For now, this will be our last story from the Pokot village, Amaya.
The church we have been assisting in Kijabe has a heart for missions; they have committed to sending a Kenyan missionary to the village of Amaya. Because we were going to Pokot, the missionary, Joseph Mulatya came along with us to survey the area he would be working.
Every day we were there, he would go down to the local school and teach a HIV / AIDs awareness course to the older classes. During this time, the teachers were left to Phil. All of the teachers had expressed that they made a confession of faith, and when able attended church. However, as many people in Amaya, they did not have Bibles. So, during the 1.5 hours, Phil would take them through one or two verses. The goal of the class was to show them that when they read the Bible, they can understand it and live their lives by God's Word.
Everyday we went through one "I AM" statement from the book of John. At the beginning of our time, Phil was basically the only one talking. However, by the very end of the class, Phil hardly had to say anything, the teachers were doing it all by themselves. For every verse we went through, we had five steps:
1. Observations
2. Words
3. Context
4. Analysis
5. Application
With these few things, the teachers were able to understand the meaning of the text and apply it to their lives. If there is one thing that we desire in the ministry of Christ's Word For All Nations, it is this: that every Christian might understand and apply His Word to their lives!
The second part of this story has to do with films... Every night that we were in Amaya people would hear the team's generator and would come to the little compound asking if there would be a film. We did not have the equippment to show a film to the 70 people gathered at our doorstep. We did have a small solar projector with us (thanks Good News Production International for donating the solar kit), but there was no way that the little projector could be loud enough for the whole group. We prayed and planned how we might boost the sound.
By God's grace, we learned that one of the officers working in the police post of Amaya had some kind of speakers. We went down to ask if they might let us borrow them. And again by God's grace, they did! So, that night we were testing to see if the speakers would work. And without invitation, the 70 people showed up at our doorstep. Because the crowd was so big, we had to move to the church. The next two nights we had between 200-300 people show up!
Here are a couple pictures: the first is the little projector that did all the work; the second, about half to one quater of the crowd. (Taking pictures in the dark sometimes turn out less than perfect.)
The rest of the week, Leah, Mulatya, and Phil would go down to the school after all the days activities and show films to students. Every night there were nearly 100 students packing into a little room. The clips that we showed were clips from "The Global Gospel," a project done by GNPI. Basically there are paintings depicting specific Bible stories, they have been given a little motion, and someone narrates from the Scripture text. They are a great way to visually engage your people. Between each clip (they usually range from 2-10 min) Mulatya and Phil would explain the text.
Here are a couple photos:
These are but a few stories from our time in Pokot. They represent just a few of the major activites and issues we encountered during our very brief two weeks. I hope that they have painted an accurate picture of our time, and I do pray that they have inspired you to keep seeking God - asking the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into HIS harvest field.
The church we have been assisting in Kijabe has a heart for missions; they have committed to sending a Kenyan missionary to the village of Amaya. Because we were going to Pokot, the missionary, Joseph Mulatya came along with us to survey the area he would be working.
Every day we were there, he would go down to the local school and teach a HIV / AIDs awareness course to the older classes. During this time, the teachers were left to Phil. All of the teachers had expressed that they made a confession of faith, and when able attended church. However, as many people in Amaya, they did not have Bibles. So, during the 1.5 hours, Phil would take them through one or two verses. The goal of the class was to show them that when they read the Bible, they can understand it and live their lives by God's Word.
Everyday we went through one "I AM" statement from the book of John. At the beginning of our time, Phil was basically the only one talking. However, by the very end of the class, Phil hardly had to say anything, the teachers were doing it all by themselves. For every verse we went through, we had five steps:
1. Observations
2. Words
3. Context
4. Analysis
5. Application
With these few things, the teachers were able to understand the meaning of the text and apply it to their lives. If there is one thing that we desire in the ministry of Christ's Word For All Nations, it is this: that every Christian might understand and apply His Word to their lives!
The second part of this story has to do with films... Every night that we were in Amaya people would hear the team's generator and would come to the little compound asking if there would be a film. We did not have the equippment to show a film to the 70 people gathered at our doorstep. We did have a small solar projector with us (thanks Good News Production International for donating the solar kit), but there was no way that the little projector could be loud enough for the whole group. We prayed and planned how we might boost the sound.
By God's grace, we learned that one of the officers working in the police post of Amaya had some kind of speakers. We went down to ask if they might let us borrow them. And again by God's grace, they did! So, that night we were testing to see if the speakers would work. And without invitation, the 70 people showed up at our doorstep. Because the crowd was so big, we had to move to the church. The next two nights we had between 200-300 people show up!
Here are a couple pictures: the first is the little projector that did all the work; the second, about half to one quater of the crowd. (Taking pictures in the dark sometimes turn out less than perfect.)
The rest of the week, Leah, Mulatya, and Phil would go down to the school after all the days activities and show films to students. Every night there were nearly 100 students packing into a little room. The clips that we showed were clips from "The Global Gospel," a project done by GNPI. Basically there are paintings depicting specific Bible stories, they have been given a little motion, and someone narrates from the Scripture text. They are a great way to visually engage your people. Between each clip (they usually range from 2-10 min) Mulatya and Phil would explain the text.
Here are a couple photos:
These are but a few stories from our time in Pokot. They represent just a few of the major activites and issues we encountered during our very brief two weeks. I hope that they have painted an accurate picture of our time, and I do pray that they have inspired you to keep seeking God - asking the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into HIS harvest field.
Love seeing and hearing all your stories. Keep up the great work.
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