"Choosing a Life that Matters"

Peggy and I are on the NE side of Mt. Kilimanjaro at about 6500 ft elevation; it is raining off and on and wearing a jacket is necessary. The lodge is completely engulfed in a cloudy mist now but when it clears the plains of Amboseli in Kenya come into view dotted by an occasional ancient cinder cone. There is a club in the Moshi area called “The Kilimanjaro Mountain Club” which organized a weekend stay at a lodge called Snow Cap overlooking a Maasai town called Loitokitok. It is fairly well known in the area because it was one of the original areas where gospel work started among the Maasai. A fascinating paperback ,now out of print, called Road to Kilimanjaro gives the history of the area and makes a truly inspiring missionary story. With some effort old copies can probably be found through amazon.com connections. Times have changed but God remains the same and so does the human condition. A.W. Tozer, a famous Chicago pastor and author of the last century, once said, “God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible, what a pity that we plan to do the things we can only do by ourselves”.  He chooses to use people like us who are weak, fragile and vulnerable.

We are still feasting on a little book which we got the last night of the STEER conference (an organization of ranchers and farmers supporting missionaries by raising cows with their own herds) when we were home in North Dakota in October. The featured speaker for the conference was Dennis Rainey who runs a ministry called Family Life (connected with Campus Crusade-now CRU). The book’s title is the heading for this blog. The last blog was so crammed with events including the “hurricane of the century” that there was no space to mention anything about this. We noticed not long into Rainey’s keynote address that many people started taking notes, I only got the high points; then there was a book table by the door and my eye caught the title. It turned out he was giving the summary of the book. He reviews “seven decisions you will never regret”. We highly recommend it to all our readers because it contains information which is vital to living a life characterized by our Lord as being the source of “rivers of living waters” Jn 7:38.

The day of our return to Moshi was my 75th birthday (13 Oct) and the next day it occurred to me that it most probably was the first day of the last quarter of my life! We both think we are good for another few years and by God’s grace we would like them to be as significant as possible even though the journey is approaching the finish line. Following is a summary of the seven decisions:

1. Seek God and not sin because it is the greatest quest
2. Fear God and not men because it is the greatest respect
3. Love God and not the world because it is the greatest affection
4. Believe God and not the deceiver because it is the greatest adventure
5. Obey God and not feelings because it is the greatest act
6. Worship God and not comfort because it is the greatest experience
7. Serve God and not self because it is the greatest privilege

In principle we have proven as very true each one of these and hope to experience them more deeply in the coming year. Thank all of you again for your prayers and support as we go into our fourth year of bond service to Christ in Tanzania.

I hope these will inspire you as much as it has inspired us. Mr. Sanford who was the chief donor behind the success of the large medical provider organization now dominating the upper Midwest has a sign in his office which reads, “I aspire to inspire before I expire”.

View most mornings from my porch chair

As the year ends we hope to have our chicken house project up and running so the orphans can be taught how to raise chickens, we are looking forward to the approval of the teacher’s training curriculum so we can start issuing official diplomas for those who graduate from the three year program and most importantly be able to disciple in depth some of the teacher trainees. 

Sunrise beside Mount Kilimanjaro

Other events we are expecting in 2018 include visits by some of you which may result in commitments to serve with Rafiki Foundation. Anna, our daughter, will be with us for Christmas and is scheduled to take a job in London after the first of the year so it will be much easier to visit-just a plane trip across the Sahara. We are excited that Anna and her boyfriend, Scott, will be with us for Christmas this year. One of our biggest challenges here in Tanzania, is the absence of our family and friends. We do make new friends and have our “mission family”, but it is indeed a treat when our own family comes for a visit!! Sara and Phil (our colleagues at the Village) will have their daughter, Lydia, here also. Lydia is attending college at the Univ of Washington at St. Louis, MO but was raised for the last 7 years here. She is indeed coming HOME for Christmas. 

As I sit at the computer this morning typing and watching a glorious sunrise with Mount Kilimanjaro in view from top to bottom, I again realize the magnificence of God’s creation and am so grateful He includes us in the work here. Our days are short in which to do the Master’s will so we hope to make the most of them.

Isaiah "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee."

