Choose Joy...

“Thankfulness is the soil in which joy thrives.”

“Only self can kill joy.”

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Ps. 16:11

  Recently we ladies from the compound were together for a sister’s meeting while the Pastor’s were having their meeting.  Our subject was “Joy”. These quotes and this Scripture were a few of the things that were shared that day… and I was blessed!!  Joy is something that goes much deeper than just a “happy” feeling that is dependent on circumstances.  We can CHOOSE to be joyful in spite of discomfort, trials, and hurts.  In the presence of Jesus is where we will find FULNESS of joy.  Let’s not neglect our time with Him! 

  We continue to enjoy GREEN grass and flowers and plenty of rain!  What a gift from God!  Sad to say some people are being blessed with an overabundance and it appears that some of the crops that were planted may not survive the flooding. Please pray for these people who depend so heavily on the weather for food for their tables.

  I hardly know where to start or stop with news.  Wayne has been busy working on land title issues in Ahero. He was grateful to finally receive one of the titles for the Ahero church property.  He also spent a full day at Ahero recently working on the well with the brothers.

  Bishop Eric needs our prayers.  He seems to be bombarded with difficulties.  A few weeks ago, while we were at Nyakoko for a Marriage seminar Eric’s house was broken into and their ID’s were taken. (He later found the ID out in a field.) A briefcase was forced open and money that he had recently collected from selling his piki (motorcycle) was taken as well as money he was holding for fencing the Ombeyi church plot.  It was a goodly sum so this has been devastating.  Please pray that Wayne and the other Pastor’s would have wisdom to know how to help in this situation.  They’re moving very slowly and carefully.  Things are not always as they seem and sometimes the truth about robberies like this doesn’t come out until later.  Oh, for the wisdom of God! 

  Our Maasai friend, David Musikenya, was here recently for another visit.  He works at the Maasai Mara which is about 4 hours from here but he has family living not too far from here, so when he visits them he stops by the compound for the night.  We enjoy having him here and learning more about the culture of these semi-Nomadic people.  They intrigue me.  We see them in Kisumu quite often.  The men have blankets wrapped around their bodies and oftentimes you will see a big loop in the ear.  They can dance like crazy!  David is known to jump VERY high!!

  Last Sunday we stopped to visit some fine folks on our way to Ugunja for church.  Wayne met a man in town named Henry a while back and he has been in contact with him ever since.  He told Wayne about his mother who was involved in a piki accident and had a bad break in her leg.  He really wanted us to visit them at his dala so we stopped for a brief visit and were very blessed.  They have a very nice house in Kenya standards and they graciously served us chai and bread. It’s always a blessing to make new friends like this!! We were a bit late in getting to church but they were understanding and kind to us.  We enjoyed the service and reached home in fairly good time. 

  The next evening the whole compound family was invited to Joseph’s house where we were served a wonderful Indian meal by Ranjit’s family.  I’m sure many of you formers, will remember our faithful Asian mechanic who has done so much for the mission over the years.  His wife served several different kinds of paneer, (YUM!!), and naans.  Becky made wonderful flavored rice to go with it.  They also brought black grams that were spicy and SO good!  The cabbage salad was great too but the dessert was something I had a bit of trouble enjoying.  It was kind of like donut holes in a sauce of some kind.  Interesting!  I think some people really liked it but the flavor was not really to my liking.  We really appreciated their kindness and Ranjit’s wife wants to come again sometime to show us ladies how she makes the paneer.  Another interesting feature of the evening was fried flying ants!  Brian Mast’s boys fried them in bacon grease and served them to a lot of brave souls.  My son even ate one that wasn’t fried!! Yuck!!  I was the only one of our family who didn’t think I could stomach those gross looking bugs! 

  We enjoyed a family day (no Pastor’s meeting and no school!) at Impala Park recently.  Clarissa missed out because she was with the youth girls from Kisumu who travelled to Mount Kenya for the weekend.  It was so relaxing to sit beside the lake and also watch impala, a giraffe, zebra, and a huge turtle. The monkeys are great fun to watch as well! The children and I went walking to see the leopard, cheetah, lions, etc. in their cages.  It’s a delight to have a place like that almost within walking distance of the compound and for those of us with an alien’s card the price is around 2-3 dollars per person for entrance to the park.

