Leister's Kenyan Life

Hello everyone, loving us through this season! We so appreciate it! This was a very different Christmas, no doubt! We struggled with diverse situations, thoughts and traditional exspectations. I thought I would begin this with being transpartent and open! Ok, now, Was it good? Yes it was a good time we all grew and were tought what Christmas is all about. We heard a sermon given at the Children's Church we have been attending. It was on God's Goverment coming to earth in the life of His son manafested in a human baby. The Pastor asked them " where is heaven?" all together they yell "in our hearts" basicly they were tought they have all they need in Jesus and they can depend on Him for all they ask of Him. The sermon so touched me and how it was recieved, tought me so much. The Pastor gave a 25 min message and then we helped hand out juice and cookies, twenty cups at atime because thats all they had. There were 120 children there, they sat and waite...

Here are some update pictures show our adventures for the week! We attended a workshope training that I told everyone about in the last blog. It was very good and we recieved a certificate to beable to treach this to others. We did not realize this was how it was set up but were very grateful for it. This will enable us to to upgrade our trainings that we will be doing with our staff at Tumaini Children's Center. We got invited to attend a Children's Church down in one of the slum areas. It was so fantastic. We drove down into the slum, which is hard to discribe, we did not take our camera or video. We did not want to make it seem like we were there just for a photo shoot. The pictures that we took were from Horace's camera phone. There were over 100 children there their average is 200, the building you will see is about 25X30, just metel and dirt floor. The service lasted about 2hrs., the children's ages averaged from 3months to 19. The older kids came with the Pas...

Hi everyone! We are feeling so excited about things moving right along here! Horace and Marvin have been out configuring the building site area. The above picture shows Marv and others looking at where the 1st homes will be buildt. Just tho the right of them where the van is parked will be the site of the Addministrators house ( ours for now ). The other picture shows Rachel & Marv with a group of chidren who showed up to play games and sing songs! Tumaini ( hope in swahili) Children's Center ( this is what we are called in Kenya ) is now registered with the District Forum that meets evey month to go over the laws and needs of Children's Homes here in Eldoret. I think we wrote you about this Forum earlier. There are 45 or so childrens organizations registered, this makes a group to listen to. Horace and I are attending 3days of workshops this week that the Forum is sponcering to help better prepare others for setting up Children's Homes and Rescue Centers. They have...

Hi again, my inter net connection went down before I got to finish! While we were at the Children's church dedication, the Austrailan man came over to Phyllis with a litle boy who had a hurt neck. We prayed a simple prayer and later he was boasting his neck was all better, Praise God he uses just us simple people! The mountain pictures are the view from the view point lodge and the lodge itself! Kenya is such a beatiful country!

Hi everyone, I will try to make this bit shorter, I get to going on and on! We are all doing well! Christmas is just about apon us and the sun is still shinning the flowers are still bloming and I guess we live in paradise. We thank our family and friends who have sent us pictures of the snow back home the children and I are very grateful, we so love the snow. Horace is so very grateful for where we are he has always been able to do with out the snow. This week has been another eventful week we have had all sorts of trips and things to see and experience. We were taken by some neighbors to a view spot up in the mountains. They were both world class runners before they were married. They took us to St. Particts High School, in the town of Iten. This is a very successful and famous school where they develope world the fastes people in the world, literally! If you go out a mile or so from here you come to a view point where a man from Belguim built a resturant and cabins. It is a very b...

Hi all our loved ones in the states! We are still very on and off with the internet. We just today changed to a new service, prayfully it will help our concistancy. We have now had 3 birthdays and Thanksgiving in Kenya. Marvin's, Myself andd Troy's we had people from 9:30am to 10:30pm ,it was a great day' On Thanksgiving we were invited to the Church of Christ,Discipleship Colege, to have lunch with all the foreign missionaries. That means that everyone was white excet the 2 wemon whom we have met who are married to Americans. It was very odd for us at first because we had not seen a group of whites the whole time we have been here. There were about 50 of us counting children, the children we have never seen in town. There were some from America, Germany, Switzerland and France. The Europieans do not celebrate Thanksgiving obviously but they like to socilize with other white foke. It was a very nice day and the food was great! They invited us to a missions prayer time eac...

