Turkana: To the Bush and Back

I’m back from the bush, alive and well! It was such a great experience and many things are happening out there.  I wish I had space to tell all sorts of cool stories.

It was a two day drive up to Turkana, over really bumpy roads, and God kept us safe, though we had car troubles on the way up and the way back. The roads are so rough that apparently something breaks every trip but our break downs had “really good timing” even though they caused us a day’s delay. So, thank you for your prayers. As for my health, I stayed miraculously well my whole time in Turkana, even after being honored at one hut with a delicious cup of fermented goat’s milk.

This lady gave us fermented goat's milk and took us around to visit all her friends, asking us to tell them about Jesus.

We were out in the bush itself for three days. While we had been told that we were going to a completely unreached village, we discovered upon arrival that there were some Christians. In fact, there had once been a church in the next village, but it had since stopped meeting. Yet as we spread out across the desert, we found people who were less familiar with the gospel. Some of our team even witnessed to people who had never before heard the name of Jesus! I was repeatedly reminded of the childlike faith that Jesus commends in Matthew 19 as many people heard and accepted the Word of God as truth. On the third day, we held the first church service for this new set of believers. 99 people came in the heat of the day to sit under a tree listen to God’s word, dance, sing and praise the Lord with beautiful hearts.

Our team consisted mostly of Turkana men and women. In fact, there were only three of us white people. One of the highlights was getting to know these Turkana pastors and church members who will continue discipling the new believers. They are filled with an incredible love for the Lord, as well as great maturity and wisdom. I have to admit that their gospel presentations were more bold, more solid and better communicated to that culture than mine were.

It was both a deeply humbling and incredibly encouraging time spent with such warriors for the Lord. These people testify to the Lord’s miraculous power and literally trust the Lord for food each day. Witnessing their faith has challenged me to live more as they do, though I don’t live in a grass hut and get water from a watering hole. God is doing a powerful work in Turkanaland. Keep them in your prayers.

Please pray:

-for the new Turkana church and those who have committed to disciple the new believers to continue maturing in their faith and be bold to share the Good News. Also for basic physical needs such as food and health. These people live off basically nothing and the pastors are not paid salaries.

-for Brydges Centre, the orphanage and school I’ve been at this week. They don’t even have enough funds for their day to day existence. Pray that the kids would grow up in accord with the founder’s vision, to be strong Christian leaders rooted in the Lord.

-On Monday and Tuesday of this coming week as I will be visiting an MK (missionary kid) boarding school here in Kenya called Rift Valley Academy. Apart from learning more about the struggles MKs face, I’m not quite sure what my purpose is for going. But I definitely feel I should go. Please pray that I would learn from all the things I do there and that, even during my time, God’s motives would be clarified.

Thank you so much. God bless,

Tabitha