Well,well,well…it’s the end of arguably the most glorious Sunday I’ve ever experienced…and I’ve experienced some pretty awesome Sundays!!
The team was invited to join the children of Mosop at an outdoor church service in a small village. It sounded like a great cultural time…and oh boy, were we in for a treat. The service was in a small field with a few trees. As we arrived, we heard the beautiful voices of the Kenyans already praising the Lord. There were no chairs except for the few that Elijah had brought in his truck…they were for us to sit in, and we quickly found that we were the guests of honor for this very special service. We were not aware until the welcome, that this village had been ravaged by “brewing”…which pretty much parallels the western version of organized crime fueled by preying on the weakness of men for the abuse of and addiction to alchohol. This Sunday’s service was the FIRST in this village. The believers there were prepared to do battle for the ground and reclaim the whole village for the glory of God! The service continued with much singing…we could even sing along to “come thou fount”…and we learned to sing along with the new languages attached to the heavenly singing. After the congregational singing, the song leader proceeded to invite first the smaller children to share a song, then the older children to share a song, then the “choir” to share a song…it soon became evident that we were probably the only group left who hadn’t shared a song! :)
Sure enough, we were invited to share! So up went the entire team, we led the children in a jubilant version of “unconditional perfect love”…thanks to our dear new friend and interpreter, Rose Bates, we were able to explain the sweet and lifesaving message of God’s perfect love for all of us. We also sang “shout to the Lord”…enough of the people there knew the song well enough to sing it in their native language…that’s always a foretaste of glory divine. A few testimonies were offered by our team…Greg, Andy, and Chuck…then Pastor Joseph got up to speak. Now the whole service to this point had already been a total delight, but what followed was as if it came out of the pages of the new testament. Pastor Joseph started with 2 Chronicles 7:14&15…
“ If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer made in this place.”
…now as we like to say at home….” THAT will preach!!”
And my goodness, did it ever preach. This precious brother was so filled with the holy spirit of God!! Every single word that came out of his mouth was blessed and useful. Not one word was wasted. It was amazing how he would switch back and forth from the language of the villagers to English…God blessed the dear young man who was interpreting…he never missed a beat…just kept switching back and forth to accommodate!! Pastor Joseph taught and preached and exhorted and rebuked with LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. It was a blast to be in the “amen corner” with my Kenyan sisters….at the end of the sermon, a challenge was offered to the people to repent, and turn to be followers of Jesus. Pastor Joseph called Greg forward to pray for the people…and I knew what was coming next. We had been told that the Kenyans won’t respond to come forward invitations because they culturally don’t do things as individuals…but this had been weighing on some of us, because we know that the road of the Cross is filled with moments and days where we must choose to walk it alone…”though none go with me”. God started to speak through Greg…which was a moment that I will never forget because he happened to be wearing a pair of my cat-eye sunglasses!!! ( he had broken three pair on the worksite)…apparently God is not concerned with our eye fashion ( or lack thereof…)…as Greg spoke to the people on the issue of courage and standing for Christ even if you are alone…Joseph heartily interpreted…and as Wesley started to sing a beautiful chorus “only Jesus”…Greg started to pray for the people…and they started to stand one by one and WALK FORWARD to pray to receive Jesus!! Hallelujah! “..and many were added to their number that day”.
Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love and support. As I write, the room outside is filled with very loud laughter….this day has been filled with joy. On the other side of the world, God showed His face today. In beautiful dark skin….in shining smiles…in bright fabric and loud singing with the MOST angelic voices….God showed up and proved once again that He IS.
Anita, Greg and I leave tomorrow morning for Nairobi. It will be good to get home…but a chunk of our hearts will remain here in Kenya with the Kenyan roofers, the Mosop children, the cooks at the orphanage who taught me how to cook some truly fabulous dishes, and our newest brothers and sisters by the Sisiel River.
