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Kenya 2011 Mission

A team of 7 from the UK left for Mombasa on Monday 11th July for the Barnabas Mission to Kenya. (Clive, Ann & Grace McIntyre, Michael Woodger, Pamela Holloway and Abigail Meakins, went for two weeks and David Senior went for the first week only). Staying in different accommodation but joining the mission for the same two weeks were 4 from Romania (Dan & Cristina Porut with

their son, Matei who is nearly 3 plus Florenta Vilau).

During the first week, activities included visits to Pastor Doreen's lunch time church meetings, a local orphanage, the New Life Church Sunday meeting, Door to door visits and open-air evangelistic outreach. Erasto and his wife, Eget, travelled from Nairobi to join us. A lovely couple, both originally from Congo and only recently married, their praise and worship was well received at many of the events and in particular at the open-air meetings where they performed as the guest singers. During the second week, further door to door visits were made, which were followed by the showing of films at the church. The first evening, the Jesus film was presented in Swahili (2 hours long) and Part 1 of the Moses film was shown the following evening. It was lovely the way in which those watching the films appreciated the miracles of Jesus and His resurrection by clapping and cheering. There were Revival Meetings for two consecutive evenings and a special evening for Couples on the final Saturday. After a talk, testimony and games, which included attempts to identify partners by feeling only their hands whilst blindfolded, everyone was treated to a Romanian meal. The Romanians, dressed in National Costume, served the meal they had prepared and while everyone was eating, sang Romanian songs and presented a slide-show of pictures of Romania. That same Saturday, in the morning, a number of the team organised activities for the children. Over 100 children from the Bokole area came to the church site

for games, juice and an animated film about Jesus. On the final Sunday, the team split so that two church meetings could be attended, one being New Life.

Most of our programme (all except Pastor Doreen's in Mombasa town and the orphanage on the other side of town) was based around the church and plot of land in Bokole, outreaching to the local community there.

Throughout the mission, members of the team were involved with preaching, teaching, sharing personal testimonies, dramas and prayer ministry. It was evident from our home visits around Bokole that the church has become known and accepted there. An active evangelistic team is having a great impact on locals living in the community and during our visits, many were willing and ready to receive Jesus as their personal saviour. We were

also encouraged to see a number of people attend church meetings who had recommitted themselves to the Lord during the home visits.

We were encouraged to see the progress that is being made by New Life Church. Apart from the obvious impact on the local community and the apparent spiritual changes taking place, it was good to see further developments on the plot of land. The well is in place and being used to provide free, clean water to the community and it should not be too long before the hand-pump and protective cover can be installed. The toilet block is structurally finished, waiting to be connected to the water supply and then tiled and painted. Additional panels have been put up on the second half of the roof of the church building and part of the floor area has been concreted. There is still much to do before the full vision for the site is complete, which includes the church, a school and a clinic. We return to the UK determined to help raise further funds to support the ongoing work and development of the Mombasa Community Project.

Thank you to all who lifted us up in prayer while we were away. We praise God for the salvations (over 30) and healings witnessed, for making the mission itself possible, for travelling mercies, for opportunities to strengthen our faith and above all, we thank the Lord for all the great and wondrous things He has done.

Romania 2011 Report

A small team of 3 (Clive & Ann M

cIntyre plus Pamela Holloway) set off on Friday 8^th April for the 2011 Barnabas Mission to Romania. 5 nights were spent in Rosiori, working with Pastor Viorel Trasca and members of Rosiori Baptist Church.

We received a warm welcome and rekindled relationships with many folk we had missed dearly, having not visited Romania since May 2009. We soon felt

like we had never been away.

During our time on mission, we went to the nearby village of Balaci for home visits and church meetings. We attended the Sunday evening church service in Rosiori, plus a mid-week meeting there. We also made lots of visits to people in their homes in Rosiori and surrounding villages, including Sfintesti and Vacaresti, taking Holy Communion to some who are unable to attend church meetings. Cake was offered during many a home visit and on one of the days, to be polite, we all had to make a great effort to find room for the tiniest piece we could find on the plate! And on one occasion, as our hosts had killed a pig that day, we were offered the skin of the pig – a speciality, but not at all like pork scratchings!

We were so blessed to have Florenta with us to translate and organise things. It was also wonderful to meet up with Lenuta, Dan, Cristina & Matei, who travelled from Bucharest to join us for the day in Balaci on Sunday.

Although we were there for only a short time, we witnessed salvations and healings and we were grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord by bringing hope, peace and encouragement to many a home.

