The phone rang on a typical morning in Kenya and a voice said, “Pastor, we have a problem. We just dug up a human skeleton.” I knew it was going to be a great day!! A few weeks ago, we were in the process of buying a one acre plot for our dairy project. This farm was made possible through a donation from MANNA Worldwide and an individual church in Wisconsin. It will provide milk and produce for our feeding centers and Christian schools. As the surveyor was digging to put in our boundary markers, he hit something hard. He reached down and pulled on what he thought was a root or stone. As the object came out of the ground he realized he was holding a human arm bone in his hand. He totally freaked out and started screaming. I personally think this was a very reasonable reaction! We discovered that the family had actually sold us their personal graveyard. There were over 40 people buried on that beautiful one acre. Pastor Allan explained that we really did not want to dig up their cemetery as we built our project, so they graciously have traded their cemetery for another one acre plot.

This whole episode in our African adventure reminded me that death surrounds the people of Kenya. Hundreds of people are dying every day in our area. Some of these never accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior even though they heard the Gospel message. Why? In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Paul answers that question: “...the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ...should shine unto them.” Satan is a real enemy to the lost. The devil is deceiving these poor souls through the allure of pleasure, money and power. But he also uses false religions and teachings which keep them from the truth. Paul tells us that the only solution is “...we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (vs.5). The focus of everything that we do in Kenya has to be Christ. When we witness we must tell people about what Christ has done and not about what we can do for them. People must be introduced to Christ and His message, not the American missionaries. Please pray that God will continue to give us boldness to preach His Word in season and out of season.   Bobby Bechtel – Kenya