Westside Church

September 1 - Kenya team update:

Dear Friends at Home, 

We returned from the Western Part of Kenya last night and stumbled into our hotel rooms in Nairobi.  Miwani, as always, was a great blessing to us even though we somehow managed to overbook ourselves here and there.  We had a glorious last night at Miwani.  The interns on the compound (five guys) all received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and were so touched by God.  They were beaming the next day.  Yesterday was the long drive from Miwani to Nairobi, but the countryside is so beautiful at this time of the year. 

I am enjoying a day of meditation and preparation as the team is off at the Maasai Market shopping.  It’s so wonderful to enjoy some quiet time after the busy schedule we have been keeping. 

Tomorrow we visit the Nairobi Game Park  (Lions and Zebras and  rhinos “Oh My”).  Wish you were all here for that.  Thursday is our big WorldCOMP kickoff event at a downtown hotel.  Many dignitaries will be there.  Please pray for an anointing upon Osborn Obayo, Dr George Matimbai and myself as we plant the vision for an organization that is dedicated to helping the poor and the sick here in Kenya.  It is our hope and dream that the Kenyans will step up and shoulder the burden by becoming volunteers for this important work.  The need is so mind blowing, but if God can help us to inspire Kenyans to work together a greater work will be done than we could ever do alone.  I am so thankful for the wonderful team of Kenyans who are working together with us already.  They are so wonderful. 

Thanks for your continued prayers and financial support for the work we are doing.  We love and appreciate all of you so much. 

Blessings to you,

 

Richard   Aug. 31 - Update from Jean Krueger on the Kenya teams visit to Miwani farm.

On Sat. John took Valerie and Richard into see Dr. Ruby for Valerie had been sick and had had a bad night.  After blood work, she felt V was having a reaction to all the drugs she was taking.  After receiving some help, she was fine and all was clear.  That night was our potluck, which was good and fun.  Christy led it, doing a great a job. Please pray for Christy and the farm leaders while we are away that they would have God’s wisdom. We have peace that God is in control. Thanks!

     Fidelis asked Richard to pray for him to receive the Holy Spirit and have a prayer language, which he did.  Solomon asked Richard to pray with him about being a man of God.  (Solomon was the one wanting to take his life last week and hopeless.)  Hallelujah!!!!   On Sunday night Richard and Valerie spoke about the Holy Spirit to the apprentices and all the guys there wanted to receive the HS and have prayer languages, which is what happened.  I sensed that their hearts were prepared with all they have been learning. It was thrilling and amazing to be part of this next step.  I had sensed in my spirit that God was going to pour out His Spirit upon us and hearts changed, which is what happened in ways beyond us. (Eph. 3:20 which Valerie quoted) When we come back, I know God will take us all further in our relationship with HIM.  He is so good!  Thanks so much for all of you were praying for us.  We felt your support, especially when the enemy was attacking.  I know he didn’t want this to happen.  BUT GOD!!!!!!!

        So until the next time, blessings on you all and we love you.
 

Much love, Jean and JohnMiwani Farm – Kenya  August 27 

Just got Phil Milnes and Laurean Myers off at the airport in Nairobi.  We will be a Miwani with John and Jean Kruger until Monday.  This place is always an oasis after a time of hard ministry in Kenya.  We really worked hard, but the results were out of this world.  We are already making plans for medical camp 2011.  On Monday we drive to Nairobi and begin to prepare for the big WorldComp kickoff banquet.  We are expecting more than 200 guests and we are hoping that many of them will sign on as supporters of WorldComp Kenya and will be the first Kenyans to work with us financially to help the hundreds of thousands of hurting people in this place.  Our long term goal is full funding from Kenyans, but in the mean time we are asking you to partner with us to help these wonderful people. 

 

By the way Valerie has fully recovered from her bout with Typhoid fever.  Thank you so much for praying so diligently for us.  Please keep it up until you see the whites of our eyes in September. 

