Kisumu Yoder's: The Beauty of Forgiveness..........

"To forgive is to set the prisoner free, and realize the prisoner was you."

"Relationships don't thrive because the guilty are punished, but because the wounded are merciful." Max Lucado

Forgiveness... the glue for a broken heart.

Yesterday as my girls and I were entering our brand new Tusky's store, downtown, I was stopped by a lady who was curious about who we are and what we believe. She was impressed by our veils and I don't think she had ever seen people like us before. She's from Nairobi but lives in Switzerland. I tried to explain briefly who we are and ended by saying that we try to live as close to the Bible as we know how. She seemed impressed and said it's something that she has wanted all her life but she finds it so difficult to live as the Bible teaches. She struggles with forgiving those who have offended her. I was struck by that because it's something I've been struggling with as well. I shared with her that forgiveness is not something that I can do on my own strength. I need God to help me. I guess I'm still a work in progress... how I wish that forgiveness would come easily and petty offenses could be quickly forgotten. God is still working on me and I'm thankful for his patience with me. Forgiveness is a beautiful thing that frees us from the prison of self.

We certainly can't complain about the weather these days! With the fact that we're in the middle of dry season things could be very miserable. We did have some very warm days last month but lately the temperatures have been SO nice and we've even had some rain! Last evening we had a 3/4”. What a wonderful gift from God!

Close to two weeks ago Brian and Mary Jane, Janette (Marlin and Lavina's daughter who is here filling in as social worker), and I visited Fred and Caroline Ochola. We weren't planning to stay long but they were so glad to see us and insisted we stay. First we were served some wonderful mandazis and chai and after quite some time we were served a meal as well! This couple used to live in Nakuru so they know my sister, Mahlon and Ruth Stoltzfus, and Mary Jane's sister, Dave and Leah Ruth Stoltzfus, and Janette's parents, Marlin and Lavina. Before we left Caroline wondered if we could all take a parcel for our sisters in America. We agreed to do this and then she proceeded to put more food on our plates and we were supposed to eat it for our family members! :) Groan... how could we eat more!! But we got a few bites down and then she was satisfied. They seem starved for fellowship and love when visitors come.

The next day Wayne and I and Janette went all the way to Chiga for Bible study with the Kajulu folks at Paul and Mary's Amimo's house. The road was BAD the whole hour plus that we drove. Any smooth stretch of road that we came to was a huge relief. Paul was overjoyed to have all of us at his dala so it made the journey seem more worth it. Wayne heard a good goat story that day... there was a thief in Paul's area who stole a goat and dressed it in a shirt, pants and a hat. It was placed on a piki between the driver and another passenger and then headed to the Ahero market. Lo and behold the piki ran out of gas! While at the gas pump the “passenger” dressed in the hat had to get off so they could fill it with gas. Well of course that made the gas attendant's suspicious because WHY would a goat be dressed like a person!! :) Be sure your sin will find you out!! The driver of the piki was caught but the other person got away. That eve. Joe's and Rhoda and Janette were here for our usual supper of chapatis and beans.

On Friday Brian had an accident while driving our vehicle, the Fortuner. It wasn't his fault and thankfully he wasn't hurt badly but the police insisted that he goes to the hospital since he had a gash on his head. Brian was on the way home from town when a lady coming from a cross street failed to stop. He swerved to avoid her car and was hit by an oncoming vehicle. The lady that caused the accident fled the scene. This process of taking care of things with the police and the other party, has caused some of the Pastor's many hours of time and it takes a lot of patience to work through all the details. Our vehicle's front wheel was hit a solid blow, so it caused a fair amount of damage to the drive train on that side. It's now in the process of getting fixed. The same day Wayne was doing Phoebe's body transport and he also had to exercise a lot of patience as he had to wait a long time for people that were late. They were to gather at the mortuary to pick up the body at 11 am. They finally left the mortuary around 2 pm. The burial was in Kanam, which is close to 2 hours from Kisumu. He got home after dark on

both Friday and Saturday eve. I was SO glad when that burial was over!!

