A Few Ministry Updates

Last week we were able to go to a church in Kia, about 40 minutes away from our home.  It was given some help from some churches in Korea to build and now it has this beautiful new church building, but it is unfinished.  .  The church was founded over 10 years ago by a man named Christopher.  He is the brother of a close friend of ours here at the base and is a good man.  We went to minister at this church and were very blessed to be able to meet and see them.  They have plans some day to build a primary school in order to minister to the surrounding children and educate children them in Jesus' name. 
All of this was very exciting for us because this pastor is very passionate and is hoping to begin going to surrounding areas in order to plant churches.  We are going to continue to meet with him and pray for the Lord's guidance about how we can partner together.  Please pray with us as we wait for the Lord's direction and wisdom. 
We also have seen the Lord doing some really great things in Engikaret.  We have a new staff here named Violet.  She is a young single girl that loves children and hopes to teach one day.  Her father is a pastor here in Arusha and she is following in his footseps of ministry. 
Also, we are really starting to get to know the people here.  We were invited to go to tea at one lady's house in particular.  She and her husband are both believers.  She is the only wife of her husband and they are really good parents.  All of these things are really rare to see in the Maasai culture. 
As for the literacy class, this week I was asked to teach in Arusha for the week, so I chose two of my best students and asked them to help me this week to teach the other students while I was away.  I am excited to return and see their progress.  Maybe this will even turn into a team for teaching more Maasai to read. 
Thank you all for your prayers these last few months.  Please keep praying for us as we work toward seeing every Maasai in a knowing and loving relationsip with Yesu. 
We have been sending out monthly updates specifically describing the kinds of things we are doing here and if you are not currently getting those and would like to, please email us at NHForrest@yahoo.com so that we can make sure you get them.  Lord bless you

No more fear

This past week has been a good week full of God's grace. Right after posting about fear I continued to seek the Lord for comfort. This place is so hard to live in. There are so many things that are so different than in America but the thing I love about being here is seeking the Lord in everything. There really isn't any way to run away from a hard situation or trust in something else. We have to trust in the Lord at all times and definitely not lean on our own understanding cause I sure do not understand anything really that goes on here:). Anyway a week ago we had a worship night and a celebration night thanking our guards for the work that they do to keep us safe. A goat was slaughtered as well as a pig. After we had a night of worship and it was amazing. Everyone was dancing around and you could just feel the tension lift, the fear leave and the joy of the Lord take hold. We walked home that night and I felt the unhealthy fear leave me and since then have slept great! There is still a healthy fear that brings wisdom in situations but the fear that had gripped me is gone. Thank you Jesus! Along with my fear this week we took Hannah's and hailey out to a boma. If you had been there the first time they ever went you would wonder why we ever tried again. They screamed and were soo scared they were shaking. Hannah loves baby and we thought this would be a good time to try so nick, Hannah, hailey and I set off to the boma of raziki and Baby Sara. We wanted to see how she was doing after these past couple months. Hannah was amazing. There was cow dung everywhere, the flies were awful, the boma was very very dirty and a couple of the women tried to pick Hannah up. She just smiled the whole time and when we got inside she wanted to hold baby Sara and just held her and talked to her the whole time. I was so proud of her. Hailey was comfortable after a little while but I realized she had never been inside a boma. For those of you who have never been it is pitch black except for a little hole of light coming in. It smells of smoke, the bees are bad inside and the flies are awful. You sit on the top of buckets or water cans and sometimes the smell is enough to make you lose your breakfast. The girls loved it! They loved the hole and kept covering it so it would be pitch black and would laugh and laugh. Hannah let the kids touch her arms and hair and just smiled. The fear that had gripped her as well is gone. She is still nervous and not super friendly but that fear that made her scream when a Masaai got close is gone! Thank you Jesus for your continued faithfulness to us!

Continuing to walk in a miracle

We got to meet Lightness, Kelly and Dillon at their home. They are currently living with her father's oldest brother in a small room made of sticks and mud...and couldn't be happier! The babies are at home with their own mama, in their own clothes, with their own bottles. Now all they need is their own home. Lightness is an orphan herself and, as you have read, has no husband to support her. She was almost finished with her last year of secondary school when she got pregnant, but desperately wants to return and finish so that she will be able to support her children. Now, she needs help. We have found a family that will help lightness pay for her rent, electricity, and food for her babies. (milk and porridge) Also, she is currently living in a room in her uncle's house with his furniture and his cooking utensils.  She will need a bed, sheets, cupboards, pots and pans, etc.  finally, she asked also after I asked her for the seventh time if there was anything else, she asked if someone could help her with some clothes.  . But she has nothing to put inside of the home she is moving to. She needs a bed and dresser, a small table to eat on, and cooking ware. We are wondering if there is anyone that might feel led to help lightness with these things. Also, her final year of schooling is $250.00 for the whole year's tuition. We have seen God do an incredible thing in Lightness's life and we have been so blessed by the opportunity to be able to watch God do a miracle. Please don't feel obligated in any way to send funds. We haven't asked for funds on this page before because we have wanted this to be a place to encourage and include people in what God is doing here in Tanzania. This specific opportunity just seemed like a really exciting and obvious way for anyone that felt led to be connected specifically to someone's life. We brought with us all of the clothing items the babies would need and she was so very grateful. It was strange, too, because usually in this culture when you give a gift, the recipient becomes really quiet and subdued. The opposite was true for Lightness. She looked us in the face, shook our hands squarely, and thanked us for the gifts we brought. I continue to be more and more impressed with this young lady and, to quote Chariots of Fire, "I feel His pleasure" when I see her with those children. Lord, you are good and your mercy endures forever.