 

We love all of you so much,   

All our love,  Richard and Valerie

 

KENYA MEDICAL MISSION – AUGUST 25 SHIKUSA BOYS DETENTION CENTER 

We have visited the boys detention center many times.  Each time we do everyone one of us comes away from there with a burden to help these boys see God’s vision for their lives and “know the plans that God has for them, plans to give them a future and a hope”.  We set up our medical camp and saw 315 patients: 295 boys and 20 people who ran across the street from the community clinic.  They had been waiting all day for medical help, but there were no drugs, so they came and begged us to make them part of our camp.  I’m sure glad we said yes!  Most of the boys had common colds, skin conditions, and stomach problems, but some had more serious conditions like tuberculosis, typhoid and malaria.  Everyone one of our doctors and nurses was very impressed with how polite and well behaved these boys are.  When we spoke to them and walked around the camp we could feel their appreciation for us being there.  Valerie and I spent the day praying for boys after they had their turn with the doctor. Only a handful of them wanted prayer for healing.  When we asked the rest of them, “How can we pray for you, they said “I want to be empowered to live a good Christian life and to be used by God”.   In the last year there has been an amazing thing happening among the boys.  They are only 15-18 years old, but those who have accepted Christ have formed a marvelous fellowship among themselves.  Leadership has risen among them and everyone knows who God has called to teach and pastor the group.  They are pressing into God together with a passion. 

We took the time again to walk around the grounds and see how things are going.  Several months ago I mentioned their needs for beds.  For many years all the boys have been sleeping on the floor in terribly overcrowded rooms.  A friend responded to this need and gave $3000 to help with the construction of bunk beds made of angle iron that will revolutionize dorm life.  Construction is about to get under way, but we have now seen that this money is only enough to equip 2 of the 7 dorms with beds.  Each bunk bed will cost about $50 to make.  I met with the detention center officials for dinner last night and to talk through the project.  I discovered that none of the prison or reform school facilities in Kenya have beds.  They all sleep on the floor.  This being the case, they are having a terrible time convincing the government to pitch in on this project.  But we are moving forward anyhow.  The plan is to equip the two dorms with beds and let them serve as “Model Dorms” and become a visual inspiration to the government officials who visit the prison.  Would anyone like to buy a bed or two? 

Well our medical camps are now finished.  It was a very grueling task, but I must say this is one of the best things we have ever done in missions.  So many people felt the love of God through the loving touch of doctors and nurses that not only treated their wounds and diseases, but who also prayed with them for their salvation, their provision and their healing.  So many people accepted Christ and many others were healed and filled with the Spirit. 

Our team really gave their all.  Long days of long lines of needy people, with barely time to take a break to eat a piece of bread.  I am so grateful for everyone of them.  They have also really connected with our Christian friends here and formed an enduring friendship. 

Today we are off to Miwani to spend several days with John and Jean Kruger.  Phil Milnes and Laurean will fly back to Seattle the next day and Sapna Jain will spend 10 days in Nairobi with family friends and distant relatives.   Look for further reports as we moved toward our September 2 WORLDCOMP kick off banquet in Nairobi. 

Blessing to you dear friends.  Rich and Val and the Kenya Medical Team

KAKAMEGA KENYA August 24, 2010

 

Today was the second and last day of our Kakamega Medical camp.  It was a very fruitful and exciting day.  Our team ministered to over 600 patients.  We had the realization that this medical outreach probably a purer form of evangelism than street meetings.  The Lord has been so honored in the camp.  Every doctor finished their time by praying for their patient.  Many people accepted Christ at the invitation of their doctor.  How cool is that.

Valerie is much better.  She worked in the prayer room all day.  Thank you so much for praying for her.

Speaking of the prayer room let me tell you an amazing story about a family that came to the prayer room.  It started with an old women who came to Valerie for prayer for healing.  As Valerie prayed with her she was powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues.  After this she went out immediately and brought in her three daughters for prayer.  They ranged from 17 to about 30.  As Valerie and I began to pray for them they immediately began to manifest demonic activity.  It was crazy, they fell on the floor began to shake, and convulse, and howl.  It was really something.  We commanded the demons to leave them and after a few minutes they got up on their feet and all three of them were also filled with the Holy Spirit.  One of the women was married to a very rich man who has a prominent position with the land department in Western Kenya. His name was Festus.  She immediately called him and told him he just had to leave work and come down to the camp for prayer.  Festus had recently had a stroke and was almost completely blind.  When he arrived he was more than ready to receive Christ and he also was filled with the Holy Spirit.  Afterwards he began to tell us his amazing story.  For many years he has been completely hard toward the Lord, but several months ago he had a major stroke with left him totally paralyzed in his arms and legs.  After a month or so he had a dream.  In his dream a man came and took hold of his left arm and began to pull on it very hard.  He cried out in pain and woke suddenly to find that he could now move his arm.  Several nights later he had another dream and the same man came and pulled on the other arm, he cried out in pain and woke up to find out that he now could use his other arm.  A few nights later he dreamed that the man came to him with a donkey and commanded the donkey to attack him.  He began to run away and jump over rocks and fences to get away screaming at the top of his lungs.  When he awoke he found that he could now use his legs.   All of this took place a short time back, so when his wife called him to come to our camp he was eager to be prayed for.

