Love is magnified by the circumstances of the sacrifice.  For instance, love is heightened when the recipient is undeserving of love. Love shown to someone who has just abused you or stolen from you is greater than love extended to a friend.   Love is also magnified by the resource available to the giver.  To give my last dollar to someone in need is greater than to give one from an account of millions. The quality of the gift also is a reflection on the expression of love.  Ask a woman if she would rather receive a 1 carat diamond or a zircon! 

Someone once said that a candle does not lose any light by lighting another candle.  The same is true when we love.  Because we are loved by God, when we love, we actually lose nothing in the exchange.  In fact, the love we have only increases as we love others.  For to give love removes the self imposed shackles in our mind.  “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  If our heart is in loving and giving of ourselves, then that is where our treasure will be too. 

Recently at Agape, we had the privilege of distributing new locker boxes to all the boys along with new sheets for their beds, new slippers and toothbrushes.  It was quite a day.  However, we were not the actual givers, merely the conduits through whom others gave.  Some of the money came from a Christmas gift from my mother; some came from Living Water Church in Elk Grove.  In both cases sacrifices and choices were made in order to extend this gift to our boys and we thank all involved very much for this blessing.

In other news, some of you may have been aware that Kisumu and Nairobi have been active politically lately.  To make a long story short, some thugs and thieves took advantage of some political discontent to stage some ”protests” that ended up being simple vandalism and hooliganism.  The police came down hard on the rioters on July 3.  For the entire day Patty and I remained in our walled compound listening to the “pop, pop, pop” of gunfire just a kilometer down the road. There was one fatality and a dozen or so injured in the skirmishes.  Things have quieted a bit now, but for a day or two we were reminded just how difficult it is for democracy to develop.  In almost all cases, democracy is a rough road.  It was a good reminder just a day shy of July 4. 

On July 15 the local Rotary club held its installation night.  Yours truly served as the MC, and the new president took over for the centennial year of Rotary.  Four new members were also inducted including our project manager of Agape, Lebaus Onyango.

On a sad note, our cat was killed by a vehicle a few nights ago.  Nicknamed “Oreo” because of his black and white coloring, he loved to sleep in strange positions on our couch.  See the attached photo.

Recently our school participated in a sports competition with four other schools.  We placed third despite having to forfeit a few of the events due to our late arrival.  It was a rousing day of fun and exercise.

In just a week or so, a teaching team arrives at Agape.  This was a goal of mine going back several years: to hold a teacher’s seminary with very practical discussions and activities.  Diane Gallagher and several teachers from California will conduct this seminar on Aug. 5-7.  It will be especially delightful for us on a personal note as my mother and sister will also join the team and participate.  They will arrive in just a week and spend some time with us before the others arrive.  We leave July 28^th to meet them in Nairobi and spend a few days on the Masai Mara before returning to Kisumu.

Prayer list

1. Pray for the safe travels of the teaching team

2. Pray that the land issue continues to progress.  Today I spoke with the man from the Kenyan Veteran’s Association called “Kafoka” who also had a desire for the property.  He consented to allow us to acquire the property and backed out of his pursuit of the same through the Lands Commissioner.

3.  Pray for continued peace and safety in Kenya

4.  Blessings on those who donated that our boys might have new sheets and locker boxes

5.  Praise as Lebaus joins Rotary and lends his heart and hands to this organization

6. Thanksgiving for Houseparent Pastor John Mwalo who was our servant of the month for June and received some Bible study aids and a copy of “More than a Skeleton” as a gift.

Dan & Patty Schmelzer