Three More Great Shots

The structure up on the hill is a "sugar mill". About 250 years ago, St.Croix was 75% covered in sugar cane fields. It was the largest producer of sugar in the Caribbean. Wind powered the machinery that squeezed out the cane juice. Molasses and rum are by-products. The island is still known for its "Cruzan Rum".

Typical Architecture in Christiansted, St.Croix

St.Croix has suffered extensive damage in the past 18 years from three hurricanes (including Hurricane Hugo in 1989). There are many severely damaged structures throughout the island (such as this one above).

Another sugar mill

Almost all the buildings were painted in pastel colors such as these three. The downtown area could easily be described as "quaint" or "charming".

The "government building" in downtown Christiansted.

A Few More Shots

The newlyweds

Jess with Jason's three sisters

April Prayer Letter

Praise Items - Rejoice with me!

• I've gotten to spend some good quality time with Caleb's daughter, Aaliyah. I have thoroughly enjoyed it! Besides a great afternoon at the park, we've read some library books and made chocolate chip cookies and lasagna together. She is such a delightful little girl. And... I'm not at all biased! :)
  

More Praise Items:

• Good time of speaking at a retirement home chapel service and of sharing at a Seniors' Bible class
• Making memories doing several 1000-piece puzzles together with my Mom, especially while snowed in for 2 days during a blizzard
• Good times of reaching out to a newly-widowed neighbor lady, a friend in a difficult period of transition, and a friend convalescing at a rehab facility
  
• Lots of catching up with old friends over scrumptious meals
• Great visits by out-of-town friends and relatives
  
• Some good bike rides in lovely Spring weather! I love to be on my bike!
• News Flash! I get to go to Jess's wedding! God made a way! I'm so excited to be there for her big day!

Prayer Items -

1) Please pray for my safety as do some traveling:

• March 28 - April 2: St. Croix (in the Virgin Islands) for Jessica's wedding
  
• April 8-18: I'll be making a bit of a circuit tour to Cleveland and Cincinnati (Ohio), Louisville (Kentucky), and Mt. Vernon (Illinois). I'll be visiting several friends I've met in Kenya at each of these stops and sharing about my ministry.

2) On the 15th, I'll be delivering the Word. Please pray that God would receive all the glory.

Thank you so much for upholding me in prayer!

"Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led.
But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading.
It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason -
a life of knowing Him who calls us to go."

-Oswald Chambers


Jesus said,
"You're tied down to the mundane;
I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons.
You live in terms of what you see and touch.
I'm living on other terms."

John 8:23 (The Message)

An Afternoon at the Park with Aaliyah

Aaliyah and I had such a good time at the park! We played on the playground, swinging to our hearts content! We fed the geese and ducks. We just simply enjoyed the sunshine and one another's company.

Rachel, Aaliyah, Caleb

More Professional Photos of the Turkana People

NOTE - All text in this post is from bluegecko.org/kenya

In spite of the poverty of their land, the Turkana have managed to create something out of almost everything that surrounds them. The materials they use reveal an incredible ability to use almost everything that composes their environment: leather, iron from smelted haematite ore, copper from old electric wires, aluminum and tin from old cans and spoons, wood, beads and seeds, nuts, shells, fish vertebra, horns and hoofs, bones and stones, tusks, gourds, ligaments and plumes, hair and tails of livestock for decorations and charms, and nowadays even old car tires which are turned into supremely comfortable '5000-mile shoes'. To misquote the proverb: scarcity is the mother of invention!

Like the Maasai and Samburu (and many other pastoralist peoples), they are also well known for their colorful and often intricate beadwork. This is primarily the preserve of the women, and their color, form and arrangement can have both social as well as ritual significance.

Such beautiful headdresses and sophisticated jewelry are common sights

For women, marriage is the first and primary stage of adulthood. Turkana girls are usually married when between 15 and 20 years of age. They usually have some say in the selection of an appropriate husband. The wedding itself may take a couple of days and is perhaps the most important event in Turkana social life. There is much ceremony, dancing and feasting.

As mentioned elsewhere, a Turkana man can marry several women, so long as he is able to pay the bridewealth for each. And among the Turkana, this is hefty by any standards. As a young boy explained, "Turkana people can marry even 10 women so longer he is rich to avoid the dowry. 1 woman can cost 20 cows 30 goats and 15 camels and some donkeys."





Among Turkana women, a wife "generally considers it an economic advantage for her family to have additional co-wives since the women help each other in doing domestic chores and in caring for their animals. The co-wives may also help their husband find a new bride. They interview young women with a goal of finding one who will be compatible with them and hard working. Their husband usually must have their approval before going ahead with the wedding. For him, an additional wife also has disadvantages. The co-wives may get together, gang-up on him, and force him to do things that he does not want to do. More wives can mean more potential domestic trouble for a husband."




For the most part, pastoralism - the semi-nomadic herding of animals - is quite simply the only means of survival in such an arid location. Turkana rely almost entirely on cattle for their survival. It is an implacable logic that a man should aim to keep the largest herd of cattle possible, so that come the next drought, a comparatively large number of animals may survive. Grass has acquired an element of sacredness for its role in feeding cattle, and it is said that when a person wishes to make peace with his enemy, he will present him with a bundle of fresh grass. It is a powerful and symbolic offering which no-one can refuse.

