Your Mind is a Garden...

"Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds."

 "What consumes your mind, controls your life."

 "A negative mind will never give you a positive life."

There's a motto on our living room wall that has reminded me many times that I can choose whether my thoughts will grow flowers or weeds. If I water negative thoughts I can't expect to harvest positive things. I need this reminder every day!!

Dry season has come to an end!! At least it appears so!  We experienced some real heat the last several weeks and we eagerly looked forward to a refreshing rain. It finally happened this week! Thank you Lord!! Those who have never experienced long, hot, dry seasons don't know how extremely grateful we are for every drop of rain!

Tony and Judith and family spent several weekends in Kisumu recently. 3 weeks ago they were here as well as last weekend. They are doing many of those "last things" before heading back to America, after serving in Kenya for around 6 years. We will miss them!! Jamie and Bradlyn had so many good times and spent most nights in the tent on our lawn. There was great excitement at our house one evening when Tonys did a "gender reveal party." They invited Tommys, Josephs, and Joes to join us as well. We all gathered around a small fire and when Tony said "GO!" everyone lit their sparklers to see if they would be pink or blue. ALL the colors were there!! :):) We're so excited about twins joining their family in July! The sad thing is that we'll be so far away! 

Wayne and I , Bradlyn and Jamie, attended church at Ugunja that Sunday. Tony, Judith, and our girls attended at Chulaimbo. Tonys wanted to tell their friends there "goodbye." 

The annual Agape general meeting was held in Kericho the next day. This is probably the last time for that meeting. Agape is in the process of dissolution and CAM is stepping in to take care of the needs.

Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, were taken up with the body transport and funeral of our brother Joannes (Ahero) who was murdered. The funeral was large. Wayne preached a powerful message and we hope it will help people to see the freedom that comes through forgiveness. 

Wayne and Joseph spent part of a day in the Kasongo/Ombeyi area for a meeting with the pastors there.  They also had a brief visit with Bishop Eric Ogwe prior to the pastors meeting.  It's been a heavy and difficult thing for Wayne, but time has revealed more evidence of sin in Eric's life. He was excommunicated last Sunday with full support of the church at Kasongo as well as a team of pastors and bishops that were familiar with the issues. We're thankful that Eric has recently paid back some of the debts he owed. We hope God will continue to work in His life and bring him to full repentance. 

Wayne has spent many days working on land issues... getting title for the churches, etc. Progress is being made! Today he flew to Nairobi, along with Edward Alema, the Ahero land agent that he has been working with.  They went to Nairobi to check on the progress of the Oroba title. Oroba is in a settlement scheme, which has complicated the issue but they were happy with the progress that is being made and hope to have the title soon.  It was a good thing to be able to talk to the officials in person, as it will likely help to speed up the process. I'm sure this was an interesting day for Edward. It was the first time he flew, and the first time he ate pizza! :)

Last weekend Tony's came, bringing some visitors from Wytheville along with them! Melodie, Clarissa, and Shonda had joined them at the Mara for a few days and then they all came to Kisumu. Tonys stayed until Tuesday and the rest stayed until today, Friday. Joel Zook, Krista Miller, (Wytheville, VA) and Emily Burkholder (Lincoln, MO) were the visitors. We enjoyed having them here! They certainly are not shirkers... they dug right in and helped with anything that needed to be done! On Monday, Tonys and Wayne and our girls made memories when they went to 3 different schools to do book distributions. Two of the schools were grateful recipients of CAM's Water for the World program. The wells in these schools will not only be a great blessing to the schools but also to the surrounding communities.  They were very happy to see Tony, the man who "brought" them water.  The children at one school sang a special song in his honor.  He told them that God receives glory and that the wells were made possible by donors in America.  Thank you!  Those that went had some interesting stories to tell!! I kept the home fires burning here and took care of sewing ladies in Clarissa's place. Joseph and Becky are also blessed with visitors right now. Rudy and Amanda Yoder and Sanford and Laura Yoder are here. Sanford is Wayne's uncle so that's been special for us as well! We enjoyed hosting them at our house for supper one evening and were amazed to discover how many people Rudys know that we also know! They know some of my Bender relatives in Belleville, and some of the Amish folks from Turbotville, PA that Wayne learned to know when he worked at Penns Creek Furniture as well as some ex-Nebraska Amish families that had come to our church for awhile . Small world!! On Sunday we all scattered in different directions. Our children attended Lela where Shonda is in Instruction class. Wayne and I attended Kasongo where we had the painful experience of Eric's excommunication. We did have the surprise and joy of having a recently excommunicated brother (Simeon Okole) confess his sin in the same service!  Tonys and the visitors attended Rabuor. Melodie attended Chulaimbo where she normally attends to help Jakes with the children during the service. That evening we had a very interesting time at JoeAllens who hosted the monthly Sunday evening activity. Tommy Wagler shared tips with the missionaries on how to make the transition back to our home churches easier... it was very worthwhile and valuable! We enjoyed a very yummy taco salad meal afterwards. 

