Monday, November 19, 2012

Community Work

 I thought I might share some pictures and stories from some of the community work we have been doing.  We praise God for the opportunities He has given us to serve in the villages surrounding Kapsowar and in the valley among the Pokot people.  It has been a lot of fun and we hope that through it all the Lord is using this work to spread the gospel. 

This is Hudson and I in front of the new Pokot Clinic that we constructing.  It will be the first Health Center in that area and we hope it will greatly serve the physical and spiritual needs of that community. 
Hudson and Jude came with me to help out at one of our mobile clinics that we are doing there until we can get it fully operational hopefully sometime early next year. 
This was our pre-clinic message where I shared the gospel.  Still a lot of Pokot that are not believers and in many ways they are still quite resistant to the gospel.  Tribalism and rituals predominate.  The men have multiple wives and the women undergo female circumcision and start getting married very early sometimes as early as age 12. 
This old grandma was blind from Trachoma.  She is the mother of Philip a recent convert to Christianity and my Chairman for the Pokot Clinic Building Committee. 
Hudson, Jude and a visitor named Carla helped to bathe all the children that came to our clinic.  Many of them were quite dirty so I'm sure it was a treat and some were also not so happy about it:) 
The boys also helped out in our pharmacy and overall did an incredible job as my little helpers.
Here are some Pokot women getting some of the free food that we were able to bring to them.
The patients all went through a triage area and then came to see me to get treatment.  Clara is a Pokot Nursing Student that we are helping and she would like to come work at the clinic when she is finished. 
After the clinic we all relaxed and had a good time.  The boys had some Peanut Butter sandwiches since I couldn't get them to eat much of the goat that was served to us at each meal. 
We had fun playing a little "football"
This is how we/they cook our meals, over an open fire.  That is a big pot of boiled goat meat.  No I was not in charge.   They can pick up those hot pots with their bare hands no problem.  Not me. 
This is the site for the new staff house that we are going to start building this week.
Hudson did a great job teaching the kids at Sunday School.
He taught them on the wise man that built his house upon the rock.
They gave out suckers to kids that answered questions correctly... and then to everyone.
They were a big hit with all the kids except some of them need a little extra help getting off the wrappers.

I got to preach at the church that was planted there by the Kenyan Missionary that I work with.  It is a simple church with iron sheet walls.  I love the Pokot believers.  Many of them have incredible testimonies.  Mostly, they are first generation Christians and facing a lot of stress from their tribe.  We need to be praying for them and for the growth of the church. 

Next to our work in villages around Kapsowar.  We started a Community Health Program where we are going twice a week into nearby villages and teaching the children in the schools and then doing talks among the community members and a medical clinic for them.  My big topics for them are about the dangers of teenage pregnancy and alcohol.  We include the good news of the gospel in our talks and have great hopes to see God transform our communities. 

Talking to students at a local school.

We have probably had the opportunity to talk to over 2000 students at this point and we want to keep it going so we reach most of the schools around us and return every year.  What a tremendous opportunity I feel this will be to impact the next generation. 
This is a group of High School girls that we spoke to at a school and during this picture they were all praying a prayer to commit their lives to Christ and to sexual purity.  It was great!
This was a community meeting and the man on the left was giving a testimony of how God freed him from the grips of alcohol and had given him new life.  Praise the Lord!
This was our first community trip held at our local church that we attend, Ngongoroi.  They have a small "nursery" school there.  It was a lot of fun and we got to preach to the community members that came as well. 
Thanks for your prayers and support for our ministry.  We really appreciate each one of you!
Happy Holidays!