7-28 update, new friends

Dear Friends and family,
This has been another eventful week of course. Someone once told me that if you’re following Jesus and things are boring then you’re doing something wrong. So far they’ve been very right. We received two more visitors from the states last week. It’s so interesting how people react to new people when they know that they are coming but know nothing about them. There is a bit excitement but also hesitation in them showing up. You never know what to expect. Since I’ve been here we’ve had 8 visitors and I’ve had that tension with all of them and I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by all of them. This time it was two college age ladies. Elle is here as part of her biblical counseling degree and her friend Bridgett is here for moral support and to just help out. They have both been a blast to spend time with.
So let me try to recap the week here for you. I’m a bit behind due to my computers motherboard getting fried. Well the house has windows in it now and we are getting ready to put the ring beam on it. Hopefully we’ll have a roof on it next week.
We were able to put in a new 1000 liter water tank and some more gutters up out at the Naibor orphanage. The welding students are doing well. We got their business license today and have expanded the business to hair cuts and cell phone charging. The business is growing and the reputation in the area has grown.
Friday Laura Nell, Chirchir and I went to a couple of schools so that Laura Nell could teach the Jonah story. It was incredible. We were in these bush school/church’s where the only light came from the open door or the cracks between the wall boards. Both of them became quickly packed with young children so curious to see what the wazungu (white people) had to teach. Laura Nell didn’t leave them disappointed. They were captivated by her animated movements and sounds. She had them laughing, jumping and even some teary eyed before they left. Our time there brought 103 kids to the sinners prayer. I’ve never been a part of anything like that before. It was incredible and I enjoyed it very much.
Due to so many illnesses we also helped out in the nursery school. I’ve lived with kids this age but I have to tell you that when you multiply them their strength and power to overcome nearly any force grows exponentially. Nursery school teachers should have comic books written about them. You never see any superhero go against a class of these kids because no matter how powerful that superhero might be they will never make it!!! Duct tape. This is the key. My dear friend Rachel gave me some red white and blue rolls of duct tape before leaving. It was one of those gifts that is given with a fun thought because of some conversation but ends up saving lives! I need a cape and tights with a utility belt armed with duct tape. Maybe a big “D” in the middle. Enough said.
Saturday morning we loaded up the car with water and supplies for the weekend and headed out to Naibor where the girls were going to spend the weekend serving the orphanages needs. I spent the night the first night to help out with the transition and had a great time. By the time Monday came they had packed walls with cow manure and mud, bathed little kids, ate like an orphan, played baseball, done laundry for about 28 kids, cooked, watched a goat get slaughtered, ate fresh chicken, done dishes, and cleaned the orphanage. There were many stories that came from last weekend but I don’t want to embarrass them. I bet an American meal and a real toilet were the best things that they had ever seen come Monday. I’m proud of them though. It’s not an easy life out there and to go straight from a lavish American life to squatty potties and mud huts is a rough transition. I can’t imagine anybody coming here and not having a life changing experience and I think that is what both of them will leave here with. I look forward to seeing where their lives go after this.
I hope that all of you get to do something like this at some point in your life if you haven’t already. I’m blown away by it and am so honored to be a part of it. There are similar needs right there in your own home town, at least there are in mine. You are all on my mind and in my prayers. Please take care of each other and give each other a hug for me until I can come home and give you one myself. I must get going.

Peace and Blessings
Caleb

7-19 Update

Dear friend’s family and who ever gets these,

Wow!!! How else do you respond to such a blessed life? I can’t tell you how many times a day I find myself in awe of the life that I get to live and the circumstances that I find myself a part of. I could have been writing these for some time but I don’t think that many would be interested in my life in America because there aren’t “exotic” things like here. The truth is that there are still so many moments there that are still as powerful as my moments here. It’s just so easy to get numb to them or see them as trivial when it’s part of your everyday life. There is this movie called The Crow and in it the main character comes back from the dead to avenge the murder of his fiancé. After dying and losing the one that he loves he tells this young girl that nothing in life is trivial. I think that is very true and that there is so much awe and wonder in the experiences that you get to have on a daily basis but we find ourselves “used” to it. It’s an easy place to get to but I urge you to look at it again. Tonight go outside take a deep breath and look at the stars and moon like it is your first time. Or do the same with a loved one. Take everything about them in, see all of the great things about them in a deeper way than ever before. Okay, I’ll get on with the email and telling you about the week.

