As promised in my first blog, I'm once again updating you on the progress of our mission trip to Kenya, Africa.
On Friday, December 1st we woke up at 5:00 a.m., showered, packed our bags and headed by way of Uber to the bus station to board our bus from Nairobi to Mumias, with a scheduled departure time of 7:00 a.m. As usual, we were on Africa time (you'll get there, when you get there) and our bus didn't leave until well after 8:00 a.m. We also discovered that the bus was overbooked, so, instead of riding in the big bus, we rode in a van owned by the same company. It actually was a blessing because the van traveled faster than the big bus, being smaller, it was able to maneuver better in traffic and in theory make better timing. It still took eleven hours from the time we left "Grandpas" hotel to arrive in Mumias. Upon arrival in Mumias, we were met by a church member, Denno, with our ministry van, and he drove us to our home in Ogalo, a short fifteen minute drive. We were very happy to get home from the long journey but so thankful we got to see the beautiful landscape of Kenya, with its ever changing terrain, for nine hours. We even saw some zebras, gazelles and baboons along the way in their natural habitat.
On Saturday, December 2nd, we rested most of the day and also prepared our messages for Sunday's service. It was so wonderful to rest after several days of travel and visiting in Nairobi, we were finally getting over jet lag. There's eight hours time difference between Abingdon Virginia and Kenya and it takes several days for sleep and eating patterns to adjust.
On Sunday, December 3rd, we woke up early with excitement for the day ahead of us. We made it to the service at "House of Winners Worship Center - Ogalo" at 9:00 a.m. and the place was abuzz with activity already. The children were in their classroom being taught the Word of God, and we could hear loud praise and worship coming from inside the church building. The first thing we did was greet the children and gave them some candy we had brought from the US. They were very excited and we ended our visit with them in prayer, first us for them and then them for us. It was a precious time.
At around 9:30 a.m. we entered the church building to cheers and a welcome so robust that you'd think we were soldiers returning home from overseas after winning a war. We were overwhelmed, as they were, and the tears flowed freely. The praise and worship began and there was an air of freedom of worship that few ever experience. After about a half hour of worship, they officially greeted us. The greeting involved some of the church women lining up in straight line fashion, dancing toward us to the sound of celebratory worship music, and each one consecutively placing leis around our necks, It was, as always, an incredible experience.
We also were mesmerized by how the members had decorated the church the night before. They used flags we had purchased and brought with us from the United States. They consisted of a full size Kenya flag, a full size Israeli flag, and two packs of streamer flags with 180 international flags each. We felt so excited that the Lord had even given the church Athanus Atimbo and I had planted approximately two years prior, the vision to reach the world for Jesus. We could only marvel and say "Mambo ya Mungu", wich means the things of God, or only God.
After the first or second round of worship, Lynn was asked to sing three songs and play the guitar she had purchased in Nairobi just two days prior. She wasn"t alone though as Pastor Athanus, his daughter Margaret, and I became a chorus of backup singers and sang the chorus lines with her. First, she sang the title song to her album, "Journey", followed by "Lead Me" and finally "Revival Fire Fall". "Revival Fire Fall" brought the house down and we felt the fire of God as the entire congregation stood up in unison and repeated, revival fire fall all around me, a capella. It was a God moment and I know His presence could be felt by all present because it was palpable. After that, Lynn blew the shofar we had brought with us from the USA, another incredible God moment. We were inspired by the Holy Spirit to blow the shofar at the beginning of our work here and at every crusade to call saints to enter into this spiritual battle with us as we war against the dark spiritual forces to release those held captive by their chains.
Finally it was time for me to deliver the message the Lord had given me entitled, "The Written Word of God" and I believe it really made an impact. After more prayer, the church was dismissed and the women were asked to stay behind for Lynn to deliver the message the Lord gave her for them. It was an incredible encouraging message and touched every woman there, as confirmed by the genuine heart-felt embraces afterwards. Continuing their incredible hospitality, they prepared a delicious meal, we ate, fellowshipped and journeyed home for a nice long rest, our hearts full. We rested on into the night, our bodies still overcoming jet lag.
On Monday, December 4th, we arose fairly early to prepare for our 10:00 a.m. departure to Budalang'i for our scheduled WhollyYours Ministries ministry conference (say that three times in a row without stopping🤣🤣). Prior to leaving though, a group of youth visited us at our home, and we had a wonderful time conversing with and getting to know each of them. They loved hearing about the USA, and we about their lives in Kenya, and they especially liked the water flavoring packets we put in the water we gave them. They tried all flavors😊 They then left for a five day youth conference in Uganda and we hurriedly finalized our preparations and left for Budalang'i.
