Kisumu Yoder's: God is With Us...

"With the power of God within us, we need never fear the powers around us."

"We are safe, not because of the absence of danger, but because of the presence of God."

"For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." Ps. 91:11

It's so amazing to me how calm a person can feel when there are fires, and bullets, and angry mobs all around. And we can even lay down in peace and sleep!! Who but God can do that for us!! And I'm 100% convinced that your prayers have made a huge difference!! Thanks so much to the many of you who sent us a note assuring us of your prayers! It meant SO much!

There was no Pastor's meeting this morning. Our lives feel like there is no schedule and nothing normal anymore. The Pastor's felt like it was safe to leave the compound for a bit this morning to go for some needed supplies. Unfortunately they weren't able to get everything because so many businesses are still closed. Kisumu kind of feels like a ghost town.... so very unreal!! As many of you know the place is normally SWARMING with people!! The destruction is not as bad as we feared it might be. There are rocks, and debris on the streets and some little shacks (duka's) destroyed but there doesn't seem to be lots of major things wrecked. I'm SO ready for things to be back to normal! It really bothers me to think that many of the poor folks aren't able to buy things at reasonable prices, or even get to market!! A lot of food prices spiked because of limited supply. It will be wonderful to see and hear the normal sights and sounds of Kisumu once again!! When will it all end? We wish we knew... but Raila ( the one who lost the election) is asking everyone not to work today and says that he will give a speech tomorrow announcing who the real winner is. That causes some fear among us because if he still has major supporters out there, especially in the slums, then this is not over yet!! Please pray that Raila will be willing to admit defeat and not cause war and fighting!

Since we have been "stuck" here in the compound for a whole week we decided to spend our time doing "memory making" things. On Tuesday we ladies gathered at Becky's house to make donuts, glazed ones and filled ones. Some even willingly shared their raspberry pie filling from America!! Bless them!! It was a great way to spend time together! I feel SO blessed to be part of a wonderful group of missionaries who get along so well!! This week together has definitely drawn us even closer and we have made memories that will never be forgotten! On Tues. afternoon JoeAllen and James, who are in charge of MZL books, set up a display for all of us to see and buy if we wanted to. We were all treated to fresh donuts and hot drinks! That evening there were some lively games of spikeball on the lane.

On Wednesday the Pastor's got together to clean out the attic above our carport that has been stacked full with extra mattresses and furniture over the years. It has never been cleaned out before that I know of and so it was very high time to get rid of things we don't need and just organize. From the sounds of things there was plenty of laughter to keep them all in a good frame of mind. We ladies were together to sew and cut out dresses, etc. My girls and I were busy over lunch time making fryjacks ( A Belizean specialty) for the whole compound. In the afternoon some of the young girls and I worked on preparing baby bundles for our native friends. That's always a fun job!! Especially when many of our supplies came from our dear church family at home!

Wayne was sick on Thursday. It seems he must have amoeba again. We are thankful that we had some meds on hand for him! We had another unit supper together on Thursday eve. when we met at Joe and Glenda's house for prayer meeting. Such wonderful food!! I don't know what we'd do if we wouldn't have our compound family around to support us right now and keep us sane!

Friday night as the youth were playing volleyball on the lane the announcement of the winner of the election finally took place. It wasn't long til we heard awful hollering and chaos. It seemed strange after an almost eerily silent week, to hear such noise and commotion. Then the gunshots and tear gas started. That was the worst! Also some of the youth who went up on a house roof saw lots of fires in town. But our gate man soon ordered them to come off the roof because of the danger of stray bullets.

Saturday morning there were also MANY gunshots and some sounded very close! I was freaked out to be outside. But thankfully in the afternoon things calmed down and it has been basically quiet ever since!! We had a WONDERFUL church service on Sunday here in our dala! Clarissa wrote a welcome message on a chalkboard for all to see as they arrived. It said, "Welcome to CBF Milimani! :) I suppose this may have been a once in a lifetime experience for us to have a Sunday morning service here in the compound. Our neighbor Philip and his family joined us too and they seemed to really enjoy it. The weather was as perfect as we could've wanted it! Such a beautiful spot under the big shade tree to worship our God!! James Barkman led the singing, Lorne and Grace Kuepfer taught the men and ladies Sunday school classes. Kaylita and Stacy taught the children's classes. The youth sang several beautiful songs for us. They even wrote words for a song to the tune of "The Battle belongs to the Lord." It was great!! They sang it with the Kenyan accent so if it doesn't sound right in your English you know why. :) Here are the words...

The Battle belongs to the Lord

Raila has lost, now Uhuru's just there

The Battle belongs to the Lord.

The Luo's are raging, they think it's not fair

The Battle belongs to the Lord.

The power is gone, wifi now is onge (gone or none)

The battle belongs to the Lord.'

The natives are calling the Pastor's each day

the battle belongs to the Lord.

When the gunshots and tear gas resound, do not fear

The battle belongs to the Lord.

Don't worry, mzungu (white man), fires disappear,

the battle belongs to the Lord

Chorus:

And we sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord.

We sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord.

They closed with this memory verse which says, "No weapon forged against you will prevail." Isa. 54:17. Be blessed. Amen. :)

Wayne shared a message about "Made of One". All of us, even though we are from different cultures, have a common ancestor. That makes us family. We Americans many times come across to the world as arrogant. May we walk in godly humility remembering that we are "family." In the evening we were together again for a grilled chicken meal. We got some roosters with our new laying hens only to discover as they grew, that they were "eating" roosters, not "crowing" roosters! The food was just great! It seems no one wants to go home first for fear of missing something. So many stories, (Gerold is great at telling stories!!) laughter, and serious discussions too!

So we continue to wait and see what will unfold in the next few days. Hopefully things will be peaceful and calm and business will go on as usual. We are very ready to see our native brothers and sisters and hear their stories. I think they feel safe where they are in their own dala's. It's the ones who go out on the streets that run into trouble. Thanks again for your love and prayers!! Clara

Here are pictures from the last two weeks. Most of the "election violence" pictures were taken by others.