When Heaven Invades Africa

Almost every time I go to town I get to bless someone in need. Usually it’s in the form of food for the street kids. The other day I had a little old lady ask me for a soda. It’s fun blessing those little old mamas because they’re so sweet and appreciative. Although they can be quite forceful too! I don’t hand out money very often but sometimes I feel led.

I’ve had the opportunity to pray for people on the street quite often. No screwing around with those piddley little prayers either (I know, I’m just kidding there’s no prayer to small). I’ve prayed for limbs to grow back, twisted hands and feet to straighten and most recently elephantitis. Haven’t had any breakthroughs yet, that I know of, but any day now! The Lord said I’d see fingers and arms grow back so that’s what I’m expecting.

I’ve heard some crazy amazing stories from pastors about healing and deliverances that have been taking place. Not just one or two but hundreds and even THOUSANDS in a day. I can wait to be in the middle of one of those meetings. So many diseases and illnesses here are the result of witchcraft and demon possession. There’s a couple of TV evangelists that have the gift of deliverance. They’ll get people on stage (sometimes by force) and start preaching in Jesus name and these demons start to manifest. Shrieking, flopping around and trying to run from the stage (which is usually followed by a guard knocking them back off their feet). You don’t see this kind of stuff on American television.

Pictures!

Wrapped around a dream

Last Sunday a few of our GCM team members, Jona, Cassandra and Joylyn came through Bungoma on their way to Sudan. It was really great to see them. Jona brought me some things from home I was really blessed by. The team was here for less than 48 hours which was kind of a bummer but it was god to have them.

Since I got here I’ve really been wanting transportation. First I was thinking about getting a motorcycle since they’re cheaper and better on gas. The problem is I want a Japanese bike which are hard to find and cost as much as a small car. I’ve just been seeking the Lord on the situation. A friend of ours has been on the lookout for a small car that will fit our needs. Last Thursday we went to Eldoret with him to look at a few cars. I ended up putting a deposit on a 2003 Toyota Corolla. It was still difficult to make a decision like this even though I really feel like it’s been directed by the Lord. What made it difficult was the price of the car. Vehicles here cost double what they do in the states.

I’ve been working on preparing some beds for a garden. I’ve never really done any gardening before but it’s always something I’ve wanted to try my hand at. It’s been crazy hard work because of type of bed I’m preparing. They’re double-dug raised beds for biointensive growing. It’s something I’ve learned about from my organic farmer friend Ryan in Kitale. I just finished two beds 5’ wide and about 20’ long and I have two more to go. I’ve got two hands full of blisters and I tried to take my toe off with jembe (large hoe) yesterday. I’ve been working barefoot which may not be the best idea but I enjoy it.

God’s just really been giving life to all theses dreams I’m finally pursuing. I’ll tell you more about all that later. I think I’ll leave you with a quote I just heard from Lou Engle that Bill Johnson recited in one of his sermons. It went something like this:

“God doesn’t take a man and put a dream in him. He’s starts with a dream and wraps a man around that dream”

Oh, Jesus

A Canadian couple living in Kitale were badly beaten and robbed on Thrusday. They've been in Kenya for about 4 months working with orphans and widows. I haven't met the couple but have ties with much of their team living in Kitale. I've felt very safe here so far but when something like this happens it really makes me wonder how safe I really am. Although I'm broken hearted ove the matter I won't let this discourage me because MY GOD IS BIGGER! Please keep the John and Eloise Bergen in your prayes.

Here's a link to one of the more complete articles I found.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=43583b69-3794-42c4-b0ec-72b90f91bdf2

Long overdue

So, it’s been way too long since I’ve made a post. Soooo much has happed in the last few weeks. I’ll try to keep it short and too the point for all you fellow ADD people...um...now what was I saying?...oh yeah keeping it short.

The first month here was really tough for me. The culture, food, people, environment, basically everything was difficult for me to adjust to. I was also starting to feel a little trapped here at the compound and I think I was starting to get depressed. I spent a night in Kitale and it was just what I needed. I got to see familiar faces which helped a lot. But the big thing for me was I remembered all the dreams that really came alive for me the first time I was there. I’m really excited about what the Lord has for me to do here in Bungoma.

I got to speak at our church two weeks ago. God gave me a word I was supposed to give the church and just a couple of hours later I was told they wanted me to speak the next Sunday. The word was on prosperity. It has to do with giving and receiving. It was very difficult for me to deliver this word for more that one reason. But at the end the Holy Spirit showed up and gave everybody gold coins (in the spirit) which symbolized a blessing of prosperity. I found out later that the Lord had given Noah a similar word for the church just a few weeks before. Some pretty awesome stuff is coming to our little church.

OK. I think I’m going to break this up into a couple of posts because it’s already getting long.

We’ve finished the roofs for four houses and we’ll be starting the foundations for two houses very soon. I’m anxious to get started.

Noah bought a new cow just a couple of weeks ago that was just about to calf. Well on Saturday morning just before 6am she gave birth. I was hoping to be around to see the birth but at least I got to see the little one’s first steps. It was pretty cool.

I still haven’t milked a cow yet but I did slaughter my first chicken the other day. It didn’t freak me out like I thought it would. It really wasn’t much worse than gutting a fish. I guess there’s a few ways to kill the chickens but here they prefer to cut the head off so it doesn’t suffer as much.

Well, I think I’ll leave you with that. I’ve still got a bunch of stuff to say but I’m just tired of typing.