Delays

Delay!!
Our vehicle has been delayed. The post office failed to contact our base leader about the arrival of a package containing all the documents needed to process the tax-exemption request for our vehicle which needed processed by the time it arrived. Our car arrived about a week ago and is sitting on the Tanzanian side of the border waiting from our tax exemption paperwork to be processed through the government. Every day it sits at the border we pay a storage fee. There were also some “unexpected” fees involved in bringing a car to Tanzania. All together, the extras (that we are currently aware of) are another $2,000. All of this is to say that we will not get our car as soon as we hoped. We feel a little stuck.  Every time we have to go to the store, the doctor’s office, church…anywhere, we have to find a car, a driver, and inconvenience someone that has to wait around while we do our errands, which takes someone away from doing ministry here at the base. Also, it costs about $20 to go to town because we pay per kilometer, not just gas, so we have really limit trips into town. We feel that when we get our car we will be able to take the girls out of the base and experience a little more of Arusha, giving them a break from being at the base every day. We write this to ask that you would please be praying with us, that the paperwork will go through without problems and will be processed quicker than expected so we can avoid paying a higher penalty.
Also, please be praying for our visas. We still have not received our work visas. They have been so slow that now the director of the visa office in town is looking into why they have not been processed yet. We turned our paperwork in at the beginning of June, but still have not received them. Our current tourist visas last another month and a half, but we don’t want to have to pay any late fees or find trouble with the government. Thank you all for your prayers. They are working miracles here in Tanzania. We know that God is in control of all of this, all money, all vehicles, all governmental offices are His. Praise the Lord because He allows us to partner with Him in bringing His plans into our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We love you very much and miss each one of you.

Fear

Off to a wedding in Engikaret. We were blessed to be able to attend the first Christian Wedding in that area! It was a huge testimony to the Massai.

Hannah in school in Engikaret

Everyone says that driving at night is not a good idea in Tanzania. People drive too fast, there are a lot of drunk drivers, you can hit wild animals, thieves can create a road block resulting in a lot of really bad things, etc. So, when we left town at 6:30 all of those fears ran through my mind. I haven’t experienced a great deal of fear since being here. I have heard the stories and the warnings of certain things which creates a sense of fear in me but I have not been afraid yet, until we started driving.  All the bad scenarios went through my head. I prayed that I would not worry and would enjoy the drive out to Engikaret.  We stopped a couple more times and when we got on our way it was pretty dark out.  We were in a van with about 8 others including my mom who helped me with the girls.  My kids were getting very hungry because I didn’t know we would be out so long and for the first time did not pack a sandwich for them.  As we were going along the highway I looked out the front window and saw a huge dog in the middle of the road.  Edward, our driver, tried to honk and get it out of the way but it didn’t move so instead of swerving around it and maybe going off the road he hit it head on. It felt as if we hit a huge speed bump going 60.  That started my nerves going a bit as I realized there are probably a lot of other things we could have hit and if we hadn’t been in the van we had we may be on the side of the road with a broken windshield and a non-working vehicle.  As I started to calm down I saw a flashing light ahead.  Edward said “uh oh” and we slowed up and pulled off to the side.  The police stand on the side with flashlights and flash the light at you to pull over.  All I saw was a truck and a man.  I heard the people in the seat behind me say “close the windows, it may not be police” in Swahili.  My heart started racing.  The man walked up the side of the car and I tried to hide Hailey who was on my lap, and myself from being seen by him.  I was so nervous it was someone impersonating a police officer and started praying fervently that we would be safe.   Hailey started asking again for food and I had to put my hand over her mouth to try and keep her quiet.  Fear was in my heart and I didn’t know what to do.  It ended up being an officer that just wanted to warn us to slow down because it is dangerous at night but everything in me was still shaking and holding in the tears that were welling up inside me.  Many people wouldn’t have thought about the worst thing that could happen but for some reason that is where my mind went.  The dirt, the lack of water, how long it takes to get stuff done here, being away from friends and family… all of that is hard but this fear that had gripped me was unmanageable.  As we pulled into the base about 10 minutes later I handed the girls over to nick and ran to the room and cried harder than I have cried in a while.  I placed my fear at Jesus’ feet and wept as I felt Him put His arms around me and hold me.  The fear I had was slowly replaced with peace.  Peace that Jesus would be with us every step of the way.  He would not abandon us.  I knew this didn’t mean that things wouldn’t be hard; that these awful things would never happen to us and we are out of harms way at all times, but I knew he was just asking me to remember that He is with us, walking before, beside, and behind us.  I was able to slowly get up the courage to walk out of the room and face Tanzania again.  I was excited to be back with Nick again in Engikaret but I have to admit I was not excited for the dust, lack of water, and lack of food that there was in Engikaret compared to our comfortable home in Arusha.  I just prayed the Lord would work in my heart and help the girls to be comfortable there and that is exactly what He did the next couple of days.  We woke up the next morning and Hannah wanted to go see what was happening in the school so we went out and joined the preschool.  As we did that Hailey decided to go with Nick to help work outside and she loved just sitting and playing in the dirt.  She was as happy as could be.  Hannah was so excited to be a part of class.  She was incredible.  It was a preschool class for 4 year olds and another slightly more advanced for 5 year olds.  The 4 year olds could draw much better than Hannah, but other than that, she was quickly bored.  So she went to the bigger class where the teacher was teaching English to the Maasai kids.  They would hold a pencil and then say, “this is my pencil.”  Then pass it to the student next to them.  After that, they held some scissors.  The teacher instructed them to say, “this is my scissor.”  When it came around to Hannah, she looked at the Maasai Woman/English Teacher and said in her clear American/non-euro-african accent, “these are my scissors.”  I love that my 3 year old was correcting the English Teacher’s English.  Hannah now can’t wait until she can go to school every day.

