Life with Lynn...

A week of Thanks!

2012-02-14T15:35:00.000+03:00

I am a day late in posting my counting of God's blessings for the past week. I have been in meetings the last two days and just did not have time to get this typed up and posted. This past week I was home in Lodwar for a couple of days and then I was in Nairobi. Just FYI :)

118. Beautiful bird song outside my window.

119. Baby Boniface Ekidor Longok. So, thankful he came on his own when we thought his mom was going to have to go to the not so good hospital in Lodwar!

3 red gifts

120. Fuchsia flowers over a wall.

121. Seeing an old college friend in Nairobi and sharing a meal to catch up - he has red hair :)

122. Bright Turkana women dressed for a politician's visit in red, green, blue and yellow beads.

123. Hospitable friends who open their hearts and homes to me whenever I am in town.

124. A vehicle I can borrow while I am in Nairobi to get around town.

125. A chance to see a movie in a theatre - Warhorse - good, but a tear jerker.

126. Playing cards with friends.

3 gifts of Laughter overheard

127. Laughing over God's sense of humor with a teenaged friend.

128. Hearing people laughing and bargaining at an open air handcraft market.

129. Hearing people laugh at other tables while in a restaurant.

130. Nostalgic moment at finding a book I read when in grade school.

131. Not feeling well, but able to easily get the medicines to treat what ails me.

132. Family movie night with the Caziers. Fun, popcorn, and a movie. What's not to like?

133. Being able to see the hustle and bustle of Nairobi and not feel like I have to take part in it. A very peaceful day shopping and resupplying for my return to Lodwar.

134. Praising Jesus in word and song in an English worship service. What a Joy!

135. Lunch, laughter and fun with friends after church.

136. Seeing the movie "The Help" after reading the book and being saddened and challenged by both.

137. A home full of friends and teammates for a meeting (blah) - but so good to have the feeling of being in each other's presence and sharing His work!

138. Great news about Hope Partnership starting a centre in Lodwar! 300 children to be sponsored, schooled and their families transformed through the hope of the Gospel.

139. God's peace in the midst of many questions.

I forgot to bring my camera with me from Turkana so I don't have many pictures this time. Hopefully, the words will suffice to give you an idea of the blessings of my past week.

I enjoy comments, so leave one and tell me a thing or two that you are thankful for this week. If your interested in finding out about sponsoring a child contact me and I will get the information. I really am very excited to see what God is going to do through Hope Partnership in Turkana!

A Book, a quote and thoughts on life

2012-02-12T18:00:00.000+03:00

While shopping in Nairobi this last week, I stopped in a bookstore. If you know me at all, you know I love books. So, I wandered the aisles just looking to see what was new and what looked interesting. I found a book in the kids section that I remember reading when I was in grade school. It made an impression on me because I remember reading it. I remember thinking it was a great book.

Well, I had a bit of a nostalgic moment right there in the bookstore and decided to get it and maybe share it with "my Turkana kids." I needed to read it again (just for fun and) to see if my kids would understand it. I think it will be a little hard for them, but I do think they will enjoy it.

I found this great quote that makes reading the book again after all these years so worth it. Here it is.

"But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It's hollow."

Our everyday lives can get very busy. We get caught up in the doing and forget about the being. When I do this for very long, I do begin to feel empty. I have all the facts and I am getting things done, but I still feel disconnected in some way. I get so busy doing all the things that need to get done. I check one thing off my list and two more take its place.

I need - not should, but need - to take time to reflect and pray about what is going on in my life. I even need to take time to let my Faith and all it means to me fill me up until I can feel it inside me when I begin to get that disconnected feeling. I need to take all the facts and events in my life and reflect on them. I need reflect on God's Word and how it is making me into the person that I am each day. I need to do this so I don't feel hollow or burnt out or whatever else you might want to call it.

Am I doing this? Are you? Most days I do spend time in God's Word and pray about the day. But, there are days when I get to thinking I need to cut this short 'cause there is so much to do. If I don't, I'll feel guilty about the time spent here. Do you think this way sometimes too? I think it is good to be reminded that this reflecting on the facts, on our faith, on our day, and on His Word - this is what we need to do. The other things on our lists will get done and probably be done even better if we will take the time to do this. Otherwise, we will make a lot of noise - like a trumpet or a cymbal - but we won't be full. We won't BE.

I just wanted to share this quote and this thought with you. I thought it was a good reminder. If you are curious about the book, it is called From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. You can find it online here:

http://www.amazon.com/Mixed-up-Files-Mrs-Basil-Frankweiler/dp/1416949755/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329058306&sr=8-1

Any thoughts from you? I love comments! :). Have a great week and remember to take the time to let all of life fill you up until you feel it so you don't walk around making a bunch of hollow noise.

Bountiful Bonanza of Blessings

2012-02-06T20:46:00.000+03:00

It's counting time again. I had fun this week looking for and recording God's blessings. Have you been counting too? I'd love to read a little of the ways God has blessed you thus far this year! Share the Joy and keep counting.

Gifts found on paper, in a person & in a picture

96. The joy of reading words on a page! Such a blessing.

giving a test to a new reader

97. lunch with Turkana friends at a "hoteli" in town :)

98. A picture of helpfulness in words - a big brother helping his little brother with homework under my carport.

99. 11:30 gift found in Nehemiah's leadership Bible study

Turkana Nehemiah

100. 2:30 - a helpful ticket agent for a flight I'm taking next week.

101. 6:30 - Nachos for dinner - Yum!

Gifts over heard today

102. "This shortcut is Stinky!" said by laughing children as we walked a narrow path sometimes used as an outhouse at night. I know - kinda gross, huh?

103. 4 year old Akiru singing church songs with her Mom in my kitchen.

104. About 30 kids surrounding me on my walk and asking over and over "how are you?"

Gifts found in writing

105. An old letter from my beloved but deceased Grandma found today.

106. Connecting online through comments and posts!

107. Writing His Word to hide it in my heart.

108. Skype made distance between oceans fade for a short time - Yay technology!

Gifts seen when bent down

109. My small cactus has grown arms.

This appeared in Sept. after some rain. It has been watered and now has arms.

110. My guard dogs who wag tails and implore with eyes for attention. I'm not much of a dog person. :( Sad for them.

Batman (black) & Robin (brown)

A gift stitched, hammered & woven

111. Grandma's hand stitched pictures to remind me of home.

I love winter!

112. My messy bookshelf hammered together by my carpenter friend, Lazarus.

113. Church prayers from hearts woven together through Christ's grace for this hard Turkana place and for "sisters in Christ" suffering in parts of the world never seen by them. The sisters are loved because they helped to bring the Good News to this hard place. They are prayed for because they are very ill and God has woven their hearts to ours here in this place!

Gifts found outside

114. Monkey with a baby seen on my walk by the river.

Do you see the baby in mom's arms? She didn't want me taking the picture!

you put the maize in here

115. A posho mill - it grinds maize into coarse "posho" or cornmeal.

the posho comes out here.

116. Termite mounds - a beauty and yuckiness all their own :).

117. decent internet tonight - it only took a little over an hour to upload these 11 pictures!

I hope your week has been grand! I love comments so feel free to leave one here :). Thanks for reading through my list and giving thanks with me for the ways God has blessed me this past week!

January ESL class

2012-02-06T16:41:00.000+03:00

Hello!

The week before last, I had my first english class of the year. The students had been out of class for eleven weeks. That is a long time in between classes! Because of meetings in November, we had to have our class very early. December is a school break all over Kenya and for our TBTI and english students.

I decided that we needed to spend the week reviewing. My students have never been to formal school. So, they really do not have study skills and don't know how to study. I have tried to help them by giving them homework and schedules for what to do each day, but usually, they come back to class without much study time on their own. So, a review was definitely in order.

We spent the week reviewing vocabulary and sentence grammar. I did re-teach them about the article as I knew they didn't quite get it the first time. We also worked more on alphabetical order. This has been a hard concept for them and I wanted to give them some Turkana to English and English to Turkana dictionaries this week. So, we spent a couple hours going over and doing exercises on this until I was sure they understood it. The dictionaries have some mistakes and are based on a mixture of Karamoja and Turkana (same root language but different borrowed words), but I still think they will help them.

We reviewed vocabulary by trying to use as many english words as we could. I read them a story called 14 Cows For America because it had many words they knew and was about the Maasai. They know several Maasai men as our churches are associated with churches planted by CMF in Maasai. Several of them have visited in Maasai-land. This is a wonderful story about 9/11 and how a small subset of the Maasai tribe gave cows to help comfort America. We talked about their memories from that day and what the Turkana might do to offer comfort. It was quite funny to me when one of the men very honestly said they wouldn't do anything. The Turkana tend to tell people to "get over it" when they are grieving. Just surviving here is very hard, so people don't really have time to grieve very long for a lost loved one. This can sometimes be very hard to witness. They do still grieve of course, but not publicly for long. I also gave them time to read two easy to read children's storybooks on their own during the week. For homework, they will read one of them to someone who knows english in their home areas.

reading their storybooks

For sentence grammar, we played some games. We played a game called Silly Sentences where they had to make sentences that were grammatically correct but maybe not completely sensible. This game was a bit easier than the second game as the words were puzzle pieces that would not fit together if it would be incorrect. So, an adjective would fit to a noun but not the other way around. These pieces also had pictures of the words - so that helped with vocabulary review.

We also tried to play the game "You've been Sentenced." This one did not work so well. It was much harder and they did not know many of the words. So, we ended up stopping that one. The many words on one card confused them. So, we decided to stick with the silly sentence game. Even teachers can mis-guess their students abilities sometimes :).

These cards are too hard!

The silly sentence game actually helped them to better understand articles as well. At least now they can tell me where the articles are in a sentence. When I wrote sentences on the board that they had made, I asked them for the parts of the sentence. I underlined each word part with a different color of chalk as they identified it for me. This helped them get things straight and they enjoyed sharing the sentences they had made.

That is the class in review. Sorry it is so long! We will have our next class the week of February 20th. We will go back to the movie ESL program I have been using. I hope to finish that movie completely in March.

His gifts

2012-01-30T21:23:00.000+03:00

I am continuing the counting of gifts for the year. My ESL class went well this past week and I'll blog about it when I get a bit more time. For now, here are the gifts by the numbers for this past week.

75. My blue room - soothing, comforting, home.

76. Clear blue sky today with no desert dust haze!

77. Out of the blue - an e-mail from a loved one who rarely writes. :)

78. borrowed - a truck to get to class while mine was at the mechanics' garage.

79. found - patience when my students were not getting "articles."

80. inherited - freckles from my grandma - I love her and them!

my freckles - so many more in this desert than ever before!

81. before 9 am - overslept but still made it on time to teach!

82. before noon - ESL students playing a sentence game and getting it!

83. before 7 pm - walking with "my" kids part way home. Their bright smiles at something new.

3 gifts that might not have been

84. "My" Turkana kids of the heart.

a few of "my" kids of the heart

85. My English students praying together for my family.

86. Serving here in Turkana land - God's pure and precious grace to me!

3 graces found in friends

87. a walk with friends just to catch up on the week and get exercise.

88. Visiting with my teammates next door - sweet grace!

89. A friend who listens from afar and loves deep!

90. a song heard - Ngakot a Yesu - The blood of Jesus has power - it washes all our sins away!

91. lively praise in church.

92. sharing baked goods with friends.

93. A noisy but fixed air conditioner - I hope!

94. New ways to think on discipleship.

95. "Trumpet of Jesus" song - a happy blast from the past.

So there is my list from this week. God is so good to me all the time and these are just a few of the gifts he has given to me. Even so, it is good to think of His gifts each day in order to help me be more grateful. I pray you are all having a great week!

Naming to Become

2012-01-23T23:17:00.000+03:00

Hello!

I am daily naming the blessings of God in my life. This is an effort to become more thankful and to live more in the present rather than for the future or the past. My goal for each day is to name at least three blessings or gifts from the great giver of all things. At the end of the year, I hope to have named at least 1000 of those gifts. To help with this goal, I have committed to chronicling these gifts each Monday and to link my post with others like it on Ann Voskamp's website called A Holy Experience. So, that is what you see below.

54. Nancy's shy smile when I came to her school to check on her after she had malaria.

55. a small world when I can pray for friends over fb even though I am across the world from them.

56. a good new recipe - it didn't smell so great, but it tasted wonderful.

57. Ps. 73:1-2, 23,28

58. Hab. 3:17 & 18 -(my paraphrase - though all goes wrong, I will still praise the Lord!)

59. Isaiah 51:12 & 61:3 for my family this sad week.

60. Paulina my helper and friend in my kitchen

61. An overcast day so the sun not so hot!

62. A chance to have met and held and wondered at the miracle of Jayden - Joyful little one - when I unexpectedly came to the States for Christmas in 2010. Now I will have to wait 'till heaven to do so again.

63. Toothbrushing lesson with Turkana kids.

candy and toothbrushes - a good combo!

64. a smelly, but pretty flower in my drought stricken yard.

65. God's comfort washing over me from His Word & time with Him.

66. Clouds in the desert sky!

67. Christmas 2010 holding the newest family member.

68. Ugly-beautiful gift - that baby going to be with Jesus at only 13 months old.

69. My friend's face with laugh wrinkles.

70. Soul soothed and smoothed by the washing and hearing of the Word.

71. Praying for my family today - a grace unfolded.

72. 3 gifts found in him - A great team of friends to serve with.

73. Wisdom only explained by his presence.

74.The faith to keep walking with him - only from him!

So there is my list for this week. Some of these namings were really hard as this week was hard. Even so, the Lord is always with us and He has helped me become thankful even in the grief. How about you my friends? How is the Lord blessing your life? Want to join the joy dare for 2012? I'd love to help you get started.

A hard thanks

2012-01-22T14:24:00.001+03:00

Hello!

I have been counting blessings this year and this one is a hard one to count. I got the news this week that my 13 month old cousin died. Jayden was a joyous boy. I held him once when he was only a couple weeks old. He was a sweet baby boy. I'm thankful I got to meet him.

My family gathers today to say goodbye. There are many questions of 'Why.' I don't have an answer to that one. I'm not sure anyone can. I do know that Jayden was a blessing to us all and will be greatly missed. So I give thanks for his life. It was short, but it was a blessing. I firmly believe that God did not "take" him in the sense that he wanted his life to be so short or needed him in heaven. I also firmly believe that God did receive him when he woke in eternity. And so I can say along with Job that "the Lord gives and the Lord takes away; May the name of the Lord be praised."

Jayden joins a whole host of folks who have gone before us in our family. He will not be alone. We will have a hole in our lives and will go through all the "stages of grief," as if that can adequately describe the pain and loss that will be felt. And yet, we have hope. Hope that is as sure as what it is founded on - which is very sure. We will see him again because our lives do not end at death. Our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, has conquered death. And so we say goodbye for this life, but look forward to a coming great reunion.

Please be in prayer for Jayden's Mom and his family! Thank you Lord, for Jayden and for the blessing that he has been in our lives. Help us all to hold on to you and to cling to that very sure hope!

Naming the blessings one by one

2012-01-16T20:35:00.001+03:00

Hello!

It is Monday, so it is time to count my blessings. The first one is that I figured out how to get the button on my post - as you see above :). That isn't included in these numbered blessings, but I was very happy when I figured it out today!

28. a sour gift is planning a meeting - sour 'cause I don't like it, but still a gift because I work with great people.

29. Akiru's smile today was sweet because she rarely smiles

Akiru with almost a smile - I didn't get the actual smile on my camera.

30. Sweettarts - just right between sweet and sour!

31. Trusting shop owner letting me take merchandise w/o paying knowing I'd return it.

32. a good chat with a friend who said hard but helpful things.

33. a good quote I need to work on from H. Nouwen

34. yellow haired neighbor's squeals and giggles of delight at all the attention.

35. A sunny afternoon walk with a friend.

36. My yellow kitty whose love refreshes me every day!

Chewy or Chushanrishathaim when he is in trouble.

37. a good meeting done.

38. The many stars in the night sky declaring God's majesty.

39. a clean floor after the dust storm yesterday.

40. Turkana kids greeting and walking with me - practicing their english saying, "how are you? Fine, Thank you!" all in one breath.

41. Frogs singing in the night outside my window.

42. night birds chirpping.

43. White noise air conditioning to help me sleep and stay cool.

44. Matching pink clothes with a delighted Hannah.

45. A glorious red-orange sunset out my back porch.

46. People greeting me on my walk.

47. Grace given when I forgot twice that today was payday. I was asked for it and went to get it, but got busy doing something else and forgot for over 45 minutes before I was reminded again!

48. Tiny children and happy adults dancing in praise at church.

an example as I didn't have my camera with me in church :)

49. Praise & prayers lifted up as one body.

50. The hard gift of an epileptic seizure for a girl in church during the part of the sermon talking of Paul and Silas casting a demon out of a woman in Philipi. Continuing to praise in the midst of hardship and praying for the Lord's healing for this girl!

51. Two children's smiles because they got to go to town with their mom.

52. My workers' happiness at getting "absorbers" with their tea - little cakes.

53. A friend's happiness at seeing me come to visit them. Their whole face lit up.

How about you? What were your blessings this week? I'd love to hear from you!

A Kenyan Wedding

2012-01-16T12:49:00.000+03:00

The happy couple - Eric & Zeddy

Hello! I attended a wedding in the middle of December and wanted to tell you a little about it. Eric is the man who oversees our CMF clinics in Turkana. He also helps with administrating our water project and is a friend. I wrote about his engagement/ bride price negotiation party in August. Everything was agreed upon so the wedding was set for December 16th.

There are some things about a Kenyan wedding that are different from one you or I might be used to. So, I will highlight some of those differences. First, it lasted almost all day. Second and maybe the strangest to us, would be that planning the wedding is the groom's responsibility not the Bride's. So Eric had a lot to do between August and December. He had to choose the place. He chose to have it in Eldoret. Normally it would be at the groom's home (Turkana), but the groom also has to pay for the transport of the Bride's family members (including extended family). So, choosing a location closer to the Bride's family was very economical for him. Zeddy is from a different tribe, so her family does not live in Turkana and at that time of year the cost of transporting them to Turkana would have been very high!

Certain of Eric's friends were asked to drive for him or the wedding party. I picked up some of the pageboys and groom's men the morning of the wedding. I also took some people for the post wedding photo shoot. All the vehicles used got some sort of decoration in the wedding colors. Mine truck got purple and white streamers and bows tied across the hood.

The Wedding party consists of all the normal players, but there are a few extra. There are page boys and flower girls. There were about 8 of each. The groom, groomsmen, and pageboys all did a dancing shuffle in a group into the church up the aisle - not entering from the front. After that came the bride's maids and flower girls doing the same group dancing shuffle up the aisle. The bride was walked up the aisle by both her parents after everyone else was in place.

During the ceremony anyone can get up and take pictures from anywhere in the church. This includes from behind the minister who is performing the wedding! At the end of the ceremony, the groom is told he can salute his bride - Eric hugged Zeddy :). They also include the signing of the wedding certificate as part of the ceremony. Zeddy was given the document and told to keep it in a safe place. She first tried to stick it in his sock, but it wouldn't go. She ended up putting it in Eric's inside coat pocket.

There were the usual after the ceremony pictures and reception. The pictures were taken at a beautiful place! Once the wedding party got back from that, they were given a little lunch. Everyone else had already eaten. The two families/ friends never really mingled. The Bride's family and friends were in one rented open sided tent and the grooms family and friends were in another across from them. Gifts were given by the groom's side first. It was a little processional of people taking the gift, giving it to them, hugging them and then going back to sit down. Both the bride and groom were "garlanded" with what we would think of as Christmas garlands. Here they are worn to signify a celebration. Zeddy's family then did their gift giving processional with the Bride and Groom going to their tent. They gave pieces of furniture. It is a tradition that they be given their first cabinets from the bride's family so that is what they got - along with other nice gifts. These were very big, heavy, nice, hand made cabinets which they then had to figure out how to get to Turkana.

So, the wedding was different from what I am used to, but it was a wonderful celebration. I hope you have enjoyed this little description. The pictures below are from the day. If you want to see more pictures, check out my facebook page photos. Have a great week!

the men dancing in

bride's maids & f. girls dancing in

post wedding photo place

the gifts

Yes, I was there!

garlanded after getting gifts

counting the blessings

2012-01-09T22:29:00.001+03:00

Hello!

I read the book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp last year in February. I wrote then about some of the things I was thankful for. But, as these things seem to go, I got out of the habit almost as quickly as I got into it. This year Ann has issued a "dare" on her blog to anyone who wants to take it. The dare is to list 1000 gifts of things we are thankful for this year. So, I am going to try to do that. To help, I am going to list my thanks here every Monday or as often as I can. So, here is my list so far.

1-1-12 list 3 things you about yourself you are thankful for -

Thanks for my name "Lynn" and its meaning.
Thanks that you, Lord, delight in me when I don't always feel so delightful.
My nose is a gift from you - how it looks and what it does for me :)

1-2-12 a gift outside, inside, & on a plate

4. Seeing a little boy @5? holding a little girl's hand @3 on the side of the road as I traveled to Lodwar.
5. The audio story of Hannah Coulter on my Ipod as I drove
6. Rooster pizza ready to eat after a long drive home (in my cooler from Eldoret)

1-3-12 3 graces to you

7. Lorry drivers who stopped to help yesterday!
8. A child's "thank you"
9. Friends in the States ok after what could have been a bad accident

1-4-12 A gift old, new and blue

10. The Cross!
11. A Kindle!
12. My blue room & blue clothes - my favorite color :)

1-5-12 something you're reading, making, seeing

13. Henri Nouwen's Bread for the Journey
14. A colorful lunch - carrots, cabbage, mushroom, spring onion, & Ramen
15. A child's smile for a simple biscuit (cookie).

