Must return to sanity.

I felt the need to post a Kenya pic so that the blog would return to something resembling normal.
These are women of Joseph's church in Ebulecha, which is Northeast of Kakamega, pretty far back off the roads.
You can't tell it from this picture---but these are some Jesus worshipping ladies! They go all out and they are dear to my heart! Nothing boring with these women! and their church is very generous as well.

Mary, a double orphan in Eubulecha Church

Mary and Brenda sit on my lap. I called them over to me because they are just so cute. Pastor Joseph prepared a presentation for me. The children all sang, some recited scripture, some recited poetry, some did a special dance (oh! four year olds doing African dancing is absolutely enthralling.)

I learned that Mary is an orphan. We took pictures of each one of them and took their names. There were more than 15. Maybe 20? and that is in addition to the 91 orphans from the other churches who were at the big church on Saturday when we did tried to get them all listed. Mom has the list and I need to get it from her. I wanted to try to get sponsors for some of the children. Even 10 a month goes so far there!I especially wanted to find someone to help Mary. and of course, I was determined that if no one cared, I would surely support this girl myself. I have been praying...

I got a sponsor for Mary today. MY DAUGHTER LAURA!! NOTHING MORE PRECIOUS THAN THAT! because Mary has been haunting my heart. I am so burdened for her. Where are her parents? How did they die? why didn't some relative take her in? She must feel so outcast! She is only 8.

Mary isn't alone in her predicament. Maybe there is some comfort in that? I can't imagine. What could be the identity of communal orphans? How do they think of themselves? When parents die, children feel abandoned. But then the other girl in the picture and others like her......she has one parent living. Who is that parent? Where are they? Why does this little girl live with a non-relative. It is perplexing. It must be very painful. I always had my two parents. I can't imagine life without your own two parents who take care of you. Yet there are many orphaned and not just from AIDS. People are always saying, "so many orphaned by AIDS" but when you actually find out that this one is because both parents died in a car accident. Or they died from Malaria. Everyone just assumes it is AIDS now because there are so many AIDS cases.

There is a girl named Sharon who is an orphan of AIDS. She is nearly 13 and she is only the size of an 8 year old. She has terrible little white bumps all over her. She is a cheerful girl and seems smart. She has no one. Who will advocate for this one?

Many Christians in Kenya take people in. There is so much poverty. So much loss. Those who have even a little will share with others (at least in most Christian communities.)

and so four widows have taken in around four children each. I know a little of Mama Violet (the picture of the woman in....violet!)..... She is mother to a man I prayed for---His wife is Praxcidia. (Praxcidia is in the picture with me and her children. She was pregant with Emmanual on my first visit when I prayed for her husband.)

Violet's son cannot help her. He is usually in the hospital with AIDS. He spent four months there. He is still living. Most likely he does not work at all--Although Praxcidia and her children look healthy. That's a good sign.

But Violet has taken in four children and three other widows have taken in children and I am praying for God to prosper and save them. I am praying for sponsors for the children and for the widows. I am praying that the children get books to go to school. There is no one to help them get an education. Those children rely on strangers.

But I am so thankful my daughter has heard the call to meet the needs of a young girl she has never met before. May God stir our hearts and I pray that Mary and Brenda find Him in this world and live forever in the next.

Kenya, O Praise the Lord in Kenya!

Todd has put his photos on a photo website. Maybe not all of them since I am SURE he took more than that! I gave him my photos, too, and they are not all represented. But of course, mine are not so good.

It is good to be home eating familiar food. It is good to be in my own bed. It is good to drive my own car. The familiar is so good.

But I am thankful I will return to Kenya. I wish I had a house there. Sort of a base camp. I'd like to have a western style house. I think Steve is spoiling me with his Western comfort choices. He gets a rental car and stays at a western style hotel. But I'd also like to have a washer and dryer, a refrigerator, iron, bathtub/shower, toilet, oven/stove top and air conditioner. Gee. Not much sacrifice in that!

but if you are READING, you probably would like to hear about KENYA....not my silly ramblings.
Let's see....

I'm continually thinking of Mary. She is an 8 year old orphan with no father or mother who is living with one of the widows of Joseph's church. I think he is trying to help support the orphans by putting them with the widows and then trying to help them. They've got a school set up to teach them. I asked what kind of student Mary was....the woman looked at me, looked at Mary, put her hand on Mary's head and said, "Not bad." Hmmmnn. Not a good answer. Mama Violet, the widow who cares for her chimed in quickly to add, "She has trouble reading. It hurts her eyes." Mary just stared down at the ground. I had no way to know if she understood English or not. Some do, some don't. I forgot to ask where her living relatives resided. There is always so much happening at once.

