Part II of...Chuck & Terry's Missionary Journey in Kenya...

Posted on 22 Jun 2009 by Chuck Fernandez
Mt. Elgon Part 2
6/14/09 Mt. Elgon Part 2-
Restoration & Revival-
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Saturday we returned to Mt. Elgon with one more person than I wanted to take for safety purposes but the Lord watched over us and we made a safe journey to the top of the mountain. There are many good reasons for returning to the site of the previous evangelism efforts. We not only able to build on last week's efforts but we saw many of the seeds that were planted and watered bring an increase this week. This was especially true for Terry and her translator Mary who were able to lead many to Christ of whom they had witnessed to last week. When we arrived there were a large number of villagers who were anticipating our return and the reception we received was overwhelming. Not only were there many there to welcome us back but there were also those who were anxious to help us with evangelism. Our group of eleven had grown in number and we thank God for providing the extra Christians from Mt. Elgon itself because they were Mosai's and would be needed to translate from Swahili to Mosai or English to Mosai. Because of the remote location and altitude many who live there have never learned Swahili or English. Keep in mind the people we transported from the Ndivisi district are from the Luyia Tribe so they do not speak Mosai. Two of the believers who were anxious to help with translation was a young man named Samuel and a lady named Rose Mary. They met with Pastor Peter on Tuesday evening to start the first official Bible study of the Landmark Baptist Church of Mt. Elgon. They are both born again Christians who have been praying that God would bring a Church back to their village.
To better understand their hunger for God, His people and His Word you need to remember that when the violence occurred the entire village was burned to the ground including any place of business, home and Churches.
There was only one Church left and it was used by the enemy clan to store all the stolen property with the permission of the Pastor. No one will attend the Church because of that incident and they have been praying for God to provide a new Church where they can worship. We saw a genuine excitement and hunger for God that is rare to find in this day and age.
When they talked of the time of the clashes and the time without a place to worship, learn and fellowship they said they have been extremely discouraged and downtrodden but now they were so happy that the Lord has brought them hope again. It was definitely a Spirit lead and Spirit filled day. There were times during the day that we had huge groups of people around us as we were sharing the Word of God.
It is clear that God is going to bring revival to this land.
One of the bi-products of revival is the salvation of souls.
When the seven teams reassembled for a meal after visitation it was exciting to hear that there were a total of 52 professions of faith in Christ.
Now for the doubters who might say that they only received Christ because you are a white man visiting their homes and they will do what you ask them to do. I personally did not lead a single person to Christ on Saturday. I did share the gospel and enjoy doing the work of an evangelist but I met mostly with believers and my heart was lead towards encouraging them and praying for them on Saturday. So clearly the results can only be attributed to the glory of God. Pastor Peter will be retuning Tuesday nights every week to follow up with those that were saved and to have a bible study for those that are waiting for a church to ground them in solid Bible Doctrine. That is where the real work and commitment begins. He rides his bike four hours to the base of the mountain and then walks two hours up the mountain and has purposed in his heart to travel there weekly until he eventually moves there to be their Pastor. Already there are 86 new converts waiting to be baptized and discipled along with scores of born again believers hungry for a renewal of their faith. Truly this seems to be a land prepared by the hand of God. Sunday we returned to Mawe Tatu (3 Stones) to find the Church plant there growing and healthy. We enjoyed meeting new members, visitors and participating in the baptismal service. There were 11 more new converts baptized and becoming members at Landmark Baptist of Mawe Tatu. This weekend was truly incredible experiencing the Lord in so many ways. One the ways that you know that you are making an impact on the people's lives here in Kenya is when they name their children after you. Friday there was a baby girl born and the parents named her Joy Teresa after Terry and one of the little orphan boys who we helped at Mt. Elgon last weekend whose name is Jr. is now being called Carlos for Chuck. Please pray for us as we continue our language studies on Monday.
Thanks for taking time to travel this awesome journey of faith with us.
Chuck and Terry FernandezKenya, East Africa

Posted on 15 Jun 2009 by Chuck Fernandez