Frustrations turned into blessings. . Ecc 7:19 “Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than seven rulers who are in a city”.

As I write this our voltage in the house is fluctuating between 150 volts and greater than 250 volts! This would be a disaster in the US. In this case it is not because of generator malfunction but the main power coming from the unstable Tanzanian grid. Someone might say, “you are fortunate to have any power”. And I would reply that is why we try not to complain too much but it is very hard on our electrical equipment.

To compound the electrical issues, yesterday morning we discovered that we had no water.

Our very dry water tower.

When we went to the pump house we discovered that the control box for the deep well pump had caught on fire and looked like the remnants of a burnt out car. When we tried to figure out what happened we established with some portable meters that the pump was drawing 49 amps before the breaker tripped when the normal is supposed to be 3 amps. Then we knew there was serious trouble. I diagnosed pump failure which means no water for a probable 48 hours. Our village director called the company which put in the pump system (that was Saturday morning and today is Sunday-we are fortunate for any company to answer the phone). Even in the US, this would be a problem on the weekend.

Our well is about 386 feet deep and normally gives us abundant amounts of water without the need for any treatment. We then store it in 3 - 2500 gallon tanks and pump it 60 ft up a tower to provide water pressure. That pump is just a small lift pump which is easily replaced. The village director checked our tanks and there was only about 2500 gallons left. The children as well as all of us started drawing water in buckets from the storage tanks so that we could occasionally flush the toilets. Peggy filled our bathtub and then the water was gone. Ugh! No water for the weekend for 70+ people and in a few hours we would be picking up some mini missionaries who were arriving on the evening flight from Amsterdam. Thankfully we found the man who put in our deep well pump and he came out for a look. Our worst fears were confirmed---the deep well pump would have to be removed and replaced (normal life time is 7-9 years and we were are 8 years). That meant having to pull about 16 lengths of pipe out of the well to get at the pump. Well after sunset we did succeed in getting the pipe out and removing the pump. Maybe today or tomorrow we can get a new pump from Arusha which is about 50 miles away but an hour and a half to two-hour drive.

The guests did arrive and I am sure they were disappointed they could not shower after the long trip and had to put up with the disagreeable toilet situation. They certainly did not complain and were quite up for the challenge.

All of this demonstrates how dependent we are out here on three things: stable power, water and communications. Some months ago we noted a terrible power surge and bulbs started exploding in our main kitchen where we prepare the meals for the children. It ended up being a freak malfunction in one of the contacts of a sealed main breaker. We think the voltage may have peaked at about 450 volts. Since we have been here we have had to make arrangements for two people to be transferred out either to Nairobi or South Africa for medical emergencies. (Rafiki contracts with a special organization which agrees to make these arrangements from South Africa 2-3 hours away by air). This complicated arrangement requires functioning international communications not only with other countries but with our headquarters to keep them in the loop of what is happening. Just think of what it was like in the early days of mission work before there was electricity, functioning water systems and satellite telephones! Now we are privileged to have reliable internet and even cell phones that function. Sometimes I think we get too complacent about having and expecting the privileges of electrical power, running water, and communications.

We were able to experience blessing even with the outage of water. Can you imagine 60 children for two days being unable to flush toilets? But the kids got together and hauled water from the amount left in the ground storage tanks and made fun of doing it.

Children hauling water on the hand cart

The mamas even came over on Sunday afternoon volunteering to go to the river to fetch water which would have meant hauling water for about a mile! We were thankful this was not necessary but grateful they were willing. We have a wonderful team here at Rafiki Tanzania. Phil and Kent worked nearly nonstop on the new pump installation and electrical problems with no whining from them.

But we think all of these troubles are worth the effort and we had proof of that this week. We have finally accumulated enough study Bibles to make a gift of one each to our 22 teachers and 20 odd RICE students (these are the individuals in the teacher’s training program). At least half of these Bibles were brought out in the suitcases and purchased by individuals like members of the Jensen family who contribute through a foundation started by Rosemary Jensen. We had a meeting on Friday to explain how to use a study Bible and then gave away the first installment to the teachers. One of the male teachers said how grateful he was to have something which was so valuable that he would want to pass it on to his children and grandchildren. There were many comments of gratitude and I assured them that there was enough information in the study Bibles to be the equivalent of a fine theological education if they could just continue to be diligent students of the Word. If and when some of you come to visit you will see what we mean when we say the dividends are worth the troubles and inconveniences. That is why we hope and pray that some of you will catch the vision. You can do this!

