Friday 2 March 2012

Africa - Day Three Friday

Well, Gregory had hinted to us that the first day may not start at the advertised 8.30am.  We arrived just on 10 o'clock, to find about 50 delegates were milling around.  I warned the guys that the music was likely to be headache-inducingly loud.  They thought I was overstating the case, until they piled out of the car and staggered into the main hall.  This was just background music until the singers were kitted out with mics.  Then my phone app confirmed it went up over 80 decibels.  Poor Jonny was tied to the computer and projector all day and couldn't escape.  Wakey and Jason boogied around and enjoyed being involved.

The PA finally settled down from its frequent power-outs, and we were underway in about half an hour.  I got to do the "official" talk about Multiply.  Then Ian (Wakey) took over giving some solid teaching on the baptised life.  "The Dove came upon Jesus; the Fire comes upon us."  This carried impact.  At the end of the morning, the numbers had more than doubled.  We ran out of programmes, red crosses, handouts and Multiply dvds.

Lunch was goat stew and rice, all cooked on charcoal in a side room.  I looked for the three pastors we'd met the night before but they'd gone to the local shop.  Jason found them, and also brought back bottles of Stoney, a kind of ginger beer.

We had to drastically prune the afternoon sessions on the Leaders Mind, and the Radical and Prophetic Church.  I finished with two minute to spare before our 4.30pm deadline.  We spend an hour or so de-rigging and chatting to the young guys who were hanging around.  Jonny was doing well with Carlos, and hopes to invite him to UK.  Gregory gathered together the ten or so folks who'd travelled from Uganda for an impromptu discussion how to set up a Multiply sub-network.
 
We came back to Musmark for tea.  This time the almost-predictable traffic horror involved getting gridlocked buy a bus undertaking, a lorry coming towards us on the wrong side of the road, and two vehicles converging attempting to turn right.  In addition, Wakey had suggested we should eat outside, and it was already getting cool.  But, chicken and rice always wins!  With fresh mango juice, and melon to follow, we felt like kings.  As we summed up the day, Jonny confided, "I was praying the power would go out."  We though this was a bit (uncharacteristically) mean, until he explained, "The worship with only the voices was just so good."  We had a chat about who would go to which church to preach on Sunday.  Interesting.

Lots of folks from home had texted or rung with greetings and requests for prayer.  So we knocked up a wish list:
1 The container of donated equipment makes it to Kimilili early next week.
2. Jason and Jonny get good supervision from Pastor Dan, so the time's well spent.
3. We make progress with some young guys who can make it to the UK, with internships in mind.
4. The Multiply leadership team grows, and from Kenya we establish an East Africa regional impact.
5. We get the arrangements for Tanzania sorted out!

Tomorrow really will be an early start.

1 comment:

Neil Jarratt said...

May God open doors!! PS You can always trust Jason to find a Tesco's wherever he is....:-) Praying for you all.....Neil U