Quick Update

Hi friends and family,

There has been so much happening on this end and not a minute to write about all of it!

First of all, THANK YOU Refuge family. We got your cards of encouragement and all of your gifts that you sent for Baby Ben! What a blessing. (For those that aren't at Refuge, our church family sent us DOZENS of cards with an amount of money they contributed towards Benny for a baby shower. Some index cards had an amount of money for diapers, clothes, wipes, baby blankets...everything one would get for a baby shower! We were and are beyond blessed. We also received those that contributed towards getting us our plane tickets for our furlough coming up in October of 2011. We were so touched at such thoughtful gifts.)

Living Water Christian Fellowship is doing amazing. We've been going through Hebrews 11 and the church is excited to look at the pillars of the faith and be encouraged. What a blessing!

The midweek studies are doing well. We have just a few that attend but they are growing in the word of God. The midweek studies will have the month of December off and will pick up in January. I, Adrienne, have had the privilege (thanks to my super duper husband) of attending the Wednesday study through Revelation. Truly exciting times we are living in!

The Fergusons will be moving AGAIN! We have some German missionary friends that will be leaving the country for 8 months and needed house sitters. And seeing as that we have a VERY expensive plane trip to pay for and they were willing to charge half the rent we are paying now, we jumped at the opportunity! Moving day is 8 days before Christmas. With that, please pray for our house lady whom we employ, Mary. She needs a job and right now there is nothing that has come her way. Also for a woman who lives with us named Agnus. Angus and Mary are both sweet sisters in the Lord whom we care deeply for. Agnus also needs a job.

Jonathan and Robbie, pastor of our church, received and exciting opportunity to do a Bible answer program on a local radio station called, "Family Radio". The one hour program is titled "The Mirror". The idea came from the verse in James chapter one which says, " Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do." Kenyans can text in their questions and have them answered live. The first airing of the radio program was tonight and went well. Please keep the program in prayer as Jonathan will be assisting answering the questions with Robbie a few times a month on Sunday nights.

We had an excellent Thanksgiving. We had all the traditional food we would normally have in the States. Every person contributed food to bring so our great big Thanksgiving had about 40 people including kids. We ate Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, mango salad, rolls, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake and a great big chocolate cake to celebrate some birthdays. We had a great time and left the house in a turkey coma! (Sound familiar?)

We didn't make the group Thanksgiving pic because we were running late but here are the neat missionaries we spent Thanksgiving with.

The Lord Bless you this holiday season and we will shoot out another update very soon!

Love,
The Fergusons

Never a dull moment...

