Monday 14th July

Today started well with Morning devotions at 8.30 am and the student had done a good job preparing:

1. Jesus is coming back but we do not know when.
2. Jesus’ return will be personal and sudden.
3. In the light of Jesus’ return we are to be on our guard, and must watch and pray.

Most of the day today is taken up with preparations for the “graduation” tomorrow. The local TV station will cover the event. I am preparing to preach on 2 Timothy 2:1-13, the pastor as a soldier, athlete and farmer.

I value your prayers.

Sunday 13th July

I felt a little unwell on Saturday evening and Sunday morning but still managed to preach on Mark 4:35-41 where Jesus stilled the storm and said to the wind and the waves “Peace, be still.”

Here are a few videos of the service.

1. Murle students singing ‘I have decided to follow Jesus’
2. Turkana choir singing the Bible passage where Jesus stills the storm and says “Peace, be still” to the wind and the waves.
3. Congregational excitement in anticipation of the sermon. The song is about thanking God for His word and asking for His blessing.

I had planned to visit the Turkana village in the afternoon to teach the children there, but the rain and loud thunder prevented me from going out of the compound.

I assisted the student who was preparing the Monday morning devotional on the Second Coming from Mark 13. Not the easiest passage to preach on!

Friday 11th & Saturday 12thJuly

The last few days here have been very unusual. Lots of rain, power cuts and interruptions in the internet connectivity. The teaching has continued. It’s a good job I am using written materials otherwise a lot of time would have been wasted.

We finished studying the Ten Commandments and looked at key events in the Book of Exodus.

One alarming question was raised by a few students regarding baptism and regeneration as a number of them had been taught that a baby is born again when it is baptised. We spent a lot of time making the Bible’s teaching clear that baptismal regeneration is a serious error.

Thursday 10th July

I taught the class for all the sessions today. There were all sorts of lively questions:

Is it right for a Christian to kill someone who is running away after breaking into your house? Apparently in this culture if you chase a burglar shouting “Thief, thief” and you, or indeed anyone kills the thief, that is allowed by the law and the culture.

Why has the UK allowed abortion when it is forbidden in the Bible?

Should you be allowed to sing in the church choir if you have two wives?

Why can’t we pray for the dead?

Sorry about the delay in sending this update but we had lots of problems with the internet and electricity supply in the last few days. Pia asked me to send a message to the family in the Philippines as they mourn the death of Pia’s father. I had to make prolonged and strenuous efforts over many hours to send the message. Please pray that it will be used to comfort the family and challenge unbelievers.

Tuesday 8th & Wednesday 9th July

We finished teaching Mark’s Gospel and explaining the use of Christianity Explained. The Christianity Explained booklet revealed that the students had grasped the main teachings of Mark’s Gospel well and they readily grasped the significance of the three core doctrines that someone must believe to be a Christian:

1. That Jesus is the Son of God
2. That Jesus died on the cross for our sins
3. That Jesus rose from the dead

Also they saw the importance of God’s grace and our response of repentance and faith. Let’s pray that there will be much fruit from the use of Christianity Explained.

We then started using Kevin DeYoung’s book on the Ten Commandments which sets out the teaching well, although the Western applications and illustrations do not really fit the culture of the students. On Wednesday evening we said goodbye to Fabio Silva who flew back to Nairobi very early on Thursday morning.

Monday 7th July

We are still teaching Mark’s Gospel and having good interactions about a wide variety of topics. We have now started teaching the Christianity Explained course. One worrying development is that one of the students has contracted Typhoid. The illness among the students is the worst and most serious I have encountered in all the times I have visited here.

We value your prayers for perseverance, health and strength!

Sunday 6th July

Fabio preached at the service this Sunday and did a good job explaining Matthew 12:46-50 – 1. The natural family of Jesus; 2. The spiritual family of Jesus; 3. How  you become a member of the spiritual family of Jesus.

There was a good congregation of over 200 with more children in the Sunday School who were very excited about a Mazungu (white man) who had brought sweets for them.

