Here's the background. Some of the specifics (ae. 15 years ago - it was 10, 15, or 20, I can't remember which) might not be accurate but the stories are true.

~15 Years ago

It was not an unusual day in this bar near Enemesi in the southwest of Kenya. The afternoon dragged on with few customers, many already drunk at this hour of the day, but not causing much trouble. Though many of the Masai people that lived in these areas were more traditional, and would generally drink only for celebrations - sticking to their mixture of cow's blood and milk mixed together as their main sustenance - this was an area that had gotten more of the touch of the long arm of western civilization.

A rough man sat behind the bar, engrossed in his own thoughts. He was not a Masai, like most around here. He had come here as a Kisii, and people often didn't trust outsiders. When a tribe would start a war, oftentimes the outsiders were the first ones taken and hacked to death, so as a member of another tribe you lived in some degree of wariness for when tribal tensions would rise again.

The man's name was George. He was not a despicable man, but there was little good about him either. The very fact that he was a bartender in an area that had less westernization showed that he was on the lower rungs of society.

A white man walked in the door. Mzungu. White person. Swahili word similar to the Spanish gringo. He didn't think too much of this short mustached man coming in here. He wanted him to leave.

The man caught sight of him and walked straight for him, smiling and starting a conversation. After a few minutes, the man finished his coke and the conversation came to a close. The man was friendly enough, but George didn't feel too much regret about letting this man go, out of his life forever.

Until he said those two words.

The man did a most extraordinary thing. He said "Bless you", and then turned, to leave. Just like that.

George was too stunned to move. Bless me? He blessed me? What did he mean by that? Why did he bless me? Why should I deserve any blessing? What have I done? Overcome with emotion, he took off, ran out of the bar, ran after the stranger and accosted him.

"Why did you bless me? Why? What have I done that I deserve to be blessed?"

And that was the beginning of his journey.

~5 Years ago

The man who had blessed George, who had lead him to Christ, had lead him to become a pastor and a fervent follower of Christ all those years ago after a chance meeting in a bar - his name was Clair. Clair served as a missionary to the Masai people, and he was now living in another town in Masailand. This town had forgotten its traditions, and many of the people lived only to drink themselves into a stupor. Clair brought them the Gospel, and they were now learning to walk in the light. The community had been transformed. Clair had said that he would only teach from the scriptures and would never teach from something not upheld by scriptures but only his own opinion. This had served him well, except when it came to the practice of female circumcision.

Called female genital mutilation by the global community, female circumcision is the removal of the clitoris, so that the females would not experience sexual pleasure and would have an easier childbirth. The childbirth part was not true - the circumcision actually made childbirth more difficult by creating more possibilities for infection and generally scarred the girls - but the deprivation of sexual pleasure was true. But these girls were not forced into it - as horrible as it was - it was a rite of passage into womanhood. Any Masai girl would undoubtedly run away to Masailand to be circumcised if she were taken away. But not for the circumcision itself. Never for that.

The circumcision was lead up to by a huge feast, where the village gathered together to celebrate her passage into womanhood. In all the darkness of being a woman among the Masai - of often being treated like property and shared among the men according to Masai custom*, this was one day - just one day in this girls life where she was honored by everyone. Where everyone came together to celebrate her.

One day Clair's wife, Beth, was attending one of these ceremonies, and afterwards, looking on at these poor, mutilated, shivering girls huddling under blankets, one of the Masai women asked Beth, "When will you get your daughters circumcised?" Beth was horrified. "We will NEVER do that to our girls". Beth said. The thought of putting any of her four precious daughters through that was repulsive to her. While she and her husband could never speak out against it, they certainly would not allow it to be done to their daughters, and that was the end of it. And yet...

An idea began to form, and she began to see how it might work.

*sidenote: Masai men traditionally share their wives, and this made Clair think about them as savages, but he was once a Masai man asked Clair: "Is it true that in America you kill your babies before they are born?" and "Is it true in America that you send your old people away to live by themselves so that the young ones will not benefit from their wisdom?" Clair showed us when he talked to us in training that only when you begin to see the people you're ministering to on the same level as yourself - not as lower savages, but as lost people much like you used to be that could well be ministers of Christ and be teaching YOU someday - will you begin to be effective.

About a year later, Clair and Beth announced to the village that they were going to hold the circumcision ceremony for their daughter and they began to make preparations. The whole village showed up on the day and had a wonderful celebration. There was a feast, there was music, there was dancing, there were skits put on by the village about how stupid they used to be when they were living in sin, it was a wonderful time for all. Finally the time came for the ceremony. Clair sat his daughter down and began to talk to her.

He opened up the Bible and began to talk about scriptural purity, and circumcision of the heart. Then they prayed together for her future husband and he gave her a purity ring, and everyone went home. People began to tell Clair and Beth that this had been the best ceremony they had EVER been to. And today, because Clair had not condemned but had shown them an alternative, hundreds if not thousands of girls in Masailand are able to have this alternative circumcision ceremony.

May 2008

January 2008 there was an outbreak of election violence after one party declared themselves in power. Homes were burned and about 600,000 people displaced in refugee, people were killed, women were raped all over the country. It was very dangerous for awhile as thugs ruled the roads.

Clair and some others were traveling in the country in the aftermath of this violence, shortly after the roads became "safe" again. They saw the devastation brought to a place that was thought to be a safe place in Africa. They stopped in one place and saw a church that had been burned to the ground with everyone inside it trapped in and burned alive. They stood in the remains of the church, bits of cloth and human ash around, and talked to a woman that had been a member of the church and had watched as it was burned. The violence was terrible.

As Clair was driving through a small village in western Kenya, a site of violence back in January between the Kisii and Kalenjin tribes, he suddenly felt a prod of the Holy Spirit.

"Stop here, I have an appointment." He said to his companion - a bishop for the area.

They stopped, even though it wasn't really a safe place, and were accosted by thugs. They drove away to shake the thugs, but then went back. As they got out of the car, Clair saw a man sitting in a doorway and knew this was the appointment he was supposed to stop for. He walked over and began to talk to him. It was clear that he was in a lot of emotional pain because of this violence. Clair listened to him, and after he was done, offered to pray for him, and what's more, called over a person walking by of the enemy tribe to join them. Though these two had never met Jesus before, the three of them were momentarily united in prayer to God for this man.

"I don't know what kind of a church you're from" the man said "But I want to be a part of it."

Today 28 new believers worship God in Chipolete Kenya, and George is the pastor. The church was planted to help bridge the racial divide between these two tribes that live in this border town, but the going is rough as there is a lot of tension and a lot of hurt between these tribes, and George is a Kisii, which makes it harder for Kalenjins to listen to him. Four young men from the USA were called to this town - to be peacemakers to the situation, to help bridge the divide between these tribes as objective bystanders, to support the church, but most importantly to build relationships so that the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ can be shared with these people.

We are going to Chipolete in December because God called us to be there, and he has big plans for this little town on the border between two ancestral tribal lands in western Kenya.

So pray for us that we can be the spiritual giants that we need to be, and seek the holy spirit's guidance while we're there. Pray that the people's hearts would be prepared for our coming.

Thanks for your support.