The intervening time since our last entry has been exciting to include “the hurricane of the century” … our unplanned early departure from Tanzania because of a dental problem …the planned trip back to Bismarck, ND to visit supporters and our home church and meeting a medical team on the way back in Amsterdam for a two week stay in our village. As of this date we have only been back about two weeks. It has been a joy to see how God has worked out details in ways that we didn’t even think about-but that is just like Him in His promise to make all things work together for good for those called according to His purpose.

This chain of events started one casual day when Peggy felt a large filling fall out of a molar and wanted to discuss it at lunch time. We both concluded that it would not be long until pain also set in and this kind of dental care is just not in sight here. ( The tooth would most certainly need a crown). We had to get ready to go home even though it was a week earlier than we had anticipated. The planned time home was to include an important meeting of those who run teacher training programs in Rafiki villages (the acronym used is RICE which stand for Rafiki Institute of Classical Education). We are nearing the time when African governments are starting to certify the programs.

Rice deans from 9 countries

As schedules were reviewed for flights, Peggy found out that the Orlando airport would be closing for hurricane Irene just as we would be arriving there. This was too close for the usual delays here and there which can be expected in a complicated itinerary-we would have to leave immediately .. in a few hours..(that very night). When we got to Orlando the terminal was packed with passengers fleeing the hurricane which was predicted to first pass over the Florida keys as a category 5! We had a little more than a day to get ready and in that time it began to move up the west coast of Florida. At Tampa it suddenly veered inland and traveled up the midline of the peninsula; the eye went right over our house but by then it had attenuated to category 1-2. Just west of our house the winds snapped an oak tree off 10 feet up the trunk and it missed the house by about a few feet. We had filled the bathtub with water for dishes and toilet use and didn’t get the power back for four days. Some people had to wait for two weeks for power despite the fact that repair vehicles were sent to Florida from all over the country. Some people did get trees on their houses and lost roofing shingles which had to be temporarily covered by giant blue tarps. Later that week a tree service came and removed the downed tree and by then I had cleaned the debris from most of the yard with some help from volunteers at headquarters. We decided it was best to remove four more trees which posed a risk to the house.

Peggy found a dentist who had holes in his schedule because of the storm, and got power back unexpectedly early-he fixed the problem. We did have guests after the power was restored for weekend orientation at Rafiki headquarters which included a nurse from Bismarck who was scheduled to come to Tanzania later. There were other minor repairs to be done but we got off easy. Some people had so many trees down that the curbside looked like a lumber truck has just delivered fresh cut trees to a saw mill. During the subsequent week my brother and his wife visited, noteworthy because they have decided to come and see us in Africa next year; our daughter also visited and confirmed that she was planning to see us in Africa in December.

Then it was time to fly to Bismarck which resulted in no travel problems. It was Fall there and all the leaves were turning red or yellow. Although a week was planned which included the

STEER conference. We have mentioned this before as a conference of ranchers and farmers who raise cattle for sale either as heifers for breeding purposes or steers sold for meat. The proceeds go to support missionaries. This year they sent over one million dollars to support about 85 different mission efforts with the lion’s share going to Campus Crusade for Christ for international and US college campus work. We have support coming from about 13 cows producing offspring at various farm sites. The meeting was special because this year was the 60^th anniversary of the organization which was celebrated by a banquet during which founders and officers past and present rehearsed God’s faithfulness in providing for the steady growth of people who are willing to take cows for missionary support. We did have another person who wants to take some cows for us in the spring. Larry and Cindy Renner who also work for Rafiki in Malawi were at the conference with us and we were able to see many of our old friends and supporters at the booth.

The time went fast because each day was spent in shopping for the orphans, getting medical supplies, keeping doctor appointments and meetings over a meal with many friends. We met the new pastor of our church and the current college age leader. Tentative plans were made for sending a team from the church both to Malawi and Tanzania next year which we would welcome as a possible source of longer term volunteers much needed at this present time. Many thanks to all of you who provided such hospitality and encouragement. Peggy and Cindy spoke at a women’s fellowship and the pastor with the elders invited me to speak at the morning service October 1 about the Rafiki ministry (we are now starting our fourth year in Africa).

