Nairobi Trip Mar 09
May 12th, 2009 by admin
Michael, Lean Choo, CN, Sally & I went on a missions trip to Kenya, Nairobi from 26 February to 4 March 2009. All of us belong to the same pastoral group supporting the missions work in Nairobi. Except Sally, the rest of us have actually gone for missions in Nairobi before.
Lisa and Li Chuang are our 2 sisters church-planting in Nairobi. They have been doing missions there since 2005.
One of the challenges that our church-planters faced was in their outreach to Kenyan men. Together with the church-planters, we have been praying to God for many years for greater effectiveness in this area.
Our prayers were answered in the last quarter of 2008! God has blessed us by bringing in many Kenyan brothers into the Nairobi caregroup. Most of these Kenyan brothers are university undergraduates while the rest have just graduated and have begun their working life as professionals. All of them have a heart for God and are eager to serve Him.
Hence the key objective of our missions trip was to equip and disciple these Kenyan brothers. Basically we went for a retreat together and 6 Kenyan brothers (James K, James O, Vincent, Ernest, Javan & David) and 1 Kenyan sister (Faith) joined us.
The first day we went out with some of the Kenyans to visit the Animal Orphanage where the orphaned animals from the safaris are reared. There we manage to see up close and personal some of the Kenyan wildlife. We even got to pat and take photographs with a real, live cheetah! We also went to the rooftop of the tallest building in Nairobi, the Kenyan International Convention Centre, where we got a bird’s eye view of the entire city of Nairobi. Through this outing, we got to know many of the Kenyans better.
In the next few days, we had a wonderful time of training with the Kenyans. Sally & CN taught them many simple yet fun games and ice-breakers which they could play in their caregroups. CN taught some of the brothers some simple guitar chords and shared with them some tips on playing the guitar. I shared a lesson on Covenanted Relationships, Michael on Spiritual Gifts & Lean Choo on Praise & Worship.
On Sunday, we attended the caregroup service. It was a fantastic time worshipping God together with all the Kenyans brothers and sisters. Michael preached during the service and many were blessed and inspired by the sermon. After service, we even had our very own “Amazing Race” where we formed teams with the Kenyans and ran around Nairobi city center to complete various tasks!
On Monday, one of our Kenyan brothers, James K, invited us to his hometown of Nakuru. Nakuru is a small city a few hours drive away from Nairobi. 2 other Kenyan brothers Javan and James O went with us on this trip. We had a great time meeting James K’s parents and visiting his house and his farm. En route, we also visited Lake Elementaita to view the flamingoes.
On Tueday, we went down to Juja which is a small city an hour away from Nairobi. James K brought us to the Roman Catholic orphanage which he volunteers in. We had a splendid time touring the orphanage and interacting with the children there. After that, we went down to Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (or JKUAT). Lisa and Li Chuang are trying to outreach to the undergraduates there by organizing a weekly caregroup at JKUAT. We saw many visitors for the caregroup that day. We had a time of Praise & Worship, Michael shared a teaching and we also prayed for the Kenyans.
All in all, our trip to Kenya was a fruitful one. Many of the Kenyans feedback to us that they were encouraged and they felt ministered by God’s Word and His presence. We too had a excellent time sharing God’s love with the Kenyans. We pray that God will continue to grow the church in Nairobi from strength to strength and continue to make a difference in more and more lives in Kenya.
By Eugene Phang
