Baking at the Farm

By Sara:

I had the opportunity to teach the people who work at Berea Farm how to steam cakes. As usual, it is a really fun activity!  Also, I discovered that all of these people understand English WAY better than I speak Swahili because they were all copying down the recipes from English and could follow them without translation.  However, it's good for me that they choose to speak to me in Swahili because it forces me to keep practicing!

The fire was super smoky, but we didn't have to sit and watch the cakes cook, just to go check on them or to take them out.

The final product - a maize cake! (cornbread)

As you can see, everyone had a great time.  Baking cakes might not necessarily earn people money, but it certainly fills lives with joy, which is a gift from God.  The next week, I asked if anyone had made any cakes at home.  Three of these ladies said that they had already made several each!

Skillet Baking with Students

By Sara:

On the first week of classes at Berea this term, most of the students came late.  Since my practical class fell on the first day of class, I decided to do something fun with the three 3rd year students who were there.  We invited the one 2nd year student who had arrived at the college to join us as well as the cooks.  Everyone had lots of fun making biscuits and scones and seeing how easy they are to bake.  (The best part was tasting them, of course!)

We used a slice of plastic water bottle to cut our baked goods into circles:

At the end, since we had time and the materials, we also made flour tortillas, which the students said were like healthy chapatti and would be nice for those who don't like eating things with lots of cooking oil!

Not much was left after everyone had eaten their fill!  (They saved most of the tortillas to eat with their dinner that night)

Baringo Church Visit

By Sara:

After six months of being in Kenya, we finally went out of Nakuru for our first church visit (in early January)!  One of the part-time lecturers at Berea College is a pastor in the main Anglican church in Marigat, which is in a district called Baringo.  It is to the north-west of where we live and is at a lower elevation, so it is much hotter and drier than Nakuru.

It was really nice to be able to visit a church again.  We've been so busy during the school term that it is too tiring to also have Sunday be a long work day.  But over the Christmas holiday, between terms, we were able to do it.

Here we are with Rev. John, his wife Jane, and their son Parmenas (named after one of the Seven in Acts 6:

Here is the front of the church.  The service was in Swahili and we were able to follow along in the prayer books.  Our Swahili is not that good, but we know enough that we understood what was going on!  Anthony preached in English, though, and the members of the congregation understood him.  I think that a lot of times, people know English very well, but are nervous to try speaking it.  I can definitely feel for them, because they know English WAY better than I know Swahili and even when I can understand someone speaking in Swahili, I don't feel very confident in my ability to respond.

We had the interesting experience of meeting Donald Trump at this church...  Okay, not the US president, but this child who was baptized that Sunday:

(Anthony wants you to know that his hair isn't weird in this photo below - there are just flowers on the wall behind him!)  Rev. John's son Parmenas is a very active kid and enjoyed hanging out in front of Anthony while he preached.  Anthony preached about justification, the same topic as he preached about in Soroti in December.  The church appreciated it very much and Rev. John commented that it is a very clear and important message for people to know and understand.

After church, as people go out, they shake hands with the pastor, then join the greeting line.  As more people come out, they keep shaking hands and going to the end of the line.  By the time everyone has come outside, the whole congregation has greeted everyone else and then they stand in this big circle and share the grace ("May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all now and forevermore").  It was a really nice way to end the service because all of the members of the church got to see and greet each other and show their unity as the body of Christ.

After the service, I had the opportunity to teach some of the church members how to bake cakes by steaming them.  The people I taught are part of a microfinance group in the church (like a savings group) and Rev. John made it clear to them that they were learning these skills so they can teach other people (he even mentioned this to the whole church!) so I hope that they will indeed share with others.  Here I am explaining what different ingredients are in the recipes and what they do for a cake.

What better way to end a training than tasting cake?

We talked about how you can tell whether a cake is done or not by sticking a toothpick in the middle and seeing if there is batter or crumbs left on it.

It was a new experience for me to teach without a translator, since all of the people there were able to speak and understand English.  It's something that encourages me to keep studying hard on Swahili, because when you can communicate with people, you can get to know them better and actually form more than a superficial relationship with each other.  Below is me with a friend of John and Jane who was visiting them this weekend, and Jane.

