Bomet Pastor’s Conference April 16 – 19 and Lessos Ladies Conference April 20 – 23.

Saturday afternoon I started to load the Surf (Toyota 4 Runner) for the arduous journey to Bomet, a tortuous 180 miles of ill-kept road: one continuous pot hole with large trucks belching diesel fumes.  After an early meal and a last look around I retired early so as to be fresh for the Lord’s Day work.  Breakfast, shaving and dressing came before I was ready; and though I missed my 7:00 a.m. deadline, by 7:30 I was on the first leg of the Sunday safari to morning worship at the Burgei church about 130 miles away.  Because of the shattering effects of the torturous road on the Surf, I at times despaired of arriving anywhere but in an auto repair center.  God is gracious and oversaw, so that I arrived just as the service was beginning.  After many fine choirs, Scripture readings and offering and prayers and announcements, I was asked to preach.  I proceeded to deliver our Resurrection sermon on the glory and joy of having a living resurrected Lord and Savior.  The reception afterwards was warm but all too short as I wished to continue the safari before the evening rains set in.    So with abrupt goodbyes I turned my gaze towards Bomet, as I sped off as fast as possible while still enjoying the fine fellowship, and also a piece of Bonnie’s tasty banana bread to stave off hunger pains.

Trying to keep the speed down to conserve fuel, I finally negotiated the vehicle into Bomet Bible Institute just as the rain was lessening; all was shinning and beautiful, with verdant grass and gardens.  After finding Richard Rotich and having some tea, we squeezed the Surf through the narrow gate at the school and locked things up for the night.  Shortly thereafter Michael Koech arrived from his preaching outreach and invited us to have dinner with him.   We talked in an animated fashion for several hours as Martha, Michael’s teenaged daughter, fixed the meal.  When food, singing and devotions were finished we prayed for the household and then headed back to the house Ruth and I had built in 1986.  It still stands tall and straight as the day it was built.  It was different this night; I was the only one in it.  One room has been set aside for me; the rest is used by the school principal.  After fixing the mosquito net in place, I slept wonderfully.     

After swishing the dust around that had accumulated over the past several months, I finished shaving and then had morning tea with Richard Rotich and his family.  He had just built a small three-room house and invited me to have a look at it; so we started walking a few miles up a hill and around its side.  The path was oozing mud and flowing water from the night’s rain.  Just before reaching the house we met an old friend, Zakio, who had worked for us while we lived in Bomet, and we had a joyous time of greetings and banter.  At Richard’s house we climbed over a 6 foot fence and I found myself in a very nicely planted and kept one quarter acre.  The house was completed, the outside made of eight by one hardwood boards, nailed vertically.  All that was needed were slats between the upright boards.  The boards had shrunk leaving these gaps, and another tree had to be bought and sawed and one by two strips nailed between the planks.  A donor had given money for a well, as there was no water fit for drinking and family use in the area.  The donation was given as well as a little for a tree to provide slats for the house’s siding.  After surveying the small well-tended garden of corn, potatoes, greens and onions, we talked about planting trees and how Richard intended to find water on his small plot.  He said the government had an expert that helps residents find what they need on their land.  He spoke of a recent robbery, as soon as he had come home from his studies at FCB.  Three neighbor youths had broken into his house and taken his luggage, with all his government papers.  With a great deal of effort most of the things were recovered and the youths taken into custody.  I also gave him some paint to brighten up the boards inside, as there would be only the planks to look at.

Instantly upon arriving back in Bomet we met Paul Cheruiyot, another one of our FCB students, who had just completed ministering to the government police officers for the weekend.  Next I met Michael Koech and we began a short journey to Tenwek to visit and pray for the very old widow of the founder of their church.  We traveled in a small Toyota four abreast for five rut- and bump-bedeviled miles.  We found the elderly lady sitting in the sun with two of her grand children, enjoying the beautiful morning.  She slowly rose and greeted us, and then invited us in for tea.  We had brought a few items and gave them, and the whole time family members came in and greeted us and then left.  After prayer and a few words of comfort to the 102-year-old matriarch, we hurried back before the noon rains.   Upon arriving at the school again, I rested until a clap of thunder struck so close and loudly that I jumped out of bed.  Shortly thereafter we had tea, after which I studied for some time the life of H. A. Ironside and his studies on holiness.  As it became dark the evening service started for the former graduates of Bomet, FCB and BC of EA.  As most had been my students at one time or another, there was a warm feeling of joy at the reunion.  After all having a time to share how God was using them, we went to our house and had tea.

