End of my time in Kenya

Coming very soon. I leave in a little less than a week. Last Sunday was good - I finished my church history class. We spent 6 sessions, 1 per week, 3 hours at a time and covered 1,938 years of events in Christian history. Of course it was not at all comprehensive, but I think these pastors now have a broad understanding of where the church came from, where it has gone, and how it is the way it is today. We were able to see the patterns of decline and reform, of Christendom and the kingdom of God, and of doctrinal orthodoxy and departure. I have learned so much during this time and I am very very excited to now take John Brown's Church History class starting in August. Yes, it is a little backwards that I taught Church History before I took the class, but now I am extremely prepared and excited to build on the knowledge I have learned. Church History opens my eyes and brings me a lot of understanding of how God has worked in the past and how the church ought to function. I'm excited to continue learning.

Yesterday I got to visit a friend of mine that I made in the Glory Guest House. Juma changes my sheets and cleans the bathroom occasionally and he is a very kind, hospitable guy. He is married and has 5 kids living in Ngombeni which is close to where I was teaching Church History in Ujamaa. I took a Matatu out there and he met me beside the road. We walked to his house, sat down for a little while and talked. He then climbed a 40 foot palm tree and picked off 6 green coconuts. Watching him climb the tree was a highlight. I'd love to learn but will need to start small! The way to do it is to take a piece of strong cloth, tie a knot to make a circle, twist the circle in order to make an infinity symbol (mathematics, not the car symbol). Then you put your feet in the holes like stirrups. Grasp the palm tree with the bottom of your feet on the sides of the tree and the cloth supporting you on the front of the tree. Good, now you are stable, but you have to climb to get the coconut water! Take your right hand placing it in front of you with your fingers pointing to the ground and your palm against the front of the trunk of the tree, this is for more support. Then, take your left hand and use it to pull yourself up a few feet. Repeat until you can reach coconuts.

We drank the coconut water which is very tasty, then we had a cup of chai (tea made with milk), and talked some more. It was a short visit, but I hope to continue to get to know Juma whenever I return to Kenya.

See you soon. I return to America on Aug. 5th.

Crazy Kenya.

Sorry it has been so long since my last post.

Man, Mombasa is nuts. For example, just the other day I was walking along and bam, What I thought was a rock turned out to be a giant Tortoise! So crazy. He was a nice old fellow. One thing Dennis showed me was that if you pat him on his armpit he slowly rises up and fully stands. Once you stop, he goes down. So funny.

Well, the truth is. We went to a small park called "Haller Park" or as we like to call it "Holla Park" - holla, holla, holla. It was a great way to spend the 4th of July with tortoises, giraffes, monkeys, snakes, lizards, hippos (who were shy), and a few other various wildlife. Mombasa, really is a bustling city. You do find monkeys and lizards in various places, but really more people and trash in the city. Why is it that you go to a wildlife reserve and everything just takes care of itself, but when you go to a city there is trash everywhere? Aren't humans also a part of nature, shouldn't we act naturally too? Guess not. FALL. SIN. DEATH. SEPARATION FROM GOD. EVIL. and on and on. Wow, that was a tangent. Guess I am a little pessimistic at times, but for good reason.

Joshua Smith

My friend Joshua came out to Mombasa for 2 weeks. I had a great time with him and I always enjoy our talks. He was a great encouragement to me just being around. He's in Nairobi now where he is working with AIM doing mechanical work on planes. I didn't realize how encouraging it really was to have someone else around for 2 weeks until he left. It's difficult to relate to people from a different culture and so it's nice to have someone that you easily connect with. Thanks Joshua! Please pray for Josh's safety in the city that is nicknamed Nairobbery of which Joshua has already experienced.

I'm a Preacher, I like to preach.

Things have been busy here. For example, last week I preached a sermon on Discipleship on Friday night, a sermon on Sunday morning at the Word of Life Fellowship Church, and 3 hours of Church History that afternoon. Yikes, that was intense. I was very tired and rested all day Monday last week finishing Season 3 of Prison Break - bought off the street by Joshua Smith, made in the Middle East somewhere, and claiming to be Season 4 but really is just the second half of season 3.

Life has begun to be a little bit challenging as of late. Definitely not culture shock, but what I like to call culture 'funk' - the desire for normalcy, that which I am used to. Often times it is just the little things that I miss. Cold 2% milk. Driving my car on the right side of the road. The ability to blend in without being stared at.

But other little things about Kenya have now started to feel normal - which is kind of freaky. Matatus (Nissan minivans doubling as Kenyan taxis) and Tuk-Tuks (3 wheeled motorcycles that can carry 3 passengers) all over the roads, thousands of people always walking around, kids in school uniforms all over the place - bright colors: purple, pink, and yellow, women carrying heavier things that I can pick up ON THEIR HEADS. These things have become normal now. Strange to feel normal in such abnormal surroundings (from a foreigner's perspective).