And the two reverends:

Conservation Agriculture Potatoes

By Sara:

Unfortunately for the students, in the practical class I had with the Berea College students, we planted our demonstration garden in October.  As a result, the potatoes were ready to harvest in December, while the students were away on vacation.  The good news is that they did get to see the garden as the potatoes were growing and could compare the size of the plants and how well they were growing.  And I took pictures of the potato harvest so I can share them with the class when they come back to school.

So, as a result of this situation, I harvested the potatoes, with help from Anthony.

It was a lot of work because we ended up with between 250 and 300 pounds of potatoes!  Even with Anthony's help, it took 7 hours to harvest all the potatoes, sort them, and divvy them up between the college kitchen and myself.  But on the other hand, since it has been really dry, the potatoes came out of the soil pretty easily and were quite clean.  Here is the empty field after harvesting:

And the final product from the three different plots:

You should know that there was absolutely no rain for the last 6 weeks that the potatoes were growing (that is half of time they were in the ground).  We did three different plots, each with a different technique.  I'm going to explain what each one was and tell you about the potatoes from each.  In the picture above, the plots go from left to right: 1, 2, 3, as described below.  Let me tell you about my observations from this experiment.  I was actually rather surprised at what happened. 

1. In the first plot, we did not dig up the soil, but only dug a trench where we planted the potatoes, with manure as fertilizer.  Then, we covered the whole plot with mulch.  As the potato plants grew, we added more mulch around them.  I was hoping that this plot would do the best because it would demonstrate the benefit of conservation agriculture.  But of course, I was nervous that it wouldn't actually be that good.  Well, it did turn out to be the best one!  The amount of potatoes was about the same as one of the other plots, but the potatoes themselves were bigger overall, with less worm damage than those in the other plots.  It was also pretty easy to harvest the potatoes because they weren't very deep in the soil, but just under the mulch.

2. In this plot, we also did not dig up all the soil and only dug a trench where we planted the potatoes with manure as fertilizer.  Then, we intercropped peas in between the rows of potatoes.  Unfortunately, sheep ate all of the pea plants, so we didn't get to see how intercropping could benefit potatoes.  However, it seems that it did benefit the potatoes to not dig up the soil.  The amount of potatoes was about the same as in the plot with mulch, but there were not as many big ones.

3. In this plot, we dug up the soil everywhere, then planted the potatoes with manure for fertilizer and heaped the soil up around the potato plants as they grew.  I was actually quite surprised to discover that this plot did the worst.  There were less potatoes than in the other two plots, they were smaller, and they had more damage from worms.  We would have to repeat the experiment again to see if the results would be the same, but in this case, maybe because there was so little rain, the "traditional way" of growing potatoes lost.

So, it was a good experiment.  Hopefully the staff of the college and the students will benefit from hearing about/seeing the results.  In the meantime, Anthony and I are eating like the Irish did before potato blight.  Except that we also have an abundance of avocados...

Later, when the students got back to the college, I cooked some of the potatoes for them.  The agreement was that if they cleaned them (cut off bad spots, etc.), I would cook the potatoes.  The students were a little dismayed when I told them not to peel the potatoes because they had never eaten potatoes with the peels on before!  But they were pretty small, so I told them it would be a good, new experience for them and the potato peels are more nutritious that way anyway.  After they ate them, Anthony asked what they thought about the peels and they told him that the potatoes tasted really good like that!

Becoming Student Dean (and wildlife pictures)

By Anthony:

This new year, starting in January, I was appointed to be Student Dean here at Berea College.  I am excited to carry out this position, because it will force me to do more of what I wanted to do anyways, which is spending time talking to the students, caring for them, doing conflict resolution, hearing about their needs, and praying for them.   Those are things I already felt called to do, but before it was easy to feel too busy and not actually spend the time that was necessary.  Now that it’s my position, it has given me that needed push to take the time to really get into the lives of the students.  This has proved fruitful already.

There is also a Pastoral Dean, Rev. Martha, who is a new tutor at the college who started this January.  She is in charge of the chapel and student internships among other things.  We will work closely together as we try to care for the students.

In my new position, I will hopefully be seen as not only a friend to the students, but also an authority figure.  There is great need of more discipline at this college and the principal really wants me to help the students grow in maturity and in following rules.  Sara and I have also seen this need, and both of us are going to really focus on helping the students grow spiritually and in character this semester.