Lessons

Today is a good day. I am back from two weeks out in Engikaret (where some Maasai live; literally the place of thorns) and am anxious and curious about what the Lord has in store for us next. It has been a very interesting month and a half here in Tanzania; so much better and harder than I expected. All four of us have been through a myriad of emotions but where we sit today, we see God's favor on each moment.

I was afraid that I would be bored stiff during these lectures about the Father Heart of God, What is Prayer, What is Sin... and for the most part, I listen to some of the teaching and somewhere between pride and anxiousness to get teaching, I find myself thinking, "I could teach this." But in each day, God has led me to the importance of remembering who He is. So many truths about God being my Father have been lacquered over my mind, reminding me that God is not like my father, He IS My Father. And what's more, I am not a father even to my own two beauties, He IS Their Father. He will protect them. He will keep Hannah's stomach safe. He will protect Hailey when she drinks that bathwater full of amoebas and jiardia or from the ringworm and hookworms laced through the dirt she so loves to play with. He will watch over Hannah's heart when she cries every day or two because her little heart misses her friends in Wenatchee. HE is their Father and He knows all their needs.

As I have been learning about sin, repentance, and forgiveness, I know what the Bible says about the limits of grace (none), the definitions of sin, and the mandate of repentance and forgiveness. But what God has been teaching me through my ears open to hearing how God speaks to His children here in Tanzania is that they are all part of the same story. So often, we in the US see our sin as a decision that we make. We have the choice to act or not; to give in or not; to stand firm, then, or buckle. And the same is true of repentance. We say with our mouths, "We Repent" and then move on to our regularly dispensed forgiveness at the words of our "repentance." On the other hand, hearing them describe our lives as a much larger whole puts a different emphasis and strength in these truths of the good news of Jesus. Our sin is progressive. Its part of a story. No one make isolated decisions outside of all of the other components of our lives. It starts somewhere in the beginning. It began in the Old Testament for all of us, and when we were born for each of us; from our very first decision. The same is true for repentance. It is progressive. It is part of your life, woven into the rest of our decisions. Jesus is looking for a decision we make. He is looking for us to stand up for what is right. But He is just as much concerned with the ways that decision to stand affects the rest of our decisions. From one decision comes another and soon, we have a lifestyle of change. Which brings us to forgiveness. It, just like the rest, is a process. It is a progression in our lives. Yes, praise the Lord Jesus, it is a decision that we and Jesus have chosen together. It happens in that moment, but, then, it also happens as we experience the healing that proceeds from progressive repentance. Then, our forgiveness is more than just an obligation, but a restoration of old things passing away and new things coming. Good news for the sinner! (me) Great news for the captives! (us) Wonderful opportunity for worship for the world!
