Joyce Strong Ministries Inspiring Wholeness in Lives, Relationships, and Leadership MINISTRY REPORT: KENYA, FALL 2013 Where do I begin? With the sights and sounds and red soil of Africa, the spiritual hunger of the people, or the integrity of all those involved with Blessings Hope Educational Centre? With the dangers of the entitlement mentality which leads some, even in the ministry, to become clever extortionists or with the fact that women carry the overwhelming burden of providing and caring for their families? Let’s instead look briefly at the High Moments, the Challenges and the Delights of our experience there. We’ll end with the defeat of the enemy who attacked with a vengeance in the middle of the Leaders’ Conference on the day before the school’s Dedication Ceremony. HIGH MOMENTS: • Being greeted upon arrival by 155 smiling and singing children whose eyes were filled with joy and hope—eyes free of the fear and despair that had haunted the little group of orphans I had met on my previous visit in the spring of 2012 • Thanking and encouraging these three groups separately: 1) The teachers and guardians to whom Fay and Carol explained how to give the Blessing especially to the children, followed by my demonstration of blessing Pastor Samuel and their blessing each other 2) The volunteers and staff who do all the construction work, farming, cooking, and maintenance of the extensive property and with whom I walked back in memory to all the steps of construction, struggles and victories 3) The children themselves with whom I shared the dramatic story of Paul and Silas singing in prison—miracles and all—to help them identify the fact that all around them (and they themselves) are miracles from God who loves them so much. We had a grand time!!! • Witnessing the spiritual receptivity and transparency of the women in the Women’s Conferences in Birunda (at Blessings Hope) and in Moisbridge, and watching as Jesus set many free from unforgiveness, shame, bitterroot judgments, vows they had made, and the lies that they had believed • Being part of the incredible parade of children and teachers (led by the local Salvation Army Band) on the Day of Dedication of Blessings Hope Ed. Centre. We proceeded from the village of Birunda down the long dirt road to the Centre and through the main gate to the big white and blue-striped tents. Under these tents waited local government guests; principals and teachers from surrounding schools; pastors from churches near and far; staff, guardians, friends and families of the day students—all excited to be part of this momentous occasion. • Having the profound privilege with Carol of handing out the graduation certificates to those who were progressing to the next “Standard” and being acknowledged by the Head Teacher for their academic achievements • Spending time with pastors and their wives at the Centre and in Moisbridge • Being visited at the farm by Pastor Isaac (A.I.C.) and his wife, Beth (my interpreter) and her husband, Pastor Samuel and Pastor Ken in Sibanga before we left for for Nairobi and home CHALLENGES: • Long distance travel amidst humongous potholes—even in the paved roads—around which the driver must creep while avoiding bicycles, motor bikes, pedestrians and goats • Borrowed cars that had flat tires, got stuck in mud holes on dirt roads, bottomed out on monstrous, unmarked speed bumps, rattled at every joint so loudly that you had to yell to be heard by the person next to you (All of these we experienced firsthand.) • Successive days of power outages • No internet access to enable writing home with news (My phone bill will be horrendous!) DELIGHTS: • The perfect behavior of all 155 children whether in class, at play or in church. In fact, they sat for hours in their little caps and gowns at the Dedication without fidgeting, pestering each other or needing a word from a teacher. They even sat in on several Women’s Conf. sessions so that the teachers could participate. I never heard a sound from them while I taught. • The great joy the brightly-colored neck scarves brought to not only the children, but the staff. Thank you, Darcy and New Life Children’s Dept.! We gave them out the first day, and they wore them every day after, some even with their caps and gowns! Look for them in the pictures. • How well they could dance during worship, and how they loved it! • When a little girl of about 2 1/2 or 3, who wouldn’t let me get near her for over a week, came into the speakers’ area at the Conference on Tuesday and walked right up to me and smiled and put her arms up to be held. * Giving away 2,000 copies of True Love and the Dragon to be spread all over East Africa. • Being interviewed on Kenyan Christian TV to be broadcast several times that