Click on the picture to the right to go to an updated photo album from the mission trip.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Kenya Mission - Spring 2010
Click on the picture to the right to go to an updated photo album from the mission trip.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
5/15/2010 Final Reflections on the Nairobi Mission
Click on the title line above to go to a photo album from the trip.
From Psalm 36, a paraphrase by praise band Third Day that I particularly like:
Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens.
Your faithfulness stretches to the skies.
Your righteousness is like a mighty mountain.
Your justice flows like the ocean’s tides.
I will lift my voice to worship you my King.
And I will find my strength, underneath your wings.
I hope that if you are considering going on a foreign mission with Redeemer or another group, that my daily notes from the mission field will give you encouragement by showing that when you step out in faith and get well outside of your comfort zone, God will be intimately involved in every tiny detail and that He will watch over you. I can honestly say I have never been all that concerned about my personal safety, since He shields those who are doing His will in the most remarkable of ways. Take it from me, He has many surprises in store for you as He teaches you important life lessons that will increase your faith enormously and that will prepare your heart to serve Him boldly for the rest of your life.
My final reflections on the mission to the Springs of Life Lutheran Church in the slum of Kibera are these. We set out to spread the Good News to those who had not yet heard it, answering the call of the Great Commission. Many now have a new relationship with Jesus, and with that will come salvation and a new life here in this world will have begun that includes peace, comfort, joy, love of God and fellow men and all of the other fruits of the spirit that personally knowing the Good Shepherd bring. This was the ultimate purpose for this trip and I feel very good about the results. The nearly 2,400 plus people that came to the vision clinic and the hundreds that received glasses, medication or referals for cataract surgeries was a wonderful bonus, but for the nearly 100 people that confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the consequences are eternal, starting right now. Of course, one can't be part of a mission like this without it having profound life-changing effects. I know that each of us will continue to marvel and struggle with what we have seen and heard in the slum. It won't be quite so easy ever again to live in the comfort of the most amazingly blessed nation on earth after having seen the other side of life up close. I am always very thankful to get back to my average, middle class home in Austin, TX. I am keenly aware that I am blessed in material ways that 97% of the world can’t even imagine. Of course, the gentleness, family closeness and strong faith in less than ideal circumstances of the brothers and sisters we’ve worked with and met over the last 10 days in Africa is a great example for us. There are many stark contrasts on both the spiritual and the material planes that are full of teaching moments. Our missionaries have done such a good job over the years that our friends in Africa are now holding up a mirror to our country and are serious about sending missionaries to America! I say, bring them on and let them start in Austin, TX!
As has happened with the past mission experiences I've had in working in some of the poorest areas of Mexico and Africa, I know that when I see each of the team members in their Sunday finest in the Narthex between church services, that we will not need to say a word, but will simply shake hands, embrace and laugh. There is a unique bond that develops after sharing the love of Jesus together with others under the circumstances we have overcome and enjoyed as a group, under the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit. I am well aware that there are well-intentioned people who question why Redeemer sends people to Africa, Mexico, China, Russia, India and other far flung places, when there is so much to do in Austin, the most unchurched city of its size in Texas, if not in all of America. I can only tell you that you come back from these missions with the eyes of Jesus, looking for more ways that you can serve right here. I know that without my foreign mission experiences of the past 6 years, I never would have been involved with Redeemer’s participation in the Texas Ramp Project, helped in Hurricane Ike relief in the Beaumont/Bridge City area or done any of a number of things around Redeemer. Instead, I more than likely would have been content to sit in a pew on Sunday and maybe only would have practiced my faith among my family and close friends. Redeemer's emphasis over the last several years on making each and every member of the church a missionary in their daily lives here in Austin, Texas and beyond has increased the size of my comfort zone to the point where I'm not sure I have one anymore! The very best advice I can give is that if you think you hear the least little small still voice calling you to step out and serve God and others, here at home or in a bigger mission effort, I would highly advise you to take heed of it. That voice is very hard to hear over all of the commotion and “busyness” of modern life. In fact, it is a good discipline to seek the will of God through Bible study, worship, prayer and fellowship with other believers. Seeking to discern the will of God for your life takes devotion, time and intent listening. Once you have heard His call, don’t let the wisdom of the world get in the way. The blessing that you can be to others and the blessings you receive when you step out in faith will truly amaze you.
