By Matthew and assisted by Christian
Yesterday there was a wonderful celebration service for the launching of the new church. Young children, men, women, and even elders attended this great celebration. There was a great feast of four goats; and Christian and I witnessed the end of the slaughter and cooking of the goat, but surprisingly, it didn’t change our appetites much. While the cooking was going on, there was a men’s and a women’s conference. Christian taught at the men’s conference about the importance of being a godly man leading your family to Christ; and Joyce, Laura, Samantha, and Sara taught the Maasai women about being a godly woman as a wife and also as a youth. These two conferences touched many lives, with eight men agreeing to lead their families as a man of God, and many of the Maasai woman committing to pray and wanting to worship and honor God within their families. Then after eating, we all danced, sang, and worshipped together before everyone said their good-byes.
The Maasai gave us new names yesterday before our departure from the newly planted church. The name given to Matthew was Mepukori which means the one who helps, provides, and serves those under him. Laura’s new name was Nosotua which means peacemaker or the one who brings peace to the people. Christian’s new name given to him was Olamayani which means blessed one or one who changes hearts. The name given to Samantha was Namelok which means so sweet. The name that Sara received was Meliyio meaning the one who is never bored or ever happy. Pastor Nicholas was given the name of Saroni which means helper and Joyce’s name that was given to her was Noojilaloi which means beautiful one. The reason that we received these new names was because they considered us to be one of them; that we had become part of the Maasai people.
Today we had the Pastor’s conference. Over 35 men (mostly pastors with a few deacons from their churches) representing over 30 different nondenominational churches. Pastor Christian and Pastor Nicholas hosted and lead the conference. They taught on the organization of a church and church leadership as a whole. Pastor Nicholas taught two sessions of the conference (one was called “Church Leadership” and the other was “The Role of the Church and Church Government”). Pastor Christian also taught two sessions which were on “The Missional Church” and “Ten Marks of a Biblical Pastor.” While Christian and Nicholas were teaching, Laura and the girls prepare and served snacks and lunch for the pastors that attended the conference (Matt was assisting Pastor Nicholas and Christian in the pastor’s conference and learning as a future church planter). The team provide snacks and meal for the pastors, which is a big deal in Kenyan culture because they expect the host to provide the food and not the guests, making this a wonderful opportunity for the team to serve these wonderful and faithful pastors who sacrificed much to share the Gospel with many. Laura, Samantha, and Sara shopped for and prepared tradition Kenyan stew (with the help of a few women from the local church). For lunch they prepared this stew with beef, potatoes, onions, cilantro, garlic, and various other ingredients; and also it was served with frest chapattis (similar to a tortilla but a Kenyan flat bread). The conference was a challenging and encouraging time for the pastors as they were fed the Word of God and the importance the inerrancy in Scripture and the authority of it, as well as, to be fed physically. The traditional diet of a Kenyan is tea, rice, potatoes, chapatti, and some type of meat.
In departing with the pastors that we served with all week, they asked us as a church to consider partnering with them to plant churches with them in the land of the Maasai as a long term goal. They unexpectedly presented us with gifts as a symbol of their love and appreciation for our work in the last two weeks. And as a symbol of our appreciation, the students presented the pastor’s with a small honorarium for their families as a way of saying thank you for their time, love, and commitment. Also, with the blessing of Christian’s brother Robert, Christian and Laura presented their guitar as a gift to one of the Maasai pastors because his guitar, being 16 years old, was in poor condition. They did this because he could use it for his ministry in presenting the gospel for many years to come. After all of this took place, the team had to say their last goodbyes to all the pastors that we had become so connected with the past few weeks. It was an even harder day to say farewell today then the day before when we left the land of the Maasai and all of those families their, but we are looking forward to coming home and sharing all of our amazing stories the we have had on this trip.
P.S. We have now lost power for the fifth time on this trip. It wouldn't be Kenya without losing power. Praise God for five minutes of battery life on Christian's computer. See you all soon we pray
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