From the Body to the Body

Some gifts travel farther than the hands that carry them. When a small group from Valley Pentecostal Church in Glendale, Arizona answered a call to minister at a National Ladies Conference in Bungoma, Kenya, they went believing they had something to offer. What they discovered on the other side of the world was that God had already been at work — long before their plane ever left the ground. In this final episode of our Kenya series, Pam Johnson and Alexis Banda share what they witnessed, what they felt, and what they could not leave behind. A conference. A room full of women. A moment that none of them were prepared for. And a love that needed no passport to travel. This is what happens when the body of Christ reaches across the world — and the world reaches back.

If you’re enjoying Paths to Glory, be sure to check out our two other podcasts!

Paths to Glory Kenya shares powerful stories of faith and transformation from the heart of Africa — voices of hope, revival, and purpose.

And for the young — and the young at heart — don’t miss The Jones Family Chronicles, a fun, faith-filled adventure series for the whole family.

You can find Paths to Glory Kenya and The Jones Family Chronicles

The song "Paths to Glory" created with Udio and written by Roy Allison IV.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Everyone has a story. That story is your path. Path filled with trials, triumphs, transformations, and miracles. Welcome to Paths to Glory. Where we dive deep into the extraordinary narratives of those who have had their darkest moments turned into me. Moments that do not ask your permission, do not warn you to brace yourself, do not give you time to prepare a response. They simply open, like a door you did not know was there, and on the other side of that door something you were not ready for. Something larger than your vocabulary, something that rearranges you from the inside out and leaves you standing in the quiet afterward, wondering who you were before you walked through. Well, Kenya was that door for us. We went thinking we were going to give something. That is the honest truth of it. We packed our bags, made our preparations, said our goodbyes, and boarded a plane with the belief, however sincere, that we were going to bring something to people who needed it. And God in his patient and sovereign mercy led us believe that all the way up until the moment we arrived. And then he showed us gently, but unmistakably, that he had been there long before we landed. That whatever he had sent us to carry, he was already delivering. That we were not the answer to the prayer, we were simply the ones invited to watch it being answered. There is nothing that humbles you quite like that. There is nothing that strips away your sense of your own importance quite like walking into a room and realizing that the God you came to represent got there ten years ahead of you. What we found in Kenya was not what we expected to find. We expected to find need, and the need was real, make no mistake. But we did not expect to find joy like that. We did not expect to find worship like that. So unself-conscious, so unperformed, so utterly unbothered with how it looked from the outside. In a world where so much of what passes for worship has been packaged and produced and carefully curated for an audience, what we witnessed in those services was something the American church has largely forgotten how to do. It was people and their God in a room together with absolutely nothing between them. No performance, no production, nothing to prove. Just the ancient simple act of people lifting voices to the one who made them. Rejoicing over the chance to be in the same room with each other, rejoicing over the God who had kept them to see another week. Watching that did something to me that I am still processing. It held up a mirror, not an unkind one, not accusatory, not condemning, just very, very clear. The kind of mirror that shows you what you've been missing without making you feel ashamed for having missed it. The kind that makes you want to be different when you get home. Mama Pam cried more than once. In services and quiet moments, in the dark of a room at night when the weight of what we were experiencing became too much to hold without releasing it somehow. She turned to Alexis at one point and asked a question that neither of them could answer. How are we supposed to leave these people? How do you go back to regular life after something like this? How do you return to the ordinary after you have stood in the extraordinary and felt it rearrange you? Alexis had no answer. Neither did I. Because you don't go back. Not really. You can board the plane, you can fly the 18 hours home. You can collect your luggage and drive through familiar streets and sleep in your own bed and wake up in the same Arizona sun you always have known. But something inside you has crossed a line that doesn't uncross. Something has been expanded that doesn't contract again. You come home different. Come home carrying things that weren't in your luggage when you left. Things you didn't pack because you didn't know you would need them. Things God placed in your hands on the other side of the world and said, Take this with you. This belongs to you now. We went to give.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Say yes to what God asks before you know what it will cost you, before you know what it will produce, before you understand what he is building. You say yes because he asked, and because something in your spirit knows that a yes to God is never a loss. Even when it looks like one, even when it costs you something real, even when you board a plane with your whole heart in your throat, and no guarantee of what waits on the other side. We said yes, and God met us there, the way he always meets the ones who say yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Not at the destination, but in the journey, in the middle of it, in the moments they did not plan and could not have scripted, and we'll never fully be able to explain to the people who weren't there. Bishop Alfred told us at the end that there had never been a ladies' conference like this one in the history of that fellowship.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

