Home Again

We are home and adjusting to both the time change and the weather change. The last two days were hot and humid in Kenya, but we arrived back home on Saturday night to a slight snow and then a high of 20 on Monday. On the Thursday before we left Africa, it rained hard for about 15 minutes or so early in the morning. When it rains there it does not cool off at all, it just adds a lot of humidity. That was the hottest day of training I have ever had. It felt like teaching in a sauna. Even the Africans were slowed by the temps, although they said it was just moderately hot to them.  

The time there was generally encouraging. The last series of presentations was excellent. The realities of the situation make for less progress than what we would like, but we can see the Lord working. Many of the trainees are making great strides, but one is not getting it all. It is sad to see that he just does not have the education or ability to grow very much in understanding what he reads. The ladies struggled with the women as well, many were illiterate and all nearly functionally illiterate. We are not sure that our material will ever work well for them. At the same time the progress with our training group since the beginning is substantial.  The report is that the whole denomination has really grown as well. It moves us deeply to see such profound and permanent change taking place. We spent some time studying some passages of scripture on the topic of marriage at the workshop. Our Kenyan brothers are eager to apply the Word to their lives but face immense challenges in light of their cultural models. I was reflecting on that and realize that complete transformation is not to be expected in our lives. More likely we will see bigger changes in successive generations as steps of progress are made in understanding and applying the Word in our broken cultural settings. I am happy to be a part of that progress in Kenya and other places around the world, including in my own life. Mike and I commented on how much we learned about Psalms in our study with the Kenyans and how much better we are going to be in understanding that portion of the Word in the future. God continues to work on the trainers as well as the trainees.

We have a little time off before our next overseas trip to India in February. That gives some time for catching up here at home and working on future workshop curriculum, planning, recruiting and US training. We would appreciate your continued prayers for us even when we are home and the work is not as exciting. The days continue to be long and the work at times can be grinding, but the time we put in enables us to do our work when we are overseas. Thank you for your continued interest. We would love to hear from you from time to time. May God bless you this Christmas season.  

Al