Hello From Tanzania!

I know it’s got to be pretty boring to check my website randomly and find that I haven’t updated my blog in weeks. However, I am learning to not be so impatient with the internet that I do get since I am in Africa. The last couple times I have been able to get online I have spent a cumulative 2.5 hours and read 4 or 5 emails and even then it took forever, so I apologize. Now, in order to satisfy your curiosity as to what has been going on in my life I will now fill you in…

Finishing up in Uganda:

We left Lira, Uganda for Jinja, Uganda at the end of February in order to spend two days at (and on and in) the Nile River before heading to Tanzania to our next ministry location. I absolutely loved Lira and left many friends there. While there I was able to help with organizing in the Compassion International office, we attended a wedding, and some of my teammates blessed the HIV+ people by buying soap and flour for them. We also had a rough time as Peter, an 18-year old AIDS victim whom we were visiting in the hospital, died. Sam and Priscilla visited him nearly every day we were there and I went to the hospital once and was privileged to meet him as he was an amazing young man with a great faith in God. It was difficult to be surrounded by people on a daily basis, especially children, who are victims of this incurable disease. You can’t not be affected.

It was also a blessing to just be welcomed into the daily lives of our contacts and friends there once again. Being a part of the dance team made for some fun times as the second dance that Monica and I participated in was much more difficult than the first one and we missed a couple practices. One practice was missed because we were out that day and the van we were riding in ran out of oil and gas!! Only in Africa. ☺ Memories of the people and times at VOM will be treasured forever.

Jinja, Uganda was beautiful and I had a great time as we swam and rafted in the Nile. While we were there, three of our guys had an awesome encounter with the mighty God we serve and witnessed His power at work in the life of a little boy who had been hit by a motorcycle! Read about it on Dan‘s, Austin‘s, and Matt‘s blogs.

Tanzania:

We headed to Iringa, Tanzania on February 27^th and arrived on the 2^nd of March. As we entered the country there was a visible change in the topography and we were all immediately taken with how breathtakingly beautiful Tanzania is. The bus ride was actually enjoyable from Dar es Salaam to Iringa, especially as we passed through a National Park and saw giraffes, elephants, wildebeest, warthogs, and different types of deer relatives including, but not limited to, impala. We missed seeing Mount Kilimanjaro on the way in, but we are hoping that we see it on the way back out at the end of the month.

Life –

Upon arriving in Iringa we found out that we would be living in the church and cooking for ourselves. African style. After a couple days at the church a family offered us the use of their house that is currently under construction, but provides us with a little more space. We have also been continuing to use our clay stoves that take about 30 minutes each to start when the fire goes out. Let me tell you we definitely have a new appreciation for the African (and any other subsistence-living) culture. The other day we were blessed with a very small electric stove/oven by the family who owns this house, so that is (and will be) a blessing to use as well. Making meals has become a team effort and most of us have our voluntary and assigned duties to make each day run smoothly. I have been making breakfasts for the team this month, along with Rebecca, and I have really been enjoying it.

Ministry –

We have begun English classes with the people in the church and have been participating in their multiple services each week. We have also visited an orphanage as we all love any chance to work with kids, especially orphans, and we plan to go back there soon. The church needs some landscaping and clean-up done, which we started when we were living there, and we are continuing to work on that as well. Ministry, and the lifestyle, is different here than it was in Kenya and Uganda, but we have an amazing pastor and we are working with wonderful people. Our pastor, Pastor Emmanuel, is a young man who has been at the church for less than 1 year and he and his wife Jessica have two little kids. Witness is 3 years old and Daniel is a few weeks old. They are so precious and we have enjoyed the time we’ve been able to spend with them.

Prayer Requests:

• Sam has been diagnosed with malaria. He is now doing better, but still pray for complete healing.

• Austin has a leader retreat at the end of the month before we head to Thailand for our next Debrief, so keep him in your prayers.

• Continued unity for us as a team and strength as we continue to battle for each other in prayer each day.

Squad –

• We have really been hit hard by malaria here in Africa, with one of the worst cases seen on the World Race just recently being diagnosed among our squad. Pray, pray, pray, for protection against attacks of Satan and anything that is being used against us and keeping us from fully engaging in ministry. We are still going to be in “malaria territory” in southeast Asia for the next 3 months, and we do not accept that more people are going to be attacked in this way!!

• We recently found out that we are not going to Vietnam because our pastor contact there has been arrested. Keep him in your prayers as you also pray that ministry opportunities open up for us as we head to the Philippines next month.

Personal –

• That I continue to stay focused on the mission at hand and the place where God has me right now. It can be very easy to be distracted by thoughts of home and things that are going on there, or thinking about what the future holds, but God is teaching me a lot about how it’s all about my relationship with Him and He will work out all the details later. (Matthew 6:33)

• That the lessons I am learning “stick” and that even when I return home and then go wherever it is that God leads next that I would always be living in the newness of life that God is showing me. I never want to stop growing in my relationship with Him!!!

• That my support account will be completely funded before I return home on July 1.

Thank you so much!

P.S. If you read my blogs and never comment, or if you have questions for me, I would love to hear from you. You can either comment in the “comments” section, or you can email me through the “Contact Me” link on the left of the page. Thanks!