Day 3: First Sunday in Kenya

Yesterday the team tried to learn as many Swahili phrases as possible, whilst I-Go voice tried to learn Swahili songs.  Below is a selected few of the phrases we learned starting with Pastor Paul's favorite phrase that stems from 1 Corinthians 3:11:

“Hatuwezi bila Yesu”- We are nothing without Christ

“Yesu Anakupenda”- Jesus Loves you

“Yesu Asifiwe” – Praise the Lord

      “Habari ya Asububi” – Good morning

       “Asante Sana”- Thank you very much

        “Jina Lako ni nani”- What is your name?

    “Jina Langu ni" - My name is… 

Our Sunday Morning started with a quick breakfast of French toast and sausages, whilst some opted for warm milk and cornflakes. I-Go voice rehearsed the songs and phrases in the dining room before we headed out to the two Sunday services that we had planned.

 

Our morning church service was at Full Gospel Church Kenya, Nchaure Branch headed by Pastor Charity. We were all overwhelmed by the warm hospitality and were very inspired by her projects for her local community. Before service we were able to see one of her classrooms, everyone felt a general sense of how great it is to see people do so much with so little and move on without hindrances. She runs a school for primary school children, and plants vegetation to sell and increase the quality of lives of the children in her community.  We were quite frankly lost for words but we could only bless God for all that He helps her achieve. 

 

Pastor Charity

The service started and we spent at least an hour singing and dancing full Kenyan style it was AMAZING, after which the children, women and men of the church welcomed us to their home.

The children welcomed us

The men welcomed us

The women welcomed us

 He donated the land the church was built on.

Pastor P and Pastor Charity at work

 Before our very own Pastor P preached he decided to get a feel of the Kenya Praise whilst remembering one of the songs we learnt yesterday look out for I-Go 2013 the journey in video at the end of the trip. 

  At the end of the service we were able to spend time with the church members while Pastor Charity and her Wonder team further extended their Hospitality to us. 

Uba at work

Meet smiley Mercy in the yellow top

Meet Gatwiri 

The following was extracted from one of the Diaries of the Missionary…

“ I feel like God sent us to come here, He has seen their cry for help and He has called us forth into this place. The message this morning talked on how we need light to see, our struggles in life comes from us not seeing that there is something we must know. We need a Key to open doors that are locked in our lives dwelling in Christ constantly gives us access to the keys, and the solutions we find outside of Him worsen our problems.  Never run away from where you failed in your dreams, open the tomb and look to Jesus, Speak to the grave and call your dreams forth…

At random times we have conversations ranging from people, personalities and traits to the local food we have been exposed to so far… For example:

   Arrow root- reminds us of coco yam 

   Sweet potato

      Tope’s “arguments” that are on a different wavelengths

       My unusual Laughter

        Uba’s sarcasm

      Fiona’s Hyperactivity

        Mr. Dixon’s many stories and his modified American accent

It really is a privilege and an honor to be able to partake of all of this we are learning so much from them it is quite eye opening”  

          After the first service we headed out to the Second evening fellowship style/service, we arrived at a church Headed by Bishop John Terry.  Again we were inspired by the Bishop's work in the community, we were told of his many works in the Majengo Slums of Meru how he supports his community and how he always encourages them to remain in God. It is very inspirational to see how there are no bounds to worshiping, nothing too fussy about the building yet powerful serving and worshiping God.  We participated in another session of praise and worship Kenyan style.At the end of service we were once again overwhelmed with hospitality from the Bishop and His team, and we were able to spend time learning the simpler dance step the members of the church presented to us. 

Left to Right, Bishop John Ntere, Pastor Paul and Mr Dickson

Members of the audience

More members of the church

Osase and Diva-licious Milka

The following was extracted from one of the Diaries of a Cloverleaf Missionary 

      

“They really like to dance here ooooo!!! Our beloved Pastor and all His demonstrations today we are really bless God for his life the people could relate to his Arrow roots analogy bending over toiling the land losing weight and breaking your waste…

In the second Church He spoke on 5 points

·         God can begin big things in little places such as Meru

·         God has no Respect for man nor anyone

·         There is no problem in life, the only problem is ignorance

·         Never let anyone talk you down, Your Value lies in how much you know yourself. Value isn’t found in a common thing such as Maize it is found in the rare things

·         Richest place on earth is the graveyard, where all the lost dreams are buried. Refuse to go to the grave with your ideas still in your mind.  God has given you all further than your eyes can see.

This morning on the way the church we saw many churches, many people where dressed and ready to go. After service and fellowship today I can only hope and pray that it doesn’t become a motions thing. Pastor Charity said in the first church that many people move about five steps forward only to go about eight steps backwards I pray that the seeds that were sown today genuinely remains in their hearts.”

See you later, love and blessing from 

I-Go 2013