Doug VanDevender:
Friday & Saturday (19 & 20) we wound up our three week ministry tour with a two day training event of pastors in the Langus slum (between Eldoret airport & Eldoret City Center). About 70 attended.
On Friday we taught on what God is Doing in the World, Doing the Ministry of Jesus, Equipping God’s People to Do the Ministry of Jesus & Forgiveness as a Christian Distinctive.
When we invited people forward for prayers for physical healing, uncharacteristically only one woman came. As we prayed for her, God took away the deep seated pain of abuse and bitterness and apparently the pains of asthma as well.
We left the meeting very concerned that the group was reluctant to embrace the spiritual healing of forgiveness. Their area was marked by severe violence two years ago during post-election chaos, and the Church in the area had been fractured by suffering, suspicion, bitterness and the desire for revenge.
We prayed overnight that God would withhold rest & remove the flavor of their food as they struggled over whether to respond to God’s offer of forgiveness and liberation.
Saturday began with testimonies. Several reported their painful struggle to forgive, and their eventual success. Some prayed all night. As we ministered the introduction to Transforming Prayer there was a growing joy that God was providing them a simple means to bring freedom and healing to their churches and their communities. The meeting ended in celebration!
The week concluded with successful prayer for several key leaders. Several declared, “This message will heal Kenya.” Our host was more expansive, “All Africa is waiting for this message.” That’s a daunting thought, but we agreed that training meetings should be scheduled for other areas of Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda at the direction of the Spirit and as soon as logistics permit.
We return home deeply humbled by what God has miraculously done in only three weeks and optimistic that God will take our small contribution and grow it into something transforming and beautiful.
Thank you ALL for your prayers. They were felt by us and acknowledged by the Kenyans. We have never before ministered under such protection and grace.
Richard Cazzell: As Doug remarked, we both thought that the Langas meeting was “going South” after the 1st day. We were even discussing our thoughts with Ben at supper, when the conference leader, a pastor Isaac, called Ben to say how excited he was about the day’s meeting, & how we were right on target, and to please continue tomorrow! Well, we went to sleep believing God had it under control. When we heard testimonies the next morning, oh my goodness… we were like “laser bombing” the target. At the conclusion of the meeting, an attendee named Lucy, was ask to close us in prayer. She spent 5 minutes affirming our words, reciting many of the teaching highlights verbatim. After she prayed, Doug & I felt like we could fly home from right there… without an airplane!
After we left the conference, about 4:15 Saturday afternoon, we went to Ben & Mary’s home for a quick shower & change of clothes, before our 7:30 flight to Nairobi to catch the international flight to Amsterdam. Ben & Mary’s house is only about a 15 minute drive to the airport. After getting ready and having some tea that Mary prepared, she asked if Doug & I would pray for her. She said she wanted to receive from the Lord like Ben had received last night.
So here’s what happened. The night before, after supper, Doug & I prayed for Ben, and the Lord delivered him from some real painful discouragement issues he was having. When he went home, he told Mary about it, and she could see how happy he was. So from 5:15 until 6:00, we prayed for Mary, and God healed her in the same way from several emotionally painful things.
The setting was kind of funny in that the noise distractions included loud rap worship music from outside, the hammering sound of some boys fixing a speaker cabinet, and a goat braying on and on and on and on.
Mary was so happy when we finished! You could see in her face how the pain was gone. Then, off to the next adventure at the airport.
The incoming plane was 15 minutes late, arriving at 7:45. As we stood on the tarmac to go up the stairs into the plane, the power went off. All the lights went off, and the jet engine shut off, just like the entire thing had blown a fuse. We were sent back into the terminal to wait. Were we destined to spend the night again in Eldoret? After 20 minutes, the engine restarted and the lights came back on. We were finally released to board, and we took off at about 8:45, and landed in Nairobi at 9:20. We scrambled through security at the international terminal, and managed to hit one store for a couple of gifts for home before to time to board the KLM flight.
The rest of the trip went very smoothly, with maybe 7 hours of total good sleep time on the two 8.5-hour cross-continent, cross-ocean flights. Finally, Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM, we were once again in the land of Blackberry’s and fast, reliable internet. Praise the Lord.
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