We carry those words not as a trophy but as a testimony, not of what we did, but of what God did through yielded willing, imperfect people who simply got on a plane. We are the ones who left blessed. We are the ones who left changed.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

And if he ever asks us to go again, we absolutely will not hesitate. Not for one single moment. We are back in beautiful Arizona after spending ten days in beautiful Kenya. Jet lag galore. It's good to be home. But most of you know how I feel already. I would pack my bags and I would go again today. But we have Alexis, Vanda, we have my wife, Pam Johnson, now known as Mama Pam or Mama Johnson. For service. Pam Pam. What did you think when you walked in and the service was already going? Full-blown worship service, Kenyan style. What was your impression?

SPEAKER_03 9:37

Overwhelmed with the presence of God and the the pure worship and the freedom of worship. And I mean you s you stepped in and you were plugged in immediately.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

What would you compare it to like anything that you've been to in the US?

SPEAKER_03 10:00

I've never experienced in the US what I experienced in Kenya, and that's no slight to our church because we have an amazing I mean I'm not just talking about our church, I'm talking about any church. Right. They have nothing. They um don't get to fellowship like we do. They don't get to have as many services a week as we do because of the circumstances there. So them all being together like that they're rejoicing over that as well as being together to worship their God.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah, I I mean, but it is it there is it is extremely free, no heirs. Not showing anybody anything, it's just them and God and they are having the time of their life.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

And there was nothing disruptive. There was nothing that caused you to cringe. I mean, it was all it very much felt God. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

How about you, Alexis? Same same thing or or different?

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Yeah, I would say same. Like it was very shocking at first because obviously we're not used to that here at home. But it really was just so pure and the liberty to worship was so easy. And like um Nana said, it was so easy to just plug in, and there was such a beautiful presence of God that was felt.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yeah, it it's uh it is so big and I think I think one of the reasons why we get a bit emotional at times talking about it is because you see and to set to say poverty is the right word in the US it's what we would consider poverty. In the US it it would be what we would consider, you know, horrible conditions. To them, it's the way they live. It's all they know.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

It's a normal life for them.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Normal life for them. No cars, uh very few cars, let's put it that way. Hundreds of people walking, and but they are a very happy people. And in church, a an extremely happy and joyous people. So first service uh we were in, uh you got to experience Kenyan worship, Brother Alexander, let her rip preach preach the word, and there was a great response. Things are done differently. Altar calls are done differently. Uh same result, but but things are done differently. Okay, we go, we leave, we're in church for several hours, and we leave next day is full day of church, so it is Friday. Mama Pam is scheduled to speak to the ladies for the first time. What was that like for you?

SPEAKER_03 13:09

So what an it is amazing to me. And of course I'm going to get emotional because you can you can't help but get emotional. God touched me in such a way that I was not nervous. I did not feel well, I I just knew God was in it. And I knew that I was doing what God wanted me to do. And it didn't even take me long to um get accustomed to the me saying a little bit and then having to stop for the interpreter to interpret.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

That was yeah, because that was the first time you've ever experienced anything like that where you had to use an interpreter.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

That is absolutely the first time I've ever experienced that. And there again, God just touched me and I it flowed. Um I had I had a lesson on one decision, and it was a study of all the major women in the Bible, and I had no idea how far I would get, and originally my thought was I know I won't get through the whole thing, so I'll probably just divide it and finish the rest on Saturday. I only got through Lot's wife and the the two daughters, and I was already what at an hour and five minutes. So I knew it was time, you know, that was my stopping point. And um then and then you were next.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Yeah. Um when I spoke we had uh we broke for no, then there was a third speaker after me and then we broke for lunch.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Remember the third speaker was Brother Harrison uh Pastor Harrison.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

And he taught on oneness and baptism in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

The doctrine.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Great job. Fantastic job. Um wh what did you think what was it like to to sit and listen to your nana teach 400 women, Alexis?