A new thing is that I am now leading the students every Tuesday morning with Rev. Martha through a series of practical discussions about spiritual growth and character.  We will focus on how to grow in our character in several areas such as our devotional lives, spiritual disciplines, how we relate to others, sinful behaviors/addictions, etc.  To begin, I am taking the students through Meier's Briggs Personality tests to learn about themselves, and their strengths and weaknesses.  They are having a lot of fun with it so far.  But soon we will take things to a more serious level, looking at character and our spiritual lives. 

When we came to the college we had not agreed to take on any extra positions like this.  Because of that, I agreed to be Student Dean if I could only teach three classes this semester.  I need time to be able to not only do my work here, but other work with World Renew as well.  So now this term I have three classes which are: Theology of Development, Homiletics (which includes preaching and hermeneutics both), and Church History 2 (mainly about the Reformation period).  Please pray that both Sara and I would be able to have good class discussions and good conversations with students, and that God would use us to help students to grow in faith, love, and holiness, and that we would care for them well.

But Caleb also wants to make sure that we don't forget to care for him too:

And we have to remember to care for ourselves too.  So over the holidays, we went to Lake Nakuru National Park, Hell's Gate National Park, and a tiny zoo next to the college.  Because we have work permits in Kenya, we were able to go to these parks for extremely minimal cost.  And with very minimal travel - one of the privileges of living 30 minutes to 2 hours away from so many national parks.

Pictures from Lake Nakuru National Park:

We didn't see the lion hunting, but saw it eating.

The same kill a couple hours later:

Pictures from the zoo sort of place next to the college:  (Ostriches are big)

Pictures from Hell's Gate National Park:

We hiked through a gorge.  It was very unique and fun.

A rock hyrax (we think it looks kind of like a small ROUS):

Making America Great again?

By Anthony:

Trying to make America great is not a bad thing in itself.  Patriotism is a good thing, and all people of all countries should be trying to develop and improve their nations, to make them great.  I’m all for it, and even for taking reasonable measures and reasonable military spending to keep our country safe.  I agree with C.S. Lewis that patriotism is a love of home, and how can you begin to love other people and other nations if you don't even love your own home first?  However, I feel very uncomfortable with a lot of what I hear politicians and other leaders saying recently about “making America great again.”  For some context of what I'm talking about, here are a few words from our President's inauguration speech:

"We've defended other nation’s borders while refusing to defend our own;

And spent trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.

We’ve made other countries rich while the wealth, strength, and confidence of our country has disappeared over the horizon.

One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions upon millions of American workers left behind."

"From this moment on, it’s going to be America First."

"Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families.

We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs.  Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength."

Let me say at the outset of this post for those that don't know me, that I am quite conservative and most of the time I vote Republican.  Even so, these kinds of statements disturb me.  Many politicians and others seem to be saying: “Let’s make ourselves great by focusing on ourselves, our challenges, and our interests, and not worry about other countries and their problems.”  

Perhaps part of my discomfort is because I am a missionary and live overseas away from my home country.  So it's natural for me to care just as much about, say Kenyans, as I do Americans.  I understand why American Christians would think that we should care for Americans first. Even in the Bible, it is clear that there is an order of priority for who we should help first and care most about.  There are biblical commands stressing the importance of caring for our immediate families and our local churches (1 Timothy 5:8, Galatians 6:10).  It is natural and right to care more for those that you have responsibility over and for those that are close to you in proximity.  But I contend that caring for people close to us does not necessitate ignoring the problems of those farther away.

Let me explain why the statements about putting America first bother me.  There are several reasons:

• This seems narcissistic or selfish on a national level.  I realize that a nation is not the same as an individual Christian, and the leaders of a nation do have a duty, given by God, to care for the interests of their citizens.  However, caring for our interests does not entail framing our national interests as “us vs. them.”  It seems very wrong to try to care for American interests if that means doing so against the interest of others or doing so while ignoring the terrible problems in the rest of the world and the vast numbers of people living in poverty, war-torn countries, etc.
       
