If you recall, last November, during the KCPE exams, Kuya, whom I had delegated to handle all examination-related matters, refused to invite Apostle Elkana, the Revered Spiritual Superintendent of THOAG (The Holiest of All Ghosts) Tabernacle Assembly to pray for the candidates. Instead, he invited a certain Anglican priest who prayed for the students. He was a young, modern priest who arrived on time, read from the Bible, delivered a sermon, and left immediately after the session.
He did not eat, nor did he stay around waiting to be given something small, as Apostle Elkana always does. Actually, reading from the Bible was a surprise for all of us because while Apostle Elkana quotes the Bible in his preachings – allow me to call them rumblings – I cannot remember seeing him hold or read from the Bible.
‘The Apostle knows the whole Bible off head,’ is what everyone says. May be because of the priest's weak prayers; or lack of Apostle Elkana's powerful prayers, our school's KCPE performance was suboptimal. I am not saying that we failed; I am just saying we could have done better than we did.
Because of that, we started the new term on a bad note, as I was firm that we must improve on academics. The parents also stormed the school asking for Kuya’s sacking. As such, Kuya disappeared, Saphire is yet to appear in school while Mrs Atika makes weekly technical appearances as she has claimed to be unwell.
I haven’t seen any doctor’s report yet. So when earlier in the year Apostle Elkana asked to see me, I tried to avoid him, for I was sure all he wanted was money. But he kept looking for me, so we met in early March. It was a trap actually; my father asked me to see him, and no sooner had we settled than Apostle Elkana arrived.
"Things are not going well in your life, Dre," he started, even without any pleasantries. "You need to repent and get back to Jesus so that your things can get back on track." I calmly told him that I disagreed with him. He went ahead to mention things that had gone wrong at school: From poor KCPE results, to Kuya disappearing, to Saphire never coming school to Mrs Atika’s sickness. He even held me accountable for the government’s delay in releasing monies to schools. “That was at school, at home you also have so many problems,” the Apostle said, and then went ahead on to enumerate my challenges at home.
I did not respond to him, only saying I serve a living God, then left. You will all remember how I planted my farm and ignored my father’s. And when it did not rain, the lack of rain was attributed to that. Things got worse about a week and a half ago when it rained in neighbouring villages – except Mwisho wa Lami.
All eyes were on me, with people saying that I had brought a curse of drought to them. Even Apostle Elkana blamed me. "You need to repent," Apostle Elkana texted me. I ignored him. This got bad for me when I went to Hitler’s.
Everyone accused me of causing the drought, and asked me to repent my sins for the sake of Mwisho wa Lami village. Last Monday, without consulting me, Fiolina invited Apostle Elkana to our home. He reminded me of my history with churches and told me that whenever I was close to church, good things happened to me. "When were you promoted to HM? Was it not when you were an active church member?" he asked. "When was your son born? Was it not the time you were in church?
Also, this big house of yours was stuck for a long time, and until I stepped in and prayed, would you not still be living in your parents' home?" he asked, then went ahead to remind me of many other good things that had happened whenever I was in church.
He, of course, was silent on the many good things that happened whenever I was not a regular church goer. He asked me to kneel down and pray. At first, I refused, but Fiolina looked at me with those eyes that say, "Let the visitor leave, and you will know me."
Apostle Elkana prayed for long. He prayed for success at school, for better performance in KCPE this year, for promotions, for a happy marriage, for rains, and for a great harvest. He stayed around after prayers, in his typical fashion, waiting to be given something small. I did not give him anything. That night, it rained. Heavy, heavy rain.
As expected, the first person to call was Apostle Elkana. For some reason, I did not hear the phone ring, but when I got hold of it, there were messages from him, telling me that God was giving me a second chance. "Do not let it go. I will come tomorrow, and we'll pray over it."
As sure as the sun rises from the East and sets in the West, Apostle Elkana arrived at my home on Tuesday at 4pm. Fiolina had prepared a generous meal for him - rice, Chapati, and beef. "Thanks, Apostle, for the gift of rain," she said.
"Were it not for your prayers, I do not know what would have happened." She went on to add that not only was our seed wasting in the ground, but we were also being blamed by neighbours. He said not only was he going to pray for more rain, he would pray for things at school, and the situation at home affecting us, “Including the marriage that I am sure is suffering.”
Fiona and I looked at each other knowingly. He made another long prayer and gave us some anointing oil in a small bottle, but encouraged us to buy a full big bottle. I can’t say that I am saved as Apostle Elkana wants me to, or as Fiolina claims to be. But going forward, you will see me active in Apostle Elkana’s church. If Apostle Elkana can open the skies for rain, what other opportunities can he open for me?
