanted to stay in touch by email to continue to discuss the teachings and other theological issues. My email might be filled with pastor contact soon because many of the pastors asked to stay in contact.

I was particularly blessed by how in sync Mike and I were in our understanding of Ephesians and how our emphasis points lined up with each other as he taught chapters 1, 3, 5, and I taught chapters 2, 4, 6. It was like we had discussed notes in advance, but we had zero prior discussions. Since I was a last minute teaching replacement there simply wasn’t time to compare notes in advance. I was still completing my prep the night before the first session.

We were all blessed to learn on the way back to our rooms from the last session that this conference was the first time all the Lodwar pastors had come together for such an event.

21/08/14

We had another full day of teaching and fellowship in Lodwar.  Today Pastor Tim taught through all of chapter four of Ephesians and I got through the first half of chapter five.  Again the response was overwhelming to us.  It seemed that every pastor wanted to tell Tim and Rob and I how blessed they have been by our coming to this desolate place to teach them the word of God. Apparently not too many Bible teachers make up to Lodwar.  I cannot count the number of invitations we have received to conduct conferences in other areas.  One pastor from a village on the border with Ethiopia assured me that it would be very easy because they had an airstrip there.

We have pastors from many different denominational stripes attending here and at least one former Muslim who was saved and is now pastoring a church. His heart's desire is to go to Saudi Arabia to minister the gospel to those people.

There are pastors here who have not been in the saddle for very long, and others who have served as pastors for decades.  But they all seem young in their enthusiasm for the word of God and the proclamation of the gospel.  One of my favorite young pastors is a guy named Spurgeon. I asked him how he got this unusual name and he told me that after he came to Christ, he got hold of a book of C.H. Spurgeon's sermons and he appreciated them so much he took his name.

All the pastors send their greetings!