Church was supposed to begin at 9:30, or rather; we were
supposed to be at church at 9:30.
However, in true Kenyan fashion, the tea time was extended to a point
that we did not arrive at the church until 10:30.
Naturally they are free to do such things as
no one had a bulletin or expectations for beginning and ending times.
The church doesn’t have a permanent building;
instead we were meeting beneath a tremendous tree upon a hill overlooking the
valleys below.
It truly was a beautiful
place to have a church service.
We were first to hold Sunday school and broke into groups in
a rather impromptu fashion.
The service
officially began after we talked to the three groups: children, youth and
elderly women (rather peculiar classes to break into).
Naturally it was a big day for the church of
nearly eighty people; to have visitors from across the waters.
Therefore, we were seated in benches at the
front, facing the congregation, while they were all scattered out, sitting on
the grass.
They performed several songs
for us while we sat and finally our time had come to share.
The whole time the service had been unfolding, I was
watching our backs as a band of rain was heading our way.
It appeared that it was just a matter of time
before we ourselves would be caught in the rain and sure enough, just as I
stood to preach, the storm hit will all its fury.
A nearby schoolhouse had an empty room and we
all ran to gather in that room for the remainder of our time together.
The whole church crowded into a room that was
perhaps made for forty people and I had the honor of preaching the Word.
They were ecstatic to receive the message and
we even found a dear lady that could translate directly from English to
Kalenjin, that was a blessing for sure.
Prior to the end, a call for salvation came and many in the
church gave their lives to Christ.
I
suppose I assumed that all were saved since the church was rather small;
however, some visitors must have snuck in to see what the white folk were all
about.
As we were wrapping things up a
lady came forward desiring prayer for her child.
After a translator revealed her words, I
learned her child was possessed by a demon and the mother was there standing in
the gap for her.
We prayed fervently for
the deliverance of the child and believed for the Lord’s mighty deliverance.
Service ended free from the rain and they began to pass out
clothes that they had gathered from the church we work with in Kibera.
In my mind I was wondering how one would pass
out clothes in such a situation and feared for the worst.
The worst did happen as people were awfully
grabby and some protested that they were not getting what they were due and so
forth.
Fortunately some order was restored;
at least I think it was, as we were departing.
One of the church elders and also a village elder invited us
to his house to partake in the luncheon meal.
He opened up his very beautiful home on ten of the finest acres around
Tendwet.
The meal was truly one of the
best we have had since arriving in
Africa.
He treated us with the greatest measure of
hospitality and truly blessed us tremendously.
Naturally he desired that we pray a blessing over the home and pronounce
some manner of Word from the Lord.
I
read a passage of scripture and thanked him and his family for their kindness
and hospitable reception of us foreigners.
He stood to provide the benediction of sorts there in his
home and introduced his family in closing.
Lastly he mentioned his daughter who is studying law in
Nairobi.
She is his youngest and he was equally proud of her as he was his two
sons who own three cows each.
Regardless, he finished and then looked at me extending both arms and
exclaimed, “she is yours.”
I of course
was honored to have been given the youngest daughter of the village elder but
not quite sure what it all involved.
Only later have I learned that he is hoping I shall take her to the
U.S.
He offered to pay for her plane ticket to
America as well
as continued schooling there.
Two weeks
from now he plans on visiting us in
Nairobi
and bringing her along.
That means I
have two weeks to scheme and figure a way to get out of marriage and to get out
of coming home with a bride at Christmas time!
The meal ended, we departed from what could be my future
father-in-law’s home and arrived back in time for the afternoon open air
service.
Lingering rains put a damper on
the meeting until around 6:00 when they began a bit of singing and dancing.
After their musical introduction it was my
time to bring the Gospel to the thirsty ears of the inhabitants of
Tendwet.
I preached on the goodness of
the Lord and His love in the most contextualized way I knew how and turned
things over to Pastor Benard who closed the meeting.
Again there were several who grasped a hold of Jesus Christ
or perhaps it was He who did the grasping.
Nevertheless, we ended the day with many added to the kingdom and a full
spirit from the Lord’s tremendous work.
Before bed we had some tea (round one) and a delightful meal followed by
some more tea (round two).
Sleep came
quickly for the day following would be a busy one.