1-6-12 Something in your bag (didn't have one), fridge, & heart

16. Colby cheese found in Nairobi at Christmas!
17. In my mouth - an ice cold Dr. Pepper also found in Nairobi at Christmas! YUM!
18. Questions and Hope - thanks for both!

1-7-12 Graces from people you love (& an accomplishment + by me)

19. Kid's enjoying & wearing new swimsuits I gave them in a new little pool
20. Teammates' welcoming smiles.
21. dreaded receipts entered through Dec - now on to reports!

1-8-12 My own thanks (not from the dare calendar help)

22. Little Boys dressed in new clothes for church in Turkana.
23. Apples and Cheese (the colby from above) - Yum!
24. My friend came to church! - unexpected.

1-9-12 a gift in your hand, a gift you walked by, and a gift you found

25. A package for "my" Turkana kids in the mail!
26. Sleeping Chewy up high.
27. Zucchini in town & in my bag!

Okay, I probably won't put the suggested things every time, but thought it might help this time. I am supposed to link this up with Ann's site but I am not sure how to do that. I am also supposed to put her button on here. I hope how I think I am to do that works :). If you would like to join the dare - check out Ann's blog at
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/01/the-1-habit-your-new-year-cant-do-without-giveaway/

file://localhost/Users/lp4short2/Desktop/multitudesonmondaysbutton2-1.jpg

Okay, I guess that didn't work. Anyone want to help me figure out how to get this button on my post?

Finished Nativity sets & kids' Christmas

2011-12-08T23:27:00.000+03:00

One of the Nativity sets the boys finished.

Here is the finished product of the four boys' Nativity project. They had to wait a week to finish with the baby Jesus, but they had fun making them and playing with them afterwards.

Ichwa playing with Joseph & Mary

Lopeto saying, "Look at mine!"

Idi having fun.

Ekusi playing it cool

The girls were also able to finish their Nativity project after a two day wait for the glue to dry. We had some rain, so that kept the glue from drying faster. I had some problems with the girls' Nativity sets, so that is when I switched to the wood ones for the boys. Anyway, here is the finished product for the girls.

Baby Jesus

simple Nativity from things in Turkana

When the kids came to collect these, I had a little Christmas party for them. I made american style pancakes with syrup for them. They enjoyed eating them as it was their first time to have syrup. Then I passed out some goodies that I bought for them and that a visitor left for them. I also had them tell me the Christmas story to make sure they understood what these Nativity sets represented. I think they had a good time and I know I did.

Christmas with the kids!

Garlands of Hosannas!

2011-12-06T22:49:00.000+03:00

God's my island hideaway, keeps danger far from the shore, throws garlands of hosannas around my neck. Psalms 32:7

Hello!

We held the fifth graduation for our Turkana Bible Training Institute students on December 3. It was a day full of ceremony, fun and praise! These students studied for two years and finished eighteen intensive classes on the Bible, church leadership and Spiritual formation. We had a festive day as you can see in the picture above. It was taken after the ceremony. Do you see the grass? That is the result of recent rains. We even got rain during the main speaker's talk. It was fitting that he was talking to the students about rain. It is very good, but it can cause some short term hardships - like having to stop the speaker because he can't be heard over the sound of the rain. :) He said studying can be the same. He encouraged them to use what they had learned so the good results could be seen by those who helped them and sacrificed so they could attend.

1 of 5 choirs that sang and danced during the ceremony

Singing praises during the rain intermission

The Students, their friends and family were very proud of their accomplishments. They gave them gifts and showered them with garlands of praise. It is our hope and prayer that these students will take the things they have learned and use them to heap garlands of Hosannas upon our great God!

I have enjoyed getting to know these students over the past two years as I have taught some of their classes. It was fun getting to hand out their certificates and encouraging to see the support they had from friends. Please keep them in your prayers as they go out to spread the Good News. Pray that they will be able to endure the hardships of life here and be good witnesses of that wonderful news!

Handing out the laminated certificate to Joyce - our top student!

Tree trimming with the boys!

2011-12-05T11:27:00.001+03:00

Boys proud of their work!

Since I made cookies with the girls last week, I figured I needed to do something with the boys. I invited them to come to my house the day after the girls and help me put up my tree and decorate it. On the left are Ekusi Lobwel and Idi Ekidor. On the right are Lopeto Lobwel and Ichwa Ekidor. These boys have seem my Christmas tree in the past, so they had an idea of what it was supposed to look like. They had never helped to put it up and decorate it though. So, this was a new experience for them.

spreading the branches

putting on the garland

We didn't put any lights on the tree. I thought it would be easier to just do the garland and ornaments. I have multi-colored icicle lights above my windows that I turned on while they were decorating. We also listened to some christmas music. They thought I was pretty funny singing along and dancing to the music. :) Ichwa did dance with me though and they all laughed at that too!

After we finished with the tree, I decided to try again with a simple nativity set for them to make. The card stock/ clothes pin one didn't work very well, so I tried something different. This time I bought a broom handle (stick). I had a friend cut it into 4 inch and 3 inch lengths. I spent an hour or so in town trying to find some yarn. No one knew what the english word "yarn" meant. I finally saw someone with a sweater on (in the desert) and pointed to it and said it is string that is used to make those. Then they figured out what I wanted and told me where to find it. Brown yarn was needed for hair. I had some colorful push pins that I used as well. This is what we ended up with.

I am still working on the baby Jesus. The kids will all come back this Thursday for a little Christmas party. My friend, John Kibet, helped me to cut the broom handle on a table saw. This insured that they would sit straight. My thumb is still sore four days later from pushing the pins in! That wood is hard! The boys didn't have the strength to get them in, so I had to do all eight.

John is going to help me come up with an idea for the Jesus too. We hope to have something they can easily make and that will keep fairly well. I will try to get a picture of one full set once it is made and post it for you to see. I got the idea from another blog and adapted it to work with what I could find here. If you want to do something similar and don't live in a remote place like me, I think you can find everything you need to do them the way they suggest on this blog. So, check it out if you want to. http://learning-to-b-me.blogspot.com/2010/08/flags-and-more-wood.html Scroll down past the two flags until you see the little nativity set.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the boys and what they accomplished. I think we all had fun and it gave them something to do during their month long break. I hope you are finding time to enjoy the season and are not feeling too rushed!

cookie making with Kids

2011-12-05T10:49:00.001+03:00

the finished product

I know many of you get to make Christmas cookies with your children. This year I had some visitors in October and they found out that one of "my" kids likes to cook. These are kids that are sponsored by my friends in America so they can go to school. I decided then that if I could, I would have the girls over to make cookies one day during their school break. So, I hunted up a sugar cookie recipe and went looking for food coloring. I actually did find some, but it wasn't in liquid form. Here is what I used.

I wasn't sure if this would work, but the powder actually made the colors and it didn't thin the icing. I was very happy with the results.

The girls had never made cookies before. I had four girls ranging in age from 10 to 19. They didn't get the idea of using different colors on a cookie, but they had fun just the same.

Once we mixed up the dough, it had to cool in the refrigerator for a time. So, that is when I brought out some crafty items for making the simple Nativity I blogged about on 11/27. We had to let the glue dry on the faces, so they had to come back the next day to get the completed project. When we first put them together the card stock paper didn't do as well as I would have liked. Mary and Joseph were slanted. I had to work with them and re-staple a few times to get them to sit straight. But overall, I think it worked. The first picture you see is them slanted. The second is the completed project.

Here are a couple more pictures of the cookie making process. The girls all had a great time and so did I!

icing the cookies takes concentration

taste testing the product. They had to have some flour on them to show they really made these cookies.

The finished product. They took them home with them.

A stump, a shoot

2011-12-01T19:32:00.001+03:00

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him...." Isaiah 11:1-2

We have gotten a lot of rain recently here in Turkana. This is a wonderful thing! My yard is greening up. The rain means grass for the animals and they will then produce offspring and milk. The people will have meat and milk. It is a great blessing. It is hope for life here.

For over three years, we have not gotten good rains. Many of the trees in my yard died. I had to cut them down because I was afraid that they would fall down. This is not the time for rain. It should be entering the hottest and driest time of the year here. Instead, I have cold feet because we have had rain almost every day for a couple of weeks and not much sun. Good rain that comes slow and soaks into the ground. This tree stump was left to its own devices for almost a year. With the recent rains, a shoot has appeared out of what seemed lifeless.

Advent has begun. It is a time of waiting...yearning. Waiting for what? For Christ to come. To come to us... in us as we seek him. A time when we anticipate his coming again and realize what it means that he came in the first place. It brings hope for life to all of us if we take the time to consider it.

Out of that stump of that fallen tree will come life. The stump is watered by God and encouraged to grow through the centuries. One tender branch will come from it by His grace. That twig will become the ruling rod, the scepter that defeats sin for you and for me. That twig makes it possible for us to once again be in right relationship with God. That shoot is Jesus. He brings us hope for life!

May you find time in this busy season to wait and yearn for the Lord. May you anticipate His coming and coming again with great joy!

A Simple Homemade Nativity

2011-11-26T20:11:00.001+03:00

Tonight I decided to make a simple Nativity set that some of my Turkana kids can put together next week. I have a few boys coming to help me put up my tree and decorate. The next day a few girls will come over and make some cookies. I thought it would be fun if each of the kids could make their own Nativity to take home. The problem is that I don't have any craft materials here and I can't find them in town.

So, I had to put my creative hat on and use what I have. What do I have? I have colored plastic clothes pins, matches and some match boxes if I take all the matches out, some small cotton balls, some old tin bottle caps (brownish gold in color if I scratch off the coke logo), some white card stock, a stapler, glue and some old rags/ material.

The match box can obviously become either a baby or a manger. I kinda made it be the baby and the manger all in one. I drew on the goldish/brown bottle cap a face with the eyes closed for sleeping. I covered the match box with some material and opened it up. I stuffed part of it with wadded up paper and glued some cotton balls to the bottle cap and the edge of the bottom of the match box.

For Mary and Joseph I drew a semi-circle with a tab in the middle at the top on the card stock. If you make this, make sure to make the semi-circle a little bigger than your clothes pin. You need Mary and Joseph to sit on this card stock and not the clothes pin. I made a pattern to use for this and the clothes. Then I cut out the card stock and material to match the pattern. I laid the cloth over the card stock and wrapped it around until the two edges met in the back to make a cone. Then I stapled the cloth/card stock together. You don't have to fix the cloth to the card stock as the staple will hold them together at the bottom. The tab at the center top of the card stock and cloth will be pushed inside the cone and your clothes pin will grab the tab and hang down in the center of the cone.

As you can see in this picture, I glued a match stick to a bottle cap. I am going to use this as the head. I think I will put a cotton ball between two bottle caps and glue them together. That way, I can still have a brownish/gold colored face for Mary and Joseph instead of white. I can also then draw a face on them. I am not finished yet as I am waiting for the glue to dry. The white paper coming out of the top of the cone (in the 1st picture above) will be replaced by the matchstick and bottle cap faces. The match stick will go in the top of the clothes pin along with the card stock/ cloth tab and be grabbed by the clothes pin.

So, there is my simple Nativity set. If you have any ideas to make it better before Tuesday - let me know! I will have stuff cut out for the little kids and probably have the match stick/ bottle cap faces done except for drawing the faces. That way they can be taken home the same day they are made. My glue is not quick drying so I need to do that ahead of time.

I think this will be fun for the kids and give them something to decorate their homes with too. So, that is my simple project. It doesn't take a lot of time and gives them something fun that they made. I will get to see if I am correct next week. I'll take some pictures and let you know. Have a great weekend!

Cooking Thanksgiving - Turkana style

2011-11-24T12:21:00.001+03:00

Happy Thanksgiving! As you wake up this morning, I will be putting the finishing touches on my part of our Thanksgiving feast. We are celebrating in the evening as it is just a normal workday here in Turkana.

Here is a small wordy glimpse into how I have to cook. Turkey does not do well here in the heat. Every time we have tried to cook it, someone or many someones have gotten sick. It is also very expensive. So, the main meat of choice is now chicken or ham. Today we will have roasted Chicken. My teammate, Melba Morden, will be fixing that. My job is to fix the green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, my grandma's apple salad and to bring the cranberry sauce.

The canned cranberry sauce can be found in Nairobi in Feb-July. You have to hunt for it and then save it up for the holidays. It costs about $4 a can. I was recently in Nairobi (2 days drive from Turkana) and found some canned condensed mushroom soup. I almost jumped up and down in the aisle of the grocery store! We hardly ever find this, so I bought 3 cans. It was $1.60 a can, but worth the price even if it was the reduced salt variety (better for me anyway - right? :/ ). Normally, I have to make it from a knorr packet. That has to be cooked and doesn't taste quite the same. Plus it adds about 30 minutes to the cooking time because the packet has to be mixed with water and cooked until it is the right consistency. So, I was very happy to find the can!

I confess I brought back some things to help make the holiday meals a little easier when I was in the States last Christmas. I brought back a can of french fried onions for the green bean casserole. I tried to make them last year from scratch and got a soggy but tasty substitute. It worked, but I am happy to have the can. I had to keep it in my freezer so that the oil in the onions didn't go rancid in the heat. I also brought a can of pumpkin for making a pumpkin pie. I happily turned that over to Melba because I don't do very well with pie crusts from scratch.

The sweet potato casserole brings its own challenges. We do sometimes find sweet potatoes here in the small shops in Lodwar. I found some yesterday. The thing is, they are white on the inside not orange. One Thanksgiving two of my teammates decided that they wanted orange sweet potatoes so they used food coloring. At one point we had bright pink mashed sweet potatoes and we were all rolling on the floor in stitches! They did eventually get them to be orangish. This year I found a recipe that uses both carrots and sweet potatoes. So, I am hoping the orange carrots will help get the color right. This recipe calls for 1 cup of sour cream. You can't just run out to the store and get sour cream here. So, I use a canned cream and mix it with 2 Tbs of vinegar to make it sour.

This cream is sometimes hard to find and runs about $2 a can. The recipe also called for 1 tsp of the zest of a lemon. Lemons are green here. I can find them sometimes, but I didn't think green bits would be very appealing in my sweet potatoes. So, I looked up a substitute. It took 2 Tbls of juice to equal 1 tsp of zest. Marshmallows can sometimes be found in Nairobi. I buy them and keep them in my freezer until I need them. Today I will need them for this casserole and for the apple salad. Pecans are also needed to top this casserole. They are available here for about $8 for 1/8 of a pound. So, I bring these from the States.

My apple salad is an old Hoosier recipe from my grandma Matillo. It calls for a cooked dressing. Thankfully, I can get almost all the ingredients here. The dressing is made with eggs, sugar, flour, vinegar, mustard and water. I make the sauce early in the day or the day before so it can get cold in the fridge. I have to buy imported granny smith apples when I am in Nairobi and save them. They are washed in bleach water to make sure they are clean and rinsed in filtered water. Then I chop them into bite sized pieces. I have to cut up the big marshmallows we can get here into smaller pieces - using scissors. I keep some boiled water handy to dip the scissors in so they cut easier and don't stick to the scissors. Then I add in peanuts and pour the sauce over it all. If I have some celery seed I add a pinch or two of that too the whole thing. It is hard to find whole celery seed here, so I have to keep my eyes open each time I am in Nairobi (about 5 times a year) and buy it when I see it.

So, there you have a glimpse of what cooking is like here. I am glad I don't have to cook the whole Thanksgiving meal! We get together as a team and with any other foreigners who might want to celebrate with us. My teammate, Chad Harris, is making two types of dressing from scratch today. We will also have some mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, apple pie and pumpkin pie. I think we will be quite full at the end of the meal!

I hope you have a blessed day full of thanks and good food!

Church planting forum

2011-11-16T13:08:00.000+03:00

Turtle Bay beach resort is named for this turtle shaped coral reef

I recently attend a CMF church planting forum. While there I learned about the various things other church planters are doing around the world with CMF. I got some new ideas about how to work on our teaching at the Turkana Bible Training Institute that I think will really help our students. I am looking forward to working on that in the near future.

This was also a time to meet new friends and to reconnect with old friends. I do not get to see many of these very often since we don't normally furlough at the same time. This was a good time to visit and discuss ideas with other missionaries. The forum was held at the Kenyan coast, so it was also a good time to praise the Lord for the beauty of the beach!

There was also a program for the missionary kids(MKs). My parents (Rich & Edie) and niece (Indera) were able to help with this program before they departed for the States. MKs who live with their parents in remote areas do not often have the opportunity to go to sunday school or VBS. So, this was a chance for them to do that and get to know so of their fellow MKs.

some of the MKs

the kids made a cross on the beach

Over all, it was a great meeting!

On safari

2011-11-08T12:33:00.000+03:00

Indera kissing the giraffe at the giraffe center :)

Hello!

Since I had visitors, we went on a safari to the Nairobi game park and to the giraffe center. We saw many animals and got some great pictures. Here are a few shots from that safari.

this cub & his 2 siblings put on a show for us.

Maasai giraffe

Pin tailed tortoise

Indy cried when we first saw Zebra!

beautiful crested cranes

visitors

2011-11-04T11:56:00.000+03:00

Hello!

I have had a house full of visitors these last couple of weeks. First I had Joshua Barron visiting. You can read about his visit in my last post. Half way through his visit, I had some other visitors arrive. My parents and Cathie Groome had planned to visit in September, but had to change to coming in October and early November. My niece decided at the last minute that she could come with them. So, I got a big surprise when they got off the plane and she was with them!

While here, they participated in many activities. They played with school kids almost every day. Cathie, Dad and Indera all went at various times to the local school. Cathie taught several classes while Dad and Indera helped or took pictures. Mom was able to teach three Bible studies on Rahab to the women's Bible study. The ladies had a wonderful time learning and I think Mom had a great time teaching. They also helped me teach my English class. My students had fun meeting and introducing themselves to them.

Here are a few pictures from their two weeks in Turkana.

Dad & a termite mound

Indy being a good Turkana woman
carrying something on her head, back
& working in the garden :)

an afternoon with some teenaged girls

Idi with Edie

visiting teacher

2011-10-27T11:03:00.000+03:00

Hello!

I have had a visitor the past week and a half. Joshua Barron is a CMF teammate who lives outside Nairobi and partners with the CCC church (mostly churches planted by CMF missionaries, but they are expanding to others as well). He and his wife, Ruth, primarily work on writing curriculum for Maasai church leaders, but are making the material available to us in Turkana as well.

Joshua came up to Turkana to teach the church history and the mission and evangelism classes at TBTI. He was a real encouragement for the students. He taught them about the African roots of Christianity. They loved hearing the stories of Frumentius the light bringer, Aedesius, Longinus and Julian.

He taught them that the church grew only when it had four characteristics that were based on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Those four characteristics were prayer, translation of the Bible into the local language, a vision for mission, and local leadership. Here is a picture of Joshua showing how all four legs of the stool (church) have to be on the foundation(table) of Jesus. It was very effective when he made one of the legs go over the edge of the table and fell off! if you don't have one of those legs, the stool (church) does not do as well as it could.

Joshua also taught the evangelism and mission class. One of the days, he and the students took a ride with Gene Morden out to one of our garden plots. They discussed how getting a garden ready for planting and tending it is a helpful way to look at evangelism and mission. This was a wonderful way to plant the image of work and growth into the minds of the students in connection with evangelism and mission.

There were a few times in the afternoons Joshua did a few stretching exercises to help the students stay alert. One day, they had a jumping contest. Here are few pictures of the jumps that I was able to capture with his camera.

who says white men can't jump?

this is a second jump

The students left these classes with a lot of knowledge and some practical ways to use it. My thanks go out to Joshua and Gene for their help in making these classes profitable for the students!

Ongoing Prayer request for areas being raided

2011-10-17T23:09:00.002+03:00

Hello!

I know some of you are wondering about the areas that were being raided. There are still many problems. Please continue to pray for those who are afraid to go home. My teammate, Gene Morden, has written an update that I am copying here. Once you read it, please take it to the Throne of Grace and ask for mercy and hope to be granted to your Turkana brothers and sisters who are afraid and without a home.

Grace, Mercy and Peace in the name of Christ.

Dear fellow prayer warriors we pray that a small amount of peace will return to the people who used to live along the Kerio River soon. A delegation went to see the DC, District Commissioner, (he is like the governor and head of security for the district) to ask for police help in fighting against the bandits. They told him all the people (about 6000) had been displaced and living in the mostly open desert areas under the few small trees in the area. Many of them have lost some or all of their animals to the raiders. The people are drinking dirty water as they are afraid to go to the clean water pumps at the Kerio River. The schools are closed and children are missing education. The raiders make regular visits to villages at night and are eating the food from the irrigated farms during the day. People are living in fear, often sleeping in trees. The DC told them since it is Turkana bandits attacking Turkana the people would need to handle it themselves. Since the DC ordered everyone to turn in their guns about 3 months ago, very few people have rifles. Those who have been designated home guards have guns and a few hid their rifles in the sand. They are now on patrols and have had running battles with the raiders twice.

