Hello Friends,
My it has been a busy week with so much happening and so little time to stop and blog. So, now that we are on our way home and sitting in Accra, Ghana airport right now with an 11 hour lay-over, I thought it would be a good time to catch everyone up on the events of the week. Since my last blog, we have traveled from Eldoret to Nairobi to Mombasa and back to Nairobi before catching a flight early this morning to come home. We experienced some amazing highs this week but a very tough Tuesday with some discouragement attacking me and the team. But, I can clear see why we had to go through that day now. As I mentioned in my previous blog, we started the well at Glory Baptist Church on Monday and worked until Wednesday morning trying to get through a very difficult layer of rock that caused us to break 3 pieces of our equipment just trying to get through. But God supplied us with a welder who was a member of the church that was able to fix the broken pieces and get us back up and operational. But, unfortunately, we just couldn't get through that layer of rock even though the young men had hand dug down 10-12 feet trying to work through it. So, Wednesday morning we made a decision to move about 30 yards from the original site and started a new well. IT WAS AMAZING!!! Within about 2 1/2 hours, we were able to get past the point we were with the first borehole. Unfortunately, we had to leave that afternoon before we were able to reach the water table. But, we are rejoicing this afternoon as we received a text saying they had reached the water today and it looks to be a great well!!! Praise the Lord!!! Pastor Martin there at Glory Baptist Church did a wonderful ceremony at the close of the day on Wednesday and we rejoiced just knowing that God was going to see to it that we got water. Beautiful time with some amazing church members. We couldn't not have been more received by anyone that we were by that fellowship of believers. It was just the best!!
Thursday morning, we took a flight from Eldoret through Nairobi to Mombasa to meet with some pastors and to be in the village of one of our board member's, Jimmy Chinando. The village was called Vipingo and it was the worst case of water need that I have seen so far. The villages in the area incompasses about 3000 people and the only two water sources there are one pond that is absolutely the nastiest pool of water you can imagine and a small spring fed stream. The pond is located about a half a mile from the closest huts and down a very steep 45 degree incline that the women have to go down at least once a day to draw water and carry a 20 liter (5 gallon) bucket of water up this hill. Our team was completely out of breath just walking down to it and back up the hill. It breaks my heart to see what they have to go through just to get water. The need for a well is so great there. There is not a well for miles and miles. The people are constantly sick with typhoid and other sicknesses. Folks, you just can't imagine until you have actually seen it.
We then gathered together in the church of the village for a time of worship and it was beautiful to see these people that have nothing worship God and thankful for what they do have. They truly know how to worship.
We spent Friday morning visiting another church in the town of MTWAPA where we had a chance to share with about 100 children that were in their school they have in the church during the week. Many of them are orphan children and all I wanted to do was pick them up and bring them home. Such beautiful little faces. I was blessed by their excitement to see us white guys.
Last night back in Mombasa, I had a chance to meet with the General Secretary for the Baptist Convention of Kenya, Shem Okello for a few minutes. He and I had communicated many times in the last couple of years but had not had a chance to meet him in person. It was a great time of sharing for both of us.
We did finally take an evening out for some enjoyment by going to dinner at a must see restaurant in Nairobi called Carnivore which is much like one of those Brazilian restaurants where they bring the meats to you. Well, we ate camel, crocodile, ox privates, lamb, and others. Some was good, some not so good. But, we sure had a great time.
So, very early this morning, we headed to the Nairobi airport for our flights home. We have made it to Accra Ghana and just waiting for our flight to Washington DC at 11:15 this evening. Keep us in your prayers a little longer if you will.
There is so much more to tell and to share with you about what God has done on this trip. I am so thankful for just the opportunity to be a part of something special like this. We met with so many pastors that are anxious for our team to come to their area and drill for water. People have been praying for years for someone to come and bring them water. I can only imagine how God is going to allow us to do all that is being asked of us. Financing is, of course, the biggest need for us to continue. I would ask your prayers for sufficient funds to come for us to accomplish what we know is God calling us to do. Thank you for your continued support.
I will send more pictures soon so be sure and check back in a few days for more details.
May God richly bless you this day.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
4th of July in Eldoret Kenya
Well, I best update my blog tonight as I haven't been able to up until this evening. It has been just an unbelievable trip this year. We have had soaring highs and tough low moments but all in all, it has been an extremely blessed time. Since my last blog, much has happened. We did complete the well at Pastor Christopher Juma's location but not without some tough challenges because we were not able to find some of the standard parts needed and had to substitute different components. But, we were able to get the well in place and fresh water now available to his community. We were so blessed by the people. They had been praying for over a year for us to come and drill and they sure did acknowledge their appreciation with their love and provisions. We are so thankful for their kindness.
Because of our troubles with the first well, we were delayed in leaving until after 5:30pm on Thursday afternoon and was suppose to be into Migori that evening as the community was preparing a meal for us. It was over a 6 hour drive to go there and we just decided it would be best to stop for the night outside of Kisumu because the roads are very dangerous at night, let alone in the daytime. We did make a short stop in Kisumu to meet a pastor that I had been trying to catch up since Tuesday, Pastor Naaman Odera and his family including little Brad, my namesake, who is now 6 months old. He is a beautiful little boy.
We finally stopped in the town of Ahero where we had drilled a well last year and slept for about 4 hours before hitting the road again at 4am as we had to be into Migori by 8:30 in order to meet the District Commissioner for the Migori area. It was one of those amazing days as we with the D. C. and then road over to the church where we started the 2nd well with him as he had been invited to see what we were doing for the church there. We had an official ribbon cutting ceremony with dancing, prayers, tree planting and singing. It was an awesome experience. We were not planning on starting this well because of the tough schedule but we did go ahead and get it started with our team going back after we return to the US. They were able to drill down to about 15 feet before breaking one of the drill bits used to break up rock. They haven't been able to retrieve the broken piece yet. So, we ended up having to leave it undone for now.
