Church in the Dark

We arrived at the Suna house on Thursday right in the middle of Youth Convention at Suna Gospel Church.  The convention started on Monday and was scheduled to end the next Sunday.  The convention would start early in the morning.  Some of the youth were at the church at 6 am to start singing and praying.  The service would last all day until late in the evening with breaks for lunch and supper.  The convention consisted of five youth groups coming together. There were about 300 people there every day. 

I was impressed by the dedication of the youth in their devotion to God and to pray for salvation for the people of Suna, Migori and the surrounding towns.  Baba said that some of the youth, if the weather cooperated, would spend the night on top of a local hill praying together and singing praise songs.  And the weather never deterred attendance either.  We are in the rainy season here in Kenya with torrential downpours coming with little warning.  Most of the rains come in the afternoon and early evening.  The rains never put a damper on the proceedings at Suna Gospel Church.

Word spread quickly that we had arrived.  The youth love Baba and were hoping he would preach at convention.  So instead of us unpacking and getting settled in we jumped wholeheartedly into youth convention.  We attended Friday through Sunday and it was wonderful.  The Luo’s love music and dance.  So there were many different choirs from all over coming to lead us in praise and worship.  Baba and Tracy were both called on to preach at various times.  We had a wonderful time.

The memory that stands out the most was on Saturday night.  During the supper break between the afternoon session and the evening session the power (or steamer as it’s called here) went out.  This is a regular occurrence which we’ve gotten used to.  We weren’t sure if the evening session would be cancelled.  But sure enough after supper we heard the singing start.  We walked to the church to find it filled once again.  The youth had brought a small gas generator and hooked it up.  The fumes from the generator wafted in through the open windows and made it hard to breathe sometimes but no one seemed to care.  We were able to power the sound system, keyboard and a single lightbulb.  The service kept going.  Then sometime around 8:30 the generator stopped and the lights went out.  No problem though as service continued in the dark.  We sang acapella.  We eventually got the generator working again but the devotion these kids showed was amazing.  Nothing deterred them from praising God. To see such devotion coming from this younger generation spurs me on in my walk with the Lord.