As I leave the house this morning, I glance at the dresser and see my camera. "I should take this today," I say to myself. "Right, when am I going to have time to take pictures of the kids at the playground when I'm most likely going to be nursing, holding the baby and feeding the kids lunch." So I leave it on the desk, safe and secure and unable to give you the evidence of today's adventure.
Today Jonathan is studying for Sunday service. Every third Sunday Jonathan teaches as well as Mondays, Fridays and occasionally Wednesdays. Today was the perfect opportunity to get the kids out of the house so daddy can study in peace and quiet. Days like this usually mean an adventure, to say the least, for mommy.
I leave the house, hopeful that today will go somewhat smoothly. 3 year old Josiah, 2 year old Christopher and 8 week old Ben are in the car, ready to terrorize the day. As we pull up to Carnivore, a local restaurant and playground, I grab the kid's packed lunch, pull out the stroller and pull out an anxious Josiah and Christopher and a screaming Ben. I can feel my cappuccino on the horizon, just inside Carnivore. We navigate through the parking lot as I crazily banter directions to the kids so they just get inside the doors of Carnivore safely. We get to the playground and the boys sit down for lunch at a nearby bench. Their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches resting on their foil "plates" and the boys begin to eat. I nurse the baby. "Okay, things are going smoothly, I'll just go a few feet away to tell the waiter to bring a coffee." I get up, order the coffee and I look up to see the kids have left the bench to go on the slide despite my directions to sit and eat and then play after they have finished. I give the waiter my order when I hear two screams from the playground.
I look towards the slide as I see a monkey enter into the play area. I run over to the play area where two stiff-screaming boys are holding pieces of their sandwiches. One monkey, perched on top of the bench, with a mouth full of peanut butter and jelly, glares at me out of the corner of his eye, worried I will take the remaining sandwiches. I take the kids away from the monkey and carry them safely to another area. The monkey appears panicked as Josiah and Christopher scream and now, Baby Ben is crying in his blanket covered stroller. The monkey eyes the boys, then Ben, then me. The monkey seems to be surprised and worried that he caused such a commotion. I would say the monkey looked remorseful had I not seen him eating and collecting the sandwiches frantically. The monkey's family rests on the tin roof of a nearby structure, waiting for their portion. We surrender the sandwiches gladly. Now not even ten minutes into out playtime we are on plan B.
After glancing at the expensive prices on Carnivore's menu, I decided to go to the local grocery store to get something more reasonably priced. I remembered they had a small arcade inside the grocery store area and the kids could play. As I approach the waiter requesting the bill, two young Kenyan girls approach Josiah and Christopher. Now, for some reason, Kenyans seem to like to tease our children. I don't think it's because they want to see them cry, or do they? They approach our family and begin to admire Baby Ben and ask the usual question they normally ask when seeing any of our children, "Please, you will let me go home with this one." This absolutely panics Josiah and Christopher. This interrogation lasts 15 minutes until the waiter finally brings back the bill and makes change. The conversation went something like this, "Are these two twins?" (Meaning Josiah and Christopher). "No, they are 16 months apart." "And what's your little girl's name?" "Well, he's a boy, his name is Benjamin." "Please, let me take this one home," the young girl directs the question at Josiah. Josiah, "NOOO! That's my baby." "But I will take him home and he will be my baby." Panicked Josiah glares her in the eye and says, "NOOO, this is MY brother!" The relentless teasing about taking the baby home inevitably leads to teasing about taking Josiah and Christopher home. The panic increases in the boys and I think, "Why do you guys do this? Can't you see that this upsets them?" The kids are in full hysteria as I keep interjecting that they won't take anyone home. Then the girl's say, "What if I take your mommy and daddy." "Really???" I think. I calm the kids down and politely try to move things along as I assure the kids that we aren't going anywhere and neither are they.
We load back into the car, off to the grocery store to continue our adventure. On the way out I notice a Kenyan man in his twenties wearing a bright tie-dyed shirt with the words on the back, "Nifty, Nifty, Someone's Turning Fifty!" Now this isn't the first time I've seen something like this. The second hand clothing stores in Kenya are where most Kenyans get their clothes. We've seen a Kenyan wearing a "Smith Family Reunion" shirt with a happy white family on the front. Or a Kenyan man wearing a Little League jacket with the team name, city and state on the front. Even shirts that have come from Disneyland or other theme parks from America. This has given me a broad sense of the "big picture" of things. Although this seems silly and even alarming to us, it's a minor thing here. They are just clothes to cover your back and keep you warm. Nothing more. Mostly we've observed that Kenyans typically dress very well. The women are usually in nice dresses, kangas or occasionally in a pants suit. Always nice shoes, a pair of high heels. Men are dressed in a pair of nice slacks and usually a button down, long sleeved shirt. Even if they are farmers, pouring concrete or doing strenuous work. On our first trip to Kenya, this had surprised me. I thought that I would see more Kenyans in grungy jeans and t-shirts. I am reading a book where the author makes the point that to buy clothes such as jeans and t-shirts is a luxury, usually reserved for rich people. After chewing on this bit of information I thought, "Of course! If I made a small bit of money, I would save it to buy something that looked really nice to wear to work and to go to church in." If you came to Kenya you may observe that Kenyans dress much better than the foreigners.We observed a Maasai man today that fascinated me with his traditional wrap on the bottom half, his staff in hand and a business jacket. Truly wished I had brought my camera today.
Well, as our day wound down, it ended much like it began. Removing an anxious Josiah and Christopher from the car and a screaming Benjamin. They scurried on back into the house. Another day conquered.

Kenyan men and women

It's typical to see women in Kenya who are responsible for much. You can see many Kenyan women taking care of daily tasks with a child strapped to their back. They can be responsible for the household tasks, child rearing and even hold down a job. We've seen them carrying HUGE bundles of wood for miles and miles, even in old age. We have found that often the case is the men will work or try to find work but wont help much around the house or even with the children. The women are expected to have the household chores done, keep the children quiet and provide an income for the family. Due to limited jobs and Kenyan culture, there are many instances where the men will sit around and the women will find the work. (Not all, but a lot) Mary, our house lady even explained that when mom's have babies, other women will come to help for a month and then they are expected to maintain their regular work at home, get up with the baby at night, feed the family and any unexpected visitors. Mary even explained that it is very normal to have women going through depression during this time.

