The Sign Is Up!

February 13, 2014 (Thursday) The church in Taito is now expanding and there will be more room for the school children as well.  Today we have finalized the purchase of an adjacent plot and the size of our property has doubled.  It is a great opportunity to have this land available to us and to know that God has great things planned for the people and the children of Taito including the surrounding villages.

Our compound is well protected night and day.  Should anyone decide to make an unexpected night visit they just might have a big surprise! One man that travels with the caravan has six sets of twins. He has twelve children in all and is one happy man :)

February 15, 2014 (Saturday) It was a difficult day and it seemed like everything went wrong.  The Education Dept. of Kenya has several requirements that we must meet to be registered.  One of them is we must have a sign by the main road.  The artist did a wonderful job on the sign and it was time to have it delivered to Taito. We tied the sign to the top of the car, we found some workers and we carried cement in the back of the car with us. It was a sure and easy thing to get done and we had planned to do it first thing in the morning. Then we could move on to the other things we had planned for the day.The holes were dug and the sign placed but to our surprise the two sided sign could not be seen from one side as the row of small shanty type shops covered up one side. The sign poles needed to be longer.

We sent someone to the next village to see if they had a welder that could fix the sign poles for us. The answer brought back to me was “yes.” The sign is big and we don’t always have a car available to us.  The guys got a public transportation van (matatu) to stop and they tied the sign on top for an added fee and they were on their way.  The twenty minute job went on for a couple hours while I sat by the road with a couple cement bags. The sun is beating down on me and it is hot, hot, and just plain hot!  When I called to see what was happening I was told that the welder didn’t have any more piping to add to the posts so they were out looking for some.  They had traveled a good distance and had gone to four places but could not find any. 

Finally we found what we needed and I thought for sure the sign would be ready shortly.  Again, no word, no workers, and I'm still by the road in the hot sun with the cement bags.  When I called this time to see what was happening I was told that they were at the welders but he didn’t have any welding sticks so they were out hunting for some.  This might sound unusual but this is an ordinary day trying to accomplish something in a third world country.  It’s after three o’clock now and still the men have not returned and the sign is still not up.  When I call this time I’m told that they are standing beside the road waiting for a car to stop so they can come back with the sign but no one has stopped yet.

It’s close to five o’clock now and I’m ready to call it quits for the day.  A bit frustrated and discouraged I call one more time and tell them to leave the sign at the welders and we will deal with it on Monday morning.

February 16, 2014 (Sunday) As I entered through the gates of the Kitale Main Prison I was surprised at the large and clean campus before me.  There were several religions represent inside with their mosque or church building.

As we stood outside the building where we would have our meeting we could hear the women inside already signing praises to the Lord. We entered this bricked up court yard with the open sky above us. There was a room behind where I stood that the guards used.  It looked out over the area. We had guards at the door as it closed behind us and three inside with us.  On one brick wall a big cross had been painted with flowers to the sides of it. 

Most of the women sat on the floor in their black and white striped sac dress. Their name was crudely written on a patch stitched to their one and only gown.  About twenty of the sixty women that were waiting for me to speak had CR written in red capital letters on the front of their gown.  These women had been sentenced for life. Some were very young and others showed the signs of age. About five children were passed around, held and hug.  They are permitted to keep their children here until the age of five. Some stood and shared a testimony.  One was there because she threw her little baby into the river one night when it was dark.  Her father had argued with her about the trouble the baby had brought to them.  They sang with passion and from some tears did flow.

They sat quietly as I spoke and enjoyed the interaction.  There was a time of being light hearted and there was a time of being serious.  At the end of our time together eleven women gave their heart to the Lord.  They came forward and stood in front of all the other women as we prayed together. There was a time of prayer for the sick and tormented and we saw God work in marvelous ways.

We said our goodbyes and were asked to leave first.  As I was about to step through the doorway one of the women prisoners ran and grabbed hold of me. She just hugged me while saying, “thank you, thank you, thank you.”  This woman had been suffering greatly and been set free.  I was happy to tell her “God did that for you. He loves you!”   The spontaneous hug and her overwhelming gratefulness for what had transpired in her life brought tears to my eyes.  We serve a God that is alive and powerful. One that doesn’t have any barriers.  The prison walls could not keep him out :)

February 17, 2014 (Monday) After a rest and a Sunday that just filled my heart with joy I’m ready to meet the task of the “sign” again. The sign was transported to the site and the holes were dug.   Before they mixed the cement I suggested we that we should have a trial run first and put the sign in the holes to make sure everything is ok.  Yes, there is more to the sign story!   The welder added post to each leg of the sign but not evenly.  One side is much longer and that side is on the high side of the slope where we are placing the sign.  We dig the hole deeper , trying to make sure the welded areas will be in the cement for added strength as the welder decided to only weld three sides of the post instead of all the way around.

We are finally ready to place and cement the sign in the ground.  The workers went to get the bags of cement that were locked up for safe keeping and find that someone has traveled with the key!  Well the story ends with success and the sign looks wonderful.  We had quite a crowd gathered around us while we were there working.   

Before we leave a car stops and a woman gets out.  She comes to me with beads in her hand and tells me she has a gift for me. I have never seen this woman before and I was a bit puzzled as to what was happening.  She ties this headband from the Pokot Tribe on my head.  We exchange greetings and I ask her if she lives here in the area and she says no.  She then tells me that she had seen me sitting by the road on Saturday but when she came back with my gift I had left.  Today she had the gift with her and she was ready when she saw me. It was a quick conversation and after she presented her gift to me she left as quickly as she came. 

God knew how discouraged I was on Saturday and how disappointed I was at the progress we were making or maybe I should say the lack of progress.  He knew that on Monday I faced even more of the same and he sent me a gift from heaven.  He does care about the things that we are going through and he speaks to us in various ways. He speaks love to us even by using a woman that suddenly stops and crowns my head with tribal beads and leaves never to be seen again.

The Chief and Elder stopped to express their appreciation for helping the children in Taito and the villages beyond. As we sat in the shade of a big tree he gave his word that he stood with us as this project went forward.  He encouraged us to bring any problems to him that we might have with the parents and he would personally attend to them.  He wants to see the children educated. He wants to see the school grow and help his people in the village have a better life.  Before leaving he stepped into the school and he saw that the children were attentive and learning.  He left very happy!

There are times of discouragement but they are replaced with seeing a job accomplished and a heart filled with joy.  In fact there are times I am blessed beyond words by the out pouring of love I feel from those around me.

Galations 6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.