The boy who cried wolf

At the farm the workers often come across different events in life where there are financial burdens that fall on them. Their salaries have designated places that the money will go towards, such as food to feed their families, or school fees to pay for their children or grandchildren. Often the unexpected need arises and they had agreed together to give towards a "welfare fund" . This fund is specifically for any of the following 3 circumstances: one of them faces a death in the immediate family,  a serious illness, or an emergency surgery/hospital bill within the family. We admire that they decided to do this all on their own and see that it portrays love and unity that is quite the biblical approach. Recently our farm manager's wife (Philip's wife , Jane) had to get open heart surgery. It was to cost 1 million(10,000 dollars) Kenyan shillings. Her insurance covered more than half but still a huge portion was needed. Each farm worker chose to give 1,000 Kenyan shillings to Philip's wife. That may seem insignificant to us but for them that is 10% of their salary. We praise God that the surgery went well and she is home now recovering.

As much as raising awareness of a need is important and then giving in response is commendable, we have come to the realization that some feel desperate at times and will make up a lie in order to try and receive the welfare money. When Jason and I discuss this together we always remind ourselves that this is a fallen world and people are depraved. Out of this cheating and lying can be deeply rooted in the heart/culture/religion and it is not looked upon as wrong. Simply "what's the hurt in trying " to make a little extra cash at someone else's expense. If it works, what will stop them from doing it again and again. Last week one of the farm workers, R,  had a meeting to approach everyone about giving money but his story kept changing. First it was about raising school fees-which is not one of the 3 circumstances that everyone had all agreed upon. When R saw he wasn't convincing anyone he began to explain his pregnant wife was facing complications. It's a small village out there at the farm and it is very easy to discover what is actually happening. So when nobody could vouche for this being true, R finally switched it to needing the money for his elderly mother. He brought a hospital note from the doctor as the evidence. Indeed the doctor's note had items listed to help his Mom. One being a knee brace-which Amos was able to provide free from the clinic. Amos even called the doctor which saw R's mother to find out what the exact diagnosis was. It turns out the mother has arthritis in her knee which is very painful, but not fitting the criteria for the welfare fund.  Thankfully, it is treatable through an inexpensive muscle relaxer and icy/hot gel can greatly reduce that pain. After hearing all of this most of the farm workers no longer wanted to be so generous to R. He raised a big fuss and left for the day.

The farm workers continued to have lots of side conversations about R throughout the rest of the day. Although no one actually believed him, some still wanted to give money to him because they realized they might one day be in the same predicament as R. They might also desire to try to make up their own lie in order to gain finances. Jason finally asked everyone to stop whispering but talk freely and openly. Everyone just looked at him. He decided to tell them the story about the boy who cried wolf but instead changed it to the shepherd who cried lion -in order to contextualize the story so they would understand. When Jason came to the end of the story where none of the villagers would come to help the Shepherds goats from the lion- because of tricking them too many times before- there was the look of realization on all the workers faces. 

Ultimately this all can be extremely frustrating because we really want God to carry out His justice and it is hard to see when someone is trying to take advantage of people. As always we know that only God changes the hearts. God is able to make anyone new no matter how dark and sinful their past is. For this reason we have hope for R and many others we meet and see each day.

Blog #2

Every first Saturday of the month we come together with all the missionaries in this area to worship together, give prayer requests, and study the word of God. I always look forward to this time because we are with fellow believer who have the same vision of seeing revival in this area and the people to turn away from the religion they were "born into" and to receive the love/saving grace/eternal life that Jesus has to offer. We also can relate to the struggles of being here. We have been learning God's Word by using the Discovery Bible Study method. (DBS) Basically you read a portion of scripture in several different translations and then repeat back the story for memory. Then you answer these questions in the group:

1) What does this passage of scripture tell us about God?

2) What does it say about humans?

3) How can we obey?

4) Who can we tell this passage to?

This can be done with anyone, not just Christians. It allows for everyone to participate and learn the Bible themselves. We went over Mark 1:29-35 this month. Let me tell you it is very intriguing to listen to a roomful of missionaries answer. We came to verse 35 where it says, 

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed". 

We were asked why we think Jesus did this. There were all sorts of different ideas but the most popular one was that He set an example for us to follow- we all need take to "getaway " at times. Here in Gtown it is a very harsh environment, especially for women. Men look at women as objects and comment on the outer appearance which gets old. We dress modesty which means in layers= a skirt with a long slip underneath- this is the dress code of all women who live here and we want to be respectful of their ways. All this to say, every 2-3 months it is so nice to travel to Nairobi for a break. It refreshes me to be able to wear jeans and wear my hair down. We do not have any mall's in Gtown so it is fun for us to explore the many mall's in Nairobi and this past time we went, my girls got to go to a trampoline park. Please Enjoy some pictures from when we went there this month below.

Dan Germo and his friend Chad came to visit, here we are riding with them from Gtown to Nairobi. 

I got to buy a new dress, necklace and go out to a very fancy restaurant with Jason. Being able to do this always blesses my socks off. 

We stay at a Norwegian Guest house that has a beautiful compound with a pool.

Nevaeh and I posing in the mall that has a trampoline park. 

This mall also has a bowling alley and a yummy milkshake shop that we treated ourselves to.

My friend Blair came on a mission trip while we were staying in Nairobi. This was my 4th time seeing her this side of the world. She is such a special dear friend to me.