Miracle in Eldoret

Eldoret had been undergoing a major dry spell by the time we got there. During our rally there, Pst. Simon who was leading prayers prayed that it would rain that evening. By the time we got to Kisumu, the texts were coming in – it was raining in Eldoret! We need to continue praying for good rains as many parts of our country are facing a drought, that could put at risk the most vulnerable among our citizens

Abok’s Story

Abok was one of the young men heavily involved in post election violence and looting in Nairobi. His rage drove him and his friends to wage war against members of a different tribe. He threw stones and tear gas at the police. At some point after the violence abated however, he found himself filled with remorse and emptiness. His life lacked direction and purpose.

Then he heard about the Msafara. Made his way to Nairobi Baptist to sign up and found he needed a signed reference from his pastor as well as 5000/- to join. He went to one of Nairobi’s more famous churches and asked the pastor’s secretary if they could sign his form and sponsor him for the trip. But pastor was away and secretary was unwilling to commit.

Abok not knowing what to do next determined to volunteer for odd jobs at the Msafara secretariat and to make himself so valuable that they’d have no choice but to take him with them. Long story short, strategy worked, and he somehow slipped by the screening process and became a Msafiri - without the required pastor’s reference! For the next week, he found himself surrounded by Christians across the country praying against violence and working among those affected by it. He made friends who genuinely seemed to care about him. No one knew his story but something began to burn within. At some point, Abok could take it no more, and confessed his actions to one of the Msafara pastors, who prayed for him as he accepted Jesus as his Savior.

So now Abok is passionate to become a part of the solution instead of the problem. And he is convinced that God wants him to be a pastor one day, so that he can help others who are where he was, not too long ago.

Ken’s Story

So, here’s the last part of Pastor Ken’s story (see ‘holding out hope’ below). He took my good friends Pst. Kuchio of NPC Parklands and Pst. Patrick Murunga of Good Shepherd Church with him the next morning to see the man – who apparently was in charge of security arrangements at the camp. Thankfully, they had actually postponed their revenge mission and were preparing to go that night. They even had managed to get a truck! They asked my friends if they knew where they could get extra weapons!

In Pst. Ken’s words, ‘Counseling 101 never prepared me for this!’ As the rest prayed though, Pst. Kuchio engaged the man in serious conversation about how God not only forgives us but He enables us to forgive others. Then, an amazing thing happened; not only did the man agree to dismantle his revenge mission, but he also decided to turn his life over to Christ.

Msafara Conclusion

The last day in Kisumu was as awesome as the rest had been. We had a special service for the 300 wasafiri at the new NCCK guest house where we were staying (a really nice facility by the way, if you’re ever in Kisumu). Had an opportunity to hear testimonies from many wasafiri about their experiences. Many shared how their lives had been changed by Msafira, including several who talked about how their own prejudices had been confronted by God and how they had learnt to love people from communities they had struggled to accept. Service lasted three and a half hours but could have gone on for two more… that’s how gripping the stories were. Had to cut short because it was time for lunch though! Before we ended, we shared Holy Communion as a sign of the unity God calls us all to – as people from different denominations, generations and tribes.

In the afternoon, our final service in Kisumu. A much larger crowd than before. The former mayor and now present MP of Kisumu attended. We prayed for a new beginning for Kisumu, Nyanza and the whole country. It was a great thing to see Christian leaders of various tribes on the platform: A visible representation of the church’s important role in modeling unity in our diversity. Archbishop Ajwoga, an elderly and much respected local leader, spoke powerful about how church leaders had failed by taking political sides during the election period. Bishop Njiri gave a great message as usual.

Got to say one more time – one of the things I love about the culture in this westernmost part of our country is how well people know how to celebrate and dance. I have seldom enjoyed a worship time more! My hat off to the praise band that led us the whole time we were there.

