Ears to Hear

 

Mark 4:1-9 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” [NIV]

In the picture, our friend Sonja Kvale from Alexandria is teaching and Francis Owour, Neil's travel companion is translating. Sonja was a teacher in Battle Lake for several years before earning her doctorate in counseling. Her special area is helping women overcome the trauma and shame of having had an abortion. For many women in third world countries this was never their choice, but they have no one to talk to who understands their inner burden and torment. Sonja says it is much like the PTSD soldiers suffer. Sonja has traveled to at least 15 countries teaching church leaders how to counsel women who are carrying heavy burdens. 

About 100 of Neil's friends from the Kisii District near Lake Victoria arrived on Monday. They made up about half of the attendees at the conference. They had been invited to select one of their pastors to speak. The one they selected was one who Neil has needed to discipline for stealing funds sent for a widow in his church to rebuild her house. Neil made sure that pastor built the house for that woman out of his own funds, after he had spent the funds we sent on himself. That pastor preached a fire and brimstone sermon holding forth with much shouting and stomping back and forth in front of the crowd. Most of his members have left his church to attend another that is nearby. Their selection of that pastor as their speaker made Neil sad, but not surprised. There is a tribal culture of inclusiveness, and much effort to help those in leadership "save face". But Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to earth. Neil was given the opportunity to address the need to abandon our culture when we become born again into Jesus' Kingdom.

Neil was the next speaker. Neil used the previous speaker as a demonstration of what not to do. He said that anyone who continually teaches his people that they are going to hell is a bad preacher, and reminded them of one of Neil's favorite verses -- 1 John 5:13 "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." The good news of the gospel is that those who put their trust in Jesus full payment of their sin through His death and resurrection, no longer need to fear hell. Jesus has set us free from the condemnation of our sin and we are now serving Jesus with joyful hearts because of all Jesus has done for us.

The team from Maumau Market who had led the worship in April at the Ugandan island in Lake Victoria, was leading the worship this week in Nairobi. Neil has nicknamed them the Spice Girls, because their worship is very lively and people jump to their feet and begin to dance before the Lord. During one of the teachings, the Spice Girls came to sit around Neil. He has a picture of them around Grandpa Neil. 

Neil enjoys holding the children. One of the infants was right at home in his arms, but Neil forgot which mother she belonged to. Then he noticed a young woman a few rows ahead of him giving him anxious glances, and returned her baby. It is uncommon for African men to hold children. That is left to the women. Neil not only enjoys children, he tries to model the loving care that children need from their fathers.

Francis taught on the healthy appreciation for tithing based on grateful hearts trusting God for their supply and also setting aside portions for needs in our lives. Even in our times of desperate need, we can trust God to supply for each day. The Bible has many examples of people who trusted God: the manna and quail in the wilderness when Moses led the people out of Egypt, the prophet sent to the widow who was about to use her last flour and oil to bake a loaf for her and her son before they died, Jesus noticing the widow putting her last coin into the collection at the temple. Yet God sent Joseph to Egypt to counsel Pharaoh to set aside grain in the years of plenty to feed the people during the years of drought. God supplies all that we have. He doesn't need our money, but we need to entrust our lives and all that we have to Him. A tithe is a small token of our thanks to God, but a large demonstration of our trust in Him.  

Perhaps Neil's most important message was on marriage. African men consider women to be workers. They pay a bride price and carefully select a woman who is able to work hard and bear children. Their fathers have not set them good examples. Even the Bible does not have many examples of healthy marriages. Only Jesus laid down a pattern for how a man should cherish, care for, and serve his wife. Although Jesus never married while he lived on earth, the day is coming when Jesus will be united with His bride, the church. He lay down His life to present a pure and spotless bride, washed from every stain of sin with his own precious blood. So, Neil used our marriage as an example. He was making a point of how important it is to reassure your wife of her beauty even into her old age, and gestured toward the Spice Girls. Neil said that my beauty is on a different plane than my youthful attractiveness. We are never to trade in our wives for newer models. 

In their midst was a woman with 8 children who had been abandoned by her husband for another woman. He had been a pastor who had to be removed of his duties. That woman is still beautiful, but with a broken heart and no means of support. She asked for help starting a business. We will help, but we will also make sure she has good counsel in place for setting aside funds to purchase supplies to keep her business going. We will also find someone to donate monthly sponsorship for at least one of her children through ROCK (Reach Out to the Children of Kenya).

Neil handed out the study Bibles and copies of our Navigating Life: A Mentoring Toolbox to the pastors. 