week. • The sweet and funny times that Carol, Fay and I had together throughout the trip. Good friends are a treasure, arent they? • The long walks around Senator Zipporah Kittony’s farm in Sibanga, where we stayed. How beautiful the farmland—the coffee and maize fields and the banana grove—and the blue-gray mountains in the distance, especially in early evening as the shadows cast by the setting sun moved over them! • Being chauffeured around Nairobi on our last day and taken to the senator’s office by her body guard in a big, black, bulletproof SUV. • Accompanying Dr. Kittony on a tour of the Nairobi National Park • Listening to “Jolene” on the driver’s favorite country/western CD until we could sing it in our sleep. Singing the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love” along with the senator just before the SUV pulled out of the back exit of the Park and into a poverty-ridden slum area of Nairobi. What a culture shock and disconnect! THE DEFEAT OF THE ENEMY: Some background—Whenever the Kingdom of God advances, Satan attacks. Blessings Hope Educational Centre has been birthed through unending miracles of provision ushered in by massive, consistent prayer and humility on the part of those carrying the vision and paying the price of sacrifice on the ground. So many people have become believers in Jesus Christ because of His presence in that place. Two churches have been planted and are filling up fast as a result. Unknown to me on the morning before the Dedication, just as I was beginning the Leaders’ Conference, a neighbor filed a formal complaint against Pastor Samuel with the police department for alleged “...intentional and wanton destruction of his maize crop.” (A small tree that a worker from the Centre was cutting down for firewood had accidently fallen into the neighbor’s field, hitting a few cornstalks, but not causing any damage.) When the policemen arrived to arrest Samuel and he took them out to survey the “damage”, they suddenly were overcome with guilt and confessed that they had been bribed by the neighbor to file a false report and arrest him. He was not arrested, of course, and the policemen assured him that they would testify on his behalf. Right around the time that the police issue was being resolved, and right after I had had a powerful session with the leaders and was on break before the next session, I was hit by the worst pain I had ever experienced (barring labor). I’ve had food poisoning three other times in Kenya and once in India, lasting about 24 hours. It’s just something that happens. But this was scary. (When in the outhouse at the Centre right after the pain struck, I cried and cried for God to just take me to heaven and be done with it!) I was soon loaded into a tired old van that Samuel’s dad commandeered for the purpose with the intent to rush me to the Kitale hospital. (I had prayed with people in that hospital in past years and did NOT want to end up there.) So I begged to be taken back to the farm directly. I was sure at the time that it was food poisoning, although it lacked some of the symptoms. As I was being piled into the van, I could hear the prayers rising from the people in the tents. What a wonderful sound! Halfway to Kitale, we met Samuel on the road and I was transferred to his car. I was so weak I couldn’t stand or even sit up on my own. I just lay across the back seat as we bounced our way around the potholes and made our way to the farm. About fifteen minutes before we reached our destination, all pain stopped and there were no symptoms—just fatigue remaining from the ordeal. The next day, it was as though nothing had happened. I was strong and fit and ready to speak at the Dedication and celebrate the wonder of what God has done in that place and for those children. Wahoo! Samuel had never told me what he himself had gone through that day until he and Ken, an evangelist and friend who ministers with him, visited the farm to say goodbye several days later. Suddenly I realized that what had happened to me was connected to it. We had simultaneously experienced spiritual attacks aimed at obscuring the glory due the Lord and to discourage or distract us. But it hadn’t worked! Eph. 6:13-18 in the Message reads: Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. In closing, listen to the end of chapter 6: Love mixed with faith be yours from God the Father and from the Master, Jesus Christ. Pure grace and nothing but grace be with all who love our Master, Jesus Christ. With gratitude for all our supporters powerful prayers on our behalf and your love for the Body of Christ worldwide. Love, Joyce Wilson Strong
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 00:39:38 +0000
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