Kisumu Yoder's: 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