Some stories

This is one of my favourite stories from our time in Kenya: While on a prayer walk in during our time in Pokot, Akira felt stirred to pray for the old people in the area as they seemed more set in their traditional ways and less likely to be involved with the church than the younger people. She then met this old lady on her way to the well, and being unable to communicate with her verbally, offered her shade from her umbrella and walked with her. At the well, Akira was able to find a translator and explained the Gospel using the colours on our gospel bracelets. She also invited the lady to watch the Jesus film with us on the Thursday evening, but the lady declined saying she had to go somewhere with her goats that night.

Then, on the Sunday, just as our outdoor church service was drawing to a close, this woman turned up. She had felt troubled by an evil spirit the night before and knew that the answer was to be found in the message that Akira had shared with her. She had made the long, hot trek to church to find salvation and prayed there to give her life to Jesus. Praise God for his amazing mercy and grace!

The holiday camp we helped run in West Pokot was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. It was the first time an interdenominational camp had happened in the area, and we had ~600 kids and young people with us for a week of Bible teaching, songs, prayer and games.

It was hard to chat to the younger kids individually outside of class because of the language barrier, but some of the older kids had good English. The girl on the right here is called Mabel and came with some of her friends from a Catholic church. I asked her towards the end of the week what her favourite thing about the camp had been. I expected that she say something like ‘spending time with her friends’ or ‘watching movies in the evening,’ but she replied, ‘learning about Jesus.’ I think was the camp was the first time that she’d had Jesus’ love and rescue mission clearly explained to her and she was genuinely excited to receive the good news.

On the final day of the camp, we prayed for the kids to be filled with the power and love of the Holy Spirit as they went back to their homes and it was exciting to see some girls from Mabel’s group of friends clearly encountering God in a deep and personal way during our prayer time.

Our campsite around a friend’s house in the Masai Mara region was separated from the local wildlife by just two thin barbed-wire fences that had been damaged in places by wandering hippos. Our friends therefore arranged a guard for us.  

Tengen faithfully watched over our tents every night for a week and ensured that we had no unwelcome visitors. Describing himself as an ‘original Masai man,’ Tengen had little or no formal education, but (if such tales are to be believed) had killed a lion, as all ‘original Masai men’ must do in their coming-of-age ceremony. On Sunday, he kindly walked us to church and we enjoyed some basic language exchange with him.  

When we arrived at the church, the pastor enthusiastically encouraged Chris to “tell him the Gospel!" "He’ll become a christian,” he confidently declared. Chris was perhaps a little surprised at the pastor’s certainty, but, seizing the opportunity, explained the gospel message to Tengen with the pastor translating. He told Tengen how he had been made by a creator God who loved him and had given his life to restore their relationship and rescue him from the consequences of sin. Sure enough, just as the pastor had predicted, Tengen became a christian!