. Kerio Valley, North Pokot
Our Mission Team for our recent trip to Kenya consisted of my Pastor, Dr. Tim Myers, Myself and one of our newest additions to the Florida Church Plant, Maynard Saucier.
Small teams help us logistically and enable us to accomplish more as we travel lighter.
Sometimes less is better and that is definitely true for our ministry and these short term trips.
The (above) pic is taken from the edge of the Kerio Valley as we descended to North Pokot.
As
you can see from the (above) pic, we required five star accommodations as
we camp out in these remote interior regions. Feel free to accompany us
next time as we vacation in luxury! Seriously, there is no better
to way to do ministry and connect with the people God has called us to
reach. Sleeping in these villages demonstrates great love and
commitment for them, the Lord's work, and builds relationships in a way
that simply cannot be done from afar. You'll know the home
and heart of the people when you wake up to the roosters crowing, the goats and
cows moving and watching their family get up and get moving for a new day.
Eating what they eat and sleeping in their compounds brings our relationships
to another level. When we say, "tuko pamoja" which means
"we are together" in Swahili, we mean tuko pamoja.
The
above pictures were taken during our evangelism efforts in the Pokot village of
Chepsabei. I'm not sure of the total count our National Pastors Led to
Christ but I know there were many that day near a new well which the government
has recently drilled. We praise the Lord for every new convert but the
well is truly a blessing to this village which is the site of our first Pokot
Church plant. During our early years of working in this village the
Chief, the Elders and the members of the Church would regularly ask me to drill
a well. Terry and I really struggled with this as we knew it would be a
blessing but we also knew they have survived by retrieving water from a not so
nearby river for possibly hundreds of years. We always believed that our
main focus should be and needed to be evangelism, discipleship and Church
planting. We wish we did not have financial constraints but that
is also the reality of being a Baptist Missionary. So needless to
say we believe if we concentrate on the eternal things, God would take care of
the physical things which he did by providing a new solar powered well and a
huge new silver storage tank which towers over the village some fifty feet,
(the only one around for miles). Matthew 6:32 & 33 really
came to life in the Kerio Valley and while they know they government brought
the well and water tower, they give God all the praise and all the glory.
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for
your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
In
addition to village evangelism, we held seminars at multiple locations to build
up and encourage our Pokot brethren. Bro. Maynard taught on
the life of Christ, Dr. Myers taught from the book of Acts and I taught
on knowing and identifying false Prophets. People come from far away to
hear the Word of God taught at these seminars. What a privileged, honor
and responsibility to help them rightly divide the Word. 
The
above picture is of Bro. Maynard giving a blind Pokot Mama a solar powered audio
Bible. We know these Bibles are invaluable to those who cannot read
or write but there are also these elderly Pokot Saints who can only hear due to
blindness. Rom_10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God.
Each
and every audio Bible we give away is a great blessing, however the
(above) picture of Dr. Myers giving out this one is truly awesome and
special. The lady who received the audio Bible is from Karamoja,
Uganda. She is the first of the Karimojong tribe of Eastern Uganda
to receive the Word of God in her mother tongue. This is exciting
news as the Churches God allowed Terry and I to establish are now sending out
evangelists two by two to reach unreached people groups and forgotten
tribes. Thank you for those of you who partnered with
us financially to buy these Bibles.
Tandaposa & Dr. Jackson
The
(Above) picture is of Dr. Jackson and His wife who are the newest addition to
our ministry team in the Kerio Valley. They are from the village of
Tandaposa where God has called Him to preach. This is yet
another new village our Landmark Baptist Evangelists have reached with the good
news of the gospel. Not only is it exciting to see God calling new
men but while we were there, the village Elders donated a plot of land to build
a future sanctuary. There is also a very deeply personal praise
from my heart in the calling of Dr. Jackson. For it was only a few
short years ago the fisherman, Pastor Jackson Ocouth from Lake Victoria went
home to be with the Lord. We know we will see Him again one
glad day but we sure miss him dearly and it definitely comforts this
Missionary's heart to know another Jackson has been called to preach the
gospel. Please pray for these new Preachers, Villages and Servants of
God. Thank you for taking time to travel our journey of faith with
us and for all who faithfully support us through prayer and
finances. We can't do all that is being done for the glory of God
without you and we need your continued prayers as we balance our foreign
mission work with the Florida Plant and Prison Ministry.
As you can see
from the (above) pic, Brother Maynard help lead the efforts to layout the
dormitory and classroom for the Bible Institute. He is an
expert when it comes to building and construction and he is the type of man who
you point in the right direction, turn Him loose and stay out of His way.
The truth is, our Kenyan & Ugandan brethren are perfectly capable of doing
what we did with regard to construction as we have partnered with them to build
twenty seven sanctuaries over the last twelve years. However, they
do love the enthusiasm and encouragement we bring during these short term trips
and if we accomplish nothing else, we want to encourage them. Our goal
is to be a blessing to them and for them to say what was said of Paul and
Barnabas to the believers of Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. "It seemed
good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with
our beloved Barnabas and Paul. Acts 15:25
In addition to
the construction projects, we took time out of each day to teach those who had
gathered in the middle of the week to meet with us at the base of Mt.