Upon stepping out of the prayer room he ran into Pastor Simeon Obayo who was shocked to see him at the church.  Come to find out that Festus was the very man who surveyed the land that Simeon’s church was given and he was the one who signed the papers to give it to them.  Simeon had been after this man for years, trying to get him to consider the Lord, but he just mocked him.  But here he was now telling Simeon with absolute childlike joy that he had been saved and filled with the HolySpirit.  It is so great to be a part of such an amazing story.

Tomorrow we take our camp to the boys detention center.  I can’t wait to see the boys again.  God has been doing something wonderful there for the last few years.

Thanks everyone for you prayer and financial support of this mission.  This has been one of the greatest things we have ever done.

Blessings to you and yours

Richard and the Kenya Medical Team

Tuesday August 23^rd Kakamega Kenya  
First of all we want to thank everyone for the quick prayer response for Valerie to recover from Typhoid Fever.  She opted to take the injection followed by the pills for the cure, which usually produces a much quicker response.  She had a good night’s sleep and today is feeling weak but well.  If we can get her to take it easy for a few days the prognosis is that she will have no more problems.  She will be with us in today’s medical camp, but will take it easy and rest when needed.  Thanks again for your prayer.  One of the points we have made over and over as we run these medical camps is “We can treat diseases, but only God can heal.” 
Yesterday’s medical camp in Kakamega was very different than the one in the Nairobi slums.  The crowd on the grounds was much less, but there was a steady flow of people coming for medical help.  We saw 385 patients yesterday, many of who were very ill.  After doing Nairobi, everyone was marveling at how peaceful and pleasant it was at the Campsite.  I think doing medical camp on a church compound is so much better than doing it at a Government school.  The people we treat, pray for, and who accept Christ have someplace to come back to for follow up.  The staff and congregation of the church also stepped up to the task of ushering, monitoring, registering, praying, setting up, caring for children and keeping the place clean.  God’s people are simply the best. 
Today is day two of Kakamega Medical camp and then it is on to the Shikusa Boys Detention center, which now has 525 boys.  Each one will get a quick physical and those who are sick will be treated.  
Thanks everyone for praying for us. We love and appreciate you all so much.

Richard and the Kenya Medical Team

August 22 Kakamega, Kenya 

 

Yesterday we caught the 7am flight to Kakamega from Nairobi.  The Kakamega airport is now open for business after being closed for a number of years.  It looks a little like a runway in the Amazon and the landing was a bit rough!  O.K. It was a lot rough but we are here safe and sound. 

Moving on from the Nairobi area to Kakamega and the Western region is a culture shock.  Nairobi is a mad house of traffic and people rushing everywhere.  It is a sprawling city and it takes forever to get anywhere.  The city is completely circled by slums in which 3.5 million people try to live as best as possible.  And they all rush into town in the morning to work or try to find work.  Kakamega compared to Nairobi is like Snohomish compared to Seattle.  When we got here everyone looked around at the lush green vegetation and the farmland and had the distinct feeling that we were now in the real Kenya.  We are situated in a lovely Guest House called the Shieywe.  Don’t ask me to pronounce that, because it can’t be pronounced by someone with an American mouth.  The grounds absolutely beautiful. 

Today, Sunday, we spent the day at Kakamega Town PEFA Church with people we have now known and loved for years.  It was a 3 ½ hour service that went by like 15 minutes.  There’s nothing like it.  Their worship is so much fun.  Each of the team members shared for a few minutes about their experiences and their heart for Kenya.  By the way their heart for Kenya is now huge.  We were surrounded by a sea of loving people who crowded around us to hug, shake hands and express their appreciation for our being there. 

Tomorrow we start our Kakamega Medical Camps on the Church grounds.  We are expecting even a larger crowd than we had in Nairobi.  We got the statistics today that we ministers to 2010 patients in Nairobi in our two days of camps.  Wow!  What a ministry.  The team is ready to roll and we all feel that we will be able to operate more efficiently with the Nairobi experience behind us. 
 

Please keep praying for us dear friends and tell everyone you know that they can find our reports on the church website at www.westsidechurch.com

Thanks for all your prayer and support.  You have been a part of a life saving and life changing mission. 

Next report tomorrow.  Blessings to one and all.  