SPEAKER_02 15:31

It was obviously it was beautiful the way she spoke and and then sitting there I was writing, I was sitting with them along, listening, learning as well. And so I was very grateful for the opportunity because I loved to listen to my nana speak.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Well, she did a good job.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

She did.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Uh she wasn't nervous, there was no hand shaking, there was no mic shaking. Um I I y I sensed uh an immediate connection with the people. Um the ladies were sucking it in. There was more note taking going on than uh Yeah, it w it was amazing. Everybody had a pen, everybody was writing. Yeah, it was amazing. So uh after the third speaker, uh they had people stand up that wanted to be baptized. I believe there were twenty-two that stood up. I think when we baptized the next day, it was only twenty.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

That I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

I I I believe it was twenty people. They did talk to them, um, explained to them repentance and and uh they had basically 24 hours, you know, with them teaching and uh and then the next day uh they did the baptism. But we came back uh after lunch. We went to we were in a a a school. Uh there was a lady there that lived in Boongoma that has three schools. She's got a primary school, uh secondary school, which is like what we would say, you know, four through sixth grade kind of thing, or third through sixth grade. And then a high school. And we were in the the primary, it was gated, uh fenced and a guard. Yeah, and a guard. Uh but it's perfectly safe there. That that's uh that's a that's a story for another time. Uh and uh uh nice facilities for Bungoma, still very below what we are accustomed to here, but nice facilities for for uh rural Africa.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Well, by it being uh a boarding school, there were the rooms and the sleeping pads for the ladies who were staying there. Right. And then the staff, the school staff stayed on and did the cooking and cleaning.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Yeah, very, very generous lady. Uh sweet lady that became a very important part of the whole story. Brother Alexander preached and I did another amazing job. Altars were full and uh again ended. So we were in church from about ten. About ten o'clock. Uh you know, ten o'clock in the morning to I think that first night we were there until six six thirty.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

I think it was six thirty-five.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Something like that. The first night. Uh now we did break for lunch in the middle of that. But other than that, we were in church from the time we got there to the to that time we left at six thirty.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

I was completely overwhelmed with how God worked because none of us had spoken to each other about what we were teaching or preaching. And um when you spoke and then when Brother Alexander preached, it was just the puzzle coming together, and I couldn't help but just weep and weep and so thankful how God works, and it was like building blocks. And even Bishop Alfred talked about it and talked about how all three of us were in the mind of God, and that that was that was overwhelming for me to experience that and humbling, humbling. Yeah I wanted to crawl under under a chair, under the floor.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Um yes, I I uh I taught on a mother's place and used the story of Rispa and losing her two sons and the fact that she spread for herself Sackfall upon the rock and stayed on the rock. And Brother Alexander's message was standing on the rock where the mighty river flows. So it did. Everything flowed and everything you know, it's just another one of those we say it and we get a bit cliche about it, but but God really does know what he's doing.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Um and so next day, next day was uh Saturday.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

Okay, so first rem the the funeral.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Oh, I do need to share with you the funeral. We experienced so many different uh traditional African customs that it was uh it was amazing. So first night, Thursday night it was okay. We get up Friday morning, and as we are getting ready, I believe it was before we left. We hear, and the best way for me to describe it is what it sounds like when when a car pulls up next to you and they have their stereo on and it's full of the bass. So it was this very loud. Uh and didn't it start Thursday?

