The Wittz End: Thankful for these past few weeks

We had 2 Turkeys and all the normal sides. This year there were 5 Pies as well as rice pudding and tres Leche cake. Photo Credit: Jaynisi

There have many blessings recently so hear are some highlights.

We praise God for another Thanksgiving in Gtown celebrated with Bethany family who reside in Kenya.

We were able to have two days of meetings on either side of the Turkey eating day. We all were able to give life updates, hear devotionals, worship and pray together. We took time to write out the different ministry platforms we are involved in so that we could come up with a mission and vision statement we all agree with and are united by. After switching out different words and bouncing ideas off of one another here is where we landed:

"In order to see vibrant, Christ-centered communities established among all UPGs (Unreached People Groups) in Kenya, we employ contextually relevant strategies and help the Church to do the same so that 'the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." ( scripture reference Habakkuk 2:14)

May this remain our focus now and in the years to come. We always want to examine how we are managing our time and if we are straying away from this purpose we can figure out what to do to get back on track. It provides accountability and transparency which isn't always going to be easy and feel good but ultimately gives direction as we live to bring glory to God.

Full living room. You can see the lists on the wall where we wrote out the ministries we are all involved in.

It wasn't as rainy this year as it was last year so some were able to eat at the back porch.

Brought a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting to Swahili class on Righteous' 18th birthday.

Our first born turned 18 on December 4th and Jason and I find that hard to believe. She wanted to have a friend from America come here as her birthday gift. The Lord worked it out that 2 teenage girls were able to come, Ashlyn and Marlee. They just joined right in to whatever we had on our schedule these past few weeks. Some of that included going to the farm and rubbing shoulders with those out in the community, while other times that meant hanging out at home playing lots of games. As always it is meaningful to have visitors come see the place we live and meet the people whom we love.

We gathered around to pray over Righteous on her birthday.

Went out with the 6 girls for breakfast.

We all got waffles and icecream.

Righteous used the makeup skills she learned from the Arabs in town to do Ashlyn's makeup.

Marlee helped Charis weigh out vegetables in kgs.

They played "Silent Telephone " at the farm. One person does a quick dance to show the person in front of them, than that person shows the person in front until the last person has to show everyone.

One day we got to go to the farm and when we arrived there ended up being a heavy rainfall so all the farmworkers took cover under the roof of the workshop. The Witt girls, along with Ashlyn and Marlee, got to play games with the scholarship students while it rained. I attempted to teach the farm women the dice version game of Clue and they finally understood it and kept asking to play again and again. Once the sun came out we broke up into groups to collect the harvest for an order of different green leafy vegetables. There were not enough pruning shears for everyone to use so mostly the farmworkers cut the harvest into bunches and we tied them off with rope. Even though we have been going to the farm for many years this was my first time to help tie up the bunches which I found to be quite fun= many hands make light work. We ended the day pulling up rows of old leafy vegetables to bring to the chopper and then fed the cows. We came home tired but satisfied from the day.

A few weeks ago Jason came home with a story about one of the farmworkers named @hm&d who is from the tribe that committed the killings last month. He had accidentally dumped all his food on the ground at lunch time and was embarrassed and knew he would go hungry. A different farmworker, named !s@, from the tribe that lost lives, immediately spoke up that they would share his plate and eat. This may seem like no big deal but !s@ had previously said he would never trust @hm&d because he was the enemy. He went as far as to say all people from that tribe are terrorists. So this was significant that he has put the tragedy behind him. Jason was so touched by the power of love and forgiveness and we can only give credit that God is indeed at work in hearts.

Now we are in the process of gearing up for the Christmas outreach. Still lots to do to be ready to give gifts and ultimately share the story about Christ coming and someday His second coming. Could you join us in prayer for His perfect will to be accomplished?