Miller Family Kisumu, Kenya: Another Farewell, An A Few Stubborn Hitchhikers!!

(Saturday June 11th)
Had a relaxing Saturday morning.

Charity an Clarissa, at Charity's Farewell.

Then around 11am. Carolyn, Stacy, Charity, Rhoda, Clarissa, Shonda, an I all went swimming at St. John's pool. It was a really big fancy pool, with a bridge going over the center of the pool, it was really neat. We swam till around 2pm. then came back to the compound.

Everyone was just working different odd jobs around home in the afternoon, I then did some cleaning, since we were having company for lunch tomorrow.
An in the evening, I took three of my friends down on Ring Rd. very cold cokes, it was amazing to see their faces light up! (I think I had wrote about that in my last post.)

(Sunday June 12th)

Visiting an snacking after the farewell.

Dad of course left early for IC. (Instruction class.)
The rest of our family, along with Charity, an Rhoda, an my Friend Irene, came at the regular time.
We had a farewell service of sorts for Charity since this was officially her last Sunday in our church, the girls from our Sunday school class sang three songs with Charity, in the church service. (I had told them one song, but since it is just the best thing ever, to sing, or talk, in front of crowds, they wanted to sing three songs.) wow! go them...I'm sitting in the back, "taking pictures!" for Charity! ;)

Some of the compound kiddo's

Us youth girls, Stacy, Clarissa, Carolyn, Me, Rhoda, Charity. (L to R)

I didn't get to hear dad's message much...since when we all stood up to pray before he started preaching, I look out over the shoulder high wall that is all around the church, an here I see a small girl laying in the grass, I watched her a little bit, because it is not unusual for ladies to be laying outside during church on their big scarves, that they carry everywhere, an even children will be laying in the grass in the shade outside the church, since it gets really hot inside. but here this little girl was laying right in the sunshine, so I kept watching her through the prayer, then I see her convulsing, an saliva coming from her mouth, so I pushed at my friend Irene, an asked her, "is that girl ok?" an she took one look an said, "No! she is very, very sick, we have to go help her." so we went outside to check up on her, an she was burning up with a fever, that is why she was laying in the sun, because she was so cold. so we took her over in the shade, an thankfully I had some blankets in the vehicle, an so we put a blanket an pillow down for her, an although it was hot outside she wanted a thick blanket over her, I then gave her some pain killer, an water.

Weston studying something or other.

However, I had just got her all taken care of when I look over an there was another man sitting behind our small storage building at church, an he was crying, so Irene an I went over to check on him, Irene was a great interpreter, since she knows English very well, it worked great! an we soon discovered that this man also, said he was very ill, he had a raging fever too, an was shaking, an shivering from head to toe! so out comes more water, an pain killers, an blankets, this poor man, was feeling so bad...his entire blanket was jerking, an quivering, from his quaking body underneath.

So after the church service was over, an Dad had greeted everyone, the needs committee an Dad decided to take the small girl home to her grand mother, (their mother an father left the children to live with their grandmother.) an they then took the older man (Enoch) to the local hospital, Dad said he was hardly responding anymore till they got to the hospital! they all said it was Malaria, but there were other people too, that said they were not feeling well, so we wondered if it could have been Typhoid? Well, it was an interesting Sunday to say the least! my friend Irene that was visiting, wants to be a doctor anyway, so we both enjoyed taking care of the ones that were sick. I keep praying for them this week, hoping they will get better!

Stan welding a grill rack.

We had Charity, an Rhoda over for lunch, an then in the evening we all went to Dean's house, for a farewell for Charity, an a welcoming for Rhoda. what a bitter-sweet evening it was! so sad to see Charity going...but so amazing to see Rhoda here, after getting to know her a little out at our orientation in Pa. It is exciting to get to know her better on this side of the big pond.

Us youth, along with Mark an Maryellen sang a farewell type of song for Charity, then everyone shared a "farewell speech" to Charity, an a welcoming to Rhoda, then last of all, Dean had asked Dad to share his life story, from Amish life, to how God called our family to the mission field in Africa, as well as his conversion from a carnal, an wealthy life, to a Godly, but spiritually rich life. So Dad had a fairly full day today! but, it somehow seemed to draw us all together, an afterwards we concluded that we should all share our life journey's, as a way of better getting to know one another. guess we will see.

We all had a very good time eating, an fellowshipping afterwards...

(Monday June 13th)

Today there were no Riots! Praise God! Thanks for your prayers...

Brad with his beloved bike!

Dad was at the pastors meeting most of the day...The twins were working in the shop an running to town to get parts that they needed....an I worked on the blog most of the day, somehow, it just took really, really long this time.

In the evening we youth had one more good game of Volley-ball with Charity before she leaves us on Thursday, an since Kori from Nakaru was still here from his food distribution he does for the orphans through CAM, it was all the more reason to play volley-ball, since we had an extra player. We had even teams 5 on 5, so that was nice! we then had a little snack afterwards. It was fun....but we missed Marlin's youth so much, an we were all sad that Charity is leaving us...changes....changes...do they EVER stop!?

(Tuesday June 14th)

Weston doing some painting

This morning around 10am. all of us youth girls went shopping, kind of to do a last thing together with Charity, an also to show Rhoda around, so she can get to know the places we shop at.

