Welcome to Kiliview as an amazing journey unfolds.

It is finally the year of the BIG MOVE! Yes 2014 brings many changes for us. We are Kent and Peggy Martin and in late October of 2014 Kent will retire from his Infectious Disease Physician and administrative career with Sanford Health Systems in Bismarck North Dakota and we will embark on an amazing new career in serving Christ with Rafiki Foundation in Moshi Tanzania. We can hardly believe that God is granting us this wonderful privilege. We will be living at the Rafiki Village about 10 miles outside of Moshi and the picture really is of our new front yard. Kent will be serving part time with the education and training of medical students at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center. He is also able to encourage the students in following Christ. He will also provide medical care and guidance at the Rafiki Village as well as other services. Peggy will be working with the children in various capacities at the Rafiki Village which is home to more than sixty resident children and school for an additional forty day students. We are currently raising financial and prayer support as we anticipate our relocation. For more information on this visit www.rafikifoundation.org.

We are hoping this blog will be a place for interested friends and family to see what we are doing as we prepare and as we begin to serve in our new "career". You may think, the Martins are too old to begin a new career! No, God has blessed us with good health and there has never been a better time in our lives to step out into this venture. God will also show us when He wants us to return to the States and settle down here.

Our next big step happens during January 20-24, 2014 when we head down to Florida for a week of "Survival Camp". We will be training with Rafiki Foundation for our life in Africa. Even though we have both lived in Africa before, we know that there is a lot for us to learn about serving with Rafiki for the future. We will also be with our good friends, Larry and Cindy Renner, who are also preparing for a "retirement career" in Africa also, as well as eight other people preparing for service with Rafiki. We are looking forward to the experience.

Most of us, who hope to be bond-servants of Christ serving outside the US, have to face the gauntlet of raising support among friends, relatives and acquaintances. Then in these uncertain times we at least occasionally have to fight off assaults of doubt about what could happen not only there, but here in our absence as we are living in times which surely call into question how long God will be patient with what is going in on in our own country. Both of us have been through this once before during our previous terms in Africa. Two things come to mind. The first one is the willingness of our Lord Jesus Christ to humble Himself unto death out of delight to do the Father’s will. With age comes the gradual realization that many things are not nearly as important as we thought they were-this becomes very real when we start having to get rid of possessions sometimes held very dear. Secondly, we think of what we are taught in Hebrews about receiving (among all the partings) a kingdom which cannot be shaken (Heb 12:28) and the sacrifices which God calls us to endure. Heaven’s view is that any sacrifice is worth this prize as we seek to follow our Savior in this path to glory. We are then called to receive grace by which we may offer to God an acceptable sacrifice of reverence and awe. We learned from our earlier service in Africa that all the grace which we may need is there at the appropriate time. As someone has said “all the rivers of Thy grace I claim, over every promise write my name”. It is our hope that all of you who have pledged to support and/or pray for us will always ask the Lord to show us how to serve Him in holy reverence and the awe of who He is. It is only then, that we will be able to be faithful stewards of what He has given us through you.

We have about ten months to go before the departure and every day we think of the things we really do not need and how we can simplify our lives. We walk through the house which has been completely redone over the years, and look outside at the fruit of our labors in landscaping and decorating. It is now time to invest equal, if not greater diligence in others for Christ’s sake. And what an opportunity lies ahead. We are very drawn, and joyfully so, to see Christ formed in the lives of orphans, medical students and those we meet along the path. The joy of saying yes to this calling is hard to describe but Paul mentions it in Philippians 1:26. The word in the original text is kauchema, which means joy but a special kind of joy--the joy that makes you exult, like jumping up in the air and clapping your hands!

We thank God for each one of you and what has been contributed so far in preparing for our departure. Some farmers have even volunteered to raise cattle or crops for us and after sale on the market to contribute the proceeds. The program is called STEER Inc.(www.steerinc.com) and is very active here in the upper Midwest. There are even some of our brethren who are retired and living in long term care who have decided to contribute to the work. We are so grateful for your confidence in us by participating in our work.

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