"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny." C.S. Lewis
"Faith is not about everything turning out okay. Faith is about being okay no matter how things turn out."
"When the roots are deep there is no reason to fear the wind."
Our hearts are heavy for our dear native brothers and sisters who are experiencing hard times. For some there is no harvest. Certain areas had enough rain but others have nothing to show for all their work. What will they eat? There have been a number of deaths recently... mostly older folks. Also accidents... Eric Omondi from Oroba was on his way to his house from the cho early Thursday morning, when he accidentally stepped on the tail of a very poisonous, Puff Adder snake. It whipped around and bit him on the leg. He immediately got itchy all over and had a headache. Thankfully Joseph and Becky were somewhere close by and they were able to take him to the hospital. After checking his blood level the Dr. thought he doesn't need antivenom. And it would save him a LOT of money since they said the antivenom is very expensive. They kept him for observation for a while, and by Saturday he was much better so they sent him home. By Sunday afternoon he was in very bad shape again so Joseph took him back to Kisumu General Hospital. By the time they took him back in he was hardly responsive. After visiting Eric Ogwe at Russia hospital, Wayne and Joseph went looking for antivenom and another med that Eric Ouma needed. Aga Kahn had some antivenom but it was outdated. Thank God, Avenue hospital had some for a fairly good price. So they took it to him. I haven't heard how he's doing today. (Eric was doing quite a bit better by this morning. wy) On Sat. eve. Bishop Eric Ogwe was going home from Kisumu on his piki when a car pulled out from behind some parked matatu's, right in front of him. He hit the car and went flying! It broke his leg... a clean break above the knee. It was the same leg that has caused him a lot of suffering since 2014. He was in another accident then and crushed his ankle and knee. He went to a bush Dr. and things weren't fixed up right and now he walks with a very bad limp. Joseph and Wayne helped move him onto his bed at the Russia hospital and it hurt him terribly! :( Plans are for Joseph to take him to the Tenweck hospital tomorrow to have it taken care of. (Meanwhile, I went in to see what was going on and he was in surgery for something on that leg so they insist he cannot be released until tomorrow after 9 am at the minimum, sooo, there go our Tenweck plans for tomorrow. wy) (One of these days I'll get this posted for Clara, Eric was finally discharged this afternoon so we are planning to take him to Tenwek in the morning, Lord willing.) We also got word on Sunday morning that our beloved Sammy, a very faithful gatekeeper here at the compound, ( I believe he has been here over 15 years) lost his wife. It was his second wife. He took her to the hospital numerous times and they could never find her problem. They just sent her home again. Sammy shared with Wayne one day last week that his wife did two things that are very much against Luo culture... I don't know what it was, but he thought he would need to take her to a witch Dr. to reverse the curse I guess. It made us SOOOO sad. Wayne prayed with him and pled with him to follow God. I never heard if he took her to that Dr. or not but a few days later we heard she died. Sammy came to our house to talk yesterday and when I greeted him and told him how sorry I was about his wife he got tears in his eyes and almost choked up. He says she was a very good wife and a hard worker. I can't stand to think about the deception and darkness that so many around us are bound with. Lord have mercy on them! and please pray that we would know how to help these people!! We need so much wisdom. Our hearts ache for them and we wish we'd know how to help. There have also been other very difficult situations that our Pastors have been working with. Jake and Jan are trying to help a dear lady from their church... Angeline was a strong member and so helpful to others but it appears that she had a nervous breakdown possibly as a result of living with a drinking husband. She also tested positive for cerebral malaria and that can do it as well, so they're not sure what all is going on, but she was totally out of her mind and doing very strange and crazy things. She lunged at Jake and Jan when they got to her house, rolled around on the floor, screaming, laughing, etc. She was very angry at times and had to be held down. They took her to the hospital. (She seems to be responding positively to the treatment) So much to pray about! Also Mark Beachy has a very stressful situation at their church in Dienya. Someone who was much used in the church was having a serious issue. Seems like he had a dream that he was going to be killed by a mob. When he asked them who sent them to kill him he was told it was another brother that attends church as well that is currently not a member. This brother took that dream very serious.. etc. etc. Wayne and Mark had a long meeting with him and others from the church there and meanwhile I was at home praying and trying not to worry about why he didn't answer his phone. Sigh... It's been tough lately. It takes so much faith and trust in God. But we hang on to Him and accept what He brings. Hard things can make us bitter or better. The choice is up to us.
