Seeking God's Peace in Africa

Hello Everybody,

Our biggest news item this week is that I had my HIV test on Tuesday and it was negative J. We give praise to God – even though the chances were slim, He is in charge of those numbers. I have felt really loved through this by you all who have been praying and by our friends here in Kipkaren. We have a staff fellowship time each Wednesday afternoon, and when I shared the good news there, people really celebrated. Thank you for your concern and love.

We went away the weekend before the test with Davis’ mom and dad and other AIM missionaries for a prayer gathering. That was a nice time of rest and a chance to learn from some more seasoned missionaries. We asked people about everything from car-buying to child-rearing. It was a wonderful time to be recharged and reminded of our spiritual health just before learning what my physical health. Thank you again for praying!!!

I’m going to turn it over to Davis now J

Love,

Jen

Hello friends!!!

I was so thankful!!! I am blessed to have the news that my wife is not suffering from the virus that is killing so many of our friends and neighbors here I Africa.

Yet so many people do not have that assurance. Jen’s HIV encounter allowed us to understand people in a new way. A co-worker came up to me and said, “I don’t know if I have HIV—I’m too scared to check. My husband was an immoral man before he left me.” She has three kids.

Reminders of AIDS are everywhere in Kenya from billboards to T-shirts, newspapers and magazines, the radio sometimes repeats what is now a well-worn joke, “practice zero-grazing. Don’t forage in other pastures.” AIDS is even a subject in school. Wherever people gather there are voluntary testing centers. While on a field trip with 12 of my students we were learning about paper-making at a town fair; nearby was a testing tent. It was sad to watch—schoolgirls, businessmen, soldiers, mothers. Anyone who is sexually active or fears their partner may be unfaithful takes a deep breath, and slips into the tent to sit down. Some sit for a few minutes and lose heart; they would rather not know, so they leave before the test.

The anxiety is palpable. A 16 year old in her school uniform may learn that her life is already half gone. A tough soldier in full uniform sets aside his gun while he gets the test—there is nothing he can do about the result, he is completely defenseless. In all of this it was amazing for me to watch Jen—she was at peace, not because she knew she was negative, but because her peace came from God. I also felt at peace, but it didn’t stop me from spending some time wondering.

In our AIDS hospice program at ELI, we hope to offer more than just pain relief while those suffering wait out their days. We hope to share with them God’s love for them—that life is precious and meaningful in the eyes of God, not matter how short. And that whatever days we are given are meant to be lived out in loving God and loving each other.

I shared about Nimrod’s father dying, and orphaning him as a fourth grader in one of my classes. Nimrod’s education has been taken on by an ELI staff member, and so he is assured of education and care. But more than the physical needs that Nimrod has, we hope to meet his spiritual needs. My 9 years living in the US taught me that health and wealth does not bring happiness. So many in the West are miserable despite having their physical needs met. We work to empower people not only to “succeed” in the world, but to truly know God, and his purpose for their lives.

Anyway….

In other news, praise the Lord, we found a car!!! This is no easy thing in Africa, and a good used car sells for between $12,000 and $18,000!!! So we count it a miracle that we found a missionary willing to sell us a ’93 Mitsubishi twincab pickup for $5,000!!! (Actually he accepted what money I could give him now, and will take the rest when I get it.) It was very kind of him—so much of this goes on when you’re working for God.

So we praise God for this car (and for its seatbelts) and hope that it is a tool that helps us in our ministry—keep prayingJ

In regards to finances, each month we have been receiving about half of what was pledged for support before we left for Kenya. Many have asked if there is a way to have a direct withdrawal from a bank—and there is!

#1) The old way: where if you have Automatic Bill Pay you direct your bank to send a one time or regular check to: Empowering Lives Int., PO Box 67, Upland CA, 91785-0067 and designate it in the memo to fund 318.

#2) The new way: which will draw money directly from a bank account or credit card on a regular or one-time basis. Go to the EmpoweringLives.org site at http://www.empoweringlives.org/ministry_opps.html and click on the Online giving link. It will direct you from there.

(Note* the first way is preferable, because the second way deducts a small percentage from your gift.)

More than your gifts we want your continued prayers that we would be loving, culturally sensitive, and ourselves empowered to do the demanding work before us.

Thank you, thank you for your involvement in our lives.

May God bless you,

Davis for the Davis family.

