IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!!!!
An African mission written by John Edwards, Pastor of The Edge Church
As many of you know Coni was invited to be the key speaker at a women's meeting in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania. After announcing her mission trip to our church we had a couple from Kenya ask her to also visit their family and church in a city named Eldoret. Coni accepted the invitation to minister at Pioneer Community Church upon completion of her ministry in Tanzania.
As a husband I had some concerns about my wife traveling to a strange and distant part of the world but I had an inner peace that allowed me to do so. I figure that you are safer in the will of God than anywhere else that you could be. We had just returned from a mission trip to England and I had no money whatsoever to travel along with her. I began to ask God to open the doors for me to accompany my wife and at the last minute He did.
On July 21st my son Lee dropped me off at the Atlanta airport where my British Airways flight was delayed for about two hours because of storms. I was already short on time because I was having to fly from Atlanta to London Gatwick and then hop a bus to Heathrow with a three hour window to spare. Needless to say I missed my connecting flight in London. At first I was really bummed out until they booked me for an early flight the next day and then handed me a voucher for a free room in the London Hilton! I then checked into my room and watched all the news drama about the suspected suicide bomber that had been shot that day. It turns out that I was also on a bus nearby and about the same time when the police shot him.
The next morning I flew from London to Nairobi, Kenya and arrived there late Saturday night. At the Nairobi airport I was greeted and picked up by Pastor Daniel Chelegat and his brother Joel. Their brother Charles and his wife Jennifer have been long time members of The Edge.
We then went on the longest, most terrifying road trip that I have ever been on! The road from Nairobi to Eldoret is filled with thousands of deep pot holes, hairpin turns in the mountains, carjackers, Kenyan police with AK 47's, wildlife, and lots of careless drivers going the wrong way. We saw many wrecks and broken down vehicles along the way. I would rather drive with no seatbelt and no helmet on bad tires at Talladega than to ever travel that road again. We cheated death over and over.
We finally arrived in Eldoret a few hours later. By then I had a new prayer language and and a new revelation of why we pay taxes! The best thing was that I was reunited with my wife Coni who had made the same trip during the daylight. We then crawled into our mosquito net for a short nap before the church services began.
Pioneer Community Church is about two years old with hundreds of members. As we arrived at the church to minister we were greeted by dozens of the sweetest people that we have ever met. Praise and worship was very moving. It was an emotional experience to me. Kenya is a very beautiful country. Many parts of it reminded me of Hawaii. I saw green mountains almost as high as the Rocky Mountains, and waterfalls that were so high that they didn't even look real. The people were beautiful too. They were so grateful for our visit and showed us the greatest of hospitality. For all of its beauty, Kenya is filled with some of the most tragic poverty imaginable. We saw slums where people lived in mud houses, hundreds of dirt roads, grass huts, many communities with no power and multitudes of people everywhere. It truly took me about four days to adjust to it all.
Our services there were awesome! I ministered on Mark 11:23 and the power of our confession. Coni and I laid hands on hundreds of people for all kinds of needs. We were the first ever Pentecostal preachers to ever preach there! I had intended to share about who we are in Christ but God told me to teach them on how to talk His way.
Later that day Coni ministered to a large crowd on the healing power of God. We witnessed the Spirit of God minister to a lot of people. Many of them have Aids and other diseases and we look forward to hearing all the praise reports that are forthcoming.
One of the greatest highlights of the trip was when we had the honor of ministering to the local pastors. Many of them walked for some distances to take part in these special meetings. Again I ministered on Mark 11:23. It was very difficult to adjust to using a hand held microphone and at the same time using an interpreter but God graced it and it went really well. Again Coni ministered on healing and prosperity. We laid hands and moved in the gifts for quite some time. Pastor allowed us to minister in three different services with both of us getting our own time to share so we were able to cover a lot of ground in a hurry.
On Tuesday we dropped Coni off at the airport so that she could fly back to Tanzania. After she took off Pastor Daniel then took me all over the place and I had many opportunities to witness in the streets and to pray with people. He even took me to his daughters' schools to pray for them. The greatest honor of the whole mission trip was the night that they took us to their mother's house away out in the country. We had a fine dinner and then went outside to star gaze. I can't describe how many stars you can see in that black sky when you are hundreds of miles away from any cites! It was truly breathtaking. It was a special privilege to be able to pray for the pastor's mother.
On Wednesday morning I flew in a prop plane from Eldoret to Nairobi to catch my flight to London. I arrived at the airport 12 hours early and they would not allow me to check in. With nowhere to go, I sat in a bar across from the terminal all day long. There was nowhere else to go. I watched cartoons for hours. I was surrounded by Muslims most of the time and felt like I really stuck out like a sore thumb! Finally my flight left for London! I was very happy to get back to the UK. I have been there so many times over the past couple of years that it seems like a second home. As much as I like it though, I did not appreciate my day long layover again! I sat in the airport and read all day before my flight left for Atlanta.
I arrived in the USA late Thursday afternoon where I found that Coni and my mother-in-law had beaten me home. Their airlines had gone on strike while we were in Kenya and I was not certain if even they had even left the country. It was a great joy to see her and my boys there at the airport waiting for me!
I had a great number of experiences in Kenya that I do not feel at liberty to share in this format. One, it would take a few hours and two, some of these things that God has done need to be thought over and prayed over before sharing.
In closing, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you that were praying for us and also to all of you that helped us with the finances. God did many, many wonderful things. Hundreds of lives have been touched and we give God all of the glory!
