Sitting at the Feet of Jesus...

  

 "Never get so busy doing the work of the Kingdom that you forget who the KING is."

 "Sitting silently at the feet of Jesus is of more worth than all the clatter of Martha's dishes."  -Spurgeon

"There is no place like the feet of Jesus for resolving the problems that perplex our hearts."   

The song “Sitting at the feet of Jesus” (in Swahili) was the theme song at our Revival services at CBYC (Christian Believer’s Youth Conference) this past weekend in Nakuru. Do we take time to sit at Jesus feet and hear from Him or are we so caught up with earthly things that we don’t have time for the spiritual? Wayne used the example of Mary and Martha… Mary chose the good part and may we likewise take time to sit and learn from our Lord.

  We’re extremely thankful for the rain that we’ve been blessed with the last week or so. In fact, some places between Kisumu and Ahero almost look flooded. Some years it’s very dry by this time so we’re not taking this for granted but thanking God for every drop! It’s so nice to have pleasant temperatures instead of the heat we experienced earlier.

  Our Communion services are over for the year 2018. I think 15 Sundays out of the year were Communion services. It’s special to have a normal Sunday service once again! 3 weeks ago, we were at Dienya for Communion. It was one of Steve and Martha’s last services there before they left for America. Thankfully they plan to return to Kenya the beginning of January and stay until the beginning of March. We miss them and very much appreciate the work and energy they put into Kingdom work in Kisumu! Our girls attended church at Lela that day. Shonda is now taking part in Instruction class there with her uncle, Pastor JoeAllen, as her teacher. That’s pretty special! Joe does some classes with her at home as well so that Shonda can go to church with the rest of the family at least once a month or so as we make our rounds to the different churches.

  The next day was Family Day… no Pastor’s meeting or school, so our family decided to explore the town of Eldoret. We saw a tragic accident as we neared the town. By all appearances a dump truck wrecked while trying to avoid a small child on the road. We were very close to the body that was lying on the road. It was partially covered with a blanket with small flip flops close by. It appeared that the head was crushed with brains splattered around. So heartbreaking! There was a huge crowd of people there… must have been hundreds! I don’t know why we’re seeing so many terrible things on the road lately… just the day before we saw a young child get hit by a piki piki. Thankfully the tire didn’t go over him but it really flung him around. We have hopes that the child lived. I pray so often for angels to surround us when we’re on the highway. I hope we NEVER have to experience the horror of hitting someone on the road!! Your prayers are appreciated!! Our day in Eldoret was interesting. We did some shopping at a new mall and found an interesting fabric store.  Clarissa and Vanessa’s Orthodontist has an office in Eldoret, so we stopped there as well.

  The next day Steve and Martha and Andy and Dora (Rhoda’s parents) were here for supper. Shonda made the food. She had a Home Ec assignment in school that required her to cook for visitors, so it was a nice break for me and according to the comments from the visitors she did very well! She made soup and breadsticks, lettuce salad, and apple crisp. I love this stage of life when my girls can help so much in the kitchen! Recently they decided they wanted to make Christmas cookies for the whole compound. I thought they did a great job and it felt strange to take back seat in the kitchen. I mainly tried to keep the dishes cleaned up for them and ingredients available that they needed.

  Kore arrived on Thursday of that week and stayed until Monday afternoon. We enjoyed having him here again. Wayne has been working on more land issues the last several weeks… right now it’s trying to procure the titles for Nyakoko and Oroba church properties. He also had a Pastor’s meeting with Kasongo and Ombeyi Pastors. We are grateful that the churches seem to be more at rest again but we continue to desire your prayers for wisdom in knowing how to move forward and work redemptively.  Deacon Tobias Osur is alone at Kasongo and Pastor Jacob Obiero is sole pastor at Ombeyi.  I know they would appreciate your prayers as well.

  

  On Tuesday of the next week Glenda, Rosemary Ondeyo, Mary Ondiek, and I went to visit Mama Zilpa who has been excommunicated for some time. We had a good visit with her. She cried when she told us that she can’t even make chai for us. She seems to be gaining ground and wanting to return to the church but there are still many things that confuse us. Things still don’t make sense and her words don’t always line up with what others say. But we tried to encourage her and assure her of our love, and also help her see why we struggle to know whether we can believe her words.