Neil was one of the preachers for the Sunday service. This afternoon, Mary, one of the Kisii pastors and her husband Thomas are having a formal wedding ceremony. Many marriages, especially in the remote villages, are common law without government licenses issued. Cosmas Solamba requires pastors in the Riverside Ministries churches to have their marriages licensed as well as the church ceremony. Mary has decorated the church and is excited to share their celebration with her new friends in Nairobi. Ruth asked Neil to take pictures. 

Update from Neil on Kilifi. There are 2 churches in Kilifi, and one is in urgent need of repair.

Neil will be visiting pastors this week, and might be allowed to join a pastor who ministers in the prisons. Then Neil will visit Joe and Karin Medley, Esther and Sophia, before returning home on Saturday.

Please pray:

• for the Holy Spirit's messages to be the ones the pastors and leaders are reminded of and will put into practice when they return from the conference. 
• for a work crew to help build a church on a Ugandan island in Lake Victoria.
• for the mother of 8 to get help starting a business to support her family.
• for marriages to begin reflecting Jesus' example of husbands caring for their wives and children, and for wives to love their husbands.
• for repairs to be made to the church building in Kilifi.

Love,

Ruth Thielke

Outfitters for Adventure

How to Help Kenya

New Church in Kilifi

 

1 Corinthians 14:15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.

To catch up on the events of the past few days, Ruth hasn't mentioned the place names for those of you who enjoy following their travels with maps. The first village was Mariakani, which is on the main highway from Nairobi to Mombasa. That is the place where the van broke down on a previous trip during the Covid outbreak and Francis flagged down a semi driver willing to let them ride along and who then smuggled them through the road blocks into Nairobi where Neil was able to catch his flight home. The church in Mariakani was Neil and Francis's first stop. The mannerisms of the tall worship leader in the picture above reminded Neil of a cowboy. He sang with the lyrical quality of his tribe, and not like the other worship leaders who had listened to the worship from large Western churches. He sang with such heartfelt worship of Jesus, that both Neil and Francis cried. 

Along the way, Neil, Francis, and Martin stopped at a village market square to buy vegetables. The van was stacked full of the sound equipment for 3 small churches, so they put the vegetables inside the hatch door at the back of the van. Francis made his way around the front of the van to the driver's seat, but Martin noticed the hatch door was still open. He rounded the other side of the van and closed that back door, as the van began moving forward. Martin thought Francis must be pulling ahead and would stop for him, but no, the van continued on its way. Martin is a tall man with good legs and began running behind the van trying to catch Francis' attention. Picture the tall Kenyan runners who do so well in the Olympics. But Martin is also a quiet man who had been sitting in the second seat and didn't join in conversation much while traveling. After running about a kilometer, Martin realized the van would not be stopping. Francis and Neil did not become aware of Martin's absence until they were about a half hour down the highway and needed to exit off the main road. As Francis turned to check traffic, he noticed the second seat was empty. What should they do? Should they turn back to find Martin? But Neil remembered how resourceful Kenyan men are, and suggested that Martin would no longer be waiting where they left him. Sure enough, shortly after they reached the next destination, Martin arrived having rented a ride with a man who was driving a motor bike. He took the incident in good humor and they all had a hearty laugh together. 

That story may bring to mind memories of similar events many of you have experienced. Ruth thought of 3 right away, but the one etched into her memory was when she and Neil were stranded in an August snowstorm in the mountain tops of Northern Mongolia on their way across the nation to catch their flight home from the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Neil and the Mongolian translator had to push that van each time it slid off the highway and then run along behind the van down the very long hills and up the next to where the van had slid off again. Ruth was screaming, "Stop! Stop!" in the back seat of the van, but the van driver did not understand English, nor would he allow Neil and the Mongolian translator to get back into the van as he drove down the hills. How Neil and their translator were able to keep pushing that van and then run down and up those very long ice covered hills without jackets and just slippery summer shoes -- only the Holy Spirt is able to explain to this day. Neil says he could never do it again!

Neil and Francis taught in the church in Kaloleni where the man with the injured back lives. His wife who had fled with their 4 children to her parent's home, brought them to church with her, which seemed to be a first step toward resolution of that situation, no matter how the Lord leads the family to work things out. It is the husband's family who brought food for Neil and Francis, who live just down the road from where Neil was staying. That family hardly had food for themselves to eat, and they would take no payment for the food. The last meal was something like Wonder Bread that because of his allergies to white flour Neil was unable to eat. But Neil was so amazed at their generosity out of their poverty. Ruth heard a rooster crowing in the background while Neil was telling the story. Neil said he was reminded of Linda Hodgson, because she would have enjoyed seeing the family dog trying to talk to them as if it was actually carrying on a conversation. However, when it put a paw on Neil's knee for attention, the woman came over and gave the dog a good whack to chase the dog away. 

