Kenya Missions Update

17 January, 2005

Greetings in the Precious Name of Jesus of Nazareth!

FIRST – BE SURE TO MAKE CORRECTIONS ABOUT OUR ADDRESS AND PHONE #’s Keith & Grace Gafner, P.O. Box 4001, Eldoret 30100, Kenya, East Africa.

Calling from the USA (country code)254 – (Eldoret area code)53 – 2061128 for land line.

Mobile cell phones are 254 – 735 – 872788 & 254 – 723 – 636911.

Our E-mail address is: kggafner@africaonline.co.ke For those of you using the yahoo account, please switch to this address.

Thank you, for all your prayers for safety on our behalf. We were ready to get home and could hardly wait to get off the plane and into Nairobi. We had a very enjoyable family time (with Grace’s family) in Nairobi and headed home on the 27th of December. We found things well at home. Kirsten and Ruth adjusted in a couple of days to jetlag, but for some reason, it took Grace and Keith about 10 days to get over fatigue and the day/night switch.

What have we been doing since getting home? Discovering might be the best way to describe it.

Discovering

• we knew we were in Kenya when the plane landed and we bumped our way down the runway. The road from the airport was potholed and rough.
• Kirsten said as we drove to Eldoret, satan must be here because of all the trash thrown around, God doesn’t like places looking like this!
• there is no place like home, especially the swing set and slide!
• waking up to a house that is 58 degrees in the morning, but eventually warms up to the low 70’s during the day.
• my arms are getting weak, as they feel pain holding my Bible while preaching less than an hour (to the listeners delight).
• we grew pale in America, several people commenting on how brown Grace is and white Keith is. How quickly you can get a red nose after one day outside visiting with people. (No, my family was nice, no one called me Rudolph!)
• best pizza in the world is still Grace’s with ground whole wheat crust (come visit and try it - you will agree).
• the paper shredder we brought back makes great confetti for our paper briquettes.
• leaving for church on Sunday at 10 AM and returning at 7 PM after a day of worship service and visiting is tiring but good for the soul.
• the bees worked hard for us while we were away, we have a lot of honey for this year. (we have a project with two families, they care for our hives and harvest the honey and we split the honey).
• everybody knows everything about you. I met a friend on the road, who is from Kitale (40 miles from Eldoret) who was visiting his son in Eldoret. He knew all about our furlough and when we got home, two days previously!!! (accountability to walk the straight and narrow path, for all are watching your every move!)

Other News

Last week our 13 year old neighbor boy was buried. There followed a week of nightly meetings (mashakaya) at their house for people to express their grief and also evangelistic meetings. We were in a Bible study with this family and the girls used to play with Kiplimo and his sister.

We have received two chickens, a basket and some pigeon peas as a welcome home blessings from four families. We know that these people cannot afford to give these food items away, but that is African hospitality. May the Lord bless them for their sacrificial love gifts.

Yesterday, we went to Chepkunyuk Church of Christ for Sunday worship. After church we went to our friends house for lunch. We got to see their latest self-help project; the spring from where all the families in the neighborhood get their drinking and cooking water from was protected and the mouth of it cemented to make it easier to draw the water since it now came out via a spicket. We shared and ate – it was a wonderful time! Afterwards many heartfelt prayers of thanks to God were expressed. Time just flew, it was almost 6 PM when we got in the car to travel home.

Kirsten and Ruth Korner

Except for the sadness of Kiplimo’s death, they are the happiest two girls on the face of the earth, I believe. Loving their friends, daily going and picking berries from the bush (like raspberries) which they eat or make a drink from. They are making wonderful mud pies these days. Kirsten prayed the most beautiful prayer a few days ago about the lost people in Kenya who don’t know Jesus.

The most exciting news is their schooling.

Kirsten now has started at Eagle Academy in the ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) program. This school is 4.5 miles from our house. She gets up at 6:15 AM, at 7:15 we walk for 12 minutes to where she catches her ride to school. They deliver her home at 1:30 PM.

Ruth does not have to be to school until 8 AM, so she gets to sleep a bit longer. She goes to school at Elgon View Academy, just down the road a 10-minute walk. She comes home at 1 PM for now but hopefully this will expand until 3 PM. She will stay home on Monday, as Grace is having a hard time releasing her the whole week!!

Kenyan News from the Newspaper

The wealthiest 10 % are pocketing 42 % of the country’s income, while the poorest 10 % earn less than 1 %.

…84% of Kenyans still do not have access to electricity. The situation is even worse in the rural areas where almost the entire population (95 %) cannot turn on the lights.

IF you specifically pray for the Gafner family and the ministries we are involved with on a daily basis, would you please drop us a line (either by E mail or snail mail) and inform us of such. Thank you.

In Service to the King of Kings,

Keith, Grace, Ruth and Kirsten Gafner

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