To God be the glory!
Dave
From Psalm 36, a paraphrase by praise band Third Day that I particularly like:
Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens.
Your faithfulness stretches to the skies.
Your righteousness is like a mighty mountain.
Your justice flows like the ocean’s tides.
I will lift my voice to worship you my King.
And I will find my strength, underneath your wings.
I hope that if you are considering going on a foreign mission with Redeemer or another group, that my daily notes from the mission field will give you encouragement by showing that when you step out in faith and get well outside of your comfort zone, God will be intimately involved in every tiny detail and that He will watch over you. I can honestly say I have never been all that concerned about my personal safety, since He shields those who are doing His will in the most remarkable of ways. Take it from me, He has many surprises in store for you as He teaches you important life lessons that will increase your faith enormously and that will prepare your heart to serve Him boldly for the rest of your life.
My final reflections on the mission to the Springs of Life Lutheran Church in the slum of Kibera are these. We set out to spread the Good News to those who had not yet heard it, answering the call of the Great Commission. Many now have a new relationship with Jesus, and with that will come salvation and a new life here in this world will have begun that includes peace, comfort, joy, love of God and fellow men and all of the other fruits of the spirit that personally knowing the Good Shepherd bring. This was the ultimate purpose for this trip and I feel very good about the results. The nearly 2,400 plus people that came to the vision clinic and the hundreds that received glasses, medication or referals for cataract surgeries was a wonderful bonus, but for the nearly 100 people that confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the consequences are eternal, starting right now. Of course, one can't be part of a mission like this without it having profound life-changing effects. I know that each of us will continue to marvel and struggle with what we have seen and heard in the slum. It won't be quite so easy ever again to live in the comfort of the most amazingly blessed nation on earth after having seen the other side of life up close. I am always very thankful to get back to my average, middle class home in Austin, TX. I am keenly aware that I am blessed in material ways that 97% of the world can’t even imagine. Of course, the gentleness, family closeness and strong faith in less than ideal circumstances of the brothers and sisters we’ve worked with and met over the last 10 days in Africa is a great example for us. There are many stark contrasts on both the spiritual and the material planes that are full of teaching moments. Our missionaries have done such a good job over the years that our friends in Africa are now holding up a mirror to our country and are serious about sending missionaries to America! I say, bring them on and let them start in Austin, TX!
As has happened with the past mission experiences I've had in working in some of the poorest areas of Mexico and Africa, I know that when I see each of the team members in their Sunday finest in the Narthex between church services, that we will not need to say a word, but will simply shake hands, embrace and laugh. There is a unique bond that develops after sharing the love of Jesus together with others under the circumstances we have overcome and enjoyed as a group, under the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit. I am well aware that there are well-intentioned people who question why Redeemer sends people to Africa, Mexico, China, Russia, India and other far flung places, when there is so much to do in Austin, the most unchurched city of its size in Texas, if not in all of America. I can only tell you that you come back from these missions with the eyes of Jesus, looking for more ways that you can serve right here. I know that without my foreign mission experiences of the past 6 years, I never would have been involved with Redeemer’s participation in the Texas Ramp Project, helped in Hurricane Ike relief in the Beaumont/Bridge City area or done any of a number of things around Redeemer. Instead, I more than likely would have been content to sit in a pew on Sunday and maybe only would have practiced my faith among my family and close friends. Redeemer's emphasis over the last several years on making each and every member of the church a missionary in their daily lives here in Austin, Texas and beyond has increased the size of my comfort zone to the point where I'm not sure I have one anymore! The very best advice I can give is that if you think you hear the least little small still voice calling you to step out and serve God and others, here at home or in a bigger mission effort, I would highly advise you to take heed of it. That voice is very hard to hear over all of the commotion and “busyness” of modern life. In fact, it is a good discipline to seek the will of God through Bible study, worship, prayer and fellowship with other believers. Seeking to discern the will of God for your life takes devotion, time and intent listening. Once you have heard His call, don’t let the wisdom of the world get in the way. The blessing that you can be to others and the blessings you receive when you step out in faith will truly amaze you.
