Family Update

This is more of a personal update--many of you know that my sister and brother-in-law have been parents to two foster children for almost 2 years (at least for Dayzha, they are actually both 1 right now). Many of you have prayed for both of them over the last year and a half. 

Yesterday they had a court date and everything went really well. The judge will decide by March 30th if K & S will have the opportunity to have these beautiful babies as an official part of our family! For those of you who have been with us through the ups and the downs of this entire process, you understand how exciting this is! Thanks for all of your prayers and continued prayers for my niece and nephew! Last night I was able to talk to Dayzha and for the first time she said "Ashy" "miss you" and "love you!" Sweet, huh?!  

The Drought

Things are dry here, to say the least.

I was in Osero Lempere twice over the last two weeks, compare the pictures below and notice the difference in the level of the water. 

Last Thursday:

Tuesday:

That's the difference in less than a week.

Water catchments and rivers are dry. The water sources that do have some water in them are dirty and people are getting sick from the water they are fetching from them. Elephants and other wild animals along with cows, sheep and goats are quickly drinking up what little water is available. 

Here a woman fetches water for her family by skimming her jug on the top of the murky water to get the purest part (if there is such a part). In a few days this source, the only one within a several mile radius, will be dried up. Families are moving--walking by foot for miles with all of their belongings on their backs, following their herds--in hopes to find some source of water or an area that might have some grass for the animals. We are working on a bore hole project in this community (see my last post about a bore hole in another community). Pray for the pump house to be completed this week so that water will be available for this community.

We're hopeful that rain will come in the next few days! Join us in praying!

WATER

Yesterday I witnessed one of my favorite moments in Kenya so far. I saw a community who has never, EVER had a fresh water source fill jugs from the new well near their homes. The women are used to traveling hours each day just to get to the nearest water source--a murky river. I arrived just a few minutes before the pump was started and water began flowing from where it was being pumped from several hundred meters below. A crowd had gathered from the surrounding villages, water containers in tow, just hoping that today would be the day they would have fresh water in their community.

I waited with the women and children as a group of guys tried to get the pump started (they ended up getting it started with the car battery!). We heard the pump start and then waited in anticipation--several days in a row before the pump didn't start, then it had started but water didn't come. 

Then there it was! Clear water burst from the pipe and container after container was filled. Women and children raced back to their homes and brought others with containers to fill. 

Steve, to my right in the picture below, works with AfricaHope facilitating our food and water program. He's teaching farming methods and working on a total of 22 water projects in our ministry division. He's been working long hours lately on these wells because of the drought--not only him but several of our staff. This particular well project began about a year ago and was completed yesterday--the first of the 22. AfricaHope coordinates the project but actually connects the funding of the government with areas of needs and then trains the communities (by putting together committees) to care for their new water source. 

Why did I get to witness such an amazing event? I don't know, but I feel blessed. I think it is the Lord showing me more of why I'm here... and that it is so worth it. My prayer is that just as my Masai friends waited in anticipation for the water, ran toward it and then had containers filled to overflowing, their hearts and ours would long for Jesus, the Living Water who alone is able to satisfy our souls. The drought is still bad here, but at least one community is suffering less. Join us in rejoicing!!

A day of dancing..

Imagine: you are in the middle of the Kenyan bush, with nothing but a few wild animals on the horizon as far as the eye can see... 

Do you have it in your mind?? Now, imagine Celine Dion playing in the background... 

That was my coworkers and I a few weeks ago as we headed to the field to visit ministry sites and have a meeting with 3 communities about their need for fresh water and subsequent sources of food. It was a day filled with music, laughing, dancing and seeing how God is moving in the communities we are working with.

There is a Kenyan radio station that we had playing from the truck's radio all day that was playing some good tunes. We couldn't wait to hear what song was coming next--Mariah Carey, Shaggy, or Chicago. My two worlds were colliding!

While we waited for the people to gather for the meeting we had fun dancing with the kids.

Steve took us to see several of the projects he's coordinating--here we are walking to see a farming project (I was so impressed to see green tomato plants growing in the dry field--they are using an irrigation pump to water and renting a tractor for plowing plus working on a trench to surround the field to protect the crops from elephants. My dad didn't ever have to worry about elephants eating our corn or beans in IL. Things are different here).

We stopped by a school and saw beautiful, smiling faces =)

I was blessed to share for a few minutes as this community meeting began. It was a happy day.

God is working things together...

There's a lot going on here in my world. Lots of changes and transitions, visitors coming (I'm so excited about that! Some NMSI execs come Saturday). Sometimes I get so caught up in my own world that I don't realize how selfish I can be. I have been wrestling with God about all that's going on here, the suffering I see around me and the sin I'm seeing in myself. Over the last few months I've been struggling to just "be" with God. My soul has been restless no matter what I try. This past Saturday God showed me a glimmer of hope and gave me a beautiful day. I didn't do anything special but there was a peace in my heart that I haven't felt for awhile.

This morning for AH devotions we divided up into pairs to pray for one another. My friend Prisca and I were partners. I shared how I'm struggling with so many things going on here and also missing family and friends and the familiar of home. She told me that on Saturday she had been fasting and praying for me!!  I'm humbled and brought out of my self-centeredness (at least for now) to know that Prisca was thinking about me and sacrificing for me--the same day that God was giving me rest and peace.  I'm humbled at the reminder that God hears the cries of my heart and is orchestrating everything in His beautiful timing.

The picture is one we took around Christmas--it's a traditional Maasai boma (the thorns make a fence to protect the cows, goats & sheep from wild animals, then the mud homes are also within; you can see the roofs of the houses) with a rainbow--a reminder of God's promises to His people. He is faithful.