2/6/2007
Dear Friends,
Just wanted to send a note that we are back home in Lodwar. We are trying to resume use of our old e-mail address of bwanabob@multitechweb.com Unfortunately, the day our e-mail service resumed we saw that 1204 e-mails had accumulated in our account and at 14.4 kbs we didn't even try to download them. Later that afternoon I was able to get to an internet cafe with satellite uplink, faster connection, but the multitechweb server had been struck by lightening in the meantime. So, when and if you get this e-mail you'll know the server is up and I will have gotten the thousand odd e-mails taken care of.
Our flight home was good, but the road from Eldoret to Lodwar, 240 mi, took us 10 hours to travel.
The Bible Institute classes went very well, we have two new students this year, one young man and one young lady. Ericka really enjoys teaching again. . The second year students have been making good grades on their tests. One of our graduates from two years ago, David Ekorit is now in Sudan helping missionary Julius Gitau. We hear he plans to return to Kenya in February.
The boys are glad to be home and Vance has started "baby school" or what we would call pre-school. The school building is mud with palm leaf roof, but the ladies teaching are nice and every day when we go to get Vance he seems very excited to have been at school with the other children.
There has been rain around the district this week which is very unusual for Turkana this time of year, so if things continue as they appear now we will be having floods May through Sept. It rained on Sunday while I was preaching in the church, it was so heavy on the tin roof that I had to finish quickly. We then began to sing, but again the rain was so loud on the roof that the members in the back couldn't hear what song we were leading in the front. On the way home from church there was so much water in the road that in one mude hole the water was so deep it came up onto the hood of the truck.
Many people have had malaria because of the unseasonable rains, please pray that our boys will stay healthy. Pray for Pastor Geoffrey's family they were all very sick this last week and a few weeks ago their house was robbed of everything; beds, pots, pans, clothes and money they had saved and even some of the church offerings.
We are glad to be home, our kids are loving the warm weather and running with no shoes. Please drop us a line when you can and we hope to get this out to you within a week, this is Africa.
In Christ, Bob Clark
2/8/2007
Hello Everyone,
We are doing fine, the weather is warming up a little to the mid 90's, but it still looks like rain will come again in a couple of weeks.
The ministry the Lord has set before us is growing, there has been one new church started since we left, it is in a village called Nabwee. We are very encouaged by how receptive the local folks are to hearing the Gospel and the locals seem to like how the Pastors preach and teach. A mission that was started several years ago is finally doing much better. The Bible Institute graduate who had started the work at Lokwee wasn't doing very well and fell into sin. As a result he stepped down from the ministry and that allowed another of our graduates, Kevin, who had been very faithful in his local church at Katilu to go to Lokee and begin leading the mission. The latest report is that many are encouraged by his leadership, preaching and teaching. We are hoping that Kevin's home church in Katilu will agree to officially commision him and send him as the missionary/pastor to Lokwee. Granted he has already gone to Lokwee, but we are trying to teach the local churches that it is their responsibility to lay-hands-on and send-out workers into the harvest, and if someone is given the title of missionary or pastor that should come from their local church where they were saved, baptized, discipled and trained in the work of the Lord.
This last Sunday I traveled to visit the church at Kalemenyang. I rode out on the motorcycle, about 35 miles. The church is doing well and growing, they have held four crusades/revivals with the other three churches in that region since we went on furlough. They have asked that I return in March for a batism service.
I'll try to explain a little of what it's like visiting there. When I arrived the pastor had gone to visit church members in the village and wasn't home, but the pastors wife made me scalding hot tea with milk and it was already about 90 F. when I arrived in the morning. All five of his children were home, ages 7 yrs to 6 mos. I began making them little airplanes out of sticks, palm leaves and candy wrappers, they were thrilled and play with them for about two hours. During that time I gave the pastors wife $1.30 and asked her to make chapatis for our lunch, the kids overheard this and began jumping up and down and singing, "chapo, chapo!" I'll have to admit that I'd much rather eat chapatis or flatbread, than corn meal mush anytime. Just before lunch the pastor came home from visiting and we spent the rest of the day visiting and looking at his new irrigation well, which had gone dry. That evening was nice, but the half moon came up at about 3 AM and the local roosters crowed the rest of the night. On Sunday, services started at 7 AM and we didn't finish until about 12:30, I've stopped wearing a watch now, it helps me be more paitent. There were about 20 children and 35 adults in the main service. I didn't see anyone go to sleep and no one complained about the service being long. After the service we returned to the pastors house and had scalding hot tea, the temperature had to have been in the upper 90's. A little later the pastors sister and cousin came in from the bush. His sister, Martha, had been bitten on the finger by a puff adder 5 days previous, she still had enough strength and wits about here to walk 10 hours from where their herds were to Kalemenyang where Pastor Hosea lived. They asked if I had any medicine and all I had on the motorcycle was some Tylenol, Cipro and some antibiotic ointment. The Tylenol made here feel better right away and I went ahead and gave her the Cipro because they had sliced open her finger to try and get the poison out, it didn't look good. We prayed for her and they offered us some buttermilk/youghurt that they had brought all the way with them. Immediately following the buttermilk/yoghurt was lunch, goat meat with chickpea greens and corn meal mush, I ate a respectable portion and then had to lay down. The tea, buttermilk and lunch were about all I could handle. Finally, about 4 PM the temperature in the sun started to drop a little and I loaded the motorcycle and headed for home, it took about 1 hour and 40 minutes to get back to Lodwar. So, that was what Saturday and Sunday was like for me. I enjoy visiting the pastors and it seems that life is rarely dull, but often hot here in Turkana.
