Pauline Baptist Church

 Last week came and went fast it seems. Our friends Greg and Alison Simo along with their boys were with us up until Thursday last week. We had a great time with them their entire visit.

 

            Friday Moses, Silas, and I went to Mangangani to make the final preparations for the starting of the church in Mangangani on Sunday. We arrived and started our journey down to the ocean to find a place to baptize and a route to get there. I told Brother Mbuvi that I did not want us to arrive on Sunday with no clue what we were doing or where we would baptize so we needed to nail it down on Friday and lead on Sunday.

 

            As we walked we talked about the services and what all we would do also. We arrived at the ocean after a 45 minute walk. In route we picked up Elihud one of the men that is a leader in the Mangangani group. He is from the area and knows everyone and the entire area. Once we found a place that had sufficient water and access we started back towards the plot. We decided to go another route back to the church to time it to see if it was shorter. As we got closer to the church on this new route we were walking in the middle of an area that the ocean obviously can into from time to time. Elihud said that the ocean comes in there every two weeks. The water is just below the surface. I suggested we dig a pit and baptize there since we were only about 15 minutes from the church but we need special permission to do that so we needed to wait to do that in the future.

 

            Elihud did say there was another spot that was closer to the church so I told him to take us there. We went to the second location and found it to be a good place also and when we arrived back to the plot it was only 30 minutes as compared to the 45 minute walk the other way so we decided to use the second location. It was a good morning of planning and preparing. We walked quite a bit but it was worth it to be prepared for Sunday. I also spent a good portion of Friday in the office doing office work trying to catch up. I got caught up on my emails for the most part and spoke to our new mission treasurer for about an hour about our finances. We have a new mission treasure so we have to get together on reporting and get a good flow. I finally shut the office down at around 7:00pm. It was a very productive day.

 

            I nearly forgot about Collins coming by to visit Friday Evening also. He is a fella that Lydia and I met on visitation one day. He was sitting up on the corner with Paul a man who makes baskets near our house. Lydia and I had stopped to greet Paul and invite him to church and Collins was sitting with him. We visited for a little while and Collins asked some good questions. We said good-bye and moved on. We have not seen Collins since that day, which was over a month ago. Moses came and told me there was a man at the gate that knew me so I went to the gate and it was Collins. At first I did not recognize him until he explained who he was. (We get people at the gate all the time who "say" they know us but are just saying that to get Moses to have us come to the gate) After Collins started talking and explaining where we met I realized who he was. We talked a little and he was coming by because he had an accident and was asking for prayers and help if we could. Moses and I went to the church and visited with Collins for over an hour. He gave a good salvation testimony but has ties to the Catholic Church. His family is Catholic and he continues to return there even though he knows that all they teach is not true. We gave him some studies, prayed together, and invited him to the services. It was a great visit.

 

            Joseph came by to see me on Saturday about his travel plans. Joseph is the young man that was saved last month and we baptized him about three weeks ago. He came to Moses a few weeks ago and told Moses his story of how he came to be in Malindi. He said that his mother was Kenyan and his father was Tanzanian but that when he was around 8 they divorced. After the divorce he was kidnapped one night and sedated and woke up one morning in Nairobi with a family there he did not know. He said that he was not allowed to ever leave the house. The only time he left was in a car with the family from time to time then returned to the house. He was there for a few years then he was brought to Malindi to a house with several young men. He was not allowed to leave the house here either. One day his mom came to the house and he asked her why she had not come to see him and why she had taken him but she did not answer him and she did not come around again. He said the young men took turns staying in the house with him until one day one of them came and told him his mother had died in a car accident. They continued to stay in the house with him until there was only one or two coming and going then they shifted him to a place in town and finally just left him there. The landlord of the place they left him came one day and said that the rent that was paid was out and that Joseph needed to pay. He had no money or anybody so he left the house and found a job and has been supporting himself the past year. Joseph is now about 17 and is real skittish and shy around people. He does not have a Kenyan ID or a Tanzanian ID so he is always worried that the police will pick him up or that the men that held him would return for him. When he came to the church and got saved then baptized it was the first time he had opened up to anyone. Moses was the first person he has ever told his story to. He was planning to go back to Arusha, Tanzania to try and find his father who he was taken from. He knows his name and Arusha but that is it. It has been 9 years since he has had any contact with his dad but he said he must try. So he was selling his things that he has gotten this past year from working and heading to Arusha to try and find his dad with hopes he is still there. When he came by the office I gave him my contact information and Moses' and told him I would try and find a church there that might could help him. I thought there was a missionary there also that might could help. I assured Joseph that if he did not find his father in Arusha he had our church family here waiting and praying for him. I also told him I understood that he needed to try. Pray for Joseph!