  Last weekend Tony and Judith’s family was here from Friday through Tuesday. We wanted to spend some time together while our children were out of school due to CBYC being in session. Brad and Jamie did so much together and spent several nights in the tent in our lawn.  One night they were chased in by a rain storm.  Ayla loves to play with Tiffany, and little Kaiden is so charming, he keeps our girls laughing! J Unfortunately, Wayne couldn’t be with us for the afternoon on Saturday. He needed to preach at the funeral service of Vincent Bonde from Lela. Vincent was a dear old brother that had been a member of CBF for many years.  He was about 90 years old and was nearly blind and deaf.  When we would go visit him in the past we left blessed by his love for the Lord and his hunger for the Word of God.  The night of the wake at the Bonde home turned into a time of fear and tragedy when a group of about 40 young men armed with flashlights and “punga’s”, from the Korowe and Lela areas came to the home about 1:00 am and began fighting with the local youth.  The police were called to break up the fight but several youths were seriously injured and one or two of them died later from injuries.  

  That evening Judith made some wonderful stromboli and salad, and Tony cranked frozen yogurt for dessert!! SO good! Tony invited Joseph and Becky to join us too that eve. and we enjoyed having them here! The next day we attended church at Chulaimbo where we had our last Communion service. Kore arrived again that eve. and stayed until Wednesday. The next day Clarissa and Shonda accompanied Tonys and Kore to Nyakoko where they had “Orphans Day”. Clarissa took pictures of the 80 -90 orphans that were there while Tony and Kore did profiles of each of them. They were served lunch there and it ended up being a long day. Judith was also there and helped out with some food preparation, etc. The next day Clarissa went with them again as they did the same thing with orphans at the Kasongo church. Clarissa enjoyed putting her photography skills to use!

  On Wed. of last week our family travelled to Nakuru where Wayne was asked to preach Revival messages on each of the remaining evenings of the Conference. We stayed in the teacher’s house again this year which we enjoyed so much! We love having a place to call our own where we don’t have to feel like a burden to others. Our school teachers were all attending the 11-day conference so there was no school the last two weeks.  We were invited to Tony’s for supper on Friday eve. and much enjoyed rice with butter masala chicken. One of our favorites!! Wayne and I spent part of the day Thurs. at CBYC where they asked us to help out with some student interviews. It’s a new thing the staff did this year and felt very positive about it. We asked questions such as “What is your relationship with God, and your parents? How often do you read your Bible and pray? How about your moral life, temptations, thought life? etc. On Friday our girls and I enjoyed a cookie baking day with Judith and Sue Ann at Johnny’s house. We ended up with lots of cookies and some chocolate covered treats. The men, Tony, Johnny, and Wayne were also there for lunch. A good day for all of us!  Wayne preached some soul-searching messages. The messages were titled, Where are You Sitting?, Where do You Live (Who are Your People)?, and Where are You Eating?  The main thrust had to do with “Which table are we eating of? The Lord’s table where there is only good or Satan’s table which offers both good and evil.” That’s what makes it so deceiving. Satan’s offerings are characterized by the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life.” 1 John 2:16.  God’s table offers things that build us and our fellow man spiritually, Phillipians 4:8. The closing program on Sat. morning was well attended. We were happy to see most of our fellow Kisumu missionaries there as well as some of the Nationals. Moses Kilinga from Free Area was the chorus director and did a good job!! They didn’t sing nearly as many songs as usual but what they did sing was excellent! We LOVED the congregational singing as well! It’s rare that we hear good 4-part harmony like that with so much volume!! The group of students they had this year was the best ever according to the Principal, Marlin Yoder.  Assistant Principal was David Odiwuor from Oroba. We enjoyed hearing summaries of each of the classes this year by the teachers, Tony Sande, Peter Ngunjiri, Samuel Njogu, Tim Senerwa, and Joyce Musikali (for the ladies).  Thomas Amata taught a Christian Finances class on the last two days of the conference, but was unable to attend the closing program.

  We welcome Elaine Schlabach to Kisumu. Delbert and Susan are her parents. She has come to fill in as social worker until Melodie Beiler can come in Feb. We need her here and praise God for providing for us!

  We enjoyed the service at Ugunja this morning. James, Christina, and Kaylita shared a yummy lunch of chicken, rice and beans with us afterward. We feel blessed to be part of the work here in Kenya. Thanks to all who show us your support in many ways!  Nyasaye Ogwedhu! (God bless you) Wayne and Clara

Roly poly FUN puppies in the Compound

Nyakoko orphans

Camel in Nakuru town

Mall in Eldoret

Lela Bible study at the home of Mama Penina's relatives

Goodbye Steve and Martha but see you soon! :)

Prayer meeting at Gerolds... a very small group that eve.

Visitors from Kisii enjoying the puppies... Jolyn Unruh

Funeral of Vincent Bonde

After church at Chulaimbo

Please Kore!!

Cookie day at Sue Ann Zook's house

CBYC students

Cooks preparing food

Tony Sande (left)

CBYC staff

Matatus preparing to transport Kisumu students

Steve and Anna Louise Eash with visitors... her brother Linnford and Amber Byler

Church at Ugunja  (This little guy stores his church toy above his ear.  A nail!)

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