GODS MESSAGERS IN KENYA GRANDMOTHERS IN AFRICA
The Great Commission urges us to go to all the world.
It tells us to go and work, not only to sit and believe.
Not everyone is able to go, but everyone can send someone.
This is a journal of two grannies' journey to Africa.
The trip to Africa in March was a landmark in my life.
There is the time before Africa and the time after that.
My fellow traveller, Eeva Mäkinen, how everything started for you?
The Lord laid a burden on my heart for Africa years before I got saved
I thought I was never going to go there.
Amazingly, the Lord sent me to Kenya in 2007 -
to meet my sponsor child.
After coming back, I thought that was it!
One year later, God woke me up at night. I started to pray.
God showed me the Kamaguta Church.
There were no roof, windows or doors.
During that prayer God showed -
that there were roof, windows, doors and lights.
Everyone had a Bible, and there was a well in the garden.
Miraculously it all happened in one year.
Again I thought that's the end of the story.
In the autumn one lady came to me.
She promised to pay my trip. I knew it was time to go.
God gave nearly 100 pairs of children's shoes.
I was a bit worried that I might end up travelling alone.
I remembered my dear sister Eeva. I called you.
You were painting your new home. I asked if you'd come with me.
You laid the paintbrush aside, took your calendar -
and asked when would we go.
I answered: 3rd March. You asked to book tickets.
Let's watch the footage.
We visited the First Love Worship Centre.
Here we are actually leaving.
We emailed a lot with the pastor couple and planned the schedule.
We travelled via Istanbul.
Here we are in Nairobi waiting for our luggage.
It was 3 or 4 am.
Inside of these there are baby clothes, our 12 kilos extra.
Here I go through baby clothes which were donated.
Here we meet the pastor couple.
We checked the schedule once more.
We wanted to be as effective as possible.
This took place in Nairobi.
Here we are going to buy Bibles in the local Bible society.
Because of the traffic, we were three hours late.
The shopkeeper promised to wait for us.
Thank God we were able to buy over 100 Bibles in Kikuyu and in English
There is a great need for Bibles.
We needed thousands of local money notes.
We thank all who donated.
The church really needed it.
We have donated over 600 Bibles for the Church.
Still many were left without. We hope to bring more Bibles next time
Here we are going to Tanzania.
We had in total about 46 kilos of shoes.
Our friends carried them to Tanzania, -
so we had to travel there to get them.
We had an opportunity to see local scenery along the way.
It was hot all the time.
Thank God it was a nice gift in the middle of our frosty winter -
to enjoy the warmth of Africa.
Fortunately, it was cloudy and even some rain.
Here we see some local shops and mosques.
The nature was green because of the rain.
Our hostel was at the root of the Mount Kilimanjaro.
This is the market place.
Here we are returning from Tanzania to Nairobi.
It took the whole day. Roads are in bad shape.
Here we are in Nairobi. We go through our souvenirs.
People had donated shoes.
People had bought classroom aid, -
such as multiplication tables and magnetic letters.
Here you can see some shoes. We prayed for each shoe.
We believe that those who wear these will be messengers of God.
This is the local mall.
I'm singing a worship song in Swahili. People came along.
"Ei ole muuta Jumalaa kuin Sinä" "There is no other God"
Local craftsmen sell their products.
We took flowers for the pastor's wife.
In the evening we had a party in Muranga.
Here are some books we bought for the library.
We bought 10 Christian books in English.
We made a notebook for borrowing and returning.
It was for the Church library.
Eeva taught them to knit plastic bags into mats.
We found some tables for classroom in a local shop.
Here we are buying school books from wholesale.
The pastor's wife had planned a shopping list carefully.
You can see the total amount.
One euro is 100 Kenian shillings.
This is from the local market.
We bought Kenian flags as souvenirs.
Here is the meat desk in the local market. The smell was awful.
We bought blue and white flowers for the evening party.
We offered a dinner party for the Muranga Church board.
Friday afternoon traffic in the great city of Nairobi.
We bought notebooks, rulers, sharpeners and pens.
Earlier the children had been writing on the ground.
It was really a joy to give them appropriate school material.
This is our hotel Mukawa in the town of Muranga.
We had a dinner party for the board and we worshipped and sang.
We had the Holy Communion and a dinner.
We shared God's Word and encouraged them.
We opened the local church library.
Here we buy presents to Mercy, Eeva's sponsor child.
Three hens and a cock.
Bargaining going on.
The wilt hens in our car with juice, biscuits and other stuff.
Muranga market place
Here we are buying some juice and biscuits for children
Also we bought some plates and cups.
Here we are going to Mercy's home.
I had tears in my eyes.
It was nice to meet my goddaughter and her parents.
Thank God for this opportunity. We can keep in touch -
and support this family.
You, too, can experience this joy of giving. When you give, you get.
This is their cattle.
Here we arrive at the church in Kamaguta.
This is the well. A friend of mine gave the money for it a year ago.
It's wonderful to see how the fresh water was bubbling.
Worship goes on all the time. Here are some youngsters.
It was wonderful to experience the unity with them.
The meeting was in English and in Swahili.
Wasn't it great to feel the unity?
Thank God. The joy was enormous.
Here are the chairs and the tables we bought for the school.
We bought cups and plates.
What are you doing here?
I'm giving a speech in Swahili.
I think they understood, because they laughed every now and then.
They wanted to test the chairs. There were about 200 children.
My friend gave some worship flags. What a joy!
Here we are in Muranga hospital to share the Word of God.