We have sent bags of corn to the area twice to try and relieve some of the hardship.

On Saturday, Michael Lopunga confronted (he said argued with) the councilor for the Kerio River area about needing help. Michael told him about the fishermen killed on Lake Turkana as they came ashore last week. The raiders took all their fish and the supplies of food they had brought. The councilor finally called someone and said they would send a post of police to Kangirisae if CMF would allow them to use the house there as a temporary base of operation. The team agreed that was an excellent idea. The councilor then said he needed fuel and a truck to carry the police there as the DC had grounded all his vehicles from going to that area. We agreed for the second time to provide fuel to carry the help to the people. We are praying the police force will make a difference and people can return to their homes and begin rebuilding their lives.

Please pray for the raiders to be caught and peace to return.
Thanks and God bless you all,

Thanks for your prayers! This week I have a fellow CMF missionary staying with me and teaching at our Turkana Bible Training Institute. He will be teaching two classes this week and into next week. Pray that the classes go well. These are the last classes for this class before graduation. So, pray their minds are opened and they are encouraged in the ministry they are doing among their people. Have a great week!

Transforming trash!

2011-10-10T16:24:00.000+03:00

I bought 30 eggs Saturday. When you buy eggs here, you have to take your own cardboard trays. One serves as the bottom and the second one will fit on top once the eggs are put in the bottom tray. Then to secure the eggs, twine will be twisted all around the two trays and then tied. When I got home Saturday, I couldn't unknot the twine. So, I cut it in several places and threw the twine away. I usually try to save it so it can be re-used. When I can't get it untied, I just pitch it.

This morning, I emptied my box of laundry detergent. The box holds 3 kilos (6.6 pounds) of laundry powder - so it is a big box. I put it by my trash can to be burned with the rest of the trash. My house helper, Paulina, came later this morning and took the trash to be burned. Her 3 year old daughter, Akiru, follows her around when she is at work. So, when they came back in the house, Paulina had the box and the 4 pieces of twine in her hand. Akiru watched her mom while I tried to figure out what she was doing with the trash. :)

Paulina proceded to cut a hole in the lid and string the twine through the hole. She knotted one end of the twine so that the box could be pulled by the twine. She then told Akiru that she would have to wait until her big brother came to make the rest of it. I had figured out by this time that she was making a "motaka" - a car. Big brother, Idi (named after my mom), will find some old plastic lids and somehow attach them to the sides of the box to make the wheels. Then he might cut what is now the box top - used to be the side - to make a seat. So, my trash was transformed from trash to toy with just a little imagination! I asked Paulina to make sure the kids bring the finished product back for me to take a picture. If they remember, I will be sure to post it for you to see.

Is it important?

2011-10-05T20:32:00.000+03:00

Hello!

This week I am teaching my English class. This morning I had planned to take my students to watch the movie. Just as I was leaving my house for class, the power went off. I called the power company and asked how long it would be. They said it would be two hours. So, much for my plan! So, we went over the new vocabulary for this week. I demonstrated the words when I could. I had to teach 'waving,' 'warn,' 'summon,' 'embrace,' and 'drawn' among many others. Some were easy to demonstrate. Others were a bit difficult. How would you explain 'nature,' as in human nature? Anyway, I had to explain embrace - to embrace an idea or to embrace a person. So, I called one of my leaders to the front and I said, "I haven't seen Lopongo in a very long time. I am very happy to see him so I embrace him." I hammed it up and he joined in saying, "its good to see you!" Hugging in Turkana is not a common thing, but they do it. They all understood when I changed it to embracing an idea because they had the picture of a hug in their minds.

Another word I had to explain was 'Important.' This was harder and I resorted to using the Turkana word for it. Then we were finally able to watch the movie. This chapter was about the triumphal entry, Jesus confronting the religious leaders, the last supper and the prayer and betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane. After watching the movie we talked about the time that all this happened. I asked them, "Is it important that Jesus died at Passover time?" This brought up the history of the Passover celebration and why the Hebrew people celebrate it. What do you think? Is it important the Jesus died at the time when they were celebrating that death had passed over all those who had the blood of a lamb over their doors?

Just something to think about this week! I'm sure we will have some good discussions later this week about the last supper and the other events.

Please continue to pray about the raids. One of my students didn't come to class because he is afraid to leave his animals and family. He lives in the area where the raids are happening the most. The other students told me he is in the process of moving his family to another area. At this point the police have still not gone to try to apprehend the bandits. So, many people are still displaced. One of my students said, "the police and government do not think we are important." So, he used the word correctly :) and made a very sad point.

Turkana raiding update 2

2011-09-30T21:25:00.000+03:00

Hello all!

Here is another update from my teammate, Gene Morden. Please keep the situation in your prayers!

Two of the bandits have been caught and taken to jail. Many of the people are away from the river at a place called Natome. Two days ago an elderly man from the mountains, near Lake Turkana, called a pastor over and said the raiders are coming from my village. I know them all. In fact that man over there is one of them. The pastor did not believe him and called his brother over who was still skeptical as they both know the accused man. They called some other men over to hear the story and then they all called the accused over. He refused at first and then as the group moved toward him he came over. When they began to ask him about the killings, he began to shake. He then confessed he was with the raid that killed the man and his two sons, but had stopped going after that. He identified all the bandits. He said they take the animals to some Pokot men to get more bullets and some cash. The accused is in jail. The police are not going to search for the others as they are a seven hour walk on the other side of the Kerio River.

No one from across the Kerio River has gone home yet. A few have trickled back into Nakor and Kangirisae, but the majority are refugees near Natome and scattered west of the north/south road to the west of Nakor and north. All animals have been moved another 30 kilometers north near Kerio town.
Please pray the government will send the police out to capture the bandits. Most people are afraid to go home as long as they are still free.

Thanks, and God bless,

Again, these raids are happening about 3 hours drive outside Lodwar and then 7 hours walk. There is a river (usually dry, but flowing right now because of rain down country), and then the area where the raids are taking place. The river cannot be crossed by vehicles. My guess is that if anything is to be done, it would have to be done by air and that is harder to get. In the meantime, people are displaced and afraid of going home.

Some of my students for ESL and at TBTI come from these areas. So, do please keep them in your prayers! My next ESL class is next week and the next TBTI class is Oct 17th.

Update on prayer request

2011-09-26T09:17:00.000+03:00

Hello!

I asked you all to pray for the situation out in the Kangarisae area Friday. So, here is a little update from my teammate, Gene Morden. FYI the area of Kangarisae is where I lived when I first came to Turkana to learn the language and the culture. Please keep those prayers coming!

I will update you on the current situation in the Kerio Area. I will also try and answer some question that have come up.

The bandits are walking over the mountain with guns and coming into different villages. Some say it is Turkana attacking Turkana and other are saying it is Pokot.
We have not found out the answer to that. So far 4 have been killed with a possible 5th. All have moved from the areas to areas 20 kilometers away. Most were taken out by vehicles others walked out or I should say ran out. So far it looks like the bandits are only after animals.

The last we heard the police had gone after them and there was a gun fight in the mountains. The 2 chiefs were following the police. How do we get the news? Well there are what they call hot spots for quite a ways out in the bush now days. Technology has changed things a lot and some phones are cheap and it only costs if you call.

As far as the farms in the areas we do not know what will happen. As of today we are told everyone has left all the villages. Where they are staying is too far to walk back and forth everyday. We will keep you posted. We just have to believe that God has a plan.

Please pray that peace would come to the area.
Pray for the families of the dead will be comforted
Pray that the bandits will be caught so families can move back to their homes
Pray fo wisdom in knowing how to handle different situations that may come up

We love you all,
thank you for standing beside us,

Thanks for your prayers and keep them coming! Lynn

prayer request!

2011-09-23T22:59:00.001+03:00

Dear Faithful Prayer Partners:

I have an urgent prayer request. My teammate, Gene Morden, got a call this evening asking for help. As I am typing one of our areas we work in (Kangirisae & Kamekwi- about 3 hours out from Lodwar) is being attacked by bandits. Everyone is scared and wants out. This is the forth attack in 2 weeks. Police don’t even want to help. Please, Pray for peace and protection for these people!

Thanks!

How has the "third world" impacted you?

2011-09-18T23:32:00.000+03:00

Hello all!

I was reading another blog ( //www.incourage.me/2011/09/how-not-to-get-lost-in-translation.html#comment-101122 ) about the release of a new album by Shawn Groves, called Third World Symphony. This asked for comments about the question in the title of this post. So, I also ask you all to comment on this. I don't get a lot of comments so it would be nice to see a few anyway :). My comment is below (with a little bit added here), but I hope you will also comment here and there if you like! If you comment there, you have a chance to win that album. It isn't why I commented. The question just got me thinking. So, here goes:

I see poverty around me every day in the African town where I live. I see joy around me as well in the faces of children who know that life is hard and yet that they are loved. I've seen laughter and joy in the eyes of a child as he plays with that little "car" made from trash and kicks the soccer ball made from balled up plastic bags. I've seen great happiness in the eyes of adults as they learn to read their own language for the first time. Their smiles light up their whole faces!

For fifteen years I have lived in N.W. Kenya among the poorest of the poor and yet they are so generous with their praise to God. Life is so hard for them and some people are so very hungry, but they praise God for the little they have. I have learned to be thankful for all that I used to take for granted. I have learned that physical poverty is not poverty of the soul. I have learned that we are all people and we all need Jesus. When we do not have him, we are worse off than any of the poorest of the poor who do have him. I have learned that all our things do not make a difference in the end. What we do with our lives and how we love are what make a difference. Whether we have a "filipino kitchen," an american kitchen or an open fire for our pot, if we aren't serving up God's love and grace with the food we cook, then no matter how much food there is, people will go away hungry.

I don't know how long I will be here, but I know that this place - this "third world" place that God called me to - has changed my life forever. It has captured my heart and changed me in so many ways that I cannot count or even try to come up with words for. I pray for the blooming of this place; blooming of God's grace and mercies poured out on the people so that their lives are not so hard. I pray for the literal blooming of this dry and dusty land, but more for the Spiritual blooming of Christ in the hearts of his people here. I am thankful that He sees fit to use me to help even a little bit. I'm also so very thankful that he understands Turkana because I only catch about 3/4 (if that much) of what is said. Even so, I know he is praised as I see my friends singing and dancing in church and praising the God of all the earth! This "third world" place has become my home. These "third world" people have captured a part of my heart and they are no longer "third world" people they are just friends. They are brother's and sister's with me on the journey to finding our true home - where there will be no poverty physically or spiritually because our true home is in Christ Jesus!

Healings and Feelings - an ESL class

2011-09-10T16:49:00.000+03:00

Hello!

This week my ESL class watched a chapter of the movie "The Hope." The chapter was about Jesus' ministry. We talked about many things that Jesus did and the things he taught. At the end of the week I gave them the assignment to be done in groups of two or three. One was to play Jesus and one was to play a sick person that Jesus heals. They were to have each person speak (English of course) and also show the emotions that the people might have felt.

It was a fun assignment for the students. I had seven students that could make it to class. We had a big rain (8 hours straight!) on Saturday and a couple of students couldn't make it across a river to get to the vehicle that was bringing them to class. So, there were three groups. I got a couple of pictures at the beginning of each "drama." I was too involved laughing or clapping as part of the crowd of onlookers to get the whole thing. :). So, enjoy the pictures!

The paralytic being healed. He ran around the class room yelling, 'I can move!' after he was healed.

This is a blind man being healed. He shouted out "I can see! I can see!"

Jarius' daughter in disguise being raised from the dead. S/He hugged Jesus and said thank you!

The students had fun doing these little dramas and I had fun watching. The blind man had a friend lead him to Jesus - just in case you wondered where the 7th student was. After the drama's we had some very good discussions about who Jesus is and what he did while here on earth. We also discussed what we might want to ask him or tell him if he were right here in our classroom. There were requests for blessings and power to help people and questions about how hard life is. Several said they would ask that Jesus would heal a friend of theirs. Then we talked about how Jesus is right here in our classroom :). And we decided that we could ask these questions and make these request right then.

How about you? What would you ask Jesus or request from him if he were right next to you? He is, so why don't you go right ahead and ask him! Have a good week!

In a dirty river, they were washed in the blood!

2011-08-22T17:26:00.000+03:00

Hello!

Yesterday we had a great day at church! We had 14 people decide to be baptized. So, we all traipsed off to the river to see the big event. The Turkwel river is flowing due to rains down country. So, we found a spot where it was deep enough to baptize and the church elders began to baptize people. Yes, the river was muddy and dirty, but the people came up shiny clean having been washed in the blood of Jesus our Savior. The first to be baptized was Akai. She was born the year I moved to Lodwar ('97) and is the daughter of my house worker and one of my guards. She has been in and out of my house ever since then. I was so proud and happy! Enjoy the pictures!

Akai about to be baptized

coming up clean!

14 new believers & Elder Nehemiah in red

Ekamais walking into his new life!

Bride price negotiation/ engagement party

2011-08-14T20:39:00.000+03:00

Hello!

I had an interesting experience yesterday. I went to the bride price negotiation "party" for my Turkana friend, Eric. He wants to marry a young pharmacist that he met while in nursing school. She is not a Turkana, so he had to do several things that were unfamiliar to all us Turkana folk who came to support him.

He had about 25 friends come with him to his future in-laws house. They had rented two outdoor event tents and one was pretty full with her family and friends. We went into that and filled it up while we waited. He was allowed to bring in 8 of his friends into the house with him. My teammate, Gene Morden, was one of the ones allowed to go in and observe. They asked where they came from and why they were there. When Eric had said he came to get a wife, they brought out 2 girls one at a time. They asked is this the girl? He said no, that is not the girl. Then they brought out Zeddy. He said yes, that is the girl! They asked her if she was willing to marry him and she said yes. Then she came to him and put a ring on his finger. He gave her a bracelet. I guess this was to signify her acceptance of him and vice versa.

Then began the bride price negotiation. It started high at 8 cows and several sheep. They came out and told those of us waiting and Eric's mom said, "lets just go. She isn't worth that much!" She had an arranged marriage and so doesn't really understand wanting to marry for love - especially outside the tribe. Anyway, they got the price down to an acceptable amount, haggled over the money that would be paid in place of cows, since it would be hard to bring cows from Turkana to Eldoret. Then they set the date for the wedding.

All of this meeting was written down and at the end Eric and his friend signed it and 2 representatives for Zeddy signed it and the pastor who oversaw the negotiations signed it. After that Zeddy was called by his name. They told him that she would be locked away from him until the wedding. She was taken out of the house by the Turkana group and had Turkana beads placed around her neck and they danced around the yard with her for a bit. Then her family came and took her away since she is not yet a Turkana :). They then served a nice lunch to the great crowd of people who were there.

To symbolize Zeddy leaving her family, they brought out a small cake. This was her going away present. After some speeches, it was cut into slices and then cut into small pieces. Everyone got a mouthful. They had two other cakes that were given to an aunty in her family and to an aunty in his family. I'm not sure exactly what is to be done with it, but we still have it.

Then, they had the gift giving. Zeddy's family and friends brought gifts to be given out into the center of a circle of singing and dancing folk. Then Zeddy came and picked out some of Eric's friends to come into the circle. She then proceeded to give out the gifts. If it was a shawl or wrap, she put it on the people. I received a warm shawl and was quite happy for it as it was a cold and rainy day!

It was Eric's turn next. We really sang and danced our hearts out. We were a small group and our circle was soon made smaller from the crowd of people wanting to see what was being given. Zeddy helped Eric give the gifts since he doesn't really know this tradition (it is from her tribe). While he was giving out the gifts the Turkana contingent continued to sing and dance. A couple of the people had cow tails that they swished around on people's heads and faces. This is a Turkana blessing - although I don't think they knew that :).

Before the gift giving, there was a speech from one of Zeddy's uncles. He spoke about the blessing of marriage and what was expected of each of them and how they should continue to bring honor and praise to the Lord. Eric's aunt also made a speech along the same lines. Zeddy's female relatives then sang a song about the things she was to do. They put a bundle of firewood on her head, tied a young child onto her back, gave her a hoe and a broom and then had her use the hoe and sweep the ground. All this to show what her responsibilities were - to bear and care for children and to be a hard worker. I'm not so sure this would go over very well where I am from :).

It was dark by the time the day was over. Now Eric has to arrange the wedding. He chooses the location and makes all the arrangements and pays. He has to pay the bride price before the wedding as well. So, we will be having a mid-December wedding. He is very happy and not looking quite as stressed as he did before the day began :). They have waited a couple of years for her father to come around to the idea of her marrying outside her tribe. So, it was a good conclusion to a long day. Could you be in prayer for Eric as he makes decisions about where the wedding will take place. Also please pray for the Lord's blessing on Eric and Zeddy as they begin their life's journey together!

More on the drought & famine

2011-08-10T10:03:00.001+03:00

Hello!

I thought this article was pretty good in explaining the current drought in Kenya.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14458109

Turkana has been very dry for the last three years. Many animals have died due to lack of food and a respiratory disease that the weak animals were unable to resist. So, people are desperate and hungry. Many are starving. It is possible that the government could have helped to prevent the famine as the article suggests. I don't really know. I do know that I have seen an outpouring of help from regular Kenyans in the supermarkets and I have heard that many are giving in other ways. It is encouraging to see that the regular people of Kenya do care about people starving in their own country who are their own people.

I head home to Turkana next Monday. Please be in prayer for my safe travels. Please pray for the Turkana people. Pray for rain. Pray that the water and garden projects that we have been investing in for the past several years will produce yields beyond what can be imagined to help feed the hungry people in those areas.

Pray for the CMF team here (Harris, Morden & me) as we try to determine the best way to help the most needy people. Pray for our church leaders. We want to work through them to reach those in need in their communities. Pray that they will see the great need of the few in their communities and be willing to set aside personal desires to be able to help those few. Turkana tend to want all things to be equal. They say, "everyone is hungry," which is true. So, they think we should give a little to everyone. But, there is a distinction between hungry and starving and we have a limited amount that we can spend to help. So, pray that there would be unity in what we decide to do. Thanks for reading and for praying!

If you would like to help us as we try to help, then please go to this site and give. Thanks so much!!
https://p2p.paperlesstrans.com/default.aspx?i=cmfms&c3={Famine+Relief}&c4={71200}

Urgent need!!!

2011-07-30T11:35:00.000+03:00

Hello all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24NNsm1u0QE

Turkana is always a very dry area. We don't get much rain, but we haven't gotten good rain for a couple of years now. If you have been watching the news, you have heard about the worst drought in 60 years in Somalia. A lot of attention is being given to those who are traveling long distances to reach help in Kenya. Even so, Kenya's northern region itself is part of that same drought. Turkana is also part of that region. The above link is to a news report from a Kenyan TV station aired a couple of days ago.

I have been getting a lot of requests lately for food. I know it is the normal drought time, so I expected this. However, there are so many more requests than normal. I am currently in Nairobi for some meetings and not at home. We are getting some dismal reports from the people who work with my teammates, Gene and Melba Morden. This is from a prayer request that Gene sent out last night.

"John Kibet said two people died in Nakurio from starvation yesterday while a news crew was gathering information. John also said he saw starving people in Kangirisae this week when he was there. (Two areas where CMF works) There have been three nights of news on the starving people of Turkana. Stories such as mothers boiling rocks and continuing to add water and telling their children it is not done yet until the children finally fall asleep. Some said they would begin eating the dying soon. A group of CEO's formed a fund to assist with relief food and Kenyan's donated 20 MM Ksh in the first 48 hours. Several people we talked to said they are appalled. Our CMF bank manager and our personal rep are planning a trip to see it first hand and help out. So pray for Turkana and wisdom in dealing with the situation."

I am requesting that everyone who reads this will pray seriously for the hungry and even dying people of Turkana. Please also pray for me and my CMF teammates as we seek wisdom in trying to figure out how we can help. If you want to help with money, please send funds to CMF account #712000 (Kenya famine relief) through the mailing address (P.O. Box 501020, Indpls., IN 46250) or give online at
https://p2p.paperlesstrans.com/default.aspx?i=cmfms&c3=POTTENGER+Lynn&c4=41600

Please change the missionary/project name found in the personal information section to say #712000 Kenya famine relief.

I don't usually ask for money on this blog. I just cannot sit by and watch the people around me die from hunger when I know that my friends at home and even I, myself, take food for granted. So, I am asking for help. I will return to Turkana on August 15th from my meetings. I pray that God will work mightily through you and me to help his Turkana children.

4th of July in Kenya

2011-07-04T20:31:00.000+03:00

Hello all!

Today has been a fun day. I do miss the fun activities that take place all over the States for this holiday. Even so, I was still able to celebrate the day here in a small way.

My English class started today. So, I made a cake, took decorations to class and taught a little bit about the holiday to my Kenyan students. I sang the Star Spangled Banner, My country tis of thee, and America the beautiful to them. They had the words and tried to join in a bit. I explained that the national anthem was written about a battle and the fact that the flag was still there meant that we hadn't lost :).

