Friday, July 9th -- May Angels Lead You In

This morning Julia and I went to 7:15 am mass. We then taught Godfrey, one of the novices from Uganda, how to make french toast so he can make it for the community once we leave. Once at school, we went into town to convert some more money.

After being in town, Sister Mary, Julius, Father Martin drove to see Wycliff. Once they arrived at his grandmother's home, they knew that he wasn't going to make it much longer. He has struggled so much through his disease and his body was at the point that it did not have any bone marrow cells left. A little before 4:00 pm, Father Martin called Sister Remea to tell her that he was fading quickly. She gathered every student into the dining hall to pray together. Everyone packed themselves into the room and prayed in solidarity for their very good friend. While everyone (students, faculty, and administration) was still praying the rosary, Father Martin called back to let Sister know that he had died. Everyone felt this pain together. It was almost as if he was waiting until his friends were together and could send him to heaven in prayer. Father and Sister were with him when he died and were able to bring him the Eucharist to hold in his hands. I, who was really upset myself, did my best to comfort some of the children who were crying, confused, and devastated. When he had come to say goodbye to his friends at school a few days ago, he was being the positive one telling them not to worry and that he was going to be ok no matter what happened. Now the giant family at OLG has an angel looking over each and every member. The Sisters and Brothers are instilling a healthy and faith-filled outlook of death to the children. Unfortunately, the funeral will be on Sunday after we leave Kisumu.

Julia and I went to John Lannis and Scholastica's home for a visit. They live in a very modest mud hut. They have been asking us to come over and were so happy that we did. Their hospitality was incredible. With the little they have and many mouths to feed, they gave us each a soda and popcorn and then came out with beef and rice. They are very proud of their children. We came back and began our ambitious, more like crazy project of making 300 mandazi for the students. About an hour into the process, the power went out and we were forced to use our headlamps and candles for light! Luckily, it was only about another hour until the power came back on. By 1:30 am, all of them were completed!