Kisumu Yoder's: Wait on the Lord...

"Waiting upon the Lord allows your focus to shift from you to Him."

"Patience is not about how long one can wait, but how well one behaves while waiting."

"He hath made everything beautiful in His time..." Eccl. 3:11

"Waiting on the Lord" seems to be what we do a lot of in Kisumu. In dry season we wait for rain, we wait anxiously for the day when new Pastors can be added to the churches, we wait for the Board to find fill-ins for those on furlough and fill-ins for Brians, we're waiting for truth to be revealed in the life of Bishop Eric, we wait for those whose memberships have been terminated to repent, we wait for electrical power to be restored to our houses (we've had a number of days lately where the power has been off most of the day). We wait for prayers to be answered... Is waiting a waste of time? I don't think so. In God's mind I think waiting is working. But to human minds it's difficult because it feels like nothing is happening. Pray for us that we can redeem the time and be fruitful in the Kingdom even while waiting.

It's been such a pleasure to have Ivan and Kay Peachey's family join us in Kisumu. Their 16 years of experience here is so valuable. I envy their ability to speak Luo so well. The nationals seem very happy to have them back, even if it's only for several months. Ivans four boys sure know how to work and they've been a big blessing here already!! I'm so happy for Bradlyn that he has new friends to be with! Ivans willingness to serve at the church in Dienya has taken a big load off of Wayne. We hope and pray that Brians will soon be able to return and if not that replacements can be found quickly because Dienya REALLY needs someone! We were so happy to get the message last evening that Jason and Cynthia Beachy and family have consented to come as furlough replacements for Joes! They arrive next Tuesday and stay until August 9 I believe. Their experience here will also be very valuable! Welcome Jasons!! :)

Wayne has spent hours and hours working on land title issues. His patience is starting to pay off. The last time he waited at the land office he was finally granted 5 titles! Opake Yesu!

Another thing that has kept Wayne busy the last several weeks is attending burials. One Saturday Wayne attended 2 burials, one was the son of Mama Jane from Ahero. I think he died from complications of HIV. He had quit taking his HIV medication because he was going to a church that claims healing for their members. The other one was a double funeral. Joe was at that one as well. The sub chief of Lela had a nephew who was murdered. His body was tied to a chair in the house and the door padlocked. When his mother finally got into the house and found his body there, she also died... probably from shock. Another day he went to the funeral of our friend Henry's brother who was killed in a car accident. Our hearts go out to his wife and children. The next day he went to Lela area to show his support at the burial of Hesbon Odep's step mother. Joe was also there. So many deaths! Attending funerals is a good way to show people the love of God and that we care about them.

On Family Day our family decided to go to the Kisumu Museum. I can't believe we've never been there before. It's almost within walking distance. There is a Luo dala (homestead) set up there. It shows how the mud houses looked traditionally and our guide explained how the dala is set up with the first wife's house here and the second wife's there, etc. I quietly challenged our guide about the life of a polygamist and how the Bible way is the best way. He said "What about Solomon in the Old Testament?... he had many wives!" Then Wayne took over and explained things much better than I could have. I hope our guide will take these things to heart and desire to follow the Bible way! We enjoyed watching some natives dressed in old time traditional clothes dancing and beating their drums. It almost gave me an eerie feeling though. It was just weird! Next we went to see some of the reptiles they have there. We saw 2 large crocodiles and also a snake in the snake pit. Next we saw the snakes that were in the glass cages. I don't think we'll ever forget the HUGE snake we saw! I think it was around 4 meters long and so frightful thick!! This kind of snake is one of the largest snakes in the world. I was afraid I'd have bad dreams because of it! :( We did some street shopping after that which is always interesting!

On Sunday a week ago we attended church at Dienya. Ivan and Kay's family ministered at Nyakoko in Gerold's absence. We enjoyed the day and the church seemed to be doing fairly well. We had a number of people who wanted a ride after church so we squeezed them in, but our poor girls thought it was the worst ride they ever had. They were SMASHED into the back seat and the roads were very bad! I think next time we just have to say "Pole" we are full!

