I'll begin this lengthy update with my favorite 'photo of the week' which was captured on Monday as Jack taught at the School of Missions at the Nairobi Training Centre.
“But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long… I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone” (Psalm 71:14-16 NIV).
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| Viewing this yesterday in our yard definitely led to praise! |
So much has happened in the last week that it is hard to choose how to share our stories and even though our week’s update is going to be long, I promise you will want to read all of it and join us in praising God for all He allowed us to experience! Beginning with how yet again, when I was unsure how to begin writing, taking time for devotions provided me with guidance via His words shared above.
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Jack speaking on behalf
of KBTC at Weswah's service. |
Two of last week’s stories of
hope and praise were of the memorial services for two leaders of the Kenya Baptist Convention. Both the service at Parklands Baptist Church (Nairobi) for Enos Weswah and the one for Daniel Thiuru at Nyeri Baptist Church were truly times of
“more and more” hope and praise.
There was sadness, but there was also much joy last Thursday morning as Jack and others shared their memories of Mwalimu Weswah. He was described as
“A man God gifted to be a Mwalimu (teacher) and a man who blessed others through his God given gift! A humble man. A leader. A committed Believer. A trusted friend. A loving husband and father” (1).
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| Nyeri Baptist High School choir singing at Pastor Thiuri's memorial service. |
Then on Saturday afternoon, Jack joined others in sharing stories of how Pastor Thiuri didn’t just tell of our Father’s
righteousness; his servant attitude and roles as a peacemaker and friend to all were a living testimony of our Father’s
mighty acts. Both services included memory after memory of how the speakers became Believers, were discipled or were challenged to
proclaim their faith by these two men.
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Spotted in the forest
on Sunday in Nyeri. |
A favorite memory shared by Professor Douglas Waruta was from his youth when he joined Daniel Thiuri on one of the first mission trips by Kenyan Baptists. None of the early missionaries could make the trip, so Daniel was the assigned driver in his old Volkswagen which lacked a muffler. Travelling through a forest to get to their destination, they realized they were surrounded by elephants. To the surprise of his passengers, Daniel turned off the engine. His explanation was based on his extensive folk lore,
“We don’t want them to hear us.” I did a bit of research (2) on the internet this morning and learned that elephants do hear or sense sound waves, such as those made by a VW without a muffler, via their feet! And YES, Daniel also had 'stories of old' about colobus monkeys!
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Pastor Thiuri (right) on a coastal tour of the
leaders of the Baptist Convention of Kenya
(2007). At the memorial service his son-in-law
said he died with his usual smile on his face! |
Another very special joy at both of these services was the reunion of so many Baptist friends, pastors and leaders. It was also a time of hope for Jack and I as we heard so many speak of their appreciation for training at the Kenya Baptist Theological College and their
hope for the future of the seminary!
There are so many more stories, such as our
praise for new Kenyan missionaries being trained this week at the School of Missions for local Baptist churches. I promise to share more next week of the story of the blessings God provided for KBTC after Jack decided on Monday, “
Today I am going to let GOD handle everything. I don’t have to ‘do’ anything but wait on Him.” God is handling things in ways that are way beyond any of Jack’s dreams! And I almost forgot another blessing story of the past week - the incredible violin workshop at the college where it was said that
"students learned in one week what it usually takes years to learn!"
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| Jack teaching "Denominations, Sects and Cults" at the School of Missions. |
This week’s stories of thanksgiving must be very brief unless I want to write a book rather than an update today. Stories such as when a meeting ran 30 minutes late, which meant we were delayed and avoided a dangerous situation which occurred along our route home at our scheduled time to return!
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| Students smiling after their concert - many enrolled in KBTC's music program. |
Another personal story of thanksgiving this week has been the many opportunities I've had to take photos and a special time with a pro to learn how to take better photos! A story of joy was when I reviewed this week’s daily
Nudges to Action for Sub-Saharan African Peoples (3) and realized that God had led me to stories/photos which included all of the top five ‘attention getters’ for these nudges: Baptisms, sunrises/ sunsets, Missionary Kids, African animals, and things that are not the norm in some parts of the world! I’ll let you view the Nudges to Action to figure out which is which!
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My very shy pew-mate
during Saturday's memorial service. |
I'm way over my usual update length, but God is at work and has allowed us to join in, which has filled us with hope and praise! “
We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20 NIV) BECAUSE you are the ones who enable us to serve in Kenya as you pray for us, give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Cooperative Program and as you serve as co-workers!
BERT YATES
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(2)
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Elephants-can-hear-through-their-feet-2593114.php
(3) Nudges to Action for Sub-Saharan African Peoples –
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sub-Saharan-African-Peoples/100173880060607
Yet another story shared via three photos.
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This little boy smiled brightly as I began to take his photo
on Saturday,. He then moved away, only to return with a
friend and asked for me to take a photo of the two of them... |
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... before moving out of the photo so I could also take
solo photos of his friend - A perfect story to capture at the
the memorial service of a man who cared so much for others. |
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