The medical team of a pediatrician and two nurses from Bismarck have just finished their time here checking on our resident orphans and some of the day students. Most of the work would be considered well child visits but there were a few surprises like a yellow crayon remnant stuck in a boy’s ear after he decided to do something about his itching ear. We are facing new challenges here because some of the children are entering the teenage years with the usual mental and physical changes. The team took a short safari over two days to see the unrivaled wonders of African wildlife. We have completed the first chicken house (will need maybe three more) which we hope will house enough layers to meet our current egg use in 450 meals a day plus provide training for our resident children in how to raise chickens. There’s much more but we will save it for next time and say thank you for your prayers and support.

“Under the shadow of your throne, your saints have dwelt secure; sufficient is your arm alone and our defense is sure….. Our God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come: O be our guard while troubles last, and our eternal home.”

August 5, 2017

We often tell of all our joys of living in this wonderful land called Tanzania in this blog, but seldom do we share some of the hardships. Like all of our lives while we journey on this earth, there are trials and times of deep troubles. I must say quickly that our troubles are minimal here, but yes; we do have some troubles.

The weather here now is close to perfect in my estimation with cool mornings and evening and warm… but not too warm days. The mountain is mostly hidden from view but does come out for a peek from time to time. The clouds that usually cover the mountain, now cover most of the sky. When the sky clears and the mountain becomes visible, the temperature climbs quickly, so you learn to love the gray days too. Our mornings are often in the high 50’s and the days rarely climb above 80. The green is quickly turning to brown as the major rains are past until November or December. Yes Tanzania does have seasons…. Wet and dry….

What causes stress on our Village?? Well, it is easy to say that many things cause us to run to the Lord for shelter and these are always good reminders. Things are fast changing here and you seldom know what will happen next. Mostly that is great for a person who loves adventure and change; however some things are a bit hard to deal with. A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from one of my “former mothers”,  “Mrs. Martin, my little baby is in the hospital at KCMC”. KCMC is the larger referral hospital in town where Kent and I worked 25 years ago. Well that was stress!! This mother had left over a year ago and married and had a baby who was now about 3 months old. I finished up my morning tasks and headed over to the hospital, not having any idea what was happening. I found the mother in the pediatric ward with her little one. The baby had been born with spina bifida and it was a bad case. The baby was very sick with pneumonia but I was able to hold the little one and talk with the mama for over an hour. The mama has deep faith and was actually encouraging me at times. There is not a lot 

ICU at Machame hospital

we can do for this in the States, but here it is nearly hopeless. We prayed together for God’s grace and I left to hopefully return on Wednesday for another visit. In the meantime…. LIFE HAPPENED at the Village.

ON Tuesday, the day after I visited the mother and baby, one of our children who had been complaining of a stomach ache for a day or so, came … now complaining of lower right side pain! I quickly took him to Kent who said “this child needs to go to Machame for possible appendix”. Well that sure changes your day. I packed up him and his mama and up we went to 5000 ft where it is always rainy and COLD and begin our wait to see a doctor. After a few hours, it was decided that he indeed had appendicitis with possible rupture and he was “rushed” into surgery. He did have a very infected appendix and he was taken out of surgery to ICU. Well of course that was a bit of a concern for me, but as God would provide, the ICU was not full and he mostly got really good nursing care for 3 days there. It was a bit hard on the mama who had to stay with him and only had a hard stool to sit on by the bed. I spent the next 5 days with at least 2 trips up the mountain each day which consumes about 2 hours each trip. Good ole “Sherman” (our car), made the trips like a champ! The total hospital stay was 7 days, but the child is now back and in school and looking forward to having the stitches out this week.

Muddy footprints by the bathroom window

Obviously with the extra work of a child in the hospital and 3 children on the village with mumps, I was not able to make the trip back to KCMC but did check in by phone a bit with the mother and the little baby. While driving down the mountain from Machame on Saturday, my phone got a text and it was the mother saying her little baby had died. What a shock but yet what a picture of life in Tanzania. MANY baby die as infants. This of course set off another chain of events of trying to help this poor mother. The funeral for the baby was on Wednesday and I took 6 of our current “mamas” with me to the funeral for the baby held about an hour up the mountain at Sanya Juu. This was of course the mother’s first baby and an unexpected death. My thoughts kept me thinking “no mother should have to bury their child”… yet Mary certainly buried Jesus. There are no guarantees in this life and life is hard. I think that the mother’s faith is strong enough for her to get through this but I continue to pray for her and her husband.

