Kisumu Yoder's: The Powerful Name of Jesus...

"The name of Jesus is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Prov. 18:10

"The greatest weapon against evil is doing good in Jesus name."

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." Phil. 2:9

If you live where we do, where there is a lot of fear, superstition, and witchcraft, the name of Jesus becomes even more precious. I've often been comforted by the fact that there is so much power in the name of Jesus! We have nothing to fear!

Recently in the Lela area, close to the Kobura junction, a young man disappeared. I believe a few others from the area were also missing. Then one night the sister of the young man who was missing had a dream... she heard her brother telling her where he is. And then for 2 more nights this girl had the exact same dream. Her brother told her in the dream that he was down in a choo hole (outhouse hole). He said there were also several other dead people with him as well as a dead dog on top of him. He told her which dala he was in. Dreams hold special meaning to these people so it seems she believed it to be true. Eventually the girl gathered a group of people to go with her to investigate. They went to the dala that she heard about in the dream. When the group reached the home they were welcomed into the house by the man who lived there. But after shaking their hands and inviting them to sit down, the owner went out the back door, and ran off! The group then went to the choo to see what they could find and SURE ENOUGH! Everything was as described in the dream. There was a dead dog there, then the body of the young man, and also several other people were down there (actually only their body parts... such as hands with painted nails, etc.) After the community found out about these things a mob gathered and burned all the houses in the dala. And so when folks tell us that the spirits of the dead talk to them, we will believe it. :( We found out later that the man who lived in that dala was a changa maker (illegal alcohol). People are saying that he put formaldehyde in his alcohol to make people drunk more quickly. We don't know if the victims who died drank too much of his changa or what happened? It's not unusual to hear of people dying because of drinking this spiked, illegal brew. The sad thing is that our dear sister Lina from Lela has been much affected by these things that have happened. Lina's brother-in-law who has given her much trouble in the past, was discovered to be in cahoots with this man who made the changa. Lina's son Austin, was trying to help the police find the suspected murderer. When Lina's brother-in-law found out that Austin, was trying to help the police, he messaged Lina's family to warn them that their houses will all be burned. It was also found out that this brother-in-law said he was being tormented by the spirit of Lina's son who died recently, named Felix. (We posted pictures of his funeral in a recent blog). The brother-in-law went to a witchdoctor to find help for this torment. As it turned out, the witchdoctor advised him to bring him some of the dirt from Felix' grave. I'm not sure what he was going to do with it, but Pastor Allen Peachy noticed that there was dirt missing from all corners of the grave as well as both sides. I haven't heard if he has relief from his torment or not. So you see... the powers of darkness are very real to these people. But OHHHH thank GOD for the name of Jesus!! Pray for us as we try to help these people work through their fears. Lina told me she can't sleep at night. I can't say that I blame her! But please help me pray that she can find peace and freedom from fear in the name of Jesus!

Our clothing sale at Kajulu went well! I was so relieved because of the issue we had at Ahero with two brothers wanting the same suitcase. That day instead of having Bible study at church after the clothing sale, Wayne suggested that as many people as could fit into the van would go spend some time with the ageing Pastor Andrew, and his wife Christine. Andrew has been sick, and we expect he may not live long. I believe he is around 90 years of age. We had a very enjoyable time with Andrews singing, and Wayne shared comforting Scriptures with them. Then we bounced and jolted our way back to Kajulu again to drop off a very full van load of people! Whew! It felt good to get home that day!

Thursday afternoon the Nakuru folks came to Kisumu for a joint unit meeting, then we hosted them in the compound overnight because of having Orientation the next day for the new folks who have arrived recently... Allen Peachys, Brian Millers, Carmen Beachy, and Sharla Hostetler. Our family was in charge of hosting, but we set up the tent in the lawn of the house that Joe and Glenda vacated. A lot of work goes into hosting, preparing food, etc. for these events but it is very much worth it!!! We love those times of fellowship with Nakuru folks. The topics shared at Orientation were SO good, and encouraging to everyone, not just the new folks. Freeman Beiler, Marlin Yoder, and Joseph Hostetler all shared topics. And Wayne filled in very last-minute like for Winfred Miller who couldn't come because of sick children. We missed them!

