bitter sweet day

It was great to connect with you guys today! I can’t tell how how much good it does for us to just know that we’re in contact with you guys. We have had some exciting moments and some very solemn moments today.

We started out in the radio station at 6:00 preaching to the entire nation of Rwanda. Then ron, Zachary and I went to three different churches and preached. Fourteen people got saved in the church where ron preached! This whole mission ron and I have been praying for the harvest even if we don’t see any of it, but He allowed us to see some fantastic results today! It’s so amazing to see Him work here in this beautiful and very torn country.

After lunch, we went to the main genocide memorial here in Kigali. Unbelievably sobering. You go through this exhibit, and it walks you through the entire genocide complete with VERY graphic photos. Then you go into this dimly lit circular room that is full of actual skulls and bones – and a soft recorded voice is reading name after name of the people who were killed. Then you go upstairs which is entirely dedicated to honoring the children who were killed. You would see a large picture of a two-year old playing and underneath it would read:

Name: Jean Okoye
Age: 2 years
Favorite Food: lentils
Best Friend: Mommie
Personality: fun-loving
Method Of Death: hacked by machete

Finally we walked outside where 250,000 people were buried. It was all large concrete mass-graves. One had a 10’ x 10’ lid, and one of the mourners asked to have it removed, and we just happened to be there. We moved the lid back and saw about 100 wooden caskets just thrown in piles in this grave about 50 feet deep. Such a horrific tragedy. Then we got ready to leave, but our driver was late. But while we were waiting in the parking lot, and influx of cars came all at once. The head of the senate of Rwanda was the first to get out, and since gilbert (our Rwandan contact) is in the government, we got to meet him. We asked what was going on, and they had just found a new body this week, and they were coming to honor it and to put it in that open grave. They found a body from thirteen years ago! i later found out that they usually find about one body per week. We left there with a very heavy heart.

Later, I addressed and sang to a mass of Rwandans in this open-air crusade, but we couldn’t stay because it was nearing 6:00 which is when we had to get back to the hotel to go live to cbc.

Tomorrow we distribute the water. Please pray for us as we have discovered many complications concerning the water distribution, but we believe God will make a way. This is a direct mission of cbc – we will be handing clean water to people on your behalf. Praise God for this amazing opportunity. We have many more things to do tomorrow, so please continue to pray for our strength which is rapidly winding down.

We love you guys, and can’t wait to see you next week!

-clark

so many opportunities, so little time

we're in rwanda! we flew in at about 11 this morning (4 a.m. ct), and met our contacts with whom i have been emailing for about 6 months now. it was so good to meet them face to face. we visited two of the genocide memorial sites, which was very moving. we tried to visit the main memorial in kigali, but we arrived too late (we will visit it tomorrow after church). after a late lunch we visited the hotel from the movie "hotel rwanda." what a surreal experience. there was such trajedy here. it's hard to comprehend.

we met with the mayor of the province where the genocide took place. it was great to talk to him and share with him some hope that we might have (more on that when we get back).

please pray for our schedule. we only have two full days here (sunday and monday) as we will be returning to nairobi on tuesday. we've had to cut many things on the schedule in order to accomplish stuff in the short time we'll be here. tomorrow morning at 6:00, i will be preaching on the radio to the entire nation of rwanda. then ron, zachary and i will be preaching at three different churches during the morning service hours. we'll meet up for lunch then we'll visit that other genocide memorial (they said to be prepared for an emotional experience). then we'll go to the first night of the crusade where i'll sing two songs.

monday, we'll go get the 2000 bottles of water and spend the whole morning distributing it to the people. then at around noon we will meet with the minister of foreign affairs to get with the prime minister. depending on how that meeting goes, he'll decide if we can have a few minutes with the president. then we'll visit an aids orphanage, after which we'll go to the second night of the crusade where ron and i will preach to the masses.

tuesday am we will meet with the mayor again to discuss more about some longer-term solutions that God has given ron for these people. then we will fly back to nairobi.

please pray for us. we hated to cut out some of the stuff they had planned for us, but there was just not enough time. we're blessed to have the opportunites that God has given us. please pray because we're already so tired, and the next few days are gonna pretty much exhaust us. we're so excited to be here, and we can't believe our mission is almost over, but we're pumped to get back to you guys soon.

we love you so much, and we appreciate your prayers as we know you guys are praying continually. we continue to pray for the great harvest!