Yesterday Wayne took a van load of Ahero folks to the Ombeyi area to visit Consolata who used to be a member at Ahero. Consolata was in a piki piki accident some time ago and now her mind is messed up a bit. She was very happy to see all the Ahero folks who came to visit her and even shed a few tears!

Wayne and I were privileged to have Sanford and Laura go with us when we attended the Rabuor Bible study at Judith's house on Wed. It was extremely warm in the house and as usual we had a hard time staying awake! We were served nyoyo and chai afterwards. 

We also enjoyed visiting with Jeremy Fisher, his brother Merle and his wife Stephanie, as well as 2 cousins, Austin and Eric Kauffman; last Friday eve. They ate supper at the Food Court but then brought a bucket of ice cream to our house and I made apple and shoofly pie to go with it. It was very interesting to meet all of them! God has allowed our path to cross with many interesting people here in Kisumu! :) . Please continue to pray for the work here. There are many needs but our God is faithful to supply all of them!!            Wayne and Clara

Brad, Jamie and Christian setting up the tent

Judith invited the Agape Matrons to Kisumu for a farewell dinner

Great friends...Ayla and Mariah

Tony Zook family at the gender reveal party

Agape Meeting

Joannes' funeral

Clarissa, Melodie, and Kaylita in the food tent

These children are the ones who witnessed the awful murder of their grandfather. Joannes wife in center.

Wayne with Joannes oldest son

Chulaimbo's new church building

Camping with the Wagler girls

Bradlyn and Logan making knives

Happy Birthday Tiffany!!

Work Day at Dienya

Visiting a Masai village

Tony speaking, with the water tower CAM provided in the background 

The crew at Dishon's house

Wayne, Dishon and Tony

Emily cleaning at our house.  Bless those girls!

Bible study at Judith's house

Ahero folks visiting Consolata

View of our compound from the top of the new building next door

Here it is.

The God of Enough...

"When we have nothing left but God, we discover that God is enough."

"Blessed are those who need God enough to know Him enough to know He's enough." 

"You will never need more than He can supply."

At our recent joint unit meeting, Bro. David Yoder (Board member) shared a devotional titled “The God of Enough.” It really struck a chord with me, and with many others as well. It’s true we may not always have everything we WANT, and WHEN we want it… but whatever God sends our way is ENOUGH. God says, “My grace is sufficient for thee…” Are we content with “enough?”  This can apply to our staff needs right now. To be honest the next year looks frightening to us as we think of everyone leaving!  And our personnel recruiter has been able to find ONE willing couple to come. It’s hard for our minds to comprehend that with all the large churches in America there are so few willing workers. But we know and understand that there are definitely good reasons why people cannot come at times and we don’t want to be critical. Maybe God is saying that what we have for now is ENOUGH. Who knows what God may have in mind for the Kisumu churches. Is He saying it’s time for them to be more indigenous? The situation with work permits is a bit daunting as well. Some permits go through quickly and others are rejected. We have no idea what will happen with all this. But we are choosing to take one day at a time and trust God to work out all the unknowns. Whatever He brings will be ENOUGH! Opake Yesu!

It’s been so long since I wrote that I don’t know where to begin. I think I’ll just focus on the activities of the last several weeks. We’re DELIGHTED to have Clarissa home from her time at CBS. That was a wonderful day when we picked her up at the Kisumu airport. And we were so very happy that Clarissa had someone to accompany her. Melodie Beiler has come to replace Stacy as social worker. She was already a dear friend of our family so she fits in here really well! The situation with her work permit looks rather scary and we hope we can keep her here with us but God knows! Please help us pray about this. Clarissa has been a huge help to me in the last several weeks and I’m not sure how I managed without her while she was gone. She’s having some adjustments getting back into life in Kenya but in spite of all that she’s glad to be home.

We’ve had a number of goodbyes again this past week.  I can’t seem to get used to those! Steve and Stan Miller have gone back to their homeland, as well as Elaine Schlabach who was here to fill in until Melodie got here. They will all be missed and will let a big hole in the youth group! I’m not sure how we will manage without Steve and Stan to take care of maintenance issues in the compound. And Elaine was much loved for her willingness to do whatever needed to be done. She was so uncomplaining and pleasant to have around. We also said goodbye to Steve and Martha Esh. They were a tremendous blessing to the church at Dienya and Martha is well known here for her excellent cooking. The enthusiasm and energy that they poured into the work here will be missed! Steves had some stress at the airport in Nairobi the other night as they were preparing to fly out. There was a partial strike and LONG lines of irate travelers who were on the verge of becoming violent with the airport staff. There were some tense moments but thank God they were FINALLY allowed to board the plane and left only a little more than an hour late.