  This past week Kore brought some friends from America with him when he came to Kisumu to do food drops.  They were Jonathan Martin, Darrell Miller, Dorothy Beachy, Mary Jo Beachy, and Karen Conley.  Darrell spent his growing up years in the Nappanee, IN area and went to school with Wayne’s cousin Darrell Smucker.  We also discovered that Jonathan Martin was Shane Peery’s counsellor at Shepherd’s Fold.  Shane Peery was a convert from the Wytheville area that had a rough past of drugs and crime but was delivered through the power of Jesus Christ.  Shane eventually left the church but I am sure he will never forget his experience with the Lord and we hope that he will someday return.  Dorothy and I were good friends growing up and I also knew her cousin Mary Jo but not as well as my younger sisters did.  It was great to connect with them again!  Dorothy and Karen are both nurses so Stacy, Clarissa, and I took them to several hospitals in town to give them a glimpse of what Kenyan health care is like.  The first hospital had a rather curt Matron who didn’t allow us to tour the facility but the next place we stopped was great!  The head nurse took us on a tour and showed us around and explained things.  We hope this group of Kore’s friends enjoyed their stay in Kisumu as much as we enjoyed having them around!! 

  We were so thankful for God's protection on Bradlyn last week.  Wayne was mowing lawn close to Joe's hedge when suddenly the mower picked up a rock and threw it like a bullet toward our house.  Brad was sitting on the swing and it flew right over his head and through the screen behind him, also breaking the window.  The mower had the chute on it so I'm not sure why it happened but praise God for His angels! 

  On Friday, Wayne and pastor Brian went to visit Bishop Eric.  They had a good visit.  Eric's walking continues to improve and he is able to weed the shamba around the house.  Pray for him, he has faced some serious issues recently.

  This morning was our first Communion of the year 2018 at Ahero.  Wayne preached a good message and it was a meaningful service.  Announcement was made of a Baptism coming up in the month of May as well as an announcement about the goal of adding another Pastor to the church there to help Deacon Tobias who has been alone for a long time.  We left the service a bit before it was over because Wayne needed to be at Rabuor for a meeting with the members after their service.  We’re happy to report that issues have been worked out and there is full support to have Bishop ordination there, hopefully on May 6.  Pake Yesu!!  We’re very excited about this and hope that more leaders can be added to our churches in the next year or two.  Please help us pray! 

  Joe and Glenda and our family are very excited about our visitors who plan to come THIS week!  J  Jeremy and Marla Miller (our sister) and their 6 children! We plan to go to Nairobi on Thursday to pick them up at the airport!  More next time…  Wayne and Clara

 

 

Shonda, Vanessa and Brad at Impala Park

Impala

Ahero Bible Study at Mama Flora's

Repairing Matthews Koro's well.  Lucas Otieno, Tobias Ajuma and Matthews Koro

Water!!

Visit with Hesbon Odep (Lela)

Brad and his shop class project

Tiffany's 4th Birthday Party

Visit at Henry's dala

Wayne and Henry

Fried Ants!

Brave Grandma Christine!

You want some too?

Paneer Supper

Repairing the Ahero Church Well

Zacchaeus? Francis Obuya!

When we all pull together!  At one point the pipe broke and it went flying back down the well, but Lucas saved
it by keeping ahold of his rope!

No coupler?  No problem!  Making the "bell" to join the pipes together.

Great teamwork by the Ahero brothers!  

Brian Mast visiting with Bishop Erick

Ahero Communion

Mary Beachy, Clara, Dorothy Beachy and Karen Conley

 

Rain From Heaven...

"I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint." Jer. 31:25 NIV

   "God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, and sun without rain. But He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way."

 "When life throws you a rainy day, play in the puddles!"