I’ve told you about her before and I’m going to again because she is amazing! Laura Nell and I have been having so much fun together. She has such a great sense of humor and cooks very well. She made us this spaghetti this week that was fantastic!!! She really has been such a delight to spend time with and I am so thankful for her presence here. I truly find myself surrounded by wonderful people. I am still in awe of the warm hearts that I have encountered here. Noah and his family continue to invite me into there home and their lives. Washington and Helen (the dorm parents for the school) continue to bless me by always having an extra seat and food for me in the evenings. Chirchir and the orphans blow me away their joy, love and openness to me and each other.

We tore down a huge part of the walls on the house that we’ve been building so that we could go back and put up block interior walls and then did a ring of cement around the top of it to make it more stable. Between the two, the walls could take a direct hit by a Sherman tank. I hope that no one try’s to test that…..I take that back. If any one does I want to be the one who gets to drive the tank because that really does sound like a lot of fun. Wouldn’t that be a blast!!! We had some people from England come out to the site and they loved the building and the quality of the blocks. It was very encouraging. The guys doing the work were looking a bit beat up and spirits were a bit low this week so I treated them to lunch and it changed their spirits so much. The lunch for 7 of us cost about $15 and made them feel so appreciated. That is an incredible investment, what a great reminder of the power of just showing people that you do notice what they’re doing and that you appreciate it.

Yesterday I went to a Masai/Catholic/ Baptist wedding. Odd. I bet God gathered up his angels to watch that one for a few good laughs. It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. It was pretty awesome to see all of these people with different beliefs gathered together listening to everything in two different languages to celebrate love. It was hot, loud, stinky, dirty and one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. I love seeing cultures come together like that and celebrate something so grand. It was over a hundred miles round trip on a motorcycle with a young man on the back over dirt roads. I loved it!!!

Unfortunately there is a nasty cough going around at the orphanage and one of the girls became very sick. I got a call this morning that she has a fever and doing worse. I went out to Naibor to check on her and she was very sick. It hit very hard and very fast. So I brought her to the hospital with one of the older boys. We went to the general hospital and it is chaotic and filthy. We had been there for about an hour and hadn’t moved at all when there was an unusual commotion at one end of the hall. A crowd of people went rushing into a room carrying a man who appeared to have been coming out of a seizure. I looked at Francis the older boy and he told me that was the doctor was the man being carried. I looked back at him and said “We’re leaving.” I called around and found another hospital nearby. We walked in and she received her first injection within 5 minutes. The doctor left Catholic mass to come and check her out and diagnosed her with acute pneumonia. So that is where I am right now. She has been admitted and is in bed right now. There are two nurses and she is the only patient here. This is fantastic!!! All things considered of course.

Here is my last thing to share with you and you’ve already heard it. You keep on reading these so if you don’t like it then it’s your fault at this point. The stars are incredible!!! There was no moon last night or the night before so it is just absolutely amazing out. There it is, I’m done. Thank you again for all of your support. I continue to pray that this reaches you safe and sound. I also pray that these reach into your hearts and stir you up to just let your love ooze out of you even more than you already do. Thank you for taking the time to read these and being a part of this journey with me.

Much Love
Caleb Oshier

7-12 Update

My Dear Friends and Family,

This past week has been….well, I’ve been sitting here trying to find the words to describe it and I can’t. So I guess we could say that it was beyond description. It’s interesting when we really look at exactly where we are and how we got there and just trace it back as far as we can without going insane. There are so many events, thoughts, conversations, and miracles that brought us to this exact point in time. This week brought a number of things out into the open, brought closure to others and opened up even other things. It has been an emotional roller coaster. There have been good and rough moments but I truly believe that life is 90% attitude and only 10% events.

I’m not going to share the bad moments with you but I am going to tell you that even though there were rough spots I KNOW that they will continue to lead to more growth and healing. The power of love is incredible!

So on with events of the week. The Brown family, from Missouri, has been here for about two weeks now. Steve and Jody have three boys that were all born back to back and they are all so different and yet they are definitely boys and brothers. They also brought a 16 year old young lady with them, from their church, named Hailey. The whole group has been a blast to spend time with. They invite me over for dinner every night and it is so nice to be able to share life with them. We went out to the Naibor Orphanage this week and bought some chickens for them then killed them for dinner. Unfortunately we didn’t get to stay and enjoy the meal. We also went out there yesterday and played baseball with the community kids and the orphans. It was right after a rain and I took a spill between 2nd and 3rd. The orphans are getting better and better every week. It is one of my highlights of every week. Lauranelle came with us yesterday. Lauranelle is a widowed Ohio gal who brings so much laughter and joy to every room that she walks into. She has been an absolute joy to be around. I find myself looking for excuses to hang out with her.