• Wealth is not a zero-sum game.  If China develops, or African nations develop and become more prosperous, it does not entail the USA becoming less prosperous.  Wealth is not a pie that has to be divided up into pieces.  Wealth can be created.  This has been a controversial argument at times, but it’s common sense when you realize that almost all people on the earth right now are far more prosperous and developed than people living in this world 500 years ago. See this article - A History of Global Living Conditions in 5 Charts.  Almost all countries are developing and standards of living are going up all over the place.  Why? Because we can develop and grow and prosper together.   We don't have to grow at the expense of others.  So it does not make sense to say that the USA is losing its wealth because other countries are starting to prosper.
   
  In addition, what I've learned from textbooks on development (and in every board game or video game that includes trading) is that if you work with other countries, instead of being isolationist, and you trade, then everyone benefits and develops.  When you try to grow on your own without working together with others, when you refuse to trade, you get left behind as everyone else grows.  Isolationism and wars keep everyone back.  The best way to grow prosperous is to allow for the growth, development, and prosperity of everyone.  So the USA should not be so self-focused and so paranoid about competition.   
  And besides, why is it the end of the world if another country surpasses the USA economically?  Don't we realize that many people, who are not American, living in other countries around the world, live very happy lives even though their countries are not the #1 economy in the world?  I imagine our fear of losing that #1 slot makes us seem very insecure in the eyes of other countries.
  
  I understand there is some fear that we are losing jobs in the United States to people in other countries.  I can't imagine how painful it would be to be unemployed and not know how you will support your family.  But I care about an Indian or African person having that pain just as much as I care about Americans dealing with that pain.  In our globalized world, these people seem to me to be just as much my neighbors as fellow Americans.  And the needs in other countries sometimes are 10 times more dire than the needs of the people in our country.  Is it really such an awful thing when a company hires Indians, instead of Americans? Shouldn't we be happy that those Indians are getting great jobs, jobs which can help them provide not only for their families but their extended families as well?
   
• The USA is already great, one of the most developed, prosperous, free, and just countries on earth.  As many challenges and moral problems that we have in the USA, we are still one of the great nations in this world.  Even many of our poorest people in our nation have very good standard of livings compared to people in the rest of the world.  And we have a country with wonderful freedoms and so many good innovations.  And our country has been at the forefront in trying to make many good moral changes in this world.  In the worldwide Church, our theologians, song writers, biblical translations, commentaries, pastors, theologians, aid workers, doctors, etc. are influencing people all over the world.   Are we really so insecure about our prosperity?  Are we really in that bad of shape in the USA?  Do we really have to live in fear and rally the war cry of putting the USA first?
     
• Part of what makes the USA great is all the great things we've done in the world, such as our generous aid to help people in other countries.  If we were to stop and focus only on ourselves, we might be great in our own eyes, but would we be great in the eyes of people around the world?  Would we be great in God's eyes?   In other blog posts, I have been very critical of aid.  But please understand me.  I'm not against aid and generosity.  I'm only against how some of the aid is distributed and how in some cases it causes dependency or encourages corruption. But I would love for Americans to give even more aid and be even more generous.  I also hope that we can do so in a wise way that helps instead of hurting.  Part of what makes us great is our service to other nations around the world, whether we are fighting to eradicate disease, welcoming in refugees and immigrants, providing relief food after disasters, sending our military to protect the innocent, or promoting freedom and democracy.  Were we to stop these things and focus only on ourselves, we would start to become more insignificant, rather than greater. 

All those arguments aside, how do we think about this as Christians?  At the end of the day, we have to remember that before we are citizens of the USA, we are citizens of another Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.  The USA is not my home.  Kenya is not my home.  This world is not our home.  We look forward to our true home, the renewed heavens and earth, the Kingdom of God, the fellowship with our Lord Jesus face to face. 

While I need to respect the leaders of my earthly nation, it is to my King Jesus that I owe my ultimate allegiance, and my King laid down his life to die for me, while I was yet his enemy, enslaved to sin.  He calls me to follow his example.  As he has forgiven me and loved me, so I am also called to forgive and to love, even my enemies.  My King calls me to live a vastly different life than those around me.  It is my King who said, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."  I live and serve and struggle and love ultimately not for the good of my nation, but for my loving King, who is the King of all nations and all people.