-clark

off to rwanda!

on the way back to Nairobi this morning, we stopped at a little town called gilgil. One of our new friends was preaching a crusade there, and we were able to stop in and speak to the people for a few minutes. it is so humbling to see how these guys minister in the most undesirable conditions. My friend peter is a very successful businessman in the most prosperous area in Kenya, and he leaves his business at least once a month to do a crusade in some remote area of Kenya. He called us en route to ask us to stop in, and we were able to speak to these people under this tent in gilgil, Kenya!

God has given us so many opportunities, and we have seen Him show His power in ways we could never have “planned” if He hadn’t ordained this mission from start to finish. It is absolutely mind-blowing.

We leave tomorrow morning at 5:45 to fly to Kigali Rwanda. We really don’t know much about this leg of the trip, but we go confidently believing that God has purposed us to be there at this exact time. Ron and I ask that you PLEASE pray for this leg of the mission. We will have so many opportunities to share His love, His grace, His mercy, His hope, and His bigness to the people in this devastated country. We are supposed to bring messages of hope to the masses, and we have no idea how to do that, but again, we know that we know that we know that we know that God has brought us here for His glory. Please pray that He will use us however he wants.

I hope we will be able to update you guys in Rwanda, but in case we don’t have internet access, we’ll be able to plug in on Tuesday in Nairobi.

We love you guys, and we can’t wait to see you in eight days. We continue to pray believing for the great harvest.

-clark

ps. We are starting to really miss our families now. Please check in on them from time to time. Pat’s number is 972-962-5099. she’ll be at the retreat till Sunday. My mama’s number is 270-227-1647 (she’s watching my kids while burge is at the retreat).

bye bye nakuru!

The conferences were awesome! Thank you guys so much for praying. We can’t tell you all that we’ve seen God do these last two weeks, but our prayer was that He would use us however He wants, and that’s exactly what He’s done! We are so privileged to even speak the Name of this God!

Tomorrow, we leave nakuru and return to Nairobi. We will hang out there and have one last meal with our Nairobi team whom we’ve grown to love so much. Then Saturday morning it’s off to Rwanda. We don’t yet know the internet conditions in Rwanda, but we’ll do everything in our power to get plugged in so we can communicate with you guys.

when we get back, i think we’ll be able to show you some stuff since we just completed our 19th video tape at 90 mins each. Also we’ve taken over 1000 pics!

We want to wish all the women a safe, fun, and uplifting trip to three-mountain retreat. We will be praying for you!

Again, thank you guys for all your prayers and thanx for responding to us on the website. Ron and I get so excited when we see a new comment has been posted. It’s great for us to feel a connection to home.

Please pray for our time in Rwanda. We don’t know all the details of our trip (don’t even know where we’ll be sleeping yet), but we trust that God is sovereign and has all of that under control. we're 2/3 done with this mission, and we’re tired, but we believe God has a reason for us to go to Rwanda, so we pray confidently and boldly for the harvest! Please join us in that prayer.

We love you guys, and we hope to be able to communicate with you this weekend from Rwanda.

-clark

ps. matt, thanx for the update. Let me know how the mavs are doing too. Have they recovered from their stunning game-one loss?

quick note

we had a great day of leisure today. We went to the nakuru national park for a mini, 5-hour safari and saw lots of wild game, including over a million flamingos on lake nakuru. But the key moment was when we made our way to the top of this cliff and looked down over the nakuru lake valley. We beheld the majesty of God through creation unlike any other time in our lives. It was absolutely stunning and breathtaking. Neither words nor pictures can capture it, so I won’t even try. Just know that we were mesmerized by this indescribable God. (remind me to tell you about the single tree)

we met with the nakuru planning team tonight, and they have organized this leg well. Please pray for us tomorrow! Tomorrow is day one of our conferences in nakuru. The conferences in Nairobi went so well because God showed His power, and His anointing was all over it. This was because you guys were praying, so please don’t stop now! We need your prayers more than ever. Our bodies, minds, and hearts are very tired, but we are also very excited to share what God has given us to share. We believe He has a word for these people, and we want to be obedient to His call so please lift us up often over the next two days. We know we can’t change anybody’s life, so please just pray that God will take over even more than He did in Nairobi. Remember, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous lover of God avails much.

