A Day in the Mission at Maseno, Kenya

Sherry Mitry - November 27, 2007

We are in Maseno, Kenya (a small village that is not on the map, but you can find Kisumo on the map, which is approximately a 30 minute drive from Maseno). I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Thank God, everything is going wonderful!  He has been teaching us a lot and I believe he is using us in mighty ways, as well!

Just to give you an idea of what a typical day is like...Today we woke up around 5:00 and did our quiet time and showered.  We meet together at 7:45 to pray together and share our quiet time.  Then we provide guidance/instruction to those working in the monastery and head out to service.  Today, a young woman from England and I met with approximately 8 young ladies at St. Mary's church in Kisumu.  We are trying to start a small group with these ladies.  We are focusing on discipleship and trying to build up the ladies so they can serve and set examples for the younger ladies and teenagers.  We basically had a meeting very similar to our small group meetings in the states, however, they struggle quite a bit with opening up.  We are trying to build a comfortable environment for them.  It started out slow, but thank God he really moved in the heart of the ladies and we had an amazing prayer meeting at the end where they really opened up in their prayer (of course, we didn't understand it because it was in their mother tongue (Luo), but one of the girls summarized it for us.

After small group we returned to St. Mary's church and met with Fr. Thomas' (the priest of that church) wife.  She shared with us her story of how God worked in her life and how He worked in Fr. Thomas' life and how He brought them together.  It was really an amazing story of faith and not caring about the world!  We also discussed some cultural issues with the young women (things related to being married, having kids, etc) so that we could better understand the problems they face.  Afterwards, we met with the servants (which were unfortunately all men).  We had a Bible study with them and talked and prayed about idols in our lives and things that keep us from giving God our entire heart.  We returned to the center for a quick dinner and a Bible Study with the missionaries and the deacons of the Maseno parish.  We studied Hosea chapter 8 and God really spoke to us about how when we have sin or idols in our lives the enemy will pursue us and we have to be prepared for battle and we have to identify and repent of the sin/idols in our lives.  Afterwards we cleaned out a room that was being used for storage because another missionary will be joining us from Germany tomorrow morning and we had to prepare a place for him to stay.  Now (around 11:00 PM) we have all gone to our rooms to read/sleep.

God has really been using us in mighty ways and working in our lives in mighty ways, but the devil has also been fighting in a big way. Here are some things that you can pray for:

1. Unity among the missionaries here (one mind, one spirit, one accord, compassion, brotherly love, humility).
2. Introducing small groups in Kenya
3. Discipleship - Deepening the faith and faithfulness of the current servants; Passion/desire for God and the service; Lack of laziness
4. Not relying on our own wisdom and understanding, but trusting God's guidance and wisdom and leadership
5. The deacons, priests, priest wives, servants
6. For God to work in our lives and transform us through His Word
7. For a good balance between time with God and time in the service

There are probably many more, but I'll leave it at that for now!