Elgon. Their hunger for God's Word was and is inspirational
and challenging as there was always time made for Dr. Myers (Below) to teach
them the truths from God's Holy Word.
BAPTISM
One
of the highlights of our trip was Bro. Maynard following the Lord Jesus in
scriptural baptism. Bro. Maynard has been a part of the Florida Church
plant now for over a year and has been wanting to unite with us. He was
born again a few years ago but had not been baptized under proper Biblical
authority. Needless to say the Florida Church plant voted to give
Pastor Peter Barasa (below) the authority to baptize Brother Maynard at His
request on the Churches behalf. We were excited to see Him
obey the Lord's command and receive Him and His wife Julie who had scriptural
baptism as the newest members of the Florida Church Plant in Brooksville,
Florida. How many white people can say they were baptized in East
Africa? It was for sure a great experience for all who witnessed this
joyous occasion. I later asked our Kenyan brethren if they had ever seen
or heard of a white person being baptized by a Kenyan National? They responded
with huge smiles on their faces, that Bro. Maynard is the
first.
The
second construction site (below) was in a village named Chemondi.
You can see the steep western face of Mt. Elgon in the background of this
picture. This Landmark Baptist Church was organized eight years ago
and has been meeting under a tent for the entire time. We
have done our best to move these Churches from houses to tents and then into a
permanent building within approximately 3-5 years, however Chemondi seemed to
fall between the cracks of our rapidly expanding ministry
capabilities. When our sending Church, 1st Baptist Church of
East Bay, heard that the LBC at Chemondi had been faithfully meeting under a
tent for eight years they immediately voted to partner with them to build a
permanent sanctuary. How many of us would be willing to set up and take
down a small tent to meet under for even one year? God has used Dr.
Myers and our sending Church to evangelize, plant, organize and establish
Churches all over the world for decades now. Terry and I count it a
blessed privilege to be small part of their Missions program.
As
you can see from the (below) picture, our last leg of the mission trip brought
us to the shores of Lake Victoria. We held a seminar at the
Landmark Baptist Church at Wichlum Bay which is a large fishing village.
The brethren at Lake Victoria are predominately of the Luo tribe and this region
seems to continue to be the hardest area to evangelize, disciple and organize
Churches. I won't get into all of the cultural reasons but we thank God
for those who have stayed with the faith they have received from us which we
have received of the Lord Jesus. We believe God is still working
in their lives and while the fruit may be in smaller quantities, it is no less
important.
VILLAGE EVANGELISM: LAKE VICTORIA
We were originally
scheduled to do village evangelism at a new village near the lake,
however I felt led of God to help one of our struggling Churches, LBC Got with
village evangelism. This is the Church that has lost two great
Pastors to malaria and balharzia over the last several years and has been on
the verge of closing its doors. I realize that the work God has
allowed us to be apart of in Kenya and Uganda has regularly produced new and
exciting reports but the reality is there are some Churches, while few in
number, that are really struggling. LBC Got is one of
them. Nothing I know of revitalizes a Church more than a good dose
of salvation by seeing people saved and baptized on a regular
basis. So rather than focusing on a new village we wanted to
invest in this struggling Church one more time. We saw many trust Christ
as we hiked the dusty village trails preaching the gospel and the word was
spread throughout the village that the Church is still going on.
Please
add this Church to your prayer list:
LBC at Got.
Another highlight for
the Missionary was to be able to meet with a few of our key men (BELOW) from each
region and map out our ministry strategy to include specific villages that need
to be prayed for and reached with the gospel. We fully acknowledge
and understand that all that has been accomplished for God's honor and glory
has been by His Spirit and His Power. For without Him we can do nothing
but with Him all things are possible. We also know that He
provides, directs and blesses according to His will. Our desire has
and continues to be to seek His will as we charted, plotted and direct the resources
necessary to fulfill the Great Commission for such a time as this.
The most productive work done for our Lord is in the center of His will and
time is too short to be plowing, planting and watering in the wrong place
at the wrong time. We often refer to that type of ministry
strategy as doing the right thing the wrong way. God knows best
and is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above that which we are
able.
In
Closing, these return trips to Kenya on a regular basis are both exhausting
and encouraging as they are very intense physically and spiritually.
However, with God's blessing we were able to accomplish most everything we had
on our schedule and even somethings which were not scheduled. We
thank you for the opportunity to share our journey of faith and for every
prayer and dollar given which enables us to do all that we do for the glory of
God. We also ask those of you who take time to read these journal
entries/blogs but do not currently partner with us to prayerfully consider
partnering with us
and be a part of this great work God is doing through
His
weak and feeble servants.
In His Service,
Bro. Chuck & Sis. Terry Fernandez
Kenya/Uganda/Florida Plant
JUST 4 FUN!
