Core Combat Eldoret: Whoever Serves Me Must Follow Me

Core Combat is an initiative of The Navigators Eldoret and Western to train students to become laborers.  Our theme for this year was John 12:26 which says (let me see if I can quote it from memory), "Whoever serves me must follow me.  And where I am my servant also will be.  My Father will honor the one who serves me."

Here I was leading a study on "Devotions or Devotion"and
we learnt that God wants us to focus on "the one thing"
Psalm 27:4.  

We spent the first half of the time getting ourselves heavily into the scriptures, prayer and fellowship.  We learnt to work together as team and do chores together.  We did everything for ourselves - cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, fetching water and firewood.  Some of us did some things we are not used to doing or never did before.  For some like me it was washing clothes in a flowing river and for others it was either reading ten chapters of the bible a day, memorizing scripture or cooking on three stones.  Hence Core Combat.  They says pictures speak louder than words, so enjoy the slide show or not!

Going to the river to fetch water.  

On the right, you see me with a can and a friend fetching water.  The river was not very far but it was a long distance enough for us to review between 5 to 12 verses on the Topical Memory System (TMS).  The TMS is a simple, easy-to-use tool developed by The Navigators to help believers memorize key verses that point to basic truths and important instruction.  The one we are currently using has only 60 verses that are grouped into 5 (12 verses in each group).  One of my highlights was memorizing the verses in the evenings and there are some verses we had to repeat soo many times because some unnamed individuals kept adding things that were not there or removing others like an "S" or "the".  We laughed so hard it took us an hour or so to memorize 12 verses word perfect and share what we heard God speaking to us from the verses and praying back those thoughts back to God.

It was our turn to prepare dinner.  

Time to prepare dinner was not only time to bond as we showcased our "good cooking skills" :-) but it was also time to catch up on our scripture memory and bible reading.  On the left, you can see Paul seating in the background (he was not feeling well) but he read 10 chapters for us from the book of Mark while Njoro and I prepared dinner.  On other days, while our group fetched water, another group listened to the audio bible while making chapatis.  They did not employ the services of Paul to read for them....ha ha.

It was fun to wash clothes in a flowing river  for the first time in my life.

In the "Conference Room" doing a study

           

Studying God's Word under warm sunny weather

Leaving Eldoret to Sirembe, Siaya for ministry outreach 

The "soldiers" are equipped and on
their way to transform the Nations

                                                                                                                                                     

Some fun & adventure!!!

               

Ministering at Sirodha Primary School in Sirembe.  Almost the
entire school (Class 4-8) prayed to receive Christ. 

Ministering at Ndegwe Seconday school.  About 7 students
committed their lives to Christ.

Relaxing in Sirembe after an afternoon of ministry.

On our way to Church on Sunday.

A friend I met at Church.  She taught me
a few Luo words.

In Church in Sirembe after the service.  We were fed like kings
and queens.  It was such a nice meal that you can even see from
our faces.

Waiting for a Matatu to Kisumu in Kodiaga.  

We got to Kodiaga from Sirembe on
motorbikes.

In short, whoever serves Our Lord Jesus Christ, the same must follow Christ.
We must follow Christ in obedience to the great commission he has entrusted to us.  And we also follow him as we seek to become more like him.  Eventually, as we spend time with the one we love, we become more like him.  We become like him in the area of character and how we respond to pain and suffering.

Holy Spirit Moments: Is The Lord With You?

"One of them said he knew a young fellow in Bethlehem, the son of a man named Jesse, who was not only a talented harp player, but was handsome, brave, and strong, and had good, solid judgment. “What’s more,” he added, “the Lord is with him.” " 1 Samuel 16:18(TLB)

        We had door-to-door evangelism at Kenya Science today and we reached two girls who were already born again.   We encouraged them and prayed with them.   One thing that was very clear like with so many believers today,  is the fact that they lack discipleship.   We have a lot of converts but very few disciples yet the mandate Jesus Christ left us is to make disciples of all nations.   Please pray that these students will be rooted and grounded in the Lord.

            On my way home,  in the bus, I sat next to the driver like it has become my custom.   I had sincerely not planned to share the gospel with the driver or the passenger on my left side.   So after exchanging pleasantries, I took out my phone to continue with my Systematic Bible Reading.   I had finished 1 Samuel chapter 15 earlier and was to start on chapter 16.  

            But little did I know that the Holy Spirit was setting me up to preach to the two guys.   I heard him say,  "ask them if you could read out the chapter to them."   I wanted to ignore the voice but I had read the previous chapter where Saul disobeyed the Lord and we all know the consequences -  he was rejected as king.   

            I then decided to go with the "flow" of the Holy Spirit.  So we read the chapter and the Holy Spirit had me focus on the profile of David as a leader God chose to replace Saul.   He zeroed in on verse 18 (quoted above) that the Lord was with David and tied it with psalm 23.  As I alighted at my stage/destination the Holy Spirit had me ask Mohammed and Symo whether the Lord is with them.

So pray that:-

• Mohammed and Symo will seriously ponder on that question and that they will desire a relationship with the Lord like that of David and the Lord.
• The Lord will guide me to many more souls that He wants me to share the gospel with.