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Because I remember not sleeping well Thursday night.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Okay, maybe it was Wednesday that it did not it wasn't there Wednesday, it started Thursday morning. Yes. You're right. Okay. So it went all day.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

And night.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

And night. And I finally said something to one of the wait staff where we were staying, and they explained that a person had died and that it was the tradition and and what it used to be was drums. It used to be that they would they would Bang these drums for 40 days when someone died. They would keep them in the home, and the banging of the drum was to notify the community, the village, that someone had died and signaling for people to come. She told us that this one would only last three days. And actually, once the person was buried, the drumming would stop. And it wasn't drums, it was a recording of a drum uh using uh loudspeakers like we all have today. But it went on and on. There was a couple of points. Didn't we hear somebody singing, Alexis? Yes. Yeah, there was some singing at one point.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

The problem was there is no air conditioning, so you have to sleep with windows open.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Right. So noise machines and fans saved our lives, let's put it that way.

SPEAKER_03 23:02

Yes, but they did not drown it.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

No, they did not drown it out. If you what when you when you woke up in the middle of the night, you heard boom. Yes. You heard it all the time. It seeped into our pores. Uh okay, so back to Saturday. We go to Saturday. You speak again. Uh Saturday for those that those that are of uh from our home church, Valley Pentecostal church in Glendale, Arizona. I'm going to tell this story briefly. My wife had come up several weeks ago, uh even months ago, uh, and wanted to do something special for the ladies in Kenya. Just a simple idea to give them a gift, thanking them for us coming, just to be nice.

SPEAKER_03 23:53

Yes, letting them know that we love them.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

Yeah. And she came up on um the idea of kind of a you know, frilly handkerchiefs. And I said, great idea. Uh one of the ladies in the in the church uh helped purchase the handkerchiefs. Our idea uh was to we we had a meeting with Pastor Garrett, and our idea was to take the uh handkerchiefs with us when we went for our our chat and have him pray for him, pray over him. Now that's our simple mind at work. Um really nothing more to it than that, no more thought than that. We had them scattered all over the house, airing out uh on Saturday, the day of our uh Saturday night prayer and uh enrichment. And uh so my wife starts to pick them up and started feeling a lot of anxiety and feeling like it it was really silly that you know it wasn't necessarily I mean, why were we doing this? Almost talked yourself out of it a couple of times, even at one point tried, and I said, no, just put them in the box and we'll take them. Well, we did. And uh we we sat down and and when when I pointed to the box of handkerchiefs and I said to Pastor that we we bought these for a gift uh for the ladies in Kenya, and we want you to pray over them. He disappears around the corner, comes back with his Bible, sits down and opens up Acts 19, 11, and 12, where it says, And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. And he said, You know what I want to do? He said, I think we should lay these out on the altar and have the ladies of VPC pray over them, which is what we did. Your Alexis, you first, what was your thought of that night? How did that go?

SPEAKER_02 26:19

Um, it from the moment every woman laid hands on those handkerchiefs, the presence of God just fell. And it was like you could feel that connection and the burden that Pastor has done so incredibly at relaying it to the church, the burden of Kenya. And it really felt like as if every one of those women had that burden at that moment. And it was just a beautiful experience.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

You agree?

SPEAKER_03 26:45

Yes, oh, absolutely. I I my word is overwhelmed, obviously. I it it it overwhelmed me. I I I I was amazed at what God was doing.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

And the women of VPC were uh sincerely going all in on praying for these handkerchiefs. So on Saturday, we wanted there to be make sure that as many ladies were there that was possible. So on Saturday, we taught using this scripture and distributed the handkerchiefs.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