  How wonderful it was to hear those first welcome drops of rain on our tile roof!!  Thank you God!  It's hard to believe how much things have changed since my last post.  There has been abundance of rain and the cool temperatures are truly amazing!!  I've actually wished for warmer weather a few times!  We needed sweaters at times and even socks felt good!  I have thanked God many times for bringing our national friends hope again!  They are busy planting and hoping for a good harvest. God is faithful and makes everything beautiful in His time.  The grass is actually greening up!!  Pake Yesu!  

  On Tuesday, Wayne, Tobias Ajuma and Frances, took Jane Juma to her father's home in the Nandi Hills to visit the family and pick up some maize that was there for them.  When they got to the home they discovered that Paul was planning to go along.  The brothers thought it couldn't be.  Paul is the one that has cancer and is just "skin and bones" and did not seem fit to travel.  They tried to talk him out of it, but he really wanted to go.  Wayne did not want to tell them what to do, but encouraged them to allow him to go as his time on earth is likely short and he will probably not be able to go again.  Paul made the trip  fairly well but stayed in the car the few hours that they were there.  The family enjoyed having Paul and Jane and the rest of them there and sent them home loaded with maize, a lot of bananas, and some beans, which is a real blessing to Paul and Jane.  Some of our people are struggling with having enough, as is fairly normal this time of the year.  With dry season ending, last years crop is usually gone, school fees are due and planting takes money as well.  Pray for faith and the provision of an Almighty Father.

  We enjoyed our week with the AMA delegation board members that were here... Jonas and Wanda Beiler and Phil and Sue Beachy. On Wednesday we hosted them at our house for lunch... chapatis, rice and beans.  That afternoon Jonas and Wanda joined Wayne and I at the Rabuor Bible study held at Angeline's house.  Jonas shared a good topic with us concerning "Little things".  That evening the board members treated the whole compound to a meal at Kiboko Bay.  That's something we look forward to every year!  We also enjoyed having Gerold's visitors with us.  Andy and Edna Yoder and their family from Brown Co. Ohio.  Their encouragement and support was a blessing for all of us. 

  On Thursday most of our morning was spent having our interview with the board members.  That evening we had an outdoor hymn sing and short prayer meeting at Josephs.  Afterward we enjoyed homemade ice cream and a variety of desserts.  

The next morning we were up bright and early preparing for the famous chicken butchering day!  It was my turn to make the hot food for brunch afterward so I needed to have my "ducks in a row"  and have things done ahead of time so I could spent most of the morning helping to clean chickens.  I think we were close to breaking a record with speed!  Thanks to all the extra help from the Andy Yoder family and Jonas' and Phils!!!  Gerold and Becky hosted the brunch and we enjoyed the fellowship!  It's always a great feeling to be finished with that big job and then enjoy some great food!  That afternoon Wayne and Jake went to Chulaimbo area to do the body transport of Alice Lusi who died of cancer.  It seems there are funerals almost every weekend!!  

  On Saturday Wayne attended the funeral of Alice.  Pray for her son Immanuel who is left alone now.  Immanuel is in his upper teens.  He and his sister were orphaned as young children when their mother, Alice's co-wife died.  Alice never had children of her own but took them in and cared for them as though they were her own.  That evening we hosted the board members here.  We ate our usual... Sat. night pizza!  Stacy and Rhoda joined us too. 

  On Sunday our family headed to Ombeyi for church.  The group was small and I felt rather lost because they didn't use an interpreter much except when Wayne was preaching.  We were SOOO happy to see Peter's wife Irene there that day.  Peter was excommunicated a few months back and for a while he refused to allow his wife Irene to attend church, but she now has his blessing to come!  She seemed happy to be there and shared a good testimony.  They named their new baby Wayne Weaver Otieno.  Wayne for my hubby and Weaver for Marlin Weaver (former missionary).  

