Gathering and Ladies Meeting

Sunday's gathering was great! it was good to see the shining faces of the people. Some we knew and a few new ones too. The children always make my heart sing. they are the future of the world. it is good to invest our time in their lives and it is not a waste of time to give to these little people. They gave their testimonies and were so full of gratefulness to God.

After the gathering George sent the men outside so the ladies could meet. I was planning to start the meeting by having each lady introduce themselves. Unbeknownst to me Petranilla had the same idea. She asked the ladies to stand and introduce themselves. When I told her later that I had wanted to start that way she was very excited to know we were in unity.
I encouraged the ladies to be creative, in their homes, marriages, mothering and friendships. To find what gift God has given them and to use it for His Kingdom. For examples I asked them what if: Judy didn’t sing, Alice didn’t dance, Mary decided not to be a friend, Petranilla didn’t pray. The church would be lifeless without them and the gifts they give to the body.
I talked to them about forgiveness by telling the story of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus forgave without conditions. She did not have to do anything first. He was doing the Father’s will by forgiving her and that the church must seek His will before making a judgment on a brother or sister. Gossip hurts and destroys unity. It was after He had forgiven her that Jesus told her to go and sin no more. Repentance is turning and going the other way. As we are one with Him we are given power to be His body in the earth.
The ladies listened attentively. They are amazingly open to hear and do. It is a very humbling experience to stand before them and speak. Your prayers and constant laying down of your lives enables us to do the work here. We are grateful for you and we feel your prayers.

The rest of the day was trying. My computer went down, I was tired and we were getting a little hungry. We had a big lunch so we had planned to just have popcorn and fruit for dinner. I could only manage to pop the corn. Joel asked where's the fruit, looked in my eyes and said never mind. I went to bed early but didn't sleep much. I have been reading the book I mentioned before about Mary Mozley, a missionary to Africa in the 1920's. She has been inspiring me to do the work here without complaining. I noticed that she had a cook, wherever she went. I remembered that Amy Carmichael also had a cook. What an inspiration! So I presented my inspired idea to hire someone from the church to cook and clean our evening meal. Everyone liked the idea, especially Nelly and me, so we now have a cook for 150 shillings a day. (that's about $2 a day I think). Her name is Morella and she is great. She eats with us so we have time to fellowship with her. I will send a picture later.
I will leave you with a quote from Mary Mozley:

"Take time in God's presence to be encouraged by Him and strengthened by a new revelation of Himself before facing anew the difficult way. Love is the beginning and end, the only thing that counts or matters. Not---How much have I served? but --How much have I loved?"

Yours always,
Haviylah

November 6,2009

Update November 6,2009
A new day and we are beginning to feel like Kenyans. After breakfast – scrambled eggs, yogurt and fresh fruit [pineapple, mango, passion fruit, papaya, bananas] – we finally sat down and wrote our schedule for the next two months. We will be busy with gatherings, prayer meetings, teachings, home visits, men, women’s, youth, leaders and clan meetings. Pastor Daniel will be coming November 15-18. We will possibly be visiting the church in Eldoret and maybe Peter in Uganda. Since the house is dark, [kinda feels like living in a cave] we decided to go to town again. This time George took us to a Choma restaurant. That’s where they roast the whole goat on charcoal, then they bring it on a wooden cutting board to slice it up at the table while you watch. This time they brought out a bundle of intestines too. Everyone tried it but me. Joel says it looks like macaroni. Hmmmmm ...I’ll pass on that one… Don’t have anything to prove…lol. The meat was served with ugali (best we’ve had yet, it was moist) and a salad (tomatoe, onion, lime, cilantro mixed together). We had a nice afternoon, just resting, playing with little Haviylah, watched a funny movie, cooked and ate. Now I am ready to go to bed and read a good book. Lala Salama [good night]. Haviylah

Nakuru November 6, 2009

Noah and George open an overseas account while Joel and I wait in the van and take pictures, watch people and chat.

Then we take a break at the Guava Cafe Coffee Shop. We are waiting for George to come back. He went to get mushrooms for dinner - minced meat (ground beef) and mashed potatoes. He laughed at the mashed potatoe idea saying that is for babies. I told him that's ok, he doesn't have to eat them. In the end he ate more than anyone!

