The least of these...seriously

Today we started a bible study for women. By we, I mean my friend Esther and another friend here in Kenya. I had asked everyone to pray for this group. I thought we would be small and I thought that it was going to take a very long time for people to open up with their stories.

You see, I knew that most who would attend would be considered "worthless" in our community. By worthless, I meant multiple types of issues. Prostitution, alcoholism, abuse and the list went on and on. While I have prayed about this for weeks and felt that now was the time to begin, and while I prepared as much as I could, I was not prepared for what happened today.

First let me say - there will be NO pictures of these women. They suffer enough from extremely poor self esteem without my adding to their anxiety. Other than Esther and myself, the names I use will NOT be the real names of these women. They have tough stories and tough lives and they deserve privacy. But I do want you to know their stories and I pray that through this blog I can share with you the transformation that the Lord will provide in the lives of these women. So let me describe them to you.

There are no "fancy hairdos." That's one of the first things I learned from Kenyan friends. Hair is an indicator of social status. So, in this group, none of the attendees had "hairdos." Some had cut their hair very short, others had very tiny braids that can be done by a friend. Some of these ladies had stopped going to church because they had been ridiculed for their "lack of smart hair.)

They all wore their best. For some of them, that mean an ill fitting t-shirt and a skirt of some sort. I could see the feet of each of them. These were feet that have walked many miles just to look for work.

Nobody looked me in the eye. As they told their stories, they did it with their head down. But there were no tears even though these stories were unimaginably difficult.

Each woman had at least one child with them. For some, the other children were in school ( praise God) but for others, their children were finding work ( one of them was 10 years old and has never been to school because the $50 per year is prohibitive.) This is the child of one of the ladies who never went past first grade.

Today was our get to know you day. I thought that if I shared a little of my story, it would help these women open up. What I was not prepared for was how incredibly open they appeared to be. We were 10 total including me and Esther ( my dear friend who is an integral part of this group.) Each and every one had a story beginning in childhood of abuse, neglect, abandonment... the list goes on.
Of the 8 attendees, more than half never made it past 2nd grade for various reasons.

I had gone to town to pick up bibles in the local language as well as in Swahili. Guess what? More than half of these ladies cannot read. I just sat still as each lady told her story.  When everyone was finished and it was just Esther and me - I just said wow. And she said to me, "there is so much more that they are not ready to tell."

I have been here for several years now. Most of my "evangelism" has been in and through the church of some sort.  Most of the evangelism I have done has been through some tool - clean water/buckets, medical camps, large groups for training.

 A group was started last year for the youth in this community. When school is out for holidays, those who are between 14 and 21 or so come to our house for praise and worship and bible study. Most of these children have been brought up in church. Most are either in school or working somewhere.

This group of women have NOTHING. They have no family support. Most of their family either abandoned them very early on, parents have died - they just have no one.

For this group of women, just being invited to this group is something they have never experienced before. As we asked each woman some of the reasons why they did not come to church, the list sounded much like what you might find in the US.  Because they have sins that are apparent to everyone, or the entire community knows about them, they are shunned.

These are "the least of these." They are the least of these because that is what this society - including christians and the local churches - define them as . This is the story the community has created for them.  We intend now , through the love and teachings of Jesus, to create a new story for each. I will pray this verse over them for them next however long we are together. I do not usually like this translation of the bible, but for these women God has sent our way  - this is what I pray for them.

 Romans 12:2
New Living Translation
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.


Please pray for these ladies daily. Their lives are more than difficult. But we pray God will allow us to bring the peace of His son in to the lives of these women and their families.

Potatoes and Female Genital Mutilation

 It has been a very long time since I posted a blog. Several things have happened in the last few months that I put in my “note to self” box but forgot.

So today, I had to write.

A couple of weeks ago, we were blessed to be a part of a two day clinic and training in Moheto, southern Kenya. The training part was facilitated by me and Len’s Mom Sarah. We talked about many things facing women in that part of Kenya. We talked about menopause, post partum depression, and the practice of female genital mutilation. For two days we delved into practices that are more than 100 years old and why they continue these practices even though they are detrimental to the health of young women. We had great discussions and we all learned a great deal . I now have a greater understanding of the whys and hows of courtship and marriage in the Kuria tribe. Life is simple and complicated for them.

