January 1995

His Work Among the Luo People Of Kenya Go ... and make disciples of all nations Matthew 28:19
January 5, 1995

Just the other morning Aluoch was on her way to the market and decided to drop in, so we shared a cup of chai (tea) together. I really like living out here in the bush, in the heart of South Nyanza more than I used to like living in Kisii where my home was more comfortable and I had more amenities. For here, the Christians are so free to drop in and I get such refreshment from a visit like I had with Aluoch a few days ago. Of course, Aluoch is special to me. She's like my Luo mother. She taught me to speak Luo and opened her home to Barry and I when we first came to Kenya and were like infants in terms of language and culture. Aluoch taught me to cook kuon and greens Luo style, she guided me into the world of Luo etiquette, stood beside me instructing me how to successfully fling the mud onto what was our first home in Kenya, and tried not to laugh when from sheer exhaustion I dropped my clean load of laundry into a freshly plowed corn field. She stood by me and corrected and encouraged gently when depression hit. We bonded deeply with Aluoch and her family and the relationship has only strengthened over the years.

" I heard some good news from your home yesterday.", I said as I was shaking hands with her. She was grinning from ear to ear, knowing exactly to what I was referring. If we had both been Americans, a big hug would have been in order, but her exuberant handshake more than adequately expressed her deep emotion to me. Aluoch's very first daughter-in-law was baptized into Christ on the first day of the new year. She was so happy that words could not express it for her, but I'd say the smile on her face told it all.

When we came to Kenya over nine years ago, Aluoch and her husband were suffering a double blow. They had recently lost their eldest son to cancer, and they were also suffering over the spiritual loss of their oldest daughter when they made the mistake of giving her in marriage to a non-Christian, and then realized too late that in their (Luo) culture a wife does not easily stand up to her husband, even in such a thing as where she wishes to worship. But Aluoch and her husband are of a special breed, the breed of a "pure heart". They asked God's forgiveness for their mistake and turned their attention to Odoyo, the next son in line.

Odoyo is a true brother to Barry and I. We've watched him grow up. He was just a boy when we came here, still wearing school boy shorts, studying in eighth grade, and still calling his folks "mama and baba". Odoyo was our lifeline when we were living in their village and learning Luo. He had an English vocabulary of about 25 words, and was the only person in the family who could talk to us, even if it was in one word sentences. I remember the day he taught me to say the colors in Luo. We've spent endless hours in prayer for Odoyo. He was growing up in a Christian family, but he had the hardest part of his life in front of him, and the biggest temptations were yet to come. We prayed when he went off to boarding high school, and was entirely out of the influence of his family or the church at the age of 14. We prayed again when he went far off to teachers college and had to face the added temptation in keeping up with his peers in terms social prowess, in a culture where promiscuity is encouraged on all fronts. And we prayed some more when he was posted by the government to teach in a primary school in a remote corner of South Nyanza where no church existed. Then we really started to pray when he decided to begin looking for a wife. This would be the real test for Odoyo's spiritual life. Luos have for the most part abandoned their traditional form of marriage, but they have not replaced it with any form of marriage at all. The result of this is many many young men who enter into four or five "marriages" without ceremony or even witnesses before they finally find a young girl who will stay with them and where both husband and wife commit themselves to one another. Christians do not always escape this horrendous void between tradition and the modern world. Please Lord, we prayed, help Odoyo to move slowly, choose wisely, and consider your will before all else. We experienced a bit of disappointment when Kasuku died, his widow became available, and Odoyo refused to consider her as a possibility. His mother and father began wringing their hands when Odoyo set his heart on a non-Christian girl.

But God is up there listening to all our heartfelt prayers. And He never turns His back. Especially when we ourselves are trying to do His will down here. Aluoch and her husband went into action. They personally met with the prospective daughter-in-law several times (a course of action that totally flaunts Luo tradition) specifically to begin teaching her God's Word. Last August, they drug her (well actually, I think she was really willing to come and listen) to the yearly South Nyanza Christian Fellowship Weekend. Aluoch asked me several times if she could bring Odoyo's friend to visit me so that I could share my Christ with her. They never tired in their efforts to get this marriage off to a proper and lasting start.

A few weeks ago, we happened to be worshipping with the Winyo congregation in Aluoch's village. Odoyo was there, staying at home during a school break. At the beginning of worship I noticed that a strange girl walked in with Adhiambo (Odoyo's sister) and sat down next to her, but at the time I didn't give it much thought. At the end of worship, before the closing prayer, during the time of announcements, Odoyo stood up, moved to the front of the congregation, motioned to the strange girl and asked her to stand up. The first thing I noticed was that Odoyo was wearing a tie. I had never seen him in a tie. He jokingly referred to the tie when he made the announcement that he was no longer a boy, having taken a wife in the last week. He wished the congregation to know that they were witnesses to his and Florence's committment to one another as man and wife. I was grinning from ear to ear then, but not without a tiny qualm about her not being a Christian.

I remember asking Aluoch how she felt about the marriage taking place before Florence became a Christian. Aluoch told me that it was her and her husband who actually were asking Florence to wait a bit before being baptized. You see, a Luo girl would easily promise to join the husband's faith before a marriage in order to speed the marriage along. Young girls are always eager to marry. But that committment is more to the family than to God and is often revoked during difficult adjustment times when the girl decides to run back home to her family. I am so thankful that Aluoch and her husband were so wise to consider that possibility. They wanted Florence's committment to be between her and God, and they knew that would take more teaching. On January first, Aluoch was buried with Christ. But we are not finished praying for Odoyo. It looks like this marriage is starting out on a firm Christian footing. We are praying for continued blessings.

Aluoch certainly feels good about the marriage of her oldest son and her new daughter-in-law and new sister in Christ. A Luo women has a daughter for only a few years then she gives her daughter to the husband's family, but a daughter- in-law she has into her old age and for the rest of her life. It's a unique and special relationship. I know that Aluoch is also praying for them as they walk with Christ together.

The missionary men have two Marriage Courses planned for this month, addressing this marriage problem that exists in the Luo culture, and teaching Christians how to have a good marriage with God's help. Guess who are on the top of our student list? You got it, Odoyo and Florence! Your prayers could help them too!

There are lots of days when we feel discouragement, watching people become Christians for the wrong reasons, watching Christians put tradition first, watching with much sadness another marriage fall apart, watching whole churches choose Satan's road because they expect something even Christ refuses to give. And I'll admit we've considered packing it in a time or two,wondering what good we were doing here, or even if we were able to do this work at all. But it's these little victories that keep us here. Aluoch's victory with her new daughter-in-law is our victory too. It gives us hope. I sometimes wonder what was my part in it all. Perhaps I did nothing, or perhaps our relationship with Aluoch or Odoyo had some effect. I'm sure I don't know, but isn't that what giving God the glory is all about? If I can't see what good I've done (even though I've worked my little heart out) but I do see change for the good, then God must be doing it and He deserves all the glory. Real change comes in little doses but those doses are so joy-filled!