The Lord is Good

Nahum 1:7 in the Swahili Bible

"BWANA ni mwema" means The Lord is good in Swahili.

"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him." This is the scripture from Nahum 1:7 that Pastor Isaac began our worship time with. The people of RVF, all people, need to allow this truth to abide in their hearts.

As the church, we praised The Lord in song with Ester leading us. The songs were sung in Swahili, with some English intertwined. We were overcome by the presence of the Holy Spirit - some of us had tears, some had goosebumps as we sang these precious words:

We love you Jesus 

We thank you Jesus 

You are so faithful

That's why we worship you in the morning

We worship you in the noontime 

We worship you in the evening 

That's why we worship you all the time

Michael then began his teaching on biblical counseling and biblical community. It was amazing to see the entire tent filled with people all eagerly taking notes and wanting to learn.

The majority of the people attending were women and there were many of Pastor Joseph's street boys in attendance, listening and taking notes. 

Two of the street boys sat behind us and Ryan quickly connected with them. By the end of the day one of the boys had given Ryan a temporary tattoo that matched his temporary tattoo. They absolutely could not get enough of Ryan! 

Ryan's new "ink"

We had a short break for some delicious Chai tea and sandwiches that Rift Valley Fellowship generously provided for all in attendance.

Chai is the new favorite....yum!

After the break Martha gave her testimony of her own brokenness, the Lord's saving grace in her life, and her need for strong biblical community. 

Martha giving her testimony

Then Michael began teaching on biblical community. It is important for the people of Maai Mahiu to understand what biblical community is and why we need it. Pastor Issac has been training homegroup leaders, however, it was evident that this is still a foreign concept that needs to take root there.

Michael teaching on the opening day of the Recovery Conference

At 2:30 pm we were served lunch - cabbage, ugali (maize meal, similar to grits) with beef and we were all very hungry. Most people in this culture will eat this with their hands. Ryan and Michael embraced the culture headlong.  

Michael and Tim eating ugali for lunch at RVF

The rest of us were not as adventurous and ate with a spoon. After lunch, we broke into small groups for discussion questions.

Before we continue, we need to confess that the women on our team were quite apprehensive of using the bathroom called the 'long-drop', which is basically a small hole in the ground. It was actually a source of much stress for us and we wondered how this would work all week. Each of us 'held it' the entire day. Late that night while we were sitting as a team with Pastor Isaac and his wife, Esther, he said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you that there is a restroom you can use in the restaurant around the corner from RVF, in case you don't want to use the long-drop." We were so relieved and had a great laugh over the fact that Isaac forgot to mention this important detail earlier and that we had so worried over it all day. 

These things are just part of the culture, and some of us are feeling like we need to do this while we are here! We are acutely aware of how westernized we are. We are feeling quite convicted of the luxuries we are afforded in the USA and that when we come to another country we expect those same luxuries. Yikes! We are privilaged!

After the day's training/conference, Pastor Tim walked us across the street to one of his favorite restaurants (the one with the restroom) where we all got ice-cold cokes in glass bottles. To say they hit the spot does not do justice - did you know that Africa is hot? 

Next we jumped back in the van for a bumpy 40 minute ride back to Daraja House Resort in Kijabe. 

In our down-time that evening Rebecca and John rested, Tim and Sam went for a walk around Kijabe, Kristin and Julie went for a jog in Kijabe, and the Crossfitters, Martha, Michael and Ryan, went for quite a long run into Maai Mahiu.

Sunset, taken from the roof of Daraja House