Bwanabob

1/27/2002

Dear Friends,
Ericka and I have been fine here in Turkana, it’s warm, but the clouds keep getting closer and closer to us and we know the rains can’t be too far away.

This last week we had our first Bible Institute classes for 2002. We have 6 third years students and 13 new students in our first year class. Everything went well, we had just enough classroom space to accommodate everyone. Pastor Areng took over my responsibilities with the budget and did a fine job of keeping tabs on everything.

Pray for our new students, we have 6 men and 7 ladies, 6 of whom have small babies. The ladies with their little ones have presented new challenges, but they’re quite eager to learn more about God’s Word and help impart that knowledge to the children and ladies back in their home churches. Just pray that the classes will remain effective even with all the distractions that six little ones bring. Among the new students, there are several who aren’t able to read very well, pray the Lord will give them the desire to read better and that they will be able to understand all the printed material we are passing out.

Our third year students are proving to be faithful. Two of them have committed to living part time in villages where we have preaching points that we hope will grow into new churches. Marko Ekonon is going to Lokapel and Michael Lolimo is going to Napong, please remember these two young men in prayer. I would ask you pray the Lord to give me wisdom in how to help them. Definitely, I’m able to provide them with all the money they would need, but in doing that I would be taking ministry and blessings away from their home churches. Just pray we come to the right balance between their home churches helping them and how I help them.

Another ministry our third year students have started is an Adult Education class (reading and simple math) at our Lodwar church. After church the students announced they would begin teaching the classes this week, there were about 8 church members who have committed to attending the classes. The government hires teachers to do the very same thing, but it seems the vast majority of these teachers are drunks who rarely show up to teach their classes. Pray that our students will be faithful and stick with their class until they realize success with their new pupils. We hope the students in Lodwar will encourage students from the other churches to start Adult Education classes as well.

Building. Our new Bible Institute classes are coming along well. The block walls have been built up to the height where we need to pour a concrete lintel/ring-beam on the top of the wall before building higher. I’m not sure if we’ll finish before next month, but we hope to.

Ericka’s ministry is going very well. The market ministry was done completely by the church members of Lodwar this last week, four came to accept Christ and of those two came to church this Sunday! Ericka is really pushing ahead in learning Swahili and I know the ladies at the Bible Institute certainly appreciate her teaching and desire to communicate with them.

Thank you all for remembering to pray for us, please continue to pray the Lord give us wisdom and strength to do His work here in Turkana.

In Christ, Bob Clark

1/7/2002

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year from Turkana! Ericka and I are fine and have had some nice fellowship with other missionaries here during the holidays.

After Christmas I started thinking about an Eskimo custom where a well-off, contented man has a get together with his family and closest friends and gives away all his prized possessions; rifle, boat, snowmachine, ivory carvings, ect. Then Ericka and I talked about weather we would be able to give away our stuff and what would be hard to part with. From time to time I’m able to get a handle on the blessing that less is more, but am constantly thinking of new things I “need”. Granted we need “tools” to get our work done, but those Eskimos are onto something.

The Sunday before last I rode the motorcycle out to visit two of our churches in south Turkana. Our Bible Institute students in those places are doing a fine job of leadership, teaching and evangelizing nearby villages. I had rode out to meet with the Christians and also try and meet Pastor Areng who has been working to start a new church in Lokapel. Lokapel is about 35 miles beyond where I had ridden to, but I knew that Pastor Areng would be passing by the two churches I visited before heading on to his home village of Lorogumu. Unfortunately, I didn’t meet him, but received a report of good work at Lokapel but difficult circumstances. Please remember to pray for Pastor Areng and his family as he labors there to start a new church. Just for pastor Areng to get from his village to Lokapel he has to travel by foot or bicycle through bush infested with thieves and wild animals. He’s no stranger to the area, but we certainly pray for Gods protection on him. I was so very encouraged by the churches, young leaders and Pastor Areng’s vision to start a new church. I just pray that I’ll continue to help push the work ahead and not bring in any weakness.

There’s never a lack of interesting circumstances in Turkana. On the ride back to Lodwar I tried to follow the riverbed back to town rather than drive on the road. I left the road, drove a mile or so over to the river, but there was still some water flowing so I turned back through the bush to get to the road again. I was following a large goat trail through the bush thinking that there would be no way I could miss the road when I crossed it again, but I did. There had been so many animals using the path they wiped out all traces of the road where I passed it. Needles to say I made it back home, just had to do a bit of backtracking.

We’ve started on foundations for the first permanent building at the Bible Institute. The work looks first rate and hopefully we can keep it that way through completion. We’re not sure if we’ll be able to finish the building before classes this month, but we’ll sure try. As plan “B” the Lodwar church has agreed to build a house for their pastor that we can use as a temporary classroom if we don’t finish in time. I’ve agreed to supply local materials and the church members will provide the labor. We have also started trying to put a grade on our BI plot. When it rains there the whole place turns into a perfect mud rink. It gets so greasy and mucky it would be impossible to even play mud football. So, we’re digging some drainage trenches and trying to elevate the areas we use.

Be praying for Ericka, we are planning to have a ladies class at the BI and she’ll be teaching one or two lessons in Swahili. Her Swahili is pretty good and she uses it quite a bit in town and around the house, but I know she’ll have to work hard to teach with it. Also, pray for Ericka’s feet. She had a bout some months back with something like, “jungle rot.” This is no ordinary athletes foot, last time we had to go to Eldoret to get medicine and cool weather to clear it up. The stuff is coming back now and she’s doing everything to keep it at bay.

Had a meeting with the pastors this last week, we talked a bit about plans for this next year and our graduation for this year weighed heavy. We would like some stuff and hope that a few can help gather these items.

We would like GRADUATION GOWNS AND CAPS. Color isn’t really an issue if we have at least six the same color with enough various other colors for the teachers and I to wear that would be great.

We would like TWO AWARD MEDALS for our best male and female students.

If anyone has a house sized bubble we could live in for the next few months it would really help us deal with dust. Just kidding. We were able to go to Lake Turkana with some friends, finally caught a Nile Perch, 25 pounds. The lake water was cool and refreshing, just remembering that the lake is only one and a half hours from our house makes Turkana feel cooler.

Pray that we will hold to Jesus’ last command to go everywhere, teach and preach the things that He taught us. Only Jesus can change peoples hearts and lives. This last week the Toposa, the tribe living just north of the Turkana people, raided a group of Turkana migrating near their area. In all there were 74 people killed, most of them women and children. Evidently, the Toposa had an attack plan to hit where they wouldn’t be resisted. Usually, when the Turkana migrate, all the families travel in the front behind a few scouts, all of the herds bring up the rear which is guarded by the armed men. From what we heard the Toposa attacked the front of the migration and fled before any warriors were able to get there. Don’t worry about Ericka and I, we live about 5 hours drive from the area of the attack, do pray for the Turkana and Toposa people and their need for Jesus.

Thank you all for praying for us, continue to pray the Lord to give us safety and health to continue in the work He has called us to. Thank you all for being such a blessing to us, may God richly bless your lives in this new year.

In Christ, Bob Clark