April 1996

His Work Among the Luo People Of Kenya Go ... and make disciples of all nations Matthew 28:19
April 2, 1996

My day started out with a knock on the gate. I rolled out of bed. It was only 6:30 am. I can't remember who it was now, or even what they wanted. Just about everyday starts out that way. Luos sure do rise early, get themselves together, and walk (usually a long distance) to my gate and knock, waking me out of bed and reminding me of all the verses in the Bible that talk about sluggards. Did you know that there are thirteen different scriptures that talk about sluggards? Proverbs 6:9 is apropos:

"How long will you lie there you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?"

Anyway, we solved the problem, whatever it was. By then I was in a rush to get breakfast on the table so school could start. I didn't have time to eat. We had visitors from Germany scheduled to come at noon for lunch and I was also frantically getting ready for a trip to the Pala church and a ladies night of prayer and Bible study. Breakfast wasn't high on my priority list. School started at 8:00. Kit and I were closeted in his bedroom, Barry had helpfully taken Havilah in hand for the morning. In between teaching Kit, I was preparing my thoughts and putting the finishing touches to my Bible lesson for the ladies, when I wasn't running to check something on the stove for the lunch visitors, or trying to hide all the dust and dirt in the house so the visitors could see that I was the perfect housewife. Poor Kit, even his head was in a spin with me bobbing in and out on him. I bet your third grade school teacher never did that.

The visitors showed up at 11:00. Kit was still in the middle of school. I had my overnight basket half packed for my ladies meeting. The basin and dustpan for dusting the furniture were still sitting on the couch, and I suddenly realized that I hadn't even brushed my teeth or combed my hair that morning. Thankfully, my clothes and shoes and socks matched. We had never met these visitors, didn't even know if they were American or German or what. One of our former interns gave them our name and address. They just happened to be passing through and looked us up. Kit was relegated to his desk with a pile of worksheets while I put the last bit of lunch on the table, finished packing by overnight basket, and gathered up my materials for the ladies class with a silent prayer for God to please give me the right words for teaching, as I felt far from prepared. I was so busy seeing to the needs of the guests, I didn't realize till later that I myself had only eaten a bite or two. By 1:45pm, we had said good-bye to the visitors. I left Barry with a mile high stack of dishes, kissed the children, and was off to my ladies meeting. I don't remember even hardly breathing that day till I sat behind the wheel of the car.

We stopped around for five of the women teachers who were going with me and then headed off the pavement to one of the most interior areas of South Nyanza. I had been dreading this trip in the car cause the rain has been falling good and the roads promised to be interesting. My worst fears were realized. Just before reaching the market area closest to the Pala church was a kilometer (2/3 of a mile) long mud hole. I started into it determined to get to the other end at a full run without stopping or sinking into that foot deep mud. It took every bit of energy I could muster. Two or three times the car slewed to the side, back wheels leading instead of front, my speed slowed and once, one of the women cried out in all earnestness, "Dear God please help us NOW!" We made it. I had to stop the car just to rest for a few minutes. We said a little prayer of thank you together and continued on our journey. Later we found that four other women who were traveling to the meeting (they were in two different public transportation vehicles) mired down in that same mud hole, had to get out of the vehicle and walk through that mud and on to the meeting on foot. He was truly helpful.

When we arrived at the home of the woman who was hosting the meeting, we barely got out of the car when the hostess asked me to turn around and go back to the market with her to purchase some food to feed the visitors. I hopped (actually heaved myself) back into the vehicle and we went back down the road to the open air market. I dropped Rispa off, drove to the other end of the market and waited for her. That's quite sneaky really. If I had been seen with her, they would have charged her "white man's prices" at the local market. She didn't have enough money for that, so we put plan A into action. While waiting for Rispa though, the heavens opened up and a deluge of rain poured onto the market. The road to Rispa's is fine when it's dry but now I had little hope of arriving without being towed out of the mud somewhere along the way. BINGO! I got stuck! It took 20 people and 3 logs to heave me out of the drainage gully and into some woman's sweet potato field, where I had to draw on that reserve of energy ( which I got from sleeping until 6:30am) to turn the car around and force my way through the plowed and planted field and back onto the road. It was dark by now, but we arrived back at Rispa's door extremely muddy but safe.

