Kisumu Yoder's: Another week in Luo land

Its a beautiful evening in Kisumu! We've had so much rain, so it's a blessing to have sunshine all day!! And the temperature is about perfect!

Thanks to all of you who remembered me on my Birthday! It was a special day! Wayne told me he would stay home all day and do whatever I want to. Wow! :) We ended up going to town and getting some needed supplies... to the little duka where we get bread, to the meat shop, to a pharmacy to get plasters, (bandaids), and to Nakumatt. Its always an adventure to go shopping! :) You never know what amazing sight you will see next. After school, Wayne and I took the teachers some cold Pepsi and sat down to chat a while. We just wanted to make sure things are running smoothly and talk a bit about the Christmas program coming up this week. In the evening our family went to the Yacht Club to watch the sunset on Lake Victoria. It was relaxing to sit by the water and watch for hippos. :) We still haven't spotted any and the sunset wasn't very great because of clouds but we enjoyed our time anyway. After we got home the single ladies from the compound joined us for cake and ice cream. We had a great evening and heard some interesting stories. :)

Bible study was at Peter and Benter's house on Wed. They are probably the most "well to do" folks in our Church... a number of their family are school teachers. I had a comfortable couch to sit on and maybe thats why I had a terrible time staying awake for the Bible study. :( Peter's house is a more permanent structure than most of the houses... looks like block walls outside, and they even had lights on in the room since it was rather dark outside.

Wayne had a very tiring but rewarding day on Thurs. He was asked to preach at a large school 3 1/2 hours from here where a Pentecostal Assemblies of God youth conference was being held. I think there were around 600 youth there. The main reason they wanted someone to come was so that they could get Bible story books for all the attendees. Wayne personally handed out all the books. He was told that he could preach for 3 hours but he told them it wouldn't be that long. He ended up speaking for about an hour and a half. Everything was translated into Swahili. We hope and pray that the message they heard will bring forth fruit. The students heard TRUTH and now realize the importance of the decisions we make and how it affects our eternal destiny. Wayne says the trip was "brutal". The road was terribly rocky and rough... into the interior of Africa! I was so glad he was not alone... 3 of our church brothers, Jacob, Maurice, and Walter went with him to give moral support. Needless to say, I was VERY happy to see him come home safe and sound that evening!! I thought he might be too tired to go to Prayer meeting at Tommy's that evening, but he was okay. We really enjoyed the lovely singing. We also got to hear the youth and Marlin and Lavina practice songs that they were asked to sing at a wedding on Sat. The singing was GREAT!

Friday was a very busy day! In the morning my washer quit working so Wayne and the "little boys" traded it for the guest house washer. Wayne went to the Lela Church again to spray fleas, since the first spraying session didn't seem to do any good. :( He also went to Zilpa's house a bit to take something she needed, and chatted with some neighbors that live close to the church. We're thankful that we can have a good relationship there and the unfortunate episode with Kevin didn't cause too many problems for us and the church. I did laundry, some cleaning, and made food for Tony's, Joe Fisher, and the single ladies from here for supper. Tony and Joe had a food drop again in the area here so we were glad to have them here again. Judith and the children came along too and they stayed here overnight. As we were enjoying our food on the carport it suddenly became very windy and stormy, so we had to go inside to finish our meal. Tony's salad blew off his plate! The power went off for a little while too, so we sat around with candles, and the gas lantern.

Saturday was the wedding of a young couple at the Oroba Church. Wayne and I had plans to go,as well as most of the compound families, but Fri. night Wayne decided that he should stay home because he had nothing prepared for Instruction class and the message on Sunday.So Clarissa and Shonda went and Wayne and I got some needed work done around here. Judith and the children went to the wedding as well and were met by Tony and Joe later in the day. Wayne went with Jake that afternoon to pick up 200 chicks to be raised here in the compound. The girls reported a VERY bumpy, hour long ride to the wedding and then a long wait for the wedding to actually start. Tommy preached a very interesting message and then there was another long wait til the food was served. They had a typical Kenyan meal... Rice, beans, ugali, and sukumu. The girls came home very tired but they were glad they went.

Wayne preached a message from Matt. 5 this morning on "Meekness." It touched my heart as well as others and brought some tears and confessions. We are thankful for our Brothers and Sisters at Lela who seem to be strong, but also willing to admit failure.

Christmas blessings to all of you!! :) We will really miss being with all of you, our dear family, on that special day, but we will do our best to make the day special here in Kenya as well. Love to all, Clara

I"m having trouble adding all the pictures to this post so I will create a new post with more pictures. Wayne