Last Monday Tony and Judith's family and Janell Stoltzfus arrived to spend a few days in Kisumu. Tony needed to do some CAM work in the area. On Monday eve. after supper we invited Ivans and Joe and Glenda to come join us for the evening. Ivans worked with Tony's for a little while before they returned to America approx. 5 years ago. And Joe's knew Ivans from the 6 months they spent at FMH before coming to Kenya.

On Tuesday Judith, Janell, Kaylita, and our girls spent the day with Lillian Owino. Lillian got all of them to help her with cooking as she likes to do, and they were served some yummy food! It means so much to Lillian when people visit her! Jamie and Ayla stayed here for the day. Brad and Jamie had a good time together. Ayla spent a good part of the day at Joe's playing with Tiffany. Poor Ayla had an unfortunate thing happen when she jumped into a tub of water she had been playing in and suddenly her skin was burning and she was screaming! Glenda and I couldn't figure out what in the world happened to her but we knew there was a terribly strong odor of fuel. We finally discovered that some naughty little neighbor boys had been there while Ayla was in the back yard and had poured gasoline into the tub of water. It was quite traumatic for Ayla but thankfully all is well that ends well! Wayne and Tony took time to visit Alfred that day. He is the one who had the awful cancerous growth on his foot and had it amputated. CAM helped with a majority of the expenses. Alfred was very happy to see them and seems to be doing well! The power was off for most of that day so as usual my plans changed again.But I decided to try and make the best of it and cleaned out a closet and drawers. Now I have a better idea of what all I need to stock up on when we go on furlough in several weeks. I hope I'm learning to be flexible and just roll with the punches when plans are so often changed.

On Thursday Wayne went to Awasi land office for the second day in a row and then in the afternoon Joe and Wayne had an IC interview (Instruction class) with Moses and Irene... a fine young couple that has been attending Lela. It's so encouraging to see young families interested in church!

On Friday some of us ladies and the singles met at Gerold's house to do some much needed cleaning before their arrival back in Kisumu this week! We look forward to having them! Some work was done on the ceiling of their house while they were gone so the place was filthy!! Wayne went to the marriage office with a young couple from Oroba that day, Duncan and Daisy, who wish to be married soon.

We went to Kajulu for church yesterday. They had S.S. reorganization and that took quite a lot of time. Wayne didn't start preaching until 12:00! But in spite of all that we were home by around 1:30 so it wasn't too bad.We were happy that old Mama Elizabeth was ready to be taken back in as a member. She had been excommunicated for smoking, but seems to be living in victory. In the evening we had a unit activity at Jake and Jan's house. Jake planned an evening with a theme of honoring mothers. Ivan Peachey shared an interesting devotional and there was special singing by the singles and children, then the fathers, and later the mothers. There was also a time of sharing things we appreciate about our mothers. We really enjoyed the "haystack" meal we had afterward! It was so good!

Today Wayne is responsible to lead out in 2 different meetings... the normal Pastor's meeting this morning and then all the native Pastor's from Kisumu are coming for a meeting in the afternoon. Wayne asked me to pray for him. He's been keenly feeling the weight of his responsibilities the last while. I think he needs a break. We look forward to spending a week in Mombasa, leaving July the 4th, and from there traveling to Nairobi to catch our flight to America where we plan to spend 3 weeks! Joe and Glenda are very excited as well about their 6 week furlough beginning on Wednesday of this week! Wayne and I plan to take them to Nairobi and then pick up Gerold's family and bring them home. Wayne, Joe, and Gerold all plan to get their work permits reviewed while they're in Nairobi. The government is requiring ALL foreigners to appear in Nairobi to make sure their work permits are valid. People have to stand in LONG lines waiting their turn. A lot of folks arrive at the office at very early hours. Joseph, Stacy and Rhoda were there recently and when they got there at 4:50 a.m. there were already 20 people in line ahead of them. It will be nice to have this done! Thankfully we married ladies don't have to appear... only our husbands need to stand in line.

Continue to pray for the work here. We need your prayers very much! Wayne and Clara