Hello Dear Worldcomp Friends:
As you may know I had to cancel my trip to Kenya due to my health, but to my great joy my son-in-law, Jeremiah Siers, received a clear word from the Lord to go in my place. He is now leading the team for our August Medical Camps. He will be writing a daily blog and sharing highlights of the trip. I’m sure you enjoy reading this! Whenever we take a step of faith to work in Kenya God moves in miraculous ways. If any of you would like to respond to Jeremiah and the team please send your emails to jeremiah
Pastor Jeremiah Siers
Saturday August 13
I wasn’t supposed to be going to Kenya this week. At least, that wasn’t the original plan. I’m taking Pastor Richard’s place as he quickly realized he was not going to recover in time from knee replacement surgery. Things fell into place quickly and here I am on this flight. I’m making a few notes on two sermons I’ll be speaking tomorrow at Kimbo PEFA church. I’m making sure they will translate well to Kenyan culture. The lady sitting next to me asks me a few questions as I type. She is Kenyan, but she has lived in Seattle the past thirteen years. She’s visiting her family in Kenya with her sixteen year old daughter. It’s a trip they take every other year. As it would turn out she’s a Christian, her family lives within walking distance of The PEFA church, and to top it off her father was a founding member of the church. She was planning on attending the service on Sunday and now she’s sitting next to the guest speaking pastor who is from her American home in Seattle.
I was tired, exhausted, questioning how fresh I would be for a long day tomorrow, but now I’ve got goose bumps. I’m getting the feeling this is just the tip of the iceburg for divine appointments and powerful experiences these next few weeks. God is good!
Sunday August 14:
Mosquito bites in Kenya feel a lot different than mosquito bites back home. I’m not talking about the itch of course, rather it’s the horror of thinking this little insect may have just injected me with malaria. I should know as two of them woke me up last night flying around inside my mosquito net. To make matters worse, after executing them both with a hand clap, a streak of blood appeared on my right hand, my blood I presume. Mosquitoes back in the states are mildly annoying, they hold no power over us. Mosquitoes here in Kenya carry within their tiny frames the power of death.
It might be a stretch, but I could say the same thing about my experience with faith here in Kenya. We have faith in God in the U.S.A., but faith here is on a whole other level. It’s faith that contains the power of life and death. The faith of a Christian back home is mildly irritating to the forces of darkness, the faith I have seen in the people of Kenya has the power to shake the gates of hell. It has too, because many of them are walking through the valley of the shadow of death and were it not for their immense faith, it would swallow them whole.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to preach at the Kimbo PEFA Church. It’s located in a poor neighborhood some 10 miles outside of Nairobi. Pastor James Wesonga graciously welcomed me to share even though he had never met me before. I spoke on the theme of encouragement. I reminded the people of Kimbo church that God is an encouraging God who is always ready and willing to give strength to those who need it. I was overwhelmed by the response I received. I must have talked to a hundred people today who shared with me about the difficulties they are facing. From severe health problems, to crumbling marriages, to challenging financial conditions every one of them were in desperate situations. It was all they could do to put their trust in God and find the courage to press on. They thanked me for encouraging them with the words I spoke on Sunday morning, but their lives were more of an encouragement to me than words could ever be. Tomorrow we start medical camps in Kimbo. Excited to see what’s next!