It has been interesting observing the reaction of Kenyans when we go out in public and Baby Benjamin is crying. We have found that Kenyans don't really let their babies cry. I have heard this from a few missionaries and observed it when our house lady, Mary, immediately remedies Baby Ben's crying by picking him up. We were in a taxi a few weeks (due to car troubles) with Baby Benjamin and Josiah. The taxi driver looked at me in disbelief as Baby Benjamin was crying (he hates the car seat) and I seemed rather calm. He finally said, "Isn't their SOMETHING you can do to keep the baby quiet?" I saw the taxi driver's discomfort and took the baby out of the car seat to try and ease Ben's distress.

So what's the big deal about the baby crying? Well as I thought through the cultural aspects of the situation I came up with nothing. Until today. I was meeting some moms at a local restaurant called Carnivore. We try to get together on Tuesdays for a play group. Carnivore has a huge playground and the kids can play for free (very rare here). As we entered the play area Benjamin cried the whole way in. I quickly passed by the coffee shop, "Dormans" located near the play area. I asked in desperation, "Are you open yet?" "Just a few minutes ma'am," he replied. I returned with Ben in his stroller and a blanket covering the opening of the stroller so he could sleep. The barista looked up and said, "That one was crying so bad." Already frustrated with the way things started out today I replied, "Yep, that's what babies do at this age. They cry." He agreed,"Hmmm...they do. Even mine. When my little girl was small she was always crying." Seeing the discomfort in his eyes as he recalled the days of his little girl's infancy, I asked curiously, "Didn't you know that babies cry? Or did you expect your wife to stop her from crying?" And he said, "Yes. When I come home I don't want to hear all the crying." Hmmm...there it was. It is the woman's responsibility to keep things running smooth. No interruptions. No crying or disturbances from the children. Any mom at this point is probably wondering how a woman can be responsible for keeping small children from acting out in public or keep babies from crying, even when fed, changed and burped. Especially if they have multiple children.

The redeeming part for Kenyan men that changed my thinking:

So I continue the conversation, hoping for a chance to start a relationship to share the Lord (especially if we will be returning weekly). He explained that his daughter was now 17 months old and he takes his daughter every Wednesday for just daddy and daughter time. WOW! A VERY rare thing to hear about. He explained that he has the dates with his daughter because he remembers growing up and not spending quality time with his parents and he wanted it to be different with his child. That and he would get the opportunity to give his wife the day off. What a guy! This may not seem to be much to those of us women who have husbands that are "hands on" but this is HUGE for Kenyan men.

I have resolved to not conclude anything from my limited experience with these observations. I hope there is a generation of Kenyan men that will love their wives and share the burden of daily tasks and responsibilities.

-Adrienne

Still Learning

Recently I (Adrienne) went to meet a girl new to life in Kenya. She actually works as a midwife in Sudan and will be out in Kenya a few weeks at a time for some R & R. So another missionary friend, Kelli Compean, arranged to have her meet some women who are in the Calvary Chapel circle here in Kenya and show her around. Kelli gave some cultural debriefing for Stephanie, the midwife, and I must say, there is lots I am still learning. For example, here are some cultural lessons I learned:
Never compare a person to an animal. For example: "You are running around like a chicken with your head cut off."
I am notorious for telling my kids that they're a bunch of monkeys. Even if I didn't say that directly to a Kenyan but a Kenyan heard me talking to my kids that way, it is offensive. Mary, our house lady said, "People would wonder why you talk to your children like that."





Also, never cry in front of a Kenyan. Why? Well, as Americans we cry when we are happy, sad, overwhelmed or pretty much for any reason. Kenyans cry when they fear. So you can imagine how offensive it would be to cry in front of a Kenyan friend. They would assume you fear them!

Just goes to show, we've been in country for a year now and have so much to still learn.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go back to the language school and see our teachers and friends. What a blessing it was to feel like we were back "home". The weather was was sunny and cool. The green landscape and friendly faces made us feel as if we had never left. I praised God for remembering lots of Kiswahili and I was able to speak most of the time in Kiswahili. Our friends were overjoyed to meet Baby Benjamin and reconnect with Josiah, Christopher, Jonathan and myself. We had a great day of fellowship and afterwards we met Joyce, the woman who used to take care of our kids while we were in language school. What a great day.