Wednesday I was invited by a British friend to have lunch with her, her fiancé and his family at El Karaama ranch. I have to tell you that it was fantastic and I am so thankful for that time with them. To get there you have to take these “roads” that are really more like 4X4 trails that go through the bush. I was on my enduro motorcycle and had a blast. There was one point where I came through a watering hole area that was so full of life. A family of wart hogs was the first to cross my path and then I found myself between zebras and giraffe cruising down the trail. It was incredible! Those giraffe are so beautiful when they run.

I ended finding my way to Sophie and Murray (my British friends). They have a beautiful house out on the ranch that has a studio where Murray does his work. He is a very talented sculptor who is working on a life size male leopard. He was working on the spots when I got there, he might still be. It looked to be such a delicate and intricate job. We went down to a huge covered area for lunch. This place was amazing and overlooked the creek that was moving through. Murrays parents, sister, sister in law, niece and nephews were all there and they were such a delight to be around. I could have just sat there talking with them and listening to them all day. It was such an enjoyable thing to just sit there listening to their accents and all of the fun little sayings that they had.

The walls on the house are still going up but we have run into some changes in plans that will set us back a fair amount but I think that it will add to the structural integrity of the home in the long run. Oh the joys of building with new technologies! We have made a number of new contacts with this house and have a few potential buyers of the blocks. We have already made some blocks out of the soil that one of them brought to town and I think that it will be the start of a great relationship between Noah and this guy. I also met with another Brit named David Parkinson this week that I really enjoy. He is part of a large development out in the Naibor area. He is looking at using the blocks and also has a desire to really be a part of the Naibor community. Actually all 30 or so property owners in this new development want to contribute to the area so we discussed some options and contact for that. I hope that this leads to a long term fruitful relationship both in friendship and community development for that area.

We have a very promising welding student that will be helping me build a large two story play house for the younger kids here at the Baptist school. I’m really looking forward to building it! It’s like I get to build the play house that I would have always wanted!!! This is great.

All in all things continue to move forward in relationships, community projects, job development and Gods will in my life. Once again I thank you for your support. I hope that this finds you well.

Peace and Love
Caleb

7-7 update. My Grandma Died this Week

My friends and family,

It seems that there is always something at the end of the week that happens that is so powerful or eventful. Some of you already know what happened but I’m going to repeat it for everyone else because it is so much a part of my life and my time here. I had just arrived at the Vineyard church in Nanyuki when I checked my phone and saw that I had missed a call from Bre (my sister). That means that she had called me around 12:30 AM her time. That meant that something was wrong so I left church and called her. I had a strong feeling that I knew what it was and when she answered crying I knew that my Grandmother had died. Before I left to come to Africa I had a feeling that she was going to pass away while I was here. I don’t know the last time that I cried like that. I rode home crying and did it some more here at home. I called my Dad and he filled me in on what had happened. Here is the most important part of the night that she died. She was with her husband that she loved fiercely. She was with her daughter and her son and she was happy. She had her hearing aids and was shuffling around the house dressed up in one of her white cotton skirts and a matching blouse. My grandfather had made her hair look especially beautiful that night. My Grandmother was surrounded by the most important people in her life and was in her element. She was happy. That brings a smile to my face.

It’s hard being on the other side of this floating sphere while my hurting family is so far away but I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is where she would want me and where I belong right now. I don’t know if she’ll be buried or not but if she has a tombstone and you ever see it I want you to pay special attention to that dash between the date she was born and the date that she died because there is so much beauty and life in that little dash. Her dash was incredible!!! She and my grandfather had been married for 67 years I think. They really knew how to love and there was still so much love between the two of them. When my Dad got married last year I got to my grandparents dance. It was beautiful. Can you imagine how many times they’ve danced over the years and the stories behind those dances.

Here are my requests of you. Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we go through this both celebrating her and mourning our loss. Most importantly though I ask you to LIVE!!! None of you know when you are going to die. I’ve seen enough die before their time to know that our time could be any day. LIVE YOUR DASH!!! There will always be things to do around the house and stuff at work. Be responsible with them but don’t forget about the life that you have been blessed with. It is incredible…if you make it such.

It’s kind of hard to remember much more of my week. I’m designing an two story play house for the younger kids at the school and have started putting up walls at the house. I have also been able to talk with a lot of people about the blocks and have a couple of meetings set up to hopefully sell a lot of them for Noah. He and I are working smoothing out business stuff together and he is an amazing learner. I have learned tons as well and continue to everyday.

I’m sorry that this is late this week but I think that you’ll forgive me. I hope that this finds all of you with a smile. Just in case I’ll attach a picture of one of the orphans playing with a balloon sent by my mother. Please smile and laugh and love and enjoy your dash.

Peace and Love
Caleb