Ron’s conference begins tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9:00 a.m. (1:00 a.m. CT). mine begins at 2:00 p.m. (6:00 a.m. CT). Please pray that God will move however He wants and that He will draw people to Himself.

We give Him all the glory, and we believe for the great harvest. Buana Asifiwi!

-clark

bye bye nairobi

It was great to go live to cbc tonight. Even though you guys couldn’t understand Zachary very well, it did us well to know that we were connected with you. The guys were really very happy to get to communicate with you. In their song, they were singing (in Swahili) of how deep, high, and wide the love of Christ is. They were excited to sing of His love to you!

Yesterday we went to bring hope to the “Great Lakes Region Leaders” which is a group of refugees from the war-torn countries of Rwanda, congo, and Burundi who have since turned their lives to Christ. We used an interpreter (that was a first for me) to translate into kinyarwanda – this is a “low speech” language, but since they all spoke three different languages, it was the best option. They really appreciated what God spoke to them.

Then we had a very interesting experience. We went to the massai market which is an open air African version of first Monday but much more primitive. The wares they were selling were fantastic, but the moment ron and I walked in…well, have you ever seen what happens when someone drops a bloody piece of meat in the middle of a pack of piranhas? That’s what happened to us. I won’t go into detail, but we pushed ourselves out of there immediately. Later, Zachary took us and was very firm with them, so we were able to get some sweet souvenirs.

This morning was an unbelievable time. We went to zachary’s church. I spoke at the first service, and ron spoke at the second service. i can’t tell you how much we know you guys are praying! There’s no way we could preach like this in our own strength. He simply is taking over, which is exactly what we’ve been praying for! It’s amazing to see God show His power through our weakness. I mean, neither of is a preacher, but He is bringing powerful messages to these people! God is certainly humbling ron and me, and it’s so amazing to see God work in such visible and evident ways.

Tomorrow we leave for the second leg of our mission. We are heading to nakuru which is the second largest city in kenya. We will do our conferences again on Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday we will take a day of leisure where we will visit the nakuru national park to get up close and personal with the wildlife of Africa. This comes at the perfect time because we are very much in need of rest.

Please pray for two things: supernatural rest and continued anointing.

We miss you guys, but please know that this week has absolutely changed our lives. We are not the same people who flew out of dfw last Saturday. The people here are begging us to come back next year and bring a team. I believe this is only the beginning of God using country bible church in the beautiful land of Africa. Faith coupled with obedience changes people. I can’t wait to see what this indescribable God has in store!

-clark

Annointed

just a quick note to let you know how our first conferences went. for those of you who don't know, one of the things zachary asked us to do is a couple of two-day conferences. ron is training businessmen on how to run a business with integrity, and i am training worship leaders on the concept of worship. we've just finished the one in nairobi, and we'll be doing our other one next week in the town of nakuru - about 100 miles northwest of nairobi.

i just want to say that ron and i aren't preachers, but God calls the weak to show Himself strong. it is so evident that many people are praying because the only thing i can say about these eight sessions (four for ron, four for me) is that they were heavily annointed. as a word of testimony, when i walked up for sessions one and three (the first session of each day), i felt nervous and VERY inadequate, but as soon as i started to speak, that's when the annointing came. it was so evident that God took over, because there's no way i can do what He did during those conferences. ron and i walked into our room tonight, and we just said, "no one can say that God wasn't all over that place today." that's what happens when people pray! thank you so much!

we're actually gonna get to sleep a little tonight. it's only 11:00 p.m. and we're about to go to bed, and we don't have to leave until 9:00 a.m. i just wanted to ask you guys to keep praying. tomorrow we'll be ministering to the "great lakes leaders" - a group of war-torn people from rwanda, congo, and burundi. sunday, i will preach at the first service of zachary's church, and ron will preach at the second service. we have plans for sunday afternoon (can't remember right now) then at 7:00 p.m. we will be coming live to country bible church! we're so excited about that because we so much want you to meet our precious team here.

we love each of you, and thank you SO MUCH for your prayers. and matt, there's no way you could eat here dude! didn't i just tell you i ate goat heart? you'd lose 80 pounds!