PS. For those of you whose primary interest is our daughters, Elami has two teeth and is mobile on the floor but not yet crawling. Tovah is greeting people in two African languages and playing hide and go seek—she doesn’t get the hiding part, but she likes counting and yelling “I found you!” Lami also finds this very interesting—whenever Tovah yells she is first startled then pleased.

Hello dear friends,

Thank you to so many who have sent us notes of encouragement and love over the past few weeks. When we sent the email about the needlestick, many people sent us their own stories, prayers and scripture. We were encouraged in our faith, but also felt that we had done the right thing in sharing that news. I wrote back to most of you individually, but we have had some problems getting these emails sent out. Please know how appreciated your notes have been, even if you haven’t heard back directly! I finished the Anti-retrovirals this week – Praise God! I had a constant feeling of nausea from them that has cleared up now, so rice and beans once again sound appealing – no small thing, when your other choice of staples is beans and rice ;) The woman and her son returned to the clinic this week for his 6-week immunizations. She chatted and even laughed with Jane, who had done her testing and counseling. She has been to the AMPATH clinic for AIDS treatment, and has started ARVs. Her baby boy gets formula from Ampath as well and will continue to be followed there. Keep praying for them to know real peace and for a good continued relationship with us staff at the clinic. Pray too that this boy will be HIV negative and will feel God’s hope, love and confidence enough to remain that way throughout his life!

We are settling in to our new house, putting up pictures and curtains, buying furniture along the roadside, etc. It feels so nice to be putting roots down in our own place! Our new house is on the grounds of the ELI Kipkaren Training Center. Also living on this campus are the 33 agriculture students who come to study here for one year, 40 boarding students in grades 1-5 at Brook of Faith Academy, a few ELI staff (one is Tovah’s teacher, “Teacher Rebecca”), and any “wageni” – “visitors” who come on teams from churches in the U.S. or people coming for seminars offered by the training center.

Our goal is to empower lives through training, and that keeps this place very busy; In just the past two weeks the center has trained 30 people to provide in-home care to their neighbors with terminal illnesses (mostly AIDS). It has hosted a team from America who taught sessions on everything from leadership development to marriage enrichment. It held a reunion conference to provide continuing education on entrepreneurship and management for previous agriculture program grads. Tonight I am writing this email to the sound of a group of pastors singing and praying together. They have been here this week for training on ways to support themselves and their families, without tending to large and time-consuming farms. The goal is to allow pastors to be freed up to be in ministry to their congregations, without worrying about how to provide food for their families. Tomorrow another team from the U.S. will arrive!!!

There is always a lot going on. There are agricultural students around from dawn to dusk wearing gumboots and carrying hoes. They are digging, watering, harvesting, attending classes and playing with Tovah and Elami. There is Richard and Elizabeth, the head cooks for the Training Center whose days start early and end late as they prepare 3 meals a day for the agriculture students and all the extra wageni. Mrs. Maru and a man known to Tovah as Uncle Tumbo (“Uncle Stomach”) are the head cooks for the Brook of Faith students and teachers and their families. Teachers often join students for their meals; so do we for lunch and a couple suppers a week. Just around the corner at the Children’s home, there’s another whole kitchen and crew who work to feed those 96 kids and their 8 parents (that’s 24 children per couple if you don’t want to do the math)!

Besides feeding there is accommodations—Esther takes care of all the arrangements working out beds for everyone who comes as if she were doing a puzzle. For example, when the last team came, they moved into our old house—on the day that we moved out. Esther and her team were busy cleaning, rearranging furniture, washing sheets and towels by hand, etc… We often see her carrying mattresses to and fro in preparation for attendees at the various trainings. When we hit capacity and need more beds, the agriculture students move out of their dorms and into tents here on campus. Since we’ve been at capacity so much this last month, there’s sort of a tent city next door to us now J.

We hear that things will really pick up starting in May, when we will host teams almost every week, and the training schedule remains full. It’s fun to feel like after two months here, we’re no longer guests; we’re starting to become integrated into this active community too. Aside from Davis and me there are two other Western missionaries who both work with the home health care program and take care of most of the communication between here and the ELI office in the states. Otherwise, all of our staff are Kenyans, who share the same passion of seeing the poor empowered.

I think I have gone on for long enough—I thought giving some more information about our programs might be interesting. Of course if you are ever interested in learning more the ELI website is http://www.empoweringlives.org/

Thanks again for your prayers and support,

Jen and the Davises