October Update...Flying Termites!

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. 
That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

It’s been almost a month since I’ve sent you all an update and in that time we at IJM Kenya have experienced some bumps on the road to securing justice for the victims of injustice here. In mid-September, a judge acquitted [found innocent] a man who had defiled one of our clients. It was a blow, as we believed (and continue to believe) the evidence of guilt was solid. Nevertheless, we as a staff met to see what lessons we could learn from the case to avoid a similar result in future cases. In the meantime, please pray for our client, the girl who was defiled, that she would find healing, through God and our counselors, understanding of her true worth, and a vision for her future.

Next, you’ll recall that in my last update (September 8, 2009), I wrote about an 8 year-old girl I called Lucy. I jumped the gun in taking it upon myself to assign this little girl a pseudonym without checking with IJM headquarters. From now on, I will refer to her in this and any future updates as Daisy. Sorry for the confusion; it’s my mistake. Anyway, to the update: If you recall, Daisy was sexually abused by a police officer in a police station. At this point, we still do not know which officer was the abuser, and we are encountering some opposition in discovering that truth. Please continue to pray for wisdom for our lawyers and investigators, as well as for the judge overseeing the case, for God’s truth to reign, and for Daisy to know His deep love for her.

Despite the setbacks and obstacles in these and other cases, we believe, as Dr. King espoused years ago, that we are fighting for the right, that these are temporary setbacks, and that God’s love for justice is stronger than any power of the enemy to stop His ultimate victory. Thank you for joining us in this battle!

Two months ago this week, we landed in Nairobi. It’s hard to believe how fast time is flying by. In fact, I have felt acutely of late that time is flying by too quickly! While I do deeply miss my family and friends, I have never loved what I am doing as much as I do right now (no offense to any of my former bosses or co-workers who may be reading this!). I feel made for this, that I can’t imagine doing anything else, that this fits like a glove, and all the other clichés you can think of. Thanks to you for allowing me to be here doing this!

And, the family is doing well, too. I’ll spend the rest of the update giving you some snapshots of what our life here has been like.  This picture is of Caleb and Abigail riding a camel on her 4th birthday! (along with some other kid in the middle, not Luke).

Recently while walking back from lunch with a friend, a homeless woman approached me and told me she’s been looking for a mzungu (white man) like me to marry her and take care of her. I thanked her for her kind offer, but I politely declined. (Anna liked that).

A few weeks ago, an old friend flew into Nairobi for an engineering mission trip. He was good enough to bring some necessities for us (read: ranch dressing, laptop battery), so I drove out to the airport early in the morning to meet him as he flew in. As I got into the airport grounds, I was pulled over at a police checkpoint, a commonly-encountered thing here, but my first experience being pulled over. I was a little nervous, as I had heard others tell unpleasant stories of their experiences at such checkpoints. Nevertheless, I was as polite as I could be. The officer wanted to know what was in the “boot” of the car (for those of you have not been to England, the “boot” is the trunk). We had bought the car from a missionary only a couple weeks previously and I had no idea what all was in the boot, so I was a little nervous as I popped the trunk (you never know about those missionaries ;) ). As I walked around back, I noticed that all that was in the truck were two tires and two Bibles. Whew! The officer picked up one of the Bibles and asked me what I do with it I said, “Read it.” He said, “Can I have it?” I said, “Of course!” He then picked up the other Bible and pointed to another officer and asked if she could have the other one. When I assured him she could, he took it and sent me on my way. Just here spreadin’ the Word in Kenya.

As I am sure most of you know by now, I am a baseball addict ([Me]: “Hi, my name is Lane, and I am a baseball addict.” [The Group]: “Hi, Lane!”). When I came to Nairobi in June on a scouting trip, I heard about a softball league that plays on Saturdays here which, as you can imagine, excited me just a little bit. So, once we moved here, I got in touch with the coach and got on the team. We’ve now played four games (there are four teams in the league —two American teams, a Canadian team, and a Japanese team) and we’re 4-0 and this dude’s not playing half-bad, if I can say so myself! On Sunday afternoons, virtually the same group gets together to play 3 hours of ultimate frisbee (like soccer but with a frisbee for you uninitiated). Anna’s the frisbee player of the two of us, so that is generally her time to shine (and get some exercise). It’s so cool to have these outlets here. God is good.


Just last weekend we were hosting for dinner a family with whom we are quickly becoming good friends when it began to rain in a downpour. As we were eating during the rains, the husband (who grew up in Africa as a missionary kid) mentioned that we may want to consider shutting our windows soon, which are usually open all day. When we inquired why (as the rain sounded really nice and it was not coming in because of our eaves), he responded that when the ground got sufficiently saturated, the "flying termites” would come out and seek the light in our house because their homes in the ground would be flooded. Well that didn’t sound very good. Sure enough, not five minutes later we saw the first of these critters (see a sample picture below) in our living room. You should have seen the speed with which we scrambled to shut all of the windows of the house! By the time we got them all shut, only five of the said termites had gotten in and were easily terminated. We did have fun watching the hundreds of them gathering on our front and back porch, along with the opportunistic geckos who had a nice feast that night (as did we, Anna had cooked up some nice enchiladas).

