459 to be exact!
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Rom. 10:14-15)
THANK YOU for being a part of furthering God's kingdom with the Ilchamus, an unreached people group in Kenya, through sending our team in prayer and finances. You under girded our team in a powerful way. It's hard to grasp, but literally 80% of those who received Christ were trained immediately to share their faith with their family, friends and co-workers. And then they shared, and because of that obedience, 27 discipleship groups that plan to be house churches were started in those five villages in one week! This type of growth is only possible through God.
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| Precious Esther studying during lunch break |
That's some of the big picture of what God did, but here are a few experiences of individual team members. Our son Garrett and his girlfriend Mayra went to Kenya with us, and here he shares one of his experiences: "On e3 Legacy trips, you get an amazing Kenyan translator and Kenyan national with you while you are in the mission field. My whole team was truly a blessing. I had the opportunity to build an amazing relationship with my Kenyan national. Her name is Esther. It was crazy to see her grow in boldness throughout the week. At first she was not confident to witness and did not feel capable; however, as we encouraged her and witnessed alongside her it was beautiful to see her confidence grow bolder. I know that God has special plans for her and that she is going to do amazing things in her village long after we are gone. After a couple of days of work, she had us come to her home and witness to her husband (pictured below). After we explained the gospel to him, he decided to follow Christ. It was beautiful to see this family come together through Christ."
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| Garrett leading Esther's husband to faith |
God used a father and son on the team to each lead their first person to Christ on the same day! What a great LEGACY to share with their future generations. The father shares his most inspiring moment (and there were many) took place on Friday afternoon during the closing commissioning of the new believers: "I was blessed to bring William, his sons, and their many friends to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Both father and son are proud men, but exuded this air of humility and calmness. William's oldest son, Alkanson, is the generational king of the 18-28 year old age group (5000 strong). How great is our God that he unshackled me from spiritual bondage and allowed the Holy Spirit to use my body as a vessel to share his love and promise of salvation to the Ilchalmus people of the El Depe village. I thought myself the most unlikely of servants, and the voices kept saying that I was unworthy of this task. But God used my brokenness and transparency to share his story and spread his love." Yes, God wants to use each of us, and he starts right where we're at.
Kimberly summed up our time in Kenya beautifully: "As I write this, I am listening to the song, "Beautiful Things" by Gungor and the chorus states, 'You make beautiful things out of us. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things out of dust.' That happened this week. We all saw beautiful things come out of our villages and the dust. People's lives were changed, people accepted Christ, and people were healed. And it wasn't just the Ilchamus who felt this, but the people on our American team. This week hope sprung out of the ground. We planted seeds, and there was a bountiful harvest, and to be able to be a part of that is something that I will never forget."