When those couple of days were finished, I was exhausted.  When I am teaching non-stop for two days, I just feel worn out. I give it all I have when I am in that group setting. But that type of setting is tough for me.You see, I like to be alone. I like reading alone, studying the bible alone, praying alone – I just need time alone. So after a few days like that, my well is completely dry and I have to hibernate. My closest friends know that about me, my family knows that about me. But I struggle with how I am seen in this culture. I am not the kind to come out every day and spend time talking all day. I am however, the kind who likes a good one on one in a quiet place. So I have to learn to adjust. Please pray for me that I find the right balance. Surely God made me this way for a purpose. I am praying over a bible study that will be starting in the next week. This study will be for new Christians, for those who have never known Jesus but know His name, for women who are prostitutes or have addictions of one sort or another – basically those Jesus would have spent time with while on the earth.

Clearly I diverge…. POTATOES…. Why did I title this potatoes? Well, you see this morning our neighbor loaded his motorbike with potatoes just like he does every day. Today, as he passed our house, two large sacks fell from his bike and spilled everywhere. I grabbed my “market bag” and went outside to help pick up the pieces.

When we were finished, I said goodbye, we all smiled and he went off to market.

That’s my kind of servanthood… no words spoken ( well a few Swahili words, but basically we worked in silence)… just gettin’ the job done.  There was a need, we met the need and then everyone went on about their daily routine.

You see… I am a quiet person… I like quiet… and I could pick up potatoes in silence. And I am pretty sure my neighbors felt the love of Jesus as plainly as those to whom I spoke for two days…

Lord help me find my way….

Fundraising - the "raisers" prospective

FACT - we have 37 children in the sponsorship program of Neighbors Outreach Worldwide. Fact - Len and I serve God and as such, had to give up our jobs in the US to do what He has asked of us. Fact- we focus on widows and orphans living in poverty in Kenya. Fact - we provide bible studies for a wide age range of people in our community. Fact - the vocational training center will open mid to late 2015. Fact - God provided all of these opportunities.

FACT - out of sight out of mind - so when I am in Africa, y'all might forget about me.... can't have that

FACT - in order to do all of this, it takes money. While we do our best to be proper stewards of each and every dime we receive, there is always a need.

FACT - I detest asking anyone for money, talking about money. The only thing I like about money is counting it ( goes back to my old bank teller days.) So when you see me while I am here in the US the last thing I want to do is ask for money. But it is necessary.

FACT - without the help of our friends and family, this ministry will wither away. And so I thank God for each and every one of you every single day.

FACT - though I like to, I am not always able to write a note of thanks to everyone. I send quick emails from time to time ( our closest friends understand they won't be getting a note every time they donate) and then I try to write. There are days however, when all my plans fall apart and you may not see a thank you for weeks, even months. What I want to remind you of is that your reward ( or thank you note) is not on earth , but in heaven. And if you do not get a thank you for me it's because my head and my heart are already on to the next need of our children or the community in Githioro.

What I want each and everyone to know is that I pray you will all give. All of my pleas by email or facebook are not for me, it's for the ministry and our desire to help those who need it most.

Just a few thoughts....

Changes... inside and out

Today while I was in the US still helping my Dad recover from bypass surgery, Len was in Kenya continuing to prepare for our new phase of ministry. We are excited to get into the community where we will be serving and he'll begin preparing the house where we will live in a few months.

We are so blessed. This house will be a wonderful place to live among, serve with and care for the people of Githioro and the surrounding communities.

Len sent pictures of this wonderful house and I am anxious to get back to Kenya. I have to say I realized today how far the Lord has brought me  in the last ten years. When Len and I put the addition on our house after we got married, I was obsessed with many things.... but I was most obsessed with the master bathroom. I found pictures of a cabinet and had it custom made. I HAD to had a clawfoot bathtub... had to have six nozzles in the shower... had to have pine floors... took several weeks to decide on just the right toilet.

So today, Len sent pictures of the house and here's the master bathroom. I am happy now that my anxiety about which shower curtain would be best has been relieved.

Perspective

As most of you already know, my Dad found out about a week and a half ago that he had to have open heart surgery .Apparently, I am very hard on the hearts of the men I love most . Len, my husband, had a quad bypass in 2006. Now Daddy will have a triple or possible quad.

So now I know what it feels like to be half way around the world when someone you know has something major to deal with - although he's calling it a bump in the road. And it will be a bump, but I know from watching Len that the next two weeks are going to be tough on him and on my mother. It is incredibly hard to watch someone you love suffer.

Our passports were with Kenya immigration finalizing our work permits. Work permits are very difficult to get in Kenya right now and we have been working on it for months. So we had to wait for the process to be rushed and finished before i could get a flight to come home. At first, I was flying out last Friday... then it moved, and moved and moved again.