Fuel has really jumped in price since we left, gasoline is now $5.41 per gallon and diesel is $4.82 per gallon, I'm using the motorcycle a lot more and trying to plan trips so that I can kill three or four birds with one stone.
Life here can be odd at times, but it is nearly normal for us. I often laugh at the things we see and do; for instance, our old house cat which we super glued back together several years ago is still alive, but is now completely wild and killing the neighbors chickens. We are thinking of snaring him. When we fix dog food we just keep the food that the kids don't clean up, all the scraps, potato peels, carrot peels, bones, ect. Then cook it all together and add corn meal to make a gelatinous goo, let it cool a few hours and that's our Puppy Chow, (dog food as we know it in the States can't even be purchased here). This may seem odd, but consider if we spent the same amount of money feeding our dogs here in Turkana as we do in the US, people here would say we love our dogs more than them, because most families here eat on less than $1 per day.
Ericka here now.
Please pray for our workers Esther and Peninah, they are having a lot of trials right now. Since we have been back their children(4 of them) came down with a severe strain of malaria, Peninah has been feeling very weak and feeling pain in her chest, she also had 2 family members die in 2 days time last week. Last night (Sun) Esther's son was bit by a dog in his lower thigh, a gaping wound. Then this morning Peninah came in with a deep chest cough, then at lunch time she got a call that theives broke into her house and stole everything, down to the bed. Just before the phone call I was talking with Bob that we need to pray over these ladies because of all the trials they are going through, after she got the call about the theft we prayed together. I took her into town so that she could go to her place and find out what was going on. Two hours later, we received a call that they caught the robbers and found half of the stuff stolen and were taking the thieves to the police. All we could say was Praise God, thank you God! Please remember to pray for them, that God will stregthen them and bring health and protection. Thank you!
Hope this wasn't too long for you all, but this is how things are here. Please keep praying for us and God bless you all.
In Christ, Bob Clark
2/24/2007
Dear Friends,
We are all doing well today, the weather has been hot, upper 90's in the shade. Yesterday, Edward came down with malaria, his temp was up most of the day and we had to keep a close eye on him. Today, he is doing much better and we are thankful wehave the means here at home to treat him, but would ask that you pray for him and us. This evening Vance started a fever and achy joints and we started him on the treatment. It is frustrating that we are all sleeping under mosquito nets, I'm spraying in and around the house and Edward and Vance still caught malaria.
The Lord's work is moving ahead. One of our supporters gave funds to help pastor Geoffrey buy a plot to live on in Kakuma, he has been paying rent this whole time. He was so thankful to have received the gift.
Pastor Sammy here in Lodwar started a nursery school at their church this last week, the only problem was they don't have a toilet for the children to use. There are a lot of things you can get away with in Kenya but having a Nursery school without a toilet is not one of them. So to keep pastor Sammy out of jail I've helped him start work on a new toilet. The church had tried to put one in but after digging the hole the rain came and washed dirt and gravel back into the hole they had dug. My part was just to assist what they had already started and help them see it through to completion, (before the health authorities come to inspect.)
Now my odd request of Cattlemen/ Ranchers/Cowpokes and Cowboys. There is a saying here in East Africa that goes something like, "A man without cattle is not a man." A brief explanation, If you or your family do not have cattle or even goats and sheep you are considered poor and will never be lent anything or assisted in any way from someone who does have cattle or animals. Generally, the men here in Turkana who have animals resist the Gospel by saying that Christianity is a religion for women and children, because none of the "real men with wealth" are Christians. So, me being from America and from Barry/Lawrence County, Missouri where we raise more feeder calves than anywhere else except a couple of counties in Texas, I know that this Turkana line of thinking is just not right. Here is my request, If you own cattle or know of someone who owns cattle and is a Christian could you please use a digital video camera and record your testimony as a Christian while standing in front of your cattle, preferably in front of your 2000lb. registered herd bull. If you give tithes and offerings, please feel free to mention that and also if you give to missions out of the proceeds of your herd that would be helpful to mention as well.
You see, Turkanans with cattle have a lot of pride, and as Christians we know that pride is definitely one thing that will keep you from confessing your sin, humbling yourself and accepting Christ. Thankfully in America, we have many examples in our culture of wealthy, respected individuals who openly give God the glory for their spiritual and material blessings. But here in Turkana you can ask almost any missionary if there are wealthy, cattle owners in the churches and we would have to say no. All of the cattle owning men still hold very strongly to the traditional religion of diviners/witch doctors and worship the moon, cattle they own and pray to their ancestors.
My plan. If enough Cattlemen will send me their testimonies with footage of their herd, I will compile it together, have some of our pastors translate the testimonies into Turkana Language and show it when we show The Jesus Film. That way Turkana men can see that REAL MEN, with cattle, do serve Jesus.
All I need is to have the footage taken in a DIGITAL VIDEO format burned to a CD. If you could send it to my home church at:
Fellowship Baptist Church
17818 Lawrence 2200
Aurora MO 65605
Once the CDs are there I can have them brought over to Kenya by one of our visiting groups and we'll edit and translate and give God the Glory. Please feel free to forward this request to any Christian Cattlemen you may know, especially if they might operate a feed lot. Wouldn't that be something for Turkanans to see the spread at Cactus Feeders in Dumas Texas.
My wife had a good laugh after reading this e-mail. If you had a chuckle or two fine, maybe my brain is already fried after a couple of months back in the hot African sun, but I'm serious about this. If I don't hear from anyone soon, then I'll begin to personally write men who I know own cattle or have connections with Cactus Feeders. I believe that our personal testimony is a powerful way to witness, and something we should all be willing to share, weather with our neighbor across the fence or to a proud tribe across the pond in Africa.
