NEWS MID OCTOBER 2014

Dear Friends,

Our day of encouraging missionaries in this area to take study of the Luo and Swahili languages seriously went very well. A total of nine missionaries from different denominations came for either or both events and we had a fun time working on language learning! I was particularly encouraged through being able to discuss aspects of the Luo language with some missionaries who had already made major efforts to learn it. This enabled us to go into some depth looking at what words actually mean to the people as they use them inside and outside of the church. Here are a few pictures taken during the day.

“Who wants to go to heaven” the crowd at the funeral was asked, and apparently almost everyone raised their hand. “Who wants to die” was asked subsequently, and apparently no-one raised their hand. But you can’t go to heaven unless you die?! No-one wants to die. Everyone WILL die. That is totally illogical. At the same time, we all understand the sentiment. When Christ comes will he find faith? Or will he find us all just too busy trying to avoid the inevitable?

There is something strange . . . I go to many places and meet many people. If the people don’t already know me, almost invariably they express amazement at my knowledge of the Swahili and Luo languages. Amazingly though, when I talk to the sick as I visit them here in the Coptic hospital, I use Swahili and Luo, and no one has yet expressed any surprise. It is as if sick and dying people just expect that one use their language! Maybe in heaven everyone uses and is addressed in their own language?

My mother and Kathe Webb, both of Andover Baptist Church, are due to arrive here on 10th October. We are looking forward to 10 days together around Kisumu, Maseno, Kakamega and Yala, then a few more days in Nairobi till they are to leave again for England on the 23rd October.

Jim