JESUS CHRISTIANS NEWSLETTER #113, JULY 2009
What a month for news! It's hard to know where to start.
KENYA
The team in Kenya has been struggling through one adversity after
another.
While doing business in Nairobi, Rob's inside zippered coat pocket
was picked yet again. ($140 this time.)
Joe was stopped from flying out to the UK at the start of the month
because he did not have enough cash on him to impress the UK
Immigration. We rushed some funds to him and he was allowed to board
the next flight.
A local man with psychiatric problems and violent tendencies tried
hitting a lady in the market one day which set a lot of the villagers
into stoning him. He was hit by quite a number of very large rocks
and was almost certainly going to be killed, before Rob and Fran
ventured into the fray to see if they could assist him.
Unfortunately Rob and Fran's presence did not stop people from
continuing to throw rocks and so both of them were inadvertently hit
as well. They did manage to get the man out of trouble and walked
him to the police station about 50 metres down the road. A couple of
days later he was back in the market singing songs! Some of the
locals seemed upset that Rob and Fran helped him, while others
thought it was great that they helped. Unfortunately we can, so
often, feel the tension just under the surface here, and it does seem
that some people are just waiting for an excuse to inflict violence.
That same week Karl, while working with some iron sheets, dropped one
on his ankle severely cutting his ankle and tendon. He is hobbling
around as best he can at the moment with a cast on his foot to help
the tendon heal. The cast will be on for a few more weeks.
Still in that same week Eunice, our dog, was spayed. The vet came
and performed the operation here at Takatifu Gardens with Robin and
Kim assisting! Kim was a bit squeamed out by it all. Eunice is
almost fully recovered now.
In the past week we have experienced a mini epidemic with Bob, Kim,
and Jon coming down with typhoid fever. They are under medication
now, and should make a full recovery.
The typhoid outbreak happened while Rob and Simon have been away to
Malawi to renew Simon's visa. Christine was in hospital, caring for
a child that had gone into convulsions and was having difficulties
breathing as a result of a very high fever; so that left almost no
one to keep things going and to nurse the others back at the compound.
Kim and Bob both pushed on with chores despite the illness.
And finally, Rob and Simon were in a motorbike accident this week,
while away, and for a while we thought that Simon's ankle had been
broken. In the end, it turned out to be just a very bad sprain,
which had partly torn a tendon.
But there were nicer things that happened too:
Bob arrived from the UK the day before Joe left, bringing obscene
amounts of bin-raided turkish delight with him from the UK.
On the 26th, Ross popped in on his way back to Australia, with a DVD
of "Dating the Enemy" (see below), copies of "Destroyers" from the UK,
and copies of "Extreme Happiness".
A young man from Zimbabwe, and a newly married Australian couple have
joined as temporary volunteers. Our Zimbabwean friend has shown a
keen interest in the Christian aspect of our work, and has been
coming out with us distributing Christian literature on the weekends.
Just before Rob and Simon left for Malawi, Rob and Chris took a trip
to Nairobi and had some fellowship with Ross, and also with Casey and
Giddy who are both working there. Casey and Giddy have been getting
out almost 1,000 books a week, on top of more than 1,000 Easy English
books that are going out each week through a local agent. Giddy also
came and visited us in Shinyalu earlier in the month.
Casey is doing a computer programming course, and he has started a
visitation program for a couple of the local hospitals, with ten
people committed to visiting on a regular basis now. As if that
isn't enough to keep him busy, he is also training for a local
marathon. Will he have what it takes to beat the Kenyans???
We have also had literature outreaches to Kitale and Kisumu, as well
as our regular outreaches to Kakamega.
THE UNITED KINGDOM & IRELAND
After two years of waiting, ITV finally broadcast the episode of
"Dating the Enemy" that involved Alf and an adult film star. It was
a powerful testimony not just for freeganism but for good old-
fashioned Christian values with regard to casual sex. Great job, Alf!
You can view the show online by clicking here:
[
www.youtube.com]
It comes in four sections, of about five minutes each. Our apologies
if it takes quite a while to download. (perhaps you can do your
email while it is downloading!)
Roland's mother, Carmen, who has been supportive of the community for
the many years since Roland has been a member, is sadly suffering
from the final stages of cancer. Carmen is staying with Roland's
sister in New Zealand. Roland spent a month with his mother and
sister last October and he has been able to talk with her almost
every day from London on the phone.
Bobby Kelly (Yeah, the guy we supposedly kidnapped ten years ago!)
came and spent a week with Rols, Sue, and Dann during the month. Our
relationship with Bob continues to deepen.
Alf and Jayme continue to have great success in getting the message
out in Ireland, despite Ross having left to return to Oz. They are
due to be interviewed on a radio talk show in the next few days.
They also spent 10 days baby-sitting as many Labradors, and house-
sitting high above a lake with breathtaking views! They took the
opportunity to give their camper van an external and internal make-
over.
Jayme cut his finger badly enough to think he might need stitches.
Hospital staff gave him steri strips to hold it together, and then
charged 100 euros ($200) as their standard "consultation" fee. In
the end, they waived it, but not without some hassles along the way.
Paul met a guy who has just written a book about how people can help
each other without using money. Naturally, he was interested in the
similarities between his message and our own.
THE UNITED STATES
Joe, Jeremy and Reinhard will be giving depositions in L.A. over the
next couple of weeks, in preparation for the trial in August of John
and Jared, for the attack on Reinhard that almost killed him. We
have obtained video footage of just fifteen seconds of an attack
which lasted for almost two minutes, and that left Reinhard with a
fractured spine, bleeding on the brain, broken teeth and glasses, and
many other cuts and bruises. Warning: The video depicts graphic
violence, which some people may find disturbing.
[
www.youtube.com]
AUSTRALIA
With Ross back, Barry has been freed up from hanging around with Dave
and Cherry, so that the two of them can travel farther afield with
the message. They have, however, been busily upgrading a few things
on the bus first: waterproofing leaks in the roof, installing a new
fridge, and repairing a lock on the door.
THE INTERNET
The hate campaign against ourselves continues to grow on the internet,
with one particularly virulent poster pouring out hatred against Dave,
Joe, and Sue in particular on our own forum.
[
welikejesus.com]
Others of a similar bent have posted on the youtube video links and
on the forums which traditionally spread hatred against ourselves.
A thread on teen sex, celibacy, and The Family was started this month,
and has been particularly active:
[
welikejesus.com]
Another thread about creationism has seen Dave and Lisa come closer
together in their opposing viewpoints:
[
welikejesus.com]
News about altruistic kidney donations increasing in the UK was
offset by news that a live kidney donor in Australia died while
donating to her daughter.
[
welikejesus.com]
[
welikejesus.com]
A summary of Jared's testimony about the beating of Reinhard, where
he talks of Jesus Christians standing in a circle doing karate poses
and chanting "Killers for Christ! Killers for Christ!" would be
worth a laugh if it were not for the seriousness of the attack that
he is trying to justify through those outrageous lies. (One
correction to what is stated, about police agreeing not to lay
charges: In fact, police DID lay charges, but they did not provide
the court with any evidence, including the video footage mentioned
above, even though they had it, so that the court had no way of
knowing whether the assault might just have been a slap on the wrist;
consequently the judge agreed to not record a conviction, even though
Jared and John pleaded guilty.)
[
welikejesus.com]