Wed Nov 4
(Con’t from yesterday)
After lunch we went to the market to get vegetables. It has been raining so much here. Everything is green and much more beautiful than last visit. There are tall, trees with lavender flowers that look a lot like wisteria. They are beautiful! They drop their petals to make a beautiful carpet on the ground. I will try to get a picture if I can. Anyway, because of all the rain the market was a mud bogL ugh…. By the time we were done my toes were as black as George’s. So I asked George if there was a place we could clean up a bit. I was thinking maybe a faucet in an alley or something. He said “I know a place”- we got in the van and drove off. Before I knew it I was sitting in a shoe shine chair getting my feet cleaned and my shoes polished. Never done that beforeJ when he finished mine, George got his shoes cleaned and shined. Meanwhile across the street Noah and Joel were getting bombarded by ‘hackers’ (people selling stuff on the street). They ended up buying baseball caps and were quite happy when we got back to the van. So we went to the butcher to get us some meat…and mayonnaise too…. Don’t worry no one is starving this trip. I think we figured out the eating thing. We took the scenic route to show Joel the Rift Valley and the lake. There were thousands of flamigos! Beautiful! You can see them in the background of the picture of the grazing water buffalo.
I love living with Nellie. She is so sweet and we work together well. Joel is a big help in the kitchen and George and Abba are grateful recipients of our labors. She got up early this morning to kill the chicken Helen gave us. She cooked it for dinner and boy was it good!! Maybe that ole rooster’s worth the trouble after allJ We went to town to open a bank account and look for a battery for my laptop. Noah got a haircut as we watched. The young man cutting his hair was amazing to watch. First he applied hot towels to his beard and head as he gave a gentle massage. Then he began the sculpting of hair. I have never seen anything like it. He is more than a barber. He’s an artist. Very nice haircut! Then he got his assistant to wash Noah’s hair. She massaged as she lathered up the soap and he almost fell asleep. I took this opportunity to ask the barber if he could cut my hair too. He said, “Of course, I can do this for you.” George had already told me he is the best because he knows how to do “nylon” hair. I asked him if he was just as good with “steel wool” hair – like his. We had a good laugh. – OK back to Noah’s haircut – he was taken back to the chair and give a complete and thorough massage of not only his head but his face, shoulders and upper back too. Wow! We concluded our trip to town with a cup of coffee and sandwich before going to look for a battery for my laptop. We found out it would cost $246 to replace it… never mind. When we got home I talked to Doug – we chatted a bit as he checked my computer, that was nice – then we decided I should do an online chat with the Geek Squad at Best Buy where I bought the computer to be sure I had a new one that wouldn’t give me trouble in Africa. That was most frustrating. They were no help at all, so I gave them a name change…..Worst Buy…. ( I’m sure I’m not the first to think up that name.) My frustrations was at its peak when I remembered I had a program called HP advisor so I managed to get on a chat with one of their reps. The first line let me know they knew how to help me. After about 30 minutes of diagnosing the problem she gave me instructions to power drain the computer and come back online if it didn’t work. Just as we closed the conversation the power went out. What perfect timing! So I took a break and went in the kitchen to help Nelly cook dinner. We cooked, ate and did clean up to candles and flash lights. Now it was getting late so I put away my laptop, let down the mosquito net and got ready for bed when, lo and behold, the lights came back on! So I got back online – we have a modem that fits into an usb port like a gig stick – and reopened my HP advisor to restart my chat session. I got a different lady this time but she was equally as helpful as the first. She gave me a download to check out the battery and a promise to send me a new one if this didn’t work. (A brief intermission for a commercial - I have been on chat with Dell and Geeks and no one has helped me like HP!... Except our own personal specialist, Doug, of course.) Well it worked and I now have a fully charged battery.
November 5, 09
Good morning! We slept well with the regular scheduled rooster crows causing us to remember where we are. But it is getting a little easier to ignore. Next, put on the kettle for tea/coffee, get a shower. The water pressure was good today, or maybe I’m just getting used to the trickleJ The temperature was dropping to about 76 degrees so Nelly got out the snow suit for Haviylah, (she already had on 3 layers of clothes. We laid her on our bed. She couldn’t even turn over. I’m thinking they better come visit us in the summer. J
I feel your prayers today. Yesterday was not without its’ trials. George and Noah got a little out of sync but they took time to talk and things began to lighten up. We had a good rest of the day. After dinner they spent time together talking about what God is doing here. We know without perfect unity God cannot move and we will not let the sun go down without working out our difficulties. Our enemy is busy and we must be about the Father’s work. His will is all we desire to do.
I am reading a book from our library (thanks JoyJ) called ‘The Obedience of the Faith: Mary Mozley’. She was inspired by Amy Carmichael, to go to Africa as a missionary. One of her letters to her friends and family at home put my thoughts and feeling into words so I will quote her:
“Indeed we feel if Jesus Himself does not draw near and go with us, it were better not to go at all. ‘If Thy presence go not with us’ it would indeed be life and money wasted. There is so much to do in these days we hardly have time to think. Everyone is so good and kind. Our hearts ache for those who will be left behind, it is so much worse for them. The verse that comes into my mind is that one about a sword piercing through the heart. And it means that at this time. Yet for our dear ones ads for ourselves, the knowledge that the sword is held in pierced Hands and the piercing is guided in the highest wisdom and the deepest love is more that comforting. There is a hundred-fold more in this present time to be given not only to those who go but to those who give. May we indeed prove this. Our future is unknown for us as we go forward and for you staying in the homeland. How good it is to know that even so it is –
‘Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown! Jesus we know and He is on the throne’”. -Mary Mozley
In other words I am missing you all already and love you so much. George says we are taking this first week to ‘rest’ …LOL…. and settle. Then we will get busy. My heart is full of anticipation of what God will do in these next 2 months, here and at home.
Haviylah

