Kisumu Yoder's: Together We Can...

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." Helen Keller

"True teams are made when you put aside individual wants for collective good."

"We do not have to think alike to think together."

"Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." Prov. 27:17

I love how God has designed the Church to work together. We were not created to live on an island alone. We NEED others! How much can we accomplish alone? Wayne shared in a message last Sunday at Dienya about the Living Church. For a church to be truly alive each member must also have a living relationship with Jesus, the giver of life. It must make God smile when he sees a "living church" (or a compound) :) working in harmony. We feel blessed to be part of a wonderful group of missionaries who share the same vision and goals that we have.

It's raining lightly this evening and we are grateful!! It's been getting dry again so it will be a blessing to have the dust settled and things greening up. We've been seeing some very nice maize in our travels to and fro... I'm so happy for the nationals who will have a good harvest. And we've been very impressed with how the CBF churches have been working together. Ahero is once again, not having a good harvest, so some of the other churches are voluntarily sharing bags of maize with them. We love to see that!!

Wayne has been quite busy with land title issues, Pastor's meetings at the different churches, and some maintenance work in the compound. A few weeks ago Wayne and I, and Lorne, Grace, and Tanya Keupfer visited Fred and Caroline who live up towards Nyagondo. Some of you remember them from when they lived in Nakuru years ago. Some years ago there were plans to start a CBF church at Sakwa with Fred as a leader. Those plans were not brought to fruition because of some problems that surfaced. Caroline would still very much like to be with the CBF church and she LOVES when visitors come and brighten her day. We really enjoyed the day. Lornes and Freds talked a lot about bygone days in Nakuru. Caroline served us a very good Kenyan meal! We were also glad for the opportunity to spend time with Lornes. They were a real blessing to the work here in Kisumu! They spent their last week in Nakuru before departing for their Kansas home.

The day after our visit with Freds, Wayne had a meeting with Bishop Steve Esh and the brothers at Dienya. They discussed the changes that will be coming up. Steve has now been given Bishop responsibility there. We're hoping that by the end of the year there may be a national Pastor commissioned there. Pray for Vitalis and Benter. I believe I mentioned in a previous post that Benter has moved back to her homeland close to Oroba because of the danger of staying in the Dienya area where her husband Vitalis is, or was, living. Vitalis was released from prison a while back, but it was discovered that he has been "thieving" again. Neighbors and police are TIRED of it and Vitalis is now a wanted man! He is supposedly in hiding somewhere but anyone who sees him is to report to the police. Our hearts are heavy about the situation. How we long for repentance for Vitalis! Please help us pray for him and for his dear wife Benter during this extremely difficult time.

Two weeks ago we attended the Ahero church and were happy to have Kore Beachy and Marcus Troyer join us there. They arrived in Kisumu on Sat. and stayed until Monday noon. From here they travelled by bus to Uganda where they planned to work with the South Sudanese refugees there in northern Uganda. It was so interesting to visit with Marcus and discover more "connections". He's a very good friend of my cousin from Holmes Co., Ray Stoltzfus and wife Julia. We also discovered that his step grandmother is Clara Troyer (wife of Atlee, who died a number of years ago). My parents were very good friends with Clara in their youth and later after she was married they had connections again at FMH. I was named after Clara Troyer. I think Marcus was surprised to discover that! :) At Ahero that Sunday, instead of Wayne preaching, he asked Kore and Marcus if they would be willing to share about the work of CAM that they've been involved with in their world travels. I could tell that people were really listening. So many of the nationals here feel like they're the victims, the poor folks who need hand-outs. But that day they heard many things about suffering around the world... storm victims in Mozambique, refugees who have been chased from their homes and family members killed in Nigeria and South Sudan, etc. It seemed to really open their eyes and there were a number of testimonies afterward of gratefulness to God for what they have here. I wish SO much that all of our churches could have heard what was shared that day!! It really helps us count our blessings and makes us aware of others in need. After church we hosted Kore, Marcus, Jeremy Fisher, and Lorne Kuepfers here for lunch. That evening we invited the rest of the compound to join us around our fire ring for a marshmallow roast. The fellowship was great!