An African mission written by John Edwards, Pastor of The Edge Church
As many of you know Coni was invited to be the key speaker at a women's meeting in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania. After announcing her mission trip to our church we had a couple from Kenya ask her to also visit their family and church in a city named Eldoret. Coni accepted the invitation to minister at Pioneer Community Church upon completion of her ministry in Tanzania.
As a husband I had some concerns about my wife traveling to a strange and distant part of the world but I had an inner peace that allowed me to do so. I figure that you are safer in the will of God than anywhere else that you could be. We had just returned from a mission trip to England and I had no money whatsoever to travel along with her. I began to ask God to open the doors for me to accompany my wife and at the last minute He did.
On July 21st my son Lee dropped me off at the Atlanta airport where my British Airways flight was delayed for about two hours because of storms. I was already short on time because I was having to fly from Atlanta to London Gatwick and then hop a bus to Heathrow with a three hour window to spare. Needless to say I missed my connecting flight in London. At first I was really bummed out until they booked me for an early flight the next day and then handed me a voucher for a free room in the London Hilton! I then checked into my room and watched all the news drama about the suspected suicide bomber that had been shot that day. It turns out that I was also on a bus nearby and about the same time when the police shot him.
The next morning I flew from London to Nairobi, Kenya and arrived there late Saturday night. At the Nairobi airport I was greeted and picked up by Pastor Daniel Chelegat and his brother Joel. Their brother Charles and his wife Jennifer have been long time members of The Edge.
We then went on the longest, most terrifying road trip that I have ever been on! The road from Nairobi to Eldoret is filled with thousands of deep pot holes, hairpin turns in the mountains, carjackers, Kenyan police with AK 47's, wildlife, and lots of careless drivers going the wrong way. We saw many wrecks and broken down vehicles along the way. I would rather drive with no seatbelt and no helmet on bad tires at Talladega than to ever travel that road again. We cheated death over and over.
We finally arrived in Eldoret a few hours later. By then I had a new prayer language and and a new revelation of why we pay taxes! The best thing was that I was reunited with my wife Coni who had made the same trip during the daylight. We then crawled into our mosquito net for a short nap before the church services began.
Pioneer Community Church is about two years old with hundreds of members. As we arrived at the church to minister we were greeted by dozens of the sweetest people that we have ever met. Praise and worship was very moving. It was an emotional experience to me. Kenya is a very beautiful country. Many parts of it reminded me of Hawaii. I saw green mountains almost as high as the Rocky Mountains, and waterfalls that were so high that they didn't even look real. The people were beautiful too. They were so grateful for our visit and showed us the greatest of hospitality. For all of its beauty, Kenya is filled with some of the most tragic poverty imaginable. We saw slums where people lived in mud houses, hundreds of dirt roads, grass huts, many communities with no power and multitudes of people everywhere. It truly took me about four days to adjust to it all.
Our services there were awesome! I ministered on Mark 11:23 and the power of our confession. Coni and I laid hands on hundreds of people for all kinds of needs. We were the first ever Pentecostal preachers to ever preach there! I had intended to share about who we are in Christ but God told me to teach them on how to talk His way.
Later that day Coni ministered to a large crowd on the healing power of God. We witnessed the Spirit of God minister to a lot of people. Many of them have Aids and other diseases and we look forward to hearing all the praise reports that are forthcoming.
One of the greatest highlights of the trip was when we had the honor of ministering to the local pastors. Many of them walked for some distances to take part in these special meetings. Again I ministered on Mark 11:23. It was very difficult to adjust to using a hand held microphone and at the same time using an interpreter but God graced it and it went really well. Again Coni ministered on healing and prosperity. We laid hands and moved in the gifts for quite some time. Pastor allowed us to minister in three different services with both of us getting our own time to share so we were able to cover a lot of ground in a hurry.
On Tuesday we dropped Coni off at the airport so that she could fly back to Tanzania. After she took off Pastor Daniel then took me all over the place and I had many opportunities to witness in the streets and to pray with people. He even took me to his daughters' schools to pray for them. The greatest honor of the whole mission trip was the night that they took us to their mother's house away out in the country. We had a fine dinner and then went outside to star gaze. I can't describe how many stars you can see in that black sky when you are hundreds of miles away from any cites! It was truly breathtaking. It was a special privilege to be able to pray for the pastor's mother.
On Wednesday morning I flew in a prop plane from Eldoret to Nairobi to catch my flight to London. I arrived at the airport 12 hours early and they would not allow me to check in. With nowhere to go, I sat in a bar across from the terminal all day long. There was nowhere else to go. I watched cartoons for hours. I was surrounded by Muslims most of the time and felt like I really stuck out like a sore thumb! Finally my flight left for London! I was very happy to get back to the UK. I have been there so many times over the past couple of years that it seems like a second home. As much as I like it though, I did not appreciate my day long layover again! I sat in the airport and read all day before my flight left for Atlanta.
I arrived in the USA late Thursday afternoon where I found that Coni and my mother-in-law had beaten me home. Their airlines had gone on strike while we were in Kenya and I was not certain if even they had even left the country. It was a great joy to see her and my boys there at the airport waiting for me!
I had a great number of experiences in Kenya that I do not feel at liberty to share in this format. One, it would take a few hours and two, some of these things that God has done need to be thought over and prayed over before sharing.
In closing, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you that were praying for us and also to all of you that helped us with the finances. God did many, many wonderful things. Hundreds of lives have been touched and we give God all of the glory!
posted by MindBloggling | 5:45 AM
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