During all this confusion of circumstances, someone broke into our house and stole my computer and my ipad. It was during the day so no one was harmed but it does cause some stress and a sense of insecurity. The mwezi (thief in Swahili) climbed in through the bars in our bathroom window leaving many muddy footprints on the wall and inside the bathroom. The bars provide an opening of about 10 by 12 INCHES.  In a poor country theft is a part of life. We do what we can to protect the “stuff” we have, but truly we hold what we do have lightly. The loss of the computer was hard because I used it mostly to store all the pictures of the children before printing them to their child books. Unfortunately I had not backed it up in quite some time. Stupid on my part, but gone none the less! Because of the theft, we did invest in a larger safe that bolts into the wall and allows us to store our electronics when we are not in the house.

Now on to the GOOD parts of life here which indeed far outweighs the stressful times. The school is going well and RICE with the teacher’s training has it largest class of 30 students. Kent it busy but was able to hire an assistant to help with grading and one on one with the students. He hired a man who has been in the program for more than 2 years and has done very well. Pascal is a wonderful help to Kent as now Elisabeth has enough work to keep her busy with just the art and music teaching.

The children of Rafiki are continuing to grow well and except for some cases of mumps are really healthy. They are learning well in school and can be heard any morning and evening having fun with each other. We continue to pray for their growth as young Christian men and women.

Pat, Elisabeth and I have decided to finally take some Swahili lessons. Actually I decided and drug them along for company. We have hired a tutor who comes to the Village each Saturday afternoon. Last Sunday as we were ready to leave church I heard a mother say to another mother “anatoka kuchase pale” a simple sentence but I instantly knew what it meant!!!!! “She wants to play there”. I was beaming all day from my new knowledge. It is interesting because as I am studying, I realize that much of the Kiswahili I learned more than 25 years ago is coming up from the bottom of my brain. I don’t think I will ever have a really good grasp of the language, but I do think I will be able to communicate like a two or three year old which is great for me.

Birthday party

We at the Rafiki Village Tanzania love to have an excuse for a party. That being said, the parties most likely take place on our lovely porch and with only 5 of us here right now (Sara is in the states getting Lydia into college) it is easy to swing a party. My birthday provided the setting for our most recent party. Sara and I are the only ladies here out of our 4 who really enjoy cooking. So we decided to “cater” our party by picking up Tandoori chicken in town. It was a hit and we ate….too much…. Phil actually baked the cake… and then played triominoes. It was indeed a fun evening.

Then for more cultural entertainment, we were all invited to the “Send-off” for the Lutheran Bishop of Tanzania’s daughter on Saturday. What is a send-off…. It is nearly like a wedding but something really special in the culture of Tanzania. First the ladies, Pat, Liz and I attended the church send-off at the home of the bishop. I would say there were 200-300 people gathered on their lawn for the ceremony. There were decorated tables for the guests and the event was to start at 10:00 AM. We arrived mostly on time and the event began around 11AM with morning chai… tea. There was then a full worship service with a band and singing and a sermon on Isaac taking Rachel as his wife. Of course it was all in Kiswahili but one of the Bishop’s daughter sat next to me and translated the service. The sendoff is when the family of the bride “gives her” to the groom and his family. This one was really special as it was the first of 4 daughters and she is marrying a German man and will leave to live in Germany. That and also much ceremony because of the being the daughter of the Bishop of Tanzania. We have become friends of this family as the Lutherans are our sponsors for Rafiki in Tanzania. Also the Bishop’s wife, Janet makes beautiful batik fabric and we often go to her shop with visitor to buy things. The first part of the send-off lasted until around 2 pm, complete with a nice Chagga lunch; and when you get there on time…. Your car is quickly buried in the maze of cars and a quick getaway is not possible. You learn to enjoy the process and not be concerned about time!... this is quite an adjustment for most of us Americans. The next part of the send-off was another party at a Lutheran hostel in town beginning at 4 pm. We didn’t RUSH into town but did arrive around 4:30, still early for the event!