One day recently Wayne went to Nyakoko to work with land issues. While there, the folks from the clan that had sold land to the church gave him a duck to bring home. :) It brought smiles to our children. Bradlyn and his friends, Carlin and Austin, dug a hole in the cage in our back lawn, and filled it with water so the duck would have a nice little place to splash around. She seems pretty happy with her new home! We might eventually get a drake and see if we can have little ones.

We were delighted with the visitors who came to Kisumu last week! Lee and Sadie Fisher, and son Jeff, as well as Edith (wife of recently deceased Andy Mullet). , came with Jeremy when he came to do CAM work in the area. They spent about a week in Nakuru before coming here. Andy and Edith had been the first AMA missionaries stationed in Kisumu 1994-2000. Lee's family stayed here two nights, and then they returned to Nakuru. Edith stayed in Kisumu for about a week. Lee's were such a blessing to all of us. He shared some words of encouragement with the unit here at our prayer meeting on Thurs. eve. that was hosted at our house. On Fri. eve. Lee's shared some wonderful meat and cheese with the compound to make subs. It was DELICIOUS and such a treat for all of us! God bless you for sharing in this way! Edith also wanted to share with us, so on Monday eve. of this week she cooked up a wonderful supper all by herself!! She brought brisket from America, then made potatoes to go with it, coleslaw, and a wonderful pineapple dessert!! God bless her!! She was such an inspiration and blessing to many people here. It was difficult for her to come to Kenya without Andy, but she knew that he would have wanted her to come. Andy would also have loved to be here, but God took him to his eternal reward which is far better. I was amazed at Edith... she walked all the way to downtown Kisumu by herself one day!! It's quite a walk! And then she hired a tuk tuk to bring her back. She spent a good bit of time visiting folks that her and Andy learned to know years ago. People were surprised and delighted to see her! Wayne and I really enjoyed taking her around to different places... such as Aga Khan hospital where she wanted to meet their old Doctor friend, Allibhoy. He was SO happy to see her as well! We also took her to see the lake at Hippo Point, the animal market, etc. To top it off she treated us to a nice lunch at Java House! Thank you for coming Edith!!

We attended church at Ugunja recently along with Steve, Martha and Julie Esh,. Wayne handed over his Bishop responsibility to Steve that day. Afterwards we were all invited to James and Christina's house for a delicious chicken, rice and beans lunch. James was a Good Samaritan that day and stopped on their way home from church to help someone who had just had a piki accident. They transported the injured one to a nearby hospital.

This past Sunday we attended Kajulu. I discovered just before Sunday school time that the ladies teacher was missing, so they asked me to do it. Thankfully the lesson was an easy one from Proverbs so it wasn't hard to find things to talk about. After Sunday school it was announced that there's a green mamba (a very deadly snake!) in the ladies choo. Needless to say, we didn't use that building that day!! After church our family was invited to Deacon John and Margaret Opiyo's house up the mountain. It's a lovely setting and we were treated to a traditional Kenyan meal! It was great!

On Tuesday of this week we had another sad goodbye here on the compound. Melodie Beiler had to leave because of her work permit being denied. Pray for her as she tries to find her place at home again. We trust God knows what He's doing. The little house behind ours is empty and quiet once again. We miss her help around the compound! The rest of us need to pitch in a bit more. With Brians in language class, they need babysitters for their children, and occasional meals are very much appreciated too. Martha and I are so thankful for our daughters who can help out in so many ways!!

My mind has been with my sister Marla Miller, almost constantly this week! She is 10 years younger than I am and needed to have open heart surgery because of a leaking mitral valve. I can't tell you how relieved I was when the surgery was over and she came through ok. They were able to repair the valve instead of replacing it which is a HUGE blessing! She's had a lot of pain which is difficult for me to think about but she's doing as well as can be expected. It's hard to be so far away at a time like this.... My mind was also with Martha Esh a lot who spent several days at Aga Khan because of a bad infection of some kind. We're so thankful that she's feeling much better!

Our family enjoyed a day an afternoon at Impala Park recently when we had a family day and there was no school or Pastor's meeting. Brad had a scare when the cheetah that he was petting through the fence suddenly whipped around and hissed at him. Those cheetahs are normally quiet and tame... people are sometimes allowed to enter the pen with them. It was so relaxing to sit and read beside the lake, and watch the zebra, giraffe, deer, and monkeys, etc.

We've been warned recently to be very alert and careful. There have been some attempted robberies in our neighbourhood. Pray for peace and protection. Thanks to all who have shown us your love and support in many ways! Wayne and Clara