Great week sharing the Gospel in rural Kenya!

Wow! What an absolutely amazing week we have just had! Our Youth Education Strategies team has been able to speak in 24 schools with 13,500 people and saw more than 9,000 professions of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. My Kenyan brothers in Christ, Pastor Jonathan and fellow Gideon Alfred, and I have also been able to distribute 7,000 Biblical tracts and 1,800 New Testaments. Words can’t describe how great this week has been! We have seen some amazingly big things this week, but it was one of the smaller schools that touched my heart the most.

Sometimes you can just feel the presence of the Holy Spirit as soon as you enter a school, and sometimes you can feel the presence of the enemy, but I knew a spiritual battle was raging at Kikoma Middle School as soon as we arrived. We had spent this Wednesday outside the city of Migori traversing some of the most rocky, muddy, and bumpy roads I have ever experienced in order to share the Gospel in some of the most remote hills in all of Kenya near the southern border. In fact, just before we arrived at Kikoma, my phone received an automated text message that said, “Welcome to Tanzania!” When we arrived, the principal quickly showed us to his office and explained the situation. He said, “More than two-thirds of the students at the school have already lost at least one of their parents due to HIV/AIDS, and many of them are orphans. We have tried to teach them how to do the right things, but most of these 4^th through 8^th graders are following down the same path as their parents and many of the students are already HIV positive and many of the girls are already pregnant. Several members of the teaching staff, including myself, also pastor churches on the weekend; we are doing everything we know in hopes of reaching the students, but we feel like it isn’t making much of a difference.” I knew that this man’s heart was breaking for his students, and my heart immediately began to break for them as well. Before we started the assembly, we prayed together that God would do something miraculous this very day. God certainly answered our prayer!

As we began the program, the 215 students were simply excited to see a Mzungu (white person). However, their faces quickly changed as they were cut to the heart by the conviction of their sins. I knew that God had already begun to work in them. When it was time for the invitation, more than 150 of these students made the commitment to turn from their sins and give their lives to Christ as Lord and Savior. As the program concluded, I could see in the students’ faces that God had done something mighty this day. After the assembly, we joined the staff in the small school office. The principal came to me with tearful eyes and thanked me for coming all the way out to his school. Then, I believe we all teared up as we prayed together for God to continue moving in the students’ hearts. In fact, I am tearing up right now as I write and remember this school! I wish we had been able to take some photographs here, but I know I will always remember their faces anyway.

Also, we spent Friday sharing the Good News in Naivasha. This is the city that was at the center of the violence after the 2007 Kenyan presidential election. I have been told horror stories of when more than 300 members of the Luo tribe were brutally slaughtered right in the middle of the town market. In one day, we were able to share the life-changing message of Jesus in 5 schools with 6,000 people and saw more than 4,500 make professions of faith in Jesus Christ. We also hosted a revival meeting on Friday and Saturday evenings in which God moved mightily and helped to heal some of those who were involved in the post election violence.

Please join YES in prayer for God to continue working in those we have already reached, and for Him to move mightily as we minister this upcoming week in the city of Kisumu. Asante sana! (Thank you very much!)

In Christ,

Steven Stockwell

Galatians 2:20
If you have ever wondered what it is like to be in the middle of more than 2,500 Kenyan students saying the Sinner's Prayer in Swahili? Well, check out this video! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=600406494206