Outfitters for Adventure has begun sending the family ongoing support for the 4 children to buy clothing and shoes, help with food costs, and to send the children to school. We already have friends who are providing funds that will cover that expense.

Yesterday, Neil and Francis visited a new church in Kilifi, which is near vast acres of sisal plantations along the coast. Neil asked if the people had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Their church was so new, they hadn't received teaching yet about the Holy Spirit. So Neil and Francis read the Bible passages and then prayed with the people to receive the Holy Spirit. There were about 60 women and just a few men present, as most of the men were out in the fields working. Most of the people began speaking in the language of the Holy Spirit and their faces were filled with joy as they experienced the presence of God. Francis and Martin were able to verify that the people were not speaking in their own dialect or Swahili. 

Kalifi is further north than Neil had been on previous trips. There are fields of sisal stretching as far as they could see. Sisal looks like very large aloe vera plants that grow well in poor dry soil, and are harvested for the fibers in the leaves. Those fibers are used to make a variety of products, but are know best in rope making. The workers do not earn much, and the labor is very difficult.

Today, Neil, Francis, and Martin along with one of the pastors and two of the women started out at 4:00 a.m. to make the long trip back to Nairobi for the pastors' conference. Neil and Francis took turns driving the van through the dangerous traffic on the crowded highway. The pastor of the church in Kalifi, who is a military officer, along with his wife were already teaching at the conference when Neil arrived. Neil said Francis suffered through the attempts of the first translator for about 4 minutes before Francis held out his hand for the mic and stepped in. Neil said it was like a Clint Eastwood movie where Clint finally sets his hamburger down and goes to work on the bank robbers.

Neil spoke tonight after he got a nap at Cosmas' house, and then had Martin share the miracle of his church beginning. Sonja Kvale will join Neil on Friday to be one of the teachers at the conference. About 60 friends from Kisii arrive tonight. Ruth asked Neil to greet them from her, and to let them know that if she could be there, she would give them each a big hug.  

Please Pray for:

• for the Holy Spirit to speak through the teachers and for those attending to be able to put those teachings into action.
• for clear Bible teaching, strength, grace, peace, and love for the teachers.
• for times of heartfelt worship to invite the presence of the Holy Spirit 
• for healings and deliverances, words of knowledge, and prophetic words of comfort and encouragement to strengthen the people

Love,

Ruth Thielke

Outfitters for Adventure

How to Help Kenya

Healing and Deliverance

 

Micah 2:12 “I will surely gather all of you, Jacob;

    I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.

I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,

    like a flock in its pasture;

    the place will throng with people.

The topics Cosmas Solamba assigned for Neil to teach at the pastors' conference in Nairobi next week are Healing and Deliverance. Neil has not felt totally confident ministering in either of those areas. However, this week while teaching in the small village churches on the Kenya's East coast near Mombasa, God has been giving Neil opportunities to become more experienced in both.

Through generous gifts from friends and churches, Outfitters for Adventure has been able to send funds to purchase modest sound systems for 20 small churches. At the cost of $1,500 USA dollars, Francis Owuor was able to purchase the following components at cost: 2 speakers, mics, all the cords and attachments, the sound board, a keyboard, and a generator to power the system. The churches do not have electricity, so the generator is also able to power lights in the churches. Three of the systems were brought along in the van on this trip, and Francis has been installing them. Francis not only is a pastor and overseer of the churches Neil visits; he also owns and operates an electronics business. He is a man of many talents who attributes his effectiveness to Jesus. He is a devout man of prayer with a servant heart. He has wept when he witnesses the delight of the people as they receive their sound systems and begin praising Jesus with joy.

Yesterday, as Neil was teaching, a woman who was oppressed by demons stood up and the demons began manifesting through her. She was very agitated, and began screaming loudly. Neil stopped his teaching and called for her to be brought to the front. Neil had been explaining that Jesus did not want his disciples to be watching from the sidelines. Jesus involved them in the ministry. Neil had some of those in the church come forward and they began commanding the demons to be quiet and to come out of the woman. After a few minutes, she quieted down and became peaceful, so she was able to go back to her seat and remained calm throughout the rest of the day. 

After the service, Francis brought Neil to visit a man who had fallen out of a coconut palm tree a few months ago and had broken his back. He and his wife have 4 children to raise, and now he is unable to work. In addition to his physical pain, he had the anguish of not being able to provide for his family. In his frustration, he said unkind things to his wife and treated her harshly. She took the children and returned to her parents' home. The man does not have a good relationship with his wife's parents, because he had never paid the bride price which he had promised, and there were a few other unpleasantries added since the marriage. So the man's parents asked Neil and Francis to see if they could help bring about a better working relationship between the families. Our friend Bernie would say, "What a mess," but for the Holy Spirit it was a wonderful opportunity to allow Neil to become more experienced in deliverance ministry.

