Friday, December 2

We look back in fascination and humility as we recognize how God orchestrated this day. Breakfast at 9:00 and then we were off to Kitale with Zippy and her driver. Once there, we had some business to take care of at the bank so as we waited our turn we struck up a conversation with the young man who sat down next to us. Ekesia told us that he had once worked for Planned Parenthood in Kenya but became convicted of the fact he was working for an organization which supported abortion. (He attends a Catholic church in Kitale.) Conscience persuaded him to resign and he took a job at a business where he worked for several months. His co-workers began to ostracize him because his lifestyle was conservative and they made false allegations about him to his supervisor. He was eventually confronted by this supervisor who told him he could either resign or they would force him out of his job. Ekesia and his wife discussed the situation and agreed that if his co-workers did not want to work with him, he should not stay where he wasn’t welcome. So for over a year now, Ekesia has been looking for another job and trusting God to provide that job while meeting his family’s needs in the interim. As he recounted his situation, the story gave me goose bumps because his story sounded nearly identical to my own circumstances! I shared with Ekesia from Colossians 2:6 where Paul told the Colossians, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” How do we receive Christ? The answer is, “by faith”. And if we are to walk in Christ in the same manner in which we receive Him, then we are to walk by faith, as well. These days, Ekesia and I are spending a lot of time walking by faith! On the surface it may seem a coincidence that two people in two cultures on opposite sides of the earth could share such similar circumstances. But if you think that, you are forgetting just how AWESOME our Father truly is! – Dawn

God through our finances
After our time at the bank we met with Justus Arani the Watergate Cyber Café (WCC) manager. Two years ago we brought a team to Kitale/Sibanga to establish a cyber café. This is bit like Starbucks but instead of expensive coffee and free wifi the internet service is the commodity that is sold along with other office services such as copy making. The idea behind this business was to generate funds for pastors that serve very poor congregations and do not receive a salary of any sort. Sounds simple right? Well nothing is that straight forward in Kenya. Through many twists and turns and two location changes the WCC is still struggling to be even self supporting. So a decision has needed to be made whether to continue to pour funds into the operation.

For two years I feel as if God has connected me with Justus for some reason. We do not share all the same beliefs but focusing on that has not been my motive for relationship. For whatever reason God has put it on my heart to care about what goes on with Justus. I think caring is one thing. To actually be able to walk along side someone and possiblly speak into their life you must form a trust. Within that trust I hope Justus has seen something of Christ in me and understands that Christ is why I care.

Today was another step in that caring process. Dawn and I were able to sit with Justus and have him share his dream of using his recent schooling to start a business. We had been discussing this through emails but it was great to sit and share chai and hear his passion and knowledge about this task. We felt free to challenge him on several aspects of his plan that he had not considered and give him some new ideas. At one point as he was responding he said ‘wow, Dawn really has my neck in a hold’. I love Kenyan descriptions. We were able to have some honest conversation about a shortcoming on his part with the WCC. And beyond taking what we have learned from the other 5 micro loans we came up with a way for Justus, as Ken would say, to have skin in the game. So we resolved that in exchange for the micro loan that Justus would take complete responsibility for making the WCC a profitable operation. This is skin because his new business’ success depends on the WCC being open.

After a fruitful session Justus took us to his home where we met with Rhoda his wife, their 3 yr old daughter, cousins and aunts. What a delight to see a very functioning family unit. Mutual respect for each other. An example is Lillian, a cousin, has been living with them while she attends university. Last week she became very ill and had major surgery. They are taking very good care of her and other relatives have also come from a distance to assist. Maybe the difference I’m trying to express is that this family is not seeing this as a trial or a burden. So many times here these events seem more like a burden to just get beyond. So it was wonderful to witness the love in this home. We will continue to see what God has for us in this journey. - Ellen