We made it! God blessed us with as uneventful of a trip as can be expected with five children. We were so blessed to have a man and his three sons from one of our supporting churches escort us to the airport, a 5½-hour drive one way. By prepaying for our baggage, we were able to get a considerably discounted price. Upon boarding, the airline offered to check all our carry-on bags! Carrying seven bags, we jumped at this opportunity. After two, “short,” seven-hour flights, we landed in Nairobi—just 26 hours after leaving New York. God blessed with allowing us to bypass the huge line to get our visa. All 26 of our bags arrived with us. Because of our children, we were allowed to skip the line of over 100 people at Customs. Our team members greeted us and helped us get all our bags to our house—what a blessing!
Upon arrival, our apartment was furnished with four twin-sized mattresses. Our children had been looking forward to having their own beds for so long, we wanted to make sure they were there. With the price of furniture in the stores being so expensive, we found locals to build anything needed. This saved us more than $2,000. We are so thankful to all those who gave to make our transition as smooth as possible.
We are without a vehicle for now. The process to buy one requires that you have an ID number, which we won’t have until our work permit is approved. In the meantime, we have to take a taxi everywhere we go. Getting a taxi can be very frustrating . . . and pricy. With that said, God has used this time for good. I have been able to lead 4 drivers to the Lord and go through Lesson 1 in Foundations of Our Faith, our discipleship series.
Geoffrey is one of the drivers I witnessed to. God allowed us to hit some traffic on our way to Immigration. I took this opportunity to witness to him. He was eager to accept Christ. He has since told me how he had been searching but not getting answers. Since then, we have gone through two lessons together. More exciting than having two lessons together was taking him with me to witness to a family.
One of the places we have gone shopping is a local marketplace. I found something I liked and settled on a price with one of the shop owners. Just before I left, he said, “I want to give you a gift.” I tried to say “No,” but he was insistent. As I took the small bowl, he then said, “It’s just 200 shillings.” I asked, “Is that what Jesus said about the free gift of salvation?” He was very confused but wanted to know more. Samuel gave me his phone number so we could talk more later. I called Samuel a few days later and set up a time to have coffee with him and explain more. I took the Bible and explained to him the gift of salvation. He was happy to receive Christ. I asked if he knew anyone else who should know. Quickly, he said, “My wife and brothers.” We settled on Monday morning for me to give the Gospel to his family.
Samuel lives about 45 minutes from us, so I asked Geoffrey to drive me. This was for two reasons: to give him business and to involve him in seeing me minister to someone else. I can’t fully express how amazing the few hours were that we spent together. We met at Samuel’s brother Enoch’s house. Seven people in total where there, and all 7 accepted Christ! On Monday I will be starting discipleship with all of them. As Geoffrey and I drove back, we talked about what had happened. He was so excited with what he had witnessed and told me that I needed to meet his brother. Praise the Lord!
Prayer Requests
1. Immigration process to be finalized
2. For God to supply the right vehicle
3. For God to supply men with integrity whom we can help start churches
4. For wisdom and discernment
5. Health: digestion issues due to new environment; my knee to continue to heal and strengthen
6. Corey Jr. broke two bones in his left arm. Please pray for swift healing.
Yours in Christ,
Corey McDonald