To God be the glory!
Dave
Sunday, May 9, 2010
5/9/2010 Travel Travails
The team staying in Kenya for the next week sent us off with a mission song as our bus left from the Norwegian compound at 7:15pm local time Saturday. The ride should have taken about 30-40 minutes, but about halfway to the airport, traffic came to a 3 lane wide screeching halt, with us in the middle lane. Traffic was backed up for as far as we could see. The next 25 minutes were filled with local young men and children trying to sell us every piece of junk imaginable and, with no air flow through the windows, things got pretty warm and stuffy in the bus. We were all beginning to be concerned about getting through security with 60 footlockers and checking in before boarding our flight. Kevin Pieper said a beautiful prayer asking for God’s help in resolving whatever was causing the traffic jam, and within 2 minutes, the traffic seemed to part like the Red Sea and we were suddenly doing about 50mph on our way to the airport. The entire bus sang the Doxology, praising the Lord’s answering of our prayers. I’m sure everyone on that bus suddenly felt very near to God.
After arriving at the airport, we unloaded all of the footlockers onto carts, with most of the group taking 2 footlockers as their checked luggage. Paul Althoff was first in line and security randomly opened 2 of the footlockers, with the first one containing the Faske’s and my backpacks. Somehow, Paul was able to do a little talking about the clinics that we had conducted throughout the country and, after a few tense moments, the group was cleared to come through security. Check in for the British Airways flight to London went very smoothly and in record time. I think maybe God’s answer to the prayers on the bus flowed over into the airport procedures as well. Our flight left right on time for London. I stayed up long enough to be served dinner and then slept for 4-5 hours. I was on the aisle and neither of the other 2 people in my section stirred either. It was the best and longest rest I’ve ever had on a flight, bar none. There was a young Kenyan man next to me who was heading back to Dallas to continue his studies at Dallas Baptist University. We talked about the clinics and his views on the Kenyan constitutional referendum. He was already missing his family and Nairobi, which he said was the best city in the world. After our quick tour of the nicer parts of town yesterday, I can understand that.
We had about a 3 hour layover in London and we appeared to be right on schedule even after boarding British Airways Flight BA195. That is, until the Captain came on the intercom and explained that the Icelandic volcano had takeoffs and landings for the northern routes scrambled and that we would be waiting on the ground for an hour before taking off. That hour came and went fairly quickly, as I got to know a lawyer from Houston in my row and he got to hear my mission and computer guy stories. We also got to play musical chairs as couples found ways to trade others for their seats so they could sit together on Mother’s Day. The Captain announced another hour’s delay and we all groaned, since about the best the Redeemer team could now hope for was an arrival in the Austin area between 9 and 10pm, assuming a perfect drive back from Houston, and that we would encounter no issues at the immigration and customs checkpoints. This time, the Captain’s word was good and we were taxiing down the runway almost exactly 2 hours after our tickets said that we should be. All told, we ended up in that plane for nearly 13 hours. Even though none of us would have wished or tried for it willingly, we set a new world’s record of 34 hours and 15 minutes for the return trip, counting from the time we left for the airport in Nairobi. That's one long day of travel, coming right after a full day Saturday at the Lake Naivasha game park and driving around the sights of Nairobi. This was a very small price to pay, considering all of the travel mercies and wonderful encounters with the people that God had brought to us during the last 11 days in many situations.