Saturday 5th July

Friday was another busy day teaching. We are using a booklet that MERF have prepared on Mark’s Gospel and so we looked at Mark 8 and 9 in a thematic way rather than reading the Chapters straight through. I sensed that the students found it more difficult to study that way and so it was slightly harder going.

Saturday started with a problem with low electricity power in the compound which meant that the water pump from the borehole didn’t work. Fortunately the problem was rectified after a few hours. I would not have found it easy to be without water here!

We had a VERY lively discussion after reading Mark 10 around the issues of marriage and divorce. The South Sudanese students were not keen on a woman having a say in who she might marry as the parents receiving the biggest dowry was their priority.  Marriage as a voluntary union was a hot topic. Also the way a husband should treat a wife: Ephesians 5 was revolutionary to them. The discussions that ensued revealed a big cultural chasm.

This afternoon the Turkana church choir practiced. There is something wonderful about the way they take a Bible passage and sing it out!

Turkana Choir Practice

Thursday 3rd July

1. A student who was leaning against a wall was bitten by a scorpion last night. He is a big tough young man and apparently the scorpion poison was squeezed out of him using a coin. He was in the class all day today although he said he was suffering from dizziness. The coin remedy is one I would rather avoid.

2. We have one student from a Seventh Day Adventist background. He is asking lots of good questions.

3. Sadly many of the students have not developed a systematic reading of the Bible which is revealed by big gaps in the Bible understanding of some.

4. It is still tiring keeping up energy levels due to the heat.

We would value prayer regarding all these matters!

Wednesday 2nd July

The daily routine as regards the timing of teaching sessions and meals is the same each day. For lunch today we had berbere which is an Ethiopian stew made with ground red pepper. I’m glad I like spicy food!

The devotions were lead by a Tanzanian student who spoke on the parable of the Sower. He was a regular preacher and spoke well.

The teaching sessions were from Mark 4-5 with lots of questions ranging from not eating pork because Jesus cast out demons and allowed them to enter pigs, to the relationship between the Jewish sabbath and the Lord’s Day.

The electricity was out here for most of the morning so the internet connection has been intermittent most of the day. It seems relatively stable at the moment so I’m quickly sending the update as I have opportunity.

The students are gaining confidence in asking questions and that is a good sign as sometimes we miss the issues that arise in their context which are very different from the UK.

We value your prayers.

Tuesday 1st July

7.30 – Breakfast

8.30 – Morning devotions. The student this morning was quite nervous and needed help with structure and voice projection.

9.00 – Teaching session 1. We started by explaining the hymn Rock of Ages which we had sung in morning devotions. It was worth spending some time on this as most of the students had a sketchy understanding of the theology in the hymn.

The rest of the day Fabio took a lead in teaching Mark Chapter 4.

10.00 – Tea break

10.30 – 12 midday Teaching session 2

12.00 – Lunch Beans and rice

3.00 – Teaching session 3. As well as Mark we spent some time explaining the dangers of theological liberalism which is starting to make inroads in South Sudan.

4.00 – Tea break

4.15 – 5.15 – Teaching session 4. To our surprise we discovered that one of the students was from a Seventh Day Adventist backgound which led to some lively theological discussions!

Monday 30th June

Here’s today’s update. The pattern will be the same for Monday-Friday

7.30 – Breakfast – sorghum porridge and milky tea

8.30 – Morning devotions led by a student from South Sudan called Samson. He spoke well from Mark 1:1-8 on lessons from the ministry of John the Baptist

9.00 – Teaching session 1 on Mark 2

10.00 – Tea break

10.30 – Teaching session 2 on Mark 2 (cont’d)

12.00 – Lunch – goat stew and rice

3.00 – Teaching session 3 on Mark 3

4.00 – Tea break

4.15 – Teaching session 4 on Mark 3 (cont’d)

5.15 – Break until dinner at 6.30 pm

The student profile is younger than the students I have had here in the past. The language level is higher and they are grasping the teaching points quite quickly. I would value on-going prayer for the teaching sessions and for the health of everyone in the compound. There is a serious malaria outbreak in the whole Turkana region. Many are sick and some are in hospital. Apparently a few people have even died. Two or three students have missed some sessions because they are feeling unwell with malaria.