 

            Saturday afternoon we met at the church for visitation at 2:00pm. Silas, Moses, Godfry, and I all went out and made visits. Godfry and I went to see Mama Patra about church membership. She had asked Kenya about being rebaptized and why every church wanted you to be rebaptized. Kenya answered her in short and told her last week that I would come by and explain more about baptism and church membership to her. We had a great visit with Mama Patra and left some studies with her as well as the church's doctrinal statement and everything she needed to make a informed decision. She is really a nice lady. Her husband has been in service with us once or twice. He does safari work so he is on the road a lot. Pray for Mama Patra as the Lord deals with her on membership that she will follow him.

 

            After we visited with Mama Patra we went down to see Albert or Mbuzi (goat) as everyone calls him. He is Juma's friend and is the one who has taken us out fishing every time we have gone. Earlier in the week he hurt his foot when thieves tried to break in to where he is staying, which is two houses down from us! They did not get in because Mbuzi, Juma, Ajabu, and the others near by chased the thieves off but Mbuzi was hurt in the commotion. When we got to his place they were busy working and Mbuzi greeted us and said his foot was much better and he appreciated the visit. We just greeted him and excused ourselves so he could continue to work. We told him we would come back another time so we could talk. He said we were welcome and apologized for the busyness.

 

            Next we went to Esther and Mohamed's house across from us. He is the Mganga (witch doctor) that we write about. Esther is his live in girlfriend whose son is Richard that is Josiah's buddy. Esther came to church last week for the first time. She has been telling us for months that she was going to come and she finally made it. Godfry and I wanted to go by and tell her it was good to have her. When we arrived Mohamed, Esther, and their friend Hamisi were in the house. They welcomed us in and we visited for around 30 or 45 minutes. We invited Mohamed to services and he said he would come some time. He also said that he would come when we show the Jesus film on the 29th. As we finished our visit I asked if Esther or Mohamed had anything I could pray for and Esther said her back for some pain she has and Mohamed said he was good, I told Mohamed I would pray that he would come to services and he just laughed and said he would. It was a great visit! Pray as we continue to build relationship with Esther and Mohamed that they will be saved!

 

            Sunday was a big day, our family loaded up along with Silas and Richard(Josiah's buddy) and headed for Mangangani for the baptisms and starting of the church. Once we arrived Brother Mbuvi and I had some discussion on the plan for the day then we started with Sunday School. After Sunday school we all started our journey down to the water. Once we arrived to the ocean everyone prepared for the baptisms. While folks were preparing for the baptisms Silas pulled me aside and said that he overheard Richard telling Josiah about the evil one and about Waganga as we were driving in to Mangangani and he wanted me know so I could talk to Josiah. While we waited I pulled Josiah off to the side and asked him about what he and Richard discussed and he said Richard told him about Waganga, the evil one, and dead people who do bad things. Josiah asked him why the evil one did not visit us and Richard told him because he did not know our name. I told Josiah we would talk about all of that when we got home.

 

            When it was time for the baptisms we started with a song, scripture reading, and prayer then we entered the water. I had to go out pretty far in the water to have enough water. Where we were has a lot of mud holes where fisherman have dug up crabs and things. The holes are quite deep and the mud soft so you have to walk around them. If you step in one you sink up to your knees in mud. We ended up using one of the pits to baptize in. From the surface you can see them but as the candidates came to me they went into the hole and got on their knees. After I baptized about 20 the water had become too shallow with the tide going out so we had to move. I had to literally dig myself out of the mud that I had sunk three feet into. Once I was free we moved out a little deeper to finish with the other 16 who were waiting.

 

            We finished at the ocean and made our way back to the plot to have the organization service. It was great to see the group covenant together and to see the birth of a new church. The Mangangani Landmark Baptist Church was started with Daniel Mbuvi chosen as pastor. It was an exciting time. After the organization service there were some matters of business that the new church took care of before we left.

 

             We got back to our house late afternoon. I spoke to Juma about how it went in Mazeras. He said they had 17 in Bible study and that he would return on Monday because he was going to make a visit to someone who had a sick baby. I love hearing of him do ministry!! I told him we would see him on Monday and we could continue to pray.

