Teacher Dorm

So We have been able to go from this:

To this in just under 3 weeks!! It is very exiting to see everything going up and see the excitement of the teachers. It is a very well built building and should give years of service.

Teachers House

Here are some pictures of the new teachers dorm we are building. Currently the teachers are staying at the near by county council housing and have been asked to try and find other means of housing. This will be 2 totally separate rooms and will house 2 teachers. I was asked by the headmaster yesterday if I could build another one before leaving in March for our 1 year furlough. I was hoping to have at least a week of strees freeness before leaving but we will see what happens. The Lord is good in giving us this opportunity to help out down at the school and be involved in the community in this way.

What is A Travis???

As I was walking through one of the boma's yesterday with one of my friends I hear one of the kids from behind us say "that is a Travis" and he was pointing at me. My friend and I looked at each other and laughed and the kid said it again "that is a Travis" apparently he was telling one of his friends what a Travis was.

Our girls

It has been a while since I have written on our blog. I have been quite busy with my girls. Skylar, our baby, is growing like a weed. Already two months and smiling at us! Oh how sweet. Savannah is pretty much the center of attention with all her energy. She keeps us busy! Summer just started Kindergarden and is loving it. She also lost her 1st tooth. Sarah is in the 2nd grade now and also a big help around here. I stay pretty busy helping my girls and Travis through out the day! God is good and I am so thankful for my family!

Mbiten School

The other day Shayne and I had a meeting with what we thought was going to be the elders of the community that Mbiten school is in. This is the place where we hope to put a spring box in to help supply the school and community with water. Right now they have to walk through the bush almost 1 mile to get water. As we arrived we quickly saw it was more than just the elders it was about 50 people, men women and children. To my surprise the picture below was of them starting the meeting by wanting to pray!!! During these meetings most of the time every man gets a chance to stand up and say his part. There were only a couple in this one that stood up. Shayne as well as myself stood up and shared about what we would like to see happen with the water, they were all very much in agreement and happy. At one point I leaned over and asked Shayne " Do you ever just look around and think, here we sit out in the middle of a huge field in the scorching sun listening to a people that we cant even understand?" We both laughed and were happy we can help.

Some of the young children making the long hike to gather water.
This is a spring box done by one of the NGO's about 2 miles away from where we hope to do one for the school. This one does not work because of poor construction. It was full of frogs and snake skins as the water just runs underneath it.

Water at the gate!!!

Today was a very fun day for me. We were able to take the overflow of the school tank and pipe it into a smaller tank to supply to the community. The water has just been continually running on the ground and we are in a drought. Pretty sad to watch all that good water go to waste. The people were not telling me they love me , but were saying they know that I love them for helping do this.

It was hot, we had to have a little fun to.

The overflow being hooked up to the small tank for the community, it was very slick up there, God was gracious.

8 hour 55 mile 4-wheeler ride

We went out yesterday on what was supposed to be a quick visit to Olesere a village 16 miles away. We ended up taking one of the guys there to show us 2 schools several miles beyond Olesere. We were able to see the schools and the water sources for each one. the first picture below is one of 2 buildings that close to 100 children go to school. Kindergarten and 1st grade. each building was about 15x25. The nearest water source was 3/4 of a mile away. The other pictures are of a school that schools 470 kids 1st -8th grade and the nearest water source was about a mile and a half away. We had a wonderful trip despite the fact we missed lunch. Lunch seems like a small thing in comparison to carrying water to survive from a mile away. It was great to get out and meet other folks and see the needs that are out there.Mbiten school 23 miles from our houseOne water source at Mbiten schoolEdonia Erinka school 28 miles from our house

Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to tell you all that this morning we had a lady come up in front of the church and say she wanted to be saved!! As I started playing the benediction song I saw this woman come up immediately. I almost could not play it shocked me so much and I was so excited. As Shayne explained the Gospel to her more in depth at the end I could only stand there with tears in my eyes. Sometimes we wonder why we are even here after years of seeing no salivations and after today it all is very well worth it. It is a great reminder that salvation belongs to God and no amount of persuasion or saying the right thing can ever save a persons soul only God is the One who can do that. Her name is Melua Mary Koshal. She has 5 children and is 32 years old. She said she was lost and has heard several different things about God in the past but after hearing today she wanted to be saved. Please keep her in your prayers as the hard road is ahead in her culture. She has already went very much against that grain by even coming forth in a public setting. I will try to get a picture later this week. Rejoice with us this day.

Vitamin C overdose

Our fellow Missionaries were just in re-supplying for the month and we sent them with a list for us as well. Normally you just hand your list in and the store puts your list together. I had written on there 30 oranges and somehow they translated that into 30kg!! That is 66lbs of oranges we now have. Looks like we will get plenty of vitamin C this month. That is if they survive Savannah.

Happy 32nd Birthday Laura

Happy birthday to my amazing wife who is an amazing woman and an awesome mom. You are the best.Check out the cake, Sarah and Summer made it by themselves.

Updated fuel store pics

Just so you know Sarah B took most of these pictures.

Hello

Sorry for the long delay in posting. Ever since we have returned we have been just flooded with things. Laura as you can imagine has had her hands very full. Fortunately one of our missionary friends from Kijabe was able to come for a week and help, she has been such a blessing. I have returned to trying to finish up projects at the school, here at home, teaching devotions every morning leading music and this weekend Shayne will be taking guests back to the airport so add preaching Sunday into my list of things. It is all good though and we are very thankful the Lord is able to use us in any way He seems fit. The headmaster approached me again the other day and apparently has received money to build a teachers house that will house 2 teachers. So I will probably start on that as soon as we can get the other stuff finished at the school. He is hoping to start in the next couple weeks. I will post pictures of project things soon. Thank you for your prayers.

Skylar Bliss

Hello World my name is Skylar Bliss Sawyer I came into the world at 10:30am Kenya time. I weighed in at 7lbs 6oz and I was 19 inches long. I cant wait to meet all of you one day.

Locked out!!

Today started as an awesome day. I had yearly vehicle inspection that can and has taken up to 4-5 hours, but today I had an ace in my hand, a pregnant wife who will have a baby in less than 2 days, a sleeping baby in the back seat and 2 other small girls. So I pulled out everything I had and it worked. In under 30 minutes we were finished! It was record time. So we were feeling really good about ourselves and went to the store to get some food and as the door swung shut I reached to my pocket to feel for my keys and yep they were in the truck. Laura looked at me in panic saying we have to figure something out quick. It would have only been worse if her water had broken at about that time. I said go on in get some food I got this. First of all you should know that metal clothes hangers are rare here, in fact I have never seen one to purchase So I had to buy a whole roll of fencing wire, and then had to strand 3 pieces together to get it stiff. 2 hours later I was still there. The lock button for some reason had decided not to work. Finally one of the 6 guys who thouht they were helping got lucky and caught the lock lever and pulled it open. Needless to say we were very relieved and happy to be in our truck again. Some of you might say "don't you have spare keys?" Well of course I do, I keep them in the glove box:)

Happy Birthday Travis!!

That's right, Travis turned 29 today!! He is getting old. We had a lovely day and took him to the movies to watch Ice age 3. Sarah and Summer drew pictures for their dad and Sarah made the banner hanging behind him.


Happy Birthday Daddy.