Glory to God,
Rebecca
Kenyan Missions Team
PO Box 39
Bomet, Kenya 20400
East Africa
Land line: 254-52-22495/22496 Ext. 259
Mobile: 254-734-510708(C)/735-120293(A)
chuckbemm@tenwek.com chuck.bemm@wgm.org
The team was invited to join the children of Mosop at an outdoor church service in a small village. It sounded like a great cultural time…and oh boy, were we in for a treat. The service was in a small field with a few trees. As we arrived, we heard the beautiful voices of the Kenyans already praising the Lord. There were no chairs except for the few that Elijah had brought in his truck…they were for us to sit in, and we quickly found that we were the guests of honor for this very special service. We were not aware until the welcome, that this village had been ravaged by “brewing”…which pretty much parallels the western version of organized crime fueled by preying on the weakness of men for the abuse of and addiction to alchohol. This Sunday’s service was the FIRST in this village. The believers there were prepared to do battle for the ground and reclaim the whole village for the glory of God! The service continued with much singing…we could even sing along to “come thou fount”…and we learned to sing along with the new languages attached to the heavenly singing. After the congregational singing, the song leader proceeded to invite first the smaller children to share a song, then the older children to share a song, then the “choir” to share a song…it soon became evident that we were probably the only group left who hadn’t shared a song! :)
Sure enough, we were invited to share! So up went the entire team, we led the children in a jubilant version of “unconditional perfect love”…thanks to our dear new friend and interpreter, Rose Bates, we were able to explain the sweet and lifesaving message of God’s perfect love for all of us. We also sang “shout to the Lord”…enough of the people there knew the song well enough to sing it in their native language…that’s always a foretaste of glory divine. A few testimonies were offered by our team…Greg, Andy, and Chuck…then Pastor Joseph got up to speak. Now the whole service to this point had already been a total delight, but what followed was as if it came out of the pages of the new testament. Pastor Joseph started with 2 Chronicles 7:14&15…
“ If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer made in this place.”
…now as we like to say at home….” THAT will preach!!”
And my goodness, did it ever preach. This precious brother was so filled with the holy spirit of God!! Every single word that came out of his mouth was blessed and useful. Not one word was wasted. It was amazing how he would switch back and forth from the language of the villagers to English…God blessed the dear young man who was interpreting…he never missed a beat…just kept switching back and forth to accommodate!! Pastor Joseph taught and preached and exhorted and rebuked with LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. It was a blast to be in the “amen corner” with my Kenyan sisters….at the end of the sermon, a challenge was offered to the people to repent, and turn to be followers of Jesus. Pastor Joseph called Greg forward to pray for the people…and I knew what was coming next. We had been told that the Kenyans won’t respond to come forward invitations because they culturally don’t do things as individuals…but this had been weighing on some of us, because we know that the road of the Cross is filled with moments and days where we must choose to walk it alone…”though none go with me”. God started to speak through Greg…which was a moment that I will never forget because he happened to be wearing a pair of my cat-eye sunglasses!!! ( he had broken three pair on the worksite)…apparently God is not concerned with our eye fashion ( or lack thereof…)…as Greg spoke to the people on the issue of courage and standing for Christ even if you are alone…Joseph heartily interpreted…and as Wesley started to sing a beautiful chorus “only Jesus”…Greg started to pray for the people…and they started to stand one by one and WALK FORWARD to pray to receive Jesus!! Hallelujah! “..and many were added to their number that day”.
Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love and support. As I write, the room outside is filled with very loud laughter….this day has been filled with joy. On the other side of the world, God showed His face today. In beautiful dark skin….in shining smiles…in bright fabric and loud singing with the MOST angelic voices….God showed up and proved once again that He IS.
Anita, Greg and I leave tomorrow morning for Nairobi. It will be good to get home…but a chunk of our hearts will remain here in Kenya with the Kenyan roofers, the Mosop children, the cooks at the orphanage who taught me how to cook some truly fabulous dishes, and our newest brothers and sisters by the Sisiel River.
Glory to God,
Rebecca
Kenyan Missions Team
PO Box 39
Bomet, Kenya 20400
East Africa
Land line: 254-52-22495/22496 Ext. 259
Mobile: 254-734-510708(C)/735-120293(A)
chuckbemm@tenwek.com chuck.bemm@wgm.org
1 comment:
Hi everyone!
We have been reading your blogs and are so excited to hear all that God is doing in and through you all. You are all in our prayers (for real) and we can't wait to hug you all when you get back.
We love you guys! Keep shining for Jesus!
Christi and John
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