I asked them to sing their national anthem as well. They managed to stumble through the Swahili version which is pretty good for people who live in the middle of nowhere and don't hear their anthem all that much. There is also an English version of the anthem. I had a couple of Turkana friends who have gone to school come in and write the English words on the board for us and we tried to sing it. I know the tune, but didn't do so well at matching the words to the tune. Oh well, at least we tried :). My students enjoyed this beginning to our class. They usually have some sort of test on Monday afternoons to start the class. So, cake and songs were much more fun :).

Kenyan national anthem - it might be a bit messed up as they did it from memory and seemed confused.

After my class, I invited myself to my teammates' house for dinner. They have some visitors. So, I took my decorations and helped them decorate the table. I also decorated their cake for them like the one I did for my class. We had potato salad, baked beans, homemade buns and hamburgers. It was a real treat and fun to spend the evening with fellow Americans! So, even though there were no fireworks, we still had a fun day. I hope you also had a good holiday.

not bad for improvised decorations :)

A Literacy Teacher training workshop

2011-07-03T23:25:00.000+03:00

Hello!

Last week, I held a literacy teacher training workshop. I had 31 teachers come to be trained in teaching people how to read and write the Turkana language. The training was held in Turkana so I had a little help from two friends in the teaching. I did teach in Turkana, but sometimes slipped into English and then one of these two would translate for me. They also helped in the teaching. Simon and Sammy are their names.

We taught them about how teaching adults is different from teaching children. We taught them the importance of using the same words to teach each new lesson. They had to practice this "patter" all week and then take a test on Friday. They had to tell me the 7 steps of teaching a literacy lesson and then teach a lesson. It took all morning to get all 31 tested, but in the end we had 29 who passed the final test. Two didn't quite have the patter correct so I encouraged them to keep working at it and hope that they will do so.

For each lesson they have to go through the 7 steps. Step 1 is to teach the picture words. Step 2 is to have students find the picture words all over the board or in the book. Step 3 is to teach the words and word parts on the boxes. Step 4 is to teach flashcards - so the students aren't memorizing the location of words on a page and not really reading :). Step 5 is to teach the sentences of the lesson. Step 6 is to teach the Bible passage for each lesson and Step 7 is to teach writing. We had one day that had a lot of practice time. That is the only day that I had time to take some pictures.

So, here are a few pictures showing these teachers practicing teaching a literacy lesson. I hope you enjoy them! Next week I have another English class. So, I am switching gears this weekend and getting ready for that. Have a great July 4th week!

teaching the Bible

Getting help from teacher Simon

teaching the boxes

I had a little trouble getting these pictures to go where I wanted them. Anyway, here are a few.

teaching the steps

practice teaching writing

ESL Plays from June

2011-06-20T21:25:00.003+03:00

The week of June 13 my English students and I watched the end of the Old Testament part of the movie called The Hope. This is a movie that has been adapted for ESL classes. We will continue on with the New Testament part of the Movie starting next month. I just wanted to share with you a bit about this class.

At the end of each class week (once a month), I usually give an assignment for the students to use their english skills. Lately, I have had them tell the story of the movie to english speakers in town using pictures from the movie. This month I decided to let them be creative and tell any story from the Old Testament part of the movie as a play. I had 9 students in class this week so I divided them up into two groups and gave them an afternoon to work on it. On Friday, they presented their work.

This was the first group. They chose to tell the story of Abraham being called from Ur to Canaan and then being asked to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham is the one in the towel head gear, the other one is Hagar or Sarah - he played both parts :). They did pretty good with the story. They even had one of the group play the ram caught in the thicket.

The next group had a different take on the word "play." They decided to tell the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. I brought several things from my house - including towels, a big knife sharpener (used as the knife for the sacrifice in the previous play), kikoi wraps, and the contents of my small toy basket. There aren't many toys in it, but a few bits and pieces of several things. I even brought a few fake flowers, a small stuffed bear and a fluffy chick I use for decoration at Easter time.

This group decided to tell the story using the toy bits and pieces. They made a circle to represent the garden. The one man in the robe and towel head covering was just trying to get into character I guess. He played Eve. As they told the story, they got down and played like little boys :). They moved the characters around and spoke for them. The snake was part of the head and trunk of an elephant puzzle. When he was cursed to go on his belly they pushed it over on its side.

Here you can see the snake (green elephant head) talking to Eve (the chick). The tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil is the baby toy with fake flowers sticking out of it in the center. Adam is the stuffed bear. The other toy pieces make the boundary of the garden. One of the students played the voice of God from just outside the room. I thought it was a great way to tell the story.

So, all in all, the June English class was fun. The students learned several new words, they got to tell their own versions of the story and we got to have a lively discussion about the eclipse (see previous post). Next month we will talk about the birth of Jesus, his early years and his baptism.

I hope all is well with you! Blessings!!

Lunar Eclipse & the Drums!

2011-06-19T00:12:00.000+03:00

The red moon toward the end before it was completely eclipsed.

the start

half way into the eclipse

Okay, I admit that these are not the best pictures. It is pretty far away and even though it looked big in my camera, it wasn't so big in the shot. Also, unfortunately when the moon was the reddest, my camera decided that red is black. I tried several ways to get it, but all those shots came out with a black sky and no moon to be seen. So, these are the best I got. If you want to see some good shots look here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-13808502 They have a shot of it spread over time with the different views.

When the eclipse started I heard the people in the village behind my house beating drums. This continued through most of the eclipse. I talked with my English class the next day about the eclipse. First, they wanted to know how I could tell them the day before that it would happen :). The wonders of the internet and a teammate in Nairobi who was paying attention and sent an e-mail to me about the event helped with that.

We had a good discussion about the eclipse. They are used to seeing eclipses. We don't have much light pollution here, so you can see the moon, the stars and the milky way very clearly at night. So, they have seen many eclipses - they just don't know when they will happen ahead of time. Anyway, I asked them about the beating of the drums. In English they told me that the people beat the drums because the moon is dying. They want it to rise again. So, the beat the drums to encourage the moon to come back. They said the people also sing and dance. (I was very happy they were able to say all that in English even if it was a little broken!) It is almost a time of celebration but with a bit of fear behind it. The fear that the moon won't come back and light the night. So, they beat the drums - maybe so it knows that it is wanted and appreciated - so it will rise again. That last bit is my speculation :).

So, there you have it from one who saw it for myself. It was impressive! I didn't stay up to see it become uneclipsed (I know it isn't a word, but what else do you call it?). I had to teach the next morning. It was to stay red/orange for an hour and forty minutes before starting on its way back to normal. I'm thankful that I knew to look for it and got to see it! I am also thankful for the good conversation starter it was in class :). More on the rest of the week later! Blessings to you all!

a new stove

2011-06-17T22:57:00.002+03:00

Hello!

I decided I needed to get a new stove. My old one belonged to another missionary. I inherited it 14 years ago. I have been smelling gas in the mornings when I went into my small kitchen for a while now. My friend and I have tried to find the leak. I bought a new hose hoping the old one had a hole we couldn't see. The gas wasn't strong. My house is very open so the smell dissipated pretty quickly each morning. Even so, I decided it is better to be safe than sorry. So, I took the plunge and got a new stove while I was in Nairobi earlier this month. I wanted to show you the stove and my favorite feature. Enjoy the pictures!

My new stove - it has a glass lid

my favorite part - an electric starter. No more matches!
At least when the power is on anyway :)

Literacy and ESL updates

2011-05-14T11:53:00.001+03:00

Hello!

Last month I held a three day literacy testing seminar. This was to help the people who give the literacy tests do a better job. I didn't write about it because I had other things I wanted to post. So, I just wanted to let you know that it happened. These literacy tests are really subjective. The testers have to ask themselves, is the person reading well enough to pass or should they go back and review a bit more. It is hard for a Turkana to tell another Turkana that they have not passed. So, I did a lot of encouraging. It was a good seminar and I think they went away with better skills for giving the literacy tests.

This week I had my twenty first week long English class. As I posted earlier I only had 5 students come. On Wednesday I had two more come so our total was up to 7 out of a possible 11 students. Even though we were small, the students and I had fun learning new words to tell the story of Joseph and Moses (up to the dividing of the Red Sea). We discussed how God can use bad situations and turn them into ways to bless the person and others around him or her. We also talked about how some people can see amazing miracles and yet still not believe in God. They see this here and wanted to give me examples. It was good to hear them trying to express themselves in English. We went back and forth between Turkana and English, but they were getting a lot of English out in the process.

So, that is what I have been up to this week. What about you? Next week I will be teaching in our Bible training institute. So, I am studying up on the Wisdom literature from the Old Testament. We will cover Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. It should be a good week.

prayer request!

2011-05-11T20:32:00.000+03:00

Hello!

I am teaching my English class this week. It is really hot and humid. We are all hoping it will rain since it is so humid. You could pray about that too. Really, my request is that you pray for my students. I currently have 11 students that come to my class. This week I had 5 come. The others are all home because of family problems.

Hmm...Family Problems. What does this mean in Turkana? Basically, it means that the students are out looking for food because their families don't have food to eat. It has been a very dry couple of years. In those years, the animals didn't do so well. Many of them died of starvation or respiratory diseases they couldn't fight because they didn't have the energy. So, please pray for my students. Pray that they find the food they need for their families. Pray that the rain comes this year in a quantity and quality that will revive the land and the animals. Pray that the animals will be strong enough to survive the cold (in the 70s) when it does rain.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Have a good week and please remember to pray!

Uncle Lloyd and Holy Saturday

2011-04-23T11:44:00.002+03:00

My Great Uncle Lloyd died last night at 9:30 pm, just after his minister had finished saying a prayer with him and the family. It was expected, as Aunt Nancy was told about a week ago that he would be gone within 2 weeks. Family members were able to visit him the last few days. Even so, the pain of the parting is still there. Please pray for my family as arrangements are made and this time of grieving commences.

So, he died on Good Friday. By ancient Jewish reckoning he died on Holy Saturday, since their days start at sundown the night before and go to sundown the next day. It seems appropriate to join these two thoughts together. Holy Saturday was a day of grief and hopelessness. The Savior was dead. The believers still didn’t understand what Jesus had told them. How could they? They had never seen someone come back from the dead by his own power. They saw Jesus raise the dead, but now Jesus is dead and he can’t help himself – they thought.

So many people live their lives in Holy Saturday. Even believers find themselves here. Life is hard. There are sorrows and there are catastrophes. Grief and struggle seem to be a constant part of life for most people. Everyone trudges through the same old same old days. We just try to make it to the next day, only to repeat the trudging. Sometimes there is joy and happiness, but the sorrow and crises are bound to return. These are “lives of quiet desperation.” This is exactly where Jesus’ followers were on Holy Saturday and again, where many people remain their whole lives.

But it is not where Uncle Lloyd is. He was the last of my Grandfather’s siblings to die. There is a reunion going on in Heaven today – Holy Saturday! Good Friday is done and Sunday is just around the corner. Saturday is just a day of waiting – of expectation for those who know the rest of the story. Death is just a parting and a waiting for the reunion. Yes, there is sorrow and very real grief. Uncle Lloyd will be missed by so many people! But, there just below the surface is joy as well. Joy that Uncle Lloyd is healthy and whole now. Joy that this is not the end because this sorrow will one day be replaced with the joy of reunion.

How can this be? Because Good Friday was not the end for Jesus! We have a Holy Saturday because of what happened Sunday. Jesus had “the authority to lay his life down (and die) and he had the authority to take it up again (and live again!)” on Sunday. He rose from the grave and because he did, all who believe in him, though they die, will live forever with him. Holy Saturday can be sad, but because I believe in the rest of the story, I know that it is sadness tinged with joy. So, I say goodbye to my Uncle Lloyd. Even so, I am expecting to see him again!

Good Friday

2011-04-22T23:05:00.000+03:00

"I am the Good Shepherd...and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again." Jesus

"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Jesus

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Jesus

Father, forgive me! Thank you, Lord Jesus!

Long, long ago in this Galaxy on this planet...

2011-04-21T20:25:00.000+03:00

On this very night long, long ago in this very Galaxy and in fact on this very planet, The Lord inaugurated the very first “Lord’s supper.” Many people have wishful thinking about this night and the days to follow. They say there is no God and therefore this night and the following days never really happened. They think it is just like “Star Wars.” A story to entertain the masses.

Others think that this night long ago and the days that followed have a huge impact on this planet and this Galaxy for all time and into eternity. It has that impact because it is true and not a story to entertain the masses, but The Truth to change the masses and redeem them forever. You see, it was on this night that The Lord revealed in word and deed what he came to do for all people.

Before the “supper” even started he was teaching. He became the servant. He washed his followers’ feet. He told one that he could have no part in him if he didn’t allow him to wash his feet. Was he teaching him (and us) that we must recognize that we need to be clean, that we need him before we can be part of him? That we must see our overwhelming need before he can cleanse us?

Then He gave thanks. He knew what was coming and yet he gave thanks. Then he broke the bread to show how he would be broken. He poured out the wine to show how he would be poured out – his very blood. He even told them this was his blood that was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

The night didn’t end there. He and his followers celebrated the rest of the meal and they sang some songs and then they went for a walk to a garden. There, while they rested, he prayed and waited. He knew they were coming. He prayed for God’s will to be done not his. He agonized over this prayer knowing what it would mean. And then he went to meet those who came for him with swords and clubs and didn't resist when they arrested him.

And the night didn’t end there either. He was beaten and mocked. He stood trial and another trial and another before the night was over. The verdict was a foregone conclusion to those who had him and even to him. He even helped them by being silent and then giving them the very words they wanted him to speak when they failed to have any witnesses agree against him.

And so that long, very long night was ended and the days that followed began…

Birthday Bash!

2011-04-10T20:12:00.002+03:00

Hello!
I told folks on Facebook about my birthday bash, but thought I would share it here as well. I made a lunch for my workers and friends. It was a Mexican style lunch, but I improvised a little. I made some corn bread and cut large slices of it as the base. Then I cooked up four pounds of meat (they like meat!), with some onions, tomatoes, beans and corn and added in some taco seasoning along with a bit of chili powder. I poured this slightly soupy "concoction" over the corn bread and viola - we had lunch! :). It was pretty tasty even if I do say so myself. I also baked a cake. That was a little disappointing as it didn't rise like a cake should. It must have been an old mix. Even so, it tasted pretty good. I made the cake into a two layer cake just to make it look a little more normal.

The best part of the day was that I was given a present by my guards. Giving presents in Turkana is not a real common thing - especially for birthdays. They don't know the actual day they were born. Many of them can only guess at the year. So, celebrating birthdays is a very foreign thing to them. Even so, one of my guards decided that they should give me a present. So, after the lunch bash, he went to town and came back with a necklace and earrings and gave them to me. This really is a case of it being the thought that counts and I still get a huge smile on my face when I think of it!

All in all, I had a great birthday. I was overwhelmed at the number of birthday greetings I received by e-mail and Facebook. I must say that getting another year older does have its advantages sometimes :). If you want to see more pictures from my birthday bash, you can find them on my Facebook page. I hope you have had a good week as well! Blessings from one who feels truly blessed!

Spring?

2011-04-06T19:24:00.002+03:00

Hello!

The old adage says "April showers bring May flowers." Well, that isn't the case here in Turkana. We don't get much rain and I pretty much have a brown thumb with most plants. I love to see flowers, but have had problems getting any to live for very long for me. Part of that is because when I travel my flowers don't get watered and so I return to dead, brown things. This year, I have been so happy to see a couple of plants doing well in my yard. So, I took some pictures for you to see them :).

The first is a plumaria plant. It was planted by my former teammate, Katy Lines, sometime around 2006. It has had a troubled life. Small children have used it as a play thing and broken off budding ends. It was just the right size for them to reach and they wanted to look at it. So, it has taken a long time for this plant to bloom. Finally, this year I was pleased to see some flowers on it. There are only a couple, but I am so excited to see them. They smell nice too :).

The next is a desert rose that was also planted by Katy. It was planted down by their house in the same yard as my house. This beauty has been blooming for a few years because I have given specific instructions on how it is to be watered.

I just wanted to share with you that not all is brown here in Turkana. Every once in a while I do see a little color and I thank the Lord for sharing it with me! Here is hoping that I can keep both plants alive and well for future enjoyment.

This is my "snake" plant. I don't know its official name but this is what I am told it is called. It has to be protected because my dogs like to dig in wet soil and lay in it. They have knocked this plant down and dug it up a few times. So, one day I decided to put a little fence of sticks around it. It has really grown well since then. The dogs can't get to it, much to their dissatisfaction. I am happy to see it finally doing well. This is just outside my bedroom right next to where I park my truck. So, I see it every time I get in my truck. It is fun to see something growing there!

How about you? How is your spring looking? Any flowers blooming yet? I miss the beautiful new greens mixed with the colorful buds of spring. Enjoy them and give thanks to the Lord for creating such beauty for us to enjoy!

The march of visitors concludes

2011-03-31T17:05:00.001+03:00

David Giles in the garden

one of our irrigated gardens

Hello!

My month of visitors ended with a visit from David Giles. He is the director of CMF's church catalyst ministries. He came to Turkana to visit missionaries and see some of the work going on here. It was wonderful to host David as he is a friend from before I became a missionary. He stayed with me for a couple of nights and spent time visiting some gardens and working with the water crew one morning. In these pictures, we went out to see a CHE teaching in one of our gardens. We were able to talk with a couple of the trainers. We also saw some teaching done by the men who had been trained. They taught on the difference between relief and development. We had a nice conversation with some of the people who have plots in this garden.

It is always so wonderful to see how God is providing food for these communities through these gardens. It is even better to see how the people are also receiving spiritual food through the teachings taking place in the gardens each day. I enjoyed getting to see some ladies taking advantage of the shade to make some Turkana hand brooms. They make them out of dried palm leaves and are able to sell them in town. I had never seen them made before, but I have used them and given them as gifts. So, it was fun to see this part of the process.

This month was very full of visitors but it was a very good month. My house seemed very quiet after they all left! In some ways it was my own personal "March Madness." :). Even so, it was more fun than madness. I am looking forward to a little time in April to get caught up with other things and to do some lesson planning for my next classes in May. I will also be holding a two day literacy "tester" seminar the middle of April. This is to help those who administer the literacy tests to have a better understanding of what they should be looking for in these oral and written tests.

I hope you had a great March and are looking forward to a good April. Blessings my friends!

Hill and Dale visitors

2011-03-26T12:38:00.001+03:00

My Hill and Dale Christian church visitors

Hello! Here is another post dated blog - sorry it took so long to get it done!!!

I had some more visitors in March. They arrived Wednesday March 16th and stayed with me until the next Thursday. This was a great group of folks. We had a lot of fun getting to know each other, fellowshipping over meals, and singing praises together. We even managed to get in a game of Euchre one evening :). They came to encourage the Turkana people and the missionaries and to work on a well. They hoped to complete one well while they were here and they were able to accomplish that goal! They also had a good time with the children teaching some VBS type lessons in the area where they were working on the well.

This group from the Lexington area was actually supposed to be visiting my fellow teammates, the Mordens. Their plans changed because of Mordens unexpected need to return to the States to help with the repercussions of their daughter-in-law's stroke. Instead they got to stay with me. I enjoyed hosting them and hearing about their accomplishments (or lack thereof) each day at the well site. It is good to view Turkana through other people's eyes when you have been here a while. I was rooting for them to find the right place with no rocks that would allow the drilling to finally succeed. They did so on the third hole and we were all so excited.

I particularly enjoyed the evenings when we were able to pray together and sing praises to the Lord. They had brought some song sheets and I learned a few new songs too. It was wonderful to be able to sing praise songs with a group in English! We were even able to sing when the power went out one evening. It sounded great to my ears and I am sure the Lord was very pleased!

If you want to know more about this group and see some videos of their trip (even driving in rain and through mud) then check out their facebook page called HND Water for Life 2011. There are some good pictures and videos there. I pray you are all having a good week!

March ESL Class - What are you afraid of?

2011-03-19T11:50:00.033+03:00

Hello!

I am a little behind in my blogging. So, I am post dating this blog. Sorry to those who have been patiently waiting for me to get this up!

My week of teaching ESL in March went pretty well. I decided that since I had visitors arriving while my class was going on that I would delegate some of the teaching to a friend of mine. Simon is a Turkana who almost finished high school here. So, his English is very good and his understanding of English grammar is probably a bit better than mine since he had to learn it as a second language. I learned it from my parents so I can't always tell you why you say something this way and not that way. If I think about it long enough I can probably come up with the correct reason, but it doesn't always roll off the tip of my tongue. So, I worked a little with Simon to make sure he understood the Past Perfect verb tense and gave him the worksheets that the students needed to work on. It went very well and freed up a little time for me to greet my visitors and do the finishing touches on evening meals.

The class this week was about Abraham being called to move to Canaan and his sacrifice of Isaac. It was a good lesson and we got some good discussion at the end. We talked about what Abraham and Isaac might have feared as the time came for the sacrifice. Then we talked about how God provided for them and how that might have helped to build their faith and trust in him. Then we talked about the things they fear at this time in their lives and what worries them the most about their future. I was again reminded how different their lives are and yet they are the same. Here are some of their fears.
1) food - where is the next meal coming from, how do I provide for my family
2) school fees - so their children can go to school
3) keeping their animals well

They are concerned about their families and their work which is similar to our own lives. Most of us though are not as concerned about food. This was the number one concern for my students and it was repeated several times in different ways. So, I remind you to pray for the Turkana! Pray for the Lord to provide for their needs in abundant and life blessing ways. Pray for rain for this dry land so that their animals can do well and provide new animals and milk for the babies and the Turkana children. Pray that they would recognize the Lord's provision and so increase their faith and trust in Him!