Mision to Kenya 2010 report

A small mission team (5 from the UK and 2 from Romania) travelled to Kenya on 12th August 2010 and spent just over two weeks in one location – Mombasa. Our focus was to work with New Life Church, led by Sean & Joyce McIntyre, to encourage the work of the church in the area where they are now based. We were made very welcome as we attended church events on three weekends and worked alongside church members with outreach activities during the week. This included open-air street-work, home visits and church-based meetings (Revival meetings and a ladies conference) plus a day of fun & games on the beach for the children.

The church, still under construction, is in the poverty-stricken area of Bokole. A donation, received just before we left for Kenya, was well received by the church as they were able to complete the roof panels over one half of the main structure. This was a particular blessing because now that the additional panels have been fitted, church attendees are better protected from heavy rain showers.

It was encouraging to see the progress that has been made on the plot of land since our visit in August 2009. Members of the New Life Church family have worked hard to clear the land from debris, flatten the area and cut back the long grass. Currently without a perimeter wall to keep them out, cows and goats use the land for grazing. Whilst this is advantageous in providing a natural method for cutting the grass, certain deposits have to be cleared prior to Sunday church meetings! Most impressive was the framework for the main church centre, giving a more realistic impression of its future structure. During our time there, work was carried out to complete and cover the septic tank in readiness for the construction of the toilet blocks. Conversations with local residents highlighted their enthusiasm for the facilities that the Community Centre, School & Clinic will provide and confirmed the need for such amenities in this particular area of Mombasa. We also heard reports that since the church had started meeting there and local residents were being employed where possible for the building work, the crime rate had reduced dramatically.

One highlight for the team was the invitation to attend the marriage between Richard, from the New Life Church congregation, to Christine. This took place on our first Saturday in Mombasa and was a wonderful African-style wedding, with lots of bridesmaids and attendants, numerous songs and plenty of cake. The groom did so well with all his duties on the day and of course, the bride herself looked stunning. We appreciated the opportunity to celebrate this very special occasion with them.

During home visits and various times of prayer ministry, all members of the team enjoyed the opportunities we had to serve the Lord and we witnessed numerous healings and salvations. We praise God for making the whole mission possible and thank Him for all His good works.

Barnabas Mission to Kenya 2009

A team of 10 had a wonderful mission experience in Kenya during August 2009. The group, led by Clive & Ann McIntyre, included 5 from the UK, 4 from Romania and 1 from America. The first area visited was Eldoret. After a few days acclimatising and some mission preparation sessions, we started working with Peter Odhiambo. Peter moved from Mombasa last year to plant a church in Eldoret, under the banner of Barnabas East Africa. He faced some difficult challenges. Eldoret suffered immensely from the election riots the previous year and the community is still recovering even now. Then, within 6 months of moving there, Peter's young wife, Rita, died. We appreciated the opportunity to work with Peter and other local Pastors who got together to organise a programme for us which included home visits, open-air meetings, church services and revival meetings. Talking to people that we met in the streets or in their homes proved to be very effective, as they were open to hearing about Jesus and how He could bring hope, healing and change. As a team, we felt we were productive in encouraging the local churches and heard afterwards that numbers attending Sunday meetings had increased. It was great that Sean & Joyce McIntyre were able to travel up from Mombasa to work with us in Eldoret. They returned to Mombasa to prepare for our time there later on while we travelled on to Uranga.

As in previous years, we were welcomed in Uranga by Baba Richard & Mama Mary who provided accommodation for us all in their home. We enjoyed simple living and basic facilities, but a real sense of closeness to God and fellow team members. From our base in Uranga, we were able to outreach the local vicinity as well as commute to Ugunja, where William Omollo is continuing with his ministry. Our time both in Uranga & Ugunja was well spent, with home visits, either planned or spontaneous, church meetings and various programmes for children, teaching for men and ladies plus a visit to a local hospital. We were well received at the hospital, where we prayed for those on the wards as well as a great number of people waiting to see a Doctor in the outpatients queue. On returning the next day, we were excited to find that so many people prayed for had been discharged. Beds had become available for new patients who we then prayed for. Whilst prayers for healings and salvations were rewarded, we also heard some sad stories from individuals that were emotionally difficult. We could not, of course, have stayed in Uranga without spending some time at Mama Bettie & Papa Jerry Duha School. After being shown around the school, we brought songs, a drama and teaching to the children and then had lunch with teachers and members of the school committee. Funding received through local Government grants and from the Parents' committee has enabled the school to make a number of further improvements, which follow progress made as a result of funds previously provided through Barnabas supporters. After a week in Uranga, we moved on to Mombasa, spending one night in Kisumu on the way due to our early flight departure.

