As always the team was shocked by the contrast of a shabby barn made of clay – the church- and the fantastic worship that is going on inside of it. Any church building in the church would be blessed by having such a choir. With this screaming and shouting and national sounds it is worth mentioning that it is still a conservative church ( I wonder what then the modern church looks like).
After the service, a sermon and testimonies from our team we did a necessary ritual – all the church stand around and we shake hands of each of them in the circle.
Sure enough we gave away all the gifts we have brought. We heard so many good testimonies about changes in the destinies of people. The major interethnic bout has taken place here recently. We met a woman with her 10 kids; her husband was killed at this bout. The team (as always) was generous to her and her children.
Having visited some caverns where many people hid themselves at this bout contemplating luxurious views on the valley, and a fabulous local water fall we headed to the local pastor’s house to have lunch: “How many of local people at least once a life descended the mountain and went at least to see the capital Nairobi?” The pastor smiled and answered that 97% of the people from his church will never see Nairobi in their lifetime. Then I asked how many kids from the church ever descended the mountain to see the nearest town. The answer is the same. It is their world – they live in their small world without ever descending from the mountain.
ImethereonthemountElganaboynamedNoahwhowasridinghis “bike” madeofbranchesandstones. Last year we donated our last money to buy a bicycle for him and sure enough it is broken by this time. But the boy was so happy to be able to ride it at least that limited time.
After a long and exhausting way back to Kitale we barely got off the car. We started a solemn procedure – giving away “holy cows” (this is how this project is called here) to the families with many children. It is a real miracle when we can give a cow to a family who has 24 adopted kids. The cow is a living factory on 4 legs and it improves life of adults and kids big time. Wegaveaway 6!!! Cowstosuchfamilies – itwasreallyimpressive.
We spent last hours before going to bed with the Uks (Ukrainian missionaries). Denis and I took some videos for our TV program “Mission is possible” that we are going to edit when we get back to Ukraine. Mind blowing testimonies are on those videos, many sincere and deep tears. I keep repeating something I am convinced in – these snub- nosed girls – are real HEROES OF FAITH!!!! We departed with a special prayer. There will be elections in a couple weeks. It is a very dangerous time in Kenya. So we prayed for God to protect our workers, to give them His special guard and strength these days.
Unfortunately, therearesomesickpeopleintheteam. So we prayed for the sickness to leave them.
The hardest experience of the trip for me is saying goodbye to my adopted son Hillary. The boy was upset feeling I am about to leave but this time he wasn’t that depressed as before. He was sitting all evening by my side clinging to me. He promised to me to do well at school and to improve his skills in English – it is the language I can communicate with him. We prayed with him and he went to bed. It is so hard for me to leave him… so I tried my best to fall asleep ASAP.
Onemoredayisbehindus. Mainly we spent in on the mountain and I thank God it wasn’t just a physical mountain!
Pastor- Pilgrim Gennadiy Mokhnenko