Send-off celebration

Pair of Silver Cheeked Hornbills

There were over 1000 people in attendance and we were determined to hang in until we could at least deliver our gift to the bride. The dancing to the gift table finally arrived around 8:30pm so we simply danced to deliver the gifts and danced to our car!!!! Now in the 4 hours that we were there, we did meet many new people and enjoy a nice Chagga dinner and plenty of soda! I also have learned not to go these events without being armed with a knitting project! As we do not drive at night unless we really have to, the trip home was stressful but we arrived safely.

We are including some pictures of the nice new orchids I received for my birthday and also some nice ones now blooming. We are so blessed to have an orchid farm nearly at our back door. There are also so new and returning birds around our house. The pair of silver cheeked hornbills are somewhat seasonal and have recently returned. They are really big birds so you don’t usually miss their presence.

I will also say that our Village is now beginning a bit of a transition in missionary staff. Pat, our Headmistress of the school will be leaving at the end of the year as will Kent’s help, Elisabeth in the RICE program. At this time we have no idea who their replacements will be. There are many Rafiki Villages in need of both of their positions so ask yourself and your friends if perhaps God is calling you to step for a year or more to serve in Africa with Rafiki. If you have education training and background you would make a wonderful headmaster or headmistress for our schools and if you have talents at all in art and/or music you are needed in RICE. What an opportunity to serve God through the people of Tanzania or another African country.

Random sign from in town!

Taveta golden weaver

Now that the commotion of the dedication of the Rafiki Institute of Classical Education complex is a week past, I think it might be time to tell you of all the wonderful activities and the amazing building that we have to train teachers here in Tanzania. We are now in the active process of getting the curriculum for the school accredited so we can indeed begin issuing certificates and diplomas to the students. Currently we are mostly training students to teach in our school here at Rafiki and indeed we are putting out a wonderful product.

Library

As I write this on a lovely Sunday morning, the mountain

is framed by clouds in all its majesty. What a wonderful window we have here into God’s creation. We have so many wonders of nature here that are surrounding our lives in this place. I have discovered many new birds this rainy season and the flowering plants and trees are of continued wonder to us. We have quite the crop of orchids nearly in bloom on our porch and many lovely trees and flowers in our yard. Kent has hired some of his RICE students to work in our yard on their Saturdays off and this has indeed helped keep the vegetation under control and looking lovely.

We really began preparations for the dedication of our building in early November. We had the first furniture under construction and some delivered before the new year of 2017. We also hired a wonderful carpenter, Mr. Masuki, to work full time for us. You can understand the process when you learn that we must secure the lumber, have it delivered to our Village and then have the workmen “cure it”, then plane it, then they can begin to make the furniture. The product is amazing under the skilled eye of Mr. Masuki. He is a godly man and I have never seen him without a smile even as he worked the very long days and months up to the dedication. Beginning in January, he began to work from 8 AM to many nights past 9 pm. He had another hour to get to his home in Boma.  He also worked the same hours on Saturday then showed up to work on Sunday after he attended church with his family. All of the work he did is absolutely beautiful and sturdy. He was putting the finishing touches on the cabinets in the RICE kitchen the morning of the dedication.

Art building with Mr. Masuki art tables and cabinet

We indeed had many people working dawn to dusk and even in spite of sudden rain showers. Phil (our Village administrator with many talents) was on the backhoe or tractor from dawn to dusk every day for weeks to get the leveling of the property right for the drainage and sidewalks and future landscaping. Sara and I were on constant watch for just the right fabric for this and that and pictures for the lobby and curtains for all the west facing windows to tame the afternoon sun. We also saw that the curtain rods were hung in the proper places and watched and helped as the decorative sound absorption panels

Making the panels was a process!!!

were constructed and hung in the auditorium/gym complex. We were hanging the final panels late into the evening (night) on Friday before dedication on Saturday. We had not procrastinated on anything, we just had to wait priorities and timing for all the pieces to come together.

