God's Work

A View of a street in the Korogocho slum

I just got to talk to Ethan on the phone! He called to ask for prayer because he is very sick right now with a gastro-intestinal illness and body aches. He told me some amazing stories of how God is working in Kenya right now, and it is obvious that they are experiencing spiritual warfare. He said they experience much spiritual oppression and darkness in that land. Their team has been so great, and he has been blessed by them. Please also pray for one of the other team members who is also sick.

The first interesting fact I learned was that Ethan and his teammate, Josh, were teaching in Korogocho (not Kibera) last Friday and Saturday. This is remarkable because this slum is about 2 steps poorer than the huge Kibera Slum. The pastors there were so hungry to learn, and they asked for them to come back and teach them again.

Here is a story about a supernatural thing God did while they were there. Four of the African pastors along with Ethan and Josh were walking through an alley in the slum. The alley was only about a meter and a half wide with an open sewer running through the middle of the way. It was a dangerous area where people cannot walk alone, especially foreigners. As they were walking, Ethan saw a beautiful young woman walk by who had white skin, shiny blond hair, and piercing blue eyes. She was alone and walked by them in this narrow alleyway. Ethan had thought about turning around and asking what she was doing there, but he did not. When he asked the other men if they had seen her, they said "no." He believes it might have been an angel. God is there amongst the poorest of the poor, and he is sending his ministering angels there. After telling my mother-in-law this story, she told me that this angel may have been sent to protect the group of men that were walking. God knows! Praise His name! Psalm 91:11 says: "For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways."

On Sunday morning they went to Kibera for a service. You can read a few comments about that on TLI's facebook. Ethan conveyed to me that it was beyond description at that moment, and that he would have to tell me about it again when he gets home. All in all, we praise God for all He is doing in His kingdom around the world. There are believers in many nations, our brothers and sisters in Christ. May God's fame spread throughout the entire world.

Please Keep Praying...

Ethan wrote and said he is starting to feel better, and he thinks the fever might be gone. Praise God! There are two other team members suffering from diarrhea. They are experiencing spiritual warfare, so they believe that God has something really special in the next days planned in the slums where they will be ministering. Please pray for them!

Prayer Requests and Report from Ethan

Ethan with his group of Lay Leaders in Nairobi

We finished up our training with the lay leaders of the Nairobi Anglican diocese. They have a good knowledge of the Bible but are weak in relating and expressing those individual truths in a systematic way. It was exciting to come alongside them and take what they know and strengthen them and build on that foundation. These lay leaders do the majority of pastoral ministry within their parishes. They have a tough job. We created a Facebook page for Training Leaders International where you can see some pictures of our training time and maybe even some video of the amazing music.

Teaching time

Last night I came down with a fever and have been pretty wiped out all day—lots of body aches and zero energy. This morning I attended a training time for our ministry in the slum churches that is supposed to start tomorrow, but had to stay at the school this afternoon. I slept about five hours. So, please pray for me and for our team leader, Darren Carlson, who is also starting to feel sick.

We are going to start our training with the church leaders and pastors in the slums tomorrow. One of my teammates and I are going to one of the roughest slums in Nairobi. Please pray for healing and energy for me, for safety for us, and especially for the filling and empowering of the Holy Spirit to serve these brothers who serve Jesus in the midst of numbing poverty. They have asked us to help them understand the history of the time of Jesus and the spread of the early church in Acts and then to do some teaching on Bible studying and applying the Bible. We will also be teaching on a Biblical view on suffering, and on money. This is desperately needed in Africa where the cancer of prosperity teaching is exploding. This "gospel" is the most shameful fruit of the American church and is devastating the African church. You may read more about this at the Gospel Coalition’s website:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2009/11/05/the-prosperity-gospel-in-africa/ or watch a video on this at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU7rnDw1Ekw
Please pray for us as we teach and confront this heresy with the truth of God's word.

Thank you for your prayers.

Grace Mercy and Peace,
Ethan Larson

Prayer Request

Please pray for a dear Christian brother in a middle east country who is imprisoned and will go on trial this weekend. Please pray for his release.