And then being really frustrated over other little things - the way you can hear half of almost every conversation because of the amount of English, Swahili, and Sheng (the slang combination of Swahili and English - their version of Spanglish) constantly being interspersed in everything. Another thing that has started to frustrate the stink out of me is how they all love to have every single electronic device as loud as it can possibly be. Microphones are turned up so high that you really can't even hear what they are saying past the feedback and the rattling of the speakers. Oh yeah, and music. Ah, music. There is such a rich heritage of beautiful, percussive African music that is being exchanged for electronic, cheezy, Western music. It's sad for a music snob like me.

But for the most part the last couple of days I've felt very good. The bottom line is that life in another country is difficult, but hey, life is difficult and we all have to seek God's grace in some area of our lives no matter what. Mombasa's good, Mombasa's bad, Mombasa's weird, Mombasa's beautiful, Mombasa's ugly. It's just life juxtaposed between that which is phenomenal and that which is horrendous and all those things in between.

The City of Mombasa

Let's see...how can I describe this city? Let's start with the trees. The trees are rich, beautiful, and very very old. Mango trees, palm trees, baobab trees (my favorite) and many other trees that I haven't learned the names of.

Also, Mombasa itself is an island. Thus there are lots of great views of the ocean! Joshua Smith and I just recently had a nice dish of pilau (rice, meat, Kenyan spices) while looking at the view you see on the left next to Ft. Jesus, an old Portuguese fort that is now a historical museum in Mombasa. I need to learn more of the history of this old port city.

















Finally, in the description of Mombasa, I think I will mention that there are a lot of markets, mosques, and Muslims. It seems like everywhere you go there is someone trying to sell you something, the call of prayer echoing through the city, and Muslim men and women in their traditional, religious garments.


Hopefully, this gives you a better idea of the city where I am staying.

Exactly where I want to be...

The picture above describes how I feel about ministry, and especially ministry with Serve, the missions organization of Denton Bible Church. Serve's motto is "Leaders Serving Leaders". It is my desire and hope to be in the background behind the pastors of many churches. I desire to equip them, to train them, to give the tools they need to be able to shepherd their congregations, to be the kind of pastor that God wants for them and for their churches. I want my ministry to be a service to them - this is the vision of any kind of discipleship, which just so happens to be my passion.

Last week was, and probably will be my busiest week in Kenya. We had another 5 day conference in a village just south of Mombasa where we left the house every morning by 7am and returned anywhere between 3 and 5pm where I would rest, eat, and continue to prepare my teachings for the rest of the week.

I was able to teach on the Sermon on the Mount. It was a fantastic time where we spoke a lot about the difference between BEING Christians and ACTING Christian, and the difference between the heart of worship before God and actions of religious obedience. The Sermon on the Mount is a horribly convicting passage that simply attacks jab after jab straight at the heart of any sinner...so it was appropriate for all of us sinners to hear and ponder on.

Our time together was really effective, and I was able to experience some new things in African Preaching: such as preaching over the yells and screaming of the playing children just outside the school, preaching over the sound of thousands of raindrops slamming into the tin roof above me creating a noise that cannot possibly be overcome (so we waited until it past), and preaching while roosters crowed outside. All these things generally NEVER happen in American ministry, and I'm glad to have experienced them. The pastors responded very well and I received a lot of great feedback from them personally and through Drew Trenz and Dennis Omondi who also taught at the conference.

While we were teaching through the whole morning, Jill Senechal and Allison Omondi had an hour and a half with women from the village. Some of them pastors wives, others just women from the area. They could have used so much more time with the women, but the women's schedules often times do not permit it with their cultural duties of housekeeping and child-rearing. Overall it was successful as Jill taught on what it means to have inner beauty as a woman of God (see here for Jill's description of the conference).

After a long week, I had Saturday to prepare for my 3 hour Church History class the next day. I didn't feel adequate to teach the class until I started teaching it and found myself really enjoying what I was introducing to the pastors and church leaders on Sunday. I will be continuing this class for 5 more weeks. These 9 church leaders have been going through BTCL for the last 2 1/2 years, and they are almost finished, graduating on August 16.

Below is a picture of the men we taught on the week of June 16th.


Thanks for praying. Please pray for me as I am adjusting to new, more flexible schedules and trying to learn greater independence in the city and learning more about what life is like here in Mombasa, Kenya.

One of the funniest things I've seen on TV in Kenya...

That would be a Spanish Telenovela (soap opera), dubbed over in English, and played on Kenyan TV. For some reason that international combination made me laugh hysterically. Plus it was funny to have the combination of already bad acting in Spanish with bad acting that didn't match the mouth movement in dubbed English.

Just thought I'd share that with you.
Update on the Ujamaa conference is coming up soon. I taught the Sermon on the Mount all week and was able to teach Mt 5:1-6:18.

ben