Kenya Missions Update

14 Novevmber, 2003

Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord, Jesus the Messiah!

Furlough 2004

On our last furlough, I began to talk to the missions committee of our sponsoring church (The South 11th and Willis Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas) about the possibility of coming home for a extended furlough (sabbatical). In 2002 we had visit with us Dr. Gailyn and Becky VanRheenen (who came to visit with churches that they helped to start in the Sotik area when they were missionaries in Kenya), one of our elders. While they were here, we discussed this more in detail. This year, we were also visited by Dr. Jerry Drennan (who was over here as part of the 11th and Willis Deaf campaign), who is the Chairman of the Missions Committee. As results of much prayer about this, a decision has been made concerning our sabbatical in 2004.

Particular plans include being in the Michigan area from about April 6 until May 16th. On the 17th of May, we will attend Missions Seminar, which takes place at Abilene Christian University every summer. This will be a wonderful time for Grace and I both to take two mission courses and rub shoulders with other missionaries and future missionaries. This will finish the end of the first week of June. Soon after that we hope to make a trip east to Jellico, TN and enjoy the Appalachian hospitality of two former Eldoret missionary families. Then make visitations on the way back to Abilene. Arriving in time to get a home set up and get Kirsten and Ruth in school.

Grace and I are also looking forward to being around Abilene for several reasons. This will be a break for 15 years on the mission field, a time to just be saturated with the Word of God and grow closer to Him. A time away from the pressures that are upon us daily on the mission field. Also a time of being with the wonderful people at The 11th and Willis Church of Christ. We look forward to getting to know all the wonderful people that we read about in the church bulletins and have as yet to meet. Also hoping that we can attend some lectureships and other activities. And lastly, a time of being at ACU where we can sit at the feet of wonderful teachers.

Then, our plans are to fly back to Kenya just before Christmas. Hopefully by then we will have seen all the Christmas tree lights in Abilene and the girls will be dazzled with delight. We have never spent Christmas with Grace’s family in Nairobi, so this would be a wonderful time to arrive back in Kenya.

Ushuhuda (testimonies of faith)

Jesus said, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Mt. 21:22

We are trying to encourage people to put their faith in the Lord. Rose came to us one day asking for Ksh 500 ($ 7) to take her sick teenage son to the doctor. Grace gave her some papers to read about believing in the Lord to provide. In short, after reading and them discussing, they agreed to pray together about it. They agreed to pray that by the next morning that the Lord would provide the Ksh. 500. The Lord answered in another way. That afternoon, a family friend who is a doctor dropped by (which he rarely does). He looked at the son and said he does not look well. He said, "Bring him to my clinic tomorrow." Rose responded, " I don’t have money to bring him." He responded, " I didn’t ask you for money, I asked you to bring him!"

Praise the Lord!

Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Alex Bwire has a growth on his face, a fancy name that I can’t remember. It has been slowly growing for years. When his father Paul asked Dr. Agwa how much it cost to remove, he said he thought about Ksh.18,000 ($234). Paul does not have this kind of money. Paul and Jane each year invite us to help them eat a turkey that they raise. This year they also invited Dr. Peter and Lydia Agwa. Paul has great respect for Dr. Agwa as a doctor and Christian. Dr. Agwa said that he thought Operation Smile was coming to Eldoret and he would find out and tell me so that I could tell Paul and maybe Alex could come and see if they would operate on it (free).

Alex came, and was given an appointment. He was to be here on Monday at 3 PM, the operation was to be on Tuesday. 7:30 AM on Tuesday, Paul calls and says that things have changed in the night, a man told him that Alex would no longer have the operation. I (Keith) got real angry at satan and told Grace to give me some scripture verses to claim and I would also look some up. Grace and the girls prayed and as we looked up scripture verses the girls prayed. I got to the hospital at 9:30 and Paul said the man came back and said that Alex would have the operation. We read the scriptures and encouraged ourselves that we would not let satan steal this wonderful gift from Alex. At about 11:30 the nurse came with Alex and a lady with the same condition and said that they were going to see another doctor at the hospital. Alex came back saying that he did not see another doctor, just a man who told him to come back in January. We proceeded to talk to this man, going with the husband of the woman who also has the same problem. All the way there, the man was saying discouraging words that didn’t help our faith. It was true they wanted Alex to come back in January and he would have to pay the full bill. I asked Alex, "where is your file?" He said, "at the operation room." So we went there. It seems that a more critical case came in and they took this person over Alex and the others. I gave Paul my Bible and told him to read the scriptures we gave him and put his faith in the Lord! The lady told us that the doctor is from Egypt and would go there tomorrow for a month, but she would see if he has time to help us today.

I went a little ways away and called Grace on the phone and told her to pray and I prayed. While sitting there, the ‘discouraging man’ came and sat by Paul. OH I prayed, "Paul keep your eyes focused on the Lord, not this mans words." The nurse came and saw Paul reading the Bible and said, "Are you a Christian?" She was also a Christian. She came several times and gave reports to Paul. Finally she told him to go back to Ward 12 and wait. At 4 PM they came and took Alex for the operation, which took 20 minutes. Praise the Lord for His provision. Satan really tried to steal this from Paul’s family.

AIDS

What effect does it have on people’s lives? Hesborn Kwahera (who is a preacher in the Kapkatoi Church) and his wife have 4 children. Recently his brother who had Aids but was working in town passed away. They had 7 children. How does a family living on a very small farm immediately take in this wife and 7 other mouths to feed? Let alone school fees, medical expenses etc.

Elders meeting

31st Oct – 1 Nov. was another elders meeting that we hosted here in Eldoret. We rent out a room at a nearby college. They provide a place to meet and mattresses for $0.67 per head. Grace and others fix the food and I cater to the venue. By 2 PM on Friday we started the meeting. It went until 1 AM. In all, 23 people attended. Then sleeping until 7 AM when I came with scones and tea. The meeting went until 1 PM. A lot of important things were discussed in the meeting. Kenyans are a bit different than Americans, as most people take part in the discussion on an issue before a consensus is reached. Most went home, but the Board of Trustees of the Saroiyot Christian Training Centre and I met until 3 PM. They have 1 ½ acres of land that was purchased two years ago by a donor and the Christians now hope to start building a meeting place of their own on the property.

Pray for us as we prepare ourselves for furlough/sabbatical. There are a lot of things that need special consideration. Pray for the Leaders/Elders who will need to become more active in this movement. Pray for the Sunday School Leader (Benjamin Kipserem) and Youth Leader (David Busienei) as they seek to make the youth programs more coordinated and appropriate.

In Service to Christ,

Keith, Grace, Kirsten & Ruth

P.S. Please pray with us at this time. In Kenya, ramadan takes place from October 26 - November 24th. About 1/5 of the people in the world claim Islam as their religion. In Kenya about 6% of the people make this claim. Each day we are using a booklet called, ’30 Days – Moslem Prayer Focus’ to pray for the Moslems. It has really struck me how satan is using this religion to repress and hold people in terrible bondage! They also need to hear the Wonderful News of salvation that they can have only through Jesus Christ!