I leave in 2 weeks and for the first time, really, since coming to Kenya, am feeling torn.

You see, I watched God do something today that moved me to tears and a state of being speechless.

This week, after visiting a family in the village, praying with them for salvation, we felt we could no longer wait for a church in the village. We felt God telling us – it is time! One of our guys made the suggestion of using our car park – the garage. PERFECT!!!!

So, we began to invite our neighbors and Randy prayed about what to teach. He decided on Acts.

Today – after moving out the car, taking every stool, chair and bench we could find – we had 42 people come for church!!!! One by one they came. We would shift, kids moving to the ground, some sitting on laps, through out the morning we kept making room. I have to tell you, at one point gasped with an absolute amazement of what God was doing.

Randy gave an introduction to the book of Acts. He shared the love of God shown
through Jesus and His gift of salvation. And then I shared just a little, thanking them for coming and sharing my excitement. We told them how much God loved them and how HE was going to do beyond what we or they could think or imagine. I then asked if anyone wanted to share a testimony… “tell us what God has done in your life this week”.

I was not prepared. First, Moses got up. Moses is from our HP (Hen Project) and is the one we have seen the most dramatic transformation. He’s a soft spoken man of few words. But he had words today. “This Book works!” He proclaimed as he held up his Bible. He shared of his struggle with the
brew and how it had ruined his life. Then he shared how Jesus had saved him and how He had changed his life. I stood there watching his wife’s reaction and it was nothing short of agreeing praise!

Then Meshack got up, and he too testified to what Jesus had and is doing, sharing how he always thought he knew Jesus, “but now”, as he too, held up his Bible, “I am knowing Him!”

After that, Otara got up. “You all know me. I have been selling brew for years, my wife and I .” He went on to tell of Randy and I visiting this week and how he had prayed to Jesus. He said he doesn’t want to sell brew or drink anymore.

THEN – Grace, Otara’s wife, jumped up to follow and started with a song. She said that God had done a miracle in her home this week. I watched her oldest teenaged daughter watching her mother as she spoke. With a sweet smile, I could see in her eyes that she had seen the change herself.

The worship was simple and so so sweet. I stood in the back, outside actually, looking into this garage full of people, people who have been rejected and cast aside because of the chains that bound them. And as though it was being played out before my eyes, I heard the voice of the Lord tell me, “ I’ve come to set the captives free!”

Please join us in praising God and calling on Him to, indeed, do beyond what we can think or imagine…. For HIS glory…. In the sweet people of Kebabe and the new Garage Church!

As we traveled back to the village on Monday, tracking a flight going in the opposite direction, and as we go about our weekly schedule, I am grateful to my God for the incredible blessing to share the last 10 weeks with Terry Combs and the last two with our friends Chris Black & George Kleer, along with our son, Ryan. To actually share what has become our life in this season that God has placed us here… Well, honestly, I have no words to describe.

Terry came the end of June and started this term with us, assisting in our 4 weekly classes. She would do the story each week and helped me in the administration, attendance taking and distributing class material. The first week the guys were here, we just dragged them along with us on our regular schedule. They each taught a portion in our study of Romans. It was great to hear their teaching and for our students to see that verse by verse example.

Dennis, the young man who interprets for us and the one we see God raising up, had his challenges trying to understand the slang of three more wazunga! Especially as Ryan tried to work in “Hakuna Matada” as often as possible, even when it didn’t fit. We had fun!

In the village, Terry was quickly embraced by all our friends and will be missed greatly! As she slipped right into our routine, she shared our load amazingly and we have already, when asking if something had been done (like taking mandazi to the jikoni or giving cookies to the children), we’ve both said, Terry always did that! I suspect we will be discovering more and more which will lead us to further thank God for the blessing of sharing in the work with Terry.

The guys from the Hen Project spent lots of time with our guys from back home. This was a blessing to the guys here, to be so involved with the “visitors”, the fellowship and encouragement. A blessing to the team, to see the work God is doing in these lives, both the struggles and the victories. And a blessing to us, to share the two lives together…. Pamoja!

We had a few days in the village and then headed to the Mara! It was spectacular as we saw one of God’s great display of the work of His fingertips… the great migration across the Serengeti. It truly was amazing! In addition to the 100s of 1000s of wildebeest, we saw a Rhino, lions, hippos, cheetahs, a hyena, elephants, giraffes, zebras… Many other animals… AND… Our first leopard!!! Wow, what a work of our God!

Overall, the greatest blessing has truly been the coming together of our two lives. To share one with the other. To have some of our team and family from back home connect with the work and our family here is an answer to prayer!

Which came first???

What a celebration an egg brings!! Yep, our first egg came on September 1st and the excitement of the guys was priceless!! Dancing, singing and praising God!! So much fun!,

And tonight…. We sold our first flat of eggs!! Bam!

These guys have worked so hard, not only on the project, but also in their spiritual walk!

Randy is now meeting with them every night, sharing scripture and praying together! Moses, the last to return from UTurn, has dramatically been transformed! His wife, Mary shared that “God had helped the family so much”, Moses now stays home at night and works around their home and for the first time in all their married life, when the kids needed school fees, he reached in his pocket, gave them what they needed and sent them back to school! He listens to the audio Bible every night and his entire countenance has changed! He is a brilliant trophy of God’s sweet redeeming grace!

Last night, Wilma visited me and told me that Meshack is reading the Bible every night and praying with her before they go to bed!! Hezborn, a new daddy, is constantly being encouraged to lean on Christ and walk for Him.

The guys desperately need your prayers. The struggle is real and it can be vicious! But when we were invited to Otara’s, the village supplier of the local brew, these guys didn’t know what to expect. Last night, as we all walked over there, we laid it on the line…. “Otara, you need Jesus”. We shared the Gospel and Randy prayed with him to receive Christ!!! Oh how we are praying!!! This is huge and will be a major testimony!! My women’s Thursday night study has focused much prayer for just this!! God is rescuing this village, one heart at a time!

This brings us to a need… Please be praying as this village needs a good Bible Teaching church!! We need a pastor! And as we continue to pray for God to raise someone up, we will begin again with a Bible Study on Sundays. We did this last year, but lost our location when we came back. Well…. God recently provided for us to build a car park for the car. This was necessary for several reasons, but now I see even more clearly… On Sundays, we will move the car out and the car park will now be our church!!! Can you stand it?? I know, right? God is just amazing!

I recently looked at discipleship in my quiet time. How God has called us to go and make disciples. This has been our focus since coming to Kenya, but now… After considering the impact of multiplication, the impact of making disciples who will make disciples who will make disciples… Yep, God is working the harvest for sure!