What particularly tried my patience was the constant rain in this presumably “hot and dry” season. Every ride to the church was a battle. The small, used tires with little traction would slither and slide to and fro in the mud, barely avoiding deep grooves and washed-out railroad tracks.

People who otherwise might have come, stayed back.

One morning, an unexpectedly glorious, sunny morning, I spotted threatening dark clouds moving toward Webuye from the North-West. Having earnestly sought confirmation about paying for the plot of land, I now prayed fervently:

“Father in heaven, if you cause these menacing rain clouds to dissipate, this will be a sign from You to go ahead with paying for that land with my VISA.”

Instantly the enormous cloud stopped, turned northward and disintegrated into nothing.

“Wow,” I exclaimed, “that is definitely a prompt confirmation. I will do it first thing next week.”

Immediately the Lord responded. “No,” He said, “do not wait until next week. Do this before this Shabbat, the last one before Christmas.”¹⁹

“But Lord,” I tried to reason with Him, “it is already Friday morning, and we have not yet contacted the lawyer and the landlord."

“Do it before Shabbat,” the Lord insisted. “I want there to be peace between my servant Bera and the landlord on this last Shabbat before Christmas. As the people are celebrating My Son’s Birth I want the land on which this church building stands to be free of debt and sanctified unto service in the Gospel.”

“You are of Judah, of the House of David,” the Lord continued, “and I want to bless this work I have ordained for my servant Bera through you. Conciliate and sow peace, that My blessing may abide upon this place and work, to give it growth and make it prosper.”

The words of the Lord surprised me, for even though He had me prophesy over the Bishop at my first visit, my involvement in it seemed unimportant. Now the Lord referred to my natural descent as being an essential blessing in the Bishop’s work.

I came to realize that the Lord Himself had prompted the Bishop’s “Macedonian call”, and that this work called by the Lord is most significant in His eyes.

I went inside to tell the Bishop. In faith, he had already called the lawyer’s office, believing the Lord would give him the land debt free. Now he invited the landlord to meet us at the lawyer’s and broke the exciting news to the church. 

The landlord, beaming with delight, informed me that after the 70,000 KSh the Bishop had already paid him for the land, he still owed $ 2,300. But the Lord had shown me the sum of $ 2,100. So why $200 more?

“For the surveyors,” the landlord explained. I did not understand why the buyer had to pay for surveyors, but the Lord said, “Hush, hush, let it pass. Pay this as well and close the matter.”

The landlord was a Muslim, but had formerly been a Christian. Perhaps for this reason the Lord wished to avoid confrontation between us.

It proved a complicated and lengthy procedure to obtain the cash in Kenyan Shillings. While waiting at the bank, a tall, dignified stranger approached me and said, “Karibu – welcome, my daughter.”

Puzzled, I replied, “Assante sana – thank you very much. Why do you call me daughter? Are you a pastor or bishop?”

He smiled: “I am indeed a servant of the Lord in Whom I believe and Whose I am, but no, I am not a pastor.”

He showed great interest in my reason for being in Webuye, having heard of me as had all the Webuyan elite ever since I was a guest at Kenya’s Independence Day celebrations²⁰. He was Webuye's former mayor of many years, and had just recently retired. 

At long last, approval of the payment came from Nairobi. At the lawyer’s office the money exchanged hands, deeds were signed and peace and good will settled between the two men. Both laughed contentedly as they warmly shook hands, and the landlord wished us a “Merry Christmas” as he turned to deposit the money.

Rejoicing, we drove on to the church where Bishop’s firey testimony of God’s divine provision in answer to his fervent prayers erupted into the most glorious and joyous meeting ever. Halleluyah! And that peace that surpasses all understanding engulfed me, with my heart bursting with exceeding great joy at the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness.

It would seem that God is teaching us – the Bishop and me - to see more and more through His eyes: as it pleased Him to have His Son, the King of Glory, born in a stable with a manger for a crib, so it pleases Him to raise up a great work from most humble beginnings. And He used me, with nothing but Or Tzion’s credit card saddled with debt, to free His servant Bera from the debt owed on the plot of land.

This Kenyan mission took ever more peculiar turns. Just what else had G-d planned, ostensibly strange in our eyes?