When we were nearly ready, we drove to Arusha on Wednesday evening before picking Karen E up at the airport, to collect our 1200 roses and pay our high fee of $34.00 for the entire lot!!! God really did lead us to the right people to help us with the beauty of the event and to keep down the cost of the building. Imagine how fun it is to drive home with 1200 roses in the back of your SUV.  I must say though, that it took a while to dry out the back as we had to haul water from here in our buckets and the dirt road to the farm.. about 15 miles long, was under construction with massive potholes!! But we made it and the loss of roses was quite minimal!! Also consider how in the world does one find vases for 1200 roses to be place in about 50 different places??? They say that necessity is the mother of invention so with the four of us ladies, me, Pat, Liz and Sara putting our heads and our wares together, made it happen. We covered jars with cloth, we used transparent buckets and we used the vases we had and it was all lovely.

On Thursday evening Rosemary Jensen (founder of Rafiki Foundation) and her family arrived on the evening flights. Friday was spent with the last-minute things while Rosemary held a Rafiki Board meeting in our new Art complex of the RICE building. The Art and Music buildings were dedicated in memory of Rosemary’s husband Dr. Bob Jensen. Dr. Bob and Rosemary spent 8 years in Tanzania in the mid 1950’s and their hearts never left Tanzania. The Teacher’s training college will be named the Rosemary Jensen Teachers College as soon as the accreditation is completed. What an honor to be a part of all of this and to honor Bob and Rosemary who have done so much good for the people of Tanzania as well as the people of Africa. They have done it all by God’s grace and in gratefulness of what God has done for them.

Ribbon cutting

Rosemary Jensen gives address

On Saturday morning, we were all up and ready before the sun came up. The dedication was scheduled for 10:30am and still lots of details to attend to. Our Rafiki resident children were all dressed early in their Tanzanian dresses and shirts and the older children were positioned to direct the guests to the RICE building for the ribbon cutting by the Lutheran Bishop of Tanzania. The ceremony started right on time which in itself is a miracle for Tanzania. The Bishop and Rosemary cut the ribbon and Kent and Rosemary entered and were blessed by the bishop for the work ahead. There were speeches by Karen Elliott (director of Rafiki), the Bishop, Rosemary and one of her daughters. The government also brought greetings and congratulations for the new complex. A choir of the RICE students sang and the gala was concluded with “To God be the Glory”. At the last minute Phil asked me to lead the hymn and I got nervous as I left the words to the hymn in my seat, and I left out the middle verse but no one seemed to mind much.  It was indeed a wonderful, God honoring event. After the program was complete, everyone enjoyed a celebration Tanzanian feast. Our kitchen workers did a great job preparing and serving over 200 people. They served bananas with meat, vegetable pilau, cooked cabbage and carrots, fresh fruit, rice with green pea sauce and fried ginger chicken. 😊. 

Everyone truly enjoyed the occasion.  We finished our day around 5pm then served a light dinner to 25 guests at our house. Kent and I dropped into bed around 10pm after arising at 4 am but with smiles on our faces that it went well and it was OVER

Well, what does one do after the climax of many months of work and preparation for such an event? REST now is much needed and as we sent all but 10 children away for visits to their villages for two weeks one would think that might happen. However; we are now busy doing needed maintenance in the cottages and painting them all. When the children return, many will be in a different cottage as we are moving the boys together at one end of the Village and the girls at the other end. I am excited about getting the cottages in good shape for a bit but as all you parents know, kids are hard on things.

Enough of this blog for now. As you pray for us, please pray for endurance and rest. Also pray that we might show the light and the love of Jesus to all of those around us as we continue with the work here. All of you are welcome to come and enjoy the work and blessings with us!!!.