I encourage you to think about that question for yourself. In light of what you are concerned about, how are you seeing the Lord provide for you? I hope it brings a blessing to you and that you in turn can bless others with your thoughts! Have a good week!

Visits that encourage

2011-03-09T10:27:00.000+03:00

Hello!
This week I am hosting some visitors. They are part of the CMF board. It has been so encouraging having them in my home. They have been able to see some of the things that our team is doing here together with the Turkana church leaders. They have been impressed with the gardens. They are out today helping to put a hand pump on a finished well and then to go to another place and help with the drilling. They spent yesterday afternoon with my teammate, Chad Harris and were able to learn what is going on with our community health evangelism program as it is in its early stages.

Later today, they will get to do a little shopping to help the local economy. I hope to also show them where I teach both ESL and our Bible classes. They will get to meet some of our local church people as well. They leave tomorrow, but I think they have had a good overview of how we are joining in the Lord's work here in Turkana. They have been good visitors - they even like my cooking (or are just too polite to tell me they don't) :}. So, I am grateful for the opportunity to share my home and my heart with these fellow believers this week. I am grateful to the Lord for allowing me to help in some small way to advance his kingdom here in Turkana. I am grateful that he also allows us to occasionally see some of that advancing so we don't get discouraged.

I pray you are having a good week! Pray for me as I finish up preparations for my English class next week. We will be talking about Abraham's call to follow the Lord and his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. It could generate some lively conversations - pray that it does.

Giving Thanks in the hard things too!

2011-02-27T20:45:00.000+03:00

Hello!

This month I have been trying to have an attitude of gratitude. It really does help one to focus on God when we are thankful for the small things in life that bring pleasure and beauty into our lives. At the same time, there are sometimes really hard things that happen and if we are thanking God for the gifts he gives us to see him in the small things, then we also should be thanking him for the gifts he gives us in the big things. Yes, even in the hard things. I am learning that it is all a matter of perspective - do we see God's grace even in the horrible, evil things that happen. It is there. How will we react to the hard things. Will we give him thanks for even those things that bring us pain? Will we allow him to work in us and through us to eventually be able to give thanks? Hard questions to be pondering.

This week a I heard of a YWAM missionary family that had one of those hard, evil things happen. A father was murdered. A mother was traumatized and abused. Children lost a father and a sense of security. I did not know this family, but they lived and worked here in Kenya. I came to Nairobi yesterday and went to church this morning. I didn't know this was the church they attended regularly. What was the response of the congregation and this family? We worshipped and praised God for being merciful and giving grace. Sometimes through tears, yes, but we worshipped God. We gave thanks for a life given in service to him. We prayed for a grieving and hurting family. We affirmed that no matter what Satan meant it for, God was there. He was in it all and He is good. He gives grace and mercy and we gave thanks.

It is a matter of perspective. Do we look at the world with the right lenses? Do we look through God's lens and his heart or do we look through the eyes of the world? Is it easy to give thanks for these hard things? NO. No, it is not easy, but His word says to give thanks in all things. All things - not just the easy things but the hard things too. I don't know this family, but I wept this morning because of the pain they must be feeling. I also wept to see the family of God be the family of God. To lift their voices in praise even in the midst of grief. To sing out that God is good and worthy of praise even when this family might not have been able to do it themselves. God was glorified today and I saw his word being lived out in that congregation. "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, Blessed be the name of the Lord!"

Please pray for this family - the Kremers. Pray for the things they will face in the coming days, weeks and months. They have lost a husband / father and their sense of security. They will also be going back to their sending country - so in a sense they have lost a home. Pray that they would feel their heavenly Father's loving arms wrapped around them...that they will know his peace...that they will know that their security is found in him...that he is their home. Pray for the mother...that in her trauma she will be able to see what she needs and what her family needs...that she will be able to ask for it and that God will provide those who can help her and help her family. The Lord knows the needs. Thanks!

The goodness of the Lord

2011-02-24T22:21:00.000+03:00

Hello!
Continuing on with the attitude of gratitude I have to say that this past week has been a real blessing. I finished up my English class. I am so happy by how well my students are doing at trying to communicate coherently in English :). They are making some very good progress and I am so thankful that they are seeing and hearing that as well.

Here are a few more things I have seen to give thanks for. 1) Four little kids holding hands none older than 5 walking off to see the wide world - within the bounds of home :) 2) My english students spelling in chorus and getting it right the first time! 3) A woman walking through a yellow-green rain of leaves unaware of the beauty 4) The simple joy of cleaning and accomplishing several small jobs 5) For life and drawing each blessed breath- after hearing of someone I tried to help who lost a battle with Malaria 6) A particularly radiant display of God's splendor seen in the smile of a child 7) Adults learning to read - joyful faces at getting it right 8) Procrastinated work finished and a lifting of the weight of not having it done 9) Making plans for group meals and thinking of the yumminess to come 10) A glorious, ordinary yet ornate red-gold sunset 11) Seeing the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! God's hand is in it all! Praise to the one to whom we give thanks!

How about you? What have you been thankful for lately? I'd love to hear from you.

Enjoying some African ingenuity

2011-02-16T21:37:00.000+03:00

Hello!

Today as I was enjoying chai time with my students, we happened to see a very unusual sight. There was a wheelbarrow missing its legs. It was attached to the back of a motorcycle somehow. That motorcycle was moving along at a pretty good pace on the sand road near our school. A wheelbarrow as a tailer - who would have ever thought of that? Someone who had the former and needed the latter I guess :).

My students are learning about sentences this week - among other things. We played a game where one student came up with a subject and tossed a ball to another student who had to come up with the verb and the rest of the sentence. It took a while for them to get going and really catch on to what they were supposed to do. One of the students was given the ball with the subject "women." He quickly responded "are good for cooking food." He and the rest of the class burst out laughing and another added, "and washing clothes." I was a bit appalled, but also happy because they actually made a good sentence. Well, I did tell them they could use any subject and any verb as long as they made a grammatically correct sentence. So, I guess I can't complain too much.

Just a few fun things from my week. How is yours going?

Gratitude

2011-02-08T19:00:00.000+03:00

Hello!

As I stated in my last post I am trying to have an attitude of gratitude this month. I started with being grateful for teammates. Here are a few of the things I have been grateful for this last week.
1) teammates, good food and water
2) That God is good no matter what shocking things may happen - he is with us through it all
3) good meetings, short & sweet, spending time with friends, praying with one another
4) hot, windy & dusty days of storms - they make me appreciate the only hot days :)
5) School kids, laughter & play and books that make me think.
6) Chatting with my bff & college roomie, having little boys seek out my lap for church
7) prayer wariors, seeing God's work from a distance & praising him, making cookies
8) getting stuff done and still time for relaxing

So, there you have it so far in February. How about you what are you grateful for?

Interested in the books I was talking about? I am reading In the Presence of my Enemies by Gracia Burnham - about her & her husbands captivity in the Philippines. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp is where the attitude of gratitude idea started. I am reading both of these books as part of online book clubs and I highly recommend both of them. Another one I am reading slowly just because I know the author is Approaching God by Lisa Repko Borden (she was a former teammate in the late 90's here in Kenya). This one has made me think and has ties into something I taught in my last ESL class about Adam & Eve in the garden after they sinned. I read it the other night and am amazed how God ties things together for us even in what we are reading :).

How about you? What are you reading that you would recommend?

teammates!

2011-02-01T17:40:00.001+03:00

My 2 tanks

Hello!

Today I am thankful for teammates! You see, I live in a desert. There isn't always water coming through the pipes because the town pump is down or they are low on water and rationing. So, I have a small tank up in the air and a bigger one on the ground. These store my water for those times when there is no water from town.

Last evening, I turned on the faucet (or tap for some of you) and no water came out. So, I went outside and pumped water from my big tank to my upper tank so that gravity could bring the water into the house. All was well. I fixed my dinner, washed off the table and then went to my teammates' house for a time of Bible study and prayer. When I returned I was looking forward to a shower because it had been pretty hot that day. When I turned on the faucet no water came out again! That upper tank can usually get me through 3-4 days if I don't do any laundry. So, it should not have been empty after only a few hours and very little water consumption.

So, my teammate, Gene Morden, came over today and spent most of the morning working on my pipes. One of my backflow valves was messed up. Probably a small rock or other object had gotten into it and broken the valve. So, it had to be replaced. He replaced it for me and we tested the tank system. There is still a small leak of water where there shouldn't be, but for now, the water is staying in the upper tank where it belongs. The other problem will have to be tackled some other day. It is a faucet that isn't closing all the way - again there is probably some small hard object keeping it from closing.

backflow valve & faucet that may still need to be fixed

While Gene was fixing the pipes and I was watching and bringing out the tools that he needed, his wife, Melba Morden was fixing our lunch. Yum! A great meal and I didn't have to fix it! So, today I am thankful for teammates. :)

This month I am trying to have an attitude of gratitude. How about you? What are you thankful for today?

A God Thing

2011-01-30T22:07:00.000+03:00

Hello!

Do you ever have things that happen that you know were just God Things? Well, that is what I call them anyway. One time I was on furlough and traveling to my parents home and needed a rest stop. So, I pulled in to the next one I saw - just inside the Colorado state line. As I was getting out of my car and walking toward the restroom, I heard my name called. Now who in the world would know me in this rest stop along the highway? I hadn't traveled with anyone. But there it was, someone calling my name and they knew me. When I looked, it was an old college friend. He and his family had been in Colorado visiting family and were on their way back east. It was a God thing. An unplanned moment when the unexpected and happy thing happens. When you ponder it out, there is just no way it was a coincidence. It had to be orchestrated by our great God.

So, I had another such God thing happen when I was in the States over Christmas. I went with my brother to his local mall. We were shopping for Christmas presents and had split up. He decided to get some goodies to take back home for the rest of the family and called me on my phone to have me meet him in that shop. Even the name is a bit funny when I think about it. It was called "Paradise Bakery." So, I went to meet him there. We were just getting our coats on to leave when all of a sudden I heard my name called out and not by my brother. It was not lunch time so the place wasn't busy. Two women had just walked in and one of them had called my name. It was a friend from High School and College. She doesn't live in that town. She just stopped by with her mother-in-law to get a treat or maybe a late lunch. We would not have gotten to see each other during my short visit if not for this "accidental" meeting. Anyway, it was another God thing. It was unplanned and unpredictable. It was a little extra blessing from the Lord. It had me smiling for the rest of the day and still does when I think about it.

How about you? Had any God Things happen to you lately? It doesn't have to be meeting old friends - just some unexpected little blessing that only God could have orchestrated? I'd love to hear about it!

White as snow

2011-01-29T15:36:00.001+03:00

Hello!

I recently spent time in the States. I was mainly in the heartlands - Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. I traveled and saw a lot of snow. For those of you who know me, I love snow and the winter months. Pretty much any of the seasons but summer are my favorites. So, I was happy to be able to see some snow while I was home.

I know that many of you may be tired of the stuff by now, but I really enjoyed it even when I was slipping and sliding in it. I was a bit scared, but I enjoyed it none the less. Anyway, since snow is not a common sight for me, I got to thinking about it. It brought to mind Isaiah 1:18. That says, "Come now and let us reason together says the Lord: though your sins be as Scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be white as wool."

Snow when it first falls and accumulates can make a winter wonderland. It is so pure and beautiful. Then people walk in it or drive in it and it gets dirty. If it snows again, then the pristine white comes back for a time. So, I was pondering this and thinking how glad I am that we have a Saviour who promises to make us white like snow. Not when it is old and dirty, but when it is in all its glorious whiteness. This thought kept coming back to me the whole time I was in the States seeing the snow. So, I thought I better share it so I can get on with things now that I am home in Turkana.

What are your thoughts on snow? Good, bad or indifferent? I'd love to hear from you!

The end of the year 2010

2011-01-23T20:09:00.000+03:00

Okay, I know you are wondering what happened to me. So, here it is. I got behind in blogging and then I felt like I had too much to say. So, I will try to fill you in shortly and sweetly on what happened while I was home in the States.

Since last writing, I visited with friends from Blue Springs, MO. It was a fun filled evening and I wish it could have been longer. I just spent time updating folks on what is going on here in Kenya and didn't have time to really catch up with them on what they were doing. I guess I will have to do that in 2012 when I go for furlough.

The next night I spent with a group of folks I call my "Indy gang." That was so much fun! It is always good to just be in the presence of old friends who knew you "when." We had a great time just chatting, getting a little caught up and remembering old times. By this time my parents and I were in Indianapolis and spending time with my brother and niece as well. It was so good to be able to spend some quality and quantity time with them!

Family, fun, cards and friendly family jokes were part of the next weekend with my extended family. We traveled to Michigan to see my Dad's three brothers and many of their kids as well as cousins from my Grandma's sister. It was a great weekend and I wish it could have lasted longer, but it was something to cherish. I was given an assignment by my uncles, but I haven't started on it yet so they will have to be patient :).

I spent Christmas and Boxing Day back in Indianapolis with my family. It was even a white Christmas as it snowed on Christmas Eve and Christmas day a little bit. It was so nice to be wrapped in the love of family and to cherish it as something special. I think living away from family makes the times we get to spend with them that much sweeter!

Then it was back to Colorado to get ready to return to Kenya. I had 2 Sundays left out there. I spent January 2nd with my church family at Green Mountain Christian Church. It was good to see old friends there. The next weekend I spent with my church family in Colorado Springs at Academy Christian Church. It was a wonderful weekend spent with friends. Many of them even sat through a showing of multiple pictures from Turkana. I admire their tenacity and enthusiasm :).

After that visit to Colorado Springs I got to drive home in a snow storm. I might not have called it that before I moved to the desert, but I do now. The roads were slick and in a couple of places the wind was blowing the snow so hard I couldn't see much in front of me. Even so, I made it home safely and completed the process of packing and weighing bags for my return on Tuesday, January 11th.

So, that is a short synopsis of my holidays. I had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope the same is true for you! I even got to see snow and play in it a little bit. Even though my driving skills in snow and ice have been a bit forgotten, I still love it. I will try to add a little more later this week on some impressions while in the States.

In the meantime, I am happy to be "home" in Turkana and preparing for my next English class. We are talking about "the fall" this week in our movie of the Bible. I am trying to come up with discussion topics that beginning English students could talk about. I asked for suggestions on Facebook and would be glad for any here as well :). Have a good week!

Back Home again?

2010-12-13T08:59:00.000+03:00

Hello!

I made it back to the States. For those of you who don't know, I came home for Christmas. I will be here about a month. So, here are a few first impressions - jet-lag fog and all.

Driving - what do I do with my left foot? There is no clutch. My windowshield has no dust on it. The wipers have gone several times when I meant to do the turn signal. RIGHT! Stay in the right lane - my mind thinks it is wrong, but it is amazing how annoyed other people get :). No, I have only been on the wrong side when there hasn't been other traffic around to give me clues - only my parents in the car with me get annoyed. People drive fast! I must be getting old as I drive slow - of course being jet-lagged probably has something to do with that. Give me a few days and I'll be back to normal.

Restaurants - Americans are noisy! Almost every restaurant I have been to has had loud music and lots of loud people. Chik-fil-a still has delicious Chicken biscuits, but now they take your name and you go sit down and wait for them to bring your food. I still have to read the menus to see what is on offer and people behind the counter get annoyed that I don't know what I want before I come in. So, I guess we are impatient too.

Shopping - I haven't tackled that one much. I did go to get a few toiletries at Target, but I have avoided malls and such. Maybe next week.

I head out with my parents tomorrow to meet some Pottengers that we don't know - yet. It should be fun trying to figure out how we are related. We got connected through facebook and a college friend. After that, we have lunch with the Mangels and then start our driving trip to Indianapolis. I will be seeing some folks in Blue Springs, MO who came to visit me in Turkana in 2009. It should be a fun evening. Then on to Indy to see family and another party with friends and supporters. I am looking forward to seeing everyone!

I guess that is all for now. I hope you are enjoying the season and have a chance to reflect on Christ's Advent in the past, the present and the future! Be blessed in this season of our Lord!

What's in a name?

2010-11-30T17:24:00.000+03:00

Hello!

It is the start of Advent season. Well, actually, it started already I just haven't moved past the first day. I was reading Matthew 1 and kinda got stuck in all the names. Some of you don't know that played a Bible quiz game (called Bible Bowl) from 7th-12th grade. I enjoyed it and learned a lot of the Bible. I really liked the geneologies. If I memeorized all the names in order and my team was asked about it, it was like getting free points. I made up funny sentences, songs and rhymes to help me remember the first letters of the names. It was a challenge and it was fun.

I don't think they include geneologies in the current form of Bible Bowl. I could be wrong, as I am way out of the loop. I think they are missing out on something if they don't. "Why," you may say. Well, names are important to the people wearing them. The fact that they are included in the Bible tells me that they are also important to God. That gives me hope and a firm faith that my name is also important to him. He knows my name. He knows me. You and I may seem very insignificant to ourselves, but God knows our name. If we believe in his Son, Jesus, then our names are also written down in His book of life. He promises to give us eternal life. He has a new name for us that will describe us to a T.

So, I got stuck in the names. Some of them seem quite odd to our modern ears. Ram. Who is he? He is the father of Amminadab, the son of Hezron , the grandfather of Nashon. He is known by God! Who is Rahab? We know a little about her, but God knows even more. Who is Lynn? Who are you? We are the children of the living God and He knows our names and He loves us more than we could ever really comprehend. That's what's in a name!

I pray you have time this Advent to "chew" on Jesus' coming to this world, his second coming and his coming into our hearts daily as we allow him to do so. Have a blessed season!

Schools out for Summer! :)

2010-11-18T14:57:00.000+03:00

Hello!

Our local primary schools and the high schools are officailly out for the year. Today was the last day for many primary schools. I had a small party at my house for the kids that are sponsored by me or my friends. There were 14 kids here along with my guard, houseworker and me. We all had a good time. I fixed up a big batch of chili - Indiana style. That is with some spaghetti in it. It was the first time for most of them to have chili, but they seemed to like it. They were all part of the clean bowl club anyway. I didn't make it spicy hot as I don't like lots of hot spices and the very little kids would have complained.

The kids enjoyed playing on the swings and slide that are in the yard. I took pictures of each child and one group shot. Since this is a borrowed computer, I will have to wait to post one until I have my computer back. I only had one of my high school students here. The rest are not out of school yet or could not make it today. I measured all the kids and marked their heights on the back of my hall door. Now to find a tape measure to figure out exactly how tall they are :). I also wrote down their grades and class positions.

As I took them home, I handed out a small sack of goodies. They each got some lolipops, hard candy, bubble gum, a fig newton and a small cake thing with chocolate inside that I found at one of the shops. So, they were happy. They will all be promoted to the next grade in January. One student took her 8th grade test this year and will have to wait until the end of January to find out if she did well enough to get into high school. I am hoping that she did well and can get into a good school. Now to wait and see.

I hope you are having a great day!

Multinational Thanksgiving

2010-11-17T20:25:00.000+03:00

Hello!

Happy Thanksgiving! Okay, I know I am a bit early, but I celebrated Thanksgiving last night with some wonderful friends. I was the only American present, but we all entered into the spirit of Thanksgiving. I celebrated with people from Kenya, England, and the Netherlands. It was a great evening of fun and food. We had many of the traditional trimmings - green bean casserole, potatoes, apple salad, pasta salad, pumpkin pie and cherry pie. Our main course was beef kabobs and barbecue chicken. It was all very yummy! Our barbecue grill was made out of a semi-truck (called a lorry here) wheel rim. It worked very well.

We spent the evening under the stars chatting about the meaning of Thanksgiving and then on to many other topics. We talked a lot about history. My old brain was working overtime trying to remember my history lessons about several events from by-gone years. Thankfully, the mosquitoes were not bad and we were able to sit out in a newly designed sitting area at Theo and Kaby's house (some fellow missionaries).

I hope you are all enjoying a great week and are full of thanksgiving to our Lord for who He is and what He has done for us! blessings to you all!

buggy computers?

2010-11-06T10:14:00.001+03:00

Hello!

Well, I thought my computer had a virus or a glitch in its system since it is an Apple and they are not supposed to get viruses very easily. It started having problems on Monday of this week. So, I got creative and figured out how to get it to Nairobi without me having to fly down with it. I had a visitor coming on Friday and an English class next week, so I didn't really have time to fly to Nairobi to get it fixed. A very kind and trusted person agreed to take it on the flight to Kitale and then she drove it the rest of the way to Nairobi on Wednesday. I had someone pick it up from her Thursday morning and take it to the only Apple shop in Kenya that is licensed to work on them. I thought it was just a glitch in a downloaded update that was making my operating system have problems. It wasn't!

I was told that it is a mechanical problem with my hard drive. I need to replace it and not used the computer until it is replaced or I could loose everything on it. This computer was new to me in 2008, but it was refurbished so I don't know how old it really was or what the problems might have been to made it need to be refurbished. So, I have decided to wait and look at something new when I go back to the States for Christmas. I will also probably get the hard drive replaced and then have an extra computer to use in my ESL class for my students. It will help to be able to divide them up into groups with this Movie software program we just started. So, that is the current plan.

