Africa 2010

 

It is not hyperbole to say that Africa has become our second home (well, tied with Iowa for second place). Our 2010 Africa mission marked the fourth consecutive year we have journeyed to Africa to teach, preach, help out in the slums, and have fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Kenya.

As is typical for us, we hit the ground running, arriving on Good Friday. I was asked to preach at a wedding and appear on the radio the very next day. We were honored to attend the first wedding at the new church plant in Kitengela, about 30 miles outside of Nairobi, where our friend Sammy Ondieki is the pastor. That same Saturday we drove back to Nairobi, where I spent an hour being interviewed on the Africa Inland Church radio station. On Easter Sunday I preached at the Victory Evangelical Ministries International Church near the Nairobi airport. Pastor Boniface, whom we met last December while Laurie and I were speaking at a camping convention in Colorado, and his wife Bonnie, hosted us. We returned there the following Thursday and Friday where we both taught at a VEMI pastor’s conference, with people attending from all over Kenya and some from Tanzania.

The Monday after our arrival I began teaching at Manna Bible Institute, about 20 miles southwest of Nairobi. I taught five hours per day, alternating between apologetics and early church history. This two-week assignment is our main focus when we are in Kenya. The class had around 30 pastors and church leaders attending. The classes are taught in English. At all church services our teaching and preaching is translated into Swahili.

This trip marked a first for us, in that Laurie and I had a traveling companion—Andrew Krueger from Redfield, Iowa. Andy just turned 18 prior to our trip, and is already a skilled videographer. We saw his work from last summer when Megan attended a summer camp in Iowa and Andy did the highlight video. Andy raised his own support for our Kenya mission and joining us took a huge step of faith on his part. Until our trip to Kenya Andy had only been as far as Canada and Florida. He was a blessing to have along and became like our son. He worked hard filming my classes every day and put together a video collage to show at our home church less than two weeks after we returned to the U.S.A. Andy is spending the summer videotaping at Summit Ministries in Colorado. We are sure that the Kenya mission was unforgettable for him. We were able to visit an orphanage in Nairobi during our stay and the kids loved playing with Andy.  It will be very helpful for the students at Manna Bible Institute to have DVDs of my classes available, so Andy has helped create a long-lasting resource to train pastors and Christian leaders.

Our last weekend in Kenya involved a rare opportunity to have a meeting with the former President of Kenya, His Excellency Daniel Arap Moi. President Moi, who lives about three hours outside of Nairobi near Lake Nakuru, was the second President of Kenya, and served as Kenya’s President and Commander-In-Chief for over twenty years. We met him at his home and discussed many things that are currently affecting Kenya. He was a gracious host and invited us to return and have a meal with him. Our meeting with President Moi began and ended with prayer—something I imagine that few, if any, heads of state or former heads of state in the world practice.

It was our privilege to consult once again with the African Nazarene University, providing guidance and suggestions regarding establishing a new law program that teaches law from a biblical perspective.

We had an opportunity to meet with three of our four longtime pastor friends during our last night in Kenya—Pastor George Muguro, Bishop Samuel Munai, and Pastor Sammy Ondieki. Bishop Reuben was unable to attend, but we had an opportunity a week or so earlier to visit him in Kibera, where he has a thriving church in the middle of the second largest slum in the world. We were blessed to bring eyeglasses and medical equipment to the medical clinic located at his church, gifts from our supporters at our home church in Orange, California.

Please pray for Kenya, as this summer they will be voting on a new Constitution. The proposed Constitution was revised to incorporate language that is similar to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, essentially providing for abortion on demand. The proposed Constitution also makes Islamic courts officially part of the Kenyan judicial system. These two issues we believe are not good for Kenya, and we are hoping that the citizens of Kenya reject the proposed Constitution, and that the country would be spared from violence during and after the election. Kenya is a country with strong Christian roots, and we pray that the church there would continue to be strong, and be a light to Kenya and all of Africa. Bwana asifiwe (“Praise the Lord” in Swahili).

John

 

Click Here to see photos of the trip.
See Photo Gallery for photos of past mission trips to Kenya..
Read Videographer Andy's blog, Click here.