Today, it looks like I will be flying out. I think without the Lord by my side I would be completely nutty by now. But beyond that, the Lord has given me the greatest friends and family ever. Len has been a rock. I pretty much shut down after Sunday - felt desperate.  We came to Nairobi and " the boys" Anderson, James and Timothy came with us. They have been a great distraction as we hang out waiting.
One of them will stay one more night with Len so that he is not alone. Peter and Mama Shiko are here as well... holding my hand, praying, just "being" with me. I am blessed

So... as I thought about how much I miss my family - especially my Mom and Dad right now... the reality of the life of these boys smacked me right in the face. Anderson and James are total orphans. At such a young age they lost the two most important people in their lives. I have had my parents for such a long time and that is a blessing. I still get to talk to them and ask them things. I do not take that for granted. And I am gonna love those boys harder because they deserve it. They have been good to me and I thank God for them. These are the three taken at the beginning ot he year on their first day of high school.

Just when you think God is done....

As we prepared this fall to begin our second full year of ministry in Kenya, we were blessed to be able to stay at the Spiritual Life Center of St. Matthew's UMC - our home church. Len and I had been very restless at the latter part of our first year's stay in Kenya. We both felt God trying to speak to us about our ministry in Kenya. And so when we got back to the US, I spent a lot of time in the spot pictured below - praying, reading, praying, studying - and well maybe a nap or two. My dear friends Daphne and Elaine invited me to a bible study that began two days after we arrived home and that helped me "stay in the word" as soon as we got home even though my head was really spinning trying to figure out what our ministry in Kenya was really supposed to look like.

Part of what the Lord kept saying to me over and over was just three words... WIDOWS AND ORPHANS.... WIDOWS AND ORPHANS..... Every scripture... every thought. And then it happened. I had already begun to very amateurishly  draw a picture of what I thought God wanted me to be doing... how he wanted me to live in Kenya... how he wanted us to minister.  Some friends and I had talked about what that "compound" would look like....I asked them each to draw what they saw.
Each of us, without prompting of any kind drew something that looked like this. I shared this drawing with Len - in fact, it was sketched out on a whiteboard that sat in the middle of the floor of the SLC.

Shirley Sprouse came over to visit us at the SLC one day because she  had heard from the Lord about a foundation of some sort having to do with our ministry in Kenya.

And so after  a blessed time at home , we returned to Kenya to begin ministry still feeling that God was trying to tell us something.

One day just a very few days after we got back to Kenya, Len was out with our friend Sam. He passed by his church and just for information shared with Len that it was indeed his church and then was telling of the struggles the church was having as well as the opportunities.  He described current projects, prayers they had about future ministries and Len sat quietly and listened. All he said to our friend was, you have to talk to Susan about this. You see, Sam had described what God was telling me in the US  in the fall.

And so Len shared the story with me, and then Sam came to the house and began to tell me about the compound of his church. And I began to weep. I asked him to hold on and brought out the very first pencil  sketch God had shown me. All of the items on my sketch were in that compound or planned to be in that compound. That drawing was a real place - the foundation was there. Coincidence... I think not.

And then we went to look at it. I was literally speechless. Never had God spoken so clearly as he did with this plan. Things began to happen. We started to become a part of that church. Turns out the pastor's house is empty because the pastor has his own house. So they had a church member just living there for security purposes and prayed for someone to come and live there. A primary school was already in the early stages of development. This is a google maps view of the current church and it's compound. We are blessed that the AIC church in Githioro has agreed to allow us to be their partner in ministry in this community.

So, in July we'll begin a new phase of ministry in a community - living in community with those we serve. Our first challenge is to raise funds for a well. That community suffers greatly because water is not readily available and many walk miles and miles daily for water. In the dry season, water is not available. Getting water to that community will be our first priority. And it's a big goal. It will take about $23,000  to dig this well that will provide water for the community, the church, the vocational training center and eventually a hospital.

We will be calling this new ministry Neighbors Outreach Worldwide. We hope that this "banner" of ministry will allow for others to join us in ministry whether it be  in Kenya or any other place in the world.  You are all part of the ministry. Len and I happen to be living and working IN Kenya but all of you are helping us minister here and are ministering in your own place where God has put you.

We base this ministry on Mark 12:28-31

Mark 12:28-31 The  Greatest Commandment

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

We are Neighbors Outreach Worldwide - Called to love and serve our neighbors.

www. neighborsoutreachworldwide.org 

More to come.... please keep praying

In His Service
Len and Susan Eastwood



God is Good

Yeah... I know... haven't posted a blog since October of last year.... but hold on to your hats... big stuff coming. God is AMAZING.....

You will have to hold on just a little while longer for full details of changing ministry for us in Kenya. Ask and you shall indeed receive......

Love to you all... please visit soon... I'll post this to facebook when we have more details.