Crippled Man In Chebukaka
During a time of one-on-one prayer and counseling at the Chebukaka crusade, a despondent mother asked that we come to her home to pray for her son who was paralyzed and couldn't come to us. The young man was 21 years old and was paralyzed from the waist down.
We spoke with him and his mother about his condition. His mother told us about the different individuals whom she had paid money to "heal" her son. Some were witch doctors and some proclaimed to be men of God, but all required payment for their services. We told her about 2 Corinthians 2:17, and that it is the Lord who heals through "prayer offered in faith"
We laid hands on Kirt, the young man, and Michelle prayed mightily for his healing. As we left their home, I gave his mother 2000 shillings for food, as a measure of assurance that we were only there to give (and not to take). I told her that we would return in a week with a doctor to check on Kirt. I wanted so much for God to enable him to walk again, but the worldly pragmatic side of me was saying, "Those legs are withered away to skin and bone, and he has no feeling at all from the waist down." I had already seen and personally experienced God's awesome power, yet, I doubted.
Five days later, we returned to Chebukaka with two doctors from the Ministry of Health. Before they even began their examination, Kirt excitedly blurted out that feeling had begun to return to his legs. He didn't have the strength to stand yet, but he could move both feet and had feeling up to his knees. Both doctors talked with him and examined him. They came up with a prognosis as to what may have caused the paralysis, which was different from the one he'd received a year earlier, and was also different than the one he would receive during the hospital exam a week later. Four doctors had three different opinions as to what caused the paralysis but only one of them could explain how the healing came about. That one doctor was a believer in God.
- by Pastor Jim Thompson
The Story of Niva Barasa
Niva Barasa, age 5, was diagnosed with cancer of the eyes at age 4. Doctors removed both of her eyes to prevent the cancer from spreading, and replaced them with plastic eyeballs. Niva is totally blind. She lives in a village called Namboani in Kenya, East Africa.
Not willing to have a blind child in his house, Niva’s father forced her and her mother to leave. They stayed with the grandmother for some time, until Niva’s mom remarried. The new husband decided that he also didn’t want a blind child in his house, so the mother left Niva with her grandmother, who is very old, while she remained living with her new husband.
Niva and her grandmother lived in a one-room mud hut in Namboani. Niva had to follow a series of ropes, tied to branches in order to reach the tiny grass outhouse. It is a dangerous walk at night, when poisonous snakes and toxic centipedes come out to hunt.
Niva is treated as an outcast in this area of the country, and she is shunned by other children. Living in this impoverished region is difficult enough for a person with sight- but for a blind child, it is hard, dangerous, and lonely. Niva is a sweet, innocent little girl, very shy, and so polite. Yet, I can only imagine that she must be terrified much of the time, living in total darkness in a brutal land, ostracized, and cast out. There are no government programs or schools for the blind, which means Niva would have no chance in life without outside help.
There are two schools for the blind in Kenya – one in Nairobi, which is run by the Salvation Army, and one in Kisumu, which is run by the Catholic Church. They will accept a child once they have reached 5 years of age, and with the appropriate certificate of health. Thanks to a couple who is sponsoring her, we were able to get Niva the certificate of health, and she lives full time at St. Oda’s, with other children like herself.
- By Pastor Jim Thompson
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy New Year 2019 to you and your loved ones.
I take this opportunity to thank you all for the sacrificial giving you have made for us to be able to carry on this work of MWCC commission and for that matter we have come this far. Through you, we have been able to preach the gospel, which the late Marti Ward introduced in the most interior rural places where nobody wanted to go. I thank God for His servant James Thompson who by God’s grace had to accompany the late Marti to Africa in 1998. God who sees the end from the beginning knew that Marti had done her part and somebody else needed to continue this work of the ministry in order to grow this vision. In the year 2000, even though Rev. Jim had to come to Kenya and inform us members on the evangelistic team about the passing on of the late Marti, God had prepared him to take over and become our father in this work of the ministry if MWCC was to get independence and accomplish the vision of reaching the unreached with the gospel of Christ.
Between the years 2000 and 2002, we knew this organization had winded up with the passing on of the late Marti. This was so because there was no communication and little did we know that Pastor Jim was going through some tough trials from the enemy, so that he does not come back again and if that happened this work would be no more. Thank God for Psalm 91:14-16. God was with him in that trouble and delivered him from it all. Pastor Jim loves God, Pastor Jim calls on the name of the Lord!!!! May our heavenly Father bless him (Jim) with long life according to verse16, nevertheless not as per our will but His (Lord’s) will to be done. Please God, bless Pastor Jim and our supporters with long life.
In the year 2002, the Lord brought Pastor Jim and Rev. Michelle back to Kenya and since that time they have been able to accomplish so much, including registration of MWCC as an independent and non profiting organization in Kenya and for that reason we have been able, through your support to reach out into rural places to preach and meet with the many needs of the poor children of God. Because of you, we have touched people here in Kenya, Uganda, DRC Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. MWCC Africa has its headquarters here at Kimukungi village, Bungoma County, Kenya. Through your support we have been able to set up several Academies that are being used to educate children from needy and orphaned families, and we believe these are the ones God will use some day to change Africa and bring the light of the word of God in their societies. We also have a Bible school with several mobile centers in different parts of the country and right now one in Uganda, the purpose thereof is to help pastors who cannot afford to attend those payable theological colleges, so that they are also able to preach the word of God correctly. Our Bible School offers a diploma in biblical studies, and so far we have graduated many pastors in 5 graduation ceremonies since the year 2006. We have one blind 6 year old girl whom we rescued and are supporting her education in the school for the blind. Pray that God keeps her and takes good care of her through her education.
By God’s grace most of our rural churches have their own piece of land. A few do not and therefore they are in rented places. Two of our churches have identified land for purchase, one costs Ksh. 260,000=$2,560 and another one costs Ksh. 170,000=$1,670. I pray that the owners won’t have changed by 2019 as land prices appreciate every time. We request that you pray for us so that we shall be able to raise money for them to acquire those plots so that they can build up worship places for God. All of our MWCC churches are doing fundraisers to help these churches to acquire their own plots, but this is a very poor country and funds do not come easy, but we will continue to do our best to help them.
Lastly, I would pray that God continues to bless you as He protects, provides and takes good care of your families even as you continue serving and supporting us in the way that God enables you. It is not in vain that you have done this in the past and it will not be in vain in the future as your reward will be great in heaven. May His favor become your portion as you prepare to enter 2019.
We all love you and wish success in all your endeavors.
With the love of Christ,
Pastor Protus M. Onchana
East Africa Director
MWCC World Missions, Inc