Kisumu Yoder's: A Safari to Lake Elementaita

Happy New Year to all of you... our friends and supporters!! God has been SO GOOD to us this past year and given grace and courage to face the unknown. I'm glad we don't need to have a repeat of 2015 and the huge learning curve... language classes, culture shock, and much more!! But God's faithfulness in the past spurs us on to embrace a new year and the challenges we are sure to face.

This past week has been a blessing and refreshing for us. On Tues. morning we left for Nakuru. It was a pleasant drive and the scenery along the way was spectacular!! When we rounded the corner into Tony's compound Jamie and Ayla were sitting outside their gate waiting for us. :) We had beans and chapatis for lunch... which we love! And then we all piled our luggage and food for our "safari" into and on top of the van and headed for Lake Elementaita, which is about an hour's drive from Nakuru. I was amazed at the scenery close to the lake. It looks like Mexico in some ways but also VERY much like Arizona!! We arrived at Oasis in good time and found a cluster of thatch-roofed cabins in the woods. There are nice rocky trails between the cabins and also a trail leading down to the lake. We had two cabins. They are very rustic but met our needs well. We ate all of our meals outside and the fire in the evenings felt so good since it was quite cold!!! Jamie and Bradlyn were in their glory... they loved running the trails and "hiding" in the woods and just being boys I guess. I was so amazed at all their energy!! I can't imagine running around and playing hard all day like they can!! After unloading our things in the cabins we walked down to the lake. Its BEAUTIFUL there! The only thing that would've made it better was if there would be nicer trees. For some reason there are a lot of dead trees around, but the water is SO nice! There were flamingos off at a great distance and also many pelicans. We were hoping to see hippos but from what we found online they are no longer around the lake there. It was a quiet peaceful place to be and after life in the city it's a real blessing to experience life in the woods and by the water! When I got back to our cabin I soon saw that something was amiss!!! There was an onion on the floor and I was sure we hadn't put it there! And Judith had a nice pan of apple goodie in the kitchen ready for our dessert that eve... but lo and behold SOMETHING had neatly peeled back some of the tinfoil covering the pan and eaten a portion of it!! It made a nice even (trail) on the edge of the pan. Hmmm... what is going on!!! And OH what are these "piles" all around the cabin? It didn't take Tony long to figure out what it was! MONKEYS!!! We had seen some on our way down to the lake and obviously while we were gone they had a party in the cabin! They climbed through a very high window upstairs that was open for ventilation. No problem for a monkey! :) I was really beat out that they ate my onions because I wanted to saute peppers and onions together for our breakfast burritos the next morning! I was happy later to find that the one onion was on top of a bunk bed in the girls bedroom. The monkey had peeled it and taken a small bite but it was still salvageable. :) Tues. night we slept pretty well but I was rather cold, especially my nose!! I was glad when the sun came out the next day and we could warm up again. After a yummy breakfast we headed down to the lake where we spent most of the day. I read quite a bit and we played some bocce ball. Some of them played corn hole as well. A monkey came to visit us once and the girls had fun throwing him some nuts and watching him eat and scratch himself. :) Wed. eve. Tony grilled some yummy chicken and Judith made runion french fries that were wonderful!!!!! Thurs. morning after a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and some not so yummy Kenyan sausage we headed back to Nakuru. It felt good to have a really nice shower and relax again in the afternoon. That evening Tony's and us were invited to join a few families from the Nakuru unit who were not on vacation or elsewhere. All the CAM folks were there... Luke and Jamilla Kurtz, Brian and Maria Wagler, and also Joe and Marilyn Kuepfer with their newborn twins!! Joe works with the "Open Hands" program in Kenya and they live in Nakuru as well. Marcus and Wanda Burkholder were there also as well as Dave and Rose Stoltzfus. Mark Payne was there as well, he is from South Carolina and I believe he is the auditor that AMA and CAM use. We REALLY enjoyed the fellowship and were happy to get to know some of these people better. On Fri. morning after Tony served us some yummy omelettes we headed back to good ole Kisumu. Wayne thought I should drive part of the way so I agreed since we had Marlin Stoltzfus' van and it is automatic. It felt weird to be driving again after close to 5 months!!! And it's very strange indeed to drive with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side!! I kept "hugging" the left side of the road and I think I made Wayne a bit nervous. I had to learn where my wheels were. Sometimes when I tried to avoid potholes I was sure I was straddling them but then we would LURCH and I had hit them!! I still can't understand it!! I finally had to concentrate on staying close to the middle of the road and then it went better. I enjoyed the speed bumps! Its fun to see how "smooth" you can make them. :) Kisumu looked wonderful to me when we came back and our house just felt like home!! It was a wonderful feeling to realize that yes I do like it here and home is where the heart is I guess. That afternoon and the next day were spent putting things away and taking care of a HUGE stack of laundry!! Fri. eve. we enjoyed watching the volleyball game and catching up on news around here. We enjoyed seeing Javan and Nora; Steve and Martha's son and daughter in law, as well as Carolyn's two brothers, Elmer and Ethan, who are visiting right now.

Our service this morning was good. Teaching Sunday school is going better for me I think. I was rather discouraged with the language barrier sometimes but if I have a good translator it goes much better. Wayne preached a message on "Seeing God in History" and looking ahead to a new year... knowing God will be faithful as He has been in the past. We had a number of visitors which always adds spice to the service.

Blessings to all of you!! Clara for the Yoders