Kenya team Day 7

Mombasa is Hawaii-like, a humid tropical 80 degrees or so, but it’s still very Africa with crowded potholed streets and 3rd world conditions. Honestly, the poverty grinds on you, as an American you have a “we can fix this attitude” but here it’s real hard to get your head around slums that number more than a million residents. Bottom line- we can’t fix this… and we aren’t here to fix it anyway, we are here to share the message of salvation from this world through Jesus Christ. One thing is true, Africans aren’t fooled by promises of heaven on earth as we can be in the U.S., here it is graphically obvious this world isn’t heaven.
 
Our conference started this morning at Jesus Evangelical Baptist Church with most of the local Pastors in attendance. After a rousing worship time (with a worship leader who could not sing in key, really… it was awful, even the piano player was trying to find the key she shrieked in) Daniel Messiah among other speakers were there to share what Muslims teach and how to effectively reach them. Daniel had them rolling in the aisles with his thick Egyptian accent and funny stories of his imprisonment in Egypt (which when you think of it – wasn’t funny for him when he was there). He did a masterful job of teaching the basics of Islam so that the believers can better communicate Jesus to the locals.
 
When we returned to the guest house, we had to cross the local ocean channel by ferry (3/4 mile wide), the only way to our accommodations. Three boats ferry cars, trucks, motorcycles, bikes and hundreds of people on foot to the other side 24 hours a day. We arrive at 6 pm, the height of rush hour, which takes on new meaning… no rush hour in San Diego or LA even comes close to this--- trust me. We were part of a sea of people in a waiting area with close to a thousand people or more. As they prepared to load the ferry… the crowd of foot passengers broke loose like a flood and we got swept with them to the waters edge and were literally carried with the tide onto the already OVERLOADED ferry amid sick cheers from the people. It was like the “Running of the Bulls in Italy” or the wildabeast migration complete with water but with people running like beasts! It was like being in a Mosh pit at a concert you didn’t pay for and music you didn’t like. We got separated into groups of 2 or three in the flow… the ferry limped across the channel, and we all had images seen on CNN with Ferry boats capsizing in our minds. Well, we did make it--- gratefully, but we made other arrangements for our next 2 days of necessary crossings to remove any repeat scenarios!

Pastor Gary