 

            While Kenya was working on lunch I had a talk with Richard and Josiah about their conversation in the van concerning waganga, evil spirits, and dead people. I asked Richard a little about it and he said that if someone writes your name on a paper and burns it you will die. He also said some things about dead people and their spirits making you do things.  I told Josiah along with Richard that we get our teachings from the Bible and our trust is in Jesus Christ and he is our protector. I shared that the Bible does not tell us to sacrifice to protect ourselves from evil or use certain jewelry but tells us to trust in Christ who is all powerful. I made a comment about evil spirits and that to be dealing with them is evil and not good. Richard with all sincerity said, "My dad is not doing evil he is trying to help people." My heart melted inside because Richard all his life has seen the superstitions and has been taught things that just may sound ridiculous to us but never the less they are real to him. If the things he has been taught were true then indeed his dad is helping people but they are just superstitions. I tried hard not to in anyway disrespect his dad or make Richard feel like he had done wrong, but I kept steering them to Bible and if they had questions or concerns then to let me know and we would open the Bible together and find the answers. Richard is a confused little guy, think about this, his mom says she is Christian, his dad says he is Muslim and reads the Koran, his dad is also a Mganga(witch doctor), and both his parents drink and smoke all the time. What is the boy suppose to believe?! He has a hand in the world, a foot in Christianity, a foot in Islam, the other hand in the satanic realm and a head in a daze. I pray that God will use our family to reach out to Richard and his entire family!

 

            Kenya and I had a conversation later about what I discussed with the boys and about Josiah being friends with Richard. God has our entire family on the front lines of some serious spiritual warfare. I pray that He will provide us with wisdom and power to overcome.

 

            In the evening I preached for our family. The kids have requested that I preach for them on Sunday evenings. Kenya and I will continue to listen to our sermons from our sending church but I will teach the kids. I got word from Joseph that he was in Mombassa and going to be leaving first thing Monday for Tanzania. I continued to try and get a contact for him in Arusha but had to wait to make a call to the States on Monday.

 

            Monday was a great day. It seemed a little crazy because everyone it seemed called or came by. I spoke with William Karisa in Singuaya about how he was and the things in Singuaya. He said they had 20 meeting for Bible Study on Sunday. I told him we would try to come next week to see them. I spoke to Moses to be sure he arrived safe in Eldoret. He is on vacation this week and spending it at home in Western Kenya with his son Derrick and family. Gertrude shared with me about services and said it all went well. She taught the little kids SS. She said we had two visitors. One of the visitors was Collins! Ricklynn came by and I gave him some studies to work on so he can start teaching on Thursday evenings. He has done a great job the times I have asked him to teach. So I loaded him up with some materials and note book and told him to study all the materials and come up with his own lessons to present starting next month. I think this will be a great opportunity for growth for him and the church as well. Godfry came by with some more Bible covers made and we also talked about how it went in Mangangani and the services in Malindi.     Throughout the day I was in contact with Joseph and his travels in Tanzania. I made a call to the states to a missionary who serves in Tanzania and got some contact information for a church in Arusha that I thought might could help Joseph. I got a location of the church and called Joseph immediately because the day was wearing on and he had no wear to stay. When Joseph reached the church he found a member there that I spoke to on the phone and explained who Joseph was and how he got to their place. The church member said the pastor would be in the next day and their missionary would be back in the next few days. He said that he would give Joseph a place to sleep and food while he was looking. I told him how much I appreciated his willingness to help a brother. God is so good!

 

            In the middle of the day I had to build the girls a Guinea pig cage also. Yes a guinea pig cage. We had a dog for a week then it died. We got a cat and Abigail had a bad allergic reaction to it. Now we have three Guinea pigs and they seem to be perfect for the girls. They all three have one and love to play with them.

 

            Juma got back from Mazeras in the evening and brought his little brother back with him to stay with us. He is a couple years older than Josiah but has only lived in the village so it will be a good experience to stay with us a few days. Josiah likes to chase chickens with him and play football with him when we go to Mazeras. Juma stayed and ate supper with us, then we closed up for the night. The kids were bathing and the bell rang for the gate. So I ran down to see who it was and it was Mohamed our Mganga (witch doctor) neighbor. He gave me a copy of the Koran that has Arabic, English, and a commentary. He said that I could read it and compare it to what I believe to see if it is the same. I told him I would read through it and thanked him. God is continuing to build our relationship with Mohamed maybe this will lead to some open doors to have spiritual conversations with him in the future. Pray for God's leadership.

 

            Today has been a slow day. I had a good morning with the Lord and even got a little office work done but mainly I have been working on this update. I stepped out this afternoon and took a little jog on the ocean to clear my mind a bit. The power was off anyhow so it was a good chance to break away and just be with the Lord. There is so much going on in the Lord's work here and I always feel so inadequate and so weak. God must take control or all of it will fall apart. I read this morning where Paul said in 1 Cor 15:31 "I die daily" and that thought and those words penetrate me and push me to desire God more and me less! I pray for less of me and more of Christ that God may be glorified in the ministry here. God this is your work be glorified in it! What a privilege to be a partner with God in His work!