Dear Friends and Supporters of this ministry,
This is a report of the fifth week of ministry on this African Safari.
Monday to Friday, September 29 to October 3, Nairobi Pentecostal Bible College (N.P.B.C.), Nairobi:
On my way home from my 2011 African Safari, I arranged to visit with the founders of the Community of the Assemblies of God in Africa (C.A.D.A.F.) in England. Dave and Gill Shiels welcomed me to their home, where Gill had arranged for me to meet Brian Niblock, the head of the mission's department of the Assemblies of God in Great Britain and Ireland (A.G.G.B.I.), and Peter Kay, a lecturer at N.P.B.C. - So, when I was planning this safari, I wrote to Peter Kay about speaking at N.P.B.C. He forwarded my email on to Rev. Kennedy Maina, the present principal. Maina agreed for me to come and speak in specially arranged chapels for this week. It has been an amazing experience speaking to some fifty students who are all eagerly studying for the ministry.
I came to Africa for my first time in 1972 as a part of a choir tour from Zion Bible Institute, then in East Providence, Rhode Island. When I went to Zion for my tenth class reunion, I was asked to sing and help preach on this tour. This was an answer to prayer since I had been seeking where to be a missionary in Africa since my call in 1963 while on staff at Zion.
Before leaving on the choir tour, I went to Elim Bible Institute in Lima, New York, to get a letter of introduction so that I could visit their churches of the Pentecostal Evangelical Fellowship of Africa (P.E.F.A.) in Kenya. While the choir went on to sightsee in Greece and Rome after ministering in Liberia, South African and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), I got off of the plane in Nairobi, and came to N.P.B.C., where I met with Bro. and Sis. Webster, missionaries from England. Elim arranged for me to meet with Bud Sickler, the missionary head of P.E.F.A. Also, I preached in a youth rally in Mombasa. While at N.P.B.C., I asked Bro. Webster where Harvest Fields Bible School was. He said that I could walk there across a coffee plantation. I did and met Richard and Ila Kirby. At the end of my first trip to Africa, this is where I felt that the Lord was calling me.
I went home to itinerate among several churches to raise our ticket money and first month's living allowance. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we arrived in Kenya with just $5.00, and my wife, Fern, delivered our daughter, Mina, just ten days later. The Kenya health insurance paid the hospital bill except for $10.00 for Mina's food. Bro. Kirby loaned us some basic furniture and we set up house keeping, and taught in his Harvest Fields Bible School for the first year. Then the Lord provided, right to the dollar, funds for us to move to Meru town and fully furnish a brand new three bedroom limestone block house. We were able to buy an almost new Subaru station wagon on monthly payments.
In 1973, brethren came from C.A.D.A.F. in the Congo for the dedication of N.P.B.C. They came over to Harvest because one of the original English missionaries lived next door to us, Bro. and Sis Adams. So the Lord led through N.P.B.C. for us, the Willner Family, to later go to the land of my calling in 1981. Visiting this Bible School was a wonderful remembrance of the moving of God throughout my ministry for me.
As I said above, Kennedy Maina arranged for me to teach, The Work of the Holy Spirit in specially arranged chapel services each day. About fifty students came to chapel each day. The discussion was good. Students were genuinely interested although some have come from non-Pentecostal churches. They especially enjoyed the examples of the gifts of the Spirit that I gave from my own experiences.
Thursday evening was the regular chapel service. There was spirited singing and dancing. Several students sang and the worship team were great. When they asked me to speak, I said we should continue to worship God. We went on for a half hour more than the usual hour-long chapel. The staff leader said that this had been a unique chapel for them. Friday, a former student captain, and another lady thanked me for the seminar and said that it had been more than academic teaching but also a new experience for many.
Saturday to Sunday, October 4 to 5, Omega Pentecostal Church, Marurui:
Early Saturday morning, Joseph Mugo drove from Kianyaga to Nairobi and was at N.P.B.C. to take me over to Marurui. The seminar started with just a few people, but within an hour, there were almost fifty people present from all six of the Nairobi Omega churches. Again, I taught on, The Work of the Holy Spirit. The Nairobi Omega overseer, Pas. Josphat Ngumba, asked some tough questions, and both he and Mugo tried to elaborate on some problems among Pentecostal churches in Kenya. Some think that being filled with the Holy Spirit is merely praying and singing loud. Alternatively, some believe the Holy Spirit moves through private sessions where people go to the prophet's home to get a special word from the Lord. Pas. Ngumba and Mugo addressed some of these specifics. The seminar continued until late Saturday afternoon.
Sunday morning, there were representatives from other Omega churches present. The Marurui church really believes in dancing. They stack the chairs and worship God in the dance. They have a very good worship team and choir. After two hours of a very anointed service, I preached again on, The Seed of God, that God is looking for his children. There is such an attack on the family these days, even here in Africa. After I finished, Bishop Mugo elaborated some more. Then the pastor made an altar call for those who were having trouble with their marriages to come to the front for prayer. More than thirty came, almost all women. We prayed for them all.
The last time I was at the Marurui church three years ago, there was a young lady who waited on us for our meals. She asked us to pray for a husband for her. She sat on the front row this time rejoicing. She was very pregnant. She made a tremendous example that young ladies should wait for the right choice of a companion rather than marrying someone who is not a Christian.
Thank you all for your prayers for the anointing on the Word, and for health and safety with all these travels. So far, my foot is doing well where I have had some very painful ulcers. Everyone is feeding me too much food and I am putting on weight.
If you would like to support the monthly projects of this missionary Bible teaching ministry, please send your offerings to one of the P.O. boxes in the signature block below.
May the Lord bless you.
Charles Willner
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