Bwana Asifiwe! (Praise God!)
By: James Bedwell
I have been traveling to Kenya since 2019 supporting Naomi’s Village with various counseling needs. I was able to continue assisting NV this trip as well as kicking off a new ministry in the same area called Haven of Hope. During the Naomi’s Village portion of the trip, I was able to teach the NV staff on Trauma, Attachment, and Emotional abuse. At the end of the training, I did some group inner healing exercises. Several moms reported that they had an encounter with Jesus and were set free from what the enemy was doing in their lives. I had many more staff members approach me privately thought the week and the result was the same every time, people were healed and set free. I was also able to spend a lot of quality time with the NV kids and have fun with them.
The time spent building up Haven of Hope was equally amazing. One of our main priorities was to secure a space to work out of, hold bible study, and store supplies and food. We had a lot of trouble finding location that would accommodate our needs, but praise God he provided everything we needed and more. We were able to secure an office space to work out of and a local church agreed to let us use their space for bible studies.
I was able to spend 2 days visiting families that our Kenyan partner Grace Wanja has identified. We were able to visit 11 of the 58 families we are working with. Grace has narrowed it down to mainly families with adults or children with severe disabilities and widows with no family left to care for them. We were able to deliver food to the families and pray with them. The ministries long term goal is to empower these families to do something at home that makes money like sewing, beading, or weaving.
I was able to visit the bible study that Grace started as part of the ministry, and it has really grown. It started out with about 10 members meeting in a home. The meeting now has over 25 people in a very small 10’x10’ home that is why we are thankful for the local church giving us a bigger space to meet in. (As an update: Since moving into the new location the bible study has grown to over 40 people!)
The power of God was evident at the bible study. There was passionate praise and worship in the meeting, and the word of God presented powerfully. At the end we called up people for prayer. The power of the Holy Spirit was evident, and people were collapsing under the power of the Holy Spirit. I saw people healed while I was praying for them and demons cast out as well. One of the most powerful ministry times I have every experienced!
Lastly, one of the most crucial things we need to happen while I was there was to get a certificate from the Kenyan government for the ministry to operate. After 3 days of interacting with the Kenyan government, they finally issued a Certificate of Registration for a Community Based Organization (CBO) in Kenya. This is similar to a 501c3 here in America and certifies Haven of Hope as an official organization (ministry) in Kenya. That means in the small amount of time I was in Kenya, God put together everything that we would need for the foundation of the ministry! Bwana Asifiwe! Which means Praise God in Swahili!