I am currently borrowing a computer from a friend to write this blog. I will be trying to stay as connected as possible by borrowing when I can. God is good and has provided various people for me to visit and borrow some time on their computers this week. My teammates who are on furlough, may have a computer here that their son used. I am going to try to find it today and use that if I can. So, I do have a few options.

I am having to re-do the work that I had done for my English class next week. It was just a few worksheets, but it is discouraging since I already had them done. I am hoping to finish that up today and tomorrow if I have access to my teammates' computer. I am going searching shortly. I have to return this borrowed computer in about 15 minutes.

I hope all is well with you!

Wind and Dust! Tis the season.

2010-10-28T12:49:00.000+03:00

Hello!

It is that time of year again. It seems like it is a bit early, but it has definitely started. Dust storm season is upon us here in Turkana land. UGH! Today it has been very windy. When I look out my back window I can see a couple of houses and dust just hanging in the air. My floors and all surfaces are coated with it. I can wash the table and 15 minutes later need to do it again. The noise can be quite fierce as well.

It is early in the season, so hopefully this dusty wind will slow and stop before to much longer. Often we have the dust in the mornings but the afternoons clear up. That is what I am hoping for today. Why do we have these dusty days? It is a desert and there isn't much rain or vegetation to keep the dirt on the ground where it belongs. Usually from Nov to Feb or so, we have these storms. Some days I can't even see the houses across the road. Oct - Dec can be the months of the short rains, but we haven't gotten any yet this year. So, I think that is why it seems early. I am glad I didn't decide to do laundry today! I have to choose those days carefully during these months :).

While many of my readers are "enjoying" the winter months, I will be "enjoying" the dusty months. I have gotten used to them, but it can play havoc with electrical equipment. I have learned to keep things covered as much as possible. The creepy crawlies come out with the winds too. Scorpions, spiders and snakes all seem to thrive in these winds. So, I keep a lookout for them. This dust can be a nusance, but it has a certain beauty as well. I am reminded about Jesus' comments about the wind and the Holy Spirit during these dusty blasts. Sometimes I am amazed at the different colors of brown and red the sky can be in the midst of and at the end of these winds. God can use even nusance winds to create beauty in this world!

So, enjoy the season you are in. I will endeavor to enjoy mine as well. Stop and thank God for it and look for the blessings in the season!

The Hope!

2010-10-27T12:24:00.000+03:00

Hello!

My English class last week was all about "The Hope" movie. I found this program online. It uses a movie to teach english. It tells the story of the Bible and has three narrators with different english accents telling the story. It has a lot of "big" words in it, so I wasn't sure how my students would do. There are 15 lessons that correspond with 15 parts of the movie. So, I decided to try it and see how they would do.

They loved it! We did the introduction and the first part of the first chapter. The words are hard to understand, but there are several computer games and helps to help the student begin to understand the meanings of the words. I did have a Turkana help me translate it too, so that helped a lot. Try explaining the meaning of words like complexity, mystery, depth of human joy and pain, recorded, preserved, eternal proportions, amazingly and extraordinary in english let alone another language. Those were a few of the words in the introduction. They are concept words that are a bit hard to explain, but the students began to understand the ideas as we worked through the various parts of the lesson. I was very happy with their progress. After working through the lesson, they were happy to be able to understand the introduction during their second viewing.

When I showed them Chapter one, they got really excited. It is about creation. They were excited to see all the different insects and animals - especially the african ones. Most of them have never seen these animals in person, so it was fun for them to see them and even hear some of the noises they make. This movie has a fairly decent job of visualizing God making the earth out of nothing. It also does well with him making Adam out of dust. It even showed it taking place in an area with lots of sand - so they could relate to that. :) We will do the bulk of the lesson activities in our November class. I am hoping we can finish chapter 1 and 2 for that class. It will be Nov 8-13.

I am glad to have found this resource. I am getting to the end of our current textbook and was wondering what to use next. So, this will last for a few months as we work through the whole movie. I am including some work with grammar for these lessons too, as they need help in using the correct forms when they speak. I am really excited that this gives them a lot of opportunities to discuss things in class. They already know the Bible pretty well, so it is something they can talk about and really get into it. It is also something they will need to be able to talk about and read about in the future too, as they use English Bible teaching aids. So, I am happy with the progress made this past week and am looking forward to using this for the next few months of class.

This program comes with computer activities as part of the lesson. I have access to two computers that I can use while teaching. I had an educated Turkana man come and help me for a couple of days and was able to divide the students into two groups so they could do some individual (with others looking on) work. When that man had to leave or when we were all one group, I used a projector connected to a computer to display the image on a wall and a large speaker for the sound. It worked pretty well since the class is only 12 students right now. As long as we have power, it will be a good class :). I am praying that we continue to have power for the weeks of my class! Thanks to my friends and fellow missionaries here in Lodwar (Keshule, Ali, Theo and Kaby) for helping me to get these things working correctly. I tried to connect my TV to my computer but we couldn't get it to work in color. It has something to do with my computer being NTSC and my TV being multi-system. We couldn't get it to work, so I had to switch to the projector and speakers which was a bit more complicated but worked well.

How about you? Have you tried any fun new things at work or home lately? I would love to hear about them. Thanks for reading my blog and for your prayers!

Happy Homecoming Uncle Larry!

2010-10-18T12:26:00.001+03:00

Hello!

Today in Indianapolis, my extended family is gathering to remember and say goodbye to my Great Uncle Larry Pottenger. He died on September 20th and was 93 years old. He was my Grandpa's brother (in case you don't remember what a "great uncle" is). I wish I was there with them. So, I will write this little blog to honor him.

Uncle Larry was a sweet and patient man with me as I was growing up. He worked at the family nursery - Pottneger Nursery and Landscape Co. He was a landscape architect who studied with Frank Lloyd Wright. I didn't know that as a child. I knew that he cared enough to find out what my favorite flower was. He gave me some Lilies of the Valley to plant in our yard and spent the time to tell me how to take care of them. (I didn't inherit the family green thumb - those flowers never did very well) I remember dancing on his shoes when I was really little :). He and Aunt Ellen had a beautiful house in the woods. They even fed the racoons that would come around. I thought that was really cool! When I was grown and went to visit them, I discovered their house was in a neighborhood, but it still looked like the woods to me. Maybe that was due to my uncle's landscaping artwork in his own back yard.

I found out that he designed and supervised the landscaping of the Indianapolis Zoo and the Monument Circle Tree Planting and Beautification in 1960. He also worked on beautifying several homes and gardens in the Indianapolis area. It is amazing the things you learn about someone after they are gone. Even so, that wasn't the important stuff. The important thing was that I knew he loved me. He cared about his family and friends. When it comes right down to it, if others can say that you loved, then that was a life well lived. Uncle Larry loved with all his heart.

And so, today with my family, I say goodbye for now. Have a very happy homecoming with our Lord, Uncle Larry. Have a great reunion with your parents and Grandpa & Grandma, Uncle Dick, Aunt Doris & Uncle Johnny, and Aunt Miriam & Uncle Bill. You all have a great big party with the Lord and when the rest of us come we will join in the celebration!

Why?

2010-10-16T20:31:00.000+03:00

Hello!

Why is it when you make plans to do something, inevitably something else comes up and keeps you from doing it? This week it has been one thing after another that has kept me from my plan for the week. Okay, maybe not the whole week, but it sure seems that way looking at it from the end of the week. I wonder what I did this week, since I didn't get done what I wanted to get done. Do you have weeks like that?

I was supposed to work on my next english lesson. The class is next week. I have worked on it some, but I still feel like there is so much to do and it is Saturday night already! One problem is that I am trying to do a movie based ESL lesson this next week. It is a really cool program that I have had and wanted to use. I decided to start it this next week. It tells the story of the Bible in about 14 lessons - as a movie with ESL activities to help the students "get it." I think I can cover one or two lessons this next week. The biggest problem has come in trying to get my computer to sync with my TV. I had a friend help, but we couldn't get it to show up in color. Next option was to borrow a projector and speakers. Of course, there were problems with getting the correct cords and making it all work together. We finally got it done, but between the two attempts it probably took a whole day of my time. Other days I spent doing necessary shopping, house stuff, "visiting" with random visitors who stopped by to chat and ask for my help. In between those things I worked on the lesson. I also spent time one day going to the "bush" and helping some teammates who were sick. All these are good things and I wouldn't change what I did, it just means I feel a bit behind.

I feel less organized going into this lesson. I still have time to get it ready. The actual teaching doesn't start until Tuesday. Even so, it is a new thing and I really wanted to spend more time getting it figured out. I know it will work out fine - but - I am discombobulated. So, keep me in your prayers as I try to work out the whys and hows of this next lesson. I hope to make it a fun and encouraging week. Pray God will help me get more organized. I think my students will love that it is a movie. Hopefully they will go away excited that they will be able (eventually) to watch and understand a whole movie in English.

Thanks for reading my thoughts. I'm not complaining - just wishing for more time :) I hope you have a great weekend!

Where is ...?

2010-09-29T13:04:00.001+03:00

Hello!

Last week I held my 15th week long class with my English students. We had a lot of fun learning how to give directions. I even made up a song for them to a Turkana song tune so they could learn how to get from our school to a small grocery in town. They enjoyed seeing how English words would fit into their Turkana song. I made a Lodwar ABC Places booklet for them to use. This booklet had pictures of various buildings in town. They used these to help them decide where they wanted to go.

The students spent some time in our big classroom where I had a map of town drawn on the floor in chalk. One student gave directions while another followed them to the correct place in town. This worked really well until one of them told his directee to take two steps and he would be there. Since the map wasn't drawn to scale that would have been difficult for the person to do in real life :).

To help them even more, I suggested they write what they would say to someone in Turkana if they were asked to give them directions to a specific place. We then talked about how the phrases and details they use in Turkana could be said in English. At the end of the week, they were able to give directions to two places in town and to follow directions given to them by someone else.

This week we also talked about the simple past tense. I made an imaginary letter from Moses to his father in law, Jethro, telling him how he got to Mt. Sinai. The words of God were in present tense, while Moses' descriptions were in past tense. This gave them a sense of the difference in the two tenses. I had a couple of worksheets for them to practice using past tense and introduced them to the list of irregular verbs. I told them they have to memorize them all and that there would be a test for the first half next month. So, there were groans all around. I am hoping they really spend some time on these as they are essential for using English correctly.

So, that is what happened last week. I will post some pictures from the class for you to enjoy. Have a blessed week this week!

Pictures of the Direction class

2010-09-29T11:30:00.000+03:00

Lopongo says, "is this it?" "What do I do now?

John is following directions to go over the bridge. Do you like the water drawn under and around the bridge? :)

Let me out!

They told me I had to follow directions too. So, they sent me to the national prison that is in Lodwar.

Lodwar ABC places booklet

2010-09-29T10:30:00.000+03:00

Okay, so I am a bit proud of this little booklet. It took many hours over the course of several days and I am very happy with how it came out. It covers the alphabet in 12 pages - of which these are two examples. I got it bound and then had the students take it with them to the homes of the english speakers that host them for two nights in the week. The hosts and students were able to choose from the pictures and tell how to get there from the host's home.

Mark 2 class

2010-09-28T13:03:00.000+03:00

Hello!

I am posting a little late on this. I had two weeks back to back teaching and am just now getting around to doing other things. So, this post will be about the second half of Mark that I taught at our Turkana Bible Training Institute (TBTI). It was the 13th through the 17th.

The class went very well. We had 14 students this month and we covered Mark 9-16. We spent the first day on Chapters 9 & most of 10. It made me a bit nervous as I only have 3 teaching days and the last hour of the third day is supposed to be for reviewing the material. We had some very good discussions about how to "earn" eternal life. We concluded that it can't be earned or bought no matter how hard you try or how much wealth you have. You have to receive it like a child receives a gift. It can only be given by God.

Wednesday we did much better. We went from the end of chapter 10 to the middle of chapter 13. Explaining about the two events (destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Rome and the end of days) talked about in chapter 13 was interesting. They had some problems understanding how the withered fig tree that Jesus cursed in chapter 12 was a picture of the religious leaders of the day. So, we spent a good bit of time on that. Then a fig tree is mentioned again in 13 so they wanted to know how it fit. I had to explain that it was an example to show how we can know when the two events of 13 will be. We look for the budding/ flowering of the tree to show when the fruit will come. The same is true for the last days. We look for the things Jesus talked about and we will know the time is near. This was especially true for those living during the time of the fall of Jerusalem and is even true for us today.

So, Thursday we finished up with Chapters 14-16 and had time to review. The students and I enjoyed lively discussions the whole week. I reviewed for the test with them and then went and wrote the test. I am happy to say that they studied better this time. Since none of them have formal schooling, it is easy to see how they really don't know how to study. So, this time I had 72% of the class that passed. There was only 50% that passed when we did Mark 1-8. I was happy with the progress :).

Next month they will have a different teacher. I only get to teach a couple of times a year as I also have to teach the English class. Usually, they meet the same week. When I am teaching the TBTI class I have to have the English class another week and this increases the costs of both since they would normally share cooks, food, water and other such things.

So, that is a glimpse of a TBTI class. I hope you had a wonderful September!

God's blessings abound!

2010-08-29T21:30:00.000+03:00

Hello!

This has been a week of blessings. When I arrived in Eldoret last Friday, I received a message from a fellow missionary that she would be in Eldoret for the weekend and wondered if I was anywhere close. Wendy Wagoner works in Tanzania and we met last April. We haven't seen each other since then. I was so excited that God worked it out that I would be in Eldoret when she would be there and we could meet up. It ended up that she was able to stay with me in Eldoret starting Monday and then travel with me to Nairobi. It was very nice to have a traveling companion. The Lord blessed both of us by working out this little connection without any planning from either of us!

Once we arrived in Nairobi, we had a wonderful evening with some Nairobi teammates. We got to celebrate a birthday, share a meal, fellowship and have some fun. It was a good evening and we didn't get lost on the way home! I am directionally challenged and this was a new area of Nairobi to me. So, it was a very good possibility that I would get lost. Even so, we made it to our guesthouse safely with only one small miss-turn. Friday, we had fun going out for lunch and seeing the movie Inception. That is a good movie, but very thought provoking.

Saturday morning, I woke up to a message that I had received a nice random gift. It was such a surprise and really did have me smiling most of the day. We spent the day meeting up with some of Wendy's teammates from Tanzania and again celebrated a birthday. I was able to find some ESL story books that are a bit more African that my students will understand a little better. I also found some colorful posters for some upcoming lessons. I don't have a lot of wall space in my classroom, but these will help brighten up the room.

Today my Wendy headed back to Tanzania with her teammates. I was sad to see her go, but I was thankful for the time we were able to spend together. We had a nice breakfast at Java house. (One of the more American style restaurants in Kenya {there are only a few} that is really very good!) Then I headed to church. It was so nice to be able to worship in my "mother tongue!" To top it off, we sang one of my favorite hymns at a church that normally sings mostly choruses. Then, I had lunch with some fellow Kenya CMFers. It was a nice time of chatting without having to talk about business and pass minutes. We could just enjoy each other's company.

So, that is my week of blessings. How about you? How has the Lord shown you recently how special you are to him? I'd love to hear it!

Robin & Update

2010-08-25T13:50:00.000+03:00

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to let everyone know that my puppy, Robin, is now doing fine. It took him about a week and a half before he was able to walk on his leg - gingerly. Now he is running around the yard with Batman (the other dog) and playing and doing fine. Thanks everyone for your concern!

I am currently in Eldoret. That is in the highlands of Kenya at 7500 ft. It is a beautiful area. I have been working on my next english class. The students will be learning how to ask for and give directions. So I am making an ABC places of Lodwar booklet. My friend and I took some pictures around town of shops and buildings and I am putting them all in a little booklet. The students will then have to give directions to those places from a specific place in town. I think they will really enjoy this. My camera doesn't have settings to take black & white pictures. So, I am having to duplicate each picture and then make it black and white and crop it in my computer program. That is a bit time consuming. I have anywhere from three to five pictures for each letter. I thought this would be a pretty quick thing, but it has taken me several hours and I am only finished through L. I have a few more to do, but I have the hang of it now :).

Tomorrow I head to Nairobi. I have some grocery shopping that I need to do. I usually buy for 2-3 months at a time. So, it takes a little time. I also tend to shop at several stores around Nairobi as it is hard to find everything at one store. I have a two day meeting with all the Kenya CMF missionaries next Thursday and Friday. After that, I will be headed back home to Turkana. So, that is a bit of an update from here. What have you been up to lately? Have a great day and I would love to hear from you!

An Election Adventure!

2010-08-12T17:21:00.004+03:00

Hello!

The Edapal family.

Kenya had an election last week. The people had to vote on if they wanted the new constitution or not. It had the potential to be chaotic like the last presidential election, but thankfully it was peaceful. Due to the potential for problems, I stayed home on election day. I stayed home that is, until I got a phone call asking for help. My fellow missionaries Keshule (Kay -shoe-lay), Ali, Ben, Chloe(with two dots over the e) and Lydia Edapal live around the corner from me. They work with a mission called "That mission." It stands for True Hope And Transformation. You can find them at http://thatmission.blogspot.com.

Anyway, Ali called me around 10:15 p.m. to tell me that Keshule's truck wouldn't start. He was driving the election officials back from a couple of polling stations outside of town. She asked if I could help go get them and tow him if necessary. He was close to town - only 5 kilometers or so from the west side of town. That is a little over 3 miles. So, I said sure and we left their house around 10:30 for a trip of about 12 miles round trip. We all live on the southeast side of town. Neither one of us knew where we were going. We were relying on directions given to us from Keshule and the election officials shouting at him to tell us this or that.

Needless to say, we got lost! I have never been out to the West of Lodwar and it was a very dark night. There was no moon and few stars to light the way. I really miss street lights on nights like this! The roads are dirt and you have to watch for potholes. Anyway, we went the wrong way at a fork in the road. We turned around and found a couple of Turkana to help us. They also told us the wrong way. We think they were just looking for a ride home :). Finally, we saw a lorry (a big truck - no trailer) coming towards us and I stopped. Ali jumped out of the truck and went to ask them if we were on the right road. Alas, we were not. One of the ladies in the full to overflowing truck was a clerk from the election out that way. She agreed to go with us and show us the way. We basically had to go all the way back to town and then take the other fork of the road. We were given landmarks that we didn't know and names of places that we couldn't read the signs on, so I think we had a good reason for being a bit lost. We were at least in the correct area :).

During all this time, Ali was talking to Keshule on the phone. People were yelling at him and Ali was getting stressed. Ali is British by the way. So, at one point she just said to me - "He's got his knickers in a twist" and wouldn't answer the phone when he called. I laughed out loud at that. I was having fun. I was just the driver listening to all that was going on so I wasn't near as stressed as she was. I am sure she had a hard time not slugging me when I laughed like that. Anyway, the lady helped us get to Keshule and I towed his truck, him, the police guard and the election boxes back to town. Ali and I had the rest of the passengers in the truck with us. The police guard was very upset with Keshule because of the broken down truck. Keshule later told us that he was afraid things were going to get violent, but the other election people calmed down the police guard.

When we got to town, we left Kesule and the truck and took the guard and the rest of the people to the campaign offices. I am not exactly sure the name of the place, but it was up on the top of a steep hill where most of the government offices are in town. I didn't want to try towing his truck up that hill. So, we dropped off the people and the two sealed but transparent election boxes (one for yes and one for no). Then we went back to town where we left Keshule and towed him home. I got home around 12:30 am. So, it took 2 hours to go 12 miles, but it was a success and it was fun.

This was a real adventure! It was very dark and we didn't know the way. The road had holes that came up unexpectedly. We were looking around trying to spot places we didn't know in the daylight much less in the dark. I have never towed a vehicle for that long. Their truck is a land cruiser. Mine is a hilux. Mine is a small pickup and theirs is the next size up vehicle that Toyota makes. So, it is bigger than mine and I wasn't sure about towing it that far. We did fine, but I wondered about it. At one point in the towing, I had to stop because I heard a horrendous noise coming from my front right tire (passenger side here). Ali and I in our hurry to get to Keshule did not bring a flashlight. So, I had to try to find the problem with no light. I did find it eventually. It was a stick about a yard and a half long that was stuck between the tire and the frame of the truck. It took a bit of maneuvering to get it out, but then we were on our way again.

In all of that, we had a lot of help. The two men we picked up who gave us wrong directions were happy to help us (even though they knew as much as us about where we were going). The lorry was happy to stop. They made sure we had someone to go with us that knew the way. They even watched us to make sure we got to the right road to get back to where we needed to be. (I am sure they wondered about these two white women out on their own at night and just wanted to help "those crazy white women!) The other election people calmed the guard who wanted to hurt Keshule. They were all gracious to us about getting lost (after they told us we didn't do what we were told). They pointed out the landmarks they had given us on the way back to town. They even acknowledged that you couldn't see any of the signs for those landmarks in the dark. So, what would have been a short trip with no adventure turned out to be great fun and gave me a glimpse of the way elections work here in this country. I even got a nice hearty laugh in the midst of it. :) Keshule was able to find the problem with his truck and fix it without a big expense too!

All in all, it was a great adventure and I thank the Lord for letting me experience it. What about you? Have you had any adventures lately? Why don't you comment and let me know about one. I would love to hear from you!