On Sunday we went to Chulaimbo where Jake preached a good message on Finances. One of the members there, Jacob, mentioned some interesting things in his devotional... He talked about the story of Noah getting drunk after the flood and the curse that was placed on Canaan the son of Ham because of Ham's sin. He explained where the different nationalities of people come from and that Africans are the cursed children of Ham. (I find this belief to be disturbing WY) He did make a good application to the scripture and warned us that we should not mock the “nakedness” (troubles) of others. After church we waited a while for Jake's to join us for lunch since they got word that old mama Joyce was very sick, no longer walking or talking. It was discovered she had a bad case of malaria and Jake's were able to get help for her. It was known earlier in the week that she had malaria but for some reason no one took her to the doctor or got meds for her. That eve. we enjoyed watching some spikeball being played on the lane.

On Monday eve. after Pastor's meeting we enjoyed spending some time with Delores Mast's visitors, her brother Merlin Masts, and sister Gloria who came to Kisumu for a short visit. We had a good meal at Kiboko Bay. Joe and Glenda and Rhoda and Janette were there as well. The next morning Delores took her family for a boat ride on the lake.

Tuesday was joint unit meeting and we were the hosts this time. The meeting went quite well and was over in good time. It's always nice when things are done in a timely way and those traveling don't have to get home after dark. That eve. there was a power outage here and we discovered that the whole countries of Kenya and Uganda were affected. My heart sank when I heard the news because I expected the outage could last a LONG time... but to our great relief it was only off here in Kisumu for 4 hours or so.

Wayne and Joe and Wayne (Gerold's son), spent close to two days last week working on building a security fence here in the compound. There is an apartment building being built just outside the compound gate in Ludvick's compound. They needed to make a hole in the hedge for their own gate so we needed to build a fence across their former entrance for security reasons. I suppose the noise level around here might increase even more once this project is under way! :(

On Friday eve. we were privileged to be invited to Joseph and Becky's for supper! They also invited Kore and the two fellows who were working with him, Marcus Troyer, and Glen Zimmerman, who are presently working in Uganda with CAM. This past week they spent a few days in Wajir, in northern Kenya, looking at current needs and checking on past projects. Rhoda and Janette were at Joseph's as well and we had a wonderful meal and good fellowship. After supper a number of the Pastor's joined the small amount of youth we have here for a few lively games of volleyball. It's a great way for them to get some exercise!

Today we went to Ahero for church. Tobias was scheduled to preach at Lela today so Wayne was the only Pastor at Ahero. I was surprised when we ladies went outside for Sunday school and they informed me that they want me to teach today. I asked them if they are studying a certain Scripture and they said no... they wanted me to choose a passage. Hmm... I breathed a quick prayer and thankfully it didn't take long. Almost immediately I felt drawn to the passage in James 3 where it talks about the tongue. We discussed forgiveness for offenses and those things as well. Wayne preached a good message from II Tim. 2:1-6, taking one point from each verse. 1. Be Strong, 2. Be a Teacher, 3. Be Willing to Suffer, 4. Be Focused, 5. Be Obedient, 6. Be Faithful. After leaving Ahero we stopped at Rabuor where Wayne was planning to meet with one of the members who seems not to understand Deacon William's desire to be excluded from consideration for Bishop ordination because of his health, but the member “escaped” just before we got there so it will have to wait. We were disappointed that this whole process of ordination will take longer than expected, but we trust that in the end God will be glorified and His Kingdom will be strengthened. Someone who was in the financial circle taking care of church offerings was discovered to have invested some for his own benefit... but thankfully he is admitting his sin and hopefully there can be restoration made soon.

Please continue praying about the situation of getting work permits for Brian and James.

Blessings to all, Clara for the Yoders