After arriving at the airport, we unloaded all of the footlockers onto carts, with most of the group taking 2 footlockers as their checked luggage. Paul Althoff was first in line and security randomly opened 2 of the footlockers, with the first one containing the Faske’s and my backpacks. Somehow, Paul was able to do a little talking about the clinics that we had conducted throughout the country and, after a few tense moments, the group was cleared to come through security. Check in for the British Airways flight to London went very smoothly and in record time. I think maybe God’s answer to the prayers on the bus flowed over into the airport procedures as well. Our flight left right on time for London. I stayed up long enough to be served dinner and then slept for 4-5 hours. I was on the aisle and neither of the other 2 people in my section stirred either. It was the best and longest rest I’ve ever had on a flight, bar none. There was a young Kenyan man next to me who was heading back to Dallas to continue his studies at Dallas Baptist University. We talked about the clinics and his views on the Kenyan constitutional referendum. He was already missing his family and Nairobi, which he said was the best city in the world. After our quick tour of the nicer parts of town yesterday, I can understand that.
We had about a 3 hour layover in London and we appeared to be right on schedule even after boarding British Airways Flight BA195. That is, until the Captain came on the intercom and explained that the Icelandic volcano had takeoffs and landings for the northern routes scrambled and that we would be waiting on the ground for an hour before taking off. That hour came and went fairly quickly, as I got to know a lawyer from Houston in my row and he got to hear my mission and computer guy stories. We also got to play musical chairs as couples found ways to trade others for their seats so they could sit together on Mother’s Day. The Captain announced another hour’s delay and we all groaned, since about the best the Redeemer team could now hope for was an arrival in the Austin area between 9 and 10pm, assuming a perfect drive back from Houston, and that we would encounter no issues at the immigration and customs checkpoints. This time, the Captain’s word was good and we were taxiing down the runway almost exactly 2 hours after our tickets said that we should be. All told, we ended up in that plane for nearly 13 hours. Even though none of us would have wished or tried for it willingly, we set a new world’s record of 34 hours and 15 minutes for the return trip, counting from the time we left for the airport in Nairobi. That's one long day of travel, coming right after a full day Saturday at the Lake Naivasha game park and driving around the sights of Nairobi. This was a very small price to pay, considering all of the travel mercies and wonderful encounters with the people that God had brought to us during the last 11 days in many situations.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
5/8/2010 Back from Naivasha, Ready to Come Home!
We had the most amazing day, starting around 5am. My friends from Trinity-Klein arrived from London late last night and I got to have breakfast with them, shared what we had done and wished them the best during their mission to Namonga, Kumpa and Narok. Our team headed out for Lake Naivasha at 7am and arrived there around 9am. We each paid about $25 for the privilege of riding in a very long boat and viewing hippos in the water at close range. We also saw an African eagle that is very similar to a bald eagle, impalas, water bucks and assorted other wildlife from the boat. After about a half an hour, we got out of the boat and were able to walk within yards of giraffes, zebras, wildebeests and impalas. Wow! I’ll post pictures on this blog over the next week or so of this adventure and other nice moments from the trip once I get back.
We have pizza and sodas here in Nairobi at 4pm as the rest of the teams begin to arrive back from the field. We leave for the airport around 7pm, get through security, customs and immigration and then fly out around 11pm. We still had use of our rooms, so the Redeemer team is showering and freshening up prior to what is usually about a 32 hour trip from the time we hit the Nairobi airport until we are back in our homes in Austin. Please continue to pray for our safe travels. We are all really excited about sharing our experiences with everyone in person once we return. Blessings to all who have been reading our reports, there will be a few more to follow as I have a chance to reflect more on this mission.
We have pizza and sodas here in Nairobi at 4pm as the rest of the teams begin to arrive back from the field. We leave for the airport around 7pm, get through security, customs and immigration and then fly out around 11pm. We still had use of our rooms, so the Redeemer team is showering and freshening up prior to what is usually about a 32 hour trip from the time we hit the Nairobi airport until we are back in our homes in Austin. Please continue to pray for our safe travels. We are all really excited about sharing our experiences with everyone in person once we return. Blessings to all who have been reading our reports, there will be a few more to follow as I have a chance to reflect more on this mission.
