Bwanabob

Dear Friends,

Thank God it has rained here in Turkana, the first rains were about 10 days ago and it has rained a little here and there since. We hope and pray that the rain continues through the usual rainy season and blesses the land of Turkana. The only problem with rain is that it washes away our roads or turns some of our roads in to a giant mud pit. The road into our district has been closed twice now and when it has closed the whole district is cut of from food and supplies that come in from other parts of Kenya. So far we have learned to get by when this happens, but we hope that it won’t become any worse.

This past weekend I traveled out to the village of Lokiriama, it is the last village in Kenya before entering Karamajong district in Uganda. The area has been very insecure over the past few years, but thankfully for the past year and a half there has been relative peace and more people are returning to the village to live and start trading. The last four years we have wanted to start a church there but didn’t have anyone prepared to go and live there as a pastor should. Just recently Samweli, a second year Bible Institute student, felt led to begin ministering there under the supervision of his pastor, Joseph. Both Samweli and Joseph were born and raised in that area and are well know by the families, local elders and government officials. Their decision to begin ministering there has been welcomed by almost everyone and from what I saw and experienced the village is in definite need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching from the Word of God. I’ll try to briefly explain the condition of the village. About half of the families are making and selling home-brew alcohol. There is an Emeron “witch-doctor” living in or near the village and his talismans and markings are evident on many adults and children. For years the young men of the area would go to raid on the neighboring tribe in Uganda, the Karamojong, so most of the young men are armed with AK-47 rifles.Â

Our ministry there on this trip was to walk around the village sharing Christ, encourage those Christians who are already there and show Christian films. I recently bought some new videos that were made here in Kenya and deal very directly with drunkenness and worldly behavior and how believing on Jesus and following his Word can bring wonderful changes. The films were not in the Turkana language, but our pastors narrated into the local language and I believe that everyone followed the films very well. On Sunday we had about 30 adults and 30 children attend services under a tree in the middle of the village, several came forward to accept Christ and 7 were baptized!  Please pray for Samweli and pastor Joseph that the Lord will give them strength and wisdom to minister there. Samweli still has a year and a half of Bible Institute training so pray for his perseverance there.

The road to Lokiriama was rough, we met a Land Cruiser on the way that had broken it’s axle. We carried 22 adults and youth and 3 babies in our Land Cruiser along with food and cinema equipment. Our vehicles may be older, but they are the best ones for the harsh roads and abuse we put them through. Over the weekend we ate beans and corn and rice and corn and beans and rice and corn and rice and beans, so I was glad to get home to Ericka’s wonderful cooking.

Ericka became sick while I was away, but thankfully she is well now and going to get checked up today. Pray that we can find out what may have been her illness and that it doesn’t recur while I’m away again this next weekend.
God bless you all and keep praying for us. The Cattlemen video that I would like to make would have been a wonderful tool to use in Lokiriama, so please don’t forget about getting those digital video testimonies to me. [Note from webmaster: please send the video's to Bob's home church, rather than emailing them directly to him.]

In Christ, Bob Clark