I think of Mary several times each day. When they presented songs, she was smiling and singing. I thought she was very pretty. Then Joseph had her stand up along with another girl who lives in the same home as he described the plight of these children to the congregation. After that, I think she was ashamed, embarrassed, or sad about her parents....God knows. Later, I called her and the other to come sit in my lap. I just wanted to take Mary home. I just wished it was that easy. "Here, child. Come with me. Do you want to go to America?" but no----I didn't say such a thing. Besides, she would have difficulties adjusting if I only brought her. The English problem is one thing. And how would she discover herself? but really, I'd take her.

and so I think we will look into adoption procedures there. just in case. although there are plenty of African American children languishing in our own country....still.......who is to say why God favors one of us over another? Who are we to say that Mary shouldn't come here? I hear the arguments. I imagine people saying it is unkind to take her away from her own culture. But what is she going to do there? Maybe if I could bring a couple of the girls over here. but I only want Mary today. I pray for her. I want to find a way to get her to the optometrist and get her some glasses. Hopefully, that is the only problem. She is 8 years old and the normal size for an 8 year old so she's been able to eat, thankfully. Some children are 13 and they look about 7. That's always really bad. They haven't had enough food. It is difficult to see it and know.

We also went to Pastor Steve's church. That was Tuesday. Oh....the schedule went something like this:

Saturday: We arrived in Kisumu by plane. We drove around Kisumu doing business--like going to the bank, going to the lumber yard, and somewhere else. We were driving to Kakamega when Titus' car broke down. We had to go back to Kisumu when we realized we did not have all of Todd's luggage. We headed to Kakamega again and stopped at the Golf Hotel to unload. ( I think!) Then we went to the church compound where we were greeted by singing. Hugs all around and then photos of the children. I don't remember after that.

Sunday: Five hour church service. Patsy made it through the whole thing even though we'd had so much travel and such a busy day on Saturday. God really poured out His Grace. I think we may have gone to see Dr. Kennedy that evening, but maybe he wasn't there. He was going to be back after 6:30pm. I think Steve got to meet with Walter. I was there ( I remember vaguely!)

Monday: Todd and I went to Panadol's church which is really Pastor Stanley's church. Panadol is going to preside over a new church plant coming up. That whole area is really responding to Jesus in greater measure than Titus' dreams! He can barely keep up! He is going to hold a four day revival in the area and then plant churches there.
Maybe on this day we got to see the children in the school. I saw Eunice. Maybe we met Henry? He was in the computer class. Steve met with the computer class. Oh they were so blessed. They were so excited about the opportunity that had come to them. Steve spoke with them at length. I had an opportunity to bless and praise them and encourage them. They had a chance to say thank you. They are just so encouraged that God has brought them this opportunity!! I cannot repeat it enough! Just that one thing alone was such a tremendous blessing. I was glad to be a part of this whole thing.

Tuesday: We went to Pastor Steve's church. His wife is Melab and she is one of my favorite women. She is beautiful and gregarious and she sings. She has a tailoring business. When we drove to the church, they had planted banana trees in our honor lining the road on both sides so you knew which way to turn as you traveled through the dirt roads. Titus said they were honoring us. It was wonderful.
When we got there, they were singing and clapping. We came out and went into the church. There were flower petals all over the ground laid carefully. It was beautiful! and there were small flower plants lining the tables at the front. They presented us with a traditional gourd. I was so happy.
We sang and praised. We sang, When Jesus says yes nobody can say no. I love that song! I love proving nay-sayers WRONG! Jesus is always right. and even when Jesus says no, you can swallow it because He is always right. He's not just a know-it-all, He really is THE KNOW IT ALL!

and my Steve was always doing other things. He did not go out to the churches on Mon, Tues, or Wed. He was meeting with a lawyer to get NGO status in Kenya and things like that. He met with two new guys and hired them as programmers. We are going to set up a FOR profit company which will feed money to the non-profit to keep the medical clinic running and low or no cost for those in need. One of these guys is already programming in Java, which he pulled off the internet as open source code so he could learn. He is very excited about becoming part of Trinity Global. He is taking a pay cut just so he can be connected to what Steve is doing. His name is Frank.

Frank has wanted to go for training at some computer schools in Nairobi, but he says so many of them are quacks. They will charge exorbitant fees for useless knowledge--but you won't know it is useless until after you have finished paying and try to get a job with those skills. There is no point in it. Unless you already know what you need, you will be clueless and they can take advantage of you. At last, Frank felt he was going to be connected with someone who knew how the western world did business. He was grateful and very excited about it.

