Here at last - The first few days.

Here at last!!!

Things have either gone very right or very wrong. I only found out on wednesday that I would not get my entire holiday pay before I left like everyone else. For some reason I will be paid it on a week by week basis which means I will only get the first week of my holiday pay a week after I reach here. At one point I wondered if I had the funds to complete the first week! God is in control though and I only just missed a domestic flight to Eldoret and so had to get another one that turns out to be around half the price I would have paid before.

The first couple of days in Bungoma have been excellent. They have put on a two day conference bringing in many pastors and leaders of their churches in the region. The messages went down really well and the prayer time at the end was very good too. I'm starting to recover from the lack of a nights sleep after the overnight stop in Dubai airport and God is really helping me with the messages.

The pastor of the Bungoma church wants to send me to various churches in the region over this week so I'll be travelling with him to one location, preaching then going to do the same somewhere else the same day. We have great times of fellowship and have some really good conversations. I've already met many Kenyan pastors who have established their own churches and even some than have gone into areas that didn't have a church before.

I've managed to find a way around the financial difficulty mentioned above and although things are tight God is blessing me. Numerous people have made unsolicited donations which has made a big difference. One of the things that has really touched me is how so many have been encouraged by the word of God so far. God has really been helping me and despite the fact I'm preaching twice a day I'm finding the time to write sermons {usually the same morning or the night before!}

Please pray for travelling mercies and the churches I will be visiting, for an outpouring of God's Spirit, conversions and healings. God is very very good.

Leaving tommorrow - Please pray for....

....travelling mercies. That the weather will not cause any delays or problems {It seems to be getting warmer thankfully}

...for a safe journey. {I'll be going by train to Birmingham then flying out to Dubai and then on to Nairobi where I will try to get an internal flight to Eldoret before being picked up by the first pastor I'll be working with and taken to Bungoma.} The driving practices of some on Kenya's roads are pretty dangerous. Pray that we'll get to Bungoma without incident.

...also that I will get a good night's rest and sleep before beginning ministry on sunday preaching at 'In Jesus Global Ministries church' in Bungoma with brother Moses Nyongesa.

I doubt I'll get any proper sleep on the plane so a good night's rest on saturday evening is essential. {I'll be too excited to sleep on the plane anyway!}

ps : My arrangements for accomodation during my 2 week stay in Nairobi have fallen through. I've just found out tonight. Pray that I can make alternative arrangements.

God bless you all....Steve

In five days I will be flying out for Kenya. It's been a little concerning over the last few days watching the news and seeing the disruption to transport services and airports along with predictions that this cold weather will last for another week. Nevertheless I figure if God has got me this far he can be trusted to get me the rest of the way.

From Bungoma to in the west of the country to Mombasa on the east coast I expect to be kept busy. {which is how I like it}. The churches there are strongly evangelistic and are very responsive and so I anticipate seeing conversions. {They are not shy about inviting people to church}. I will be doing what are called revival/healing services which is really like a regular church service but is aimed at stirring and equipping the church to rise up and advance the kingdom of God. There is an opportunity at the end for people to respond to the message, either to commit their lives to the Lord or for a miracle of healing or some other pressing need in their lives.

Some of the churches I will be visiting are in the slum areas of the capital, Nairobi. They simply can't afford medical care so a miracle is often their only hope. It's strange when I think of it but as a new convert the idea of believing God for miraculous healing seemed very difficult indeed. Now I look back at all the things I've seen God do I can only be encouraged and greatly emboldened to believe that God will do something special and also act on that faith.

I'm going to be taking some recording equipment with me so I can get some of the accounts of what happened first hand. I will be looking to interview some of the people I saw last time and some of the people God touches this time around. Together with details {names, places, witnesses ect} these accounts will go onto a website I've been planning for some time which will feature testimonies from all kinds of people regarding their own experience of God.

I will be providing some prayer points very soon before I go.

regards...Steve

Plans developing.

