Dear Friends and Supporters of this ministry,
This is a report of the sixth and final week of ministry in Kenya on this African Safari. From Kenya, I will be going on to six more weeks of ministry in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Lord willing.
Tuesday to Thursday, October 7 to 9, Ministers Seminar, Molo:
It was great to renew acquaintance with Ruth Scott Kellie who founded Matumaini (the hope) Children's Center for mentally and physically challenged children. We first met in 1973 in Richard Kirby's home at the Harvest Fields Bible School in Nairobi. Mugo and I stayed in her guest house, and had good fellowship while we traveled to Molo town for the pastor's seminar.
Kellie's converted her parents colonial farm. The center consists of a youth hostel for eighty children, pre-school for students to learn cleanliness, self-esteem, and coping mechanisms, a dispensary, and class rooms for life-skill training in metal work, carpentry, sewing, cooking, and computers. There is a government elementary school on campus with 800 hostel and neighborhood students, and a government secondary school started on campus for 300 neighborhood students. There is also a church which seats 300 people.
Approximately 30 pastors from different churches were hosted by the chairman, Pas. Samwel Chibini, in a local church for three days of seminar. The Second Coming of Our Lord was taught on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the section on Financial Stewardship on Thursday. The pastors were very engaged in the discussions, especially on giving a tithe of the tithe to their overseers. Open Word provided for the notes, the mid-day meal, and transport and accommodations for four pastors that came from a distance.
Friday to Sunday, October 10 to 12, Pentecostal Free Church, Migori:
I first met Pas. Samwel Ratanga at another mission in South Nyanza. He and his brother had donated land and built a cement block building for two hundred people. He asked me to help him by writing a constitution to register the Pentecostal Free Church with the government in about 1975. Over the years, Open Word has helped to buy Samwel a motorcycle, build a guest house, and paint the church roof, besides coming to preach in conventions every time I came to Kenya.
On Friday and Saturday, I taught on, The Work of the Holy Spirit. While these churches are called Pentecostal, very few of their members are filled with the Spirit. Sunday morning, there were several choirs that sang. The worship leader, David, is a gifted worship leader, who has perfect pitch and is blind. I am believing that God will heal him of his blindness. It was great listening to the adult choir sing in beautiful four-part harmony. There were a couple of youth choirs who sang and danced also. After two hours of introductions of members from other Free Churches, I preached again on, The Seed of God, that parents have a responsibility to raise their children to love and serve the Lord. All of the ministers appreciated the emphasis on the Christian family.
Afterwards, Samwel took me to his home to say goodbye to his wife and those children. Samwel's wife has blessed me many times over the years that despite the humbleness of her home, she has allowed myself, and sometimes with traveling companions sleeping on the floor on air mattresses, to enjoy her beautiful hospitality.
Thank you all so much for your prayers for the anointing on the Word, and for health and safety. I am especially grateful this week for your prayers after logging a total of about sixteen hours of travel this week. I can see the answer to those prayers as God has been helping me with my foot. Everyone is feeding me three meals a day so that I am actually putting on weight.
Thank you for your support of this missionary Bible teaching ministry. Even while I am traveling, our monthly commitments for missionary projects continue. 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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Open Word Ministries:
P.O. Box 625, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada L2E 6V5
P.O. Box 5001, Springfield, Missouri, U.S.A. 65801