Showers of Blessing in Balaah
Just before dawn we awaken to drops of rain! Praise the Lord! Balaah has had drought conditions for a few years, and no rain for a few months. We scurry into the hut and the bedding is brought in. Peter tells me to prepare to be rained upon! But it does not come quite that heavily. Nevertheless, there is a refreshing feel in the air, and we sleep for a few more hours.
We get up and have a light breakfast of power bars that I have brought along. I have brought $500 from the church in Edmonton for famine relief, and have given it to Peter to distribute where there is the most need. He has already been very busy helping many of the families. This results in a mixed blessing. A Parents’ Day had been scheduled at the Primary School. Now it is cancelled because everyone wants to go to town to buy much needed food. That is a bit discouraging, but understandable. I can see how easy it is for a ministry to degenerate into a social gospel when the physical need is so great. May the Lord keep the ministry on course.
Joseph Haile is assigned my translator and we head to the nearby village of Sono. Many children come running when they hear the sound of the Land Rover. We go into a hut and give a brief gospel message and pray with the two mamas there. When we go to the next hut, the men try to gather a few more and we meet outside the hut and speak to about 20-25 women and children. I am given a small stool to sit on while I give a gospel message. We circle the village and do this at about 4-5 places altogether. Then we head to the elders’ circle in the middle of the village. I am introduced and I give a message of our fall in Adam and salvation in Christ. There are some hardened faces, others appear more receptive.
We leave Sono and head back to Kimogol for lunch. We drive out to Korr; on our way back we stop again at the Primary School. Safo has bought me a bar of soap in town and he tells me I am to have a “shower” here. The headmaster brings me a tub of water which is not much bigger than my feet and comes barely up to my ankles. He puts it into a shed and closes the door. This is where I will have my “shower”. At least the water is very warm – everything is very warm. But how refreshing it is to get cleaned up. We head back to the shade tree in mid-afternoon.
Peter tells me to give doctrinal instruction to Joseph Haile, who he hopes will be an elder in the church, once it is established. I give him a summary of chapters 1-19 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. He responds well, with good questions, and some very good understanding of how the doctrine in the Confession is contrary to that of the Roman Catholic Church, which he grew up in.
Peter is regularly called away to give advice, solve problems, settle disputes. It is very wearing on him, but he seems to be the only one they trust; the only one who has a concern to help them. They can see the difference that Christ makes in a man’s heart.
We get up and have a light breakfast of power bars that I have brought along. I have brought $500 from the church in Edmonton for famine relief, and have given it to Peter to distribute where there is the most need. He has already been very busy helping many of the families. This results in a mixed blessing. A Parents’ Day had been scheduled at the Primary School. Now it is cancelled because everyone wants to go to town to buy much needed food. That is a bit discouraging, but understandable. I can see how easy it is for a ministry to degenerate into a social gospel when the physical need is so great. May the Lord keep the ministry on course.
Joseph Haile is assigned my translator and we head to the nearby village of Sono. Many children come running when they hear the sound of the Land Rover. We go into a hut and give a brief gospel message and pray with the two mamas there. When we go to the next hut, the men try to gather a few more and we meet outside the hut and speak to about 20-25 women and children. I am given a small stool to sit on while I give a gospel message. We circle the village and do this at about 4-5 places altogether. Then we head to the elders’ circle in the middle of the village. I am introduced and I give a message of our fall in Adam and salvation in Christ. There are some hardened faces, others appear more receptive.
We leave Sono and head back to Kimogol for lunch. We drive out to Korr; on our way back we stop again at the Primary School. Safo has bought me a bar of soap in town and he tells me I am to have a “shower” here. The headmaster brings me a tub of water which is not much bigger than my feet and comes barely up to my ankles. He puts it into a shed and closes the door. This is where I will have my “shower”. At least the water is very warm – everything is very warm. But how refreshing it is to get cleaned up. We head back to the shade tree in mid-afternoon.
Peter tells me to give doctrinal instruction to Joseph Haile, who he hopes will be an elder in the church, once it is established. I give him a summary of chapters 1-19 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. He responds well, with good questions, and some very good understanding of how the doctrine in the Confession is contrary to that of the Roman Catholic Church, which he grew up in.
Peter is regularly called away to give advice, solve problems, settle disputes. It is very wearing on him, but he seems to be the only one they trust; the only one who has a concern to help them. They can see the difference that Christ makes in a man’s heart.
posted by Unknown | 2:24 AM
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