To day I have been reminiscing about my early days here, when I was still young and vigorous, and days were full of the new and unexpected. In 1968 I was living in MASENO, Western Kenya, 2000 ft above Kisumu Town and the Kavirondo Gulf - the backwater to Lake Victoria......
'JUST A FEW DAYS after my arrival in Maseno, I was waiting on the veranda of the Mission House where I was temporarily staying; I was waiting for visitors. They had promised to pick me up at 8.30a.m. I was still waiting at 10a.m. and the sun was now well up. No, I am not impatient. Life is just as it comes here, and it is foolish to bring time into it.
A car swings dustily into the drive, and a wiry African, in his mid forties, jumps out with a huge smile, his hands waving in joyful greeting. It is Silas Owiti of the Voice of Salvation and Healing Church in Kisumu. "Praise the Lord! Are your ready?" he shouted.
And so we began. Out of the drive, and down the hill from Maseno, two thousand feet into Kisumu's heat. There we picked up the wife of this human dynamo, plus a few more African brethren. We are on our way to a village meeting, miles away on the plain, the other side of the Town. No raod where we are going, just a dusty, crater-pocked track. "Hey, careful!" We plunge down the bank of a stream, fortunately dried up, and shoot up the other side. The bridge has rotted away! The plain is hot. Dust swirls behind us. Passing a rural market with countless dilapidated stores selling anything from matches to Asian rugs, and besieged by a mass of villagers from all the country around about, we pass on, waving to the many people who recognise us along the way. Just a week ago many of these people found Jesus as Saviour in a great open air convention not far from where we are heading.
Suddenly we have arrived. Over an open patch of scrub, and right into the centre of the village. Around us are the homesteads with their mud walls and thatched roofs. Cows, dogs, cats, chickens and children are into everything. People come running to greet us, the women so clean and bright in their gay coloured dresses; the men can hardly compete! All have been expecting our arrival, and have been constructing a 'church' of branches and rush matting. We are soon led to a special hut set aside for us to sit in, our of the sun, and where we can wait for the meeting to begin. Only two windows, and I am made to sit next to one of them, since they are sure I must be suffering from the heat. Droves of flies descend upon us, but soon go unnoticed as more and more village people crowd in to greet us, each one grasping our hands in greeting as they pray a special blessing in Jesus Name upon us.
About noon the meeting begins. One after another new converts stand up to testify of God's Saving Power and healing touch. No sooner one sits down, another gets up; more than seventy so testify. There is a choir, and prayer, then at 3p.m. I am asked to preach! And so I stand unexpectedly to present the Word of God. At the conclusion many do respond and move forward for prayer, some for Salvation, and others for healing. Here under ' rush mat ceiling of this makeshift church men and women reach out and touch the One who loves them, and find a Blessing. 
4p,m, and the meeting concluded we are taken back to the hut, and served with the meal prepared for us - tough curried beef with rice and thick greasy gravy. 'Afters' is sweet tea, and fresh bread and margarin to follow. Great is our joy together. No colour question here; no barrier of custom or tradition. Jesus has been found in everyone made in the image of God. Night falls, and the mosquitoes begin to bite. Still we linger on. The darkness is deep now, so that the stars seem white brilliants in it's depths, and whilst the whole atmosphere breathes with the sounds of night and mystery. Finally we get back into the car and turn for home. It is midnight! All this seemed a long way from Starbeck, North Yorkshire, England.' (extract from my book 'A Cry from the Street' ISBN978-184426-861-0 published 2010)..
Silas Owiti and I went a number of outreaches together in the early months of my being in Kenya. He was always a man sold out to winning souls, a man of endless energy, humour, and commitment. He visited us here in Testimony more than once. The third time as our Guest of Honour for our 38the Anniversary as a Ministry. God sent him all the way to England to be His Messenger to me.
BUT it was not until a year later, in August 1969, that the Lord put orphans on my heart; he brought them TO me in fact, and almost without me realising it Testimony Faith Homes was born, and now another forty seven years has gone by. Souls continue to be saved. I continued to roam around with others proclaiming the gospel, and for that first year the Lord put more and more of Kenya upon my heart, and taught me a great many things that finally confirmed to me what HE had brought me to Kenya for
And so many came, and so many Jesus found whilst they were with us here in Testimony. Now many of them are OUR testimony to the Love and Faithfulness of God. This photo really says it all in relation to the children that fill our four homes. All individual lives, looking out for themselves individually and seeking love and understanding individually. A VERY mixed bag, containing more than the average number of mischevious souls. But one cannot help but love them ALL!! Behind their grins and their laughter are little wills all wanting to have their own way.
MY life in MY hands
A MAN HAD TWO SONS. The younger demanded of his father that he should give whatever was his, and a few days later left home to live his own life, freely. The boy wanted independence - was tired of doing what he was told, tired of home, family, and even study. He is saying LET ME ALONE - I want to live the way I WANT.
And his father, who loved him, and had high hopes of him, LET HIM GO. He knew his son was making a wrong choice, but he still let him go. No mention of a mother in the home so perhaps he was a widower. Now he must work the farm alone - with his elder son.
MOST OS US at some time tire of being told what to do, where to go and how to live. We struggle for freedom from the authority of home and school - sometimes even of the 'JOB' . SOME even force issues by just taking no notice of what anyone thinks, and just push off to make their own way, or the way of others that they admire or want to emulate.
GOD, our Havenly Father created and made us. He loves us too, and when when we PUSH for our own way instead of His, He WILL let US go too. He will let us go to taste the world and all that is in it. He knows it may poison, hurt and even KILL us - BUT He will still let us go. And like all parents whose children disregard their council, He also weeps at the prospect of His Child's hurt and possible dearth.
THERE IS A COST TO HAVING OUR OWN WAY - A PRICE to pay for doing things our own way. Psalms 106v15 says -
He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul'
They got what they wanted, but there was still no peace, but instead an uneasiness of mind, a nagging disturbedness of conscience and self reproach.. It all began with SATISFACTION and a sense of FREEDOM - but it would lead to a wasted life and misery that would be inconsolable.
Is your life in YOUR hands? Think before you leap! Only God Himself knows what is good for us - Pray, and put your children's lives in GOD's hands, and take a rain check on yourselves as well in case YOUR soul is not as FAT as it ought to be.
We love you, and pray for you all. The DRY season is now settled upon us. No water, a lot of heat, and beautiful days. Heavenly. BUT one can't live without water. Pray for us also.
Yours in His Wonderful Love and Mercy
John, Esther and Daryl.
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