Hello Love ones! It has been awhile I apologize, we have not been able to work out all the kinks in the internet connection, I am not sure we ever will. So, TIA ( this is Africa ) We are making such good friends here. It is amazing how God is opening doors of relationship. We know you are praying! We have had some good news about the title, it will probably be in Justus Amunga's ( the pastor who has been helping CWH for awhile) name by the end of the month, now the real hurdle, is getting it in CWH"s name. Because it is a election year, all governmental paper work is at a stand still. God can do anything though, even move paper work from one desk to another and get people to sign it. The paperwork that needs to be pressed through is our NGO ( non Government Org.) then the title can be in CWH's name. Until this is done, I think I have already said this, but we are being told by many that it is not safe to build or improve your land unless it is in your name only, it is suc...

We got our "Children With Hope" van today! It just felt so good to have completed this important part of our purpose here. People are begining to reconize us, it was a God thing that we got a white van that looks alot like the van we rented. We are very pleased with it and can not wait to transport children! We have made a friend that is planning to take us out to a children's home that is near where CWH's property is located. He says that they are having success and they will be very happy to share how them came by success, so we can too. There is such a need here that everyone wants to see more successful homes started. We have made some very good friends already here. There are also many who would like a job building and or working at the center when it gets going. We are praying for people with the same heart and vision as CWH, to see Kenyan's help Kenyan's, to come alongside of us in this work. We know God has already spoken to those who will, we just nee...

Hi Everyone, Thank you all for the comments on this blog we so appreciate feed back. For Randi, these are some of the children at the orphanage we visited, they are all very sweet and we hope to continue our friendship with them and Angelina their care giver. We are getting buisier, only because we are meeting new people and kenyans are very friendly. They try to make you feel welcome when and where ever they can. We went down the road a bit on Friday evening to a graduation we were invited to. It was a real experience, our neighbor graduated college. She was 2 hrs late for her own party but hey everyone was ok with that. They served us food and drinks ( which were fabulus) and we all waited. We got there about 3:30 the party started at 2:00. We ate and visited until she and a bunch of people, we asume were at the graduation pulled up in a pickup truck about 6:00 there were 20 in all. They were singing and having a great time, no one was upset like I said. We congradulated her and talk...

Hi Everyone, we visited a small orphanage today. Our housekeeper Mary took us here. It was a nice facility at one time but now has been some what abandoned. We do not know all the detailes but there are only 5 children there. It was bit sad, but we had a great time with the children. We have talked with the Lawyer and will get to go out to the property ( the site of Tumaini Childrens Center ) where we will build on Monday. More later!

Hi everyone; we pray as we write this that all of you are living the kingdom life at it's fullest! Life here in Kenya is different but good. Marvin is doing very good, so is Josh thank-you for all the prayer we can really feel it. We got a opportunity to pray for a little girl the other day. She had malaria, the second time for her and she is only 1. We heard back that she was doing alot better and we are continuing to pray that she will never have it again that Jesus send the parisite back where it belonged on the otherside of the cross. We are praying that the curse of malaria be broken in this country, Amen. Please pray for the title to the land, we can start no construction on the land until we have a clear title. There have been unfortunate episodes here of buildings being built and and titles not being clear and the builders losing their buildings, this has happened even when christians were involved. So we feel it is wisdom to not start anything until it is clear. We are to...

Hi Everyone; This has taken me awhile but here we are. This week has been a exciting one! The plane ride was really great! The girls and Marvin did fantastic! We were met at the airport by everyone but our luggage. We did retrieve it on Tuesday afternoon, here in Eldoret. It deffinately looked like it had a hard time getting here. Most everything was still in it. Someone had put plastic security srips on it, they had to be cut off with a knife, Marvin slipped and got his leg. Our 1st trip to the medicle services of kenya! The doctor is a christian, Josh was glad to meet him, he may beable to help at some time. After Marvin got his stiches he passed out because of the meds and hit his head on the floor, God is good all the time. Marvin is good now his face bearly shows the marks, he is walking like a real person and his mother even survived this day. That was tuesday, wednsday Josh went for a jog and broke some bones in his foot, again God is good all the time because what could ha...

Hi everyone it is almost midnight here in Lewiston Idaho, USA but in Eldoret Kenya, Africa it is about to be 10:00 in the morning. We are flying out of Spokane at 6:00am on thursday, here in about 6 hrs. We will arrive in kenya at 8:45 Friday evening. Are we excited? Yes we are! Did we have tears saying goodbye to our friends and family, you bet! If we did not get to say goodbye to you and hug you personally we are doing it now. We love all of you so much. Know that it is your prayers that have kept this mom and grandmom going for the last few weeks. Please pray that we make it to meet up with Horace safely and that our seating arrangments are made by God. We must check in at each airport to get our seats and we need to sit at least one adult to one child. Horace asks for prayer on the bank account there, it was froze because they could not find his entry permit. Pray! Thank you all again for sending us and being with us in this journey to see God's will done in Kenya. PS Please pr...

