Kenya

We were in Kenya to preach the gospel in prisons, crusades, and churches. There were seven of us who went: Chaplain Rob Brown, Pastor Willie Ripple, Pastor Aurel Balici, Constantin Lupancu, Pavel Sav, George Ieremciuc, and Adrian Greab. Our main focus was to work along side Pastor Joseph Ngara who is the local leader of an established Kenyan prison ministry, Prisoners for Christ, and to establish permanent prison training institute in Kenya. We ministered in eight prisons and we purchased and distributed 288 English Bibles and 500 in Swahili to the prisons. Once we got to Nairobi, we divided into two teams for the week. Here are some of the highlights.

SUNDAY:

-we attended services at Church on Rock, Langata with 300 in attendance in the morning where all of us had an opportunity to speak.

MONDAY:

-we went to Getahuru Rehabilitation School, which housed 120 children between the ages of 8 and 15.

-they are kept there for 3 months in which time they are observed and tested to determine their future classification.

-each child has only one uniform which they wash every night

-we gave each one a piece of soap and we donated some Bibles to the library

-we also visited Jamahuri short sentence prison

-most of prisoners are there for stealing or other minor crimes

-there were about 150 prisoners and some of them were really moved and decided to give their life to Jesus

-we gave each one of them soap and bibles were donated to the library

TUESDAY:

-we purchased 300 full Bibles in Swahili from the Bible League in Nairobi.

-we drove about one hour from Nairobi to the city of Ruiru, where we spoke at the Prison Training College of Kenya.

-there were 1500 students present (including 400 Muslims) that were there to study for 9 months and then be assigned to work in one of the 96 prisons in Kenya. The account of the Philippian jailer was preached.

-also present there were representatives from the Gideons who distributed either a bible in English or Swahili to everyone.

-also we went to Ruiru Government Prison

-there were about 450 prisoners present of which ¼ were Muslims

-we gave each prisoner a Bible and a piece of soap, only 2 Muslims refused the

Bible

-throughout our visits to the prisons, Pastor Moses Mabongah who is a Chaplain at the Training College helped us.

-that night we drove 4 hours to the city of Nyeri and on the way we saw a lot of poor villages.

WEDNSDAY:

-in the morning we went to Kingongo Government Prison in Nyeri, which is divided, into 3 sections: women, medium security and maximum security

-Pastors Balici and Ripple went to medium security

-Chaplain Brown and Adrian went to the women’s section

We even had the opportunity to preach to the prisoners on death row. 6 men raised their hands to ask Christ into their hearts.

-then all 4 of us went in a big yard were all 1500 inmates were brought in so they

could listen to the word of God

-in that moment we wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else in the world. Adrian said this was one of the most unbelievable moments of his life.

-over 200 men raised their hands to give their lives to Jesus Christ

- in the afternoon we drove back to Nairobi and had dinner with the president of Prisoners for Christ and his team/staff , a likeminded organization headquartered near Seattle, to discuss our mutual visions for prison ministry.

THURSDAY

-the whole group got together and we went to the AIM mission headquarters in Kijabe where we delivered Christmas gifts we had transported from their family members in the U.S. to Rob Brown’s friends, Drs. Kevin and Karen Shannon.

-Kijabe is the location of the largest mission station in the world and Dr. Kevin is the director of the 277-bed hospital located there which has a high standard of care compared with most other hospitals in Kenya.

-free time

FRIDAY

-free time

-in the afternoon, brothers Constantin, Pavel and George and went back to Nairobi where they participated in a crusade.

-the rest of us toured the hospital in Kijabe -at night we drove back to Nairobi

SATURDAY

-brother Rob hosted a prison training seminar at the Church on the Rock for the people who were really interested in or already working in the prison ministry; there was very good feedback from them about the day long training

-Pastors Balici, Ripple and Adrian went with pastor Ngara and bought food that they wanted to give away to the poor people.

-at night they packed the food in separate bags

SUNDAY

-we went to pastor Ngara’s church where everyone again had an opportunity to speak

-after church we gave away the food that was bought to 72 families who were very, very poor and who lived near the church.

MONDAY

-we met with the director of Project Phillip at the Bible League in Nairobi to plan the next phase of prison ministry training in Kenya.

-brothers Rob and Constantin went to meet with a lawyer about establishing an NGO in Kenya. Potential board members were also present. The process of establishing Chaplains for Christ International and a permanent Prison Ministry Training Institute in Kenya has begun.