Risk Vs Reward & Mountain Top Seminar

                                     Prayer at Mt. Elgon

             Landmark Baptist Church of Cheptabrubru

Our third sanctuary currently under construction, the Landmark Baptist Church at Mayanja, which is located at the base of Mt. Elgon has slowly risen from the ground and is now at the stage where it is a self standing structure with a roof. While it is far from complete and will still need walls, windows and doors, this stage is very important as the church has moved from a temporary tent to a permanent building.          Mayanja Work Crew

Building

Team Work

Mayanja New Roof

This new stage was also well received as the new sanctuary was full on Sunday with nearly half of those in attendance being new visitors from the village. Whether they were curious or seriously looking to worship God will be determined over time but needless to say, some people need to see something with their eyes before their faith can grow. The Pastor and the members will now set out on the very labor intensive part of their investment made in the sanctuary by making bricks, a process that will take many months.
Our ministry is not a turnkey ministry but rather a ministry that challenges and encourages the members of these new Churches to give sacrificially to the Lord and to create an environment that allows them to grow in their faith.                                            

After helping put the finishing touches on the roof at Mayanja, I traveled to Mt. Elgon for three days for a discipleship seminar.

                          Cheptabrubru Students at Seminar

Now I fully realize that there are inherent risks in everything we do but I also realize after working on Mt. Elgon for almost four years that the Lord’s work there puts us at possibly our greatest risk. I’m not talking about having a spirit of fear from working on Mt. Elgon but rather having a realistic assessment of the risk there. The risks involved, include the difficult journey of just being able to climb the steep, slippery, rocky roads that are treacherous enough to leave you shaking after the run is over. Additionally, it is the rainy season now and any amount of rain leaves you completely stranded on the mountain until the roads are dry. Lastly there is the risk that we are taking by being the only white people on a mountain that has a terrible history of brutality where there has been absolutely no value on life. This week that risk and stress factor was compounded significantly as I sleep in the village of Cheptabrubru which is where our second church plant on Mt. Elgon is located. I am not sure if it was a comfort or a concern but all of the Pastors slept at Pastor David’s house where I slept and several of them stayed up all night acting as guards. 

                                Pastor  David & Family

While the days spent on Mt. Elgon this week were without incident

(other than a broken shock mount)  Another Broken Shock

 I was reminded of just how difficult the living conditions are. At over 12,000 feet above sea level and rain every night I was not prepared for how cold it was going to be. It was the coldest I have ever been since arriving in Kenya and the temperature had to dip down into the 40’s. Sleeping in Pastor David’s mud house was yet another reminder of how good we have it. He has six children who all had to sleep in the kitchen on seed sacks because we where there and each morning they would all be out in bare feet, caked and covered with mud with hardly any clothes on. The mud on Mt. Elgon is not only extremely slippery but it sticks to you and just builds up the more you walk in it. Everything I have is absolutely covered in mud from the trip. In addition to the all the mud, there is simply the difficulty of breathing while walking up and down steep slopes at this high altitude. You find out real quick just what kind of shape your calves and thighs are in. The sacrifice required to do God’s work on Mt. Elgon is really nothing compared to having to live in those conditions day in and day out or compared to the great sacrifice our Lord and Savior made for us. While there is a great degree of difficulty and risk involved in the Mt. Elgon ministry there is also a great reward and blessing as well. What started in 2009, which at the time was tent to tent evangelism due to tribal clashes has grown to hundreds of converts and now five Churches in five different villages. It was my great privilege to teach a discipleship seminar which was well attended by people from all five villages who had to walk many mountain miles to get to the Landmark Baptist Church of Cheptabrubru.

Bible Student

Bible Student

The newly completed sanctuary there is also a great source of encouragement to the people for they are so thankful for God’s great provision. One of the other benefits to sleeping on the mountain was that it afforded the preachers the opportunity to spend quality time with me in which they used to ask ministry related questions that they would not otherwise ask in a public setting. After construction, the seminar and Sunday services I am definitely left well spent and an empty tank with nothing left to give. Please keep us in your prayers and thank you for all those who are our prayer and ministry partners in Christ.

God Speed,

Bro. Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez

Kenya