The next day was Pastor's meeting. After serving Pastor's drinks, the girls and I headed to clean James and Christina's house in preparation for their return from furlough. It didn't take long, since there was plenty of help. And oh, how wonderful it is to have James' back, as well as Kaylita and Rhoda!! Now we can also look forward to the arrival of Brian and Rosie Miller's family the end of this month! We were all thrilled when we heard the news that Brian's work permit was approved! We ladies happened to be together at the time the news came, and you should've heard the cheering and rejoicing that went on! :) Wayne was outside and heard the commotion and he said it reminded him of the sounds Moses and Joshua heard when they were on the mountain and the people were in the valley below. He wasn't sure at first if it was the sound of war or rejoicing... but it didn't take him long to figure it out. :)

Clarissa and Shonda spent a week in Nakuru, along with Melodie Beiler, and Julie Esh. We found out that the Nakuru unit had a lot of painting that needed to be done in Marlin Yoder's vacated house, and since the four girls from here didn't have anything pressing to do here at the time, they volunteered to help. They reported a good time and it sounds like they got a fair amount done although they didn't finish the project. It's taking quite a lot of layers of paint to cover it well. They enjoyed getting to know some of the new girls in Nakuru. They attended the Free Area church on Sunday. They were also privileged to meet the newest member of the Luke Kurtz family who was born last week. Her name is Zahra Grace. We really missed the girls while they were gone and were very happy to welcome them home!

Plans are being made for another youth conference in December in Nakuru (CBYC). Wayne had a board meeting in Kericho on Thursday to make plans for CBYC 2019. The current Board is Marlin Yoder, David Odiwuor, Winfred Miller, Matthews Mbuya, and Wayne. Pray for our youth. The future of CBF in Kenya rests largely on their shoulders.

Last Sunday we attended the Dienya church. It was the day that Wayne handed over the Bishop responsibility to Steve Esh. It was a happy day for the members. I think they feel very blessed to have Steves back again!! And what a blessing it is for Wayne and I! In the next number of weeks Wayne plans to hand over Bishop responsibility for the church at Ugunja and also Chulaimbo to Steve as well. Continue praying for the work here! We trust that in God's time He will provide replacements for Josephs, James', and then our family. We thought the Dave Stoltzfus family from MT would be coming this fall, but it doesn't look like that will work out after all. Maybe later? After church on Sunday the whole compound was invited to Steve Eshs' for a fellowship dinner! I wonder if that was a first for the compound? There were only 12 of us here so it was quite interesting, and the food was great! There were meatballs, potatoes, salad, sour dough bread, and pies for dessert! I don't believe any of us had to wait really long for lunch, except maybe Allens, who don't have nearly as far to drive to their church at Lela.

On Monday there was pastors meeting as usual with a Kisumu Area Joint Pastors Meeting in the afternoon with all the national pastors as well. Willice Agalo from Chulaimbo was the only pastor absent. We have added a KAJP in August and also divided into three districts and made plans for those pastors to meet more often, matbe every two months or so. The creation of these smaller groups is in an effort to help create closer relationships within the churches that are geographically closer, as well as give the pastors an added circle of accountability and counsel to draw from. As missionary pastors our weekly "pastors table" meeting is invaluable and we hope that more frequent meetings in small groups will provide the same blessing to our national brothers. (WY)

Wayne worked on a sidewalk project at our house this week. We had trouble with water drainage whenever it rained, so the driveway and former sidewalk were dug down and then Wayne laid flagstone. He did a nice job and we're all hoping the drainage problem will be fixed!

Wayne and I, and Allen and Rhoda attended the youth seminar at Rabuor on Thursday. Lela and Ahero youth were also invited. Most of the youth that attended were young teenagers who are not members but have been attending sometimes. Pastor John Omondi had a good message. I especially enjoyed hearing the Ahero youth sing. They are exceptional! Another interesting thing they did this year was have a debate. They set up a table and chair in the front of the church that was supposed to be like Parliament. They sang the national anthem of Kenya, then proceeded to have a debate between christians and "non christians". I couldn't catch everything they said... some of them were shy and talked so quietly, but it was interesting anyway. :) After that, Rosemary Ondeyo shared a health talk with the young girls. She was straightforward, and to the point, teaching them how to care for themselves physically and spiritually. William shared the "health talk" with the young men.

Last evening Allen and Rhoda Peachy invited the compound to their house for a chicken fajita supper. It was what we call a "language class supper". I guess you'd say it's a celebration because of completion of language study. The food and fellowship was much enjoyed!! The waffle cones and homemade ice cream just topped it off! Jeremy Fisher and Cameron Zook were around for CAM work and were in attendance as well.

This morning we attended Lela. We were happy to see that Zilpa and Esther, two excommunicated members, were there. Pray for their total repentance. They really seem to want to do what's right but the way is hard. Wayne message title was "Follow me". God's call to follow Him is clear. We followed the call of Jesus in the life of Peter. Peter stumbled sometimes but he faithfully followed His Lord to death. Judas was also called to follow but failed because he did not forsake all. Are we being "sidetracked" along the way? Allen and Rhoda joined us here for lunch after church. Thanks to all for your support and prayers! Wayne and Clara