My week in Kisumu (actually Awendo, which is some distance from the town of Kisumu) was a mixed bag. As indicated in the graphic I shared in my last post, I was supposed to be speaking at a conference on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, taking two day sessions and an evening session on Thursday and Saturday, and two sessions on Sunday. That simply just didn’t happen.
As mentioned in my last post, I had just one session on Thursday with a small group of young people. On Friday I did the Pastors and Leaders day at Migori, which was great, and I was looking forward to a similar day (but without the car problems) on Saturday.
The morning session was supposed to start at 9, but 11 came and went with no sign of anyone. Many of the local ladies had gone to another conference some distance away for the week, and had not yet returned. So it looked like just one day session, in the afternoon.
But no. By 3.30, still no sign of an afternoon session. Then a storm broke and rain belted down for about half an hour, so loud that it would have been impossible to do anything any way. So no afternoon session, and no night session. Nothing on Saturday. I was feeling frustrated and cheated, and told Isaiah that I felt that his people simply didn’t want what I had to offer. As we talked he shared that there has been massive spiritual attack against not only his church but the churches in general in that area – something that I should have seen (me saying that, not him.)
That attack again became very obvious on Sunday morning. Something hit the church electrical system, taking out all the speakers and the musical instruments. The church services went ahead (I spoke at both) but with limited worship. The people were receptive, but no responses for salvation even though I felt in my spirit that there were definitely people in the congregation who were not born again.
Apparently they wanted me to do a revival meeting on Monday night, but we had already made the arrangements for me to come back to Kitale. Adams, Mary and Abby arrived around 1 yesterday, and of course Isaiah and Caroline insisted that we have lunch before we left. Then Isaiah decided to come with us because he is planning to come to Kitale in June when John Lamb is here, and he wanted to know where to come. It was a long trip, around six hours, but as usual I was a good baby and slept most of the way. Today I am resting, then I have several meetings through the rest of the week.
To add to the challenges and frustrations of the week, I am covered with what we think may be bedbug bites. Itching like crazy. The wife of the bishop at Migori is a nurse, and she suggested a cortisone cream which has helped but I still want to rip my skin off at times. I also have a very sore throat, but without the cough this time. I have asked Adams and Mary to call Elder Enoch, who is the doctor who helped when I had the badly infected leg at the beginning of this trip, to see if he thinks I should have an antibiotic.