Kisumu Yoder's: 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