Well, first, after I was done Friday, I just knew that I God was done with that lesson. And I was like, okay, now God, what do you want me to do? And um, I had a had started a lesson several months ago on what God can do. I it it is not finished. I did not bring those notes with me. And so that wasn't even a thought. Well, as I'm talking to God about it, that's the first thought that came to me was what God can do. And I was like, well, I did know part of what you were doing Saturday. So I I was afraid my female emotions were involved. And I so I I pushed back, thought about it all afternoon, we were done, got back to the our room, our well, we had eaten dinner and gotten back to our room. And I told Alexis, I've got, I've I've got to have the mind of God. I am absolutely at a loss as what to do for tomorrow. So I had a scripture that I had been thinking about. So I thought, well, that's what I'll do. So I pull my Bible out, start taking notes, and it just was not going anywhere. So I tried a different direction. Still the same thing, just not going anywhere. I looked at Alexis and I kind of not slammed, but I forcefully put my hand down the desk and I said, Okay, God, I'll do what you want. Because he just kept coming back with, let me tell you what God can do. So sure enough, I borrowed some paper from Alexis and it just flowed. And so that's that's what I talked about. I had several scriptures, and then I talked about the order of God, and that as long as you stay in the order of God, God is able, that releases God to work and to work miracles. And so then I just went into testimony about uh the different miracles God has worked in me personally, our children, and in my husband.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Uh I'll tag in and say that the one that I did not know was coming was she tells her side of the story of my testimony of coming back to God after being gone for four years. But it resonated so much with the women. It fits so perfectly. And uh so we taught, we taught on Acts 19 and about the connection um of the body, uh coming from the body to the body, distributed these handkerchiefs, and uh it was absolutely God pulled all the stops out, and it was more than I could have ever imagined.

SPEAKER_06 30:35

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

It was incredible. And there were ladies on their face, on the floor, all over the building. You just knew that God was doing something. Would you agree, Alexis?

SPEAKER_05 30:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Before we wrapped up, I noticed that there were some handkerchiefs left over. And so I asked all of the there would have been it would have been too chaotic to have all of the ladies. So I asked the pastor's wives come forward and to pray over the handkerchiefs that were there, and I spread them out on the altar in Bungoma and told them asked them to pray over these handkerchiefs and that we would bring these handkerchiefs back for the ladies of Valley Pentecostal Church.

SPEAKER_03 31:27

There again, the power of God just began rolling. And the fact that they weren't just gonna put their hand on a on a small stack. They were picking them up individually.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Yeah, they literally picked up every single handkerchief individually, held it in the air, some clutched them to their chest, uh, and they prayed.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

Oh, they did.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Uh it was amazing. Well, what are your thoughts about that time, Alexis, about that whole piece there?

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Well, I would say watching the handkerchiefs get passed out, and then that beautiful, sweet, gentle presence of God that came in, it was really touching to see the different reactions of the women, like how they were praying. Like you said, some were on their face, some were like super under a burden, and I can't help but get emotional about it. But then some were just crying and they couldn't say anything. Um, but it was, and then watching the pastor's wives pray over the handkerchiefs back, her coming back to VPC was it was like you could see the connection between Kenya and our church, and that every one of us we care about each other, even though we don't we may not meet everyone at once, but that burden is still there and that love is still there.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Yeah, it it it was it was a genuine moment of connection. Um the best way I can describe it. And uh so after that, uh the lady that owns the schools uh came up and requested prayer. And she had the bishop told us later that after witnessing what she had witnessed during the handkerchiefs, and she walked up, they had her speak a little bit to the ladies, just uh introduce herself. Um she had a handkerchief in her hand, she talked about her her children and her nieces, and uh that they needed God, and um that she had asked for prayer. So after witnessing what what she had witnessed uh and getting prayed for, she told Bishop Alfred that she wanted to give him a cow offering. And yes, you heard me correctly, a cow offering. And again, that is a huge deal there. And so when we left, instead of going to her home to eat, we drove to the secondary school, which isn't too far away, but we drove to the secondary school. It's even bigger than the first one we were in. This woman, in in terms of Kenyan uh people, is is wealthy, very wealthy. Owns a lot of land and buildings and cattle and you know, livestock farm land. Uh very, very and so we we parked and walked through the school grounds, uh, followed cattle trails, walked into a pasture, uh, through several cows that were eating, and under a tree, got into the shade of a tree. It came time to choose the cow that she was going to give. And so we walked over, back over to the cattle, and she gave the best. The cattle were all tagged, had tags in their ears and they had names, which I found very humorous, even more so when she chose the the best of the bunch, uh and its name was her name. Uh the cat, the cows had the same name as her. And uh now these are not Kenyan cattle are not really healthy prime cattle. They don't eat well. You know, they're eating grass off the side of the road, they're, you know, anywhere they can get up. These these cattle are what they call hybrid cattle. They're corn fed, they're vaccinated, they've got their papers. Uh I asked, you know, financially what this what this equated to, and it was a thousand US dollars. I understand Brother Jones shared some of what the earnings, daily earnings of of several people are in uh in Kenya. In this particular region near Boongoma, and in one of the villages that we were privileged to get to go to and see their church, the people there make less than a dollar a day. So uh a thousand US dollars, this you know, this cow, it was a substantial offering.