In Christ, Bob Clark
PS. Please don't try to e-mail video files to me, we are still third-world around here and no one here has ever heard of High Speed Internet
3/10/2007
Dear Friends,
We are all doing well, all of the boys had malaria two weeks ago, but have recovered very quickly. We keep medicine here at home and are able to give the boys shots of anti-malarial medicine when they first get sick. The shots help them recover much more quickly. I would like to thank members of New Life Baptist Church in Chattanooga TN for sending over children's chewable Ibuprofen and Tylenol. We had to use a combination to keep the boys fevers under control. The Tylenol meltaways were especially helpful. Thank you!
The President of Kenya came to town, Mwai Kibaki. Schools closed, businesses closed, roads were fixed that hadn't been maintained in years, rocks were painted, flags were flown, police patrolled on foot and best of all his arrival was announced via loud speakers mounted on top of trucks this morning at 5:30 AM! I was already up making coffee when they drove through our part of town. I figured that it was something political being announced at 5:30 AM because no one else could get away with it except the ruling government. Anyway, it was loud, accompanied by music that sounded almost exactly like pop-goes-the- weasel that played when I cranked a handle on the jack in the box at my grandparents house years ago. Who would have thought I'd have such fond memories just by listening to the early morning politicking in Kenya.
Bible Institute classes went well this week, please pray for two of our students that continue to struggle to make good grades, their names are Paulina and Samweli. I do believe they try very hard, but because they haven't had much schooling it's a lot of work for them to keep up with the other students and maintain good grades.
I believe we have found a buyer for our little Mitsubishi truck. Pray that it will work out with us selling it and then finding what we would like to buy. The type of truck we are wanting to buy is usually a pretty posh kind of outfit, but the chassis and drive train are well know for their durability and strength, which is what is needed for the roads here. Pray we might find a basic model that doesn't have all the bells and whistles, hasn't been wrecked and one that we can afford.
The last two days we were able to have a pastors meeting here in Lodwar. It was a great time of fellowship singing and teaching. We had new song books in Turkana language and the pastors loved singing from them. I brought one lesson on how to Biblically reprove or rebuke a brother in Christ. Not a subject to be taken lightly for sure. I started the lesson by drawing a military map on the chalk board and marking mine fields on that map. Then I used a compass that I had just given to one of the pastors to explain how a soldier can find his way around danger using a map and compass. Then I took that illustration and applied how the Word of God and the Holy Spirit shows us how to navigate life. Then I asked the oldest pastor from our churches to tell how many other pastors he knew who had fallen from the ministry and what had caused them to fall. Again and again he described how other pastors had taken second wives, which is the cultural norm here in Turkana, and as a result left the ministry. One pastor left over issues with his family wealth. We started in Proverbs about how, "open rebuke is better than secret love" and went through to when Paul rebuked Peter and the parables Jesus gave about unfaithful and wicked servants. The lesson took about six hours and thankfully the pastors were willing to share their thoughts and other scriptures that they believed applied. The fruit of the lesson was no less than the work of God. One pastor who we had tried to help last year when he was accused of improprieties and who had been bitter ever since, openly asked for forgiveness for his bitterness. I along with others asked for his forgiveness for rushing to conclusions and needlessly making him look guilty. Then one of the pastors openly confessed sin that he had fallen into and asked for advice and assistance in confessing the matter before his church and doing what he could to restore his testimony. It was definitely one of those times I knew that the Lord had placed me here to teach that specific lesson on that day to build up His churches here in Turkana.
Some have asked about pastor Hosea's sister who was bitten by a puff adder. She recovered very well and has since returned to the bush to where the family animals are grazing. He said that little by little feeling returned to her arm and hand and that there was no infection of the wound. Praise the Lord!
We had written about Esther and Peninah, the ladies that help Ericka. They and their families are doing well and have passed through this time of difficulty. Esther's son is getting the last of the rabies shots today and Peninah and her family were able to take the one thief to the police and had a case written up on him. Thank you for your prayers for them.
Pastor Geoffrey's son was stung by a scorpion last night and is in hospital now, so please pray for him.
Please remember us for safety and health. Our youngest, 2 yrs, is now taking a stool outside to the truck, uses it to climb up onto the bull bar on the front bumper, over the hood, over the windshield and perches on top of the roof rack of our Land Crusier, about 7 feet off the ground.
God bless you all,
Bob Clark
4/24/2007
Dear Friends,
Thank God it has rained here in Turkana, the first rains were about 10 days ago and it has rained a little here and there since. We hope and pray that the rain continues through the usual rainy season and blesses the land of Turkana. The only problem with rain is that it washes away our roads or turns some of our roads in to a giant mud pit. The road into our district has been closed twice now and when it has closed the whole district is cut of from food and supplies that come in from other parts of Kenya. So far we have learned to get by when this happens, but we hope that it won't become any worse.
This past weekend I traveled out to the village of Lokiriama, it is the last village in Kenya before entering Karamajong district in Uganda. The area has been very insecure over the past few years, but thankfully for the past year and a half there has been relative peace and more people are returning to the village to live and start trading. The last four years we have wanted to start a church there but didn't have anyone prepared to go and live there as a pastor should. Just recently Samweli, a second year Bible Institute student, felt led to begin ministering there under the supervision of his pastor, Joseph. Both Samweli and Joseph were born and raised in that area and are well know by the families, local elders and government officials. Their decision to begin ministering there has been welcomed by almost everyone and from what I saw and experienced the village is in definite need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching from the Word of God. I'll try to briefly explain the condition of the village. About half of the families are making and selling home-brew alcohol. There is an Emeron "witch-doctor" living in or near the village and his talismans and markings are evident on many adults and children. For years the young men of the area would go to raid on the neighboring tribe in Uganda, the Karamojong, so most of the young men are armed with AK-47 rifles.
