Thanksgiving and more...

"Serve the Lord with gladness: come into his presence with singing..."  That phrase in Psalm 100 stands out to me during this Thanksgiving season.  Yes, may we all serve with gladness rather than out of a feeling of duty or obligation.  Sometimes when I'm feeling selfish and struggle with our call here, God gently reminds me of the song... "I gave my life for thee... what hast thou done for me?"  

  We continue to enjoy visitors and all the different people that we cross paths with here in Kisumu.  On Sun. eve. the unit was invited to Marlins.  James Peight, Lavina's brother, showed us pictures of the work in Honduras.  James is on the mission board so we enjoyed hearing about the work there.  After that report he showed us pictures of their trip to Masai Mara since their arrival in Kenya.  That was very interesting!!  It included a 15 min. video which made it seem almost real life.  I'm looking forward to the day we can go see the "big five" of Africa! :)  We enjoyed yummy taco salad that evening as well.  

On Monday Wayne was in Pastor's meeting for 10 hours!!  I usually send Bradlyn over with a plate of food for him at lunch time.  They didn't even get finished with everything on the agenda!! It would seem to me that it would be very wearing to be in a meeting that long but Wayne seems to enjoy the fellowship. They have some good times together. :)

Tues. morning I went to Dr. Sokwala's office.  I have a nasty ingrown toe nail that has been a real pain for some time.  Wayne cut some of the nail away (while I nearly hit the roof) but it didn't take all the pain, although it helped the throbbing in my toe.  It "hit" me again that day how different things are here than in America.  We walked down the street trying to find her office and all I could see was a little sign that said "Daktari" or something like that.  The door was open with a few people sitting in a very small narrow room.  The lady at the old wooden desk asked me to sign my name on a piece of paper that had a few other signatures.  I noticed Glen Helmuth's name was on there. :)  I didn't need to fill out any info... I just sat and waited in a not so clean room that didn't smell very great.  I was happy with Dr. Sokwala though.  She's a nice Christian, Asian lady who seems very caring.  Her office is very plain and doesn't seem very well supplied with instruments, etc. but I think she knows what she's doing and she gives God the glory for what He does through her.  She wasn't able to take care of my infected toe but she did prescribe antibiotics and gave me an order to give to a surgeon at the Aga Khan hospital. I guess I will have to go get the nail cut away on the one side. :(

  Wed. was a VERY full but interesting day.  In the morning Wayne and Bradlyn and I went to the Kisumu airport to pick up Rachel and her replacement, Stacy Byler from Seymour, MO.  Welcome Stacy!!!  Rachel flew to Nairobi the day before to be with Grandma Lois when she flew out and then picked up Stacy that eve. and took her back to the airport in the morning for their flight to Kisumu.  Stacy got a good taste of Kenya roads on the way home... town was pretty crazy.  We're enjoying Stacy already.  She's a nice friendly girl who will do well here.  But the hard thing is giving Rachel up!!! :( :( :(  I dread it so much.  It seems this place is so full of goodbyes.  I hated it when Grandma Lois left too.  Rachel has become almost like a part of our family and we'll miss her terribly!!  Wed. afternoon Wayne and I and Carolyn headed out to the Lela area for Bible study at Eunice's house.  We stopped at Hesbon's house to pick him up since he can't walk well.  We had to go through major mud but with some rather wild maneuvers we made it out of there without getting stuck!! Whew!!  Then we kept meeting more church folks that needed a ride.  We ended up with 19 people in an 11 passenger van and on the way home there were 21!!  I honestly don't know how they do it!!  I thought Wayne and I were pretty lucky to be up front and not need to be "squashed."  I love these people though!!  They burst into song soon after the door was shut and they sang their hearts out.  I think they were trying to raise the roof. :)  They were in good spirits and we had a nice day together.  We had a good turnout that day... seemed like most of the folks were there.  I'm so glad for Zilpa's help when I need a translator and when I need to take care of sewing needs with the ladies.  We discussed which Scripture we want to study in Sunday school.  We ladies have a separate class twice a month and I will be responsible to teach one of those times.  I'm not too concerned because they talk a good bit and I pretty much let them take over since I don't have a good hold on the language yet.  When we arrived home around 5:30 Tony's had arrived from Nakuru!!  We quickly changed clothes and got ready for an evening at the Yacht club down by Lake Victoria.  Tommy took some family pictures for us.  Tommy's and Tony's and us ate in one pavilion and the youth and visitors had a separate place to eat.  It was a gorgeous evening!! There were even monkeys in the trees above us! :)  We haven't seen hippos yet though... hopefully one of these times we'll get to see them.  I'm really beginning to love Asian food... especially paneer.  Its fried cheese in a wonderful sauce that we eat over rice.  After we got home from the lake we enjoyed visiting with Tony's a while longer.  I needed to work on jello salad for the next day as well.  It takes quite a bit when you're making enough for 60 people!  

Thanksgiving day was very special!!  The morning was very busy.  I was responsible for broccoli and cauliflower salad and it took a lot of time!!  We asked a native lady, Consolata, to come help wash and cut it up for me.  She was here probably close to 3 hrs.  I finally saw she wasn't going to be finished in time so I quickly helped her for a while.  Judith brought cheese and bacon from Nakuru so that helped a lot! We had a yummy lunch with grilled steak, compliments of Marlin;  as well as ham, some of it came from America, thanks to James Peight!!  For dessert we had specialties that we don't have much here... cream cheese dessert!! 4 different flavors!!  Jake's and us were responsible to plan the afternoon activities.  The men and children played scatter ball in the school yard for a while... there was also Can Jam and corn hole. The adults and youth also played a game called "Bus stop".  That was hilarious.  We also had a homemade pinata for the children which they loved.  I couldn't help but miss my family and think about what they're doing.  Once when we were singing a Thanksgiving song and it mentioned, "father and mother, sister and brother" I found myself choking up a bit but it didn't last too long.  We are enjoying our Kenya family a lot too and it helps ease the pain of separation from our dear friends and family's at home.  

Tony is doing a food drop today but Judith and the children are around and plan to stay til tomorrow.  We look forward to having them here again next weekend.  It just feels right to have them in Kisumu! :)

 Blessings to all of you and thanks again for your prayers and support!!  Clara

The Yoder family at Yacht club

Family Day with Tommy's at Haandi's, a wonderful Asian Restaurant

Wayne and Bradlyn with our TALL friendly guard at Nakumatt

Logan, walking their turtle!

Bible study... eating nyoyo

Lina and baby Josephine

Lake Victoria

"Sisters" Heidi and Teacher Charity

Stacy and Rachel

Meriah Wagler with her friend... a frog

The food table on Thanksgiving Day

Who's pulling who? :)

Girls trying to get oreo cookies in their mouths without touching them with their hands

Need a great place to relax?  Come to Lake Victoria!!! :)