"The journey to God starts one small step at a time. He doesn't expect you to run the mile - but He promises to give you strength to go the distance."
"A strong woman knows she has enough strength for her journey, but a praying woman knows it's in her journey, where she'll gain her strength."
"I will go in the strength of the Lord God, I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only." Ps. 71:16
The above verse was one that I hung on to during our long journey of the past month. I'd love to know how many thousands of miles we traveled! :) We can't thank God enough for health and strength to be able to enjoy and appreciate every step of the way!
We left Kisumu on the 3rd day of July. We were surrounded by our compound family who gathered to say a prayer for us before we left. What a privilege to be part of such a wonderful group of people! After reaching Nakuru we stopped at Tony and Judith's house for a while.They were all packed up and ready to join us in our journey to Mombasa. Joe Fisher was also there and ready to escort his fiancee, Janell Stoltzfus back to America. She served in Nakuru as a social worker for 2 years. Rosalind Groff also joined us as she had plans to fly home for furlough. We all traveled to Nairobi together that afternoon and enjoyed a wonderful supper together at an Indian restaurant which served some of the best paneer we ever had!! Thanks to Joe for footing the bill!! After supper Tonys took Joe, Janell, and Rosalind to the airport while the rest of us went to Mbazi Flats, our abode for the night. The next morning Tonys and us were up bright and early for our 6:00 departure from the train station. It took quite a while to go through security with all our luggage. We had to drag all our heavy stuff with us everywhere we went!
The ride to Mombasa was interesting! It took around 6 hours to get there. The train cars were fairly comfortable although the seats sit up very straight. I was glad we were allowed to stand up whenever we wanted to. A highlight of the trip was seeing lots of wildlife along the way... elephants, giraffe, zebra, baboons, camels, a variety of deer, cape buffalo, ostrich, wart hogs, etc. There's nothing quite like seeing these animals in their natural habitat!! After arriving at the Mombasa station we rented two small taxis to take us and our large amount of luggage to our destination along the shore of the Indian Ocean... a journey of 2-3 hours. We stopped at Tusky's along the way to stock up on some food items for the week ahead. We barely had room in our tightly packed vehicles for ANYTHING else! What a relief to arrive at our nice beach house. It was a large older house that wasn't perfectly clean but very livable and adequate for our needs. The private beach was only a short walk from the house and there was a pool right off the back porch of the house that was used a lot by the children.
Our week in Mombasa was VERY refreshing and relaxing! Wayne was burdened down with the cares of his work before we left, so Mombasa was the perfect place for us to be renewed, revived, and refreshed. I honestly felt almost guilty to have so much time on our hands to just sit, relax, read, and meditate, and enjoy God's awesome creation! The servants of the house even cooked most of our meals, washed our clothes, made our beds, arranged our mosquito nets, cleaned the house, etc. Talk about spoiling a person!! The food was VERY good and the thing that probably meant the most to me was the privilege of walking away from the table after every meal and not even washing our dishes!!! I don't think I've EVER been treated so royally! It wouldn't be good to live like that all the time!! :) Kore Beachy flew to Mombasa from Nairobi a few days after we arrived there. He spent the rest of the time with us and we all enjoyed having him there very much. We all went on a glass-bottom boat ride one day and the men and our older girls wanted to go snorkeling. It was rather frustrating though because our guide didn't have all the proper gear needed and the waves were too high and rough to be able to see much underwater. Our beach was perfect for the children because the water was shallow for a long ways out until it came to the edge of the coral reef where the big waves roared and crashed. We will always treasure the memories made in that wonderful part of God's world!
On July the 11th we packed up once again and prepared for another long journey... to America this time!! Our train ride to Nairobi was a bit shorter this time since we took the Express train. We didn't see as much wildlife this time around. After arriving in Nairobi, Kore took us to the airport to catch our midnight flight. Everything was on time and on schedule which was a blessing! We were all very tired on the first long flight and even slept some! What a thrill to arrive in Roanoke to the sight of our dear family to meet us!! Vernons family, most of Chets, and Jeremy and Marla's family were there to greet us. Also Joe and Glenda!! How neat to see our next door neighbors there! :) My mom and dad had started out for the airport but finally turned around because of a bad traffic jam. They joined us then when we finally reached our destination at our Lover's Lane house. Mahlons family was also there! :) So exciting!! We felt privileged to stay in the house that Wayne and I bought when we first moved to Wytheville in 2001. It's a very small house but we always loved the beautiful setting there. Wayne's parents bought the house after we built our new one and have been renting it out to different folks since then.