Friday, May 7, 2010
5/8/2010 Saturday excursion begins
The Trinity-Klein group got here late last night, they made it through London without a hitch. They will be splitting into 2 teams, one going to Narok and the other going to Namonga and Kumpa, which is Masai warrior territory. I visited all of these places on the planning trip in late March. We are breakfasted already and will beleaving soon for the hippos. The final tally for the week was 2371 people came through the clinic and a solid 75 received Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Many more are already signed up for baptism classes, and a multitude of seeds were planted with our Muslim brothers and sisters. We are going to let God be God and take care of the rest. We have obeyed the Great Commission and done our part, now the Holy Spirit will move in the hearts of those we have touched and the Lord will use others to water and nurture these seeds further. Anyway, we are looking forward to today, being out in God's creation and decompressing from our week in the slum. What a blessing! I hope to get one more brief report off before we quit Nairobi until the next time.
5/7/2010 Our Final Day in the Mission Field
This last day was bittersweet in many ways. The young man that wanted his dying father baptized never came, even though we talked to him in the morning and everything pointed to it happening. Pastor Dennis and Vicar Paul will pursue this until they come to a resolution one way or another, I’m sure. The clinic had a steady and mounting stream of people, and by noon, over 350 patients had entered the church grounds. We ended the day with 606 patients, many of them Muslim, our best day yet. As our LCMS contact Catherine pointed out once again, “We are a last minute people!” Today definitely proved it to be true. We shut the gates at around 3:30pm, since our doctors were only contracted until 5pm and we estimated it would take that long to move everyone through the process that was already waiting. Still, several people managed to straggle in anyway. Catherine was not so fortunate. She didn’t have her car today, so she rode a matatu, a public transportation van that packs 14 or more people in. When she got there a little after 4pm, the 2 Masai warrior guards would not let her past the gate. She tried to call me and my phone was on silent ring somehow. One of the guards pressed a Masai club to her stomach to keep her from passing when she insisted that she needed to get in. She eventually convinced them that she worked with us and they finally recognized her without her car. I commented that I bet no one ever told her how hard church work could be! She took it all in stride and saw the strange humor in the situation. No harm, no foul.
We counted up our totals for the day for each kind of treatment that was delivered and ended with a strong devotion by Pastor Dennis, a prayer and a group picture. There were many touching goodbyes. We took inventory, packed up all of our footlockers, and headed back to our lodge. We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant near the Karen Blitzen museum with Rhoda, Vicar Shauen Trump, an LCMS missionary who will be assuming some of Claude’s duties and Pastor Dennis.
Tomorrow we go out into the countryside at 7am and ride for about 2 hours to Lake Naivasha to see the famous hippos on the island there. We will return by mid afternoon to shower, finish packing, celebrate with the returning mission teams and then will head for the airport for the long trip home. More reports to follow as I am able, with a final report and reflections on the mission soon after we return to Austin. Please continue to keep travel mercies in your prayers for us.
We counted up our totals for the day for each kind of treatment that was delivered and ended with a strong devotion by Pastor Dennis, a prayer and a group picture. There were many touching goodbyes. We took inventory, packed up all of our footlockers, and headed back to our lodge. We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant near the Karen Blitzen museum with Rhoda, Vicar Shauen Trump, an LCMS missionary who will be assuming some of Claude’s duties and Pastor Dennis.
Tomorrow we go out into the countryside at 7am and ride for about 2 hours to Lake Naivasha to see the famous hippos on the island there. We will return by mid afternoon to shower, finish packing, celebrate with the returning mission teams and then will head for the airport for the long trip home. More reports to follow as I am able, with a final report and reflections on the mission soon after we return to Austin. Please continue to keep travel mercies in your prayers for us.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
5/6/2010 Incredible Thursday in Kibera
Our usual routine of a 6am breakfast and a 6:45am ride to the church was followed today without incident, although we all concluded that anyone who would ride a motorcycle in Nairobi rush hour traffic has serious suicidal tendencies, based on some of the maneuvers we saw a couple of them make. We arrived and while waiting for the church to be unlocked, had a nice conversation with our Vicar, Paul. He is very committed and told of us what was required to go through seminary and then a vicarage, both in terms of education and financially. I have the deepest respect and admiration for his unbending faith and commitment to serving the Lord. He will make a wonderful pastor.
