VICTORY, I SAY AGAIN...VICTORY!! @ 07 Sep 2008

One of my life's verses is Acts 26:18. Living in Turkana, I have seen that verse come alive time after time. Today, God revealed Himself yet again!! For those of you that may be new to my journal, I have been working in the village of Natiir for almost 2 years. False reports...lies, have come to the people of Natiir twice. They have been told I am a devil worshipper and if they allow me to work in their village, the children will die. They were told on another occasion that I love to drink the blood of Turkana children and if they welcome me back in the village, their children will die. I have answered this lies as best I could. I also have brought and sent my friends to teach the Bible and to show that I am not the man I have been accused of. I have met with the elders of the village and they have assured me that they know the reports were nothing but lies and have welcomed me to continue my work. Today, wow!! Today, over 200 people came for our worship service. There were so many (we have yet to baptize and organize into a church so there is no building) that we split into 3 different groups to sit under the shade of the trees. We were close enough that if I spoke up (that's one thing i can do) everyone could hear. It was awesome!! We started at 9am and finished at 3pm. Yes, that is a 6 hour service! I taught the last half of the book of Philippians. All but 3 of those there can not read. However, they are so hungry for the Word of God. I had only planned on teaching the first 10 verses of chapter 3. But they would not let me stop there. They wanted to know how the letter ended! Never, never have I been among such spiritually hungry people. Since I feared that they would not be able to take the Word home with them, we spent some time teaching 4:13 until everyone there could say it from memory. You should have seen their smiles and the sparkle in their eyes when they said their verse. They all left repeating 4:13...taking the Word of God home...for the first time! We talked a long time about we should do next. 87 people gave their names and we talked to each and everyone to make sure of their salvation, they want to be baptized. We will do that in November when my favorite guests (the thompsons) come from arkansas. We will also build a church house during their trip...because the Turkana's favorite fundi is coming back...Josh! Please pray for Natiir! They want to know God, His Word, and His way. I want to help them do that. And as we learned today, Nayaweza mambo yote katika Yeye anitiaye nguvu! The devil tried to stop the people of Natiir from receiving the Word of God, but Victory came instead for God and His people. Their eyes have been opened and they have turned to the Light! Much love to all who pray for the Turkana people, Ekiru