Later that night Jonathan Langat returned from his week-long safari to Mwanza, praising God for His ministry there and His keeping throughout.  He was tired but overflowing with joy for the blessing of serving Jesus, our Lord and Savior.  Plans were made to visit the same place in August, and I was invited to help in teaching the pastors classes that will add to their present abilities.  We all retired very early to a welcome time of rest, and to several very pesky mosquitoes that fought with my net most of the night.

I arose at 3:00 a.m. and had my devotions and had to bundle up in all the clothes I had brought because of the intense cold at 6,300 feet.  After smearing myself with bug repellent, I read several hours then covered myself again with my blanket until the break of day, at which time I arose and shaved and started to write my journal.  At 8:20 we finally had tea, then fellowshipped with my old students, concluding with John Rotich, who needed iron sheets for his home, as all was ready with his mud and stick house but the roof.  Money was available, and he went away very happily.  All too soon class time arrived, and the alumni continued their retreat and I continued writing my journal and reading in Ironsides’ book.  I was also in a quandary as to how to contact Howard and Ruth.  All was peaceful except for a little squalling baby down stairs.  After the last session I was asked to address the alumni, wherein I testified to the faithfulness of God even in the midst of trial, and of the courage we can take from God’s promises in the midst of great challenge.

Shortly after the alumni meetings the pastors’ conference started for real, and the head of the church addressed the real need for all the church to evangelize and reach the youth for the Lord.  After a communal dinner with all the church leaders, I made plans for the evening rest.   It was ever cold, being intensified by the dampness of the rains.  The next day more delegates had arrived and the large hall started to fill up.  Delegates were introduced by districts and the larger gloated over their fine attendance.  I was given the third hour of the day to speak, just at lunch time.  I spoke on Gideon and his band of 300 faithful, on the marks of a faithful disciple of Christ.  The Lord afforded wonderful liberty in preaching, and even though I was only able to cover half the material, all went away deeply enriched.

During the afternoon Joel N’geno and I went to pray for a dying man of World War II age.    His son Joseph had worked for me years ago, and during that time I had witnessed to him about his need of Jesus as Savior, but he felt comfortable with Isis worship and resisted the Lord’s invitation.  About a year ago the Lord led me to be more forceful than normal, and from that time on he believed on the Lord, and was just recently baptized.  Due to sickness he doesn’t eat, and the whole family was present when we came and we had a service with all attending. 

By this time it was growing dark, so we had to leave, even though it was raining heavily.  Upon arriving at the meeting place, I had to bundle up in a blanket because of the chill, and soon after the evening service started and I spoke on Heb. 10:18, emphasizing the need to encourage one another as this age comes to its conclusion.  After the service we had tea, and then I talked to Bishop Koske for a little and then slept, doing so fitfully, and next morning having difficulty focusing on my devotions.  After shaving I packed all my belongings and loaded the Surf, where I met John Rotich and Daniel Yaban, giving them each 4,000 for home projects that would greatly enhance their ministries.  Now for phase two of this safari.

For the next several hours I enjoyed a slow drive up to Eldoret, where we were to attend a ladies camp, ordination of pastors and the retirement of a senior pastor.  There was no hurry, so I just enjoyed the journey, enhanced by all the well kept tea estates, tall cypress and blue gum trees, framed amongst the rugged green mountains that surround Lake Victoria.  By noon I had arrived at Lessos and looked over the Bible school; and upon learning that the teacher was at home, I drove to his farm house.  He was in the field redoing his barbed wire fence, with four of his eight children helping guide the wires and nailing it to the posts.    Before we finished the rain came, so all had to bring in the tools and come in for the night.  