  Tuesday was joint unit meeting again in Nakuru.  It was a nice drive that morning.  Joe and Glenda went with us and Clarissa and Shonda went with some of the other youth in James' van.  The breakfast was served by Freemans family and really "hit the spot!"  The meeting was a LONG one... probably because of some heavy things on the Pastor's minds right now such as national Pastor's support.  We were thankful to arrive safely home just before dark!  I felt bad for Glenda who was not feeling well on the way home.  The next morning she tested positive for malaria.  Please continue to pray about the malaria problem in the compound.  Some people have been victims 2 - 4 times!  The board members were taken to Nairobi that afternoon for their flight across the ocean.  They were a blessing to us!!  Thanks so much for coming!!

  

  Wayne and I attended the Lela Bible study this past Wed. at the home of Gordon (former member) and Eunice.  Eunice expressed her desire for her husband to be with us in church again.  There was a fairly good turnout that day and we enjoyed being with the Lela folks again.  

  Wayne has been attending quite a few meetings.  He spent time at a Believer's Messenger meeting (a new church periodical similar to the Calvary Messenger).  He also went with Jake one day to try to help a struggling marriage at the Chulaimbo church.  Another day was spent visiting members of the Ahero church with Pastor Tobias.  One of the visits was to mama Flora.  She is rarely able to attend church anymore and they went to see if she would be willing to host Bible Study.  Initially she said she was unable because she would be "wich kuot" (shamed) because she has nothing to share for tea.  After encouragement to trust God to provide for her, and reading Is.54:4-5 that tells widows they do not need to fear for they will not be "wich kuot" because God is their husband, she agreed that she would do it next week.

  On Saturday Wayne was asked to preach at the funeral of John Omondi's step mother (His mother is still living and Wayne tried to figure this one out, but still does not understand exactly who it was!).  In this culture a "brother" may actually be a cousin, your "youngest father" is probably your fathers youngest brother, you will therefore also have multiple "mothers".  Joe was there to show his support and brought their visitor, Sanford Nissley, with him.  We've enjoyed learning to know Sanford and Renita and their two daughters.  They recently returned back to Georgia after serving almost 5 years in Paraguay.  Sanford was really happy for the opportunity to attend a funeral in Africa!  

  The church service yesterday at Dienya was VERY unusual!!  It was raining when we left home and rained the whole time we were gone!!  I felt sorry for the people who arrived at church wet and cold!!  There was a Baptismal service planned so people tried hard to be there but the rain made it quite difficult.  Mary Orido (the daughter of Andrew Orwa from Kajulu) was baptized as well as Vincent, a nice young man who seems sincere.  We were also rejoicing with Lillian Achieng and Lillian Owino (Nick's wife), and a crippled man (James) who were restored to membership.  I think they had all been members at the Nyagondo church.  The group started out very small but by the time the short service was over a nice amount of people showed up.  It felt like the temperature kept dropping during the service!  I was wishing for socks, and ear muffs would've felt good! :) 

  We didn't have much time to mess around after church.  It was our turn to host the Sunday evening activity for the compound. I made sloppy jo sandwiches and the rest of the ladies brought some very yummy dishes to go with it.  We very much enjoyed hearing Sanford Nissley share about their work in Paraguay.  The pictures he showed were worth a thousand words!  It's so interesting to see the work of AMA in other parts of the world. 

  We had another busy day today!  I was in charge of serving the Pastor's hot drinks at 10:00 and then a lunch of chapatis and beans and sodas at 12.  We had a huge laundry today and Clarissa was busy taking care of the sewing class.  Clarissa's little sisters claimed at lunch time that they are still experiencing the Feb. blues at school.  They hinted to Clarissa that if she would bring them some popcorn to enjoy during their story hour, it would help their frame of mind.  Rissa kindly obliged. :) .  James Barkman flew out of Kisumu this evening beginning a long journey (20 hrs. of flying I believe)to Bogota, Columbia to represent MZL Kenya at a meeting of Mount Zion Literature Ministry representatives.  He plans to return on Saturday, Lord willing.   Nyasaye Ogwhedi! (God bless you)  Wayne and Clara for the Yoders

Near Jane's Home

Tobias, Frances and Jane walking to her Father's house

Roomy new bathroom!

