Sunday, June 14: Pentecostal Church

Sunday morning came after a restful night. I went out on the patio, and could see the ocean. There is an access path that leads from our apartments to the beach. There were some fishermen visible. It was windy and looked like it might storm, but that never really happened.

Sarah made toast in the broiler, and Kayla made scrambled eggs. I made terrible coffee with a sieve. Timothy and Christine arrived by motorbike and had a bite to eat. Then it was time to leave for church.

We walked out to the street and started walking in the direction we needed to go. A few seconds later, a matatu stopped. Timothy said some magic words in another language, and we hopped in and were on our way. Two hundred shillings ($3) and about five minutes later we were dropped across the street from Bombolulu, a large community of people with disabilities. The church that Timothy attended when he lived in Mombasa meets in a cultural center. It is a Pentecostal church, I will have to ask Timothy the name.

The kids joined the youth group and the adults went to a class which met outside. The kids were also outside, under a large round pavilion. We were in the grass. Our group was talking about prayer. When it was time for the service to start, we carried our chairs back under the grass roof of the pavilion, and found seats. We were all asked to introduce ourselves and sing some songs for them.

One very interesting thing happened during the service. The pastor said he was going to take up a special offering and would not say what it was for. People came up front and gave, and then he revealed it was for Timothy and Christine. Seven years ago, Timothy had gone from this church to start a new church in Gambogi. He went out of obedience to God. No one gave him any encouragement, or supported his move. Now, on this return visit to his home church, his pastor recognized the success of his efforts, and prayed over Timothy and Christine, and asked for continued blessing in their work. This was the first time they had received any real commissioning for their mission. It was a really blessed moment.

After the service, we had tea and a time of fellowship. It turns out that the pastor, Shem, and his wife, Catherine, are homeschooling their children. They had lots of questions, and we hope that we can connect them and Mary (in Nairobi).

While we were talking about us and listening about them, Evey and Christine met with a group of ten women from the congregation with a variety of disabilities. This will further her research, and provided another opportunity to meet people and form friendships in Kenya.

It was a long morning. We finally left about 2:30. A matatu nearly ran us down as we were walking out to the main road, but that gave us the chance to jump in and get a ride back to the apartments. The driver misunderstood our destination and tried to drop us off at Mombasa Beach (a public access road several blocks from where we are staying). When we cleared up the misunderstanding, he took us to the right place.

We cooked spaghetti American style, and enjoyed all of it for lunch. Afterwards we headed to the beach for a little relaxation. It was quite windy and had turned chilly. I should say a little about the weather. Mombasa is known for being hot. The early morning was warm, and grew steamy, even with rain threatening. As it cleared, it did grow pretty hot. This, I guess, is typical. Towards the end of the church service, the wind picked up and it grew chilly. This is fairly odd. It was still cool when we went to the beach. We thought the water was very nice, not warm, but not really cold either. Most of the people on the beach thought it was cold. There were a lot of people walking and playing soccer on the beach. David and Kayla went swimming, others went wading, or sat on a blanket enjoying the beauty of the sand and Indian ocean. The sand is very fine and white, not as coarse as what I experienced along the eastern coast of the US.

Four teenage boys walked by who were signing to each other. Timothy followed them a short distance and struck up a conversation. He brought them back to meet Gail and Christine. It turns out all four were deaf. They talked with Timothy, Christine and Gail a bit, and then went on their way.

Timothy and Christine walked a short way to a Nakumatt (like a super Walmart) for some groceries. When I got back, supper was ready, and Timothy and Christine's motorbike driver was waiting to take them to their apartment. Supper was rice and stir fry. Sarah and I had hot sauce with ours.
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