I want to give a big thanks for your prayers regarding the funeral of Milka Okelloh, wife to pastor John Okelloh. It was evident and obvious that many were praying and that God was with us.

Satan certainly tried to hinder God's work and our testimony for him. At one point it seemed that we would not be able to participate in the funeral for Satanic cultural reasons, but God intervened and through the testimony of our churches stand the funeral was able to go forward.

It was "decided" by family that the funeral could not take place on Friday. For cultural reasons the body was to rest overnight in Pastor Okelloh's house. Since he did not have a house at that place, he would have to build a crude shelter and he and his wife would spend the night together in their "home" so that the spirit of Milka could be at peace. A spirit of a dead person who is at peace is less likely to return to "haunt". Pastor Okelloh was adamant that his wife was at peace with her Father in heaven and that he was not willing to participate in such ungodliness.

Most of those in the community who had come in the morning for the funeral, seeing that the body had not been there overnight returned to their homes knowing that the funeral could not take place until the spirit of Milka "rested" in her house. As the family met discussing this issue Pastor Oloo was asked about a "compromise", we could hold the preaching service and then they would do the burial the next day. Pastor Oloo very clearly said there would be no compromise. The family led by the elder brother began discussing this in their tribal tongue not knowing that Pastor Oloo could understand what they were saying as his wife is the same tribe. This discussion was being led by the elder brother who happens to be a Southern Baptist pastor here in Nakuru. He was in essence saying that we cannot let these people tell us to change our beliefs. When Pastor Oloo heard this he looked directly at this man and said, "sir your problem is that you act like a Christian in Nakuru and when you come here you act like a heathen. You need to understand, we in this church are not acting like Christians, WE ARE CHRISTIANS. This lady is in heaven and there is no need of appeasing any spirits. If you insist with this nonsense we will leave." The family commented that there was not any church that they had ever heard of that made such a stand and since they now saw that we were serious the funeral could be held immediately!

Pastor Okelloh stood before the preaching and gave a clear and wonderful testimony of his wife, her salvation and love for the Lord. He spoke compassionately of Christ being more important than anything in life. He really set the mood for the preaching. Not as many were at the preaching as normal as most never expected the funeral to take place but those who were in attendance listened with great attention and two adults, a husband and wife, trusted Christ at the invitation time.

Pastor Okelloh took a strong stand for the Lord, it is difficult to stand up against your family especially at such a time as he was facing but it was important for him and his testimony. His church saw a real man of God and know that he will practice what he preaches.

Thank you again for your prayers.

One other quick issue. We have a man from Burundi visiting us that we have begun training and Lord willing will soon be starting a church in that country. At this time there is not one Baptist missionary in the whole country of Burundi and we have not been able to find an Independent Baptist Church. The Lord has given us a great opportunity to begin reaching that country. It is an exciting story and one that needs to be told but I will do it in another update, maybe in a couple of days. Brother Kambi was "reached" in our Congo ministry. Please pray for him as we continue his training.

His for Kenya,
And the Regions Beyond,