Mountains and Valleys

This the first painting Rebekah got me for my last birthday she was not sure how it would turn out so she used 2 different artists it hangs in our dining room. (Amos helped this to be arranged. )

The second painting of the farm Rebekah got me for my last birthday it hangs in our hallway to remind us daily to pray
(Laura organized to get this made in Mombasa.)

In the 14 years that we have been privileged to serve Jesus here in this community we have seen many ups and downs, highs and lows, and mountains and valleys. The last few weeks have been full of mountains and valleys.

The week started off really amazing having 2 of the farm workers show up at my house unexpectedly on Sunday wanting to study the Bible together.(at separate times)  One of them recently made a decision to follow Christ we are continuing through the Come Follow Me material in Swahili this time.  The second one showed up and we went right in the first Come Follow Me lesson where it sets the stage at the end to ask  if they have decided to follow Jesus, want to decide to follow Jesus, or need more time.  When I asked M if he wanted to follow Jesus he went into a long testimony about how God had placed people in his life since he was young encouraging him to read the Bible. It was a beautiful tapestry that the Lord had used several people in his life to draw him to Jesus and he could already articulate his story well. So that would bring the total number of believers working on the farm up to 3! I know 3 doesn't sound like a huge number but moving from 1 to 3 in the last 6 months feel exciting to us!

Then on Wednesday we had Bible study at our house with 2 BMB's from 2 different unreached people groups, 3 American missionaries, and 1 Kenyan missionary (I know it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke). Another huge deal bringing 2 BMB's together to study the Gospel of John seeing the scriptures come alive to them is so exciting!

Then Thursday came.... We were faced with one of the most difficult decisions. Many of you know that we have taken a stance on marriage for our farm workers. If they only have one wife when they start working on the farm it stays one wife or they vacate there space of employment. In 2019 we were forced to send H home for 2 weeks because he was trying to take a second wife.  I told him to go home and think about it if he decides to stop the process he can come back to work but if he continues them I would pay him his salary for that month and we could part ways. I also had to send M home at that same time because the wife that H was trying to take was her daughter (it was like a Jerry Springer Episode). Long story short they stopped the process and returned to work. At one point the Kadhi (Muslim Judge) was involved saying that I was neglecting them their religious rights, but we stood strong saying that our book doesn't allow it and their book only allows it if they can take care of more than one wife (which I assure you they cannot). We also took the stance of us desiring the best for their lives and their children's lives not to mention we cannot carry that financial burden. (currently the farm is 50 % sustainable).  

So with all that, I had gotten word that H had in fact taken the same girl to be his wife while we were away on home assignment in 2020. I got this news right in the middle of building his house. We decided that we will follow through with finishing the house then do the investigation into what happened after things slowed down. After doing the investigation we found that H had indeed taken the second wife and she was already pregnant with the second child. H was sleeping at his house 3 nights then would go sleep at his 2nd wife's (his in laws house) 3 nights back and fourth. We also found out that everyone was waiting to see if we would do anything about or not. So after confirming everything we brought both H (the man) and M (the mother to the second wife) together with the headman for the village for a meeting. In that meeting we told them we forgive all their debts (school loans for kids, their part in the houses) but that they could no longer work at the farm. I have worked with H for over 10 years it really hurt to let him go. M is a widow and if she just would have came and told us what was going on then things would have turned out so differently. H went quickly and quietly. M fought and said there was nothing she could do and she tried to stop it. When we asked why she did not come to us with the info and why she allowed them to stay together at here place she also left. 

The love the Lord has given us for these people is immense. Even as I type this out I find myself feeling so sad for the loss of each of these people. I have questioned myself so many times and asked the Lord how can doing the right thing feel so wrong. I know that it was the correct decision because if we did nothing then we lose our integrity and the lives of many other children of farm workers would have been destroyed by their fathers taking multiple wives. The conclusion I have come to from this situation is that it's okay to feel and mourn this loss but to also know and believe that we serve the God of restoration. We serve the one who makes all things beautiful in His time.  And whether we are on the mountain or in the valley He is always near us!