(con't from yesterday) This picture doesn't do it justice. I think he wiped most of it off when I got my camera out.....nice picture anyway.

Where was I? I don't remember the rest of the day before because yesterday was so full! and now we are leaving the Internet cafe so I will have to end with these pictures.

Yesterday was a fun day. We got up late ... because we didn't get much sleep.... our biological clock wakes us up at 3 am and the rooster outside our window makes sure we stay up. I made breakfast - scrambled eggs, fried toast and fresh mango and passion fruit. The food is sooo good and healthy. Joel loves it too. I'm glad he is health conscious and not a picky eater at all. After clean up we went to town. Cyber first then stopped at a restaurant for lunch. Noah had curry chicken with which he managed to dye his white beard and mustache yellow. I am not working from my laptop so I can't send a picture today.... my battery won't charge..... technical difficulties follow us where ever we go...... anyway I will send a picture next time. Noah and George needed to talk to Joseph so Joel and I walked to Wool Matt to buy some necessary items. We got done before they finished talking so we walked down the street to the open market. I was warning Joel how they try to convince you that you reallly need to buy from them and they will give you the best deals. We didn't get past the first two booths before we had to go back. It was fun to watch Joel. He didn't want to leave so we will go back another day. We went back to meet up with the men...who were still talking...so we sat and ordered a cup of tea. by the time we got the tea they were done talking and had to wait for us. Soon after we got home Christine (warrior Queen) came for a visit. She is such a giving person. We talked about health care in Nakuru. She does volunteer work in an American based clinic. She wants to go to med school. She has 6 kids and is 32 years old.
Sorry I have to close now....I will finish this tomorrow.....love you all an miss you so much...Haviylah

Adventure begins in Kenya!

Hello Friends,
I haven't had time to write until now. We are at the internet "cafe" and my battery is low, so this will be short. Noah wrote an awesome update. I'll just pick up when he burns out:) The lost wallet was a sweet word from God to me. Before we left home I was so worried I would lose it I even sewed an extra zipper into my purse. Guess you have to put it in and zip it for that to work. Now I know God will take care of my every need because He cares.
We are adjusting to time, altitude and temp changes. It has been much easier for me this time. I took SP Ferrofood to build my hemoglobin for the higher altitude this time and it seems to have worked:0 I am feeling great! Unpacking cooking and cleaning and visiting has occupied all of my time so far and we are getting settled.
The birthday for little Haviy was fun! She loved the cake the most. Everyone wrote sweet things in the birthday journal I brought her and we sang Abby's birthday songs.
Love to all,
Thank you for your prayers, we feel them.
Haviylah