This morning Valerie had a meeting with the 16 women who have been bringing water to the site. They carry it on their heads from three quarters of a mile away and are paid by the bucket. Valerie gave each one a white rose. Most of them have never had a rose in their lives. She gave them a bottle of water and some snacks. Then came the best part! She prayed and blessed each one. All of them are Christians who love the Lord and they are very sweet. Some people have come by and said, “Too bad there is no running water on the site. Then these women wouldn’t have to do this.” But the truth is, if we had running water, they would all be unemployed. It’s a different world my friends!
Today is our last day on the work site. While our entire team is eager to be done with this kind of backbreaking work, we are going to dearly miss these wonderful Kenyan people. Most of our team knows the names of all the workers and much of their life story.
We have now been in Kenya for exactly two weeks, but it seems like three months. Yesterday we were remembering how we visited our works in the slums of Nairobi on our first two days in the country and it seemed like ages ago. My prayer is that, someday, you will have the opportunity to join us on a trip to Kenya and see for yourself what God has done here through the work of WorldComp. Even though we try to describe things in emails, you have to be here to fully understand. Our slogan for these trips is “On Site is Insight”. A visit is worth 10,000 words.
We have a full time driver who works for us here in Kenya. His name is Jose Shilabuka. All who come to know him love and admire him. He grew up on a rural farm and had no formal schooling at all. Before he started working for WorldComp he worked for Simeon and Mary Obayo as their driver. They taught him to read and write, taught him responsibility and accountability with money, and paid for him to go to driving school.
The reason I am mentioning him now is this– he has three sons and one daughter, and one of his sons has a problem with his heart. At eight years old he can barely walk because he doesn’t have enough strength to stand. The problem can be fixed with surgery but the cost will be about $1500. For the past few years I have been waiting for the Lord to give me resources, over and above the WorldComp budget to pay for his surgery.
But now the Lord has put it on the heart of one of our team members to pay for the whole thing. Just writing about this brings tears to my eyes. Isn’t it wonderful how the Lord gives different assignments to different people? How glorious it has been to see how the Lord has provided resources for so many WorldComp projects. Thank you dear friends for the part you have played in prayer and in giving. God is good, All the time!
This afternoon, Valerie, Guy and Per went to visit Jose’s home. When they got there Jose said, “I would like you to pray for my brother, Seth, if he is here. He is an alcoholic and really needs Jesus”. Just then Seth came around the corner. Within a few minutes he was left alone in the hut with Valerie. Valerie just went for it. She shared the salvation story and told him that he needed to get free from his addictions. Then she said, “Today the Lord has come to your house to set you free.” Just as the rest of the team was coming into the hut, Valerie was asking him if he would like to accept Jesus and he said, “Yes”. He fell to his knees and Guy led him in the prayer to receive Jesus and he was gloriously saved.
Wonderful Day!