After visiting with the man who had broken his back and with his parents, the man's parents agreed to bring Neil and Francis to the wife's parents' home to hear their version of the story. As they approached the humble mud house with a thatched roof, the man's wife was standing just outside the door. But when she saw them coming, she quickly fled and her mother came out of the house screaming. Once again, Neil and Francis were observing the manifestation of demons. Francis is a gifted counselor and calmly asked to speak to the wife's father. He came out of the house but was noticeably upset. Francis assured the parents and the wife that they had not come to force her to return to her husband. Rather, they wanted to give the wife and her parents a chance to tell their story and then pray with them to ask the Holy Spirit to be their counselor. Both the man with the broken back and his wife as well as their families are Christians. The wife and her father were willing to talk it over and calmed down while the mother continued to rage and manifest demons. So, Francis and Neil asked if it would be ok with them if they commanded the demons to leave the mother. That seemed like a good plan to them. Francis and Neil began rebuking the demons in the authority of Jesus' name, with the confidence that Satan's power truly was defeated when Jesus shed his blood on the cross in full payment of sin. At that point, the demons were not given a choice and they had to leave. The mother became calm and was able to join in the conversation.

Although more forgiveness is needed for full reconciliation to happen, the wife was relieved that Neil and Francis had listened to her and seemed to understand why she had fled her husband. No one was judging her, and that seemed to begin to lift the tension. They had not come to plead her husband's cause, and even his father did not press the issue further. Francis and Neil put the matter into prayer with the family and counseled them that even though we need to forgive each other, trust takes time as it is earned by our good behavior as we learn to walk together in love and respect. That is difficult for African men who have not had Christian models of men loving and honoring their wives with kindness and gentleness. Men in every culture do well to follow Jesus in that way.

Please pray:

• for healing for the man with the broken back. He has regained some use of his legs, and needs prayer for the healing to continue.
• for healing for the relationship between the man and his wife and between their families.
• for those who received deliverance ministry to remain free.
• for rain for the crops. The current crop has died but pray that there will be good rain so they can replant their fields. 

Love,

Ruth Thielke

Outfitters for Adventure

How to Help Kenya

God, Send the Rain

 

Neil driving to Mombasa

At around 4:30 a.m., Ruth noticed that Francis had been sending the receipts for the children's caregivers that had not come through on his bank records earlier. It is reassuring for Ruth that Francis is able to transfer the funds on to the caregivers and document the transactions. With God's help the two of them should be able to keep the funds for Kenya flowing, and Ruth will be relieved of some of the work and most of the stress. Jesus, you are so good!

At 6:52 a.m. Morris time (4:00 p.m. Kenya time), Neil texted his morning greeting:

"Good morning, Sweet Pea! I slept well -- 'til 10:00 a.m. Kenya time. Now we are half way on the Mombasa Road. It is very dry all over Kenya. Please have our prayer team [that's you] pray for rain.

"There are traffic stops at places where there are hills and the international trucks are moving at 10 mph. Other vehicles pass and the police up ahead see it and pull them over. Francis just got pulled over. The fee started at 10,000 Kenyan shillings (around $80 USA). Francis settled for 750 Kenyan shillings (around $6 USA)."

Ruth asked if the police are trying to improve public safety, and Neil replied:

"No. It is a trap. They are doing nothing where the guard rails are mashed into the ground from vehicles plummeting over the cliffs. When they see a white boy in the car, they motion for the vehicle to pull over. Other than that, it is a beautiful day here, partly cloudy and about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. I wish you were here to share the drama."

Ruth said, "Bernie and Judy et all will be on Zoom in half and hour for our 8:00 a.m. Thursday morning prayer. We will pray for rain. Then I'm heading to Doug Webster's funeral in Fergus Falls at 1:00. I watered the garden yesterday. Everything looks good. I love you, Honey. You're getting lots of prayer support."

Neil: "Hi to Bernie & Judy and whoever else shows."

Ruth: "Whoever else didn't show this morning. I sent a text to Jon Power saying I hoped he and Donna would be able to come, and how important it is to Doug Webster that someone give the invitation for folks to entrust their lives to Jesus for salvation. I got a text right back informing me that I had the wrong Jon Power. If I had been Doug W, I would have asked THAT Jon Power if he was sure of his eternal destination."

