Acts 1:8
[Jesus said,] “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Kenya Mission Trip
November 3-13, 2011
Martha Warnasch, Carl Benton and I traveled with fourteen others from Houston to Nairobi, leaving late on the afternoon of the 3rd of November. The others were all from Trinity Lutheran Church in Klein, Texas. They graciously allowed us to go with them as part of their team, subsidizing us to the tune of $1500 each. Plans are for us to leave from Nairobi on the late evening of the 12th and arrive in Houston, God-willing on the afternoon of the 13th. Half of the group went to Namanga, then to Oltepesi; while the rest of us went to Kilgoris.
We arrived at our accommodations at 11:15 p.m. On Friday. The trip took 22 hours, Frankly, I lost all track of time by the time we arrived, and I woke up on Saturday at 4:30 a.m. Before leaving for Kilgoris, we enjoyed a stay at the Norwegian Compound, which is located next to the LCMS World Mission Center in Nairobi. It is a clean and and no-frills place.
Nairobi
We were up at 5:00 a.m. Saturday, so that we could get to the Nairobi National Game Park by 6:30. Once in, we saw a wonderful array of wild animals. These are not fed or kept in the park. They come and go at will. We saw ostriches, a gator, several rhinos – some of which were in the road right n font of us. We saw a variety of deer, antelope, elama, gazelle, and other hoofed and horned game. We saw many, many zebra, and quite a few giraffes. But the main sighing was that of a rode of lions. We saw two female cats on the prowl for zebra, and not too far away were three lion cubs. They crossed the road right in front of us, and kept their eyes on the prey. The nearby car from another group touring the park didn’t deter them one bit! We left, however, before the actual chase ensued. The lasting impression: focus! Speaking of which, I got some great photos!
No cell service
I had purchased an international texting plan for my phone before leaving. The intent was to have some communication link with Diane. For the first hours in Nairobi, however, I got no service. Later that day, however, it began working. I later realized that the plan was to take effect n the 5th TEXAS TIME! So at sometime Saturday afternoon I began being able to send and receive texts. Sadly, however, I do not have service here in Kilgoris. I was, however, able to get on line in the church center where we stayed Friday and Saturday nights. I uploaded some hits and sent some emails. I have been in contract with Diane only yesterday evening by means of a cell phone that Ray uses for the mission project while in Kenya. It was really good to talk with her and also briefly with Aaron.
Kilgoris is a 4th world town of perhaps 5000 people. They live from farming, cattle, and some micro business commerce. The roads to the church at which we have set up our optical climic is located about 2 miles from the center of town, and about 1.5 miles from the end of the paved road. This has made the trip to the church each day something of an adventure, if not a heart-in-your-mouth challenge. On the first day, because it had rained, and because the road is in complete disrepair, we were all wondering if the bus was going to overturn onto its side on one 100 yard stretch of road. We all applauded Ruben, our driver, when we had navigated the road there.
Here are some photos from the clinic…
- Kilgoris Mission Team
- Including some of the pastors and evangelists we worked with
During the course of the 5 days we treated some 1050 people, and everyone of them heard the Gospel at least once during their visit; most all of them heard it twice as we witnessed to them during the triage portion of the optical clinic process.
- First Stop – Waiting Area – Entertainment: An Evangelcube Presentation of the Gospel. Here I am making the presentation with Pastor Mampashi providing the translation into Swahili.
- After hearing the Gospel presentation, clients line up for the initial eye chart testing. After this they go to triage where we share the Gospel one-on-one.
On the second day, as we were leaving, a tractor with a load of wood, broke down directly in the “driveway” from the church. We were stopped from leaving for nearly 30 minutes before our driver used a hoe to create a path along side the broken-down tractor with its load of wood. We missed the tractor as we left by inches; maybe only one inch!
Exhaustion!
On Tuesday night I was so tired that when I went to bed at 8:30, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. A good night’s sleep (10 hours!) has helped that a lot.
More to follow
Watch for more notes, photos, and accounts of the mission trip.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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