Our sweet team, Elisabeth, Peggy, Kent, Phil, Sara and Pat

The hard life of living the Maasai culture in Tanzania

We have mentioned in the past that we are only just getting started even though we could be considered to be late bloomers for missionary work. This is now coming up on our third year and it is amazing what opportunities the Lord has opened for us. We are still hoping that the Lord will strengthen us to work until we “are too decrepit to work”. It is starting to feel like home even though we go back to the States briefly twice a year. For this installment of the blog we would like to let you know how we have come to realize that another world exists not far from where we live, another world, another culture-the Maasai. We have been drawn into a rather close association with it because we have four girls in our Rafiki Village who were brought to us by one of the few educated men in his clan. When the mother of three of them died in childbirth a Lutheran pastor happened to be at the hospital at the time she was declared dead. The father had died in some kind of trauma (probably from a motor cycle or car wreck-the roads are really dangerous). The pastor on hearing of the death suggested to the educated relative that he try for placement in the Rafiki Village. Many of the Maasai were opposed to this because they would be educated and not be available for early marriage, we mean barely at puberty. A grandmother was certain that the white people would sell them and told everyone she could about her suspicions. After a year of being with us she began to agitate to see what had happened to them (see the blog from (Sept 2016). When we took the four girls to their isolated village in the bush a great crowd was assembled and the grandmother on seeing the children decided she needed to apologize about our intentions-the girls were very polite, well dressed, healthy and happy. A lot has happened since then and particularly a severe drought descended on that part of Tanzania. People have died of starvation and many of the livestock have perished because all the grass and foliage dried up.

Some months ago we went on a second visit but didn’t take the girls. They had asked us to return on the original visit and this time as promised we brought some guests from America-two doctors and their wives who had decided to go on a Tanzanian safari. They wanted to see how the Maasai really live. That day we met a young Maasai male who is now in our teacher’s training institute chiefly due to his good English skills and an offer by the doctors to pay for his advanced education. For a few of the males who have been attending this program a special after hours training is being offered on discipleship. We have started it in the last month based on a document published be CRU (previously Campus Crusade for Christ). One of the starting points is coaching in how after starting a spiritual conversation they can give a short testimony of what Jesus has done for them. This week they composed a typed version which we reviewed together yesterday. The following is a direct quote from the young Maasai man. It is so unusual that I took extra pains to make sure I understood what he was saying. Read this! I felt like crying myself when he told me this amazing story,

 My Story About Becoming a Believer-Baraka

I become a believer in 2009 and the reason for becoming a believer was because one of my neighbors called Abraham Noah Mollel who became a believer in 2007. He told me when he was taking care of cattle one day he saw a Person in the sky coming toward him wearing a white cloth and he heard a low voice talking to him saying,” you give me your life & I‘ll help you”. Abraham started to cry without knowing why he was crying. He came home that evening & tried to tell me what he saw. I asked him, ‘’are you talking the truth?’’ And he said yes. Then I thought what he was telling may be the truth. I wanted to know more about what the man from the sky meant when he talked to Abraham.

Abraham was always reading the Bible and he knew many Bible verses which he tried to explain to me.   Abraham had been going to church but there was much which he did not understand. He suggested that we go the church together. Later he gave me a Bible and I learned about who Jesus was and that He had died on the cross for us. I decided to become a member of the church. I gave up the bad things I was doing and tried to explain to people what has happened to me even though I did not know much.

One day my uncle saw me coming from church and was very surprised because among Maasai only women went to church. I told him that I was going with Abraham and then he decided to beat us. He made us take off all our clothes and lie down on the ground. Then he beat us with a big stick for about one hour. We ask him to forgive us but he would not.

For one year, he beat us whenever he saw us returning from church. We prayed about this terrible situation and eventually he decided to let his wives and children go to church. They all became believers and were baptized. The pastor of our church helped us understand very many things about Jesus including the fact that He created the whole world and then came here as a man and died for us on the cross. God raised Him from the dead as proof that He accepted His death as a payment for our sins.

Finally, in 2013 my own father allowed me to be baptized but during that time I told many people about what  Jesus had done for me and some of them became believers. I got TB and had eye trouble in secondary school but the Lord answered our prayers and healed me. Now I am healthy and want to do whatever God has for me.

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We hope this will give you a better idea of what we actually do out here and the doors God has opened to train men and women in what it means to be one of Christ’s disciples. There are other stories like this which illustrate God’s amazing grace. We are now in our new building and hope that this will result in taking many more students for training.

We recently were in the States for two weeks then spent a wonderful 5 days in the Netherlands before returning HOME to Tanzania. We had a great time visiting some old friends and a few days with Peggy's family in North Carolina.