Neil: "Yah, that was a missed opportunity with an open door. Here it is now 7:00 p.m. and dark as pitch. I had told Cosmas 3 weeks ago that we would no longer travel the Mombasa road in the dark. We still have a couple of hours to go. We are constantly needing to pass, because most semis are going 20 mph. Every time we pass, there are one or two sets of headlights coming right at us. The only remaining question is, "Do we feel blessed?" God never says "lucky". About 10 miles back there was a semi flipped on its side in the middle of the road without any other visible damage. How do they do that?"

When Neil saw Ruth begin texting a response, he called her. She was able to fill Neil in on the funeral. Jon & Donna Power were there and they sat together. At lunch, the young pastor at Life Church joined them. Ruth mentioned Neil giving his mentoring book, Navigating Life: A Mentoring Toolbox, to the pastors in Kenya. When the Life Church pastor expressed interest in the book, Ruth went to the car and gave him a copy. 

Ruth is meditating on God turning what Satan meant for evil into good in God's kingdom. Does God use death to weave the threads of broken hearts together into a beautiful tapestry? Take Jon Power, for example. When Jon was still in high school, his brother Gary died in a car accident, and Jon inherited Gary's drum set with the condition that he needed to take lessons before using it. Ruth had taught the percussion portion of the brass and percussion methods course for music majors earning their teaching licensure. Jon called Ruth and asked for lessons. After showing Jon the basic techniques, Ruth turned Jon loose with the drum set, seeing that he was highly motivated and was learning more quickly by listening to groups and imitating their styles. Years later, Jon's father mentioned to Ruth that Jon was the co-director of a Christian coffee house ministry in Alexandria. It wasn't long before Jon and his wife Donna started a Christian coffee house in Morris and then helped Neil start a church. Jon became Neil's right arm in leading the Morris Community church.

Doug Webster was Judy Webster's brother. Judy was Ruth's best friend when Ruth was a freshman at the University of Minnesota, Morris in 1964. When Judy's father died in the early 1980's, Doug came home for the funeral. He spent much of his time at Judy's home in Morris the week of the funeral. Neil and Ruth Thielke attended a Bible study at Judy's house. They were looking for a church that followed the pattern found in the Book of Acts. Doug was part of that type of church. Doug spent many hours with Neil the week of his dad's funeral. Doug called his pastor friend, Fred Herzog, and invited him to come to Morris to meet with Neil and Neil's friends. Fred brought a young man named Jim McCracken with him. Jim had just received a prophetic word at a conference that he had an apostolic calling on his life. Jim agreed to work with the Morris church plant, and we became the first of Jim's churches that later developed into the family of churches known as TrueBridge as other churches asked Jim to serve as their apostle.

Out of Gary Powers' and Don Webster's deaths Jesus brought new life. We believe that out of Doug Webster's death, Jesus is calling all who knew Doug to carry on the work of evangelism. Doug laid down a mantel of Holy Spirit anointing to help others put their trust in Jesus through good humor and genuine interest in their eternal wellbeing. It is that genuine love for others that prepares the good soil in their hearts so the seed will produce a crop -- a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown [Matthew 13:8]. Evangelism wasn't just Doug's calling. Every member of Jesus' body is called to carry on Jesus' work of bringing new believers into the Kingdom of God so we can share eternity together in the home Jesus has prepared for us.

Later back in Kenya, Neil was up during the night hearing mosquitoes. There is a travel warning about dengue fever along the eastern coast of Kenya. Neil was making sure his mosquito netting was securely fastened around his bed. He said they were staying in a small hotel that was bare bones, but clean. They are about 45 minutes from the church where they will be teaching tomorrow. 

Please pray for:

• Pray for Neil, Francis, Martin, and the people they minister to along the Indian Ocean coast in Eastern Kenya to be protected from dengue feaver.
• Pray for the Holy Spirit's annointing to love and care for the people in their circle of acquaintances to prepare good soil for Jesus' invitation by asking "How are you doing? I mean, how are you really doing? As in, how are you doing with Jesus?'
• Pray for God's good rain to fall on Kenya -- both for their crops as well as for their hearts.

