Kisumu Yoder's

"Be faithful in the little things, for in them our strength lies. To the good God nothing is little, because He is so great and we are so small." I like this quote by Mother Teresa. Sometimes in the mundane tasks of mission life I remind myself to do it as unto the Lord. It makes any boring task seem more exciting. :)

Monday morning found us scurrying around to help Clarissa get ready for her trip to Nakuru park with the Kisumu youth. We got veggies and dip ready and foil- wrapped some potatoes for their evening meal. We also sent brownies. The youth were gone for 2 nights and stayed at a nice lodge in the park. They reported a very nice time although I don't think they saw as many animals as they were hoping to see.

Tuesday was a very interesting day for Wayne and I. Our first visit of the day was at Maurice and Caroline's house. Someone had told us that they think Caroline is struggling with something so we went to see if we could be of assistance. I asked Caroline if she is well, and then she opened up and shared what has been bothering her. It was discovered back in 2014 that she has a tumor. She feels like it is growing and its causing her pain. She was quite shy in telling us these things. She admitted too that she cannot have children because of the tumor. They don't have funds to do more doctoring. Of course we are glad to help with this!! The couple will come up with some of the money but the needs committee at church can also help with the cost. I only wish that we'd have known about this before! We prayed with them and asked God for her healing, and that seemed to mean a lot to them. After that visit we went to widow Helen's house. The dear lady hadn't been able to sleep well at night because of bed bugs biting her! Wayne took the sprayer along and as it turned out he ended up spraying 3 houses that were close by. Oh I wish you could have seen their bedding and "mattresses". I expect there are very few homes in America that would be satisfied to sleep where these folks do. The thin foam mats that they sleep on are decrepit to say the least and the blankets are much to be desired. Wayne sprayed their bedding outside. Oh it makes a person feel so rich to see how little they actually have!! And yet they seem happy and content with what they have. What a challenge!! Before we got to Helen's house a group of children surrounded us and eagerly reached for the Bible story books that Wayne handed to them. There was a certain little girl, probably 2 or 3 yrs. old who almost immediately reached for my hand and she stayed right with me. When we wanted to walk the trail to Helen's house she walked with me and wouldn't let go of my hand. We visited a number of different people but she (her name is Hope) always hung on to me. She liked to sit on my lap, touch my face and glasses and look at the pictures in her new book. She was the sweetest little thing and cute as a button. A few times she let go of me long enough to hold Wayne's hand a bit but she was soon back. At the one house I watched Maureen mud the floor of their new house. It smelled like cow dung in there, which is really what it was! Its regular dirt mixed with cow dung and it makes a nice smooth surface when its done right. Maureen worked hard and it was fun to see how nice it actually looked when it was nearly done. At another house we met Jaduong (an old man) who was blind and almost deaf. I had to holler loudly into his ear to tell him my name and he still didn't understand. He got the drift from those close by that I was a mzungu and he seemed happy about that. He hung onto my hand and kept feeling my arm. The poor man has a large cyst on his shoulder. I've never seen anything like it!!!! Thankfully it doesn't pain him. The people in that homestead were very thankful to Wayne for spraying the bed bugs! It was definitely a worthwhile day! And when we had to leave little Hope looked so sad out of her eyes. I think she would've come home with us in a heartbeat!

I was disappointed that I didn't feel well on Wednesday and couldn't go along to Bible study at Hesbon's house. Wayne reported that they were served sodas and bread that day. That's unusual for our church as many of the people could not afford that. Wayne spent some time on Tues. and Wed. practicing to drive piki piki!! Lord help us!! You can really pray for me! Its been so scary for me to think of Wayne out on these treacherous roads on a motorcycle! Its so hard for me not to look at those things as "widow makers"! But I'm trying to just pray and rest in the Lord. In some ways it certainly is a blessing to have a quick, easy way to get around and I guess its much cheaper than running the vans so much.

Friday was spent getting ready for a belated language class supper at our house. We invited the whole compound here for a meal in celebration of the completion of language for Jakes, Carolyn, and us. We served baked potatoes, chili, and Mexican meat toppings, as well as broccoli with cheese sauce, and sour cream. I asked Lavina to bring us some bacon bits when she came home from America so that was GREAT! :) We also served cabbage salad, bread, and cake and ice cream! We enjoyed our evening very much. These people are getting more dear all the time!! We even had the wonderful blessing of using paper plates and cups!! Carolyn's brothers brought the plates from America for our special supper. That was SO nice not to have so many dishes to wash for a change!! The youth enjoyed their usual volleyball game afterward. Wayne was also busy on Friday. He had an interview with several ladies... one was a baptismal interview and the other one is someone who we hope can be restored to full membership if nothing comes up to hinder. While he was out visiting he met our dear little girl named Hope again! She was happy to see him and when he picked her up she put her arm around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. :)

Saturday was spent getting cleaned up from Fri. night and Clarissa made some yummy kolaches!! Now we used most of our raspberry pie filling from America, but maybe we can get some more sometime. They tasted SO good and Nessa and Brad would just "hog" them if they would be allowed! The girls and I went over to Steve's house a bit in the afternoon to watch Martha and Julie make waffle cones. It was so interesting! And tonight we plan to eat the cones with ice cream, along with other American goodies that Steve's brought. We're all invited to Steve's house for the eve. and I can hardly wait! :)

Our church service this morning was fairly well attended but people come so late. Wayne gave a little pep talk about that so hopefully it will make a difference. Sunday school went fairly well. We ladies were stuck on one verse the whole time. The verse in 1 Tim. 5 that talks about how its ok to use a bit of wine for the stomach's sake. In our church at home its something that we would almost skip over because its not an issue there. But here I need to be VERY careful that this is understood because some of the people would be so glad for an excuse to drink wine. I tried very hard to be sure they understood that it is only to be used as a medicine. After church we all, (the whole group) went down the road a bit to Zipro's house. She attended our church sometimes, but also the catholic church, and some others. She was epileptic and had huge scars on her face. I think from falling into the fire sometimes. She died recently and so we went to visit her family and give them our sympathy. We sang for them and prayed several times. Hesbon had a short devotional as well. It meant a LOT to the family and we were glad we went even though it meant eating lunch very late today. One of the last memories I have of Zipros was around Christmas time when she gave Wayne and me 3 small eggs wrapped in a dirty cloth. We could tell it was a gift from her heart and it meant a lot, even though we wished she would keep them since she needed them so much more than we did!

God bless you with a good week!! Thanks for your prayers and support! Clara