Several women had arrived at the meeting in my absence. It looked like a sizeable group. We were crammed into Rispa's two roomed mud house. The other women had been sitting awhile and were ready and anxious in fact to start the Bible study and prayer time. Guess what? I was on first. It was 7:30pm. We studied until 10:30. Then Rispa served supper. It was so dark. I had been using a flashlight to read my bible, but we could hardly do that for supper. Rispa brought a little kerosene lamp made out of a tin can, and we proceeded to eat. Like I said, it was a bigger crowd than usual. The collar greens and corn meal mush were hardly enough to go around. I ate sparingly, mostly because I was too tired to eat. At 11:30 pm we prayed for an hour, and then went to bed. Where did all those women (almost 30) go to bed you ask? On the floor of Rispa's house. We stacked the chairs and tables against the wall, she brought out a reed mat and each person had carried along their own blanket. I think my space on that floor was 10 inches wide and maybe 3 1/2 ft. long. There is something to say for coziness on a rainy night! If only we could have all taken a hot bath first. I know I sure needed one!

Morning came too quick. How did I sleep, you ask? Why! I was exhausted, that's how! We all got up, dressed hurriedly, put Rispa's living room back in order, and stowed the sleeping gear. Oh, what I would have given for a cup of water to wash my face and hands! A dozen of us then took kilometer or so hike down the path to visit the home of a young Christian boy who had died the previous week of meningitis. His parents aren't Christians. We had work to do! We prayed by his grave, sang some songs of encouragement for the family, one women taught for 15 minutes from the scripture, and we prayed some more, just trying to encourage the family to follow their son's example. An hour and a half later we hiked back down the path to Rispa's house. And all this before breakfast.

By this time, all the women were chomping at the bit to begin the teaching again, so breakfast was a hurried affair. I had a cup of tea with milk and a handful of beans and corn before starting the morning of teaching. It was my turn again. The whole morning was mine for teaching. I tried to hurry it along, but we were behind schedule as usual and I didn't finish until almost 1:00 pm. We're studying in Hebrews. I wanted to make sure they were understanding the lesson well. That's a difficult book. Rispa had lunch ready on time, but all the women were trying to hurry things up, some of them had a long way to travel on foot and by public transportation, which is never efficient and most of the time absent altogether. This is bush country, remember. I was hurrying right along with them. The storm clouds were obviously gathering and I couldn't get my mind off that kilometer mud hole that I had to pass back through. When a woman prayed for the lunch, she also prayed for God to hold the rain back. We ate so fast! I have never seen a pile of food consumed that fast.

Last good-byes were said, and we piled 9 women and 2 babies into our car, which only seats four comfortably. Three of those women I was taking just a short way so they could meet up with the matatu (converted pickup used for public transportation). We beat tracks back down the road toward the market, passed the place where I was stuck the day before without mishap. I breathed one sigh of relief, but when we reached the marketplace, I made the mistake of looking behind me. The rain was falling just about 50 feet behind us and I still had that kilometer long mud hole to traverse. Hurrrrrry! Hurrrrry! I shouted to the women. If we don't pass before this rain comes we won't get out of here today. They were chuckling (they always chuckle at my strange ways) but they were hurrying. Several were praying in earnest. Just as the last women got out of my car, a matatu pulled up. They ran and piled into it as I jumped (and I mean jumped this time) back into the drivers seat and took off at a run. That rain was coming and quick! This time pure adrenaline got me through that mud hole. The prayers helped and the rain on our tail had a motivating effect also. The matatu was just behind us. We literally raced out of that interior road with the rain following the whole way. It never caught up. God never let it. We reached the pavement before we got drenched. The rest of the trip home was uneventful, except that when I stopped just two kilometers from home to let one of the women out, fatigue washed over me. I looked over to the lady next to me and asked her if she wanted to drive, or if she was prepared to spend the night in that village (just a short way from home). I really didn't feel like I could make it home.

I did make it home though. Barry cooked supper, bathed the kids, put the supper on the table, and I didn't even have enough energy to eat it. I staggered to the bed. It was 6:30pm. Guess what? At 7:30 the next morning Barry had to drag me out of bed. It was Sunday, we had to go to worship.

"How long will you lie there you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?

Barry says I getting too old for this kind of life. I don't think I actually woke up until Sunday afternoon after we were served lunch at the Winyarago church. It was then that I realized that I hadn't eaten a proper meal since Thursday. I had gone almost three whole days without eating. I'm NOT getting too old for this! These women's overnight meetings of prayer and Bible study give me a spiritual supercharge, even if they do wear my body out. What's more important anyway? The body or the heart?

This week I received a letter from a dear Christian sister, and she reminded me about Mark 6:31,

"Come ye yourselves apart into the desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat."

I plan to do that real soon. I recall reading with Kit a few days ago, the story of Elijah resting in the shade of the juniper tree in the desert beyond Beersheba for 40 days and nights and the angels fed him. Oh, that must have been a real blessing for Elijah!

We love you all and keep you in prayer. You know how much we need your prayers. We appreciate them more than you will ever know . . .