 

Richard Vicknair and the Kenya Medical Team

 

August 21 Nairobi Kenya
 

Today the team visited our children in the Nairobi slums.  First with the children of the Lenana School in Dagoretti.  As we arrived the kids were waiting, as usual, with 8 bouquets of roses and sweet words of welcome.  Our visit was short but all of the team were able to see the school in action and the kids getting their lunch.  Lenana serves the poor children of the Dagoretti slums and provides free or nearly free tuition to children who were not able to go to school due to the poverty in their lives.  We met with the 13 members of the teaching staff to encourage and bless them.  As usual we were the ones being encouraged and blessed by the sheer dedication and sacrifice of these teachers.  They are working in the slums without a salary as missionaries while they wait for job openings in the Kenya School system.  What a precious group of people they are and as a result of their efforts, children from the slums are literally excelling in their school work.  We prayed for a number of kids (8th graders) who were about to sit for their national exams.  Their grades on this test will literally determine their future in school and higher education.  As we were leaving we learned that the lot next door, a large lot, was just going up for sale.  We don’t know the price yet, but if somehow the school could buy this lot they could build their own school on their own lot and avoid being bullied by landlords.  Please pray about this exciting possibility. 
 

Our next visit was to the Kara Children’s Center, deep inside the Kibera Slums.  Kibera is the largest slum in the country with over 1.3 million people living in the worst conditions imaginable.  When people see Kibera for the first time, the memory of it is indelibly burned in their minds.  The sights and sounds and smells are beyond belief.  Our Kids Center is prospering.  We had 80 kids just four month ago and now we have 105.  Valerie and the prayer team have been providing money to sponsor a jewelry making business with the older girls in the group.  One half of the money they make goes back into the school.  With this money they have been able to rent another room and separate the younger kids from the older ones and have a separate kitchen.  Nothing is more moving than to see these kids being cared for and taught.  I firmly believe that many of them would have died by now had it not been for the ministry of this center and I also believe that their future possibilities are greatly enhanced because of what they are getting from the school in the school. 
 

Our Westside Church Vacation Bible School kids raised $780 for the feeding program during our VBS.  Thanks so much kids for caring about poor kids in other parts of the world. The team is holding up really well, even though our days have been long and hard.  Everyone is well and amazed at the incredible things that God is doing. Tomorrow we fly out early for Kakamega and begin to prepare for our Kakamega Medical Camps on Monday and Tuesday.  Please continue to hold us up in your prayers.  We can really feel it. Blessings to you all.  We love you,
 

Richard Vicknair and the Kenya Medical Team

 

 

August 20 Kenya Mission Day 2

 

All we can say is wow!  Tonight at dinner 13 of us debriefed about how the medical camp in the Dandora Slums went.  By the time we got half way around the table we were reduced to tears and all of us had a hard time sharing after that.  Let me tell you, God was really with us.  We had thousands of people in camp today, one third of them were children.  We realized early in the morning that we were going to have to put in a long day to have any chance of seeing all of them, so we decided that we would work until dark and see how it went.  At 6:45 pm (15 minutes before dark) there were some twenty people, mostly moms with their kids waiting outside of the doctors’ exam room.  Several of the staff suggested that we apologize and send them home, but Laurean stepped outside, took one look at them and said, “Let’s take them all inside and close the door, the Lord will help us!  And He did.  By dark every one of them had been examined and given medication to treat their conditions.  The last patient of the day was a distraught women who was six months pregnant.  She had taken a bad fall and for 24 hours had not felt the child move.   After Laurean and Sapna examined her and couldn’t heart a heartbeat, they decided to just call upon the Lord.  As they prayed for her the child suddenly moved in her womb.  She went away just beaming and praising the Lord. 

There we so many highlights in this camp.  The Lord was surely with us and all of us just can’t wait until the medical camps in Kakamega which start on Monday.  We have been involved in a lot of projects in Kenya over the years, but nothing tops this!  It reminds me of those Bible verses that say, “They brought all those who were sick and diseased to Him and He healed them.”  Not all of them were healed (at least not instantly) but all of them were touched by how passionately and effortlessly we mixed medical science with faith in God.  Scores of people accepted Christ, many were filled with the Spirit, some were delivered, and many were healed.  We are all about to fall into bed utterly exhausted, but filled with joy at the love and power of God. Thanks ever so much for continuing to pray for us all.

Tomorrow we visit the Kibera Slums to hang out with our preschoolers at Kibera Children’s Center.  Kibera is the largest slum in Kenya, with over 1.5 million people living in the worst conditions imaginable.  In spite of that, we are all looking forward to being with the children we are feeding and so in love with.  Following that we head out to Dagoretti to visit the Lenana School where 300 more kids are looking forward to our coming.  They always greet us with flowers and songs and love.  More on our visit there in tomorrow’s letter. Blessings to all back home and forgive me now if I fall asleep for a while, All our love,

Richard, Valerie and the Kenya Medical Team

August 19, Nairobi Kenya

KENYA MEDICAL MISSION
Every time we minister in Kenya it’s an incredible adventure.  Traveling from place to place on the roads is like a high speed bumper car run.   Hundreds of cars bullying into traffic all at once, pedestrians running for for their lives between the cars, trucks and buses.  It’s one thing everyone talks about; some with fear in their voices and others, like me, who simply enjoys the frantic danger of it all.  But enough about that.