In the middle of all these goodbyes we are delighted to welcome Tommy and Marji’s family to Kisumu! They have agreed to stay for 2 months to fill in at Dienya. Our children are so happy to have their friends back again and the school has now almost doubled in size! Tommy’s former experience here in Kenya means a lot to us and it seems they can just take off where they left off!

On Saturday it will be 2 weeks since the Delegation arrived here in Kisumu. David and Susanna Yoder are here as well as Ronald and Brenda Miller with their 2 sons, Chadwin and Ethan. We’ve had a very busy but interesting time. These 2 couples have showed us much care, concern, and support and they seem to be full of wisdom as they give direction to the work here. David Yoders accompanied us to church one Sunday at Ahero. Wayne has been blessed to have 3 Sundays off of preaching… all in a row!!! I don’t think that has ever happened since we’re here. The next Sunday Ronalds went with us to the church at Kasongo where he preached a timely message as well. After church at Kasongo we stopped in at the Ahero church. We wanted to meet up with the members there who were planning to visit at the home of dear Bro. Joannes (around 65 yrs. of age) who was brutally murdered this past week. We were shocked to receive news of his horrible death. When Davids and us attended church at Ahero that Sunday we had no idea it was the last time we would see Joannes alive. For some unknown reason, Otis, the son of Johan Opiyo an IC member at Ahero, showed up at the home of Joannes on Tues. afternoon. Otis lived nearby and was known to be a drunk and drug user. One of Joannes grandsons discovered that Otis was in the kitchen located right next to Joannes house. The grandson was struck on the head with a rock by Otis. The grandson went running to find his grandpa, Joannes, and when he came to the kitchen the killer brutally attacked him with a knife to the chest and knocked him to the ground. Then Otis took an ax and split Joannes head open. This had to be very traumatizing to the child who witnessed his grandfather being killed. The grandson started screaming and this brought a mob running. Meanwhile the killer, Otis, locked himself into the kitchen. I’m not sure why he did that because he surely knew his fate was sealed. The mob broke holes through the mud walls of the house and tore the metal door out as well. They beat him to death with pieces of firewood. When Wayne visited the home the next day he saw bloody pieces of firewood and the spot on the ground where Joannes had been killed. It was covered over with fresh soil. Wayne and Pastor Tobias and others also went to the mortuary where they saw the body of the killer, but they weren’t allowed to see Joannes since they were still working to patch up a skull that was split open. We still don’t know for sure what the motive was behind all this but we suspect theft was the intent. It’s possible Otis thought no one was around but then a child appeared and things went from bad to worse. Joannes was a member at Ahero since 2014. His wife is not a member of CBF. He will be missed! This is difficult for the church at Ahero. Please pray for them. The Ahero church was asked to take care of both funerals since Otis’ father is in IC at Ahero and he didn’t attend church anywhere. I’m not sure how everything will work out yet.

As mentioned earlier Ronalds and us visited the home of Joannes after church on Sunday. We squeezed as many of the Ahero members into the van with us that we could and then spent a little time in the house with family members, singing and Ronald led in prayer. Our son, Bradlyn, had some trouble falling asleep that night after personally seeing evidence of the crime. We hope and pray that hearts will turn to God as a result of this horrendous happening.

On Tuesday we enjoyed the joint unit meeting with Nakuru that was held at Jakes under the tent. It was a WARM day but the fellowship was good. We were happy to see Dave and Rose Stoltzfus who are visiting Kenya.

Yesterday Wayne and I had the privilege of bringing Ronalds and Davids to the Masai Mara where they wanted to spend a few days before heading back to America. We’re glad they have this privilege to “unwind” and enjoy the wonders of God’s creation. They’ve had stress and now they have a chance to take a break and relax. That’s true for Wayne and I as well!! Thanks to all for your prayers! We are trusting our lives into the hands of “the God of enough,” Wayne and Clara Yoder

Newly commissioned CBF Pastors in 2018

CBF annual General meeting at Ahero

Land office in Ahero

Valentine supper served by our youth 

The setting and food was lovely!

Church at Engashura (We visited Tonys one weekend)

Track and Field Day in Nakuru

Bible study at Kasongo

School children treated to ice cream cones for Bradlyn's birthday

Funeral in Ugunja area

Church at Chulaimbo

Melodie and Clarissa arrive!!

Consolata with Tiffany and Elliot

Bridge collapse!!

David Yoder preaching in Ahero

Activity at Gerold's house

Kisumu Pastors and Board Members

The home of Joannes (the one who was killed)

Notice the holes in the walls of the kitchen where the mob broke through 

Lake Victoria

Ronald Miller preaching at Kasongo

Joint unit meeting at Jake Gingerichs

Masai Mara

Jackals

David and Susanna Yoder, Ronald and Brenda, Chadwin and Ethan Miller