Our ministry there on this trip was to walk around the village sharing Christ, encourage those Christians who are already there and show Christian films. I recently bought some new videos that were made here in Kenya and deal very directly with drunkenness and worldly behavior and how believing on Jesus and following his Word can bring wonderful changes. The films were not in the Turkana language, but our pastors narrated into the local language and I believe that everyone followed the films very well. On Sunday we had about 30 adults and 30 children attend services under a tree in the middle of the village, several came forward to accept Christ and 7 were baptized! Please pray for Samweli and pastor Joseph that the Lord will give them strength and wisdom to minister there. Samweli still has a year and a half of Bible Institute training so pray for his perseverance there.
The road to Lokiriama was rough, we met a Land Cruiser on the way that had broken it's axle. We carried 22 adults and youth and 3 babies in our Land Cruiser along with food and cinema equipment. Our vehicles may be older, but they are the best ones for the harsh roads and abuse we put them through. Over the weekend we ate beans and corn and rice and corn and beans and rice and corn and rice and beans, so I was glad to get home to Ericka's wonderful cooking.
Ericka became sick while I was away, but thankfully she is well now and going to get checked up today. Pray that we can find out what may have been her illness and that it doesn't recur while I'm away again this next weekend. God bless you all and keep praying for us. The Cattlemen video that I would like to make would have been a wonderful tool to use in Lokiriama, so please don't forget about getting those digital video testimonies to me. [Note from webmaster: please send the video's to Bob's home church, rather than emailing them directly to him.]
In Christ, Bob Clark
5/8/2007
Dear Friends,
The last two weeks we have continued to travel to visit churches we work with. Two weeks ago I did a marathon bush trip starting in Juluk where we had a two day teaching time and showing Christian films ending with the commissioning service for one of our young Bible Institute graduates. The teaching and films were a real blessing to the church and community. The films touch on the difference between living with traditions of promiscuity, drunkenness and immorality and the new life of a Christian learning how to live according to God's Word. These films usually get a very positive response from folks in the villages Christian and non-Christian alike. They readily admit that their bad traditions are often what keeps them from moving ahead in life and know that they must put them behind and accept Christ to begin a new life of blessings.
The commissioning service for Kevin Lokwang was a great blessing. We were able to hear testimonies from Elders from his sending church where Kevin had grown in the Lord. All of those giving testimonies talked about how faithful and humble Kevin had been through the years and also how willing he was to teach and preach the Word of God. In all there were elders from four different churches present who had known Kevin and were able to stand with his sending church and approve his commissioning. The village he was being sent to was very grateful to receive him, they sent a small delegation with a few gifts to the commissioning service and promised that they would take care of him once he moved his family to Lokwee.
After the commissioning service on Saturday we traveled from Juluk to Lokwee. Let me give you a time line of travels: From my home to Juluk I traveled 3 hours in the Land Cruiser, then parked it in the bush and walked about 2 miles, crossed a river and finally reached Juluk. From Juluk it was back across the river to the truck then 5 hours drive through the bush to Lokwee.
On the journey from Juluk to Lokwee we had Kevin's family and all the household possessions he and his wife owned piled on or tied to the Land Cruiser. It was definitely a Beverly Hillbillies moment, there was a bed tied to the front bull bar and a sewing machine in the back, kids, chickens and well wishers.
We had a great service in the Church at Lokwee that Sunday. Everyone there was happy to receive Kevin as their pastor and willing to give offerings to make sure that he could take care of his family. On a more difficult note we talked with Donald, the Bible Institute graduate who had been preaching at the church in Lokwee, about how he should confess and deal with the sin that had removed him from the ministry. Please pray for Donald and his home church in Juluk that they would follow the Lords leading. I traveled back from Lokwee that Sunday afternoon, early Monday morning an area I traveled through was raided by the Pokot tribe, several Turkana were killed and many animals stolen.
This past Sunday, Ericka, the boys and I all traveled together to the church at Lokapel. We all had a wonderful time. Vance, Edward and Riley were a hit attraction with the local children, thankfully the pastor had a closed manyatta where he could chase most of the kids out of and the boys had some room to breath and play. They ran bare foot, we tried to keep shoes on them, they climbed trees, dug holes and chased the chickens and goats, drank hot milky tea and got very dirty. They were asked to watch a goat being killed in our honor, we wondered how they would respond, but they didn't cry at all and were very intrigued by the killing and butchering. Later that night when we were served the liver and stomach, the boys ate like they were given candy! We are thankful it was such a good time for them.
The pastor at Lokapel, Marko Ekonon, has been through some real difficulties. First he fell into sin that nearly wrecked his ministry. He finally confessed his sin before other pastors and his church, but within two weeks his youngest daughter died. He was at a point where we was despondent, wanting to leave the ministry and move into the interior bush and forget everything. Thankfully, the Lord isn't letting him go. The day after his daughter died seven of our pastors visited his home to help him deal with the sin he had confessed. Rather than press the issue with the sin, they were able to help with planning and carrying out the funeral, but pastor Marko asked the seven pastors to stay after the funeral to help him work through problems that his sin had caused in his church and community. While Ericka and I were with pastor Marko and his wife, we were able to encourage and give advice on how to move ahead as a family and in the ministry. Our boys being there was something special for them and we are grateful the Lord could use us to encourage and brighten another pastors life who has been through such a valley.
We left Lokapel on Sunday afternoon and drove through a little rain on the way home. The boys were exhausted but slept most of the trip. Now we are getting geared up for a week of Bible Institute classes, but I've heard that the local health officer has asked all schools to be closed this week to prevent the cholera outbreak from spreading any further. So we will take this week as it comes and may have Bible Institute classes next week.