For once, it was not raining first thing in the morning and, in fact, it stayed sunny and was dry all day. We again had a large percentage of patients that were Muslim, and the Imam of the local mosque even came in and wanted a rush job through the clinic ahead of everyone else, so he would not be late for 4pm prayers. We tried to accommodate him, and we were able to fit him with reading glasses, but he still had to leave without getting a prescription filled for distance glasses. If he returns tomorrow, we may be out of the lenses he needs anyway, since it is a minimal correction. Pastor Zedekiah from Kawangware was back today and his ministry bore much fruit, as did Pastor Dennis’ and Paul’s. There are possibly 10 baptisms lined up for the near future and several Muslims seeking instruction in Christianity will be taught soon.
One of the most moving experiences for me so far involves a man of 25-35 years of age with a young son that he brought to the clinic on Tuesday. After receiving eye medication for the boy, the man (who shall remain nameless) was sitting outside of the building housing the Pastor’s office with the boy in tow, looking rather distraught. I was making my rounds and struck up a conversation with him. He told me that we had taken good care of his son, but he had concerns about his father, who was dying and in the final stages of cancer. He allowed that he was Catholic, had worked in evangelism and was in need of spiritual counseling. I told him I knew that the pastors were all busy at the moment and I would be happy to pray with him right then or anytime, but that I’m not a pastor. He said he needed to leave to meet the visiting nurse that was to come at noon to change his father’s bandages. He said he would be back at 2pm and I told him to find me and I’d see to it that he got to work with a pastor. He didn’t return that afternoon or Wednesday, but I did see him late this morning, sitting near the Pastor’s office once again. I greeted him by name and we talked for awhile, with him saying that his father no longer recognized any of his family. Vicar Paul happened by on his way to the evangelism tent and I quickly flagged him down and the two of them headed for the privacy of the office. Later in the day, Pastor Dennis came to me and told me the rest of the story. The man had told Paul that he had asked his priest to baptize his father and had been refused. Pastor decided after also talking to the man that an emergency baptism was called for and agreed to do it this afternoon. He told me that because this situation had come to light as a direct result of the eye clinic and since I had already worked with the man twice already, he felt that I should go with him and Paul when they perform the baptism. What an awesome privilege! The man promised to be back at 4pm. When 4pm came and went, we called on his cell phone and he said he was on his way. We were going to walk with him a mile or two into the slum from the church, and if the clinic ended and our team needed to leave before dark (a mission rule), Pastor Dennis would have gotten me back to our lodging half an hour away. As 5pm approached, we decided that we would try for in the morning. I am hoping that it all works out then and we are in time. All agreed that it would be better to baptize the father and be in error about it than to not do it, and be in error, especially from the perspective of the father’s eternal life and the burden that the young man was carrying due to this. My prediction is that if we are able to do the baptism, that this man will become the strongest new church member that Pastor Dennis could ever hope for! I am asking that you join me in praying for this man, trying to take care of his young family and suffering so much over his father’s spiritual dilemma.
One last note for tonight. We are all well aware that the Icelandic volcano from the place I can’t pronounce, let alone spell, has begun emitting more ash and that the cloud will be in Ireland, Scotland and maybe England by Friday. Portugal is already canceling flights. The reports that we have seen said the plume contains about 10% of the amount of ash that the original eruption did. We are scheduled to fly out of Nairobi Friday night at 11pm local time and be at London’s Heathrow Airport by mid-morning Saturday local time. We are asking you to pray for a cancellation of our flights so that we can remain here in relative calm, safety and in affordable accommodations if this comes to pass, rather than be stranded with 60 footlockers and maybe 40 people for who knows how long. The original disruption lasted a week and 8 million travelers were affected, including LCMS World Mission workers out of St. Louis that were to be in Kenya for 10 days before our arrival and were also to be with our mission groups for several days to observe what we are doing. They never made it here. Our mission has been blessed beyond belief up to this point. Please join us in praying that we end up in the best possible circumstances, and if we do get stranded somewhere, that we are given the strength to be a help and a witness for Christ to those whom God places in front of us.