After a little all gathered in the sitting room and we sang hymns and recited verses that had blessed our lives, and by that time Joseph’s 10-year-old daughter had dinner ready for all of us.  Farm children learn very early how to pull their share of the work here.  All eight of his children are dear and respectful and a delight to be around.  I had come to teach at the Bible Institute, but the classes were next week; but they were having the ladies Bible camp, so I was invited to speak at it.  We slept early and enjoyed the rain on the tin roof all night; the rain was just what was needed for the freshly hoed garden of beans and corn and potatoes.   Next morning we left after the fence was completed and tea was taken.  The road was a nightmare, with the Surf slipping now and then towards the three foot drop into the gully on the road side.  Thankfully the dirt road was short and we were off on the main road, throwing globs of mud in every which direction from the mud grip tires.

By the time we arrived at the meeting the ladies had been studying for several hours and I was given lunch.  Soon afterwards I was called to speak, and addressed them on the role of the wife as an encourager at home, the church, and with her husband.  The message was very well received.  During the remaining daylight hours we strolled about, viewing the high school campus and its facilities,  I am always open for new ideas for our own schools.  That evening I spoke again and then we piled into the Surf and slid and slipped to the home we were to sleep in.  This was a very unique house, a former water tank built by Dutch colonial farmers some years before.  After an African farmer co-op had bought the estate, this Christian chose the lot where the huge water tanks were located, bought that land, and proceeded to knock holes for door, windows and air vents, and then put iron sheets on for a roof.  We were all well cared for by this fine Christian family for the next two nights.  As was their custom, when we arrived all the family assembled and we were introduced, and then had family devotions together, then slept.  I’m not all that tall, but more so than the bed I was given, and during the night I developed a nice crook in the neck and I had to scrunch a little to get comfortable. 

When the sun came up I arose and took a stroll about, and noticed the remnants of the old Dutchman’s farm.  There wasn’t much to show for all the work he had done on the place: an old 6-foot wagon wheel, some very large stately trees, the large water tanks turned home, and a permanent out-house.

By the time we arrived for the lessons, the ladies were on the last leg of the meeting.  I was asked to speak, and I spoke on forgiveness.  Again there was a very good response to the message, and the ladies inter-acted very well on the topic.  We ended with a gospel appeal that we all needed forgiveness for our sins, and that Jesus freely has done so by dying for us on Calvary’s cross and making it possible for us to be forgiven..    

The rest of the afternoon was spent with choir contests between the different church ladies choirs.  I listened while studying my lessons for missions class in a few weeks.  Before darkness came, the judges had given their decision and the winners were given nice stainless steel pans.  After a hurried dinner we slept early in anticipation of the grand finish.  I didn’t realize how grand a finish it would be, five and a half hours of it.  Since we would all be leaving after the service, we packed all our things and arrived very early to get everything ready for the next three events.  We started out with a normal worship service, and by 11:30 I had concluded my message from Col. 1 on doing all things to our Lord and Creator, and making a plan to retain and use what the 17 messages of the camp had offered.  Immediately seven men appeared before the congregation of about 500, and lined up for ordination, concluding by the laying on of the hands of the ordained pastors present.  It was wonderful to see the students that I had taught at Lessos Bible Institute being welcomed into the full-time ministry.   

Without skipping a beat we went into a long farewell to the senior pastor in the area, who was retiring at age 83; and people had a chance to testify to the blessing they had under his ministry, many to being so saved.  Then the gifts, oh so many!  By this time it was late for the last leg of my safari, a meeting on the opening of the new term’s classes at Burgei, and I was a little late.  As quickly as was wise, we traversed the mountain passes leading down to the Rongai plains where we were to have our final meeting.  Some of the elders had left, but  all were finally called back, we had our hurried prayer after the meeting, and I was off, just as it started to pour; and yet I had one more stop, some wedding gifts for Sumeek’s James Musyoki.  As I turned up the rain-swelled track to his house, I doubted if we could get all the way to his house; so we parked across a field from his house and unloaded his things, getting soaked to the skin.  

I was off for Nairobi at 9:00 p.m., over some of the most torturous and dangerous roads in Kenya, and I was in prayer every mile of the trip.  By midnight I arrived at Howard and Bonnie’s, and  it was so nice to see them stir upon my ringing the door bell.    Howard and I had a few words and then we slept, so joyful was I for all the Providences of the Lord to be able to speak for Him in so many places on so many topics and purposes.    Thank you all for praying and giving and encouraging us on in this most wonderful of works for the Lord.  May His name be exalted!