SPEAKER_05 36:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

And then and then Bishop Alfred raises his hands and blesses her cattle, her land, her children, her. And there again It was just extremely moving.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

Yes, the presence of God was close to eight to ten of us in this field.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

What was your impression of that, Alexis? Had you ever imagined that you would be standing in a cow pasture in Kenya?

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Absolutely not. No, it was it was quite an experience. It was very different because obviously we've never we don't do that here in the States. So it was very interesting to witness. And like Nana said, it was a beautiful presence of God that fell when Bishop Alfred did pray.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

Yeah, and it was it was it it was a big deal. I mean it. Oh, it's it was a huge deal. It's like uh you know, it it it's a yeah, it's just it's a big deal. And and uh we went we went and we ate. We went back, uh prayed for her again. We had the before we went to church though that Saturday, we had the bapt we went Yes, on that Saturday, I forgot about that when we we had asked to be to attend the baptism. So Saturday morning on the way to church, we went to a hotel where they had a pool, and we went into the uh uh back into the area where the pool was, and the ladies were already there, and there was uh a few of the the uh ministry, and the ladies had prayed a little bit, and then they started singing, and so the same spirit that you felt in the church uh was there beside the pool. Yes. And these ladies were all dressed very modestly, and uh there were 20 ladies that were baptized that morning, and uh the ladies would get quiet for baptism and where we would kick it into gear and sing, there's a new name written down in glory. They would sing, I don't know what it was, but it was it was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 38:59

It was about how God saves them, what God has saved them from, yeah, just amazing worshipping.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

And we do have some of the words for some of those songs, and we're gonna get more uh and we'll share them with you. But it it was just again, it was one of those things that was just never in my wildest imagination would I've ever dreamed.

SPEAKER_03 39:23

First of all, that I would get to go to Kenya. Second of all, that I would get to be a part of something that was happening there. But then the the baptismal service, the cow offerings.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

I mean, it really was It was just moment after moment that was very special.

SPEAKER_03 39:44

Very special, life-changing.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

And we got to do it with one of our grandchildren. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 39:50

So Which was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

Uh so again, we went to service that night, Brother Alexander preached. It was amazing. Amazing. God moved again, uh, like there was any doubt. And uh we I think we wrapped up close to 6 37 o'clock again.

SPEAKER_05 40:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

Sunday uh was it was uh a like uh if you if you could imagine topping anything that we had we had topped. Oh, I do need to, I gotta go back to Saturday. Saturday was really a full day. Immediately after lunch, they had a women's session, women's only session. During that women's only session, Brother Alexander and I got taken to a couple of remote churches uh in the villages outside of Bungoma. One was the Assistant Bishop's Church, and another one was just a church, a neighboring church close by. One was uh a mud walled church with timber roof and and sheet metal. The other one was fire brick made by hand, laid by hand. One church, uh the larger of the two, has about 120 people every week. Uh, the smaller one, the Mud Hut, Mud Walled Church has uh about 60 people uh every week. Uh just amazing. Uh I want I I so badly want to go and be in service uh with some of that the churches, because that is the majority of the the churches there. That's how they are, that's what they're made out of. If they have a church at all, Khalifi still does not have a building, still having church under a tree. And the people are also happy.

SPEAKER_03 41:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Just amazingly happy. Uh Sunday. Oh, Sunday, uh, Pastor thankfully remembered right before we left that on Sunday the women wear white. And uh we found we did come to find out later uh the reason why there's a scripture for it. And then, but the main reason, or another one of the reasons is it's only on special occasions, it's not all the time. So the Saturday after you know, a special Sunday after a special occasion. So I've got to tell you, we get there, uh worship service is going on. I walk in, I step onto the platform and look back, and the entire uh group of women, well, 90, 97%, 98% of the women are wearing white, they're wearing white uh head coverings that sport the logo of the the fellowship, and they are all waving their handkerchiefs. And it was another one of those wow moments. Yes. Again, the worship service was incredible. Bishop uh spoke that morning, Bishop Alfred.