Robin & budgets

2010-08-02T20:12:00.002+03:00

Hello!

Yesterday was not a good day. It was a Sunday and all was well until I started to go to church. Normally, that is good thing. Yesterday, it was bad as my puppy decided to run under the back wheel of my truck as I was starting to back up. Thankfully, I was not going very fast so I didn't run over him completely. I moved forward as soon as I heard him yelping and jumped out of the truck to go investigate. It looks like he got his right back leg caught under the part of the tire. Remember I live in what seems like the middle of nowhere and this is especially true when something like this happens!

So, I didn't make it to church. There is a vet who lives near-by, but he was not home. I had a Turkana man who works with goats and dogs come look at Robin. He got to feel his foot, elbow (I don't know the technical term - but elbow seems right) and upper back leg, but Robin would not let him touch his hip. So, I was afraid that the hip might be fractured. I asked my facebook friends for help in figuring out what I could give him for pain. In the evening I finally got a hold of a vet in Eldoret (a days drive away) and he told me I could give a very small dose of ibuprofen for swelling and pain, but only for 3 days as it is not good for dogs. So, I had to wait until today to find out anything else.

Today, I went to the district office of veterinary medicine and found two doctors. I have gone here before and found a vet, but he was afraid of dogs and didn't want to come. This time, they both were willing to come and look at the dog. They told me I would have to find something to tie his mouth shut and I would have to do the tying. Otherwise, they were willing to see what they could do. They have no medicines for animals - other than a few vaccines for rabies and some for a goat illness. So, they didn't have any better pain meds for Robin. When they got to the house, they saw Robin favoring his leg and not putting weight on it. Then he laid down on the leg that was sore. This is the first and only time I have seen him do this since the accident! They decided from this, that there was no fracture and that he would heal on his own. Of course, when Robin got up from lying on that leg, he made a big yelp of pain because he had to use the leg more than was good for it. So, I haven't seen him lay on it again today. At any rate, Robin is going to get better. I can give him ibuprofen until tomorrow and then he has to handle the pain on his own.

After running around with the vets this morning, I had to work on my budget for next year. For those of you who don't know me very well, I hate number crunching. I can do it and do fine, I just hate doing it. So, I usually procrastinate extra hard on doing my books or budget. I put it off until the very last minute because I don't like doing it! This year, I didn't have much choice as I was teaching right up to the time I needed to get it done. I could have worked on it Saturday, but I was tired from teaching and I knew I would have today. So, I had to get it done today. Our team is having a meeting tomorrow to approve budgets for next year. It had to be done today and I wasn't planning on having to deal with a hurt puppy! I am happy to say that I got it done and all is well. I am going to watch the winter olympics tonight as a reward. I am on the second day of competition. I just got the DVD's in June and am just now getting to see them. So, don't spoil it for me if you can remember back that far as to who wins what medals :). So far in what I have seen, the U.S. has gotten a gold medal in women's mogul jumping and 2 medals in short track speed skating.

I hope all is well with all of you! I also hope that if you procrastinate on some things, that you get them done when they need to be done in spite of unexpected happenings! Have a blessed day!

Doctor, Doctor give me the news!

2010-08-02T19:56:00.004+03:00

Hello!

This past week I held my 14th English class. I have 12 students that come on a fairly regular basis now. The students don't get much practice at home, but when they come to town I make sure they have plenty of opportunities to talk. This class was focused on health care treatments and visiting the doctor. The students had a great time at the end of the week. They had to divide into groups and put on plays. Each skit had a doctor and three or four patients. In this picture you see the doctor trying to read the thermometer. This doctor had quite the time doing this. Most of the time he had the bulb of the thermometer sticking up in the air and tried to read it that way. It was very funny. My students have a sense of humor and they enjoy getting to try it out in English :).

I tried something a little new this time as well. I had the students listen to a story. I read the first "Magic Tree House" story to them. These books are written for early readers so my students should be able to read them on their own at some point in the near future. This particular story is about two kids who go back in time by way of a magic tree house that they find in the woods near their home. They went back to the time of dinosaurs. So, I had to explain to the class about dinosaurs and fossils before we got into the story. I also had to explain that the story was fiction so most of it was not true. They enjoyed the story and even laughed in appropriate places. So, I think they understood a good part of it. Of course, I tried to act along as I read it and I did handout some pictures from the book and showed them the rest. They asked for the next story - so I guess I will be trying to read one of these for the next class as well. The next book is about knights and castles. So, that should be fun and a bit familiar since we just studied about armor in our last lesson.

All in all, I think it was a good week of class. I enjoyed seeing how the students put their skits together and used the words they had learned this week. They enjoyed getting to be a bit funny and still learn their lesson. I hope you had a good week too! blessings!

Mark Class

2010-07-19T19:12:00.000+03:00

Hello!

Sorry, but I am cheating and back dating this post. I taught the first half of Mark last week (July 16-20). The class went well. This is the first time I taught this group of students. There are about 14 students in the class. They did pretty well at discussing the various points in the first 8 chapters. We got to talking so much, that we got behind schedule and I was worried that we wouldn't finish the full 8 chapters by Thursday afternoon. We had to stay in class a little longer at tea break and lunch time on Thursday but we managed to finish the lesson by 4:15 so they could have some time to review for the test.

I really enjoy teaching this class. This is one of the first classes where the students are expected to take the answers from the text that they just read. So, it was a struggle at first to get them to look for the answers in Mark. Many of them came up with answers from other gospels or from other parts of the New Testament. I had to keep saying, "well, that might be true in Matthew (or wherever) but that is not what Mark says. What does Mark say?" After the first day, they were beginning to think - I bet the answer is in what we just read and then gave the appropriate answers. So, it takes time, but they eventually get it. It is my hope that they will take this and use it when they are teaching in their home churches.

The class did really well in discussions, but are still learning how to study. So, when test time came, I thought I gave them an easy test. Alas, half of them did not pass. So, I tried to encourage them and told them that they can do better. We will see in September when they come back for the second half of the book of Mark. I am looking forward to seeing how they do and to hearing what they think.

I hope you have had a good week!

The road to Lodwar

2010-07-05T21:49:00.004+03:00

Hello!

I bounced and jounced and rumbled and bumbled my way home today. I traveled from Eldoret to Lodwar. The road has deteriorated with the rains that we got in May. So, it took 9 hours instead of the normal (lately) 8 hours. When I first came in 1996, the road was wonderful. We could travel from Eldoret to Lodwar in about 4 or 5 hours - including a longish stop for lunch along the road. Now, we barely stop to eat a sandwich and are back on the road & it still takes 9 hours. It is only about 280 miles. Ugh!

This is a picture of the road - no I did not turn the camera. This is the angle we drive to have the least amount of bumps. That little strip in the center is the last of the pavement. Many places there is no pavement left at all. Imagine 9 hours on something like this - and no gas stations for potty breaks :). Just thought I'd let you see a little of what I am complaining about :). Actually, I am glad there is a way to get between the two points, I just wish it was a smoother way! Have a great day!!

P.S. FYI - to post those 2 pictures yesterday it took me almost 2 1/2 hours. This one only took about 15 minutes. The internet is slow here and worse in Eldoret (they say because there are too many trees - how can that be???)

Beauty of Eldoret

2010-07-03T22:47:00.004+03:00

Here are couple plants in the yard in Eldoret.

A Poinsettia tree. Who would ever think that that little plant in the pot at Christmas would grow into a tree? Eldoret is very different from the desert! There are flowers, trees and lots of green grass all over here. It is good for my soul to see green, growing things and the flowers are just amazing! What an imagination our God has!!!!

Last couple weeks

2010-07-03T22:34:00.002+03:00

Hello!

The last couple weeks have been a bit busy. I had to travel to Nairobi for a team meeting. We had to make some decisions about how to get our office things in Nairobi done for the future. Our business administrator and his family are not returning to Kenya because of fund raising problems. It is always hard for administrators to raise money because people have a hard time seeing how that is mission work. However, I really appreciate those who have filled this role for me. It allows me to spend much more time in Turkana. I don't have to be in Nairobi to file for my work permit, or turn in forms explaining what I am doing here in Kenya and a myriad of other things that take so much time away from my being in Turkana.

So, we had to meet in order to figure out how to get these administrative things done without each of us having to take turns working in Nairobi. I think we have a good solution for now and hope that it will work for the long term. After that meeting, I had to go to a government building to get fingerprinted. I have to do this every two years to get my work permit renewed. This is for my "alien registration" card. You have to reapply for this every time your work permit expires. So, every two years I have to come to Nairobi and do this. Then I spent a couple days doing some grocery shopping and restocking for July and August in Turkana.

This week I have been in Eldoret. It is in the highlands of Kenya and about half-way between Lodwar and Nairobi. Our team splits the rent on a house here so we have a place to stay when we travel between the two places. I spent the week running errands, paying bills, getting dogs vaccinated at the vet and preparing fresh vegetables to be frozen so I can have some veggies in Turkana besides onions, cabbage, potatoes and tomatoes. My list of things to do was very long, but I have finished almost everything. I am looking forward to a little rest tomorrow before I have to head home to Lodwar on Monday. Pray for my trip as the road is long and horrid!

Its class time!

2010-06-15T08:34:00.000+03:00

Hello!

It is time for another English class. This week we are talking about toiletries and aches, pains and injuries. I am bringing in some personal hygiene samples for the students to try out. They use sticks from the esokon tree to brush their teeth. This tree has been tested and it has a high concentration of flouride in it and this actually helps the Turkana keep their teeth. So, most of them have never used a toothbrush and toothpaste as we do. I am also giving samples of deodorant, soap, a razor, a comb, shampoo and a washcloth. They just use regular soap to wash their hair. So, they will have some knowledge of the words they are trying to learn.

After I teach about toiletries, I will have a Bible study lesson on being washed. My Bible passages will be Psalms 51:2-7; Isaiah 1:16; I Corinithians 6:11; Hebrews 10:22 and Revelation 1:5. (Look them up and see if you can guess what I will be highlighting.) After the study we will take a field trip two doors down at the school to the Library. There I will show them how to use a concordance. After that, I will attempt to teach them the hymn "Are you Washed In the Blood?" I think this will be a fun Bible study and uses some of the themes from this lesson on hygiene and past lessons on cleaning garments.

Next we will move on to aches, pains and injuries. We will discuss the ones listed in the dictionary for us and the ones that are common here. Next month we talk about treatments and going to the doctor, so this is preparing them to talk about their symptoms and complaints when they get there. Their town assignment will be to go to town to one of the clinics or the main hospital and talk with two people about their complaints. They will have to speak in Turkana, but then translate it into English and report back to the class.

The "ugh" part of this week's lesson is that I have to review the simple present, present continuous, and simple past verb tenses. I also have to teach simple future tense. I don't like teaching grammar because I never liked studying it! So, I am asking one of my educated Turkana friends to come alongside me on that day and help me make sure the students understand. I am told it is good to have a non-native speaker teach grammer as they understand better how to explain it than someone who learned it at their momma's knees. I am giving them lots of worksheets for practice. Hopefully that will help them not think grammer is "Ugh" or not fun.

Well, that is what I am doing this week. What about you?

At the "Bible House"

2010-06-11T08:21:00.000+03:00

Hello!

On Wednesday, I went to a women's Bible study. The ladies wanted to dedicate a little church. One of the "Internally displaced people" (IDP for short) from the 2008 election chaos built a little building to be used for Bible studies and prayer meetings. Her name is Margret Nangiro. She calls it her "Bible House." It is actually bigger than her house.

Anyway, I went for the Bible Study and the prayer time. We spent time singing praise songs in Turkana and some Swahili. I didn't know the Swahili songs, but I could hum along. The songs are all very lively in both languages and it makes you want to clap and dance along. We had a good time praising the Lord. After the Bible study, Margret served chai. That is hot tea with milk and lots of sugar to all the ladies. She had to save up to buy the sugar. It was very yummy! Afterwards, I took pictures of all the little kids that showed up. They were very attentive and sang along with the songs. There were about 25 kids along with the 13 ladies, 2 men and myself in this little "Bible House." We were packed like sardines, but a good time was had by all! :)

I just figured out how to post pictures so I will try to post two for this blog. One of the ladies in the Bible house and one of the kids outside by my truck. They were all in the prayer and worship time! Margret is the tall, black lady ( :>} ). She is wearing the green & purple shirt in the back row on the right. Enjoy and I hope you have a great week!

Rivers!

2010-05-25T16:53:00.003+03:00

Hello!

Yesterday it took me 12 hours to go 280 miles. I thought I was making good time until I was about an hour and half away from home. Then it started raining really hard. I made it through about four riverbed crossings that had a little water in them and then came to one I could not cross. I had to wait an hour and twenty minutes for that river to go down enough so I could cross it. Our road from Kitale to Lodwar has about 44 crossings through normally dry riverbeds. There are a few other places where the road has washed out because of rain, but these are the "official" river crossings. So, I got to one of these and it had more water in it than I cared to cross. There was a rushing, raging river where there is normally only sand and a cement slab.

It had taken me about seven hours to get to that point. So, I got out of the truck and went and chatted with the other drivers as we waited for the river to go down. There was a big truck there and 3 hiluxes (that is what my truck is). The big truck finally decided to try it and made it across. Then the bigger trucks on the other side crossed. It was the turn of the smaller trucks, but the other drivers were afraid. So I decided to lead the charge and went through with no problems.

I drove another five minutes and had to stop again. This river crossing was even fuller and had many more vehicles waiting to cross. The other two hiluxes from the previous crossing waited about twenty minutes more before crossing and then joined the rest of us at the second river. There were three seasonal rivers emptying into the main river just above where the road was. So, I waited there for almost two hours for the water to get low enough for us to cross. It had stopped raining where we were, but the rain was still coming upstream so we all had to wait. While there, I had some interesting conversations with some of the other drivers and passengers. We all got to watch the power of that raging river. It uprooted two trees on the banks and carried them away as if they weighed nothing. It is good to be reminded from time to time how powerful nature can be!

Then the big semi's finally decided to cross. They did fine and the bigger trucks followed suit. A couple of hiluxes had crossed from the other direction so I got in line behind some of the land cruisers and other smaller trucks. Four vehicles before I was to cross and a police land cruiser found a hole in the cement as he was crossing. He got stuck and as he was trying to get it out, it looked like he was going to go over the edge and get swept away. We all had some tense moments as we watched and many yelled advice at him. Finally he was able to get straightened out and didn't stall and got across. So, then people were nervous again and one of the three trucks in front of me decided to get out of line. The others were all bigger land cruisers with their exhaust pipes up in the air. My exhaust pipe comes out at the bottom of my truck. If the water gets into it and backs up to the engine then you stall out and are at the mercy of the river.

I decided to go ahead and cross since two hiluxes had already made it before the police truck had problems. So, I unbuckled my seat belt (for easier jumping out if there were problems :} ), said a quick prayer and took off - trying to stay away from the hole and yet still stay on the cement road slab. As I came up out of the water on the other side, the people waiting to cross were cheering. It was kind of funny, but it was good to have made it across with no problems at all. Thank the Lord for his protection, 4 wheel drive and new tires!! By the time I made it across that river it was about 6:30 and getting dark.

This road is not the best road in the world (an understatement of many magnitudes). There are more holes than pavement. So, it is not fun trying to drive it in the dark. Headlights work, but they often get misaligned so that you can't see very well. This happens as the vehicles bounce down the road. Thankfully, the next 15 or so riverbeds were either dry or only had a few puddles in them and we didn't have to stop again for rivers. Even so, the last hour and a half was not a fun trip. I was quite tense by the time I made it home. I left Eldoret at 8 AM and didn't arrive in Lodwar until a little after 8 PM. So, it was a very long day. Thankfully, my passenger's (Keshule Edapal) wife was waiting for us. Ali had prepared a very nice dinner for us. So, I didn't have to try to figure out what to eat once I made it home. That was a real blessing!! Keshule and Ali are fellow missionaries to the Turkana people. Keshule had taken a vehicle to Nairobi to be sold. He made it back to Eldoret and then was able to ride back to Turkana with me. He was a real help and encourager when we had to cross the rivers!

After a quick but very nice dinner of chicken, peas, carrots, rice and cabbage, I made my way home. I unloaded only the things that had to go into the fridge and freezer and left the rest for this morning. I was so tired that once I got things put away and got cleaned up a bit, I went straight to bed. It was a nice end to a very long day!

Eldoret "fun"

2010-05-18T18:15:00.004+03:00

Hello!

I made it to Eldoret on Saturday. I did the math and found out that it is about 280 miles from Lodwar to Eldoret. It took me a little over 8 hours to make the trip. I had four Turkana men traveling with me this time. They all wanted to come to Eldoret and heard I was coming. I needed at least one to travel with me to help in case I have any problems on the road, but this was a bit more than normal. Even so, we had a good trip. There were only a few spots in the road that were wet. The two places that could have caused problems were passable in 4 wheel drive. So, over all it was a good trip. I am still a bit sore from all the bouncing but that is pretty normal. Aleve is my friend :).

My week in Eldoret is going slowly. Actually the week isn't going slowly, but what I am getting done is going slowly. It has taken two days to get my truck inspected, serviced and some small repairs done. I thought it might all be done in a day or a day and a half, but it took longer to do the welding under my hood. So, I didn't get the truck back until about 4:30 this afternoon. That leaves getting tires for tomorrow and then I can go do all the other errands that need done.

I discovered last night that I forgot my checkbook in Lodwar. I usually pay for my tires with a check so I worried through the night - waking up around 5 AM thinking about how I was going to pay for the tires that I need to get. I did find out this morning that I can pay with my ATM card from my Kenyan bank. So, that is a relief. It isn't a credit card, but it says Visa on it and I had heard that you could use it like a debit card, but had never tried it. So, I am happy that little problem is solved so maybe I can sleep through the night tonight :).

While I am here in town, I will be trying to get several things done for the house here and do some shopping for things in Turkana. I also need to work a little on my next lesson so I can get some copies made here. They are half the price here in Eldoret from what they cost in Lodwar. So, I try to do them here when I can. So, the rest of the week will be busy trying to get those things done. Please pray with me that things go smoothly and that I am able to get it all done. I am now planning on leaving on Monday to go home to Lodwar since things have taken a bit longer than anticipated. I am hoping for a little rest in there too :).

How are things in your neck of the woods? I hope all is well!

This week's ESL class & prayer requests

2010-05-13T18:48:00.003+03:00

Hello!

I sent my students to town today. Their assignment was to find 5 people wearing or carrying accessories. These include jewelry, hats, phones, glasses, scarfs and other things. They were also asked to ask people what brand of soap they use to wash their clothes. They will bring a report tomorrow morning. I hope to find them using more complete sentences in describing the people and the accessories.

The students also spent the last two nights in the homes of English speakers here in town. They enjoyed the time away from the school and they got some good practice in. Their hosts spent time with them and taught them a few things too! I think this has been a good experience and look forward to hearing what the hosts thought about it. Hopefully, we will do this again next month.

We will end class early tomorrow. I need to travel down to Eldoret so I can get my truck inspected. The annual inspection ran out at the end of April. The road was impassable in April so I have to go down now. Therefore, class will end after lunch. That will give me time to pack and get ready to leave early Saturday morning. Please pray for my trip. The recent rain has really messed up the road. So, it could be a challenging trip. Pray also that I have no problems with my truck. I need to get new tires on this trip. I have been getting too many flats lately. I can't get tires here in Lodwar, so I will get them once I get to Eldoret. It has rained three times this week. That is really good for Turkana, but not so good for the road :). So, pray for safety for this trip and no getting stuck in mud! Thanks for your prayers!

Laundry day ESL song

2010-05-11T20:44:00.002+03:00

Hello!

Here is a little song I came up with to help my students remember what they do when the wash their clothes. I hope you enjoy it. It goes to the tune of some song that I can't remember the name of, but I a sure you will figure it out :)

This is how I wash my clothes …Wash my clothes … Wash my clothes. This is how I wash my clothes here on laundry day.

First I have to sort the clothes … Sort the clothes …Sort the clothes. First I have to sort the clothes so white doesn’t go pink!

Then I have to scrub the clothes … Scrub the clothes … Scrub the clothes. Then I have to scrub the clothes with water and soap.

Next I get to rinse the clothes … Rinse the clothes … Rinse the clothes. Next I get to rinse the clothes in clean water.

Then I have to wring the clothes … Wring the clothes … Wring the clothes. Then I have to wring the clothes so the water comes out.

Next I get to hang the clothes … Hang the clothes … Hang the clothes. Next I get to hang the clothes to dry on the line.

Then I must fold the clothes … Fold the clothes … Fold the clothes. Then I must fold the clothes when they are dry.

Sometimes I will iron the clothes … Iron the clothes … Iron the clothes. Sometimes I will iron the clothes to get the wrinkles out.

Then I must put them away … Put them away … Put them away. Then I must put them away to finish laundry day.

Yikes! Snake!

2010-04-30T21:19:00.002+03:00

Hello!

(FYI, I dated this for the morning it happened instead of for when I am writing it.)

Life is certainly interesting here in Turkana. I woke up this morning and stepped out of my bedroom door to find a dead snake in the hallway. My cat - Chewy - short for Chushanrishathaim (look it up in the Bible) - managed to kill the said snake sometime the night before. I heard him making noise in the hall around 10 pm Thursday night. When I went out to check and found the rug outside the door was all in a bunch. I stepped over it and proceeded to check on the cat. He seemed fine and wasn't in any way following anything - but he was laying in the hall. So, I again stepped over the rug and went back into my bedroom and went to bed.

