He is Faithful!

2Ti 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

Two weeks ago as I prepared for my last Ladies Bible study, I found myself very discouraged and "done!" Several things were not lining up, I didn't have what I needed in the right language, I was unsure of the confidence of the Kenyan woman I had asked and been praying to lead in my absence, and I was physically tired. I was done being pregnant, done preparing for Bible study, done leading Bible study and my done list went on and on. As I got into the car and headed off to the crazy downtown area where I was sure to find myself "done" with driving on the Kisumu roads, I began to pray and simply cry out to the Lord. I asked for His strength and for Him to have His way and then He prompted me to pray for others. Oh, how refreshing it was to get my mind and heart off of myself and onto others and my King who sits on the throne.

Upon arriving to my first stop I found 4 ladies plus one of their young daughters we have in Children's church all waiting together at the stop where I pick them up. This is extremely rare for all the women to be there at the moment I arrived and I was so grateful. (It's not the best place for a white woman to stop for a long period of time.) The women were very cheerful and seemed so excited to go to study. Since the only things they recieve at study are the Word, prayer and fellowship, my heart was greatly encouraged. One of the women who was very squirmy and a little downtrodden the week before as we studied the Gospel of Jesus and talked about what it is to be born again, was extremly cheerful and had a different countance about her. I wondered if she had surrendered her life to Christ though I did not get to ask her.

We were a full house as study began and when I asked the Kenyan woman who had agreed to lead in my absence if she would lead the study (I had agreed to teach) she very confidently said yes. And she did an amazing job of leading in confidence! WOW, I was praising the Lord. Then just before we began, Maureen (Pastor's Stephen's wife) handed me exactly what I needed in the language I needed. Again, I was praising my God! Though the study proved to be a bit challenging for the women as we were learning how to study the Word verse by verse, the women seemed committed and interested. Towards the end of the study two more women from church joined us and they must have walked very far to attend. It was their first time and it was exciting to see them there.

We ended study with a reminder from John 14:20 of Christ being in us, we in Him and He in the Father using an envelope demonstration and the women really seemed to understand the verse. As we spent some time in prayer, I couldn't help getting emotional remembering how faithful our God is, especially when we are faithless and I was pretty faithless that morning. I returned home so encouraged by what the Lord is doing in these women and ask for continual prayer that the women would continue to meet and remain in the Word as I am away to have this baby girl very soon.

Always Learning,

Peg for The P4

Laying a Firm Foundation

This past month we have been blessed to be a part of our churches first "Firm Foundation" class. Pastor Stephen had asked me (Matt) to teach this 6 week course which would overview such topics as The Authority and Reliability of the Scripture, God's Nature & Character, God's Plan of Redemption, The Purpose & Nature of the Church (Local & Universal), The Essence of & Essentials for a Christian, and lastly, The Who, What, Where, When, Why & How of Baptism. Although any one of these topics could serve a complete course in a Bible School, yet our purpose was to help bring a simple understanding and biblical backing to each of these things. Stephen has also been translating both the notes (to use as handouts) and the teachings each week to aid those who aren't able to understand English as well. Overall this has been a most rewarding time both for me as a teacher and also the members of the church. There has been an average of 12 people coming each week (all Kenyans) and since our average number for the church is between 35 to 50 people that means that 24% to 34% of our church is in attendance (not bad at all). One of the things that I have found most enjoyable is to help give a solid and clear understanding of what the Gospel is and what it really means to be a "Christian". It seems that not only here, but all over the world, the term "Christian" has been being misused and misrepresented by so many; and now no one is really sure what meaning it carries with it these days. We know of a couple people in attendance that seem to be not saved yet, and so we are praying that as they have taken an interest in the Word, and our Church, and have been clearly presented with the Gospel, that they would come to that point of making a decision for Jesus. Please be praying for these people. Next week we will have our last class, and subsequently offer a time to sign up to be baptized if there are any who have not been since giving their life to Jesus. Although when it has been talked about the past few weeks, people have been either shy to pursue being baptized or have said that they already are, we are hopeful that if there are any who have not yet been baptized that they'd take this opportunity. It is such a blessing to the church to watch people from their own body step forward and show their commitment to Jesus in this way. I look forward to taking all that I've learned through this time of teaching the class, and to help make the next time we plan this class to be even better. We are praising the Lord for the opportunity He's given us to help lay this firm foundation on Jesus Christ and His Word for these people at Calvary Chapel Lakeside!

Sights and Sounds

It’s easy to get so caught up in logistics and ministry and write only about those things but as I find myself missing some sights and sounds of California I thought it would be good to write about what we see and experience everyday here. Some of our fellow missionary friends included a description in one of their newsletters about the streets of Kisumu. It was so well written I thought I would post it here. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

“Street scenes in Kisumu are beyond anything you could imagine. The crowds of people, cows, goats, pigs, huge cargo and fuel trucks, cars, matatus (passenger vans), tuk-tuks (three wheeled, three passenger vehicles with what amount to lawnmower motors), pickie-pickies (motor bikes), and boda-bodas (bicycles) all weaving in and out determined to get around whomever and whatever is in front of them is something to behold. Not to mention very stressful to drive through! Driving here is like being part of an old Keystone Cops chase scene from the movies—chaos everywhere with disaster narrowly being avoided at every moment. Boda-bodas are bicycles with a passenger seat on the back. You would not believe the things we have seen being transported on a boda. We have seen as many as four passengers. We have seen individual children so small we can’t imagine how they hang on. We have seen large pigs draped over the seat, cases of sodas (24 sodas per case) stacked up to five high, lumber, couches, roofing sheets, and even coffins. Things like wood, roofing sheets (called mabati here), couches, and coffins are strapped onto the seat, but always perpendicular to the line of travel, so they occupy 6 to 8 feet of width in the road. How many times have you had to dodge a coffin on your way to work?” The only thing I could add is the challenge of dodging many pot holes and finding speed bumps on just about every street. It is amazing that driving in the above description just becomes a way of life, though a simple drive can really tire you out."

There is so much incredible wildlife here in Kisumu; birds, monkeys, hippos, snakes, jumping spiders (though small have little pinchers), large lizards, large ants, little ants, bugs of course, as well as the typical farm animals that seem to roam wild. It is very common to hear a bird that sounds like a monkey and to hear a flock of birds that sound like children crying. It’s always a bit of a start when you hear these birds in the middle of the night. A fun sound we all enjoy is the sound of the lion from a nearby park. It’s groaning and occasional roaring at night make us smile and wonder about him. (We just this week went to visit him on our family day and found him to be amazing.) And then there are the unique sounds to Kenya like the sound of a stick broom being brushed on the cement vigorously, or a crowd banging drums and chanting off in the distance, or the truck parades driving by with their rather loud music and shouts of an advertisement or preaching. It is life for us here in Kenya and though it has become common, I find myself hearing a lawn mower in the distance, a water pump that sounds like a Jacuzzi turning on, the sound of seagull or pigeon and I am all of a sudden transported back to the States and the familiar sounds I once knew. I am reminded that truly the sights and sounds here are unique to what I have known and so worth writing about.

Peg for The P4