After Weeks of Flooding, the Road Was Finally Good Enough to Travel
This is a picture of a road- not a bridge. Director Victor Kiogora and our teachers travel this road twice a month to teach NEEMA Bible College in Lamu County. Lamu, as you may recall, is the 90% Muslim county that we started classes in last summer. Attacks from El Shabaab terrorists occur constantly but NBC classes stopped in May when floods washed the roads out.
Many of Us Wouldn’t Go Down this Road. Victor and Team did, to Spread Jesus!!!
Here’s Victor’s report: The Minjila-Witu-Lamu road was completely cut off by floods in May, after the Tana River broke its banks. But now we thank God traveling has resumed. We are going back home to Kilifi after a successful mission for NEEMA Bible College, Mpeketoni and Kibaoni, Lamu County. Please continue to pray as we continue to go to Lamu.
Rules Are Made To Be Broken
Rules guide us and let others know our intentions. For example, the rule or law that says the cars in America must be driven on the right side of the street. Therefore, we expect all cars to drive on the right side. However, if an obstacle is in our lane we proceed with caution and drive around it. Rules are made to be broken, aren’t they?
Rules in NEEMA Bible College state that to receive a 2-year diploma from NBC regular attendance, payment of fees, and exams taken, are required for our 34courses. Unfortunately, we have multiple diplomas on file waiting for students that have met all but one of these requirements. So, we asked Jacinta why she was late and not attending classes regularly. We were surprised to discover that she was traveling 25 km to attend classes. She explained that that morning she couldn’t get a piki-piki (motorcycle taxi) from her village because the muddy road made riding impossible. She had to walk over 6 km to reach the highway where she caught the bus. WOW! What motivation! Jacinta was spending 400 Kenyan Shillings (a day’s wage) and traveling over 15 miles to attend Bible College. However, after reviewing her records another flag shot up. She hadn’t taken any exams. Why? With tears in her eyes, she confessed that she couldn’t read. What an embarrassing stigma for a 25-year-old Kenyan. Without hesitation we embraced her and promised to help. Later that same afternoon Jacinta passed her Holy Spirit II exam as we read the questions to her.
Jesus said, “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” – Matthew 5:6
So Jacinta get ready to be filled! About 7% of NBC students are illiterate. However, their understanding of God’s Word is not limited.
Impactful Bible Studies
A well-meaning pastor told us once that if we wanted our kids to stay DON’T MAKE THEM GO TO BIBLE STUDY EVERYDAY. But our kids were a mess. Drugs, sex, and crime 24/7. We knew that only God’s Word could fix them. So, we made them go to Bible Study every day!
One Sunday the kids were extremely restless so we went outside and sat on the low rock wall by the office. It worked! Right there under the macadamia trees, we shouted to the Lord with loud voices. The whole neighbor heard us. But we didn’t care if we bothered our neighbors because our kids were praising Jesus!
After a while, a lady joined us. She couldn’t stop crying. We huddled around her as she told us her husband had just left her. She was desperate. Suicide was her only plan until she heard us praising Jesus. When she recognized some of our kids were from the streets, a spark of hope flickered. If God could give these former thieves new life, maybe He could help her find new life too.
She stayed with us a few days. We saturated her with love, prayers, and daily Bible studies.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up.” – Deuteronomy 6:6-7