The next morning the rug was still messed up. Just a few inches away was the remains of a snake. I admit that I stopped and stared in shock for a little bit before I proceeded to think - chewy! I spent about 10 minutes trying to locate him fearing that he had been bitten and crawled off to some hidden place to lick his wounds or die. I must say that my imagination was running away with me at that point and I was really quite anxious for my kitty! Thankfully I found him sleeping and he didn't appear to have been hurt. He just looked at me like he was thinking -"why did you wake me up I was having such a nice dream!"

A little later, after I made a lot of Chewy and praised him for his fine warrior kitty abilities, I went and examined the remains of the snake. It was in two pieces. Maybe cats have heard you need to separate the head from the body too - who knows. I think one of the smaller pieces was the head, but it was all mangled so I couldn't really tell. I was a biology major in college and found it quite interesting (only because I knew it was dead and couldn't hurt me!). Anyway, I swept it all up into my dustpan and took it outside to show my guard. He proceeded to tell me that it was an "areal" (are-ray-al - like short for Albert). Translated that is a puff adder - a very poisonous snake.

So, I experienced the creeps at the sight of a dead snake in my house, anxiety for my cat who had killed it and then praises for God's protection all in the space of a few minutes after waking up. Life isn't always so interesting here. I must say I am glad about that!

So, how was your day???

Clothing class

2010-04-27T20:15:00.002+03:00

Hello again!

I promised an update on my last class in March but my vacation postponed that update. So, my last English class was all about clothing. The students learned a lot of nouns and some adjectives to describe clothes. I brought in samples of most of the things they were learning. It was a little hard to find pantyhose here in the desert so they had to imagine those :).

We played some games to help them learn the words. In one game, a student had to tell his partner where on a grid to place the picture of the clothing item. Then his partner did the same until the grid was filled. The students enjoyed this game and it gave them a chance to say the words in a non-threatening game. We also had a fashion show day. I let each student go through the items I brought and pick out an outfit and put it on. The other students then had to describe what they were wearing. These guys were fearless! They picked out the most outlandish things they could find and matched them together. It was quite comical and we all had a good time trying to describe them.

For their final project they worked in groups. This is the first time they have done something like this. They had to go to town and find out the prices of clothing items. Then, they came back to class and worked in groups to come up with the name of a clothing shop, decide what they would sell and make a flyer advertising the prices of their clothes. They had some initial problems understanding what they were to do, but once they did, I got some very nice looking flyers. I think they will be even better if I try this again in the future.

Part of our class time we spent looking at some Scripture talking about the clothing Christians should wear. I had them draw the armor of the Lord. That was interesting to see their idea of what armor looks like. I am hunting for a book on armor so I can show them some of these things for our next class. We talked about what it might mean to put on Christ. They stuggled for the english words, but they were able to give some pretty good answers.

Our next class is May 10th. We will continue some of the clothing theme and move on to some accessories and body parts. I haven't got the lesson all planned out yet, but I am hoping to include some more Scriptures on things we are to put on as Christians. I am also working to find some Kenyan volunteers to host my students for two nights of this week of class. I need 12 people or families that would be willing to host them and speak with them in English. You can be in prayer that I am able to find some people willing to help them practice what they know.

Clothing class

2010-04-27T20:15:00.000+03:00

Hello again!

Part of our class time we spent looking at some Scripture talking about the clothing Christians should wear. I had them draw the armor of the Lord. That was interesting to see their idea of what armor looks like. I am hunting for a book on armor so I can show them some of these things for our next class. We talked about what it might mean to put on Christ. They struggled for the english words, but they were able to give some pretty good answers.

Happy Birthday to me!

2010-04-27T18:54:00.003+03:00

Hello!

Sorry for the long delay in getting back to my blog. In short, I have been on vacation. My birthday is in early April. So, I decided to take a week long vacation at the beach. I went for a retreat with some other missionaries and took a few extra days to enjoy the beauty of God's creativity with the ocean. I was able to go snorkeling one day and really enjoyed the variety and blazing colors of the fish and sea life. The Indian ocean is nice and clear and has a white sandy beach. It is a beautiful place to relax and contemplate God's goodness!

After my week at the beach, I was going to shop in Nairobi for a day or two and then fly home to Turkana. Alas, there were no flights until the end of the next week. So, I had to spend some time enjoying the sights and sounds of Nairobi. Visiting with fellow missionaries, eating out, eating in some meals I didn't cook, seeing some movies, window shopping, and just generally enjoying my time there. It was a nice unexpected little holiday added on to the planned one.

So, now I am home and ready to jump back into normal life. It was good to be away, but I am happy to be home, to catch up with friends and to get back to work. Oh, I forgot to say that I enjoyed a special blessing while in Nairobi. I found canned Dr. Pepper! I haven't seen it in the stores since the end of 2008. So, this was a real treat! God is really good to his children - a nice vacation, extra time in Nairobi and Dr. Pepper. Happy Birthday Lynn :).

The challenges of English Class and Rain!

2010-03-26T22:03:00.003+03:00

Hello!

This has been a very good week! We got rain last Friday. Then it rained again a little on Tuesday night and then for about four hours on Wednesday. We also got rain Friday morning. So, while I was teaching my English class we had rain several times. This was very nice, but also created a few challenges.

Challenge #1 - Our building is made for the heat of Turkana. It is a very nice building and serves our needs very well. When it rains, however, the rain can come in the windows. We can shut the windows, but many of them are lacking the glass that would make this affective. This usually is not a problem since we get rain so seldom. So, we improvised in my classroom. We tied a mat woven from palm leaves over the window to keep the rain from coming in the room. This cut down on the amount of light in the room, but kept us a bit more dry. The mat is what the Turkana people make to sleep on at their homes.

Challenge #2 - When you get rain for a couple of days in a row, that means there hasn't been much sun. Our building has solar panels and batteries to supply some electricity. When we tied the mat to the window, we cut down the amount of light coming into the classroom. So, that meant we had to use the light in the classroom. Thankfully, we got enough sun on Tuesday to power our lights for the 4 hours it rained on Wednesday morning. The lights had been used the night before too, so there was some question in my mind about having the power to do that. But, God is good and the light lasted until the sun came out again.

Challenge #3 - Our building has a nice tin roof. There isn't much between that tin and our classroom - just a thin ceiling panel. So, when the rain came down hard it made quite a racket on the roof and in the classroom. Today I had to yell the words to a story we were reading. Thankfully, the hard rain only lasted a half hour or so today, so we made it through and I didn't loose my voice. On Wednesday, we were playing a gap game, so the students were able to talk loudly to each other and be understood. So, we managed even with the racket over and around us.

Challenge #4 - When it rains, the desert gets cold. Okay, you might not think that 73 degrees or so is cold. However, if you lived in the desert and were used to 98 - 100 degrees, then 73 degrees would be cold. Although, I loved the coolness of the rain, my students were very cold. So, they were huddled in their seats while it rained. They didn't turn blue, but they were quite cold. A couple of them got their light blankets that they use when sleeping and wrapped up in them. Of course, it didn't help that most all of them were a little damp from getting wet in the rain walking from the dinning area to the classroom. It isn't far, but when it is raining hard, you can get very wet very quickly. The good news was that the student were very alert since they were cold :).

Yes, rain brings challenges! Even so, it is such a blessing here. Each time my students prayed - even when cold and wet, they thanked the Lord for the rain. It even gave me an opportunity to ask them about the rain here. They were able to explain in English why the rain is such a good thing for them and their animals. I was very happy to be able to hold this fairly long conversation with them in English. This month marks the one year mark since our class began. This was our 11th class. Each class is only one week long, so they are doing very well. I was happy to see them communicate - a little disjointed, but they got their points across. So, the rain is a blessing even with its challenges!

Have a great week! I will make another post soon giving a bit more detail on the actual class :).

Rain! & bugs!

2010-03-20T23:06:00.002+03:00

Hello!

It rained Friday for about four hours. Praise the Lord! We badly needed the rain. I am looking forward to seeing some new green shoots in the coming days. I am not looking forward to the bugs. Whenever it rains, we get an invasion of bugs. I think they must hide out in the sand and wait for the rain to come. The rain is their signal that life is livable for them so they hatch and come join the rain dance party.

Okay, that might be a little far fetched but it might have some basis in fact too. I haven't studied them enough to know, but I do know that they always come after the rain. They stay around for a week or two and if there is no more rain then they quietly go away. In the meantime, I spend a few nights with very few lights on in my house. They tend to like light and manage to get in the house around even the best screens. Even without lights, they do still manage to make their way into the house - just not as many.

Is this a complaint? Not really. I know we need the rain, so how can I really complain? It could also be that these bugs provide life for those new green shoots or maybe carry their seeds around so that when the next rain comes, there will be new green shoots. God is amazing in the way he has made our world! So, I am happy for the rain and if I am not happy for the bugs, I do not want them to go away completely. I would like them to stay out of the house. So, I keep the lights low and praise the Lord for the rain :).

What about you all? Have you danced the "happy it is raining" dance lately? How about the "happy its snowing" dance? Okay, maybe the "happy it is sunny" dance. Whatever your weather, give thanks the the Lord who made our world and enjoy what you have been given.

Have a great day! Pray for more rain here and pray for me as I prepare for my next English class this coming week. I am teaching about clothes. It should be an interesting week. I hope yours is too!

Home again, home again...

2010-03-05T19:51:00.002+03:00

jigity jig! Flying is nicer and faster than going in a rig!

Hello!

Sorry about the rhyme, I just couldn't resist :). I flew down to Nairobi last week and returned to Lodwar today. It was a nice break and didn't include the bone/ body jarring two day drive that I normally take to get to Nairobi in my truck. When we flew over Lodwar, we saw many puddles of standing water. Praise the Lord, it rained for about 6 hours on Thursday!!!!!

The rain is wonderful and we need more, but please also pray for the people who will be getting sick with Malaria because of the increase of habitat for the mosquitos. The rain has been needed so badly and I am so grateful for it!! I pray that even more will come during this normal rainy season so that the people and animals can recover the drought of the past years.

Praise the Lord with me for the rain!!!!! Pray for more and for the health of the Turkana people too :)!

Rain!

2010-02-27T23:07:00.001+03:00

Hello!

This just in .... It is raining in Lodwar. I am in Nairobi right now
so I am missing it again! Oh well, I am just glad that it is
raining. So far it isn't much, but every little bit helps! So,
Praise the Lord with me for the rain and ask him to keep it coming :).

unusual sight :)

2010-02-26T22:25:00.001+03:00

Hello!

This is just a short note. Yesterday as I was stuck in Nairobi
traffic, I noticed something I don't see everyday. There was a small
truck next to me that was carrying some tin roofing sheets. These
stuck out behind the end of the truck. At home, we would see some red
bandana or some such thing tied to the items hanging over the end.
Here, that is not normal at all. Usually there is nothing. This
truck was unique.

This truck had stuck some branches from a fuchsia plant on each side
that was sticking out the back end of the truck. This resulted in
some bright pink flowers serving to tell other motorists about the
extra long items. I just thought that was quite inventive on the
drivers' part and wanted to share it with you. Have a great day!

Back Porch Cafe

2010-02-26T22:01:00.000+03:00

Hello!

I need to update you all on my last English class. We had a lot of
fun during the week. I had some visitors from Colorado come for a few
hours the first day of class. They helped my students figure out how
to set a table. I had plastic ware, paper plates, placemats, napkins,
and plastic cups for the to practice with. That also meant the worked
on telling someone where to put something or asking where to put
something. The visitors and my students had fun.

The rest of the week, we worked on cooking terms and what to say in
restaurants. I made up two dialogs and one restaurant chant. They
had fun with the chant, but I had to slow it way down for them to get
the beat and cadence of the words. This was the first time I asked
the students to make up their own dialog. They had some trouble
figuring out what I wanted them to do, but most of them got it in the
end. They had to act it out in front of the class in groups of
three. I think they had fun and it got them thinking about why I
might have these dialogs. It is interesting to see that they still
think they need to say the name of the person speaking instead of just
saying the line. Something I need to work on with them.

On Saturday we had a fun final day. I brought them all to my house at
10 am. They were divided into three groups. Each group had an
english speaking teacher (a Brit, a Kenyan and me) that helped them
make a food item. They changed teachers and food items twice. So, I
made Pizza with my group both times. My British friend, Ali Edapal,
taught the first group to make Kenyan fry (chopped meat with some
veggies and a little juice). The second group she taught how to make
spaghetti sauce. They had to grind the meat and chop all the
vegetables for both of these food items. My Kenyan friend, Mary,
taught them how to cook ugali (white corn meal boiled till dry) and
sikuma wiki (greens with tomatoes and onions). The second group
learned how to make rice and a thick cabbage and potato stew (not much
juice). All these things helped them put into practice the words they
learned about chopping, slicing, cutting, boiling, grating, grinding,
stirring, and baking.

After the cooking lessons, they moved a big table onto my back porch
and set the table. Then, I took orders and served them while Ali and
Mary put the food on plates for me. I added some desserts and a cole
slaw salad to make the meal complete. Those who ordered ice cream got
a surprise at how cold it was. There were a few funny faces :).

So, all in all the last class went really well. The students were
really trying hard to use their English. I posted some pictures on my
facebook page of the cooking. I was too busy serving food to think
about taking pictures of the Back Porch Cafe. I hope you all had a
good week too! blessings!!!!!

And now the News!

2010-02-11T20:54:00.002+03:00

Hello all!

Sorry it has been a while. Last week I was busy getting my house ready for visitors. You would think that since I live alone, it wouldn't take long to do that. However, I must confess I tend to keep things in a general state of messiness. I did also spend the large part of one day taking down a bunk bed and moving my desk into my spare room. I had to get the spare room livable as my room and office. The dust in Turkana doesn't help things! I gave my room to my visitors - more beds and space in there. So, I had to clean all the dust off of bookshelves and other surfaces. I have several bookcases and other surfaces. Alas, it was clean, but the dust of Turkana is relentless. I am sure it is back - just not as deep - yet. :).

This week I have been busy too. I have been ferrying about 20 or so kids in my little truck to the VBS that the visitors are having each day. The kids and visitors have had a great time! I have also been working on my next English class. It is next week. We are talking about cooking, eating out and table place settings. So, I am working on a fun final day for them. They will come to my house and do a little cooking. Using their new words like - grate, slice, chop, cut, boil, bake and fry. Then they will set the tables on my back porch. They will be seated and discuss what they did while cooking. Then I will wait on them and take their orders. I worked on a menu for the "Back Porch Cafe" today. I have two other cooks who will help me teach them how to cook the menu items. They will learn how to cook Pizza, Spaghetti sauce, and some typical Kenyan dishes. So, I think that will be fun.

I will be working tomorrow and Saturday on choosing the activities and writing dialogues that will help them get to the point where they can accomplish that fun final day. I have some ideas and a few helpful worksheets from my book - but most of the stuff has to come from me. So, I have a bit of work cut out for the next couple days :).

Anyone have suggestions on how you get a waitress or waiter's attention when you want the bill? I am still trying to figure out what to have the person say or do in the dialogue. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Remember they are beginners so they don't have a huge vocabulary yet :).

Have a great and blessed week!!

Pleading eyes time of year!

2010-01-30T13:39:00.001+03:00

Hello!

I hate this time of year! This is the time of year when all the students that passed their 8th grade test get calling letters for high school. If you score high enough on your test, you can go to high school -If YOU CAN COME UP WITH THE MONEY! So, students come to me and my teammates from rural Turkana asking us to sponsor them to school. It takes around $550 per student to pay boarding, tuition and buy the supplies they need for school.

They have such pleading eyes! I only have so much money. How do I choose? It is so hard to turn some away. I believe in education. I believe the more educated the Turkana people get, the less they will be considered second class citizens in their own country. I know most of them cannot come up with even a small portion of what they need. Even so, I cannot support them all. So, that is why I hate this time of year.

So far, I have four high school students in upper grades - one is supported by one of my supporters. They started early this month. The freshmen will start school anywhere from the 1st of Feb to the 15th. I have told one student I will help him with everything as he is an orphan, I have known him for several years and he is a good student. I have given two students a little over half their school fees but they have to come up with the other portion and the boarding requirements (about $300 each for them to find). I told one I would help her some if she can find other help. Her grades are not that good, but I know her uncle who came pleading her cause. I have had to turn away four. I know there are more coming as we get closer to the 5th when many of them are required to report for school. I hate this time of year.

Where would you be if you hadn't had the opportunity to go to high school? What if you did have the opportunity, but your family and friends could not come up with the funds to send you? You also might have had pleading eyes. I don't have deep pockets, but I do what I can to help. I know God sees and I know he is with even those who are unable to go to school. It is just hard on this side of the pleading eyes! Praise the Lord for those I am able to help! Praise the Lord for your own education! Praise the Lord because He is God!

English review week

2010-01-26T15:12:00.000+03:00

Hello!

How do you get English language learners to speak more English? You
play games. This past week, I spent the whole week with my students
reviewing their first eight lessons. To do that, we played games.
They had a great time and it was a non-threatening way for them to use
the English that they had learned.

We played about five different board games. We used soda bottle caps
as markers and shillings as the dice. They got to move one or two
spaces depending on what side of the coin the shilling landed on.
They had never "flipped" coins. So, it was fun watching these grown
men flipping coins for the first time. We also played some "gap
games" with pictures of items in a house. They had to tell a partner
where to put the item on the board using those hard prepositions - in,
on, next to, under, above and between. They had fun with this game too.

Matching question with the correct answer was turned into a game as
well. Half the class got answers and went to various places around
the yard. Those with questions had to go to each station, ask the
question, receive the answer and decide if the answer matched the
question. If not, then they kept going on to the next station. The
students also had to describe everything in a magazine picture -
including furniture, people, food and colors. This became fun and a
learning experience as they found things like lobsters to eat and
crowns on people's heads.

This was also the first time that we did a small Bible study in
class. I had given them John 1:1-4 to memorize. Memory verses are
still hard for them as they do not have someone there all the time to
tell them the correct pronunciation of words. So, not all of them had
memorized it, but they had read it a few times. So, we talked about
the significance of Word becoming He. How that is unusual in English
and what it means. They really enjoyed this part of our lesson as well.

So, all in all, it was a good week for learning English. We also got
rain on Saturday morning. Praise the Lord!! We really need the
rain. This early morning rain was a nice soft one, but long enough
that the ground was still damp at noon. I hope all is well with you
all!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-15T22:53:00.002+03:00

Hello!

The year has started out very well! We got rain in Turkana. On January 1 it rained for 10 hours straight. Praise the Lord for his blessing of rain on this very dry land! The rain did cause a slight delay in my return home. I ended up making it home on the 6h. The road was pretty good considering all the rain we had. There were a couple of places where the road was washed out, but new ways had been made for vehicles to pass. We expected it to be harder to get home, but it was a typical 8 hour drive - to go about 200 miles.

Once I arrived home, I spent the rest of last week getting kids' uniforms and other necessary items for school. I now have 10 kids that go to a local private elementary school. I have been able to help them go to this school through the help of my friends and supporters. They have taken up the challenge of sponsoring a student so they can have a better education. Two of the smallest students have been sick this week. Both 4 year old boys have malaria and seasonal colds. Yes, this is the season for colds and pneumonia because of the dust storms common at this time of year. It is typically around 105 and dusty during Dec. to Feb. So, keep these small ones in your prayers.

This week I have been working on my next English class. It will be next week. This will be a week of review. I have taken as my theme for the week the saying of John the Baptist - just tweaked for my purposes. "They must increase (speaking) and I must decrease (speaking)." I hope to get them talking more as they play games to review the lessons from last year. It has been a long break, so I am expecting them to have forgotten some of what they have learned. Hopefully, this will be a fun and non-threatening way for them to recall what they have forgotten and to use it!

Right after my English class, many of my students will stay in town for another meeting. Some former CMF missionaries will be meeting with church leaders for prayer and reconciliation. Please pray that these meetings go well. There are several issues that will be discussed, so pray for open minds and tender hearts ready to listen to God's Holy Spirit.

I hope all is going well for all of you! Pray for the many in Haiti who are grieving and have lost their homes and livelihoods. Thanks also for your prayers for my ministry! Blessings to you all!

RAIN!

2009-12-31T21:42:00.002+03:00

Hello!

Praise the Lord with me because the very dry land of Turkana is finally getting rain! It is wonderful but it also can cause problems. Pray it comes in gentle, long rains instead of short pounding ones. That way the ground can soak up the rain and not flood everything.

I am in Eldoret (Kenya highlands) where I came for Christmas. I was to travel home tomorrow, but because of the rain, I am having to delay that return. The very bad road has a lot of vehicles stuck in the mud. I have also heard that two bridges/ riverbed crossings are washed out. So, passing through them will be difficult if not impossible for right now. Even so, I am so thankful for the rain! I can live with having my plans changed. You learn early in this missionary life (maybe in yours too) that you must be very flexible as God often changes your plans. There is less stress if you just learn to go with his plans and not worry about yours when they conflict!

This is my last post for the year. I hope everyone has a wonderful 2010! Blessings to you all!