While in Migori, we had a board meeting of the new Non-profit ministry that we have started in the the country which is called Christian Community Action for Development and Evangelism (C-CADE) and had all 7 board members present which I serve as the International Director for. The board includes 4 pastors, 1 deacon, one elder and myself. We had just received official notice of the Kenyan Government approval of our NPO a week before we arrived so it was an exciting time as we talked about the plans for the ministry including wells, orphans, single mothers, medical missions, and evangelism. We have a great vision for the ministry and looking forward to what God has planned for it.
Sunday morning, the team was responsible for the morning worship service at one of the churches in Migori and it was a wonderful experience. Todd Robeson from Blanchard is on the team with me and he taught on financial responsibility while I had a chance to teach/preach on the parable of the sower. Ms. Tera Perkins spent the morning with probably 75-100 children that were so excited to have her teach them. Tera has been so amazing with the children everywhere we've been. She truly has a ministry that is developing into something very special. Tera is from Bridgeport Texas and had been with me when we were first in Kenya in 2009 with Reaching Souls International.
We finally got out of town Sunday afternoon for another 5 1/2 hour trip to Eldoret through some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen. As we traveled through the Rift Valley and up into the mountains, it was breathtaking!! We did arrive in to Eldoret around 8:30pm so ended up being another very late night before going to bed.
So, today, we started our third well and ended up breaking 3 pieces of our equipment on the rock down about 6 feet but fortunately, the Glory Baptist Church has a church member that is a welder and he was able to get us back up and operational before the end of the day. We have dug down to the rock layer and will be tackling the rocks in the morning but very optimistic we will break through the rock layer tomorrow and do anticipate getting it done by Wednesday afternoon as we fly to Mombasa on Thursday morning to meet with pastors and churches in that area on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning before returning to Nairobi and on home on Saturday.
That pretty well catches me up with the highlights but there is much more to the story to share with you later. Thank you for your prayers and support. We have been truly blessed while here and can't tell you what a blessing these people have been to have been praying and fasting for us for more than a year. It is been an awesome experience.
OK, I'm signing off now since it is 12:45am and we have a long day tomorrow.
God Bless.
Because of our troubles with the first well, we were delayed in leaving until after 5:30pm on Thursday afternoon and was suppose to be into Migori that evening as the community was preparing a meal for us. It was over a 6 hour drive to go there and we just decided it would be best to stop for the night outside of Kisumu because the roads are very dangerous at night, let alone in the daytime. We did make a short stop in Kisumu to meet a pastor that I had been trying to catch up since Tuesday, Pastor Naaman Odera and his family including little Brad, my namesake, who is now 6 months old. He is a beautiful little boy.
We finally stopped in the town of Ahero where we had drilled a well last year and slept for about 4 hours before hitting the road again at 4am as we had to be into Migori by 8:30 in order to meet the District Commissioner for the Migori area. It was one of those amazing days as we with the D. C. and then road over to the church where we started the 2nd well with him as he had been invited to see what we were doing for the church there. We had an official ribbon cutting ceremony with dancing, prayers, tree planting and singing. It was an awesome experience. We were not planning on starting this well because of the tough schedule but we did go ahead and get it started with our team going back after we return to the US. They were able to drill down to about 15 feet before breaking one of the drill bits used to break up rock. They haven't been able to retrieve the broken piece yet. So, we ended up having to leave it undone for now.
While in Migori, we had a board meeting of the new Non-profit ministry that we have started in the the country which is called Christian Community Action for Development and Evangelism (C-CADE) and had all 7 board members present which I serve as the International Director for. The board includes 4 pastors, 1 deacon, one elder and myself. We had just received official notice of the Kenyan Government approval of our NPO a week before we arrived so it was an exciting time as we talked about the plans for the ministry including wells, orphans, single mothers, medical missions, and evangelism. We have a great vision for the ministry and looking forward to what God has planned for it.
Sunday morning, the team was responsible for the morning worship service at one of the churches in Migori and it was a wonderful experience. Todd Robeson from Blanchard is on the team with me and he taught on financial responsibility while I had a chance to teach/preach on the parable of the sower. Ms. Tera Perkins spent the morning with probably 75-100 children that were so excited to have her teach them. Tera has been so amazing with the children everywhere we've been. She truly has a ministry that is developing into something very special. Tera is from Bridgeport Texas and had been with me when we were first in Kenya in 2009 with Reaching Souls International.
We finally got out of town Sunday afternoon for another 5 1/2 hour trip to Eldoret through some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen. As we traveled through the Rift Valley and up into the mountains, it was breathtaking!! We did arrive in to Eldoret around 8:30pm so ended up being another very late night before going to bed.
So, today, we started our third well and ended up breaking 3 pieces of our equipment on the rock down about 6 feet but fortunately, the Glory Baptist Church has a church member that is a welder and he was able to get us back up and operational before the end of the day. We have dug down to the rock layer and will be tackling the rocks in the morning but very optimistic we will break through the rock layer tomorrow and do anticipate getting it done by Wednesday afternoon as we fly to Mombasa on Thursday morning to meet with pastors and churches in that area on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning before returning to Nairobi and on home on Saturday.
That pretty well catches me up with the highlights but there is much more to the story to share with you later. Thank you for your prayers and support. We have been truly blessed while here and can't tell you what a blessing these people have been to have been praying and fasting for us for more than a year. It is been an awesome experience.
OK, I'm signing off now since it is 12:45am and we have a long day tomorrow.
God Bless.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)