Maybe on that night we also met with Dr. Kennedy and showed him the packing list of the medical supplies from Medical Bridges. He was amazed and wanted all of it. He brought Edwin, the pharmacist along. They reviewed the list going through it line by line on Steve's computer. Edwin said it will be the only medical hospital of its kind outside of Nairobi.

That night we also worked out the plans to have Todd come back and do a mobile medical clinic for a summer mission trip from Austin Stone community church. We learned that for $2000, we could set up a 2 day clinic ready to see 600 people per day with 10 different medical professionals--doctors, nurses, eye doctors, dentist, and pharmacists. That is a great bargain! OH HOW I WISH I HAD A FEW THOUSAND TO BUY THAT EVERY OTHER MONTH!!!!

But God will provide.

I'm being faithful to all I am called to do-- I must just keep walking in the light He gives me. I have to focus on obedience to what I CAN do right now. and even do what I cannot do --if He asks it of me.

But my heart leapt! It did summersaults and cartwheels. It did fireworks shows and musical dance pieces. Man....I really need to be a more laid back kind of girl. but it just aint happenin' these days.

:-D

So, Todd is bringing information to Joey Shaw and Ryan King at Austin Stone and they will decide how to proceed. Todd will bring a group of young people on one trip.....then one of those young people will be raised up as a leader for the next trip. Both of those will take place this summer. I think they are going to see how that goes and then determine their future plans based on the success of those visits.

I know they will be AMAZING!!! (i am tempted to make this be in 24 font or something!)


God is so good!

What else?

The school is going well.
Children fed twice a day. several teachers now. This is all great. I think another church is paying for renovations on the building.

Medical clinic has two potential nurses, but they have to be cleared by Dr. Kennedy pending review of their documentation. We have the Medical Bridges 100,000 worth of equipment which we bought for $8000 already. Now we are working on shipping (we foolishly assumed that they were including shipping! ha! NOW we know.) and Titus is working on getting us tax exemption and a guarantee of it going through customs. Then we'll store it in Nairobi until we complete the building, hopefully by May.

We intend to go again in May. I finish my classes by May 15. Geesh, we will be married 27 years by May 26th. What a great way to celebrate!!

okay......I think I write too long. It discourages reading. darn.

More later!

Link to pictures....

Check out Todd's site. He will likely continue posting updates and more information from his viewpoint. We had an awesome time!
www.toddwhite.org

I'm home. I'm tired. But I can't sleep. I'm too tired to be productive. I'm too awake to return to bed. Maybe it is a good time to review....
Oh my Kenya friends. How good to see you! What a reception! and Todd and Patsy were received as family and will remain in the hearts of the people.

On our first day in Western Kenya, one car broke down on the road. It was hot. Todd got out and went over to photograph some children playing in a school yard. They came running from all directions to meet this white guy with a big camera by their fence. He got some precious pictures of their beautiful faces. It turned out that we had left some luggage at the airport in Kisumu and so even when we got another ride to pick some of us up, we had to return to Kisumu. That put us way behind schedule. Rose had arranged for nearly 100 orphans to be at the church compound so they could get their pictures taken. They had to wait on us for hours. It is the Kenyan way, but it grieved Todd and he wanted to make it there before the sun went down so he would have natural light.
We made it. As we turned into the compound gates, the children were lined up on each side of the driveway singing and clapping to welcome us. Todd and Patsy were overwhelmed! I laughed with joy and love and wanted to jump out and hug my friends. Many I knew had come to greet us. I didn't know who to hug first! It's like when you come home to your children----you don't want to favor this one or that one---if only you could give a big hug to everyone at the same time! but you can't. I went around hugging and greeting those I recognized and used their name when I knew it since I know so many brothers and sisters by heart but not by name. (It is hard to remember so many names, but i am trying and each trip adds several more names.)
We headed into the church and I think we began photos immediately. Mom helped by writing the number of the photo and the name and getting the small detail. Some were of a single parent. This constitutes "orphan" in Kenya, but to us it is sort of "half-orphan" because we use the word to mean you do not have any parents.
There were 91 photos taken. Later, we went to Joseph's church in Ebulecha (or something like that) and took 17+ or more photos......I'm not sure. One little boy would NOT get near Todd and that camera! He was terrified! The church members or extended family seriously wanted him included in the photos in hopes of getting him sponsored but that child would not have it. He climbed up the woman holding him like a scared cat climbing a tree. I feared he would launch off her shoulder to get to the other side--away from the ferocious monstor threatening him. Poor baby. He was cute, too. But he had probably never seen a white man before. Many times little children can get frightened by our presence---we look quite ill to them, I'm sure.
Pray with me for the support of these children. How terrible it must be to live in the world without either of your parents! That seems so lonely. And who will advocate for them?

