Parties, special visitors, and seeing God at work

This month got started off getting to have a party for precious Annika's birthday (She's one of the Bethany interns, wearing the red). She asked for a Folklore theme. When I searched for ideas on Pinterest a whole bunch of Taylor Swift stuff came up- I didn't realize that Taylor Swift had an album called Folklore- now I know.

For Annika's Folklore theme we made whimsical crowns, decorated a picture with flowers and leaves, attempted to dance around a maypole and made up our own folk/fairytale story as a team. We are thankful to have a team to do all sorts of activities and celebrate, together. It always seems like each activity brings our relationship to another level.

I am thrilled to announce that Abbigail Martin joined the Gtown team this month! She's seated next to me in the above picture. She has started up Swahili classes this week and we are looking forward to see how God is going to use her in this region. We also had the privilege of having some beloved Danes go out of their way- coming from vacation- and stop to visit us for two nights. They are the incredible family who threw the masquerade a few months back. We are hanging out at a restaurant in Gtown, in this photo.

Jaynisi (another Bethany intern) had her birthday this past Monday but we are postponing the celebration to have a combined Puerto Rico/Dominican Republic themed party later in this month. She helped me teach homeschool this week so on Monday afternoon we went to a photo booth studio in town. We did all sorts of poses and used the props they had available. The above is one of my favorites. 

Marissa asked for a Lord of the Rings themed birthday which we celebrated on Friday (although her actual birthday isn't until next week Tuesday). The Gtown team did an amazing job acting out different characters from the movies and Jaynisi put together an outstanding 13 minute movie of it all. Please let me know if you are interested in watching and I will send you the link. Jason played Aragorn, I (Bekah) played Arwen, Righteous was Samwise, Nevaeh was Frodo Baggins, Charis was Merry and Samara was Pippin.

The Germo family with nephew Levi (missionary kid from Ghana) and college friend Madison came for a visit! In the above pic were sitting around the table talking for hours- retelling many stories we share in past years. Many of you know how much the Germo's means to us. They were the ones who first showed us what it looked like to be missionaries in Kenya. They are great role models for us and we truly see them as family It was such a joy to have them.

This picture shows Introductions being given and praying before opening up the clinic that's on the farm. Nancy is a nurse in the States, and her daughter, Cailin, has fallen in her footsteps. They both teamed up to see sick patients and give the diagnosis and prescribed medication(with the help of a Kenyan clinic officer). It was so cool to see them serve at the clinic!

The craft for kids was toilet paper roll cars. Madison had so much patience by playing with this little boy. I know he was soaking up the attention she gave him.

This was taken after We had just finished eating our beans and rice lunch. If you look closely two lady farmworkers had joined us for conversations. 

We had our first cooking class of the New Year and it was a delight to reconnect with these ladies once again. We learned how to make cumin rice and minced beefy curry.

At cooking class we were asked what we thought about the California fires. I said it was a huge tragedy and hoped that many people would turn to God. My Muslim friend told me that these fires could be the direct result from God after the celebrities mocked God at the Golden Globes Awards that were just a few days prior. She asked if I had seen the viral video about God protecting a Mosque that was in the path of the California fires, which I told her I had not. She sent me this video and my first impression was how fake and AI generated it seemed. This was the first time my eyes were open to how Muslims can have conspiracy theories. The video basically explained that Muslims are God's chosen people and were not effected by the fires and that everyone should convert to be a Muslim. I Googled to fact check and read that all places of worship faced destructive loss from the fires including Mosques, Church's, and Jewish temples. I sent these news articles to my friend and told her I believe we can pray and worship God anywhere- I'm thankful we aren't limited to a building. This showed me a glimpse into my friends view on God- that He is wanting to punish those who "live in rebellion" against Allah. The Biblical view is that God is loving and forgiving, giving many chances for our repentance. There is no comparison to Our God and I hope the blinders would fall off eyes so they can truly see this. 

Dan Germo took this pic of Amos and Jason. 

Recently news had made it back to the farm workers that there were several houses that got burned down in a village 30 kilometers away. One of the young believers wanted to take up a collection of clothes from the little they had so they could be sent to this village not too far away. This may seem insignificant but really reveals that God is at work in lives. Usually the farm workers are extremely focused on themselves and "what's in it for them to gain". This is a victory that they took interest in some one else and recognized they have something to offer.

Here is our family with the Germo family and Levi, and Madison. So hard to say goodbye but we know we will see eachother again.