God bless you all and please remember the following pastors in prayer, Kevin Lokwang- new pastor at Lokwee, Marko Ekonon- pastor at Lokapel who lost daughter and is dealing with fallout of sin. Please pray for our Bible Institute graduate Donald Lokobo that he would be humble and follow the advice of his pastor and church.
In Christ, Bob Clark
5/11/2007
Bible Institute is finished for the week and I finally have a chance to download some pictures from my camera.
- The boys are watching the goat, that was given in their honor, be skinned.
- A girl playing the drum for the song service
- A couple of girls preparing our lunch.
- Pastor Marko Ekonon and his family, please remember to pray for them.
We had a great week at the Bible Institute, Paulina who had struggled at the beginning raised her test scores and was very eager this past week. Continue to pray for Samweli as he is still struggling.
God bless you,
Ericka
8/29/2007
Hey everyone,
We are well. Just wanted to pass on that we are switching e-mail addresses. Our new address is bwanabobclan@gmail.com
Have a blessed day.
Ericka
8/31/2007
Dear Friends,
We are still working on getting our e-mail back to "normal". It seems that over the past three weeks we have lost about two weeks worth of e-mails.
I've already written to one pastor who's email I know was lost, but there are others who I don't have a return address for.
One mail was concerning how our irrigation wells were working for the pastors. Just a note that one pastor is doing very well with his well, he has been given a contract to provide all the vegetables he can possibly grow for a local secondary boarding school. I have already bought him more seeds and equipment to expand his garden and increase production. I pray that his hard work and success will be an encouragement to the two other pastors who have wells and have yet to really make them work.
Our family is well, I think we are finally over coughs and runny noses, but unfortunately we passed it off to our friends who we visited a couple of weeks ago, sorry Burkholders.
Please stay in touch with us and we hope to be back to normal with our mail on this gmail account.
God bless you all,
Bob
9/9/2007
Friends,
This next week starts up this month's Bible Institute. Please be praying for the teachers, Bob and Pastor William Eregai, as the two of them will be teaching all of the classes between first and second year. There will be very little time for a breather or to let the brain have a break from all the Swahili. I will be teaching Paulina, our only female student, but my time teaching is minor compared to theirs.
The main reason I am writing is for a meeting that should take place this week. Pastor Sammy found that a relative of his is married to a powerful witchdoctor in the Kerio area. The name of the witchdoctor is Namwour. Other missionaries and Christians have been praying for him. The prayers have been so powerful that there was a time he was running through the district saying that the Lion of Judah is chasing him. So this week Pastor Sammy is planning to talk with him. Please pray for protection around Pastor Sammy and the Holy Spirit to guide his every word. Then for Namwour that the Holy Spirit is working on him even now and that he will be ready to accept Jesus and give up the evil work that he is doing. Pastor Sammy started preaching in Kerio about four weeks ago, he goes there during the week and returns to Lodwar to be in his church on Sunday. Namwour and a cult group called "the legion of mary" have scared away everyone from trying to plant a church in Kerio. Please pray for Pastor Sammy's mission work in Kerio and for Namwour to believe on Jesus.
Another prayer request is for Pastor Aremon, he is Pastor at Nabuin. The Christians there have been slow to help finish the building that our group helped start this summer. We always try to work with the local churches to do things together, such as buildings. Please pray that Pastor Aremon will be able to encourage the congregation to work together to finish their building.
Thank you,
Ericka
9/25/2007
Dear Friends,
We hope you all are well, we've heard on the news how the weather has been crazy in the US this summer, but for us it's been the best year for rain here in Turkana since moving here in 1999. The rains have flooded other parts of Kenya and East Africa, but the Turkana have truly benefited from these rains. Granted the increased rains have washed away some of our roads and made conditions difficult when traveling. This last week I visited one of our churches, Lokwee, the trip was only 170 Kilometers, about 100 miles, but it took me 5 hours to get there. If you hear anyone complaining about global warming you might mention that it's not all bad, at least for the Turkana of Kenya.
Our family has been well and we are very thankful for that. Edward may have started to come down with malaria a couple of weeks ago, but we treated him right away and the next day he bounced back to normal. Pray for Ericka's Mom, she isn't recovering so well from recent surgery.
The shipment we sent of Gospel Tracts and the illustrated book of Romans has arrived in Kenya, cleared customs and should be on it's way to Eldoret! I believe that we won't be charged any customs on the shipment, so pray that will be the case. I want to send a big thank you to Sweet Springs Baptist Church for giving us the Gospel literature and also a thank you to my home church for helping with the shipping expenses.
The trip I took this last week to the church in Lokwee was a real blessing to me. The drive was pretty hard, but the Church showed real maturity and a desire to serve the Lord. The Church had planned a four day seminar/crusade, so when I arrived I half expected to be asked to help pay to feed everyone. I had brought a little sugar and oil to help with the cooking, but knew someone would need to buy corn meal, vegetables, meat, milk and tea. I was pleasantly surprised that Pastor Kevin Lokwang didn't ever ask me for anything once I had given him the sugar and oil. The church on their own had gathered enough food and offerings to take care of the needs. This may not seem like such a big deal to most of you, but rest assured that any missionary who has ever visited or served in Turkana will tell you that this is not the usual case when a missionary visits a small church in the bush of Turkana. I have visited other churches where before we are even given a cup of water to drink I was presented with a list of items and cash that would be needed to entertain us, right down to salt and money needed to send someone to bring water. Visiting Lokwee was truly an encouragement to me as a missionary and proof of the fact that the Turkana Churches have means to serve the Lord, they need only to be taught and given the opportunity. The seminar/lesson time was good and the young church seemed to soak up the teaching with willing hearts. In the evenings we set up our video projector and tied the screen onto the side of the Land Cruiser. The first night we had about 500 people come to see the videos and hear the preaching, the second night about 1000 and the third night I guessed there were between 1500 and 2000 people attending. In all there were about 25 professions of faith in Christ and on Sunday morning I baptized 18 new converts, some were as young as 12 and the oldest looked to be close to 70. After services on Sunday morning, the church took time to allow Donald, the former preacher at the church, to confess how he had mistreated the church and done things counterproductive to work of the Lord. The church openly forgave him and prayed for him, then gave their blessing for Donald to be under the leadership of Pastor William in Juluk. Pray for Donald's continued restoration and discipleship. Pray for Pastor Kevin in Lokwee that he would continue to be a very useful vessel of the Lord.