The timeframe and locations for this mission will be as follows.

sunday 17th to friday22rd January - Ministering in the city of Bungoma.
sunday 24th to Tuesday 26th - Ministering at church in Eldoret.
Wednesday 27th to friday29th - ; ; ; ; Kisumu.
sunday 31st to Friday 5th February - Nairobi {gospel fire church}
Sunday 7th to friday 112th - Church of the Lord {Nairobi}
Sunday 14th to thursday 18th - Mombasa

My situation was difficult. I believed God wanted me to go on a mission trip to Kenya for 5 weeks but my workplace policy was such that I could only take two weeks time off at a time. After praying about the matter I approached my manager who pointed out that nobody was given five weeks off. He then said that he would, however consider it and to come back to him at a later date. It was at that 'later time' I approached him again where he told me to put my request in writing. I should at this point share with you one or two complications.
Firstly our church will be sending a team ouit to Romania next year and I really want to be there.
Secondly I have a plan for a local mission in Northampton which would mean taking yet another week off.
In short, even if I were to get the five weeks off for Kenya I only have five weeks holiday entitlement per year. How would I get the time off to go to Romania and be part of the local mission as well?

I recieved a letter back from my employer stating that firstly I WOULD BE GIVEN THE FULL FIVE WEEKS I had requested! Secondly they would only be prepared to give me two weeks of it as holiday entitlement. The rest would have to be taken unpaid. This took me aback a bit. After all I simply can't afford to take three weeks off work unpaid. However within the hour my manager approached me asking me if I had read the letter yet and suggested a way {without any word from me} how I could be financially covered for the rest of my time off. The way he has worked it out means that I won't lose a penny for having five weeks off work .Everything is covered! What's more, because I have only taken tow weeks of my holiday entitlement I still have time for the Romainia trip and the local mission!!!

God knows exactly what he is doing even when we don't see how it can happen!!!

regards...Steve

This is a mission trip that, according to natural logic at least, shouldn't be happening.

A few months ago at work during one of the quieter periods my mind began to dream up my ideal trip and I wrote out what I would like to do if I could take all five weeks of my holiday entitlement from work. I should explain that this was very impractical because my workplace does not allow people to take more than two weeks off at any one time. Nonetheless I figured it didn't do any harm to fantasise and besides, I strongly believed that God wanted me to return to Kenya and if it was His will then nothing could stop me.
I also did a basic costing and the total I needed was way out of my league at the present time. I figured that if God wanted me to go then, like last time, He would provide for me financially. Anyway much as it is fun imagining how things could be there is a difference between writing something down and actually doing something about it and after my initial excitement I began to think in a more level headed manner. I mean, after all, for something like this to happen it really would need divine intervention and how did I know for sure that I wasn't being over ambitious?
Later that same day I received a text out of the blue from a friend of mine at church called Patsy. This is what is said.
CAST YOUR BURDEN ON THE LORD AND HE WILL SUPPORT YOU. HE WILL NEVER ALLOW THE RIGHTEOUS TO BE SHAKEN.....Psalm 55 v 22

This was my burden. The thing that was on my mind that I didn't know how to resolve and here was someone who hardly ever texted me sharing a scripture with me that seemed to relate exactly to my situation. If God will not allow the righteous to be shaken then this plan MUST come to pass. He will not allow anything to get in the way. That text was the prompting I needed at exactly the right time to put in a request for five consecutive weeks off work and begin to prepare for the next mission trip abroad. In these next few posts that I will put up over the coming days and weeks I am going to share with you a series of events which to my mind are so clearly miraculous and evidence that God does indeed answer prayer.

God bless you...Steve

Kenya 2010 - The next mission.

I am pleased to announce that at long last I will be returning to Kenya for another mission trip. This has been on my heart for a long time. In fact on only my second day there I knew I would return. This has come about because of God's miraculous leading and provision and therefore has something very important in common with the 2008 mission.

I will be leaving the U.K on January 15th 2010 for a period of five weeks. {This time on my own} and will be visiting several ministries in my time there. I hope to share some of how this trip came about {particularly God's hand in it all} shortly.

regards...Steve