Pastor's meeting last Monday was held at Mark Beachy's house in N'gyia. The Pastor's left soon after 7 am and then at 8:30 we ladies left for a town close to Marks, Luanda, where there is an interesting market. Our goal was to find nice fabric for an affordable price so that our native sisters can have something nice to wear besides only cotton fabrics. There was a vendor there with LOTS of fabric and the price was very cheap!! I found fabric for two dresses for my girls for $3 ea. (for the whole piece) We ended up with over 50 pieces (it was in 2-3 meter pieces) to offer to the natives. We were all happy about that! But poor Becky! She ended up with a big job! Some of the fabric was a bit wet and smelled bad so she ended up washing ALL the pieces! She did it quietly and I never found out about it... I'd have wanted to help her! We won't forget Luanda market right away! On our way to the fabric vendor Glenda and I almost got run over by a matatu. Glenda was carrying Elliot and she had to leap to get out of the way! He seemed to be a crazy driver and not about to stop for anything or anybody! There were very tight aisle ways beside the fabric and people just pushed their way through. A few times I was knocked over from behind and landed in the fabric. It was such a tight squeeze all around that the vendors we were buying from were standing right on top of the piles of fabric. People with carts would come whistling shrilly and you had to get out of the way fast if you didn't want to get hit. In spite of all that we really enjoyed the African experience and I hope we can go back again sometime. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch along with our husbands at Marks. More memories made!! :)
The week was not all bad news. Wayne and Gerold went to town on Tues. with a couple from Nyakoko, Joshua and Karen, who wanted to get the process started to get their marriage license. And on Thurs. Wayne planned to go with Andrew, a member from Ahero, who wanted to find a wife in an area about 3 hrs. from here. He didn't know her at all but has a cousin in the area who told him about her family and he thought she might suit him fine. So he wanted Wayne and Tobias, Pastor of Ahero, to go with him, pay ayie (a small amount of money that signifies agreement with the family of the bride) for her, and hopefully bring her home with him! IMAGINE!! As it turned out Wayne wasn't able to go because of a more pressing need in Dienya that day so JoAllen and Gerold went in his stead. And what a day!! I guess I should let Joe tell you the story! :) The girl and her family actually agreed to let her go back with Andrew. But the problem was that Andrew had only taken 500 shillings with him and he needed 1,500 to make the agreement for his wife. So Andrew tried to get it out of the men who went with him that day and eventually they came up with 1,300 shillings and the family said that would be enough! But the Ahero brethren felt that she shouldn't come back with them that day, but wait til a later date, much to Andrew's disappointment! But he says the marriage will be soon and he seems very happy! There are so many things in this culture that are done the same way that they were in Bible times. Interesting! :)
On Wed. Wayne and I along with a van LOAD of Rabour folks went to the dala of Penina, an old mama, who died recently. We had Bible study outside of her house. The choir also sang some nice songs that day. Penina's burial will be on Sat. I believe. That eve. we enjoyed our traditional chapatis and beans with fresh salsa. Joe and Glenda joined us as well as Rhoda, Carolyn, Stacy, and her visitors. We enjoyed the fellowship!
Thurs. eve. after Wayne's stressful meeting in Dienya Wayne and I went to our next door neighbors house, Ann, who was celebrating her 60th Birthday. Ann is the widow of Yan who was killed in their front lawn several years ago. We enjoyed the eve. even though we were a bit out of our comfort zone at times. They fed us a nice African meal and the decorations were really amazing! Nice round tables with fresh cut flowers, many strings of lights, music over the loudspeakers, etc. There were lots of speeches by people who bragged Ann up a lot! :)
On Sat. Wayne transported maize for William and Rosemary. Their crops were a complete failure so they had to buy maize from another area and they asked Wayne to take it home for them. May God have mercy on the poor! And may we have wisdom to know how much to help!! Pray for us!! We have much to be thankful for in spite of hardships!
Sunday found us at Kajulu. We had a good service. I was put on the spot a bit when Sunday school time rolled around and there was no teacher for the English class. They decided that Bishop's wife could do it... so I tried. I was very thankful for Zitune... she helped me out and we worked together at it. Wayne preached a good message on "Jesus is sufficient." We went on a "safari" through the book of Hebrews and found many things that Jesus "IS". Sunday eve. the compound was invited to Joe's for an eve. activity. We sang around the campfire and several shared experiences from the past week. The food afterward was GREAT! I think people were in the mood to cook! We missed Joseph and Wayne while they were gone. They missed most of the service because of being at hospitals to look after Eric Omondi and Eric Ogwe.
Today I sent my "baby" off to school!! This morning he came out of his room with a shirt and wondered if this one is good enough for school.:) He was all smiles and seemed to really enjoy his day! It was a huge relief to me that he likes school because I think it would be so stressful if he wouldn't want to go!! Blessings on your week! Clara
In Kenya, a lot of the vehicles carry messages. Here are a few...