The next day was the church service and Todd was going to speak. It was such a great service! It was five hours long. Each church and several ministries had a presentation for the guests. We ended up cutting it short....not sure why. But Todd expected to speak at 11 but he spoke about 1 or 1:30pm. I had an opportunity to pray in the follow up of his message for people to commit or recommit to Christ. Steve said there were over 25 people who responded. I had Pastor Sony (sunny) pray over them. We also had a time where Todd blessed the babies. Many women came forward with their children for a blessing.
We had the school children sing, orphans sang, computer class had a presentation, Joseph's daughter (Pastor Joseph is the brother of Lead Pastor -Bishop Titus,) and Mama Selfa spoke. Some children came and sat on Patsy's lap. I think Ian was first and Lillian--children of Eunice who teaches in our school and now we have employed her husband Henry as an accountant for Trinity Global in Kenya.
Worship was awesome and lively. The women came over and danced with me and pulled me out to the middle. I praised with my whole heart and body and let the love flow in me and out from me. I loved everyone. I loved the universe! I felt one with everything and everybody! A taste of heaven, I am sure. I was high as a kite, on cloud nine, and every other cliche invented to describe happiness. My body just cannot contain the joy I feel when I am there. It is too much glory! No wonder God is invisible now!!! We would implode at our joy to behold Him in truth. Oh but I'm ready to implode! Come Lord Jesus!
Truly I was getting a taste of the love and unity of eternity.
The next day, we went to Stanleys church. I was so happy to go out to Panadol's area and hoping to get GPS coordinates so Charity Waters could work towards building a well there. It turned out my GPS is only for OUR SIDE OF THE GLOBE! That stank.
but I know God has it under control. Even though there are barriers, the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. we are going in and we are taking the land for Jesus! We are casting out injustice and poverty and suffering. We are bringing LIFE!
Jesus is the living water and He desires His creation to be pure and lovely. We are partnering with God to see His Kingdom come and His Will be done. We are only servants doing our duty. He is using us as a tool. I know it is His Will to see a well there. It WILL HAPPEN and nothing can stop it.
But I asked the people to pray. I assured them that I wanted to see a well there and that God wanted to bring a well there. I currently did not have the resources to do it and that they needed to do the praying. It is something like 1500-2500 USD to create a deep well. I will see it with my eyes as I see it in my heart.
God gave me a message the night before. It was about the woman at the well. How Jesus spoke with the rejected one, the immoral one, and how we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus. He accepts us and so we accept others and reach out to the unlovely. Also, God had mercy on Hagar and made her son great. She was cast out, abused and used. But God came to her and SPOKE to her, revealing Himself as El Roi (Row-EEE) the God who Sees. What is curious is that God gave me these references and so I reviewed them in the Bible. I never knew or noticed that after God spoke to Hagar, she opened her eyes AND THERE WAS A WELL THERE!!!! Okay, maybe I'm crazy, but I think that was God's confirmation. God awoke me at 2am with this message of the Samaritan woman on my heart and I was so excited that I just got up and never went back to bed. At least I had a good four hours of sleep, but I was so jazzed about the fun we just had and the fun that lay ahead that I could not sleep.
The people received the Word with gladness. Todd wanted to do a Question and Answer time regarding cultural exchange. The questions were about multiple wives, bride price (dowry), adultery, and bride inheritance (when a woman dies, she becomes her brother-in-law's new extra wife). Other things, too, like birth control and number of children. It was a good time of sharing.
We went to have a marvelous meal and I was so full of happiness that my stomach could not handle it and was jittery. I was crushed that I could not just dig in and eat it all up. It was a lovely meal. Soda, chipate (?), pineapple (I did eat the pineapple) and plenty of delicious Kenyan food, but I could only eat a small amount.
Todd got pictures of the sewing machine in Panadol's home. His wife, Mama Robei, showed us some of her handiwork. They told us how people could come to her for clothing repairs instead of going all the way to town or too the next market area.
Titus told us that people would come to see the machine and try it out. They would stay for church. They would come to Christ! Hallelujah!

okay......I think writing such joyful news is making me MORE awake and since it is 4:43 and I've been up since 2am, I will return to bed in hopes of a little nap before the day begins.