Hi Loved ones, How can I express to you how dear you are to this family, those here and Horace in Africa. Your prayers and support are appriciated beyound expression. I am thinking that God had me ( Phyllis ) stay here in the states while Horace went so I could experience some of the trial of being left at home. Now I know how important the prayer is for everyone here. It has been difficult, to say the least. We have battled on serveral different fields, but God is good all the time. The kids and I are well again, thank you Jesus! Today our flights got changed because of problems in Kenya so we are flying out the 27th at 6:00 in the morning. Pray for flight mercies! Packing our life in a few suitcases is hilarious! We pack, rethink , unpack and pack again. We are spending as much time with our family as we can, particularly me and the grandchildren. Everyone is trying so hard to help us, it is awsome how our children are supporting all this when I know they have to be felling abit dese...

Hi Everyone, We love you all! We are so thankful for all your prayers, it just would not be the same with out them, we can all be sure of that. As I said before Horace is safely in Kenya. He spent about 6 days in Nairobi and then flew to Eldoret. He has not been successful yet, in finding a auto! We do need prayer for that one. It has been raining there for about 13 weeks and walking, which alot of the people do, is very burdensom. We have to far and to many places to travel to do much of that. He was able to see our rental and he says it will do very nicely for us and those wanting to come and help. It is quite large and everything we prayed for in the safety area. God is so good and He takes care of our every need, may He get all the Glory for what is accomplishe. We may even get to have high speed internet on different occations, Marvin is very excited about that. Horace is doing very well. He had a bit of jetlag and not feeling good while he was in Nairobi but says he is great now...

Hi Everyone, Just a quick note to let you know that Horace arived in Nairobi on Friday morning 7:00 or so Kenyan time, which is 10 hrs differnce, just in case you were wondering. He did not arrive with his bags, but they found them in London and they are sending them! Praise God! Please pray that this does not happen when the whole fam goes, because we do not have 3 or 4 days in Nairobi to hang around. Horace is there in Nairobi until he can find a car for all of us. Continue to pray for this it is the next answer we need. As soon as He finds a car he will be off to Eldoret not by himself, we have a Kenyan Pastor friend who will be traveling with him. Thank you Jesus! Please pray for road travel mercies and that the people who are helping Horace will see the blessing of the Lord in their lives. I have been a the Hunger Con. sence we dropped Horace off at the airport. Heidi Baker was on of the speakers and she spoke somethings right to my heart, more on that later. Thank you so much e...

Hi everyone I hope I will get better about keeping this up dated, I am sure I will when it is my main source of communication. For those who haven't heard we had our prayers answered and our sweet little Addison ( Jake & Randi's newest) is here, born August,17th . She seemed to be in a hurry and made it here 2 weeks before schedule. We had been praying for an early arrival so her and Grampa Horace could meet face to face. Praise God, they have had the opportunity to meet more than once. She is here pictured with her Uncle Marvin. We are all trying to hold her as much as we can. Next thing on the calendar is September 5th, Horace will fly out of Spokane at about 1:45 if his ticket every gets her from the travel agent. We haven't see it yet but again God has promised that He would provide for all our needs both here and there so we are standing on it. He is never early or late. The house that was being considered has come through and we recieved the lease agreement last w...

Hi,Everyone It has taken me awhile to get this on, thanks to our daughter Jess and her computer skills, we are here! We hope that this will be a easy way for us to keep everyone who is interested, up to date on how things are progressing for our trip to Kenya and then how we are doing after we get there. Also, we can hear back from all of you. Which we are really looking forward to. So, Horace is three weeks out now. He leaves on the 5th of Sept. The rest of us will leave 3 weeks after that on the 26th. At the beginning of the Month Horace built us a 5 X 8 ft. wall calendar to keep us aware of how our time was speeding by. Each morning we check out the do's for the day and what needs to be gathered. We have our suitcases lined up in our livingroom waiting to be packed with all the nessesities that we are gathering. We are in hopes that the space will accomodate the needs. There is a growing amount of space for this as we sell all our household goods trying to down size as much as p...