Kenya

2 Missionaries

Currently 17 Iris churches, Pastor Joseph Mushengezi's

contact information is on the DR Congo webpage

Journey to and from Nairobi, Kenya, February 2, 2008

by Pastor Joseph Mushengezi

On January 9, 2008, we left Bukavu, Democratic Repubublic of Congo with our two oldest children and our youngest to re-enroll the two children in school and hold a conference for our pastors in Nairobi, Kenya. We had planned to arrive on the 12th for our Iris Kenya Pastor's Conference.

It didn’t happen as we expected as we arrived in Kigali, Rwanda. We were unable to catch the regional bus that travels from Kigali to Nairobi via Kampala. This was due to the closure of the borders between Kenya and Uganda. We stayed two days in Rwanda then I rang our pastor living in Gisenyi, Narcisse, Rwanda. We attended a blessed service on Sunday, January 13, 2008.

In Gisenyi, God was glorified and the church’s wish was to be visited this year by missionaries. This church has a problem of building but there were a crowd of believers and 13 people also received Jesus as their Lord and Savior that day. The sick were prayed for and they testified of their healing.

At last, we caught a bus on January 14, 2008. We thought we would go straight to Nairobi. Arriving in Kampala, Uganda, we couldn’t proceed. Night bus journeys were prohibited due to the border closing. I called Pastor Frederic Buyana who was not available that day. It was already night. We had to continue the journey the following morning.

While at the border between Uganda and Kenya on January 2008, we were told that horrible clashes between the opposition and ruling party were going on in Kenya. They were demonstrating to defend what they called their rights against vote rigging. The Parliament Speaker had just been elected and the opposition won the seat. Clashes were again reported from Kenya and we had to spend the night at the border.

On January 16, 2008, we entered Kenya via Kisumu before arriving in Nairobi. Kisumu is the homeland of opposition leader Raila Odinga who was claiming to be the winner of the presidential elections held in December, 2007.

I thank God that we are still alive today. We met many obstacles on the way: vehicles and houses were burned; shops were demolished and looted, etc. It wasn’t easy to continue without leaving the vehicle and everyone running for safety. When we fled to a place called Nyalenda (still in Kisumu), we even saw a church burned down by demonstrators.

The hand of the Lord was upon us and on January 19, we caught another bus. The journey continued. However, on the way, we found that the bus that we were supposed to board but left us in Kisumu for security reason, was set ablaze and 3 passengers were burned inside.

We arrived in Nairobi, Kenya January 20, 2008. The city was in a very bad state. Thinking about peace in that city through the talks between the ruling and opposition parties chaired by delegates, in the Embakasi Constituency where we resided, an opposition Member of Parliament, Mr. Were, was killed!

This made life very difficult in Kenya: lack of transportations means people locking themselves in their houses, food shortages and the price of goods rising. Christians are requested to fast and pray for Kenya. I too am requesting that you to pray much for Kenya. There are so many refugees. The homeless need food, water, clothes, etc.

By the grace of God, we succeeded in bringing pastors together in the area where I acted as Pastors’ Fellowship Chairman with our Iris pastors on January 26-27, 2008. We prayed that God would send peace in Kenya.

Our pastors Samuel Muderhwa, Ephraim Mushi and their families are homeless. I was lucky to be told by our embassy that there would be a vehicle to take me back from Kenya to Uganda on January 30, 2008. On the way through an area called Kericho, they had just killed a Member of Parliament from that area on January 31, 2008. On February 1, 2008, we safely reached home in Bukavu. Glory to God!

Let us keep praying for Kenya in particular and Christians in general as I am to return there for a Church Leader's Conference scheduled February 15-17, 2008, after the African Union Conference taking place in Addis Ababa, Egypt to help negotiate peace among pastors, Christians, state leaders, and different groups found killing one another forgetting that they were Christians. We witnessed people killing, houses burning, etc.

God bless you! Let's keep praying for one another. I don’t know what God wants to teach me through this. I lived the same life in

DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and now in Kenya. Everytime, God rescues us as we witness people dying.  

Yours in Him,

Josephine & Joseph Mushengezi