SPEAKER_03 42:55

Bishop Alfred is not much taller than Alexis. He's a small man, very soft, gentle, um, kind of easygoing until he steps behind the pulpit and then he's a fireball. With a lot of personality, with a lot of personality and anointing.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

And he covered he covered everything pretty much A to Z of holiness. Uh he started talking about kindness. Um he talked about holiness. He had one of the ladies come up uh that was dressed very modestly and went from neckline to sleeve length to hem length to hair.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:39

And um He covered it all. Covered it all. And and uh it never got tight, it never got tense. Uh you just never felt that.

SPEAKER_03 43:54

Well, back to Saturday when we got back from Lunch and you and Brother Alexander were asked to speak to the pastors, and then they were having a session for the pastors' wives. And then Alexis and I were in the main sanctuary with the married women. I had no idea I was supposed to speak again. And they come to me and say, We want you to speak, you know, about being a wife and a mother and how, you know, you've done things. There again, God just opened my understanding. Oh, He just touched my mind and my spirit. And so I talked to them about the importance of protecting the home and um went down through things and how we did things and and then they opened it up for question and answer. First question I got why don't you why don't you What's wrong with television? What's wrong with television?

SPEAKER_01 44:59

Yeah, and but not with an attitude.

SPEAKER_03 45:01

No, oh goodness.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

It was just a sincere because it had been mentioned uh in in some of the teaching.

SPEAKER_03 45:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 45:07

And uh just was a genuine question.

SPEAKER_03 45:10

And so God helped me, and I got the scripture where David said, I will set no is it wicked or evil thing it before my eyes. And so then I went into that and I, you know, just pointed out that there's nothing on the television that reflects God, the righteousness of God. And my interpreter took off with it, and I could tell she was nailing that one down.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

Yeah, it it it was it was amazing. Uh then we there was uh Sunday was different because there was a lot of of introductions and uh, you know, introducing uh visiting ministry, uh gift presentations, uh, you know, a lot of things. And Brother Alexander preached again and uh we we wrapped it up and went and ate again. Brother Alexander had to head to the airport in Kasumu to fly to Nairobi and then on to home. And we went back ourselves the next day, and uh fast forwarding a bit to our time to leave, uh Brother Arlan, his wife, uh Martha, the bishop, sister Deborah, um Pastor uh Bernard Matai uh came to see us off and take us to the airport. And a couple of the brethren had had gone to load the the the vehicle with our luggage, and I had mentioned to the bishop that he had been too good to us and and we thanked him so much and and he said to me that he had been receiving calls from pastors and uh from across uh those of the women that had been there uh of the reports of miracles and uh from I've asked for reports. Uh we will be receiving some reports and testimonies and I'll share them. Uh he it he was very thankful. He made the comment that they have, and this is no reflection on anything that we did or said it has nothing to do with us whatsoever. God greatly blessed and he said that there had never been a ladies' conference like this, ever. And that the impact was so great to there to the ladies, and and that he thanked us and thanked us profusely for coming and and uh I I just have to say again that uh and I said this previously, that God God wasn't waiting to do it waiting for us to show up to do anything. God already had a work going on, and we just happened to be the ones that got to step in at that particular moment and be present for it. And uh we are the ones that left blessed. We are the ones that left changed. Uh would you agree, Alexis?

SPEAKER_02 48:41

Yes, it truly was a life-changing experience, something I would never have dreamt that I was going to do.

SPEAKER_01 48:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:50

So I'll I'll tell you one of the things that that affected me. Um first of all, I I mentioned this in the previous podcast, but their spirit of servitude um that was eye-opening.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

Um that's very humbling.

