8-03 Laptop revivals!!!

My Dear Friends and Family,

It’s an odd feeling that is starting to creep over me these days. It has even been a little bit of a struggle. My time here is drawing to an end in just about three weeks. I have come to really love a number of the people here over the past couple of months. I have been so very blessed to share life with so many great people. The warm hearts and open doors are such a testimony to a people that have so much value in relationship. I was out riding my motorcycle through Shamba Land (my name for a farming area near my home) with a friend of mine this week and we ran into some people that she knew from many years ago. Before I knew it I was like family. They prepared tea for us and then made a fantastic dinner. I had a great time talking with one of their twin sons who is in University right now over in Mombassa. It so incredible to take a step back from the moment that you are in and really just look at the moment that you get to share. This is something that I really try to do often and I know that I still take far too much for granted. There have been so many of those moments. I remember dirt biking to the top of this mountain with Steve one time. As we neared the top a thunder and lightning storm rolled in over the valley and we got to watch it come at us. We were so amazed at what we saw that we just kind of forgot that it was coming right at us. Before we knew it we were riding through the dark on our dirt bikes as lightning lit up the trails before us and we were completely drenched by the down poor. I took a step back and looked at this great moment that we got to share and it will always be a beautiful memory for me. I bet you’d love for me to share memories more from this week instead of from so long ago. Here we go.

Last week my computer suffered a major heart attack that, after talking to a computer expert, we decided had to be a fried mother board. So sad. The computer was going to be left here for people to use after I left. I lost all of my pictures, documents, music, and a computer for someone who really needed it. I felt very bad about not being a better steward of what had been given to me to care for and then pass on. The day before this happened I had written an email to a dear friend about miracles and how I fear people getting caught up in them and not seeing the everyday miracles that happen. In my heart I had started to put God in a box. He loves me though. So I was packing my computer up to take it back to the states in the hopes that we could at least salvage the pictures when I decided to ask God to fix it. So I asked and then opened it up and hit the power button. You wouldn’t believe what happened, nothing. So then I started to pack it up and had this argument in my head about plugging it in. I had done this before and nothing happened but I figured I’d take another shot at it. So I plugged it in and the little lights on the front lit up! There was a brief moment of hope so I pushed the power button and the screen came to life! So here I am typing out this weeks update on my resurrected laptop.

I’ve been struggling with some inner battles on what my future holds for me. I have this feeling that God has something big in store for me when I return to Redding but not patient enough and want answers now! That battle has been so unhealthy for me. I was telling Laura Nell about it and she told me that I should get better grounded in Gods word so I’m helping teach bible lessons at the school. I hate to say it but I’m sure that most of these kids know the bible much better than I do. It has been great though. They love doing the wave like we’re at a baseball game and have started to really engage in the conversations that come up. I have learned so much from them and have enjoyed both my time with them and my time studying for my lessons. Tomorrow I’m going to teach about the inner heart and not judging on what the outside looks like so tonight Elle is going to give me a Mohawk and we’re going to do something with my facial hair as well. It’ll be interesting to see how this one goes over.

The teaching staff here is incredible! They have such a great heart for these kids and invest so much of themselves into the children. We had some of them over yesterday to play UNO and had such a great time with them. They were laughing and joking with us the whole time. It was so good to see this side of them. They’ve been inviting me out for soccer games and I have to tell you that it’s been humbling. I have no skills at all. I tried to blame some of it on the altitude but it’s all me.

Elle, Bridgette and I spent the night at the Timau orphanage this weekend. It’s an all boys orphanage and you can tell. These kids were so much fun. I think that we played volleyball and soccer for at least 5 hours on Saturday and most of us left the battle field with injuries and covered in dirt and mud. It was fantastic. Once again we felt so welcomed. They went the extra mile in everything. It is so beautiful there. They still have foliage and some of the greatest climbing trees. Those boys climb everything, play with everything and wrestle all day. It’s amazing how an old car tire can entertain them for so long. They have one old car tire that is always being played with by someone. The next morning we went to their church and were welcomed so warmly. They invited us up in front of the church again to introduce ourselves and give a little testimony. It’s funny how nervous I can get in front of all of those people. Even though there were only about 6-10 people who could speak English I had them laughing quickly. It’s so good to see all of those faces laughing and enjoying each other. It was a great church that really seemed to have a deep love for each other. You could tell that they were a close community that has shared life together very well. At the end of the service they invited us back up to the front where Pastor Steve presented us with some carvings of two Giraffes wrapping around each other. He talked about the differences between us and then about how even though there are those differences we are still brothers and sisters in Jesus. It was pretty incredible and a real honor.

As always you are still in my prayers. Speaking of prayers, Steve had his motorcycle, computer and some other stuff stolen from the house a couple of weeks ago. We prayed for him at a morning prayer time. There is just something powerful about people coming together in prayer, it was even more beautiful to hear these men pray for my friend whom they’ve never met from the other side of the world. He received a call a few days later from someone who saw his bike parked down the street so he took off from work and there it was. He picked it up with a burned out rear tire and an empty tank of gas. Other than that the bike was fine. No other property was recovered but I still see something great here.

I hope that all is well and that you are smiling and enjoying this wonderful life. I know that there is suffering and hard times but please know that you never have to go through it alone. To the Koz family; you are all in my prayers. If any of you see them please let them know that there are a lot of people praying for Cindy. I miss you all and hope the best for you. Give a hug to someone around you and let them know that it’s from me. If they don’t me then just give them a hug anyways, it can only do good.

Peace and Love
Caleb Oshier