Kisumu Yoder's: Jesus the Healer....

"Affliction brings out graces that cannot be seen in a time of health."

"Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralyzes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable."

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones." Prov. 16:24

What would we do without "Jesus the Healer" to help us when we feel weak with fear, we feel sorrow for a friend's heartache or our own, (our hearts are aching for the Kauffman and Breneman families who have lost Joanne,) we feel defeated and disheartened because of our failures, discouraged because of sickness, etc. etc. "Where could I go but to the Lord?" Without the healing touch of our Lord, life would not seem worth living. Praise God for our great Physician who cares for our physical and emotional needs!

The sun is blazing these days!! It feels like dry season is here to stay. But amazingly the grass is still green and it's the end of January! We were grateful for the rain we received this month but I think the nationals were a bit concerned that if we're getting rain now it could mean trouble in the future. It wasn't the normal weather pattern and could mean dry weather after their crops are planted.

The last 3 weeks have been very full and busy! One day Tobias and Elizabeth (Ahero) and Wayne and I went to visit Tobias and Emma and baby Clara. They live near Awasi and because of the cost of transport to church Emma hardly ever attends with the baby. I wish there would be a way to help people in this situation but how... and where would we start and stop if we give money for this kind of thing... Wayne has also continued to make frequent trips to the land office, working on Nyakoko and Oroba land titles. He also needed to take Elaine Schlabach to Immigrations one day to try to renew her visa. Currently it is common for Immigration to only give visitors a 1 month visa making it difficult for those coming for a short time.

Wayne attended the burial of Pastor Jacob Obiero's (Ombeyi) grandson a few weeks ago. He was 5 years old and died suddenly. Not sure what the cause of death was... Another day Wayne helped the Ahero members pressure-wash the walls inside the church house. The walls are looking very much in need of paint and repair.

We've had a lot of visitors this month! Kore Beachy and Jeremy Fisher were here for a few days and we enjoyed having them here but were sad to say goodbye to Kore. We celebrated his birthday one evening by going out to eat at an Indian restaurant. He flew home last week and Jeremy is taking his place. Jake and Jan Gingerich have very much enjoyed a visit from his sister's family, Brian and Rosie Miller and 5 children from Grove City, MN. We enjoyed hosting Jakes and Brians here for supper on a Sat. eve. As usual we were able to make a number of connections with them and enjoyed learning to know their family.

Two weeks ago on Sunday we attended Kajulu church. It was good to be with those folks again and it seemed like a long time since we were there. The sad thing was that one of the members who everyone thought was a very faithful member was found to be in serious sin. CAM did a food parcel distribution to area widows and elderly. It was later discovered that this brother had asked the recipients that met at his house, to give him some of the money that they received as well as the food parcel itself. There were also other things brought to our attention that were very disturbing and disappointing.This type of thing had been going on for a good while before it was discovered. It was a rough day for Wayne when he had to excommunicate him. I thought he handled the situation wisely... the church was 100% together on the path we needed to take and Joseph Omollo knows that we want to see true repentance and restoration for him. Joseph received the excommunication and told the church that he will work through it and God will bring him back to the church. We sincerely hope that he will follow his words with action. These kinds of things are very wearing and discouraging and we need the healing touch of the Master's Hand to give us strength at times like this!

We've very much enjoyed the group of 8 that arrived here from Hillcrest Home last week. The unit leader from Hillcrest and his wife, Conrad and Amy Helmuth, were a real blessing and we enjoyed learning to know them. We know who both of their parents are so it was fun to make those connections. We were also amazed when one of the young men, Mylin Rohrer, asked Wayne if he doesn't know who he is? It turns out that Mylin's father, Mervin Rohrer, and Wayne worked together for a number of years at Penns Creek furniture in PA. So amazing!! When we first looked at the picture of the group that was coming we thought we didn't know anyone! But it turned out that we made connections with almost all of them. We hosted them here at our house on Sat. eve. for a pizza supper. Joes were also here, as well as Kaylita, Rhoda, and Elaine. Glenda made a delicious salad which helped me a lot! We were VERY grateful to the Hillcrest group for their help with chicken butchering on the morning after they arrived in Kisumu!! They definitely helped us get finished quickly and their cheerfulness was a blessing! Jake and Jan's visitors helped as well! We hosted the breakfast here at our house. We only needed to provide the place and the other ladies brought a DELICIOUS breakfast that was enjoyed by all under the shade of our big trees.

Sunday was a very special day for us and the church at Ahero. Brother John Omondi has been commissioned as Pastor there. Brother John had been Bishop in earlier years but had been removed because of misuse of a savings groups funds. We thank God that the issue has been worked through and brother John has been humble and faithful. Bishops Joseph Hostetler and Thomas Amata, shared the messages and Wayne took charge of the commissioning. The church seemed VERY happy and we all enjoyed the special singing by the Ahero and Lela choirs. The church at Lela attended Ahero that day and they were a wonderful blessing! Their ladies took charge of cooking the meal so the Ahero ladies could enjoy the service. Joes and us had planned and bought food for around 120 people but it ended up that there were around 150 there. God helped the food reach and the left-over amounts turned out to be almost perfect! There were a LOT of children there that day so that was one reason there were so many people. Times like this are so refreshing and we try to focus on things like this instead of always on those who have strayed.

On Sunday evening the whole compound with all the visitors were invited to Jake and Jan's house for the evening. We enjoyed a heavy snack of finger foods, and then the Hillcrest group gave a picture presentation of the work at Hillcrest and sang some songs for us. We enjoy seeing life in other places of service.

Monday was Family Day so Joe and Glenda, Tiffany and Elliot, and our family took the opportunity to visit the Holdeman mission in the Kisii area. It takes around 2.5 hours to drive there but we enjoyed the scenery along the way. Elevation is higher there and there are some very scenic places with the tea fields and all. One amazing thing that we saw was ladies carrying stacks of bricks on their heads. They must have been carrying about 14 large kenyan bricks. We spent the day at Derrick and JoLyn Unruh's house and were happy that Rustin and Raquel Toew's family as well as the two single girls, Shayla and Linda, also joined us. It's so interesting to see the setting there and learn about how their mission operates. I would say their houses are very comparable to what we're used to in Kisumu. We were sad to find out that the Derrick's little girl who had surgery on her arm here in Kisumu at Aga Khan recently, had to have another surgery in Nairobi a few days later. The Dr. here really messed things up and the arm wasn't set right at all! :( Poor Amy had to endure a lot of pain! We were served a delicious lunch at Derricks and then headed home before dark.

Today Wayne and Tobias Ajuma visited his sister and her family in the Pap-Onditi area. They appear hungry for the truth. The church they attend seems to be a Mormon off-shoot.

We're getting very eager to have Clarissa back home with us!! I believe her return date is Feb. 19. We're happy that she can travel back with Melodie Beiler who has committed to serving here as social worker!! Opake Yesu!!

Please continue praying for our health here in Kisumu. Bradlyn and Elliot are both recovering from another bout of malaria. We're grateful for meds that quickly take care of it but I struggle a lot with fear of those strong meds and what the long term effects could be. We need Jesus the Healer so much!! I constantly have to remind myself that God called us here and He will provide for us. Your prayers help a lot!! God bless you! Wayne and Clara