So we went Fabric shopping, at the Muslim fabric shops of course, an found some very nice pieces! yah! had several other stops, an then had a nice lunch together, it was a very nice time together...we got back around 2pm. - 3pm.

I then helped mom finish up supper, an did a bit of cleaning up, since we had the four single girls over for supper, (Charity, Rhoda, Stacy, an Carolyn) I grilled the chicken for supper, an then we had a terrific evening together! was great to hang out with the girls, especially since Charity is leaving us on Thursday!

(Wednesday June 15th)

Steve also doing some painting

Today Dad & Mom an Stan, as well as Rhoda went to the bible study.

Steve stayed at home to work since he had things that needed to get done.

Wayne an I did add jobs around home, an made supper! ;)

They got back got back home around 6:30pm. an we had a great evening just being at home!

(Thursday June 16th)

There were no riots today either! they had originally planned to start having them Monday's an Thursdays...but praise God!

Tiffany having fun with a friend

Today was a busy day, with doing some laundry, an cleaning up inside the house, as well as outside, since it is our turn to host the compound prayer meeting this evening.

George our gardener did a great job cleaning our flower beds for the occasion.

A group of sewing ladies that come to the compound, several times a week

Over lunch I took a break, an Wayne an I went down the street to buy some chapatti's, Wayne was sitting inside the hut talking to his friends, an I was sitting outside against the side of the hut, watching the lady make the chapatti's, when right across the street two men started fighting! it was horrible to watch! an I was getting freaked out really fast. They were boxing, hitting, an kicking each other around, I couldn't believe it! then the younger guy picks the older guy completely off of the ground an throws him in the dirt, an continues his hitting, an kicking his head! finally the people watching did something, an a man came an separated the two. Thank God! I never experienced something like that before! Wayne an I got our food, an came back to the compound, very glad to live inside a walled compound.

In the evening we youth girls all took Charity to the airport, an made it back in time for prayer meeting.

Dad beginning services with interpreter Evans

(Friday June 17th)

Today we were just around home doing baking, an different things. It was a relief that most of the cleaning was done already because of the hosting of prayer meeting at our house Thur. evening.

Some of us then went to town in the afternoon to see about buying some metal, an different things, so on our way back Dad decided to stop by one of his friends shop, he has a flower shop an makes floral arrangements, you can buy roses for several dollars a dozen. an other flowers too for terribly cheap!

They just say it, like it is!

So we talked for a little while, an Dad of course bought a small bouquet from the man, (For his own Father's day he said) lol anyway, we soon headed to the vehicle to go home, we then had several homeless boys that we start talking to, an true to the ways of Kenya, the longer we talked the bigger the crowd of homeless boys got! we soon had 6-7 boys crowded around begging for money an food, so Dad challenged them with the thought, that if they would be willing to give up their glue sniffing, then they could be in an orphanage where they could be taken care of. they didn't really like that dad knew that about them, an so of course, they started saying that they don't sniff glue, but the glue bottles were right in their back pockets! hello. so dad prayed with them, an told them that with their sniffing glue, an lying he does not feel that God wants him to help them today, so when we went to leave, they jump on the side of our vehicle, an ride along! we edged our way out of the parking lot stopping periodically to tell them that we are going out into traffic, an that they need to get off now, but they just laughed, an said that we need to give them food. so we finally kept going! I was so scared that one of them was going to fall off! even though in Kenya they are used to hanging onto vehicles to catch a ride. so we kept going... an then we would slow down an say that they need to get off now, an they would just say "supa maket!" so we would say, "no not today", an continue going....we did this for a while, an soon Dad was becoming a little irritated, since we couldn't continue home with them, an we had things to do. So we kept driving an stopping, driving an stopping, people stopping to stare at these white people, with three homeless boys hanging to the side of our vehicle! Dad wouldn't be Gerold Miller if he wouldn't have given them a "ride they won't soon forget!" an driven a little ornery, after they refused to get off, so without too many details on his driving, an after some "swerves" we soon heard feeble little tapping on the windows, an a desperate, "stop we will get off!" so we stopped, an they all bailed off like tame little house cats...problem solved. an we went our separate ways.

Several ladies from church

It was quite an experience, an I think we laughed most of the way home, rehearsing the incident from all angles. these boys were probably about 13-16 in age, so old enough to know better! but I think they will think twice before they hop onto our vehicle again. I kept suggesting that we just stop by a guard an tell him our problem, or find a police, but Dad was able to handle the situation entirely on his own. true to his nature!

We got home in time to quickly eat super, an then we had volley ball, we got the father's to help since we needed more players, we had a very fun, an I might add entertaining evening, I am just itching to add more graphic details so that you too could be somewhat entertained, but since the nice person that I am, I wont tell you about all the "wobbliness" an the (clears throat) "clumsiness" an fierce pounding of their feet on the ground, before they hit the ball! that kept me laughing most of the evening, but most of them got into the swing of things before too long, an there were even some amazing spikes from some! all in all we concluded, that is was a better then expected evening of good times! An above all! bless their dear hearts for helping us play...

That is about all that happened this week...

I tried taking some family pictures, from the few complete families that we have at church.

~Sylvia

For The Miller's

P.S.( Sorry for the terrible blank spaces on the blog, I couldn't fix that, just keep scrolling till the bottom, so you don't miss pictures! ;)