And God has been bringing fruit from it all. My ability to speak Swahili gets better and better. I have been invited to preach now almost every Sunday and sometimes during the week there are opportunities. One opportunity came with a small problem. When it came time to preach, the translator from English into Maasai was still cooking lunch and could not come. :) The only other available was one that did not know English. So, I preached the entire sermon in Swahili! One older man was present as I was preaching about Jesus' lessons on turning the other cheek. He came forward during the alter call asking forgiveness for being a "bad man" and repented of his sins. About a week later, there was a girl that was scheduled to preach for an evening service but became immediately ill. About three minutes before starting, the leaned over and informed me that I would be preaching. I stood up and began to introduce myself in Swahili, giving some greetings. Before I knew it the sermon was half over! That evening, about 15 children and 1 young man asked Jesus into their hearts.
And on top of those incredible works of the Lord, we went to a small circle of mud huts about 3 kilometers away from our base to pray for some women that attend a worship service there in Engikaret. We arrived and we prayed and many praised the Lord for being healed in their bodies and encouraged in some of their needs. Before we left, they led us to one old man that wanted prayer. He said his leg hurt and he could no longer walk. We laid our hands on him and prayed, but his pain persisted. I asked him what the problem was and he showed me a huge abscess about the size of a lemon on his thigh. So, we laid hands on the lump and prayed again. Again, no relief from the pain. I sat there stunned, wondering what to do next. My team was looking to me for guidance, and the man was clearly unimpressed. I quietly asked Jesus for help. I asked him what he would have us do next. Before I could say anything, he started to slip the corner of his wrap from his shoulder. He said that he had some other minor problems also. When the wrap came off, you could see a tumor the size of a watermelon sitting on the middle of his back and another lemon sized one on the far side of his back! Right away, I heard a leading from the Lord and began to speak. I asked the old man if he had ever asked Jesus into his heart. He said, "yes" but then the three old women and one young woman standing behind him (4 of his 28 wives) corrected that he had not ever met Jesus. Right away, I remembered this man from a trip past. He had not asked Jesus into his heart, but had been healed from an inability to see (some kind of glaze that was over his eyes). Now his eyes were clear. He already knew the power of the name of Jesus. I told him that this silly little tumor (in my mind I was thinking, "this ridiculously huge tumor") is not a big deal at all to God. He could take care of that in a word from his spirit. But God does have a really big problem with the sin in his life. And that cannot be fixed without his repentance. He thought for a moment, then responded, "Can I do that today, or should I call all of my children here first to hear about this and ask also?" I asked our staff liaison to have him call his children. He leaned over to me and said, "we better pray for him today and make a bigger plan for his children to come. There are over 100. Plus their wives and children." Wow!!! As I returned to the base and told the base leader about the man we had spoken with, I found that he was the senior physician (witch doctor) of the area but has since "retired" however that happens. He is an extremely well respected elder and feared because of the spiritual power he possessed. I was glad to be unaware of all of that before I led him to pray for forgiveness for all of his sins, that God is the only God with all power, that there is no other god like Him, and a commitment to serve no other god besides Jesus.
God has been so faithful. His mercies are new every morning. His peace is beyond our understanding and his love is never ending. Thank you all so much for your prayers. Thank you for your faithfulness in your emails and posts. Thank you for those we have been able to talk to on Skype. We love you very much and could not be here doing these things without Jesus and his tools (you, you're all a bunch of tools). We think of you often and pray for you.

These have become of our best friends and Maasai teachers