THE VISIT
TO POKOT – 26TH JUNE TO 3RD JULY 2014
We had been invited to preach at a weekend challenge at Kasei Secondary
Schools and to later preach at an annual men’s camp organized by the churches
there. We were, Edwin Kabui, Gaitano
Mbati, Murung Igweta and Peter Kivati.
We travelled from Nairobi to Kitale town, from Kitale we travelled
about 50km to Kapenguria and then about 130km on a dirt road from Kapenguria to
Kasei village in North Pokot. The area is generally hilly and a bit cool.
The first
Weekend Challenge at Kasei Secondary School
We had two full days of preaching and teaching on Friday and Saturday
at Kasei Boys secondary school, which is one of the schools in the area
sponsored by the church. We had five sessions daily each about 45 minutes of
teaching and preaching on gospel themes such as sin, faith, repentance, death
and judgment. The sixth session was for questions and answers on both days. We
had the students asking so many questions. It was surprising on the first day
to receive questions on marriage but later in the evening, we learnt from one
of the teachers that a number of the students had wives and children! With that
knowledge, we were able to engage with them more graciously the next day,
Saturday.
We got an opportunity to minister at their Sunday morning service where
Pastor Murungi preached on Who is a Christian from Titus 1:1-4. We later joined
the brethren at Kasei Baptist church for their Sunday worship service. The
church currently meets at one of the halls in Kasei primary school. The upper
primary pupils who are boarders join the community in the service. At the
service, Pastor Murungi preached on Christ Alone from John 14:6.
Trinity
Baptist Church Kasei during the preaching and the coming up church building
While at Kasei, we were also able to minister on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday nights to the neighbors of our host, Pastor Joshua, who he had invited them
specifically to hear the teaching that the guests had come with. A number of
women, about 10-15, and children turned up for the meetings at Pastor Joshua’s
compound and Pastor Murungi taught very simply on salvation from the conversion
of Zacheaus, Lydia and the Philippian Jailer. He preached in Swahili while
Pastor Joshua translated to Pokot.
On Monday morning, Pastor Murungi spent the morning counseling a couple
that would like to get married in October. Nicholas and Claudina (Claudina is
Pastor Joshua’s sister). Later we joined the older men for the camp in Kamketo
for their annual camp. There were over 50 men present. We were told that the
numbers this year were low because many men had taken cattle to Uganda for
grazing. They received very little rainfall this year and so there is not
enough pasture for their cows on the Kenyan side.
At the camp themes on the gospel, walking in the Spirit and marriage
were handled. There were many questions touching on polygamy and the topic of
the Holy Spirit. Polygamy is quite a challenge there and most of the older men
even in the church are polygamous. Most of them came to know the Lord when they
had already married many wives. Our host pastor told me that polygamy made it a
bit difficult to find local leaders for the churches there. Illiteracy is also
a problem among the older men as most are not able to read the Bible even in
the Pokot language. So there was a request to consider adult literacy from the
men, because they would like to learn to read the bible for themselves. One of
the ways that the brethren want to deal with this problem is to start a
theological college that could train men who do not much education.
Peter got an opportunity to preach Kamketo Primary School on Wednesday
afternoon. He preached in Swahili from 1 John 3:1-10 about ‘the children of God
and children of the devil’. He found preaching in Swahili very challenging.
During the Q&A session at Men’s camp in Trinity
Baptist Kamketo
The brothers there are working on starting a girls’ secondary school at
Kamketo. They plan to use part of the primary school’s land. The bricks for the
school have already been made and being cured. We travelled with Andrew to pick
up the school development plan from the Ministry of Labour and Public Works in
Kapenguria.
Please keep praying for the Lord’s work in this area.
Peter Kivati
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