1. despite the terrible gathering darkness of
the coming Babylonian invasion Habakkuk learns to exult in the Lord, just in
who He is
2. exulting in the Lord has a different
emphasis than rejoicing in the “God of my salvation”-the latter has in view
what God has done in saving us both for time and eternity
3. he learns to call God his strength even
though Babylonian power will sweep everything aside and empty the land of resources,
even food
4. he is confident that the Lord will guide
him in spite of this difficult situation (guidance will be provided) and lastly
5. there will be specific guidance (like
carefully placed steps over a high and dangerous mountain pass).
As to
specific guidance, the Lord has very kindly opened the door to teaching in the
medical school in nearby Moshi. I value this because it gives me contact with
almost every medical student in all five years of the training program. Duke
University has a very extensive program going on which vastly enhances the
quality of the student training. It is called MEPI (medical education program
initiative). My assigned part for the present is working in a laboratory which
links basic science training with clinical application. This week I have taught
the practical application of doing electrocardiograms and measuring blood
gases. I had very little to do with how this worked out except inviting someone
to dinner at our house and Peggy did all the work in providing a good meal! We
are inserting a recent photo of the medical school, our lab is on the fifth and
top floor. The lower reaches of the mountain are so close that the houses can
be seen nestled in the zone of tropical rain forest.  |
| Impala |
For the
last two weeks we have hosted Missy Siebel and a pediatric nurse, Kayla Ehrlich
from our hospital in Bismarck. Dr, Siebel is a pediatrician who has taken an
interest in our orphans and is starting to come out once a year to make sure
they are all doing well. This time we discovered a set of ruptured ear drums
and some new asthma a cases. We arranged for Missy and Kayla to go on a safari
to one of the nearby game parks and the famous Ngorongoro crater. This is a
prehistoric mountain estimated to have been close to 20,000 feet high which
exploded catastrophically and then collapsed, leaving behind a continuous
caldera about 10 miles in diameter with walls 600 to 1000 ft high. The now
nearly flat interior is filled with numerous kinds of African game animals
including five prides of lions, bull
elephants, rhino’s, water buffalo and large herds of hippo’s who live in the
numerous lakes. Thousands and thousands of flamingoes feed in the largest
shallow lake. It is an unbelievable sight especially when the rains come and
turn everything green. We had the privilege of going along with them and getting
reacquainted with the fantastic sights.
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| Male and Female ostriches |
Generally
the kids are doing very well. This weekend if the rain lets up we are hoping to
do a tic tac toe tournament in the play area using chalk on the smooth
concrete. We had a pleasant surprise also in finding out that a generous donor
has agreed to fund a renovation of our playground equipment (the seesaw finally
broke due to metal fatigue fractures from high usage) and the construction of
connecting sidewalks between all the major buildings. In the rainy season the
mud makes a terrible mess with sixty kids running back and forth. We have some
sidewalks but many of the walkways are just concrete stepping stones which
break after a while. The new junior secondary school building will soon be done
which will enable us to expand the school capability up through grade 8. For
June, July and August we have short term missionaries coming to help us with
the kids. We always appreciate their help and urge you who are reading our blog
to consider coming for a wonderful experience!
Life
here continues to be busy and God continues to bless us with health and
strength to do the work. We find great joy in the children and seeing them grow
in the knowledge of Him. Hope you enjoy and are inspired to a visit by the
safari pictures. :)
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| Peggy, Kent, Safari drive/guide Emmanuel and Kayla looking over the crater |
Male and female ostriches.
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Lilac Breasted Roller (we have these at our village also and when they fly their wings are aqua blue.
|
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| These monkeys are cute but can be very annoying. While having lunch, they stole Kayla's and Missy's hamburger from the box they were eating from then stole a muffin right out of my hand!! |
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| I love the giraffe the best |
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| Two lions decided to rest in the shade of our vehicle. They wanted a longer nap than we were willing to stay so our driver kept revving the engine until they moved a bit. |
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| The beautiful crown crane |
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| Two of the SIX rhinos we saw in the Crater. |
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| Elephant in the marigolds in Ngorongoro Crater |
