This last week was a long one! I was still healing from cold/ allergy problems and Jack was recuperating from his trip the previous weekend – a good trip teaching Church Planting Methods in western Kenya, but with hours of teaching and long difficult drives, he was exhausted. We were also facing all the emotions that came with the death of our pastor’s wife, Wanja Muriithi. Plus I was a little homesick - as I always am this time of year when so many of my American friends meet at Ridgecrest for the annual North Carolina WMU Missions Extravaganza.
BUT on Monday, I posted this Prayer Update: "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement" (Philemon 7). I'm praising God today for the support and encouragement that I've felt in the last few days from my church family in Kenya and the prayer support of my friends in other places. If you ever doubt if your prayers can make a difference one third (or more) of the way around the world, please know the answer is YES! As our church journeyed through another Memorial Service/Burial of a second friend and pastor's wife of Parklands Baptist Church (Nairobi) in less than a month, we were encouraged, strengthened and found joy thanks to people around the world joining in God's work in our part of the world through prayer.
This last week was a treasured journey which taught us many things and came with many affirmations of God’s love and comfort! One treasured jewel from the week is a new appreciation of what it means to be a part of a true church family. I first experienced this as our Parklands Baptist/ Mombasa Road church family sent me messages, sharing information and praying for me. We experienced the joy of church family when my fever finally broke and we attended the Wednesday service (held each night after Wanja’s death, the Kenyan traditional way to plan funerals and support families and friends), at our mother church, Parklands Baptist. As we sang praise choruses with our family in English, Swahili and Kikuyu (Wanja’s mother tongue) I found myself smiling again and reclaiming the joy that can only come from being a part of God’s family. It was a time of being with sisters and brothers who shared our hearts – our love for our friend who had died, our love for our pastor and their daughters, and our recommitment as God’s children to bring honor and glory to Him even during difficult times.
I felt great pride as I stood with the WOMEN OF IMPACT family, the women of our church who have completed a multiplying discipleship program to enable and challenge each of us to carry out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) – “to go and make disciples of all nations… and teaching them to obey everything” we have learned as Christian women. Our ‘job’ at Wanja’s Memorial and Burial Services was to escort the body into and from the services - a time that I thought would be filled with sorrow, but was a time of truly knowing what it meant to give and receive encouragement and strengthening from Christian sisters.
The joy of church family was felt again at last Sunday’s worship time at our less than a year old church on Mombasa Road. The service began without the usual excitement as most of us were exhausted after Friday’s Memorial Service and Saturday’s Burial Service in the Muriithi’s ‘homeplace’, which included a very stressful journey on under-construction roads and heavy traffic. But as we praised God together and sought to bring honor to Him, the atmosphere changed and there was a power in our rented sanctuary – a power that can only come from hearts praising God in unison!
We know that it was your prayers and the prayers of our WMU friends and Kenyan church family which strengthened and encouraged us last week and enabled us to strengthen and encourage others. Simply saying THANK YOU is not sufficient, but we are thankful for our prayer supporters -"Your love HAS GIVEN (us) great joy and encouragement" (Philemon 7) this week.
BERT YATES
* 2011 PRAYER NUDGES FROM EAST AFRICA: http://easternafrica2011prayernudges.blogspot.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=351345&id=685050129&l=47f55a92ab
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