Missionary updates
Hello from Africa!
From Agape Ministry partners in Kenya:
Our ministry:
This month was quite busy when it came to ministry. This was in part due to guests we had come to help us, and in part to the fact that by this time we’ve more or less gotten to know people.
Ok, now to the events of the month…
When we went to Kital at the start of the month, we took humanitarian aid (clothes) with us and passed it out. We passed out part of the clothes during a church service we held at our church there. For these people, this was a cause of rejoicing – clothes are something that most of them can’t afford to spend any money on.
That week, we went to the neighboring village of Kouriyo We held an evangelistic meeting and distributed clothes to the people there as well.
Of course we were a little busy between these trips, as well. Helping the pastor at church, in the school, work at home, trips to hold services in close-by villages and preaching to locals.
On the second Sunday of the month, we had a ‘united church service.’ Believers came from all of the villages our pastor ministers in. I had the opportunity to preach a sermon on Truth, since people here love to trick and cheat one another.
At the same time, were able to help some of the families that came. We had received a gift designated for humanitarian aid, enough to supply five families with enough food supplies for two months. The aid package consisted of 50kgs of corn, 50kgs of beans, 12kgs of flour, 5kgs of sugar, 10 liters of cooking oil, 2kgs of salt and a small box of cookies.
We also were able to distribute the same amount of supplies in our own village of Kerio, after transporting them from Lodwar. This was part of the “Children of Kerio” humanitarian aid project. Between the time we brought in the supplies and the time we distributed them, we were able to visit a few smaller villages, conducting services. We also told them that we would be passing out humanitarian aid in Kerio. For many of them, it’s a 3-4 hr. walk to get to us, so we wanted to let them know in advance. The distribution process was amazingly speedy and trouble-free this time.
Around that time, our guests arrived: Doctor Kirill, Marina, who ministers in an orphanage in Bukur, and Alex, a guest from America. Together with these friends and our pastor, we held a medical clinic in the village of Kouriyo, which is a 2-hr. walk from Kerio.
The next day, we headed out to conduct a free medical clinic in the village of Lorito. We were able to treat between 100-120 people there. Doctor Kirill said that that was the craziest clinic he’d ever been involved in. Those people had no idea what a line was. We ourselves had a hard time keeping any resemblance of order because the villagers surrounded us, yelling out what hurt where, trying to push their way in to the doctor, etc. With the medical supplies we had with us, we were only able to treat 120 people.
The next two days, we held free medical clinics in Kerio. At the time, I’d sent Victoria to Kital with our other guests, so Doctor Kirill and I held the clinics on our own, and then joined the others in Kital. We needed to be there because Julia, our mission’s team leader, was gone on furlough and had left us in charge. Therefore, we’re currently responsible for the upkeep of the mission in Kital, construction, children’s ministry, etc.
Our daily life here:
Immediately after we’d finished the humanitarian aid (food supplies) distribution in Kerio, Victoria and our two American guests went to Kital while Doctor Kirill and I stayed behind to conduct free medical clinics in Kerio and Lorito.
After conducting the clinics, Doctor Kirill and I were planning on heading to Lodwar to spend the night and then travel on to Kital by motorcycle in the morning. However, we both began feeling very bad that evening, with horribly upset stomachs. Doctor Kirill felt so poorly that he was up and down literally all night. The next morning when we were supposed to have left for Kital, we were both so weak that we had to put off our trip for a few hours. We went and bought medicine, took the medicine, and only then headed out for Kital. The trip took us eight and a half hours. The next day we were both still feeling awful, and went to a doctor. I had a temperature of 102, and was diagnosed with malaria. Doctor Kirill, as it turned out, had come down with a form of typhus.
It seemed that I’d come down with a pretty serious case of malaria, myself. The first day, I just felt crummy, but the next two days I could barely stand upright. I spent them in bed feeling simply awful. However, God blessed us with free malaria medicine and I recovered.
Just a couple of days later, Victoria came down with chicken pox. She’d caught it from the children we’d been working with in Kital. At first it was like she just had a bad case of zits... but then they turned into boils. Still, in about a week she was completely recovered, after a good bit of prayer and treatment.
The next thing that happened was that Victoria fell when she was on the motorcycle and got a pretty serious burn in the area of her knee. The first few days she couldn’t even walk, and even when she could, her motion was very limited. When our friend, Doctor Kirill came to visit, he tried to treat her leg, but her body reacted negatively to the medicine so that the treatment only made things worse. Therefore we discontinued the treatment and decided that with a lot of prayer and some caution, her leg would heal without any more medicines.
We also had some good news this month. For the whole past month, we’ve been living in the little house that our pastor blessed us with (I described it in my last letter). We were also blessed several times with gifts of meat that were a great contribution to our meals.
I myself am quite well now, and Victoria’s bout of chickenpox did not negatively affect her pregnancy, nor did her motorcycle accident.
A few prayer requests:
-Please be praying with us for Victoria’s health during the last two months of her pregnancy.
-Pray that God would protect her from illness and accident – there is much more infectious illness in Kerio than out in the desert villages.
Thank you so much for your prayers and your financial support of us as we live and minister here in Africa.
May God bless you!
Volodya and Victoria Yaroshenko –
Agape Ministry Partners in Kerio, Kenya