I would ask you all to pray with me on the issue of the Bible Institute here in odwar. We believe the Lord is showing us that we must make some pretty serious hanges to the way the Bible Institute is operated in order for it to continue to train up local church leaders after the Lord moves us on one day. It's very clear to me that if I were to leave Turkana next week the Bible Institute as we know it would cease to exist. So, we are preparing to make some serious changes to our program and funding for the Bible Institute to try and help prepare the churches of Turkana to continue training future church leaders once we are gone from the picture. Those who have worked anywhere in Africa can understand the seriousness of what we will be attempting to do. Here in Kenya, once you start some kind of program that benefits anyone in any way the local culture views it as an entitlement for eternity, written in stone. We have already seen several instances of missionaries trying to turn over a ministry to the locals, withdrawing from the leadership and withdrawing funding only to be accused of being Satan incarnate and eventually the entire ministry collapsing and being pillaged by those who were to be the future leaders. I know I'm painting a pretty bleak picture for the future of the Bible Institute, but we believe that there are enough strong Churches and Pastors among our number to successfully continue to train future church leaders in one form or another without outside assistance of any kind. We would like to help make the transition of the Bible Institute from being OUR ministry to being that of the LOCAL Churches. Please pray for this as we plan next month to begin discussing with the local Pastors how they can begin taking on this training themselves.
For those of you emailing us we now have a new gmail account, bwanabobclan@gmail.com and clarks@bwanabob.org our old account is no longer active and I believe that old server is completly defunct.
Our efforts to help the some of the pastors with small irrigation wells has had at least one successful outcome. Pastor Areng of Lorogumu has been given a contract by a local school to supply all of the vegetables for the rest of the school year. This is will be a huge boost to his income and also a great example to his community and other Pastors we work with. I am still attempting to work with two other pastors to get their wells up and running, the difficulty lies in our expectations of each other. The two other pastors would like for me to hand them "turn-key" irrigation schemes, I am asking them to invest "sweat equity" so that leaves us in a bit of a holding pattern. I am planning to build some culvert forms so that when we work to dig wells in the future we will be able to supply our own well, "casing."
My plans to have a cattlemens video are on hold while I wait for another missionary to help me edit the video and put it on one cassette. A big thanks to those who sent video this summer. If you still plan to send me any video footage please contact me.
I had thought my camera had been stolen while we waited one night for a river to go down so we could drive across and get home. Thankfully, I found the camera under the seat of the Land Rover. I'm sure I'm not the only one who forgets what he's done when half asleep. Anyway, I have pictures of the church that was built with funds given by the kids of Maranatha Bible Camp in 2006. I'll work to get those pictures posted on bwanabob.org
Thank you all for partnering with us, whether in prayer or any other means. We would like to say that in all things we have found the Lords provision to be sufficient and beyond our expectations.
In Christ, Bob, Ericka, Vance, Edward and Riley.
10/16/2007
Dear Friends,
Last week we had a lengthy visit with our pastors who are involved in the Bible Institute. I laid out as clearly and politely as I could that I didn't see a future for the Bible Institute as it currently opperates, with me funding and administering most aspects. As lovingly as I could I explained that I would no longer be willing to put my effort into minitstry here in Kenya that I knew would not continue without my presence. I strongly believe that if we were to leave Turkana anytime soon all of the churches would stand and grow, but the Bible Institute would not. I then explained to the pastors that if they wanted to have a Bible Institue here in Turkana they would need to administer and fund the opperation and even make changes to overcome challanges that they know they will face.
Thankfully they agreed that they do need to take the Bible Institute as a ministry of their churches and that they would be willing to start funding and opperating the Bible Institute starting in January 2008. This was a huge step for the churches and pastors sending their students to the Bible Insti ute here in Turkana and I believe it is the right one. We all agreed that if we didn't continue to make disciples and have a well defined program for encouraging and training pastors we would not be fulfilling the great commission. We praise God for the pastors vision and willingness to take what has always been part of my ministry. Pray for the Pastors who have a heart to train their own young men and women to spread the Gospel here in Turkana. Pray that they will have wisdom as they make changes at the Bible Institute to fit the budget they raise. Pray they will have unity in the leadership of the new program and show servant hood to one another.
Another blessing is that Pastor Sammy Lokwang's ministry to the village of Kerio is continuing to go well. He is leavng today along with Pastor Paul Aremon to make another visit to the village for evangelism and teaching. They are both riding their bicycles from Lodwar to Kerio and back, something like 60 miles round trip. Please pray for their strength physically and spiritually. Please also pray for Namwaur, the very powerful witch doctor in Kerio, so far he has not caused problems for Pastor Sammy, but we all know that he is very influential in the community and also in great need of Salvation.
I have received word that a shipment of Gospel tracts and the book of Romans have arrived safely in Eldoret and has been stored in the garage of a missionary friend. I believe there are about 250,000 tracts and something like 30,000 copies of the book of Romans! These should be a huge blessing to our ministry and the ministry of missionary friends around Western Kenya. I would like to thank all of the churches, missionaries and friends in the US and Kenya who helped get this shipment together and sent all the way to Eldoret. I couldn't have done it on my own.
