Kisumu Yoder's: Choose Joy...

“Thankfulness is the soil in which joy thrives.”

“Only self can kill joy.”

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Ps. 16:11

Recently we ladies from the compound were together for a sister’s meeting while the Pastor’s were having their meeting. Our subject was “Joy”. These quotes and this Scripture were a few of the things that were shared that day… and I was blessed!! Joy is something that goes much deeper than just a “happy” feeling that is dependent on circumstances. We can CHOOSE to be joyful in spite of discomfort, trials, and hurts. In the presence of Jesus is where we will find FULNESS of joy. Let’s not neglect our time with Him!

We continue to enjoy GREEN grass and flowers and plenty of rain! What a gift from God! Sad to say some people are being blessed with an overabundance and it appears that some of the crops that were planted may not survive the flooding. Please pray for these people who depend so heavily on the weather for food for their tables.

I hardly know where to start or stop with news. Wayne has been busy working on land title issues in Ahero. He was grateful to finally receive one of the titles for the Ahero church property. He also spent a full day at Ahero recently working on the well with the brothers.

Bishop Eric needs our prayers. He seems to be bombarded with difficulties. A few weeks ago, while we were at Nyakoko for a Marriage seminar Eric’s house was broken into and their ID’s were taken. (He later found the ID out in a field.) A briefcase was forced open and money that he had recently collected from selling his piki (motorcycle) was taken as well as money he was holding for fencing the Ombeyi church plot. It was a goodly sum so this has been devastating. Please pray that Wayne and the other Pastor’s would have wisdom to know how to help in this situation. They’re moving very slowly and carefully. Things are not always as they seem and sometimes the truth about robberies like this doesn’t come out until later. Oh, for the wisdom of God!

Our Maasai friend, David Musikenya, was here recently for another visit. He works at the Maasai Mara which is about 4 hours from here but he has family living not too far from here, so when he visits them he stops by the compound for the night. We enjoy having him here and learning more about the culture of these semi-Nomadic people. They intrigue me. We see them in Kisumu quite often. The men have blankets wrapped around their bodies and oftentimes you will see a big loop in the ear. They can dance like crazy! David is known to jump VERY high!!

Last Sunday we stopped to visit some fine folks on our way to Ugunja for church. Wayne met a man in town named Henry a while back and he has been in contact with him ever since. He told Wayne about his mother who was involved in a piki accident and had a bad break in her leg. He really wanted us to visit them at his dala so we stopped for a brief visit and were very blessed. They have a very nice house in Kenya standards and they graciously served us chai and bread. It’s always a blessing to make new friends like this!! We were a bit late in getting to church but they were understanding and kind to us. We enjoyed the service and reached home in fairly good time.

The next evening the whole compound family was invited to Joseph’s house where we were served a wonderful Indian meal by Ranjit’s family. I’m sure many of you formers, will remember our faithful Asian mechanic who has done so much for the mission over the years. His wife served several different kinds of paneer, (YUM!!), and naans. Becky made wonderful flavored rice to go with it. They also brought black grams that were spicy and SO good! The cabbage salad was great too but the dessert was something I had a bit of trouble enjoying. It was kind of like donut holes in a sauce of some kind. Interesting! I think some people really liked it but the flavor was not really to my liking. We really appreciated their kindness and Ranjit’s wife wants to come again sometime to show us ladies how she makes the paneer. Another interesting feature of the evening was fried flying ants! Brian Mast’s boys fried them in bacon grease and served them to a lot of brave souls. My son even ate one that wasn’t fried!! Yuck!! I was the only one of our family who didn’t think I could stomach those gross looking bugs!

We enjoyed a family day (no Pastor’s meeting and no school!) at Impala Park recently. Clarissa missed out because she was with the youth girls from Kisumu who travelled to Mount Kenya for the weekend. It was so relaxing to sit beside the lake and also watch impala, a giraffe, zebra, and a huge turtle. The monkeys are great fun to watch as well! The children and I went walking to see the leopard, cheetah, lions, etc. in their cages. It’s a delight to have a place like that almost within walking distance of the compound and for those of us with an alien’s card the price is around 2-3 dollars per person for entrance to the park.

This past week Kore brought some friends from America with him when he came to Kisumu to do food drops. They were Jonathan Martin, Darrell Miller, Dorothy Beachy, Mary Jo Beachy, and Karen Conley. Darrell spent his growing up years in the Nappanee, IN area and went to school with Wayne’s cousin Darrell Smucker. We also discovered that Jonathan Martin was Shane Peery’s counsellor at Shepherd’s Fold. Shane Peery was a convert from the Wytheville area that had a rough past of drugs and crime but was delivered through the power of Jesus Christ. Shane eventually left the church but I am sure he will never forget his experience with the Lord and we hope that he will someday return. Dorothy and I were good friends growing up and I also knew her cousin Mary Jo but not as well as my younger sisters did. It was great to connect with them again! Dorothy and Karen are both nurses so Stacy, Clarissa, and I took them to several hospitals in town to give them a glimpse of what Kenyan health care is like. The first hospital had a rather curt Matron who didn’t allow us to tour the facility but the next place we stopped was great! The head nurse took us on a tour and showed us around and explained things. We hope this group of Kore’s friends enjoyed their stay in Kisumu as much as we enjoyed having them around!!

We were so thankful for God's protection on Bradlyn last week. Wayne was mowing lawn close to Joe's hedge when suddenly the mower picked up a rock and threw it like a bullet toward our house. Brad was sitting on the swing and it flew right over his head and through the screen behind him, also breaking the window. The mower had the chute on it so I'm not sure why it happened but praise God for His angels!

On Friday, Wayne and pastor Brian went to visit Bishop Eric. They had a good visit. Eric's walking continues to improve and he is able to weed the shamba around the house. Pray for him, he has faced some serious issues recently.

This morning was our first Communion of the year 2018 at Ahero. Wayne preached a good message and it was a meaningful service. Announcement was made of a Baptism coming up in the month of May as well as an announcement about the goal of adding another Pastor to the church there to help Deacon Tobias who has been alone for a long time. We left the service a bit before it was over because Wayne needed to be at Rabuor for a meeting with the members after their service. We’re happy to report that issues have been worked out and there is full support to have Bishop ordination there, hopefully on May 6. Pake Yesu!! We’re very excited about this and hope that more leaders can be added to our churches in the next year or two. Please help us pray!

Joe and Glenda and our family are very excited about our visitors who plan to come THIS week! J Jeremy and Marla Miller (our sister) and their 6 children! We plan to go to Nairobi on Thursday to pick them up at the airport! More next time… Wayne and Clara