Kisumu –Final Stop

I didn’t learn enough superlatives in school to describe our time in Kisumu. For me, it will probably rank as the most memorable time of the town the Msafara visited. Local pastors had organized a many car convoy to meet us. Together we wove our way into the city, led by a pickup with loudspeakers announcing our mission. Depending on what part of town we were passing, I could see various emotions in people’s eyes. Curiosity, surprise, indifference, even outright hostility. Later learnt some people may have thought we were a busload of Mungiki militants! Our convoy ended up at the Jomo Kenyatta sports ground. And there we found…

The surprise party! There were tents set up with people in them, an amazing praise team and band on the dais. The music was fantastic. As soon as the buses stopped, wasafiri poured out of them to join in the praise party. For around 30 minutes, that’s all we did… dance! People here know how to have a good time! As long as the day had been, we could have gone on for another few hours. Everyone was disappointed when the music stopped! The pastor’s fellowship welcomed us to Kisumu, prayed for us, and we were off to our guest house for dinner.

Then, the pastor’s fellowship the next day... If I thought Eldoret was something, Kisumu was off the charts! Many, many local bishops and church leaders in attendance…Like LD, Kisumu suffered a lot as a result of post-election violence. There was much pain here. We knew the issues to discuss would be heavy. And they were.

But somehow God cut through all the formalities. Bishop Njiri of the KAG church is respected as one of the church leaders who refused to take political sides during the 07 elections. This leader stood up and offered a heartfelt repentance on behalf of the Kikuyu believers for all that had transpired between the Kikuyu and Luo since independence. And the God-moment came. There were few dry eyes in the house. Many leaders on their knees bawling their eyes out… including yours truly. Archbishop Silas Owiti, a highly respected church leader here, accepted the repentance and embraced his counterpart. As if that was not enough, Bishop Njiri confessed that Bishop Orao (another respected leader here), had once worked under him and they had been close friends but parted ways many years ago in a way that had hurt their relationship. He publicly repented of his part in their disagreement and asked his former colleague to forgive him. Bishop Orao also asked forgiveness for his part and as the two hugged, Bishop Njiri prayed a prayer of blessing for him as a son in ministry.

Okay, you get the picture. Things were out of our control from that moment and in God’s hands! For me, this meeting and the visit to the church in Kiambaa were worth all the work that has gone into Msafara. I saw visibly something I’ve always believed – that the church is the hope of the world. What we experienced in that room was not calm (the absence of war) but genuine shalom or peace.

The rest of the wasafiri had a chance to visit displaced peoples in Kisumu. The national violence has had a huge toll here and family structures are under great strain to support relatives from other parts of the country. We handed over a lorry of food and another of hygiene packs to the pastor’s fellowship to distribute. So far we have donated 5 tons of food to Naivasha, and roughly 24 tons each to Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu, in addition to over 25 tons of clothing and hygiene packs. We have handed these to the various pastor’s fellowships to distribute especially the displaced who are not in the camps.

In the afternoon, the Kisumu prayer rally took place. Local pastors and bishops led in prayers of repentance for Kisumu and Nyanza. Intense time of prayer… At the end of it I was exhausted in more ways than I thought possible. But the local pastors were just beginning! They announced another rally the next day (Sunday) at the same venue.

May my heart never forget the things my eyes have seen these last few days.

Eldoret Prayers

We had a great prayer public rally in Eldoret on Friday. We’ll attended, despite the fact that it was during working hours. The theme was that it’s time for peace to return to LD and for people to live together. The new mayor was in attendance. Repentance prayers were said by local pastors over the violence that has taken place in the North Rift. Jemimah Thiongo sang and was as usual, ‘Akisema Atakubariki’ was a great hit. There was a student’s music festival going on at the town hall as well and many of the students came to watch.

After that, we were on our buses and off to Kisumu. Took the Kapsabet route. Short stop at the Kapsabet town, where many homes and shops were burnt… Many of the IDP’s in Eldoret come from this area. You could still feel the tension in the air, and I was glad when we finally set off from there. After quite a bumpy ride, we were soon within the outskirts of Kisumu.

Prayer Cover

You know the tiredness thing I was praying about in Nairobi? Somehow it’s gone. Yes I still get weary by the end of the day. But somehow my mind has the perseverance to keep plodding on. Maybe it’s because of all the people praying for the Msafara. This morning, someone read us emails from people here, in Europe, America and other places across planet Earth that are praying for us. Awesome!

If you'd like to read Pst. Oscar's detailed account of our intense pastors meeting in LD, check out his post on the msafara blog - http://msafara.wordpress.com.