Love,

Ruth Thielke

Outfitters for Adventure

How to Help Kenya

Safe Landing in Nairobi

 

Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi

Thank you so much for your prayers for Neil and Sonja's flights to Nairobi. The first 
miracle was weighing the 4 large checked bags, mostly filled with new leather bound
study Bibles still in their boxes for safe keeping. Each passenger is allowed 2 checked
bags at 50 pounds each. For accurate weights, Neil had carefully weighed the bags
on his grandfather's platform scale, used for weighing sacks of grain on the farm.
However, just before leaving our house, Neil tucked a favorite old pair of tennis shoes
into one of the bags to have the soles repaired in Nairobi, which put that piece of luggage over the weight limit by one pound. Thankfully, there was another bag that was just that much under the limit, and he was good to go. But when explaining to Sonja the luggage allowance for the cabin, Neil had not been clear enough, and her carryon was overweight. Sonja would need to use a small sack of some sort to carry some of the items separately. Neither Neil nor Sonja had such a small bag. The counter agent saw Sonja begin to fret, and kindly pulled out a courtesy bag from Delta, assuring Sonja it was her's to keep. When Neil called Ruth after boarding the plane, he said both he and Sonja considered that a miracle. 

Another courtesy was allowing Sonja to board early, along with her traveling companion, because Sonja had requested wheelchair service to the gate. In order to help Sonja deplane upon arrival in Paris, their seating assignment was rearranged, moving them 20 rows closer to the exit door. Please pray for Sonja. Her family has experienced some tragic events recently, including a death of one of the younger family members. Sonja has also been overcoming the grief of losing her dear husband Dale in December of 2025. Dale was her lifelong companion and dearest friend. When he began playing golf in retirement, Sonja had chided him asking if God might have something else in mind. But Dale just smiled and asked if Sonja could think there would be some on the golf course who might need to hear about Jesus. 

While Sonja and Neil were in the air, Ruth was in the midst of another type of flying. Western Union became another of a series of money transfer companies who were unable to provide timely service. On Tuesday Ruth got an error message when trying to send the funds for the Kenyan caregivers for the destitute children supported through Outfitters for Adventure. The customer care agent courteously explained that all USA customers were experiencing difficulty in sending their funds. However, the tech experts were refreshing the tables, and Ruth should be able to get the funds through. After failed attempts for the next 4 hours, Ruth began searching for another company and found Pangea. It took only a few minutes to enter the needed information to create an account with Pangea, and as quickly as pressing the send button, Francis had received the funds in Kenya. A few hours later Francis sent Ruth copies of the transactions he had completed to send the funds to the caregivers. However, in comparing Francis' transaction receipts with Ruth's list of caregivers, there were several that hadn't posted yet. Francis has his hands so full finalizing preparations for taking Neil to the east coast, that Ruth told him to send her the remaining receipts when he has time.

That brought Ruth through the night, as she glanced at the flight tracker now and then, following the progress of Neil's flight to Nairobi. At 8:30 a.m., Ruth joined the Wednesday morning prayer team from several nations praying for the work of a Canadian missionary couple in SE Asia who had been bringing humanitarian aid to the refugees along the border of the country they worked in. They trained a team of young people who wanted to help them, to become vibrant Christian witnesses, as they shared their talents and love for Jesus. One of their team members heard of a cousin who was dying, and she cried to think he might not have heard of Jesus. Family members were afraid to be near someone who was dying, but she traveled to where he was and arrived after he had gone into a coma. However, she hoped that the Holy Spirit would allow him to hear her tell of Jesus' love for him, and then she prayed a prayer of dedication of his life to Jesus. She asked if he heard her tell him about Jesus. He blinked his eyes not once, but twice. Then she asked if he had prayed with her to give his life to Jesus. Again, he blinked his eyes twice. She stayed beside him as his life drained from his body, and she had the reassurance of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was on the other side taking him by the hand.

At his funeral many in attendance were Buddhist, but the one leading the service explained that there was a road that separated into two paths. Those who were Christian should walk in one direction, and those who were not should walk in the other direction. So as the people came forward, they had to make a decision which path they were to take. One of the family members looked back at the young cousin and asked, isn't she the one who was the black sheep in the family? How has she become so confident and full of light? The Buddhists had one funeral service, and the Christians had their funeral service where they worshipped Jesus. When we heard that story this morning, we prayed for the family members who walked the Buddhist path to have spiritual hunger for the true God, and that they will allow the Holy Spirit to draw them to the young girls' path who is hoping they will all come to Jesus.

When Neil and Sonja arrived in Nairobi, Sonja was greeted by an escort with a wheelchair. She smiled and waved goodbye to Neil as she was wheeled out to meet the friends in her mission work. Neil brought his 4 suitcases of checked luggage to the Customs area. When the Customs officials saw the beautifully leather-bound Bibles still in their original boxes, they said Neil needed to pay $600 in customs taxes. Neil texted Ruth to ask for prayer, so she quickly shared the urgent prayer need with their church prayer team and with some friends. Cosmas was called in to help and with the prayer support, Cosmas was able to bring the amount down to $300. Those Bibles belong to God, and He will make sure they get into the hands of the pastors who need them. Most of the pastors have not been through a Bible college, and many of them have not had a Bible of their own. They can get the Bible on apps on their phones, but there is something so special about having a Bible in your hands, and especially one with study notes, pictures, and maps to help them understand the history and cultures of the various nations mentioned throughout the Bible. When you can put the Bible into context, it becomes so much more real and alive as if you are walking through those times with the characters in the Bible. 