It was a tremendous joy.
At the end we prayed for the sick.
It was an opportunity arranged by God.
It was very touching.
We were completely depending on God's guidance.
I felt myself so little.
Here you see the countryside, along the way to the church.
There are mud houses.
The roads were a little in bad shape.
More or less.
Fortunately it was not raining.
Rain would have damaged the roads.
We had to pray, when we drove. The drivers were good.
We thank for all the prayers.
As you can see, there were all kinds of situations.
This is an advertisement of the meeting.
It was easy for them to learn one name, Eeva.
Here we are in a church service.
Youngsters' faith is strong. They are praying hard.
Thank God! The Lord has answered them.
People worship a lot.
It's a bit different from what we are used to.
The joy is infectious.
It was very touching. I'll remember it as long as I live.
Children line up for food.
We fed the church twice.
They were excited.
There were no paper cups or plates.
We bought plastic cups.
Children are very excited.
We gave them food and juice.
We prayed for the Bibles before handing them out.
It was a joy to give them Bibles.
People can't afford them.
Their earnings are just one euro per day.
We will invest more in this in the future.
Here you see how happy the children were when they got shoes.
Many thanks for the donator, a shoe seller, who gave 100 pairs of shoes
The joy was unbelievable, when they started to dance.
They had old shoes and many didn't have shoes at all.
They got brand new shoes. What a great joy it was.
It was deafening.
We bought some plants.
We tried to make them see that the church garden can be beautiful.
Before we went to the countryside, -
we bought a bicycle for the pastor.
We wanted to buy a car, but we couldn't afford it this time.
A bike is a necessity, when he visits the church members.
He used to walk before. Catherine got a lift.
Here we are taking the bike to the church.
Here we prayed for the bike.
Here the kindergarten children are learning letters.
They were very interested in white people.
The tables and the chairs were already in use.
Here we are planting a tree.
We hope to see the tree, when it's grown up.
It was always a tremendous joy.
We handed out maize seeds.
Here is a demonstration how to plant maize -
and how place the seed in the soil.
Everyone got one kilo of maize seeds to take home.
They have sown seed. We wait for what God is doing.
Joy and singing was great again.
This is the pastor's office. He wants to give thanks.
Kiitos siitä, että olette ostaneet meille pöytiä, tuoleja ja kirjoja.
Voimme kehittää lapsityötä.
Haluamme kiittää teitä siitä.
Kuten näette, meillä on haasteita edelleen.
Tilamme eivät ole kovin käytännölliset.
Käytämme kirkkosalia. Joskus rukoilemme täällä.
Rukoilkaa, että saisimme paremmat tilat lapsityölle.
Kirkkosali tarvitsisi uutta maalia pintaan ja muuta kohentamista.
Olette nähneet, missä kunnossa tilat ovat.
Kaikille ei riitä tuoleja jumalanpalveluksessa.
Tarvitsemme tuoleja lapsille ja aikuisille.
Uskon, että yhdessä rukoillen asiat etenevät.
Jumala voi avata ovia.
Toimistohuoneeni on pieni.
Opettajat käyttävät huonetta, joten en voi käyttää tätä itse.
Toivomme saavamme suuremman toimiston, -
jotta voimme palvella lasten äitejä ja muita.
Toitte meille kukkien taimia. Tarvitsemme puutarhurin, -
joka hoitaa kasveja.
Lapset nukkuvat luokkahuoneessa.
Olemme pyytäneet Jumalaa antamaan meille patjoja.
Toivon, että otatte tämän asian sydämellenne -
ja alatte rukoilla, että saisimme patjoja.
Ruokaohjelma tarvitsee myös kehittämistä.
Olette nähneet, millaisia haasteita tähän liittyy.
Monien lasten ruokahuolto on puutteellista.
Luotamme, että olemme täällä Jumalan lähettäminä.
Ei ole väliä, miten vahvoja tai köyhiä olemme.
Luotamme siihen, että Jumala tekee suuria asioita kauttamme.
Monenlaista tarvetta on, mutta luotamme Jumalaan.
Kiitos paljon käynnistänne. Se on meille suuri lahja.
Kiitos paljon. Jumalan siunausta.
Tervetuloa itse katsomaan. Otamme teidät avosylin vastaan.
Talo on huonokuntoinen, mutta sydämessämme on tilaa.
Jumala siunatkoon teitä, työtänne, -
kotejanne ja kotimaatanne.
Tervetuloa uudelleen!
Kertokaa rakkaita terveisiä suomalaisille.
Rukoilemme puolestanne. Toivotaan ja uskotaan, että tapaamme vielä.
Kiitos! Jumalan siunausta!
Thank God we can be a part of this work.
We challenge every viewer to come along.
I think our mission starts from home.
We can help our neighbours and elderly people.
I have seen that God can erase borders.
It's not impossible to fly to Africa.
I've seen God make great things and open doors.
Just be bold and go!
Here it was in a nutshell.
Thank God we were able to go there with the message of Jesus.
Hopefully we can go there soon again.
With many friends!
I want to thank all of you, who were praying for us -
and supporting us financially.
We hope that many of you will come along the next time.
I believe the Great Commission is for each of us.
Start at your home and in the neighbourhood.
There are many elderly people and people who are alone.
God's every messenger should go on boldly!
Thank God that He prepares and erases borders, -
and we see that Africa is not so far away.
What a joy it is to give! If you give, you get.
We can't touch the whole world, -
but we can take joy and hope to one person's world. Come along!
JOHN 15:16: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you -
to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last.