For once, it was not raining first thing in the morning and, in fact, it stayed sunny and was dry all day. We again had a large percentage of patients that were Muslim, and the Imam of the local mosque even came in and wanted a rush job through the clinic ahead of everyone else, so he would not be late for 4pm prayers. We tried to accommodate him, and we were able to fit him with reading glasses, but he still had to leave without getting a prescription filled for distance glasses. If he returns tomorrow, we may be out of the lenses he needs anyway, since it is a minimal correction. Pastor Zedekiah from Kawangware was back today and his ministry bore much fruit, as did Pastor Dennis’ and Paul’s. There are possibly 10 baptisms lined up for the near future and several Muslims seeking instruction in Christianity will be taught soon.
One of the most moving experiences for me so far involves a man of 25-35 years of age with a young son that he brought to the clinic on Tuesday. After receiving eye medication for the boy, the man (who shall remain nameless) was sitting outside of the building housing the Pastor’s office with the boy in tow, looking rather distraught. I was making my rounds and struck up a conversation with him. He told me that we had taken good care of his son, but he had concerns about his father, who was dying and in the final stages of cancer. He allowed that he was Catholic, had worked in evangelism and was in need of spiritual counseling. I told him I knew that the pastors were all busy at the moment and I would be happy to pray with him right then or anytime, but that I’m not a pastor. He said he needed to leave to meet the visiting nurse that was to come at noon to change his father’s bandages. He said he would be back at 2pm and I told him to find me and I’d see to it that he got to work with a pastor. He didn’t return that afternoon or Wednesday, but I did see him late this morning, sitting near the Pastor’s office once again. I greeted him by name and we talked for awhile, with him saying that his father no longer recognized any of his family. Vicar Paul happened by on his way to the evangelism tent and I quickly flagged him down and the two of them headed for the privacy of the office. Later in the day, Pastor Dennis came to me and told me the rest of the story. The man had told Paul that he had asked his priest to baptize his father and had been refused. Pastor decided after also talking to the man that an emergency baptism was called for and agreed to do it this afternoon. He told me that because this situation had come to light as a direct result of the eye clinic and since I had already worked with the man twice already, he felt that I should go with him and Paul when they perform the baptism. What an awesome privilege! The man promised to be back at 4pm. When 4pm came and went, we called on his cell phone and he said he was on his way. We were going to walk with him a mile or two into the slum from the church, and if the clinic ended and our team needed to leave before dark (a mission rule), Pastor Dennis would have gotten me back to our lodging half an hour away. As 5pm approached, we decided that we would try for in the morning. I am hoping that it all works out then and we are in time. All agreed that it would be better to baptize the father and be in error about it than to not do it, and be in error, especially from the perspective of the father’s eternal life and the burden that the young man was carrying due to this. My prediction is that if we are able to do the baptism, that this man will become the strongest new church member that Pastor Dennis could ever hope for! I am asking that you join me in praying for this man, trying to take care of his young family and suffering so much over his father’s spiritual dilemma.
One last note for tonight. We are all well aware that the Icelandic volcano from the place I can’t pronounce, let alone spell, has begun emitting more ash and that the cloud will be in Ireland, Scotland and maybe England by Friday. Portugal is already canceling flights. The reports that we have seen said the plume contains about 10% of the amount of ash that the original eruption did. We are scheduled to fly out of Nairobi Friday night at 11pm local time and be at London’s Heathrow Airport by mid-morning Saturday local time. We are asking you to pray for a cancellation of our flights so that we can remain here in relative calm, safety and in affordable accommodations if this comes to pass, rather than be stranded with 60 footlockers and maybe 40 people for who knows how long. The original disruption lasted a week and 8 million travelers were affected, including LCMS World Mission workers out of St. Louis that were to be in Kenya for 10 days before our arrival and were also to be with our mission groups for several days to observe what we are doing. They never made it here. Our mission has been blessed beyond belief up to this point. Please join us in praying that we end up in the best possible circumstances, and if we do get stranded somewhere, that we are given the strength to be a help and a witness for Christ to those whom God places in front of us.
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