Jane's Father and Mother

Frances, Jane's Father and Tobias

Rabuor Bible Study

Wanda and Clara talking with mama Perez and Hellen

What a blessing visitors are on butchering day!

Behind every successful man is a surprised mother in law!  Way to go Phil!
(Phil shared this quote at the pastors table one Monday!)

Viewing for Alice Lusi at the market where she worked

Dixie found a big monitor lizard one day!

Alice Lusi's burial

Stacy, Jake and Immanuel at the graveside

Happy 18th Clarissa!  

Wayne and baby Wayne Weaver Otieno

Unit Meeting

Jonas sharing a word of encouragement

Phil and Sue

Tiffany and friends, Delcia and Bella Nissley

The chicken house gets a roof lift.

Pastor Joe studying for his Sunday message during Luo funeral testimonies!  Accompanied by Sanford Nissley

A rainy Sunday at Dienya

The joy of receiving new members and restoring old ones!

Greeting after church

Passing the "drink" during Sanford's Paraguay presentation

One more round?

Whispering Hope...

 "Hope is seeing light in spite of being surrounded by darkness."

  "He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings." Ps.107:35

  "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:" Isa. 44:3

  A big thing on our minds is the oppressive heat of dry season.  For me, it's hard to function well.  The heat saps energy and tends to discourage me. Temperatures have been in the upper 90s every day. The dust rolls and my house would be dirty even if I'd clean 24/7... or so it seems. We ladies are not critical of each other's dirty houses because we all understand so well. The smell of dust is almost constant and my sinuses act up.  How I long for refreshing water from Heaven!  How wonderful it would be if God would water our plants rather than we buying city water to keep them alive.  One thing dry season does for a person is make you extremely thankful for rainy season!!  I didn't get over it all last year!!  Many times I found myself thanking God for rain!  But in spite of this dry, hot spell we have hope.  The rains will come in God's time and He will give grace to go through this dry spell. Yes God is good and we look forward to better days ahead!  :)

  On Jan. 30, exactly 2 months after Wayne's Grandpa Kore Yoder died, we got word that Wayne's other Grandpa, Steve Yoder, from Nappanee, IN, passed away in his sleep.  The next morning all lights seemed to be green for Wayne to fly "home" to attend the funeral.  I didn't want to leave our children alone here but I wanted Wayne to be able to go if he wanted to.  It was NOT easy to see him go!!  A weeks separation seemed VERY long, but after the hard "goodbye" was over we tried to keep each other cheered up.  Things went quite well in his absence and I was so thankful that there were no major catastrophes.  Life continued on pretty well as normal here with the children going to school and Clarissa and I kept busy with household duties.  We spent a day cleaning Stacy's house in preparation for her return back to Kenya.  It's been GREAT having her back and she seems glad to be here.  We missed her cheery presence while she was gone.  We ate a few meals at Joe's house while Wayne was gone and Brians invited us over for a Sunday eve. Another time Brians treated us to ice cream cones at KFC!  That meant a lot!! Wayne told us before he left that we could go out to eat one evening for something special.  But unfortunately we had to give up those plans because of demonstrations in Kisumu that day.  The political situation in Kenya is still very unstable.  Joe and Joseph were in Kericho for a meeting that day and they had a good bit of trouble getting home.  A trip that should've taken only an hour and a half took 3 1/2.  They could tell you stories... such as having panga's waved at them. People hitting their vehicle with sticks, a man jumping out right in front of them.  They bumped him a bit with the vehicle before he finally moved away.  They had to drive over a pile of branches on the road and I'm not sure what all... but thank God they arrived home safely!!  And we hope for a better political climate in the days ahead as well!!  