I absolutely had to post this picture. It just cracks me up. This is Christopher feeding his dinosaur "Christopher milk". How funny it is to see him walking around with a giant dinosaur underneath his shirt. Enjoy!

Ferguson Update

Hi Friends and Family!

Thanks so much for hanging tight as we've just had Baby Benjamin here for a little over two weeks. Would you like to meet him? (Any excuse to throw up pictures of our adorable little one!)




Josiah and Christopher just adore their new little brother. Josiah often asks me, "Is Benjamin staying for a long long day?" They are both very protective over Benjamin. I walked into the room where Mary, our house lady, was holding Ben and Josiah said, "Hey! Get your own baby!!!!"
We are adjusting well and getting plenty of sleep. This month has been a great time for adjusting with the baby. The Bible school has a break in December, April and August. So Jonathan has been taking care of Josiah and Christopher while I've been able to focus on the baby.
Thanks so much for keeping us in your prayers. Please continue to pray. We've recently had some warfare between our water situation (you can see the previous post for details), Christopher just had his second seizure here caused by fevers and I (Adrienne) have days where the homesickness can seem overwhelming. Especially with a new baby.
God Bless you guys!
Adrienne

Water Wars

So here in Nairobi, we only get water from the city once a week. We have a large tank the water is pumped into, and another in our attic. We also store a lot of water in water containers that we store in our carport.

So late Friday night this week, the water starts coming. The problem was that we had no power. No power meant that we were unable to pump the water into our tank in the attic, and had to siphon water off the main tank into the smaller containers, instead of using the pump.

Saturday morning came, and there was still no power. I started looking for any containers we had to fill with water. I filled trash cans, the baby bath, buckets, pots, pans, whatever we could find! The tank in the attic holds 2,500 gallons, so without power, we would be short that much water!

The funny thing is that usually, the water shuts off around noon on Saturday, but this week it stayed on until after 4:00. It was like the water company was taunting us with all this water, that we were unable to use.

I turned the pump on, so that the water would begin pumping as soon as the power came on. We had to run an errand, and so left, the house. While we were gone, the power came back on, and pumped the water from our outside tank to the attic tank. Our quick errand took longer than usual, and when we returned, the outside tank had been emptied. We figured the upper tank was full. We went inside and I turned on the sink to wash my hands, but no water came out.

I checked the other sinks, and found that a faucet had been left on the whole time. 2,500 gallons of water had flowed through the sink, and down the drain. I had spent 12 hours that day trying to save as much water as possible, but to no avail.

So, this week, we have a total of 2,500 gallons, where we usually have 3x that amount. The best thing - We have three guests staying with us this week - 3 extra people using 1/3 the water as usual!

Welcome to Kenya!

Jonathan, for the Ferguson Five

Kenya's New Constitution

This August Kenya will decide whether to accept the newly proposed constitution. The line has clearly been drawn between those for and against. The Government is strongly pushing for this constitution to pass, with only a few (but some high ranking) Members of Parliament opposed. However, the churches here in Kenya are highly opposed to this new constitution, due to a few very controversial clauses.

One of the contentious issues is the clause that references abortion. While the constitution guarantees a person's right to life, and states that life begins at conception, it goes on to say that they are instances where abortion is legal. the exact wording says, "Abortion is not permitted unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law." The problem with this is that the wording has been changed from current law and the previous constitution draft. Currently, the wording says "registered medical practitioner". This makes a huge difference here in Kenya, where there are many people who qualify as "trained health professional", including pharmacists and even so called "herbalists", also known as witch doctors!

The second issue deals with Islamic law and the inclusion of Islamic courts in the country. If passed, the constitution will allow for government funded Islamic courts. While these courts will have jurisdiction only over issues related to inheritance, marriage and divorce, and personal status, this is just the first step in the allowing of full Islamic law to be introduced.

The battle lines have been drawn, and there has been violence over this constitution. Two weeks ago, during a prayer rally for the "NO" camp, three grenades were set off in a large crowd of demonstrators. Six people were killed, and over 100 more were injured. This happened at a park about 3 miles from our house.

Please pray for peace in Kenya during this time. Kenya doesn't have the most stable of governments, and recent elections have not gone smoothly. Please keep this nation in your prayers, and our family, too. Please pray that God would protect us, and give us wisdom in how to best serve this nation that God has called us to.

Jonathan (for the Ferguson 5)