THE FAMILY AND CHURCH

My parents and wife lived on George’s farm in Nanyuki, where there were no churches. It was a new settlement, but one elderly lady, Miriamu, was a member of Full Gospel Churches of Kenya (FGCK) before moved to the farm. She would wake up between 3 and 6 a.m., then spent the time preaching and singing in a loud voice so that the neighbors could hear her. She couldn’t read or write, but she had a Holy Bible and a hymn book, Nyīmbo Cia Kūguna Maroho. She had an excellent memory and could recall everything she had heard from the Bible or songs in the hymn book.

She preached to everyone from memory and would ask a literate person to read the verse she’d chosen or sing the hymn she selected. She would then explain the verse read and give a sermon based on that verse. Members of the Full Gospel Church in Nanyuki town went to her house and held a prayer meeting, and gradually the worship was established. My wife became a member of the worship group, and she began telling me about the salvation of Jesus and how good it was to be free from sins. My new neighbors, a couple who lived behind my house at Paul Machanga Estate, were members of the Langalanga Full Gospel Church and happened to meet my wife while she was on a brief visit. My neighbor invited my wife to her church, and she joined their church and the fellowship group in the neighborhood. At times, the lady would visit my wife in our house, and she preached to me, and other times she would arrange for prayer meetings to take place in our home. I was not a born again Christian, but on the days the worship was held in our house, I made sure I bought all things needed for the meeting like sugar, bread, milk, and tea leaves. I never attended the fellowship meetings because I did not want to stop drinking, smoking, and socializing with my friends at the bar. I would come back home when the conference was over and sleep.

One day, my wife returned to Nanyuki after a short visit, and during the following prayer meeting, my neighbor asked me to lend her my stools because there were more people that day. She also asked me to join the prayer. I had made my supper but was not hungry, and I sat smoking a cigarette. I wondered whether I should attend the meeting or not. As the first song was going on, I decided to follow. I sat and listened, and finally, there was a call for people who wanted to pledge their lives to Jesus. They were asked to come forward, but I didn’t make a move. For some unknown reason, I began shaking. The person next to me suggested that I go to the front instead of sitting there shaking. I made my way to the front, confessed my sins, and accepted Jesus as my savior. I gave the leader the meeting the pack of cigarettes I had in my pocket, and it was thrown away into the trash. My desire to drink or smoke vanished immediately. I became a follower of Jesus and witnessed that he saves and forgives sinners and gives them a new life. He did the same for me.

I attended the Langalanga Full Gospel Church, which was near my home and newly built. I became more involved at home, and I got to spend more time with my family. I helped my kids with their assignments in the evenings, and I monitored their progress. I had first-hand information about my kids’ wellbeing, and I no longer had to rely on my wife’s reports after the fact. My wife also farmed in the Kivumbini area with me, and we got more pieces of land to work on. She began growing Kunde, beans, greens, and matharũ, adding upon what I was already growing.