Our days in Mombasa were filled with further home visits, church services, open-air evangelistic outreach and revival meetings. We walked around two areas; stopping to talk with those we met to share the good news of Jesus. One was the area of Magongo, around the church site and the other was the area of Bokoli, where the church-owned plot of land is. Many invited us into their homes for prayers of healing & salvation. Sean talked about the vision for the plot of land which includes a school and the church community centre. It was encouraging to see work on the bore-hole had begun and we were pleased that funds had become available to commence work on a permanent structure for the church. This has to be God's timing as the church was given notice to either vacate their current premises or pay an unreasonably higher rent with effect from 31st August. As we spoke to people living around the plot of land, it was clear that the new church would be welcomed and is much needed.

There are so many highlights from this mission. A man in Eldoret, previously a Pastor, had fallen away from the Lord but made a recommitment after spending about an hour talking through issues with members of the team. This resulted in a promise that part of the land he owned could be used by Peter to build a church, as this had been his original vision. Also in Eldoret, a man totally blind from birth was able to make out the light at the windows and identify objects in the room after prayer. In Mombasa, a man came forward for prayer; he had been suffering from pain in his leg for a couple of years and the bones could be felt clicking as hands were laid on him and he received healing. A woman visited in her home was found lying on her bed. She had been bed-ridden for a year after a fall; she was unable to eat and was extremely weak. She shared that bad Spirits had a hold on her and she was under a curse. After much prayer for deliverance and healing, she felt strength come into her body and was able to stand and walk, triumphantly praising the Lord. Another highlight, although completely unrelated to healings and salvations, was the opportunity to visit Mama Sarah, the grandmother of President Obama. Stopping at her home on our way from Uranga to Kisumu, we were able to ask her questions, take pictures and we even prayed for her.

Many other blessings were witnessed such as safe travelling and the amazing way in which we managed to avoid heavy rain showers and achieve the Lord's work. Team members were encouraged to report back each day how many they led to the Lord in prayer and an overall total of 153 salvations were recorded. On hearing this at the debriefing session, we rejoiced in the fact that we had been able to serve an awesome God in such a powerful way, as fishers of men, as we read together John 21:11 “Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn”.

Reminiscences from Romania

Mission participant Margaret Drummond shares her experiences in Romania

A team of nine set off from Ewell at 7am on Friday 22nd May for the Barnabas Mission to Romania 2009. The oldest member was Mike Woodger (86 years old) the youngest members were Grace McIntyre (14 years old) and James Fraser (15 years old). We were a very mixed bunch. We stayed in the town of Rosiori, working with the local Baptist Church there but also visiting the nearby villages of Balaaci, Sfintesti and Vacaresti.

On the mission trip, we took part in home visits, door to door work, church meetings each evening, visiting an old people’s home and Sunday School work. This was different in that we held the Sunday School Class in the church yard because the key could not be found for the “up the ladder” loft room. The children’s ages ranged from 2 to 14 years and despite all the distractions outside, they still managed to listen to the story and drama and enjoyed songs with actions.

The highlight of the week for me was a visit to a lady’s home in the village of Balaaci. Maria was born with only one leg and is now 70 years old, living with her 97 year old mother. Teams have visited her over the years whilst on previous missions but each time, Maria did not feel able to accept Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. Those who visited Maria last year left her the Prayer of Commitment, written out in Romanian on a calendar. On this occasion, she excitedly greeted us, eager to tell us how she had read that prayer for herself and how it meant so much to her now. She rushed in to the house to bring out last year’s calendar with the prayer written on it to show us and was very sincere. Although her life is hard, growing crops in a small plot surrounding her single storey dwelling and taking care of her elderly mother, she displayed a different attitude to life and an obvious recognition of the Lord’s love, protection and provision. We enjoyed picking strawberries with her in the garden and she was delighted to give these to us as a gift to share with the others. Later that afternoon, a lift was arranged so that Maria could attend the church meeting. She met a lady there and invited her to visit her at home - we had visited this lady earlier who had told us that she wasn’t liked in the church. It was great to witness God’s grace abounding!

Another incident that really surprised me was a family we visited comprising of a young girl with five children, the oldest about 11 years, in Sfintesti. All the children were in the garden, playing in the dusty earth while we chatted to the mother. We told her that there would be a service in the church up the road and she was very welcome to come. She got the children cleaned up and all of them turned up at church in clean clothes. What an effort she had gone to, just because we had spent time talking and praying with her over the garden gate.

The ladies’ meeting in Rosiori was a very special time also. Nine Romanian ladies of various ages attended. One younger lady had left work especially early in order to get to the meeting on time at 6pm. The theme was finding the presence of God and remaining in it. They loved to hear us talk and share testimonies of God’s amazing goodness.

One thing that struck me in particular was that the people in the churches love to be prayed with. They willingly share and ask for prayer. They know their need of God.

I was nervous about going on the mission initially, but I learnt such a lot about myself, the Romanians (very warm and loving people) and our gracious and wonderful Lord.