-clark

Goat Heart???

it is 10:04 p.m. on thursday (2:04 CT), and ron and i are very tired. we told our team (can't describe how awesome they've been) at the beginning that we wanted them to use us - that we wanted to be completely empty when we leave. boy has that come true! this mission is simply unbelievable. sonya, you're right when you say that everyone should come here. and believe me, we will be recruiting for next year when we get back!

words cannot describe the slum we visited. we have some pics, but still you must see it for yourself. we met with the pastor of a new church zachary started a month ago. he was very precious. i can't imagine what it must be like to minister there. these people make about 50 shillings per day (68 shillings is one dollar), so since they can't afford entertainment, they pleasure themselves with sex. HIV is rampant there. their "homes" are nothing more than three tin walls - lined one after another. ron prayed with the pastor, and we left there with a new perspective on life.

last night we ate a traditional african feast: green stuff, white stuff, goat ribs, and goat heart. you eat it communally and with your hands (btw, we use germ-x about four thousand times each day). it was a very special time to eat with our new brothers whom we love so much. you guys will meet them sunday morning!

today marked the beginning of our conferences. ron did a great job with his two sessions (i told him that he exceeded my expectations.) there were about 100 business people there. after lunch, i spoke on sin and then the greatness of God. there were about 75 worship leaders there. i learned a new song today that i will definately be bringing back to cbc - i think you guys will love it. we ended the day with a "dancing service." i mean a real life dancing service! very traditional and wonderful to experience.

words cannot express how we feel. this is simply an amazing experience. we have fallen in love with africa and the kenyan people. they are truly precious. they are so polite and considerate, but the traffic is CHAOS!!! burge would flip out!

so please continue to pray. i know many of you are praying because God is with us mightily. He is so faithful, and we are seeing Him work in great ways. please continue to pray for our rest. we get up early, go hard all day, and go to bed late. i'm praying that God will give us more rest than sleep. our stomachs have adjusted very well (knock on wood, k-dub), but we will continue to be careful.

we love each of you, and are very excited to share with you all that God has done through cbc in africa! until then - Buama asifiwi!

-clark

Contact!

I just thought I'd let everyone know that we have had visual contact at CBC with Clark and Ron. The sweet webcam that Richard set up works really great, so Bridget and the kiddos got to talk to the guys - and see them at the same time. Tim tested it on the big screen in the Sanctinasium, and that went well, too. SO, assuming the schedules line up right, we may just get to SEE and HEAR Clark and Ron at our service this Sunday! So, don't miss the great opportunity. Should be an awesome chance to see what God is doing in Africa.

-Matt

tomorrow starts busy week

it's 7:48 p.m. on tuesday night (11:48 a.m. central time tuesday), and ron and i are wiped out. what a wonderful day today! God has placed around us an unbelievable team from the church here in nairobi. we are growing to love them more and more by the minute! He is taking very good care of us through them.

just when we thought we had beaten jet lag, it slammed us last night. ron slept maybe two hours, and i slept not one moment, and today was a very big day. we drove out to massai land where the primitive and beautiful massai people dwell. this was unlike anything i've ever seen. visiting with these people and loving those kids was an experience i will forever cherish. we gave the kids some colorful bracelets (they loved them), and they were awe-struck at how they could see themselves in the video camera! the wonder in their eyes was truly amazing. i can't really describe it on here, but we'll tell you all about it when we get back. this has changed my perspective on contentment, and today in massai land, i fell in love with africa. what a beautiful creation of Almighty God!

tomorrow morning we will do a television interview concerning our conferences later this week. at noon, ron will preach at the nairobi city hall! this is pretty amazing because people come by the droves to hear the noon preacher share God's word. after lunch we will minister in the slums of nairobi, then we will spend some time setting up for our conferences which begin on thursday.

we have a very busy week ahead of us, so please pray that our strength will hold up as we recover from jet lag. we are doing so well, and we thank you so much for all of your prayers. please know that God is using your prayers in mighty ways here in africa. they are already insisting that we come back next year and bring several more people with us.

we have been so blessed, and it has only been a few days! God is working in amazing ways here already, and we are so honored to be a part of it. His ways are so much higher than ours. i never thought i would see some of the things we saw today, but God's vision is SO much greater, so we believe for the great harvest.

