Our first service!

We found a suitable place for the Bible school and services on the outskirts of the town. There is peace and quiet. It`s little bit like countryside but it`s still along one of the main roads. The place is in our use on Sundays from 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm. We started the service at around 2.30 pm. We were good crowd there. God brought many of our new friends and they had invited their friends. We started with praying and singing praises to the Lord. Pastor David Rouquette preached about the fullness of truth and grace in Jesus Christ (John 1:14-18). Jesus revealed the nature of God, truth and grace. Jesus didn’t come to condemn us but He came to save. We are saved by grace (Eph.2:8). This same grace helps us in our Christian life (Tit.2:11-12). When we are in Christ we can have the truth and grace. After service we had fellowship and we heard some testimonies. We had blessed time together! This is a small beginning but it isn´t worthless because God is with us. “For who has despised the day of small things?” Zech.4:10

Trip to Kisii

The weekend of Sept. 17.-20.
Our team visited the Kisii area in western Kenya, 375 km from Nairobi.
We traveled about 5 hours by the public transportation, which was an experience in itself. During the trip we were entertained by a bus preacher who used the opportunity to collect money from some passengers, by a health product salesman, and very loud African music (the earplugs were useful). We passed through the Maasailand, very dry desert like area, since there has been a severe drought in parts of Kenya for a long time. But the more we traveled towards west, the greener the landscape became. The Kisiiland is an area with mountains, little rivers passing through the valleys between them, and everywhere there are maize fields, tea plantations, banana and avocado trees and other green vegetation.

Pastor Moses Kenyanya
received us in Kisii town. He has got to know the GGWO ministry for a short time, and met P. Schibelli, P. Kisaame, P. Haatanen etc. and visited the Uganda church in Kampala conference. Under him there are several small village churches, whose pastors desire to be trained by Greater Grace ministry. God willing, they will start a Bible School this fall there by video classes. These little churches have originally Baptist background, now they call themselves Greater Grace churches.

We visited 3 of the churches and 2 little village day schools, maintained by the believers there, during the weekend. Often the church building is used as a school during the week and for the services on Sundays. Our hearts were deeply touched by the song performances of the kids and the sincere work of the teachers in very simple circumstances without textbooks and almost no salary. P. David encouraged the staff to go on in their precious call
and Hanna taught them a Bible class using her picture materials.


We told them that in our country it is almost not allowed to teach the Bible in most of the schools, so they are lucky to receive that every day.







One of the churches were we visited was located in an interesting place. After we had taken the taxi and been driving a long way the road started to look quite impossible, stony and muddy but the African driver didn't care and managed to continue. However the road was worse and worse and it went uphill all the time. Finally we came to place, in which he admitted that we should get off and continue by foot. So we did and ended up walking maybe two more hours, going all the time uphill and the path was getting narrower, in the middle of fields and rocky slopes. We were companied by cows, chickens, and goats, who move there freely. Every now and then we passed
by local people. They either greeted us with a smile or stared at us embarrassed or afraid. Some of the younger children had never seen a white person and ran away being scared. Later we heard from some people that they believed that our skin is so thin that if you touch it, the blood will come out easily. Finally we reached the top of the mountain, where the church was. Tired but happy. We felt like eagles seeing the breathtaking view.


In the churches we had great services with a lot of singing or dancing and p. David preached Finished Work messages which were received with much appreciation and joy and we visitors
were invited time after time to come again. All the time they were asking us if the Bible classes (videos) will start for sure. After the services we had fellowship with the people. Their life circle is very small, and they have no idea of life in other countries, no electricity, running water, but what we had common with them was the love for God, his Word, and for His people. They sent greetings to the Finnish churches especially! They showed us great hospitality: we were invited
after the services to eat together a simple meal in their houses (mud huts that often had just the door as a source of light). Little note concerning the way of transportation in these places: One time we returned to Kisii town in a small car with 14 people in it.










Please pray for these people: P. Moses and his family, his brother P. David & family (below), p. Shem, p. Laurence, p. Samuel, p. Benson and others.

Dagoretti

About an half an hour ride from the glorious city center you arrive to suburban area where people have a very simple life style. It is like countryside but really crowded. We were invited to the fellowship by pastor Peter Nganga. The service was in someone´s home and there was really a warm and cosy atmosphere. We were warmly welcomed. After couple of African worship songs our pastors David and Juha preached. After the service we had fellowship talking with the people and we were served Kenyan tea with lots of milk and sugar.

Uhuru Park (Central Park)

The Uhuru Park is a great place to talk with people. Although it is in the city center it is clean and peaceful. People come there to relax. They are sitting on the grass or on the bences. Kenyans are very easy to approach. It is very easy to start a conversation with them because they are friendly and polite people. You can start to talk about Jesus very easily and people like to talk about spiritual things. It is great! It is allowed to preach in the park and you can hear many kinds of loud preachers there… During this week we have had an outdoor service almost daily at the park around 12.00. Before that for about an hour we have been talking with the people in the park and inviting them to the service. Many of them have come and we have had a sweet fellowship singing and sharing the Word of God. Some of them have come also on the next day. So we`ve got lots of new friends who want to learn the Word of God!

Kambi Ya Moto - Camp of Fire
After a long trip of three hours from Nairobi, we arrived at our destination Kambi Ya Moto (30 mns after Nakuru Town).
Pastor Peter, from the Nakuru's church, wanted us to meet with 7 pastors working with him and ministring in the North west of Kenya.
The meeting was in a small church who suffered a lot during the last 2 years during the last elections. Many tribes fought for lands
at that time and the population suffered, the church lost one pastor during that time. Now the peace came back and only through the Word of God the reconciliation can happen. It was great to see the hunger for the word and the simple hospitality of these poor brothers and sisters. The land is facing a severe drought and many livestock is dying.
The worship was really Afriiiiican and people were singing joyfully.
P Juha preached a message on How important it is to be amazed by God's Work. Hanna and Minna sang a song. Kids also performed singing.
The service finished after 3 hours and we were served the local meal (Ugali, Corn porridge) and meat stew.
We want to keep this group in prayer as they face many challenges. But in the midst of adversity they manifested a great desire to be trained in the word, via our Bible school.

Discovering the city of Nairobi

We arrived safely on Wednesday Sept 2nd and settled in our apartments. We have visited the city center and the surroundings near our living area. We have already met some Kenyans in the local bus so called "citi hoppa" and some students in the medical university campus. People are very friendly and open to discuss. The weather is suprisingly cool, it is like Finnish summer.

We have tasted some Kenyan food, "samosas and mandizas" and we enjoyed those. We are all fine. Thank you for your prayers! Please feel free to post your comments!