  Wayne was very thankful for the privilege of attending his Grandfather's funeral.  He saw a lot of cousins, uncles, and aunts, that he rarely sees.  It was special for him to spend time with his mom and dad as well!  One morning he had the privilege of spending time with Linford and Kay Bontrager at a coffee shop. He experienced some brutally cold weather while he was in IN and seemed to be glad to come back to the warmth of Kisumu.  His flight out of Chicago was delayed due to snow so his return was a bit later that planned but we were thankful it was only 6 hours or so later than scheduled.  We were delighted to watch his plane land at the Kisumu airport.  What a grand reunion! :)

  The day after Wayne arrived home we had a special 40th birthday surprise for Joseph at Kiboko Bay.  After returning to the compound we had some special dessert at Joe's house along with a short prayer meeting.  It was Joe's turn to host and they helped plan the surprise for Joseph.  

  On Friday Wayne visited Paul Juma again who is very low with cancer.  That eve. Kore joined us for supper as he was here for a few days doing CAM work.  Stacy also joined us.  

  We enjoyed the church service at Kajulu on Sunday. We were blessed that old mama Elizabeth has finally freely confessed her smoking addiction and seems to be doing well. The ban on her excommunication was lifted that day.   We were so happy to discover that the road to church has been worked on and is in much better shape than its been ever since our arrival in Kenya!  It sure cuts down on the amount of time it takes to reach the church! 

  Monday evening was our annual KBL meeting at Jake's.  It's a good time to connect with some of the non CBF neighbors who live in this compound as well.  We had a good evening and Jake's provided a nice snack and drinks.  

  The week after Wayne's return from America he spent a good bit of time fixing things.  I thought I might scream if anything else quit working around here.  There were a number of different water problems and well... I won't go into all the gory details of everything that happened... but come to think of it, I can be VERY grateful that all that stuff didn't happen while he was gone!  Pake Yesu!!  

  On Wednesday Wayne and I and James and Christina headed to Ugunja for Bible study at Anna's house.  It was SO warm in her house that day and I thanked God when I felt a light breeze.  We enjoyed learning to know the Ugunja members a bit better and we were served mandazis and chai afterward.  

  Tony and Judith's family came to Kisumu on Thursday morning.  Tony needed to spend a few days working on well projects for CAM.  We enjoyed having them here.  We served a special birthday supper for Bradlyn on Thurs. eve.  He chose grilled chicken, potatoes, and pasta salad.  And of course there was cake and ice cream.  Hard to believe my baby is 8 years old!!  We needed to hurry a bit with cleaning up dishes because we were on schedule to host prayer meeting at our house that eve.  We enjoyed that as well!  The power went off during prayer time like it does so many times!  

  On Friday afternoon Wayne spent more time visiting in Ahero.  Please pray for Tobias and Emma.  Their marriage is really struggling and Emma has not been attending church. The same afternoon Judith and I went to the school for a while to take a Birthday snack in honor of Brad's birthday.  Janice also helped with food since Mahlon had a birthday the same day.  On Fri. eve. we were treated to some of Judith's yummy cooking!  She wanted to make paneer butter masala for us and also invited Joseph and Becky and Joe and Glenda.  It was delicious!!!  And Becky's dessert was great too!!  That night Bradlyn and Jamie and 3 of Brian Mast's boys slept in the tent on our lawn.  They had a great time by the sound of things. 

  Yesterday Wayne and Joseph had a Bishop's meeting in Kericho.  They met the AMA delegation there, Jonas and Wanda Beiler, and Phil and Sue Beachy.  They came along back to Kisumu with Joseph and Wayne and now we look forward to spending some time with them this week!  God bless all of you and thank you for your prayers and support!!  Clara for the Yoders

 

Wayne's friend Felix visiting school

Protests in Kisumu because of the arrest of opposition leaders

Dad and Mom, Aunt Jane, Aunt Bertha and Uncle Steve Hulse

Grandpa Steve

The siblings: L-R Dave, Bertha, John, Ruth, Glen, Mary Jane and Steven Yoder

Hi Linford and Kay!

Some of the grandchildren and great grand children

Great Uncle Melvin Yoder and Dad

Happy 40th Joseph!

Cleaning out the water tank and fixing the water problems

Jane Juma and Marlin

Ugunja Bible study Chai time

Happy Birthday Bradlyn!

Tony, Judith and Kaiden