Singing praise to the Lord with their whole hearts

 We now have reached the two year mark in the time we have been in Tanzania and are very grateful that the Lord has encouraged us towards our goal of being able to serve for 7-10 years total before reaching the end of our productive years. Some of you will recall that we chose to have Florida as our base so that when that time has run out we could at least be able to volunteer at headquarters. Peggy estimates that over the roughly three years we have owned our house in Florida we have stayed there for about three weeks (we stayed in Larry and Cindy Renner’s condominium for a couple of weeks while waiting for the remodel job of our house to be completed-they had already left the US to serve with Rafiki in Malawi). Peggy’s main job is supervising the care of our 60 orphans and mine is running a teacher’s training program aimed at supplying qualified teachers with a biblical background for use in the large number of Lutheran supported schools in our area. This is a wonderful opportunity because we have 1-3 years to influence them depending on what level of training they may choose. If they opt for training just one year they are qualified to teach pre-primary 1-3, including the equivalent of kindergarten. Two years takes them to qualifying to teach the equivalent of grades 1-3. Three years qualifies them to teach through the equivalent of grade 6. We are now in a temporary building while waiting for the new one, especially designed for the program, to be completed in early 2017. Our enrollment is expected to reach 100 with six levels of academic preparation going at one time. A photo of the incomplete building is included in this blog installment. Headquarters has sent out an assistant beginning this term who teaches music, PE and assists in mentoring struggling students and in keeping track of performance. She is a university graduate and has been very helpful. With the foregoing in mind I would like to sum up what I have been able learn about the wisdom which we seek to impart to our students.

Twins with a birthday marking their physical growth but also growth in the things of God.

Wisdom is personified in the book of Proverbs as a woman who has built a dwelling supported by seven stone pillars, “the seven pillars of wisdom” (Prov 9:1). This brings to mind an ideal architectural arrangement of an ancient house with a central courtyard and the remainder of the dwelling arranged around this central rectangle and supported by seven pillars. The main entrance is opposite the central pillar on the end of the courtyard with three along each side. The door is on one end of the rectangle, three pillars on each long side of the rectangle and one in the middle of the opposite end to support the main roof beams and join the two rows of pillars on each side.

What is suggested by each of these supporting pillars?  We may look earlier in Proverbs to get some further insight (Prov 8:12-14). There are seven things in these three verses: prudence, knowledge and discretion, the fear of the Lord, counsel, sound wisdom, understanding and power. If you google “seven pillars of wisdom” there is very valuable reference under the heading “Bridge to the Bible”. I have found the best way to keep these seven thing in mind is to start with “the fear of the Lord”:
1 the fear of the Lord is best rendered “the reverence of the Lord” and we are told in the first chapter of Proverbs that it is the beginning of knowledge. For insomnia meditation or any other time the fear of the Lord can be divided into at least 7 categories
                1.1 receiving the testimony of creation regarding God’s supreme power, glory, wisdom and  
               artisanship
               1.2 dreading His displeasure-a slight nudge can send a lethal sized asteroid hurtling towards
               earth with dreadful consequences which the past has revealed
               1.3 being thankful for His benefits
               1.4 obeying His commandments
               1.5 respecting His holiness
               1.6 sincerely worshiping Him
               1.7 cheerfully submitting to His will

2 The next logical one is knowledge and discretion. This refers to the godly man being careful to observe what is going on around him and make wise plans (I had a friend in undergraduate school who was a Jew. He came from a large and wealthy Jewish family in Austria. When Hitler came to power his dad became convinced they had to “pull up stakes” and leave Europe. The rest of the family thought he was crazy but he took his immediate family and started over in Argentina. His was the only surviving remnant and the rest vanishing in the Holocaust).

3 Sound wisdom is that which comes from God and we have a promise in James 1:5 that if anyone lacks it in the situations of life God will freely give it. This is in contrast to worldly wisdom and if we have trouble distinguishing between the two, James 3:17,18 helps us make the distinction.

4 Understanding is the ability to see the inner workings of a thing, to have insight.

5 Counsel is the benefit received from listening to the advice of others and it is a frequent theme of Proverbs

6 Prudence is knowing what to expect from our own nature and behavior and knowing what to expect as we observe others. It is to have a realistic view of what to expect if we put ourselves in compromising situations, it has in mind the exercise of self-discipline. I am reading the biography now of the famous Russian author A. Solzhenitsyn who won the Nobel prize for his work “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”. He hired a beautiful, intelligent private secretary to help him keep track of all his literature notes and was appalled when she announced one day that she was indeed pregnant by him. By that time he was 50 years old. He had to explain this to his wife which resulted in a divorce and eventually two more sons after marrying his secretary.

7 Power or strength is the effect that this accumulation of benefits confers on those who dwell in wisdom’s house. Ecc 7:19 says, “Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than seven rulers who are in a city”.

The New Testament reveals a very special form of wisdom which was unknown in the Old Testament. It is the subject of the first half of Ephesians.  Maybe in the next blog there will be room to explore this part of wisdom a little bit more.

As you can discern from this blog, we are grateful that God has brought us here for this work and continues to give us encouragement and strength to do what He has called us to do. We have so many wonderful surroundings of beauty

A pineapple growing in our front yard!

to be grateful for and abundant blessings in every area of life.

Abundant flowers in the yard... ALL YEAR

The mountain of course