The staple foodstuff in the Turkana diet is provided by a mixture of cow's milk and blood, though milk yield depends on the season, and may cease completely during prolonged dry spells. For these times, provision is made during the wet season by boiling fresh milk and letting it dry on skins, to make edodo powdered milk. In the dry season, the Turkana also eat fruit, most commonly wild berries which are either crushed to make dried meal, or mixed with blood and made into cakes.

Only rarely - either through extreme need, an animal's infirmity or old age, or for ritual purposes such as rain sacrifices, welcoming rites and mortuary rites - are cattle slaughtered; meat for eating is provided by goats and sheep instead (only in the dry season), which are also milked. The first animals to be slaughtered will have been specially chosen and castrated long before, as are sacrificial animals. These are presented to God with a simple and bluntly honest formula, something like "This is your animal, take it" or "This is your ox, take him." The sacrificers then continue: "Give us life, health, animals, grass, rain and all good things".

Apart from providing 80% of their food requirements, cattle have an amazing multiplicity of other uses, providing skins for clothing, mats, shelters, twine, sandals, slings, containers, bags and so on. The horns are used as containers (as they have been throughout the world), dung is burned for fuel, the hairs and tails are used as decorations and charms, the bones are turned into clubs, fat turned to oil for softening leather, stomach contents spread out for rituals...

On a more prosaic level, cattle are offered as gifts on social occasions, while fines and compensations suggested by elders for transgressions such as fathering illegitimate children are also expressed in head. Cattle can also be bartered for grain, tobacco, beads and ironware.

In the same way that elders are respected in part for their having survived, so a man with large numbers of cattle will be admired and respected, too, for the survival of his family and relatives rests assured. This is especially true given the scarcity of water and pasturage (which runs as a constant theme throughout Turkana life), which has itself raised the practice of livestock raiding (and the resulting warfare) to a quasi-economic pursuit, through which men are can acquire reputations for bravery as well as sudden wealth.

This is not just a matter of pride. The symbolic bridewealth payment, which of course is made in cattle, is traditionally very high, providing young men with a powerful incentive to establish their reputations and herds through raids on non-Turkana groups. The symbolic transfer of cattle thus not only compensates the bride's family for the expense of having raised her, but also signals the man's ability to found a successful and prosperous family for his wife and future children.

Penye wengi pana Mungu

NOTE - The following is taken from bluegecko.com/kenya

Penye wengi pana Mungu -
(Where there are many people, there God is)
Swahili proverb

An estimated three quarters of all Kenyans profess to be Christian, whether nominally or otherwise (the majority being Protestant), up from precisely zero before the first European missionaries arrived in the 1840s. Approximately one fifth of the population still adhere to their traditional beliefs and religions, although these are fast disappearing in the face of an often aggressive evangelical presence. A minority of Kenyans (around 10%) are Muslim.

The only geographical distinction that can be made between the various religions is with Islam, which is practiced mainly on the coast and in the adjoining northeast of the country bordering Somalia.

Thankfully, religion is not a divisive issue in Kenya, and has had nothing to do with the sporadic outbreaks of 'ethnic violence' that have plagued the country since the early 1990s.

Christianity in Turkana land -
Since 1961, when the Africa Inland Mission established a food-distribution center and mission at Lokori to offset a famine that had started the year before, Christianity has been met with only limited success. Despite two hundred missionaries in the field today, the swift nomadic lifestyle of the Turkana precludes any long-term attempts at conversion, so that the only established churches are among the minority of settled Turkana in the small towns near the lake, and on the lakeshore itself where fishing is practiced.

"The Turkana are receptive to change if they feel it is to their advantage. However, religion is not seen as a vital part of their life so they are indifferent to Christianity."

NOTE - Kim and I did see a church meeting under a tree on our way to Lake Turkana.

Lake Turkana

By its very existence, the windswept expanse of Lake Turkana is something of a miraculous anomaly. Situated in the arid lands of northwestern Kenya, it is the largest permanent desert lake in the world. Roughly 150 miles long and 25-40 miles wide, it occupies a clearly delineated trough in the Northern Rift Valley, lying mainly in Kenya but with its marshy northern end jutting into Ethiopia.

The climate is harsh, with a mean annual rainfall of under 10 inches and a merciless hot wind which blows almost constantly. Mid-day temperature is typically 104 degrees!

The lake contains the world's largest population of Nile crocodiles, of which some 12,000 were estimated to be breeding on Central Island in 1981; there are no recent figures available.




It was so hot while Kim and I were at the lake, that we sat in the shade of a dilapidated shack the whole time. We enjoyed watching this guy wash his laundry. The whole time he did so, he quietly sang a song to himself.




This little guy and his buddy thoroughly enjoyed themselves as they played with their homemade boats. We also took much delight in observing them. As I took this photo, the father yelled at me. He thought I only took it because the boy was naked. Kim had to do some fast talking to calm him down.