Kisumu Yoder's: Times of Refreshment....

"Love is the greatest refreshment in life."

"Our homes should inspire us to go out into the world, to do great things, and then welcome us back for refreshment."

"A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Prov. 11:25 NIV

We've been blessed with times of refreshment lately. Pake Yesu! We are SO thankful for the continuing rains. And we hope and pray that Nakuru will soon experience the same! We know how it feels to be bone dry and parched! We're also thankful for the spiritual refreshment we've received at the 12th annual Minister's meetings here in Kisumu last week. And the many kindnesses shown by our families and friends bring us so much refreshment too!

So much has happened in the last several weeks that I don't know where to start or stop with writing this blog. Easter morning found our family heading to Chulaimbo for Church. I had never been there but Wayne and Clarissa were there once before. We were glad for the opportunity to see where the church is located and finally meet some of the members. I was quite impressed. They seem to be a nice group of people and welcomed us warmly. Jake and Janice Gingerich are the missionary family there and Stacy Byler attends as well. Wayne preached a challenging message while the children had Sunday school and then after the message the Church had a preparatory service for Communion. We got home in fairly good time and then Jake's and Stacy joined us for lunch, also bringing some food.

Tuesday of last week found most of the compound heading to the area of Kipkelion, between here and Nakuru, where there is a coffee mill. It was a special day for the school field trip!! We enjoyed a tour of the mill and the nursery area where they raise coffee plants. It ended up being a very muddy tour of the plants!! We all took a packed lunch and had some great times... seemed like there were some jolly people in the crowd that day and we had our share of laughs... also did some singing. We came home with some coffee plants as well as some fresh coffee.

Wayne and I felt the load of getting ready for a group of 100 people at the Minister's meeting this year. We had never been in charge before so it was a bit nerve-racking but we made out ok, thank God! Wednesday afternoon was stressful because Wayne needed to take Samson from Dienya to the Dr. to get meds and it ended up he had to wait a LONG time. Finally Wayne had to leave because he had the car that was loaded with food and supplies for the cooks at Rabuor and I was really anxious to get there before the head cook left. Wayne and I had been to Nakumatt earlier in the day and loaded up with supplies for the cooks to make chapatis, ugali, cabbage, sukuma, etc. We even took wood, charcoal, and kerosene for the fires. All those attending the Minister's meetings were invited to the Rabuor church for lunch on Thursday and Friday. We unloaded the supplies and talked to the cooks and I felt much better about things when that was done!!

Thursday noon found us at Rabuor and we were happy to see the Nakuru missionaries and the native Pastors and their wives drive in. We were also happy to have Mark and Beverly Webb and their two daughters, April and Audrey, with us that day. Mark is the new Recruiter for AMA, so they were sent to get a better picture of the work here in Kenya. Another very special couple there that day was Merle and Sue Beachy!!! They served here formerly for 11 years and had not been back since they left 6 years ago. I don't think many of the people here knew that they were coming and so when they arrived at the church that day it caused a stir!! :) Wayne was trying to have the prayer for the noon meal and people couldn't stop greeting Merles! And then after prayer I saw a very touching sight that I hope I will never forget!! Apparently the cooks hadn't seen Merle's until after prayer and suddenly one of them spotted them... and then a cry rose up! I whirled to see what was happening and here were the 6 cooks running toward Sue with arms outstretched and huge smiles! They all grabbed her and each other in a big hug, swaying back and forth, and rejoicing to see their dear Mama Sue at long last!! I could hardly keep my tears back. This trip has been a very rewarding time for Merle and Sue, and they feel that the way God orchestrated all the details of the trip has been such a gift from God.

Unfortunately I won't be able to give a lot of details of the Minister's meeting sessions because I had to miss out on most of it due to being quite sick. I didn't feel well soon after the ladies session in the afternoon, but I'm thankful I was able to be there for that at least. Millicent Osur from Kasongo and Becky Miller each shared in a topic titled, "Daughters of Priscilla"... supporting our husbands in Ministry. It was a special time. Thomas Amata had a workshop for the men titled, "Tips for Developing Leaders." There were also two topics earlier in the afternoon... "We are Laborers Together, by Marlin Yoder, and "Building Biblical Giving", by Samuel Njogu. Supper consisted of rice and chicken stew, cabbage salad and bread rolls. We were glad to host Thomas and Susan Amata and their son, Goldman, at our house. We hosted as many people as possible in the compound but some had to sleep at the Kika Hotel outside the gate.