Our family is doing well, we are all healthy and thankful to God for that. The other day the boys couldn't find their shoes before leaving for church, we told them that was too bad, they would have to go to church without them. This is just one of the little blessings we enjoy living at the end of the world.
God bless you all and thank you for praying for us,
In Christ, Bob, Ericka, Vance, Edward and Riley
11/2/2007
Dear Friends,
This past Sunday I had a good visit to one of the churches we work with in a village called Namoruputh, Joseph is the pastor there. We had planned to have seminar lessons for the church members Thurs -Sat, but when we arrived on Thurs. we found that everyone in the community was waiting at the local baraza "square" to have their names written down to receive relief food. It's hard for us westerners to comprehend how important 20 pounds of corn is to folks living in the bush here in Kenya, but let me tell you that when the chance comes around to get your name on a list to receive free corn everything else and I mean everything comes to a screaching halt. The list was supposed to be made on Thursday, but names didn't actually get taken till Saturday afternoon. So, most of our time there was spent waiting for the listing to commence. Africans are very paitent, I tried, but had a bad attitude most of Thurs and Friday. I got over it. On Saturday morning pastor Joseph asked everyone to come to the church for lessons and planned to have one of the youth wait at the baraza to bring word if the list was actually being drawn up. We were able to teach lessons till 12:30 and then word came that things were actually moving on making the list.
Each evening we showed Christian videos, The Jesus Film and had a time of preaching. There were more people in the village because they wanted to get on the relief list and I believe that many came out to see the films and hear the preaching who wouldn't have otherwise been around. All things work together for good.
On Sunday we had good services with two hours of Sunday School and then a preaching service followed by a baptism service. It was a real blessing to see folks ready to hear the Word and we were able to baptize 12. The service started at 8 AM and we didn't finish with the baptism service till about 12:30.
Please keep praying for us and the work here in Turkana. The pastors who are involved with the Bible Institute have agreed to take over complete opperation and funding starting next year. I have agreed to teach them how to print lessons, use computers and finish all the buildings that will be needed in the future. Pray for all of us to have strength and courage in the Lords ability to do things above what we can ask or think.
Things are really starting to turn hot, dry and dusty here in Turkana but we are healthy and thankful for that.
God bless you all and thank you for praying for us.
In Christ, Bob Clark
12/31/2007
Dear Friends and Loved Ones,
We hope you all are well and have a Happy New Year. We are doing fine here, but things aren't looking very good for Kenya. For those of you who havnen't followed the news Kenya held elections on Dec. 27, early on it appeared that the opposition candidate for President would have a clear victory over the incumbent. Then a series of "irregularities" began to take place, suddenly the incumbent was declared the winner and was sworn into office within minutes of him being declared winner. Unfortunately, the US Ambassador has endorsed the elections and congratulated the incumbent on his victory. If you have a personal contact with a Senator or Representative you might ask them to check into this.
Today it seems that those who have supported the opposition candidate along with members from his tribe want to take out their frustrations on anyone from the incumbent's tribe, the Kikuyu.
In our mission work we have pastors who are from most all the tribes here in Central and Western Kenya. We know that if violence begins against the Kikuyu tribe it will affect many Pastors and Christians in the Churches.
Just today our neighbors here in Eldoret who are Kikuyu asked us to help them get to a safe area, they fear they will be burned out of their house. They asked that I drive the to a Kikuyu area, but diesel is difficult to find and I know that it would be dangerous to travel right now.
We had been thinking about trying to hurry back to Turkana, but this morning one of our Pastors called from Lodwar and told us that things were not good there either.
For now we are just staying at home, we have plenty of food in the house and several missionary friends here in Eldoret. We would ask that you please pray for Kenya, it's leaders and for peace. We will continue to keep you posted on how things go.
In Christ, Bob Clark
12/14/2007
Receive our greetings in the name of our risen Lord! Merry Christmas! Thought you might enjoy hearing about a family weekend visiting a bush church.
We left Lodwar on a Saturday, Nov 17, to spend the weekend with Pastor William and his church in Juluk. We were wondering how the boys would do with two nights in the tent and all that happens out in the villages, with being mobbed by 50 kids and food being late, going to the bathroom and there is no toilet or even an out house and all sorts of things like that. The other thing with going to Juluk is that it is across the Turkwell River. So we drive the truck to a group of huts, the people there keep an eye on it, and then we start walking. It is 2 and a half miles to the river and then another half a mile from the river to the village of Juluk. So how would the boys do with a walk of 6 miles, church service, ladies meeting and baptism(which was another walk to the river and back to Juluk)?
We didn't realize that Agnes, Pastor William's wife, was so close to delivering when we planned to go, so the morning we left, Pastor William came and said Agnes had a baby that night. When we arrived, the baby wasn't even 12 hours old. We felt bad that we were moving in on a lady that just gave birth, but they said it was alright and there was a girl there to do all the cooking and taking care of us. Agnes gave birth to a little girl named Rebekah Lotikoi. There was no hospital or anyone, she just squatted down and pushed the baby out. When I went in to see her she was sitting on the floor which was dusted with sand (I think to help with clean up of blood). She stayed in that room the whole time and the only time she came out was to go to the bathroom.
