Kisumu Yoder's: Home Sweet Home

The events of the last several weeks seem so unreal in a lot of ways. The roller coaster of emotions left us weak at times. Kenya has been partially locked down since March. Church services are still not allowed. The whole country seemed to wait with bated breath on June 7 when the time came for President Uhuru to give his speech in regards to whether the country will open up. Hopes were high and as you can imagine, it was devastating when restrictions were extended for another 30 days. Our family was hoping to be able to fly home in time for the wedding of my nephew, Lyndon Stoltzfus and Caitlin Snyder on June 20. We totally gave up the dream of being able to attend and decided God must still have a purpose for us in Kenya. I'm so glad now that we came to the point of complete surrender. Isn't that where God wants us? One of the hardest things for me was that we felt "finished". We had accomplished most everything we had wanted to do before leaving. We needed to find new purpose in life. We decided to go to Nakuru to spend some time with the missionaries there. We planned to leave on Thurs. and stay until Sunday. But on Wed. eve. we were stunned when we got a notice from the Embassy announcing an evacuation flight leaving the following Monday, June 15. We decided we won't take the flight unless we had 100% support from the unit and the Board. Wayne sent some emails and then we started packing just in case the lights would all be green. It was a difficult day though because the thought of possibly needing to unpack later was rather nauseating. Finally on Thurs. afternoon we had the blessing of everyone we asked counsel of. What a relief to finally know how to plan after months of "hanging in limbo". We had 3 days to get ready. Things went well with our children pitching in to help. Compound folks were also very kind and helpful. They planned a farewell for us on Fri. eve. We were served a yummy snack and and enjoyed the eve. as well as you can when you're leaving folks that you've come to love like your very own family.

On Sunday after another good church service in the compound and our last yummy fellowship meal, we prepared to leave for Nakuru. Allen drove our loaded down van. We were treated royally in Nakuru. Johnnys served us a very good meal that eve. We also said some more goodbyes that eve. The Luke Kurtz family came to the compound to give their best wishes. The next morning we were treated to a yummy breakfast at Winfred and Debbie's house. We also stopped in at Brian and Maria Wagler's house for a short visit. Shortly after that the compound met for prayer and to say goodbye. Three singles from Nakuru, Brad McGrath, Sharla Hostetler, and Carmen Beachy, also flew with us on the same flight. Carmen Beachy is the only one of those three who plans to return. Our family was taken to the airport by shuttle (matatu). Winfred drove the van carrying the youth and all our luggage.

Joe and Marilyn Kuepfer's family also terminated their time in Kenya the same time we did, and they joined us on the same flight. We met up with their shuttle somewhere along the way to Nairobi so it was neat that all three vehicles were able to travel together part of the way. I was quite nervous about the police check. We came to a place where the road was completely blocked off with a big sign saying POLICE. Everyone needed to have temperatures checked and we needed to show the police a letter from the US Embassy granting permission for us to enter Nairobi, which is in lockdown. What a relief to be past that point with no issues!! Opake Yesu!! Upon arrival at the airport we were met by men dressed in "space suits" who checked our temperatures again. Check-in and Immigration took a LONG time. I think we stood in line several hours. I felt faint from all the stress of previous days, etc. but we survived. Our waiting wasn't over even after we boarded the plane (an Ethiopian flight). I think we sat on the plane for about 2 hours before finally taking off for Addis Ababa. There was no such thing as social distancing. The plane was FULL and people seemed desperate to get on that flight. The security line at Addis was CRAZY! People pushed like cattle to get through there. The pandemic seems to have caused hysteria in many people... We sat on our next flight for around 18-1/2 hours!! That included the waiting for take-off and a stop for fuel in Ireland. We wore masks that whole time except while eating. I think we must've slept more than we realized because it was hard for me to believe that time went so fast. I guess people must've been praying too! I felt like belting out "America the Beautiful" when we landed in Dulles! :) Bro.in law Vernon and a few of the children picked us up at the airport. I guess adrenalin kicked in because we weren't very tired on the 4 1/2 hr. ride home. What a thrill to drive up our very own driveway and be met by our wonderful family! It felt like a dream and a miracle!! Our family and church worked hard to get ready for us... everything was short notice for them as well! Most of our furniture was put into place and the house was clean from top to bottom. When I saw our table loaded down with food and gifts, I just had to cry. We're so undeserving of everything that was done for us!

Our days have been very full and busy... seems we see work everywhere we look. We just stay at it until we're too tired to keep on. We're wondering why on earth we kept so much stuff and stored it. We've already taken two truck loads of stuff over to our shop to be "yard saled" later this month and I think there will be a good bit more! I guess living on the foreign field has taught us that we don't NEED so much stuff! Life is so much simpler without it! It's fun to see how much our children have grown up since we left almost 5 years ago. They've outgrown most of the toys and the clothes we had stored. :)

Three days after our arrival home we packed up and drove to Plain City, OH in time for the rehearsal. We enjoyed that a lot and then spent a relaxing night at the Best Western, along with other family members. The wedding was beautiful! It seemed strange to hear Wayne preach in a setting like that, so TOTALLY different than we were used to in Kenya! And I'm still not used to seeing him in a suit coat! :) We loved meeting folks there that we haven't seen for years! What a gift from God that we were able to enjoy that special day! We wish Lyndon and Caitlin many happy years together!

Wayne has been busy trying to get our lawn mowed. He's having so many mower issues... hopefully we can find a dependable mower soon. Wayne plans to start work for bro. in law JoeAllen possibly next week. It will be an adjustment to have him gone almost every day, all day!

God has been SO good to us and we have wonderful memories of our time in Kenya. I hope we've learned a lot of lessons that will stick with us for life. Pray for us as we adjust to the American lifestyle. It will take a while and I hope people can bear with us. I've enjoyed "blogging" and sharing our Kenya story with you. That chapter of our life has now closed, so I guess the blog is now finished as well. Thanks to our many friends and supporters who frequently sent notes of love, encouragement, and prayers. Our circle of friendship is bigger than ever and we treasure that!! God bless all of you!

Please pray earnestly for the workers still remaining on the field. Our hearts are still with them and we pray that Kenya's borders will open soon so that new workers can go, bringing fresh courage to the missionaries and reducing their work loads. God bless! Oriti!! (Goodbye) Wayne and Clara

Please look at the pictures from the bottom up. The computer loaded them backwards and we didn't take time to fix it. Thanks! :)