-clark

WE'RE HERE!!!

i come to you from the beautiful city of nairobi, kenya! our flights were great, and we have been very well received by zachary, daniel, and many new friends from the gospel recovery center international here in nairobi. we don't have a lot of time as we are heading to the ymca to SLEEP! i will update more tomorrow hopefully, but know that all is well.

two things: one of our boxes did not arrive so please pray that it will arrive tomorrow. also, a tv commercial with our pictures advertising our conferences is all over the tv stations here so pray that ron doesn't get a big head!

we love you all, and hope to write more tomorrow.

-clark

Prayer Request

Clark called this morning with a prayer request. He and Ron are taking seven extra bags with them that have various stuff for the people over there. The airline charges $150 per bag, but the airline has the choice to waive the fees if it wants to. So pray that those fees get waived and that the $1,000 can be used for something else in Africa. That would be super awesome. Thanks for praying!

-Matt

two pre-trip prayer requests

it's hard to believe that it's almost time to go. we're heading out saturday, and we still have lots of things to finalize before we leave.

i wanted to ask you guys to pray for two things.

• first, just please continue to pray for God's power in this mission. we desperately need Him to show His power in ways we can't even imagine. our goal is for His name and His fame to be made known among the nations, so we pray to that end firmly believing that it is in line with His will.

• also, i want to ask you guys to pray for ron's leg. he's really struggling with swelling in his right leg, and we're gonna be walking alot. i know it's very uncomfortable for him right now, and it'll only get worse considering the conditions we'll be in, but i believe that God can relieve him of that. it may not seem like a big thing, but ron is going to be sixty this year (on june 6 - we have the same birthday...weird), and even though he can run circles around me, i'd still like for us to pray that God would heal his leg.

thank you guys for praying for this mission. i don't want it to be a burden for you, so don't let it be like that. just pray when you think about it. a twenty-second prayer from a fervent heart is more pleasing to God than a six-minute, well thought out dissertation from a heart that would rather be playing solitaire.

i love you guys - each of you. i believe that this powerful God has a plan for each of you today. His glory is far greater than anything we could conceive or imagine, and His ways are so much higher than our ways...so we believe for the great harvest.

-clark

purpose of this blog

hey guys, thanx for visiting our blog. we want to use this blog for two main purposes.

one: we think this is will be a great way to communicate spontaneous and immediate prayer needs. i have no idea what we'll find when we get over there. i mean, we have a schedule, but who knows how it's going to go. i anticipate that we will encounter opportunities that will blow our minds, and we need you guys to be praying for those things.

there's no way ron and i will be able to do what God has called us to do on this mission, so we desperately need you guys to be praying for these things so God will take over and use us in ways that we could never have imagined.

please check this blog frequently so you will know how to pray.

two: the other purpose for this blog is so you guys can see and read what we're doing. i don't know how often we'll have interent access, but i'm going to try to post news and pics as often as i possibly can.

my friend matt who is heading up the prayer team here in kaufman will also be posting information as i will have regular contact with him.

although matt and i are the only ones who can post a blog, anyone can post a comment. simply click on the comment link under the blog, type your comment, decide how you want to publish it ("anonymous" means it will not show your name, "other" lets you give your name), and your comment will be visible to anyone who clicks on the "comments" link.

this whole mission and everything associated with it has a singular purpose: to greatly honor God by lifting up His name and His fame to the nations. i believe that if ron and i are obedient and walking in unseen faith and power and if you guys keep praying, God will be greatly glorified by every aspect of this mission.

so we believe for the great harvest...

-clark