Pictures from Busia Wedding Anniversary

Ok, finally some pictures are posting now...these are pictures from my previous entry from the Busia 50th wedding anniversary celebration. Had some trouble posting them so sorry for the messy arrangement. This first one is of the happy couple who have been married for 50years. There's one of me and some gals. They are Joyce (takes care of Dennis' dad), me, Mercy, (Dennis' sister) and Dennis' mom. Of course there is one of me and Dennis..then there's one of me and his mom in our kitenge dresses...looks like i'm wearing my grandmother's curtains but she loved it. i looked like a real African woman...hips and all:):):) The others are of the wedding ceremony and reception. The last is of me working in the garden just outside the house that Dennis is building. We removed big rocks and stones and made the landscaping look very nice. My Dad would be very proud. I was so sore for the next two days. There are many more pictures of this trip and many others on my Photo Album website whose link is to the right. Please check it out!

50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration in Busia

Last weekend Dennis and I took a short trip back to Busia again, this time for a big family event. Saturday was the 5oth wedding anniversary celebration of the parent in-laws of Dennis' sister Mercy. Dennis and I were expected to be there so we made the long 17 hour journey by bus across the country last Thursday night. To be married for 50 years in this country is a HUGE thing!! So they really made it a huge celebration that lasted the entire Saturday!!! It wasn't just a celebration it was another wedding. They had vehicles blowing the horns decorated with flowers to carry them and the wedding party to the church. The "bride" even had a white dress and a veil. At the church there was about a 3 or 4 hour church service with singing, dancing, praying, and renewal of wedding vows by the couple. Their 9 children were there at the altar to witness the ceremony and 100's of people in the audience participating as well. After this long service (which i didn't sit the entire way through) we waited for about an hour for a vehicle to come pick us and the other many people up to head to the reception at their village home. I thought there were lots of people at the church until we got to their home and saw the hundreds who came for the reception and FOOD! (i think they fed the entire village). This couple is pretty well off financially so they went all out with white wedding tents set up in the yard with chairs, a catered feast, a sound system with singers, and a huge cake in the middle of the yard. I sat with Dennis' mom and hung out with his sister Mercy most of the time. The afternoon was filled with entertainment and the couple even cut their cake and fed it to each other. Also during this time the couple were presented with many gifts. Each family that brought a gift had to get in front of the crowd, introduce themselves and officially and formally present the couple with their gift. This is a picture of Dennis and I and his family when we had to stand up and present our gift of a big cooking pot (sufuria) and wheelbarrow.

For this occassion Dennis' mom asked me to wear an African Kitenge (dress) so about a week before we went to this event his mom showed up at my door with some fabric she found at her house that she said she wanted to make me a dress from. Wearing this dress was an interesting story in itself. I have to say the style was nice but the fabric pattern...well...you can judge for yourself! (all my young Kenyan girlfriends had a good laugh) I chose not to the wear the head scarf however! But i went and wore the kitenge proudly which made his mother very happy. It was a lot of fun!

On Sunday Dennis and I had a blast working in the yard of his family's compound. Dennis is in the process of building a small house in his father's compound. In his particular tribal tradition if his dad passes away his mom could be inherited by another man unless the older male child (him)builds a house thereby showing there's another leader of the family. His father is getting older so Dennis is slowly building a little house so his mom is never inherited. So on Sunday we worked in the yard clearing away rocks and trash to make it look nice. The children of the village enjoyed coming to watch the mzungu (white girl) work! Was too fun!! We returned to Mombasa on Monday morning after another long bus ride very tired!!
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE BEEN PRAYING FOR ME!!!
(ok pictures are not wanting to attach again to this post so i'll try putting them in another post)

!!!!!PICTURES!!!!!

So many of you have asked for pictures...well since this blogspot doesn't always want to cooperate I've gone to my online photoalbum and added lots...the link is to the right hand side of this blog for you to always go to..but here's the link: http://allisonstokes.myphotoalbum.com/

More Encouragement!!

Sometimes when you are a missionary on the field, especially when you are struggling to learn language and culture,days of discouragement hit you hard. Many times you ask yourself and often ask God why you are in that place and what kind of difference are you really making when you can't even understand or communicate fully!! oh how i can relate to that!! This week i received a very encouraging email from my sweet friend Wendy Driver and i wanted to share it with you! What an encouragement! Thank you Mrs Wendy!

I have a friend from the phillipines who is also a nurse. I work with her at wakemed. She told me that when she was a little girl only the rich people were taught English language in school. Her family was not rich and so she was not taught Engish. However there were 2 missionaries who visited her area regularly when she was growing up and apparently she saw them often. She said she could not understand what they said, but she felt loved and loved them in return. Her goal was to learn English when she grew up so that she could talk to them. The missionaries she loved never new the impact they had on her, because she did not see them after she learned English and grew up. She now understands this love she felt from them was Jesus sweet spirit which crosses over any language or cultual barriers. When you feel discouraged remember that the sweet spirit of Jesus in you is shining through to light the path for the lost to find their way. Even if you are not there to see them reach the end of the path to Jesus's outstreched arms, your love for Jesus helped them in their darkness.

A Poem for you....

Friends, I received this poem by email and wanted to share it with you. Hope it encourages you as it has encouraged me as we think about suffering in our lives. "We often need to be reminded that God has a much larger perspective and purpose in mind than what is apparent to the heart that is weighted with trouble.."