The first day and night went surprisingly well for the boys. Vance loves other kids so was off playing all the time. But we were constantly surrounded by about 50 kids. At times it got to be a bit much for the other two, so they would take turns hiding with us. The boys enjoyed holding little Rebekah. The ladies asked the boys if they would like to take her home and they said "Oh yes" . And Vance really told them how he would take care of the baby, by giving her milk and then we have clothes to put on her. And later on when he was thinking about us going to Eldoret, he came up to me and said "Mama, when we take the baby to Eldoret, we will need to wrap her in lots of lessos because it is cold there." (But when it came time to leave they forgot about the baby coming with us :-)
That night they slept great! (Not like the last time we were out in a village where every 20 in or so one of the boys would wake up. They did that constantly throughout the night.)
The boys did great on the walk to Juluk, it was too funny, little Riley spent the first 10 minutes running ahead of us and we were all wondering how long would that last. Well, after the running and then walking for 5 min then he was ready to be carried and threw a fit if he wasn't. Also he had to be carried by mom or dad, someone else wouldn't do. Edward did great he walked all the way to the river and so did Vance, all in all Vance must have walked close to 5 miles that day. When we got to the river, we saw the local crocodile sitting on the opposite bank basking in the sun. (The locals say that the croc has never come after anyone so they leave him be, but if he did then a group would go out and kill him immediately). There were some guys that met up with us during the walk that carried the boys on their shoulders and the water stayed about knee level until you sank into a hole that put the water at your waist. The croc stayed on the bank basking the whole time, which I was happy about because I could keep an eye on him! After getting on dry land, we walked into the village and the church service had already started with singing. It was a 2 hour service, then a walk back to the river and even right in the spot where the croc had been earlier to do the baptisms. Bob baptized 22 people, then we walked back to the village, as we were walking back I was carrying Riley on my shoulders and he fell asleep up there. So got him down and carried him in our arms the rest of the way in. Bob took the boys to a church member's hut where we were to have lunch and the boys had chai and were able to rest, and I went in to teach the ladies. Taught on the blessing of forgiveness but how hard hearted and stupid we can be when we get into sin, what God can do to bring us back to him so that we can sing and rejoice in His love and forgiveness out of Psalm 32. I used the example of David and Bathsheba.
After finishing the lesson I went to where the boys were and we had lunch, I rested a bit and then we started walking back. At the edge of the village a couple of guys with bicycles offered to carry the boys on the back of the bikes. Well, the boys were very excited about that and enjoyed the lift all the way to the river. We crossed the river again, no sign of the croc, and kept moving toward the truck, but at a much slower pace. Edward didn't walk much, and Vance walked some but they were all carried for a good part of the return trip. God gave us the strength and grace to get there and back, to be able to teach the ladies and visit with the Christians and walk to the village and back while carrying a preschooler and gear, for Bob to preach and baptize and that the boys, who could have whined the whole time, thouroughly enjoyed themselves and took it as a big adventure. It was a wonderful time and I was exhausted by the end of the day. But I continually learn that God gives the strength that is enough for each moment, whether good or bad and it is our choice to have joy in the journey.
The boys didn't sleep well that night, but they selpt great in the truck the next day! ;-) So that was the trip to Juluk.
We pray blessings upon you through this holiday season and into the new year. As you spend time with family and loved ones enjoy each moment. God bless you!
Love,
Ericka Clark
12/27/2007
Dear Friends,
We hope you all have had a Merry Christmas and will be having a Happy New Year. Everything is fine for now here in Kenya, the national elections will be held tomorrow. In some areas there is a great deal of tension, but other areas seem to be calm. We would ask you to pray that everything goes smoothly during the election and that the outcome will be accepted by all parties.
As we finish this year we are thankful for the way the Lord has lead us and used us in Turkana. Please be in Prayer as the Turkana Nationals who we have helped train take over the Bible Institute and other work we have been doing.
We have seen some new areas where we may be able to begin ministering in, but we have also seen National pastors who the Lord may be preparing to go to these areas as well. Recently, I took a trip to a new district called East Pokot, there are no churches from our mission in that area and there are very few churches there from any group. The Pokot tribe are very similar to the Turkana, but in some ways more difficult to reach with the Gospel because of the strength of their local religion and social pressure to resist the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Pokot dress very similar to the Turkana, they carry the same design of spear, head dress, and stool to sit on, yet they are sworn enemies. While there I told them how we have heard of many Turkanans who have been killed trying to steal cattle from the Pokot. Then I asked them openly if some of their young men have been killed trying to steal cattle from the Turkana and they said yes. Then I was able to preach to them about how it is the work of Satan himself to steal, kill and destroy but that the Lord Jesus has come to give us life and peace. Pray that the Word of God will work mightily in their hearts and that the few local Christians who invited us to their area will continue to be witnesses.
Please pray for Rev. Elondonga, who was able to get us into this area that the Lord would lead him as to how to minister there. Please be in prayer for us because as we hand over work in Turkana it is our desire to take on work in a new area. Pray for us that we would follow the Lords leading to the area He would have us to go. We aren't planning to leave Turkana for a least a year or maybe longer, but we do believe that our leaving is necessary for the churches there to let go of our hand and rely entirely on the Hand of God. Another area we need prayer for is how to help the local pastors as we prepare to leave Turkana. This is so difficult because often the ways we try to help have the opposite effect. For instance, I helped one of the young pastors in Turkana with a cash gift to help him pay for his wedding. Rather than work within the budget he had and the gift I had given him, he borrowed and begged favors from many others. The outcome of the wedding was that everyone said it was a great wedding with lots of guests and plenty of food, but now the young pastor is flat broke and indebeted to many people in the area. As we make preparations to leave Turkana the local pastors will come to me seeking a parting "gift." Pray for me in the coming months that I will be open to the Lords leading on how I may help and wise to the unintended problems I would cause by giving something that in the end would cause problems.
God bless you all and thank you for praying for us.
In Christ, Bob, Ericka, Vance, Edward and Riley