Kisumu Yoder's: True Beauty....

"A pure heart is the vessel that contains a soul's true beauty." Molly Freindenfeld

"Outer beauty pleases the eye. Inner beauty captivates the heart."

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Amosi (Hello) from Kisumu! God answered our prayers on Friday night and sent us a drought-breaking rain!! THANK YOU God!! It was a gully washer and the grass that I thought may never come back is starting to show some green! We had heard that people were saying the cattle will soon start dying because of nothing to eat. But maybe this is only the beginning of more rain to come!! Please continue praying for our drought-stricken friends!

Monday was Pastor's meeting as usual. I missed having Clarissa here to help me carry the Pastors their morning chai. But I made out alright... just did it in two trips. We were busy that afternoon getting chairs, dishes, etc. ready to take along to Jennifer's Gardens the next day where a Pastor's meeting ( including all the National Pastor's from Kisumu), was held.

Tuesday morning found Wayne and I heading to Jennifer's with Mark and Mary Ellen. We went out of our way a good bit to go pick up Bishop Eric and his wife Gaudencia. We were so glad he was able to go with us in spite of his broken leg. He is walking with crutches now. It took us over an hour longer, on VERY bumpy roads to get to our destination but that's ok. We really enjoyed our day! It was beautiful there as usual... so nice and green. It has obviously been raining there! While the men had their meeting we ladies enjoyed hearing a topic by Mary Ellen Beachy. I had asked her to share something that she had recently shared with their church ladies... on the subject of " True Beauty". That's what inspired the subject of this letter. I was challenged with the thought that we can all choose to be beautiful.... no matter how we look on the outside. I'm so challenged by people who have beautiful hearts and inspire others to have the same. Joseph grilled some wonderful chicken for us that day and we also had rice, potatoes, chapatis, cabbage salad, and banana bread to go with it. It started raining before we left that afternoon and I was COLD!! It rained most of the way home and we were so hoping that Kisumu got it too. But it was not to be. Instead we experienced one of the worst dust storms ever!! When we got home our house was covered with dust!! It took a while to to clean up my house and also wash up all the dirty dishes from our lunch at Jennifer's. Days like that remind me to be thankful for all the paper supplies we were used to using at home! :) Please don't take it for granted ladies!

On Wednesday Wayne spent a good part of the day working on our drinking water situation here at the compound. We have been discouraged with very nasty tasting water at times... a moldy, musty, taste. And I often find dirt on the bottom of our water jug when I go to refill it. Our water test shows clear but the bad taste has been very disturbing. It's not always that bad. Sometimes the city water seems to be much better quality than other times. It seems to go from over chlorinated to stagnant. Wayne worked on reconfiguring the filter system, scrubbing and bleaching the tank again and adding another filter. We sure hope for better drinking water soon!!

Thursday Wayne went to Bishop Eric's house so he could be there when a traditional Doctor came to the house to set his leg and put another cast on. I forgot to tell you in the last letter that one night, after Eric had the pins in his leg for a number of weeks, as he stretched and changed position in bed; he felt something pop in his leg and instantly had a lot of pain. A day or so later Joe and Dean took him back to Tenweck hospital. Eric was in HORRIBLE pain! They checked things out and it was discovered that his break had come apart again and they said he had infection in the bone. That was discouraging news!! They took the pins out of his leg, put a cast on and sent him home with antibiotics. Poor Eric! The Doctor felt like amputation was the best way to take care of the problem but of course Eric didn't want that! Because Tenwek did not give him much hope, on Thursday Eric had a local "natural doctor" come to his house to try and work with the bone. Wayne asked this "natural doctor", where he learned to do this. He told him that he had learned the trade from his grandfather. We were concerned that this "doctor" was free from witchcraft because "healers" that use the power of evil are still around. This friendly little "doctor" appeared to know what he was doing and seemed clear from anything "evil". From what was seen Wayne says there was infection in one of the holes that the pin had been in. The "doctor" set up right out there in the yard surrounded by everyone, skillfully and patiently cut off the plaster cast and after carefully looked at the leg, felt bone position and after rubbing something like "Unkers" and a herbal concoction on it; skillfully splinted and wrapped the leg. He sure needs our prayers!! We certainly hope his body can fight the infection and that his bone is set right! We are grateful for Eric's trust in God and his good attitude in this trial. After leaving Eric's house Wayne and Tobias went to visit some Ahero members. The one lady was to be baptized on Sunday and they went to make sure she was ready for the occasion. She said she was ready so plans were made for Baptism and Communion on Sunday at Ahero. That eve. Prayer meeting was held at Deans. I stayed home with Bradlyn because he was sick with fever, and a bad headache. I was sorry I missed out on meeting Gerold's visitors that arrived that day. Judith and Elaine Schlabach are here! (Delbert and Susan's girls) Kore Beachy arrived from Nakuru that day and stayed in the area until Saturday... doing CAM work. Our children always love when he comes! :)

Friday was another full day for Wayne. He worked on a marriage legalization in the morning and then Wayne and Joe had a meeting with one of the Lela members who had fallen into sin. Thankfully the man was very open and honest and finally confessed everything! We hope for better days ahead in that home and especially in their troubled marriage. I was busy that day running to Nakumatt, and so on. I also stopped at a Chemist to get some liquid Amoxicillin for Bradlyn. I'm still amazed at how you can just walk up to a Chemist and ask them for the meds you want. I also worked on getting a Birthday snack together for Shonda and Jeneva's birthday party at school that afternoon. Barbara Jean brought the salties and I took stuff for Coke and Fanta floats. It hit the spot on a hot afternoon! And then I worked on a cake for Shonda, her favorite! Chocolate with lots of frosting! That eve. the youth planned to play volleyball on the lane but the big rain changed their minds. It started pouring soon after the net was set up so everyone headed for shelter and then in the middle of the storm of all things... a tuk tuk came and headed down the lane, running into the net, bending one of the posts and breaking the top of the post that held the lights off and bending the other post as well! Sigh... such is life sometimes.

Saturday was a nice day at home getting things accomplished that should've been done months ago... such as power-washing out screens and windows (from the inside of the house!) I'm so thankful to my Honey for helping me!! It makes a lot of work afterwards. I had to mop up puddles of water off my floors, wipe all the windows and frames, etc. In the eve. we did something special for Shonda's 13th birthday. We ate at Acacia. We love going there... it's a beautiful view of Kisumu and the lake. We can watch planes take off and land at the airport. We only ordered 2 plates of chicken strips and 2 plates of fries and shared them between us... also some passion juice. The place is very Americanized but they also charge American prices!!

Today was the big day at Ahero... Baptism and Communion! Or so we thought! But Isca, the lady who was to be baptized never showed up! The last time her baptism was scheduled she didn't come either because of a burial in the family. No one seemed to know why she didn't show up this morning. So Bishop says more proving time is needed now!! We had a good service. Wayne preached a challenging message on "Taking our cross." If we want to gain the CROWN some day we must first take up the CROSS. The service finally ended at 1:00.

We are eagerly awaiting Clarissa's arrival back in Kisumu on Wednesday!! She's having such a great time at home that we're afraid she doesn't want to come back! :) Let's choose to be beautiful people this week! "There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others." Blessings, Clara