In June a team of missionaries from McDonald Road Church traveled to Kenya to teach people there about God. Leader of the group, Dr. Steve S. Kibwage shares their experience.
God amazingly parted waters for our small team to travel. We went from Chattanooga – Atlanta – Paris – Nairobi – Ikutha (E-coo-thah) over a period of three days from June 12-14. Sabbath, June 15, we were preaching at a cleverly planned location. The entire village of Kanziko (Can-zee-coo) was invited to the meetings in Ndilili (N-dee-lee-lee), a sleepy shopping center at the foot of a majestic rocky mountain of the same name. The dirt street was torn up during the last rains and had no sidewalk or pavement. Those in attendance sat in the store fronts all around or under a tree away from the afternoon sun. The crusade programs began daily around 3:30 pm and went on to about 8:30 pm. What patience attendees displayed in listening to the events of the program. The line-up included a doctrinal Bible study, Revelation Prophecy I, health/family talk, movie clip, and Prophecy II.
Upon arrival in Ndilili in the evening of June 14, we were in time to join the meetings which had begun the prior Sabbath. There was a crowd of about 60 gathered to listen to the teachings and preaching set up on the side of the street with visual aids. There were others listening who sat in the storefronts. There was a generator running to power a sound system and projector, and speakers preaching Bible prophecy and the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end of the daily meetings the entire setup was broken down and we got to join with the pastor and other staff for dinner.
Still jet-lagged for the first few days, we would get up late morning to prepare for the day. The drive from Ikutha to Ndilili was about an hour of dusty, bumpy road. We would do visitations before the meetings. I would bring Joel and Ella around 2:00 pm to be with the kids, teaching them for about an hour from the It Is Written children’s study guides. Pastor John, who was our host, and I would go on to do some more visitations. We were welcomed very warmly into each home we visited. Some shared gently, others more humorously, and others prepared a meal which we shared while talking. The prayer requests ranged from general to very specific. The family living situations ranged from nuclear to extended of family of cousins and nephews or nieces living with them. The living compounds were made of a number of structures, some were storage/pantry, or kitchens and others living quarters.
The most challenging part for me was getting to speak in Kiswahili. The last time I spoke in public in Kiswahili was as a Pathfinder over 30 years ago, so the initial plan was to use a translator. God blessed in a mighty way in providing for the flow in language so that His message could be heard by all within earshot of the loud speakers—easily a half-mile radius. God blessed through the challenges that came outside of the preparations. The youth volunteered to do all the setup of seats and the sound system and take them back to the rented storage behind one of the stores–every day of the meetings for two weeks.
In all, God was amazing! The whole village of Ndilidi heard Gospel truth. There were five pastors and elders of Sunday churches in the area who came to listen and requested special audience as they had questions as a result of what they heard, which was quickly arranged. There were two alter calls on the last Sabbath of the meetings: one at the end of divine service with 14 answering the call for baptism, another at the end of the evening meetings where seven more answered the call for baptism—21 total—all glory to God!
– Dr. Steve S. Kibwage
