Kenya Missions Update

October 27, 2005

Greetings in the Wonderful Name of our Lord, Jesus the Christ!

Praise the Lord! I have a letter in front of me from Yusuf Shimoli of the Sergoit Swamp. I featured them in the last prayer letter and told you that they have a wonderful Sunday School program going on. In his letter, he says, "The children have started evangelism to their parents. Even now two to three parents have come to church because of their children."

Three of the four last weekends, I have been sleeping out. The first weekend, several elders and I meet for three days and two nights with elders and Missionary Fielden Allison from Mt. Elgon. We planned another date next year when I will take a carload of elders to Mt. Elgon to have a meeting there. The last two weekends, I was out again with elders. The 15th and 16th we were in Eldama Ravine meeting with the elders and leaders in that area. It was not as uplifting as I would have hoped. Seems that a brother has come and broken the unity of this area; a brother who has left the Church of Christ and has started his own registration with the government. He has American backing and because of this, he is promising many goodies from America. I will not dwell on this, but in your prayers, pray for this man, those he is confusing and those who can see through his deception and are remaining strong in Christ.

I would rather talk about the next weekend visit. I went to Baringo with three elders and a church leader. I was last there in 2003. This is the ‘bush’ of Africa. Even the cell phones don’t work there. It is hot and dusty. The animals have eaten all the vegetation and you wonder how they are going to survive until the next rains in about 5 months. What do you think the roads are like?

We arrived about 12:30 PM and found that the leaders were waiting for us. Some got up at 4 AM to walk to the meeting. Many young children came, some walked as far as 9 miles to get there. The furthest church to send people were 18 miles away. There are 12 churches in this cluster. We were told that there are in these twelve churches, 64 men, 146 women, 101 youth and 341 Sunday School children. Please use your imagination and I will try to express my weekend to you.

First, we started the meeting in the church building at 1 PM. It was hot (tin roof) and the water was coming out almost as fast as it went in. We ate and then had hot tea. I explained to them about Americans drinking cold tea with ice in it when it was hot and they thought maybe we are a bit …!!! Then the meeting concluded at 6 PM. It was a relief to go outside and sit in the shade and watch the sun go down. About dark, we saw a lady walk past with a chicken, heading to the kitchen. We ate that rooster at 8:30 PM. Now this place is rocky as well as barren. Behind the church is a hill of rocks of all shapes and sizes. The soil had long ago eroded away. It was dark, as a cloud was overhead blocking out the stars and moon. That cloud spit some rain on us from time to time. The light of two kerosine lanterns allowed us to see the Sunday School singing groups from various churches. Sometime later the preacher began to talk in Kalenjin. I could envision a very similar setting with a group of people taking place in Jesus’ time. I leaned back and after removing most of the bigger rocks was able to dose off a bit. The meeting ended at 11 PM. We walked back to where we were to stay for the night. I slept in the car while the others slept in the nearby house. It was too warm to sleep, those in the house suffered more than me as the tin roof and mud holds in the heat!

The next morning the birds wake us up before dawn. I got up and had my personal time with the Lord before the others aroused. A couple of the guys who came with me went with two people to find some local barks and roots that can be used for medicinal purposes. Many of the adults would be coming to church today, so they told us that we would not meet in the church building. There is a wonderful clump of trees that they have put benches in. A bench is a Y stick in the ground at both ends with a small log in between. I found a flat stone to sit on at the edge. I was told that this place was cold, hey it was the place for me, cold to them is about 75 degrees. The trees provided great shade and almost no sun came through to the ground. One of the trees was in flower stage and there must have been a million bees above us. Each church had to come up and sing. Then the Sunday Schools. Finally the main part of the service came. The preacher preached from 2 Kings 5, discussing each person in the chapter. It was a powerful lesson. I am guessing that 2/3 of the adults and 1/3 of the youth came up for prayers.

Stepping out of this canopied area the temperature rose by at least 20 degrees. We walked to the church, had lunch of fresh milk and ugali made of maize and millet. Our goal was to head for home by 1 PM. I think we left closer to 3 PM. Getting home a little after 5 PM. We all agreed (two of the elders were with me in 2003) that the people in Baringo have grown spiritually in the last two years. We have planned another meeting with them for March. In this meeting, we will focus on taking ladies and have a ladies meeting.

Pray as I will also have a meeting with elders on the 5th and 6th of November. I will once again be sleeping out. As you can read, I am spending a lot of time with elders. I know that they have to become the leaders of this movement here in the Eldoret area. The emphasis has for many years been on the missionaries. One way to teach and know one another is to spend concentrated time together.

Thanks for all of your love and support for the mission activities that we and you are involved with.

In Service to Christ,

Keith, Grace, Kirsten and Ruth Gafner

I brought pumpkinseeds from America and we have two really huge ones. Everyone wants the seeds from them. NO we do not have anything to do with halloween. But I have had some very delicious cookies and soup from them!

A woman was asked by a coworker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"

The woman replied, "It is like being a pumpkin." God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."