We discovered that we had been invited by FPFK Bishop Pascal Ngandah, Pastor of FPFK Nyambare MissionCenter. to once again stay in, and hold our conference, in their guesthouse. What an incredible blessing! The views from the guesthouse was astounding, as you can see from the pics below. As beautiful as the views were, the sounds were even more incredible, can't really be adequately captured, but will remain in our memories forever.
We finished up the day there with a nice meal they prepared, discussed our agenda for the following day, held a group prayer, and retired to bed, excited as to what the next day would bring. We again woke early on Tuesday December 5th, had breakfast, and proceeded with our conference. The main purpose of the conference was to seek the Lord's direction on the future path of WYM and plan accordingly. The secondary purpose was to finalize plans for our Budalang'i crusade being held just a short week away.
WYM is a fairly infant ministry and are growing as the Lord provides funds to grow us. We were born in January 2020, have been in the crawling stage for a couple years and we're now walking. We"re walking. even though somewhat wobbly, as we are shoring up the foundation that the Lord is helping us build. Surely, we feel, we will be running soon, running the race He's set before us.
Around noon, we started our journey to a small private resort area on Lake Victoria to continue our meeting and have lunch. We try to encorporate visits to God's peaceful, beautiful places along our journey and the Lord always opens up doors for us to do so. We are always thanking the Lord, our provider. Surely He lives up to His name, Jehovah Jireh. He has supplied all our needs and has also used some of you to help us, of which we are grateful.
On our way to Lake Victoria, we stopped by and visited with fellow FPFK pastor, and spiritual son to Pastor Athanus and Pastor Patrick, Pastor Joseph Ogesa. We took photos in front of his church. In addition, we visited a poultry hatchery called the Kenya Climate Smart Agricultural Project which is ran by the Kenyan government and happens to be located right beside the church Pastor Joseph leads. They hatch eggs, raise and sell baby chick's to local people to help them have sustainable businesses of raising and selling chickens. They will even hatch eggs for the local people and they also provide various agricultural training programs, free, as a community building program. They have around 10,000 baby chicks at any given time. During our visit and tour of their facilities, they were so helpful and freely provided information and support as we endeavor to start egg laying sustainability projects in our churches and communities.
We traveled on to our destination on Lake Victoria and Pastor Joseph went along with us. We had a wonderful lunch, did some ministry planning, and then headed back to the guest house for the night. Another full day in the books.
On Wednesday, December 6th we finished up the bulk of our meeting and our final preparation planning for our Budalang'i crusade we're holding December 12-16th. We were even graced by the presence and company of Bishop Pascal and had a lot of meaningful conversation around future church planting and shoring up our foundation for growth. Bishop Pascal is not only the overseer of Pastor Athanus and Pastor Patrick, providing accountability, direction and encouragement to them, but provides a covering for Wholly Yours Ministries. He is a man of integrity, wisdom and stability and has been in ministry for many many years. He is overseer of over 60 successful, growing churches he has planted over those years. We are indeed blessed to have such a leader.
We finished up at mid-afternoon and we were joined for a few hours by one of our team members, Pastor Kalvon Onyango. He could only meet briefly as he was in Port Victoria visiting the morgue where his late brothers body is being held until burial on December 14th. Please keep him and his family in prayer during this difficult time. He and Mukisa Godfrey, our WYM keyboard player, unfortunately will not be attending our Budalang'i crusade as Mukisa will be attending the funeral representing Wholly Yours Ministries in our absence. Pastor Kalvon, brother, we are with you in spirit and you're in our hearts.
We headed home late afternoon, had a wonderful meal with Bishop Pascal at a small local restaurant in Siyaya town, and arrived back out our home in time to relax a little before retiring to bed.
Today, Thursday December 7th, we finally got to go to Bungoma shopping. Needless to say we filled our baskets full with all kinds of food, snacks, househokd items and Lynn even bought a pair of shoes. Van loaded down, we headed over to the music store and bought another guitar, as she had given the first one away to a very excited young man in our church, Francis. Francis also happens to be our music leader and plays all kinds of instruments, including the guitar. On our way home we stopped and met with Bishop Ishmael Butolo and dropped off a package sent to him by us from Pastor Andrew Clark, President and Founder of equippingthenations.org. Bishop Ishmael is mentoring us as we teach the course developed by Pastor Andrew and his late father in our Wholly Yours Ministries Bible Institute.
We're now back home, bellies full, spirits high, awaiting in anticipation of more God moments in the next few weeks. We'll keep y'all posted and update you again after the crusade, and don't forget, we need both your prayers and financial support.
Wholly Yours in Christ
Rev. Paul Havens
Wholly Yours Ministries
Founder and President
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