Thursday: The Medical Crusade

Thursday was another amazing day. One pastor said, “This is not a medical clinic. This is a medical crusade.”

By the end of the day, four more people had accepted Jesus Christ. We finished on time for the first time and saw 278 patients. During the four days, 30 people accepted Jesus Christ. No one knows how many teeth Ryan pulled. He would not stop until all were seen. Over the course of the four days, almost 1,200 people were served.

This was a day of thanking God for the privilege of serving others in his name. Jesse, one of the translators, said, “It feels so good to serve others.”

The Grace Team and the pastors shared a common bond—a desire that none go away without being served, even though they all knew they could not meet everyone’s medical needs. Even on Thursday, as many were turned away as were served.

People arrived as early as 2 a.m. Some even slept at the clinic site to make sure they would be able to see the medical team. The Team found joy and comfort in knowing they had served so many in Jesus’ name. Even the people who were turned away expressed their gratitude for the Team coming. What a special time this was for all the partners involved…serving and doing what had not been done before in Sipili – offering a free medical clinic serving without favoritism or partiality.

In the end, the Sipili area pastors, Grace Medical Team, Fellowship of Baptist of Central Kenya, Outspan Hospital (Nyeri, Kenya), and Teleios Ministry came together in one great partnership in the Gospel. From the testimony of the community, Jesus Christ was lifted up and His name praised through His servants. The day ended with a group photo and thanksgivings to God.

By Wednesday, the staff of the Olivia Court Hotel in Sipili had grown accustom to our large group and did a good job of taking care of our food needs. In fact, the hotel did a good job of trying to meet all our needs. Actually, the food was well prepared and mighty tasty! One thing about our showers, however, was that they were not of the Laodicea type—never warm, but either hot or cold…when there was water coming out of them. Personally, I will miss my faucet showers—NOT!

We all traveled to the Thompson Falls Lodge for a celebration dinner on Thursday night. The night was spent in laughter, telling stories, joking with our new friends, and finally relaxing after five days of hard work.




Friday morning, we woke up early to hike to the falls. Thompson Falls was a beautiful setting for our last challenging adventure together as a Team. The Nyeri group left for home, the Grace Group left for Nakuru National Park, and the rest of us headed for Limuru/Nairobi/Ruaka.

Bernard Kabaru Mwangi continues to do an excellent job of leading the clinic and building a real team from many different places. Great job, well done, Bernard!

I left for the airport only to discover my flight was delayed from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Hopefully, I will be able to keep you updated on the Tanzania portion of the trip. Thank you for your prayers over the past week. The effectiveness of the clinic was directly related to the prayers of God’s people.