Furlough time was shorter than last year... only 3 weeks instead of 6. But it was long enough for us. We were actually ready for normal life again by the time it was time to go. We made so many memories once again! Thanks a million to our wonderful church family and friends who gave us a warm welcome and did so much to make our stay enjoyable. Johnny and Wanda Peachey offered us their vehicle which we all loved! Wow! Clarissa will always remember that vehicle because it was the one she drove when she did her drivers test! We all rejoiced with her when she passed her test! I was a bit nervous for her because she has driven so little since she got her permit on our last furlough. And things were confusing to her when we first got to America... she kept wanting to turn into the left lane when making left turns! :( This switching sides of the road when driving does crazy things to the brain!! I had to remind Wayne sometimes too!!
Jet lag was not a problem at all for us this time. Pake Yesu!! Our first several days were spent buying the things we needed for our return to Kenya. I decided to get our list out of the way so we could enjoy the rest of our stay without that big job staring me in the face. Our first weekend was extra special because Brian and Mary Jane Mast's family came all the way from TN to spend some time with Joe and Glenda and our family. It was SO GOOD to see them again!! We had a special time of visiting at Joe's house on Sat. afternoon and then went to a park with the rest of my family for supper that eve. On Sunday morning JoeAllen preached a good message and shared some about the work in Kenya. Joes, Brians, and our family did some singing in Luo and Swahili. Phineas and Martha Kauffman served us a yummy lunch at their house afterward. On Sunday eve. we felt privileged that Marlin and Lavina Stoltzfus came to see us as well as Carolyn Rodes! There's nothing quite like seeing former Kenyans! :)
Monday morning found us traveling to PA to visit Waynes parents and brother Tim and Ruth and family for a few days. It was so good to be with them again and enjoy the "home place". On Wednesday we left for OH where we spent the rest of the week at Shepherd's Retreat with my family, the Benders. That was a very special family time as well and the children LOVED all the special things they did with their cousins. We were VERY surprised the night before we left Shepherds... we were spending time out on the lawn when here comes none other than Allen Yoder walking toward us!! He was just as surprised to see all of us as we were to see them! We discovered that our families had been neighbors for several days already and didn't know it! Allen and Debbie's daughter Charity was our children's school teacher the first year we were here in Kenya so it was SO NEAT to see her again! :)
We arrived back in VA on Sat. and that was the day that Wayne's parents and Tims came to spend a number of days with us and the rest of the Yoder family. So many special times!! And oh the good food!! Much could be said about that but suffice it to say that we needed to use self -control. We are a very blessed people! Makes a person feel guilty when we think of those who barely have enough to eat! On Sunday Wayne was asked to preach and share more of the work in Kenya. It was also a special service for my Dad who has retired from the ministry. Dad shared some of the highlights of our experiences when the outreach from Shady Grove (PA) started in Wytheville in 2001. Dad's health is one of the main reasons for his retirement, but he is still available to give counsel and preach when asked advice. Dad and Mom's lives have changed a lot in the last months since Dad retired from church work and business and Mom no longer has the fabric store. It has been sold to a family in TN.
Joe and Glenda returned to Kenya a week before we did. It was a good feeling to know that they would be here to greet us on our return. Our journey back to Kenya was extremely long!! We had an 8 hr. layover in Amsterdam. But we decided to make the most of it and tour the city a bit. It was rather hectic at first, trying to figure out how to make connections and store our carry-on luggage, etc. The language was a bit of a problem too but most times we could find someone who could speak English to help us. We took the train straight from the airport to Central station, about a 20 min. ride. We wanted to go to Harlem to visit the Corrie Ten Boom house but time wouldn't allow it. We absolutely loved our time in that beautiful historic city!! It felt like a storybook place! We have never seen so many thousands of bikes in all our lives!! Such a neat way for people to get around and it wasn't overly congested either. We walked the streets for a while admiring the awesome architecture. Then we took an hour-long ride on a canal boat seeing many amazing things. We all wore head phones and were informed about the sights we saw. Sadly it is also a very wicked city, that desperately needs the light of the Gospel. We had to make sure we had plenty of time to get back to the airport to catch our flight to Nairobi. It was a bit nerve wracking but worth it all! Another journey over and more memories made!!
We arrived in Nairobi around 6am Friday morning and were met by Steve, Stan, and Sylvia, who came to take us home to Kisumu. All of our luggage came through except one tote. It took a long time to take care of that but FINALLY we were headed for home sweet home!! I'll admit the trip was miserable!! We were dreadfully tired by that time but we survived! And jet lag hasn't been too bad so far since our first night of rest! It's so wonderful to be back. We were happy to attend the Ahero church this morning. They gave us a warm welcome. And it was special too because this was the day that Wayne handed out ballots to the members so they can choose a name for the upcoming commissioning of a new Pastor!
God is SO good! He gave us strength every step of the way and now we want to work in His Kingdom with renewed strength and vigor. Many thanks to our family and friends who blessed us in so many ways... encouraging words, food, financially, and your love and prayers! A special thanks to supporters and the board for giving us the opportunity to rest awhile and reconnect with family and friends. God bless you all! Wayne and Clara
so nice to hear fro you again! God bless you all.
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