When God wants to drill a man,
and thrill a man,
and skill a man;
When God wants to mold a man,
to play the noblest part,
When He yearns with all His heart
to create so great and bold a man,
that all the world will be amazed;
WATCH His methods! - WATCH His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects
whom He Royally Elects!
How He hammers him,
and hurts him,
...and with mighty blows,
converts him
...into trial shapes of clay
which only God understands.

While his tortured heart is crying,
and he lifts beseeching hands,
How he bends but never breaks,
when His good He undertakes.
How He uses whom He chooses,
and with every purpose fuses him,
...by every act induces him,
to try His splendor out;
God knows what he's about.

~Dale Martin Stone

VISIT WITH OLD FRIENDS

While i was at Word of Life for camp I got a surprise visit by some of my old teammates and they brought my old language teacher and her daughter from when i was here before. This is a picture of me, Annah, and her daughter Sharon. Sharon was just a small baby when i saw her last. I had a great time reuniting with them and sharing our lives with each other the past year. Annah is going through a very difficult time right now with her family and has had to relocate to another area for a job. Please remember her and Sharon in your prayers! If you remember, i worked with the Digo people when i was here before...and Annah is one of the few strong Digo believers that are here. Her husband is no longer around so she and her daughter are on their own. This is a picture of Sharon playing in the sand on the beach. She was pretending it was soap and using it to bathe herself. We had such a great time!

Word of Life Camp

Ok, i know its about time i update this blogspot....so sorry! Between the electricity being out and just life i haven't sat down to write much. But here it goes...so my last big entry was about going to the college camp at Word of Life. Thanks everyone for praying! It was a great week! Kristin and I went to be counselors for the girls. We lived with the girls in small door rooms with bunks..I was in a room with 6 other girls and was on the very top bunk NEAR THE one FAN in the room. The bunks were stacked 3 high...so needless to say those middle of the night trips down the ladder to the bathroom outside were a little scary, but i survived!! The theme for the camp week was Crisis of Integrity. We had one main speaker, Chris, the Kenyan director of Word of Life, who led our Bible hour in the morning. He spoke on the problems with integrity in the church of Kenya. As i listened agreeing with all he was saying i began to see the similarities between the church here in Kenya and in America. We have too many people in the church who are just church-goers and will say they are Christians but they dont' truely have a personal relationship with Jesus. Its very much the same here in Kenya. Many go to church just because everyone else does. The church is filled with few born-again believers. And the word "saved" is thrown around losely and very much associated with good works. Many come to church, sing, dance, raise their hands and say Bwana Asifiwe (Praise the Lord), but as soon as they leave the church they forget Jesus and live like the rest of the world. Much of this is because there is little discipleship and a lack of knowledge about the TRUTH of God's Word. The importance of reading and meditating upon God's Word is not taught. And so many people here watch TBN and "worship" pastors like Benny Hin, TD Jakes, Joel Olsten, and others and listen and follow their teachings and not what God's Word says. And then pastors listen to these preachers and copy their messages. The prosperity gospel is widely preached and people think that when you get saved that life then becomes a life of wealth, success, prosperity, and no problems. These are all issues that Chris very boldly talked about each day. Every late morning we divided in discussion groups and talked about what we had learned during Bible hour and then each night in our dorms we had devotion times together further discussing topics like Salvation, assurance of Salvation, growth in the Lord, and rededication of our lives to Christ. These devotional times with the girls were some of my favorites. During these times we dug into Scripture, shared our testimonies with each other and learned from one another. I was particularly encouraged one night when I found out that one of my girls, Salume came from a Muslim background and she shared with us how she was the only believer in her family and how she is now very much shunned from her family and persecuted because of this. Because God has given me a heart for Muslim ladies my heart leaped with joy to see her perseverance and devotion to Christ despite the many trials she faces. I was able to spend more one on one time during the week talking and praying with her about the difficult life she faces each day. Please pray the Lord would provide for Salume's needs and encourage her spiritually!! I also met and built relationships with so many other girls this week as well. If the internet permits i'll post pictures of them as well.

Word of Life camp is located on one of the most beautiful Kenyan beaches, which just so happens to be very close to where i use to live in Diani beach previously. During the week we also had fun playing outdoor games, going to the beach and Sing N Fun, where the campers and counselors got on stage and entertained us with their singing, dancing and variety of talents! I joined some of the singing groups in worship songs and Kristin showed off her dancing moves on stage. Was lots of fun.On Friday night at the end of the camp week we all had a nice dinner together followed by a concert by some famous Kenyan Gospel singers. Guess who my date for the dinner was, my sweet Dennis himself!

Thanks everyone so much for praying for our week at Word of Life. God was faithful to answer all of the prayers i asked you to pray including our health. I was camp nurse for the week and despite some minor sprains, bruises, headaches, muscle cramps, stomach upsets, and minor surgery to remove sea urchins stuck in the foot we all stayed pretty healthy!!

(OK, ONCE AGAIN THE INTERNET IS NOT LETTING ME POST PICTURES ON MY BLOG...DON'T KNOW WHY...BUT WILL TRY AGAIN LATER)

Pictures from Busia

Ok Everyone...so this blogspot thing wouldn't let me post these pictures in my previous post so i'm posting them all here...and i'll try to post other pictures in my photoalbum (link to right) for all to see. So if you want to know what these pictures are of go below and read my previous entry about Busia and in it you'll see words saying "insert pic" then come back here and you'll see the picture..hope this makes sense!