SPEAKER_03 49:12

Very humbling. And there so Kenya there's there's no anger even in the sinners. So here in America, there's there's so much anger. You know, I you I can hardly go to a store here that you don't hear somebody having an issue or are complaining or being angry about something. But the Kenyan people there is no anger. Um and obviously there is no um Well, they're they're kind, they're patient, they're gentle. The traffic issue is hysterical. Um and yet there is absolutely no road road rage uh when somebody has to cut in front of you, that the person just backs, you know, slows down and lets the person over. It's just the way of life there. Uh that was very that was life-changing to see that there just is no anger. Uh they're happy. They're very happy people and they have nothing. Yeah. Um I noticed um with the ministry, some of them only had two suits, some only had one.

SPEAKER_01 50:42

Um that's something we'd like to to work on. Yes, in the future.

SPEAKER_03 50:48

Uh there is uh the ladies only have a, you know, a f very few dresses. Um, but also how much they loved us. I mean, eve I even had school staff there grabbing me and thanking me and telling me that Yeah, not church people. Yeah, not church people, but the the sinners that were there. But the church ladies just they just wanted to to touch you. They, you know, can I please have a picture with you?

SPEAKER_01 51:23

And and uh it meant so much.

SPEAKER_03 51:25

And really you know, you'll never know what you've what you have done for us. And the the pastor's wives grabbing me and with tears in their eyes say, you know, telling me thank you and how much they love us and appreciated us coming, and to make sure that we told the church back home how much they love them.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

Yeah, that was mentioned a lot. Make sure we let the church back home know how much they love and appreciate them. I left wanting so badly. One of the things that that I wanted to come out of this was I wanted my wife to feel exactly like I did when I went the first time back in October. And so I will pose the question here. What are you what what are you leaving with? Do you did you understand? Do you feel? Do you did you come away with it feeling the same way that I felt about it?

SPEAKER_03 52:31

Oh, absolutely. I um I started crying I know on Saturday and telling Alexis Alexis and I shared a room and I would cry and I'd say, How how are we supposed to leave this?

SPEAKER_01 52:48

Leave these people.

SPEAKER_03 52:49

Leave these people and go back. You know, how are we supposed to leave what we have received and and go back to just normal life in America? I it was hard to leave because I I fell in love with the people and the work of God there.

SPEAKER_01 53:13

So I've said to Minnie that I wanted her to feel the exact same way, but I I think God gave her a double double portion. Uh so we'll see. God has a will and God has a time. Uh and if those ever ever in uh intersect, I will gladly get back on that airplane and fly 18 hours in the air and another five or six in layovers. Uh go back and be with those people. Yes. How about you, Alexis? Do you ever want to go back?

SPEAKER_02 53:46

Yes, in a heartbeat, I I would go back. It was like Nana said, it was very hard leaving them and especially not knowing when you'll see them again. Like you're it's not like you have a plan or a guarantee, like, oh, I'll come back and I'll see you in this many months, or but not knowing when you'll see them again.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

And exactly.

SPEAKER_02 54:05

Really the impact they had on your life was truly life-changing.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:11

They're a very special people.

SPEAKER_01 54:13

Very special people.

SPEAKER_03 54:14

Their love for God, the purity of worship, that was the other thing. There was not um they had a keyboard that didn't sound anything like our keyboards here in America. They weren't the best singers, but it didn't matter. I I mean, yeah, the presence of God would just fall during their singing and worship. Um, and then they had little choirs sing, and that was quite overwhelming.

SPEAKER_01 54:46

Yeah. Yeah, it was amazing. Uh again, uh, and I've got to speed to a close here, but we are the ones that walk walked away blessed.

SPEAKER_05 55:00

Changed.

SPEAKER_01 55:01

Yeah, we are the ones that left with with much more than we went with. Uh and for that I'm forever grateful.

SPEAKER_02 55:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 55:10

Glad you went with us, Tissy.

SPEAKER_02 55:12

Yes, thank you for having me along. It was truly amazing.

SPEAKER_01 55:17

You've been listening to the Paths to Glory Podcast. To contact us, send your emails to Paths to Glory Podcast at gmail.com. We all travel different paths, so it's important that we remember proper three five thursdays.