Please pray for Neil:

• for safety as he travels with Francis and Martin to teach in the small churches along the east coast near Mombasa for the next few days.
• for rest and good health for all of the travelers.
• for Cosmas' van to hold together and run well.
• for the people in the churches to have receptive hearts and that they will be strengthened in their faith in Jesus.

Love,

Ruth Thielke

Outfitters for Adventure

How to Help Kenya

Pre-Departure Prayer for August 2026 Kenya Trip

Neil Thielke and Sonja Kvale will be traveling together to Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday, August 4th. Neil will be met at the airport by his translator, Francis Owuor, who is the overseer for the churches Neil visits in Kenya. Sonja has her doctorate in counseling and often helps women suffering with post traumatic syndrome after having had abortions to find forgiveness and spiritual healing through Jesus. Sonja will be met at the airport by her friends in ministry who

she has worked with on several previous trips to Kenya. 

Neil and Francis will spend the first week teaching in small churches
along the eastern Kenyan coast near Mombasa. The second week they
will return to Nairobi to teach in the national pastors and leaders
conference for the Riverside Ministries churches led by our longtime
friend, Cosmas Solamba. Francis is one of Cosmas's assistants, helping
train church leaders and raise up churches all across Kenya. Sonja has
been invited to teach the women who will be attending Cosmas'
conference, so she will try to join them for a day if her schedule permits. 

Please pray for Neil & Sonja:

• Safe travel with good connections
• Good health & ability to sleep on the two 8-hour legs of
  their flight. 
• God connections to share Jesus with others along the way.
• Protection - there are heightened travel warnings with the
  wars in Europe and the Middle East.
• For Jesus to be their shield against spiritual warfare.

Please pray for Ruth:

• Pray for a good method to be found to continue to send funds to
  Kenya. Changes in the banking industry in July to make it more
  difficult for banking fraud have caused Ruth's access to sending
  funds to the destitute children's caregivers in Kenya to be closed.
  Most international money transfer companies are now requiring
  street addresses, which the poor in remote villages do not have.
  Ruth is able to send larger lump sum payments to Francis for him
  to distribute, but that raises other issues in tracking the receipt
  of funds.

• Also, please pray against spiritual warfare. The hard drive on
  Ruth's laptop suddenly was destroyed without warning last week.
  Although critical files have been reconstructed, there was serious
  anguish and hours of work. 

One of the items that was lost on the hard drive was this email prayer
list. Ruth has done her best to re-create a list, but if for any reason you
prefer to discontinue receiving the prayer emails for Neil's travels, please
just let her know by responding to this message.

As you pray, you are joining Neil and Sonja in their missions work in
Kenya by releasing the Holy Spirit to do His work through them.

Love,

Ruth Thielke 
Outfitters for Adventure

Ways to Help Kenya

"Look, Here Is Water."

Acts 8:36-37 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” [NIV]

In this passage, the Holy Spirit had prompted Philip to catch up with a chariot in which a Eunich was reading aloud a passage describing Jesus' death from the prophet Isaiah. Philip joined the Eunich who asked Philip to explain the Scripture to him. Philip began with that passage and told the Eunich the good news about Jesus. He must have mentioned baptism, because when the Eunich saw water, he immediately asked to be baptized. We have helped many people learn about Jesus and heard them pray to give their lives to Jesus. New believers often want to be baptized in water as soon as possible after they believe, as a public testimony that they now belong to Jesus. More about this to come, but let's catch up with Neil's texts describing the happenings on Hama Island.

Saturday, April 11

Eunice and her herd returned home after worship this morning. They live on another island in Lake Victoria, three hours by boat Northwest of Hama Island. I have some great videos of their worship. I walked Eunice and her church attendees to the boat to say our farewells.

I will be teaching on water baptism this morning, which will liven the discussion like a boxer coming off the ropes. One pastor ventured the idea of multiple born again experiences. I explained that being born again is a one-time occurrence when we give our life to Jesus. Then the Holy Spirit begins the work of sanctification in our thoughts and hearts. Sadly, many people backslide after becoming born again. But to get back on the road with Jesus, we do not need to be born again, again. When we fall back into a life of sin after being born again, the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin. We need to confess our sin, ask forgiveness, and obey the Holy Spirit as He helps us line up our lives with God's Word, becoming more and more like Jesus.

