NEWS END OF JULY 2012

Dear Friends,

There were monkeys everywhere around my house in Maseno that day. I playfully (?) threw a rock up into a tree at a few of them, then a few sticks the same. On leaving the compound to get lunch, I joked with folks sitting at the gate that they should catch me a monkey so that we could cook it. . . . 40 minutes later I came back to the distressed announcement that two young monkeys had entered my house through a space in an open window. I’d left that space every day I’ve been in that house at Maseno; almost a year. Today I had obviously upset the monkeys. It’s as if they understood me joking about "cooking them". Two of them were on an errand of revenge. I eventually got the two monkeys to run out of the door. They had left poo and pee all over the house . . . ! Maybe I won’t throw sticks at monkeys anymore, and I’ll be more careful who’s listening when I talk about the monkeys . . .

“God will do this for you if you will only believe . . ." was the message AGAIN at a church recently. It is amazing how many Bible passages are in this area interpreted to say just this. The preacher repeated the same point again and again in a variety of ways; if you truly believe, then you are bound to be blessed! I usually attend a church with little or no notice of my coming. That way, if they already have an appointed speaker, I get to hear him. If it was only me (or students) speaking everywhere I went, I would not realise just how strongly "prosperity" the preaching is in this area.

A British colleague who visits Yala every year has just written a humorous book about his own battles with the devil. The people and contexts he meets with are well known to me. Here is a link to the book.

As I write I am in Nairobi visiting the Africa International University. I have already had some good meetings with people. More to come before I go home on Friday. Saturday is the KIST graduation. Your prayers valued.

Best wishes,

Jim