I had promised Caleb that if he got five “green lights” in class in one week, I would take him to lunch at a restaurant of his choice on Saturday. (The kids in his class get green, yellow, or red lights in class every day depending on their behavior that day). Well, he got five greens this week and he picked “Pizza Inn” for lunch. Now all you trademark lawyers stop reading at this point, because this is not the American chain. Regardless, Caleb loved it, and he earned it. Well done.

Lastly, Anna went to her first Bible Study Fellowship class this past week and enjoyed being surrounded by over 130 Kenyan women all desiring to study’s God’s word. Abigail is excited that there is a class for her there, too!  At home, they are reading lots of books, doing some crafts, and working on ABC’s. Luke wants so bad to draw and color like Abigail, so he usually joins us at the table, at least for a few seconds to scribble and then runs off!

We would appreciate you prayers on a few things:

• Lane’s work and all of the battles they face everyday fighting for what is right. Pray for grace, wisdom, and favor to win the battles.

• Cultural adjustment to a new city and a new country. Most days, I (Anna) enjoy the new adventure and the challenge to figure out how to do something or where to go to set such and such, other days I get frustrated. Pray for fewer of the latter.

• Times with God. No matter where we are, He is still there. I long to spend more time in his Word and journaling what he is teaching me.

Well, that’s it for now. Thank you all so much for all of your support and prayers. We are so thankful to be here and owe it all to each one of you. Please feel free to write us with any questions about my work or about the family. Or, just drop us an update on how you’re doing!

Peace,

Lane, for Anna, Caleb, Abigail, and Luke

Would you choose Water or Electricity?

We often don't have either water or electricity, so I have a new appreciation for both. There is barely any water pressure from the city water, so all of the families in our complex have a storage tank that  slowly fills at night. But, due to the drought our tank isn't getting replenished very much lately. So we  by necessity are being very conservative with our water.  I figured out a few tricks to washing dishes to use the least amount of water possible.  And for showering, instead of letting the water run during the shower, I just get wet, turn off the water, wash, and then turn the water back on to rinse. Yesterday was a great day because our water tank got filled. yeah!

As for the electricity, the city of Nairobi depends on water to generate the electricity. So, with low water, comes the a shortage of electricity as well.  Today, I went to get a gas tank for cooking  when the electricity is out, and there is evidently a shortage of gas as well. But they said come back tomorrow to check again. Glad our stove is gas and electric for just this reason. 

In light of the city’s water shortage, our housing complex is installing a well on the property.  So, Anna, the civil engineer, has been closely watching the progress. As of today, they have drilled the well...

 

installed the pump...

and lifted a huge 10,000 liter tank over 30 feet in the air with only Kenyan men and ropes...(there are 4-5 men on the top platform pulling the tank up in the air).

The final step is to get a new power line from the city to run the pump, hopefully in the next week or so. We are really looking forward to the well water. It will be a breath of life.  

Please pray for others in the city and around the country that still do not have water at their homes. I couldn't imagine not having water at all. 

4 and 40...our September birthdays

September brings two birthdays in our family and more in our extended families. It is a fun month in our house!

On September 9th, Lane turned 40 years old! We celebrated at home with a good ole' Mexican meal of our family favorite tacos with a little lime juice squeezed on top. Then after dinner we had a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate icing. The kids decorated the top of the cake with Lane's favorite Whopper candies. yum! I am so thankful that you heard the voice of God in leading us in this huge leap of faith to do this work and be in this place. Thank you for listening and trusting Him. My prayer for you, my husband and friend, is that this next year will be marked with fulfilling the destiny and calling God has placed on your life.I also pray that you will continue to listen and hear the voice of God all throughout the year. I love you dear.

On September 13th our daughter Abigail turned 4 years old!  We celebrated with a vanilla cake with sprinkles inside and a family outing later that day. We went to a place called Paradise Lost just on the outskirts of town. For her fouth birthday, she got to ride a horse and a camel! So cool. She rode the camel twice (the rides cost 50 shillings each = about 50 cents) but said it was not as much fun as the horse because the camel was "too slow" and on the horse she got to gallop. The place was surrounded by a beautiful coffee plantation and also had a beautiful lake and a cave to hike. We all enjoyed the outing! Our  prayer for our daughter is that during this next year you would know the love of God in a deeper way, that you would know that you are cherished by the King of Kings, and that you would know that you are a daughter of the King. We love you very much.