The worship teams from each church are taking their turns leading worship. The MauMau Market team of 5 girls is leading, making the little stage platform bounce with their dancing. Earlier, Rosemary did a gig with the children. There are many stories of the recent flood running in the background.  

We had lunch at the pastor, Maurice's house on the other side of the island. He lives in a two-room mud hut. I waited until everyone had completed their hand washing, then took the soap to Lake Victoria and had my daily bath. My clothes were washed today in preparation for us leaving tomorrow. East of us across the lake, they are getting thwacked with a thunderstorm. Here it is a lovely sunshiny evening with warm weather like we have in July. 

The first night there were about 150 people in attendance, but our worship with the use of the new sound system carried to the village on the other side of the small island. What was intended to be a church leadership training conference, turned into an evangelism outreach event. The people in the fishing village heard the music and singing and wanted to come join the party. There had never been an event like this on their tiny island. The second night we had at least 300 gathering for an outdoor church service on an island where the total population is estimated at 1,000. 

Sunday, April 12

The people keep coming for our final service. We brought them down to the shore where 46 people came forward to be baptized. A mentally challenged girl was taken to Jim and we baptized her. Back at the service area, there were many introductions. Francis took a photo of people standing to give thanks for the sound systems that our friends in America had provided through donations. 

I needed a guinea pig who wasn't saved, so I walked back through the crowd asking various people if they had given their lives to Jesus. Apparently most of them gave their lives to Jesus, if not before the meetings, then during the past few days. When I reached the last row, I lamented that there were usually a few hangouts in the last row. Then Joyce brought a gal over to me, and it was game on. I had someone who agreed, although somewhat reluctantly, to take part in a conversation with me about the steps an unbeliever goes through as they consider making the decision to live for Jesus. 

At noon Francis rounded up those who had traveled with us from the Kisii District to make our way to the boat landing. The boat arrived by 1:00 and we set out across Lake Victoria back to shore. The waves weren't as choppy today, but picking up. Not to worry, the boat is just rolling side-to-side going slightly cross-wave.

Two hours later Neil texted that they were now on the road to Kisumu with Atkinson driving. He would leave them at the intersection with the Nairobi highway. Everyone in the van is happy with the conference. It is hard to believe it is all behind us in Lake Victoria. 

After dropping Atkinson and the others off to catch a bus to the Kisii District, Neil texted that they were on the main highway to Nairobi. The roads were dry and the sun was shining. He texted again at Nakuru where there was a lot of traffic. Neil had driven the van from Kisumu, and Francis took over in Nakuru. Neil figured they had 3 hours to go before arriving in Nairobi. It was around 8:00 p.m. Kenya time (noon Minnesota time). 

At 11:00 p.m. Kenya time (3:00 p.m. Minnesota time), they had not arrived yet in Nairobi. They had just climbed the long hill coming out at the top of the rift valley. Neil understated that it is pretty dangerous to travel at night. He said they might need to re-think that in the future. (Apparently, there are some scarey parts of the story Neil didn't want Ruth to hear.) Nixson, a pastor from Nairobi, was with them in the van and began telling of losing his first wife in childbirth. Although it was a gripping story, Neil was gripping the steering wheel with the drivng demanding his full attention. 

At 12:30 a.m. Kenya time (4:30 p.m. Minnesota time), Neil texted, "Well, we just made it to Cosmas' house in Nairobi. All of us are shot. We have been on the road for almost 12 hours. 

Monday, April 13

Neil texted Ruth at 7:00 a.m. Kenya time (11:00 p.m. Minnesota time) to say he found his Minnesota cell phone that had been tucked into the far reaches in one of his large luggage pieces. He uses a Kenya cell phone while traveling. 

Neil's plane is scheduled to depart Nairobi at 11:05 p.m. Kenya time (3:05 p.m. Minnesota time). Ruth will be tracking the progress of Neil's flight to Paris and then the Paris flight to St Paul. The St. Paul flight is scheduled to arrive at 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, Minnesota time). 

Prayer items:

• Praise and thank the Lord for all the wonderful things He did this week.
• Safe travel for Neil and Jim as they return home. 
• Special prayer for those who dedicated their lives to serving Jesus, that they can remain faithful.
• For the Holy Spirit to help them share the new joy they have discovered as they realize Jesus washed all their sins away.

Thank you again for your prayers, and thank you to those who contributed, for making this mission trip to Kenya so wonderful! Your prayers will continue being answered.

Love,

Ruth

Helping Outfitters for Adventure's Kenyan Missions

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