Our trust is in a Sovereign God!

Sunday 29th June

7.30 – Breakfast

9.00 – Midday church service. I was the preacher and started preaching at about 11.00 am. There was a lot of singing beforehand in Turkana, Nuer and English including some lively singing from the Sunday School of about 50 children. There were 210 in the congregation altogether. I preached on Luke 23: 26-43 – A man whose sins were not forgiven; A sinless Man who died for our sins; A man whose sins were forgiven.

The whole congregation lines up after the service so that everyone shakes hands (ladies Turkana style) with every other person.

It’s now about 3.00pm and the temperature is a cool 33C. Some students are wearing jumpers and one is even wearing a coat. As you can imagine, I am finding it hot in a short sleeved shirt and tie.

Keep praying for us!

Saturday 28th June

The schedule for the day was:

7.30 – Breakfast

8.30 – Morning devotions led by a student. We are giving some help in preparation and feedback after the session.

9.00 – 10.00 Teaching

10.00 – 10.30 Tea break

10.30 – Midday Teaching

12.00 – Lunch

Saturday afternoon free time. Fabio and I went for a walk. As we introduced ourselves to the students and the students introduced themselves to us, we discovered that one of the students preaches to a congregation of 5,000. This makes one realise how important this training is.

In the two sessions we managed to complete Mark Chapter 1. The reading and understanding level is quite high.

Friday 27th June

Today is a day of mourning for Isaac the student who died yesterday. We will go to the hospital later to pick up his body and accompany it to the airport. MERF have arranged for Mission Aviation Fellowship to transfer it to his home town in South Sudan. Three students will also be flown back to explain what happened to his family. He had 18 children and 12 grandchildren.

We had morning devotions at 8.30 am and afterwards met with the students for about an hour and gave some advice about structuring a sermon. Fabio also spoke with them about voice production!

We then accompanied the body of the student who died yesterday to Lokichoggio airport and met with the crew of a Mission Aviation Fellowship small plane who flew it back to his home town in South Sudan. Three students from the area also flew back to explain  what had happened to the family and churches in the area.

This evening we ate our first non-vegetarian food in Kenya – it was sukuma wiki made with kale and salted dried fish, but it’s not widely available in Finchley!

 

 

After a busy morning teaching, a mid-afternoon snack!

Thursday 26th June

Pastor arrives safely in Lokichoggio

I arrived safely in Nairobi on Wednesday at about 9.00 pm local time and transferred to a Hostel called Flora Hostel by about 11.00 pm. The roads were very quiet as there had been a violent demonstration against the government earlier in the day and the roads had been blocked until about 7.00 pm.

I managed to get some sleep and was up at 4.30 am for the transfer to Lokichoggio, about 3 hours by plane and then 3 hours by car. One prayer point is that one of the students (Isaac) is seriously ill with kidney problems caused by acute malaria. I went to the hospital with some of the staff here to pray for him but he remains very ill and may be transferred to a bigger hospital later today, How will he cope with the journey?

An update regarding Isaac:
Sadly Isaac died in hospital this afternoon. I managed to visit him and pray with him. He was struggling to breathe and was obviously seriously ill.

We value your prayers about starting the teaching schedule as many of the students from South Sudan are understandably upset by what has happened. Arrangements will have to be made to repatriate the body and we may delay starting the teaching sessions.

Introduction

Our pastor Spencer Cunnah flew out to Lokichoggio, Northern Kenya, with Fabio Silva, on 25th June. Fabio is a previous student from London Seminary, who has joined him to assist with some teaching and to introduce him to the work that goes on round the year in Lokichoggio. They will be there during the month of July, teaching at the Middle East Reformed Fellowship (MERF) Training Programme.

This is the only training that many of the church leaders who attend will ever have. Some of them are seeking to pastor or serve in very large churches having only ever had elementary education themselves due to the political turmoil and violence in South Sudan and elsewhere.  The Training they receive through this programme could therefore have long term benefits for many years to come.