Sunday gathering and more....

August 15, 2010

Today is Sunday. We got up early, had breakfast and got ready for the gathering. I was really excited, anticipating reunion with our family here at Lakeside Village Community Church. The Kingdom Hikers led the singing with Noah Pavao and Amy  joining right in. They sang wholeheartedly. It was very refreshing to see how they love to sing praises to our God.  Abba gave an amazing teaching encouraging and exhorting all to seek the face of God.  There were fewer people than I expected. Some have left, others had mandatory meetings having to do with government housing.

After the gathering the men met with Abba. There are so many more men than before. They seem to be sincere and wanting to build together for God’s glory. The ladies have started meeting every other week in each other’s home. They asked us to come and it was so much fun. They decided to meet because they wanted to become closer to each other and not just see each other once a week on Sunday. This was only their second time. George, Abba and Noah P dropped us off and waited in the van. It was supposed to be a short time and we were only having tea. We began with singing. 

We were all crammed into a small room with no floor space to speak of at all. They sang songs from their tribes and told us to be ready to sing one from RCV. It was really hard to think of a song because I just wanted to listen to them.  It came to be our turn so we sang One Life. Then they broke out in more singing so we just joined in as best we could, dancing and singing for about an hour. It was fun! We all sat down and the ladies went around the room giving testimony to what God has done for them:

                 This is Sylvia. 

Ann Wango told her story first. I remember my first visit here we met her in her home. She was very distressed that her 17 year old daughter had to work taking care of children because her husband had left her and was not supporting her even though he had the means to do so. 

God touched our hearts and we decided at that time to help her send her daughter, Elizabeth, to school. We gave enough to pay tuition and took her shopping for a uniform and shoes. I remember bargaining with the seller of shoes to get a fair price. He was pushing for more money so I started to walk away. He called us back and gave us the shoes for the price we offered. My first lesson in bargaining with the local sellersJ So Elizabeth got to go to school. This story makes me want to remind our children what a privilege it is to be able to go to school. The kids here have to work hard and hope they will get an education. At the time we also encouraged Ann to seek legal help for financial support from her husband. When we came last time in November Ann and Elizabeth were active in the church and happy. But she still had not been able to get support from her husband. So that brings us up to date. Since then she was going to take him to court. He didn’t want to go so they made arrangements to settle out of court and he has been supporting the family since. Ann was so delighted to tell how God has taken care of her family. She is happy and full of the spirit of God. Her faithfulness has been rewarded.

We met Dorris. She is 18 years old and has a 4 year old daughter that lives with the grandmother. She’s , married to a man who works giving rides of the back of a bicycle to people.  She told the story of how, a few days ago he was giving a ride. The man guided him to a secluded area and beat him and took his money. She was not complaining that the money was lost but was praising God that he was not killed by the theif. Today, (Monday), we went for home visits and were at her house. Her husband, Kennedy, was there. His struggles began at age 5 when his parents separated and he was in the middle of the problems between his mom and dad. Both Dorris and Kennedy are good members of the church and will be baptized while we are here. They both have struggled a lot in life and want to put the past behind them.

All of the ladies testimonies were full of heartfelt gratefulness to God who has never forsaken them. Then ladies started to bring food to the table at our knees. Our hands were washed in the traditional African way with a pitcher of warm water and a basin. We were serving our plates when it started to rain. Suddenly in comes Abba, George and Noah P. They were tired of waiting, or maybe the smelled the aroma of the feast before us. Any way they crashed our ladies meeting. Every one had a good laugh. We ate and left to go home.

Soon after we got home the Kingdom Hikers came for a meeting at George’s. Abba is encouraging them to do whatever they can to be a light in the city of Nakuru. They don’t talk much yet but that is typical of the age group. I was there but I could hardly stay awake so I slipped out for a cat nap and joined back in about the time Abba started showing slideshows.

After our feast at Sylvia’s no one was really hungry…. Except George that is. We had pork chops in the frige so I was going to cook them for him. When I opened the bag I smelled an odor I didn’t like. After having several people check and not be sure we decided to rinse them. Sure enough the 2 chops on the bottom were bad. Now remembering Abba’s last experience here with pork chops (he was very sick for days) we mzungus didn’t want to take a chance. So I cooked the ‘good’ ones for everyone else. 

That means squatting down over a charcoal cooker in the ally off the kitchen. It was nice outside so I didn’t mind at all. It did make me a little sad though because I miss Joel (Hall). He always did our grilling last time we were here. We miss him and keep calling Noah Pavao ‘Joel’- even George does. Noah is gracious and patient to wait for us to remember that HE’S NOT JOEL!’ We’re getting to know him better now. Every morning I step out of my room, brushing my teeth, heading toward the open community sink, and there is Noah, brushing his teeth. I told him today, “ we have to stop meeting like this.”

We chatted a bit and then we all went to bed. This was my first good night’s sleep since we left Tennessee last Tuesday. I think we are getting adjusted now.

Until next time,

Haviylah