Last Week

Well, this week in Kenya was an interesting one but a little more on the challenging side with Joyce’s sister passing away and a few tensions arising in the area. God continues to be so gracious and faithful and MIGHTY and we are so thankful that today as we write, our area seems to be functioning normally with not as much fear on the streets. We are still cautioned to avoid certain areas and use wisdom when traveling because of a certain sect (gang) that is threatening to return to the streets after retreating for awhile. And a praise is that Mama Kenya Grace (that’s me) got to spend a whole day with Kenya Grace and loved every minute. Because Joyce couldn’t be with us one day, Kenya Grace even came to class with us for an hour. She repeated Kiswahili vocabulary or at least a portion or two of the words and our teacher loved that. :)
I wanted to share a little about last week. One of the conversant here at the school had invited us to her home to meet her family and enjoy some fruit and tea. On Tuesday I drove her home so we would know how to find her place and on Wednesday the P3 went to her family’s home for a lovely visit. Her family lives in a three story, small apartment building. The building is known by it’s two water tanks. They lived on the third floor and have a great view of the surrounding area. Their door is a solid, blue metal door with a large lock. As we entered their home (that reminded us of our Prefumo home in a way) we were welcomed by the Mama, Baba (father) the conversant Lilian and her brother. Their living room which was also their dinning room was so lovely and so clean. They invited us to sit down and we immediately got to use our Kiswahili. Though they speak English as well, they knew we were learning Kiswahili and wanted us to use it. At one point the Baba said to the Mama, “Don’t speak to them in English. Use Kiswahili!” So she did. Then a little while later the Baba was speaking to us in English and the Mama came in the room and went over to him and in a very Kenyan Mama way told him he better be speaking Kiswahili to us. It was really funny.
They served us bananas, fresh squeezed mango juice which Matt loves, tea, coffee, coco, and KG’s favorite mandaze! (They are like a doughnut.) She must have eaten 4! She was so happy and such a charmer. She spoke Kiswahili to them, was very content in their home, loved playing games with the brother and the fact that she was eating the mandaze up was much loved by the Mama. In fact Kenya Grace kept asking, “One more?” with her little index finger up and both the Mama and Baba said, “Let her have it.” I finally had to explain in careful words that she had been constipated and if she ate anymore it would cause her to be that way again. :0 They understood and I was so grateful but KG managed to snag one on our way out and take a bite into immediately, so we took one for the road. (That one didn’t make it in KG’s tummy but elsewhere.)
We had very sweet fellowship and they were so encouraging about us going to Kisumu. They are believers who go to the Baptist church here in our area and they recognize the need for Biblical teaching and correction of doctrine. They also had good advise about things for Kenya Grace in Kisumu. They did share at the end the need for their daughter to have enough fees to return to school in Uganda and were hoping her job at the language school would be enough. We were able to pray for them, thank God for their beautiful hospitality and ask Him to provide for their needs. It was such a nice visit and we feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to practice our Kiswahili and fellowship with a local family.

And a very Happy Birthday to Peg's dad who is 70 March 6, 2009. :) We love you!