Friday morning Eric Ogwe had a topic on "Avoiding the Pitfalls of Leadership" and then Mark Webb shared a topic... a character study of Peter. Freeman Byler then shared a topic on the "Rewards of Faithfulness." The meetings seemed to be much enjoyed by all!! Such refreshment!! I loved the singing!! By Saturday morning I was very sick and called Dr. Sokwala to see what could be done for the horrible diarrhea and nausea. I also had a fever the day before. Sokwala wanted me to go to the hospital. And that was NOT what I wanted to hear although I knew that if things didn't turn around soon I wouldn't have a choice because I was so weak I almost felt like I couldn't talk. Wayne took me to town for a malaria test since I remembered getting a big bad mosquito bite when I was at Mama Silpa's house close to two weeks before. The test was negative but a chemist that Wayne talked to wanted me to take meds anyway because those early tests can have a false negative. So I started meds and I soon started improving... thank God!! It was awful to be so sick but I really can't complain because that's the first time since we're here that I've been that sick. We don't know for sure if it was malaria but I'm just rejoicing that the meds definitely seemed to help!

This past Sunday the family went to Lela while I stayed home recuperating. They had a Communion service there and Joe kindly preached the message so that Wayne could have a break! (Joe had not preached a Communion message before so Wayne thought it was his turn!) Wayne had a flannelgraph lesson for the children. The whole compound met at Joe's house Sunday eve. where we were privileged to hear Merle Beachy preach for us!! He brought us an encouraging message from the 1 Kings 17-19 where we have Elijah praying that it would not rain and God answered his prayer, to the high point on Carmel and Elijah beating the chariot of the king back to the city, to a discouraged, wish I could die, Elisha running for his life and claiming that he alone was faithful and that he didn't deserve the circumstances he found himself in because he had been "jealous for God". God told him what to to next and maybe in a sense told him to get his mind off of himself, "I have 7,000 who have not bowed to Baal". What a good reminder. Sometimes, even in ministry, we lose focus. Mark Webb shared a bit too but was cut off because of a big rain storm.

We are happy to welcome Charlene Stoltzfus to the compound! She came to help Brian Mast's family (Mary Jane is her aunt) while they are in language class. I believe she plans to stay for 3 weeks or so. Brians and James and Christina started language on Monday of this week with Josephine as their teacher.

Jake and Jan have had some stress because of their sick little boy, Jediah. They thought he had mumps. In fact some of the Nakuru folks didn't come to Minister's meeting for fear of it but it ends up he had an infected tonsil and it moved into the lymph nodes. He has a hard, red lump on his neck. He's on antibiotics and seems to be getting better but the lump is still there. I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers.

Plans were to go to Bible study with the Ahero church today and Merle and Sue planned to join us there but... you never know what a day will bring forth. Stan came over this morning and told us his mom and dad are stuck at the A to Z pharmacy. There was protesting going on outside on the street. They were hollering and burning tires, etc. Hmmm... didn't sound good. They were eventually able to come home by carefully navigating around hotspots. Joseph and Becky had already left for Bible study and Jake and Jan had too. Merle's were on the way back from Nakuru but considered possibly staying in Kericho until things calm down. The protesting in town today was because of unhappiness with the reported results of a major political party's primary elections yesterday. There are some that believe that the incumbent governor of Kisumu County actually won the vote, but that his political party gave the nomination to a favored opponent, the father of Luo, Hollywood actress Lupita Nyongo. Both candidates were actually given "nomination certificates". God knows what really happened. As of now, we praise the Lord, that everyone is safely home except for Merles. They decided to come on home after they were given a route that did not appear to have any serious incidents so hopefully they will be back soon. Thank you for your prayers and support! It would be a blessing if the Presidential election in August would be this "calm". God bless! Clara for the Yoders