 

A long day believe me!  Out the door at 8am and back to the hotel at 9pm with two vans packed to the rafters with boxes of medicine.  No time for lunch.  More than 1000 people waiting at all the stations for medical attention.  Actually it went far better than I expected, even though it took us two hours to get into the flow.  Our team was amazing!  Cliff and Terrilee and Jennie Buley were all stars with the kids.  Imagine spending the whole day with more than 100 kids from poor families who have very little training at sitting still and listening.  When the day was over Cliff and Terrilee were simply exhausted, but Jennie was still going strong, with kids hanging all over her.  She was their favorite part of the medical camp; so great with kids!

Our doctors, Phil Milnes and Sapna Jain were incredible.  So gifted in their skills and so great with people.  Not only that, but they both know how to combine medical skill with prayer and faith.  They had a wonderful spiritual impact on people.  Laurean Myers, our nurse extraordinaire, was at the top of her game.  She examined all the kids and babies with amazing love and knowledge.  Valerie and I were in the prayer room for 6 straight hours praying with people for healing, deliverance and salvation.  The presence of God was definitely in the camp because both Valerie and I had many people come straight up to us and say, “Pray for me, I need to repent and give my life to the Lord.”  There were also an large number of healings during the day.  What a great time!

The Kenya team of medical professionals were equally great.  We had about 6 Clinical Officers (one step below a doctor) about 10 nurses and several pharmacists who set up a full-fledged pharmacy in about two hours.  In addition to all of that we had more than 30 medical camp volunteers, wearing white tee-shirts who were moving traffic, giving advice, praying with people and running errands.  Working with our Kenyan friends in definitely my favorite part of missions in Kenya.  We just love them so much!

Tomorrow will be the same drill with more people, but we will start a little earlier and a lot smarter.  I think we have got the bugs out of the operation.

Heartfelt thanks to all of you who are praying for us.  We could really feel it today in everything we were doing. Blessings to all of you. If any feel led to continue to give during the next few weeks it would be greatly appreciated.  You know the old saying with money, “Money talks”, “It says Bye, Bye”.   I think we have everything we need for our medical camps but I don’t know about our team expenses. So pray about this. We love and appreciate all of you back home.

Richard Vicknair and the Medical Missions Team 

August 17  Nairobi Kenya  

MEDICAL MISSION TO KENYA DAY ONE

Our team arrived at 1am this morning after the long flight from Seattle, to Washington D.C. to Ethiopia and finally Nairobi.  All are safe and sound.  Stepping through the gate we found Osborn Obayo and Dr George waiting for us with an assortment of helpers; airport personnel, drivers, and soldiers.  The soldiers were there as guardian angels to watch over us, but mostly to gaurd the 550 pounds of medicine and medical equipment that we carried in our baggage.  I told Dr George that he was probably being overly precautious, but he is a very careful man after being robbed more than 5 times in his own home.  In any event we have now enjoyed our first night of sleep at the Luke Hotel.  In a few hours we will head over to the venue for our first medical camp at the Dandora Secondary School to examine the lay of the land and set up our stations.  Medical Camp starts first thing in the morning and we are anticipating over 1000 people on the first day.  So much work has gone in to preparing for this, but there is no doubt that day one will be somewhat chaotic until we establish a routine.    Please pray for us as we begin this incredible undertaking.  Pray especially for our physical strength and wisdom to find the best way to do things.  Pray as well that God will anoint each one of us to communicate the love of God and the knowledge of God to those who come.   Following our day of setting up we get together to sort out our quarter ton of medication and repack it for the camp pharmacy. 

Valerie and I and the team can’t thank you enough for your generous financial contributions to this mission and for your daily prayer as we minister to the poor and the sick.  The word assures us that those who contribute and serve the needs of the poor have a special place in the heart of God and a special reward for their labors.  May we all enjoy the benefits of God’s blessing. 

I’ll write again this evening after we have scoped out the land. 

Blessings to all of you from all of us:

Richard and Valerie Vicknair, Cliff and Terrilee Hammon, Laurean Myers, Dr. Phil Milnes, Dr. Sapna Jain, Jennie Buley and the Kenya Team….