These activities made the time fly by but are so important for connecting as we are far across the world most of the time. We did arrive back in Tanzania refreshed and ready to go again. I think the most exciting thing we did in the Netherlands was to visit the Corrie Ten Boom house in Haarlem. The tour was wonderful and you felt a bit of the persecution and pain that the family must have endured while protecting the Jews. It was quite moving and I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling in that area. Because of a storm on the East Coast causing us to miss our flight to Amsterdam, we missed our scheduled visit to the Anne Frank house; however one of my friends wrote that "when you leave the Anne Frank house tour you feel a real sense of loss and despair, but when you leave the Corrie Ten Boom house, you feel a sense of hope". I am glad we only did the Corrie Ten Boom house :).  We also met our dear friend from ND, Raylene Alexander for a day in Amsterdam to tour the tulips and she returned with us to work at Rafiki Tanzania for 2 weeks. What a nice way to return!!

We have come to a major turning point here at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro and all the news is good! It is Easter afternoon and we are in the midst of a long Easter holiday so we are able to get caught up on a lot of things. We have the Easter weekend free plus the Friday and Monday. Later today we are planning a party for our orphans which will feature feasting on two goats which were brought in earlier today. Some of the kids asked me this morning if they could watch our administrative assistant and maintenance man prepare the goats for eating-I simply replied, “if they don’t mind”.  It would be the same thing if they were waiting back at the village where they came from. I suspect by now the goats are being roasted for supper.

Cutting up the goat for grilling

School has restarted and we (the teachers training institute) have moved into our brand new building. It will be dedicated in June after the landscaping is done and I have volunteered to do it. There are just piles of dirt around the building now and mud, the rainy season has started. There will be a lot of plants to go in, sidewalks and arrangements for drip irrigation. The large gym/meeting area concrete floor is now being poured and fortunately we can close it off from the classroom area to prevent all the dust and dirt from blowing in. Peggy and the village administrator’s wife are in charge of all the furniture, wall hangings, curtain and pictures. We have a nearby workshop where the furniture, desks, tables and white boards are being manufactured thanks to some of you who supplied funds for purchasing our power tools (they cost about twice as much as we would pay in the States for a good brand like Bosch). I finally have an office now instead of a little place in the corner of a classroom.

We have a young Maasai warrior who is just starting at the first level of training. Last time I saw him was out in the drought stricken bush when we took four visitors from the US to his village. It is the same one where four of our orphans originated. He wasn’t hardly saying a word as he was serving us goat meat and stew then suddenly he spoke in good English. The guests asked a lot of questions about him through the rest of the day’s trip and the next morning offered to pay all his expenses for three years of training if necessary. He is dirt poor. When he came to school he just had the clothes on his back and later showed me his shoes (the only ones he has). There was a big hole in one of the soles. I asked him how long he had them a he replied that it was for years but two years ago he sewed on new soles himself with leather thread, “but I left the thread and needle home at the village”. I’ve tested him several times this week and his math and English comprehension skills are very good considering where he is starting.

The thing which follows naturally from this is the potential of some students for serious discipleship since we will have them for one to three years. I have a group of about four men now who are good candidates and hope to start discipleship training next Saturday morning using CRU (the new name for Campus Crusade for Christ) materials. This is over and above what we would call a “revved up” Bible study which I teach each morning for about 45 minutes and is required for all our students. I haven’t identified as many girls who I think would really be interested in discipleship but am praying that God will raise up someone long term to meet that need. This brings me to the subject of trainers. Most African countries are moving away from giving visas for “missionary work”. They want highly skilled people who will be able to transfer learning and experience to learners. Our school head mistress is finally going home at Christmas after four years of volunteering with us over the previous four years. She is a retired very experienced teacher who has a master’s degree and has really done a good job for our 180 students in the ordinary school (preprimary 1-3 and primary 1-6). We are praying and looking for a replacement candidate. I hope all of you who read this will consider doing at least something like this before the Lord comes. Maybe you know someone that you can encourage.

Lastly we received the good news from the STEER organization (farmers and ranchers who support missionaries) a few days ago that they are awarding us $3000 to build a large chicken house to teach our orphans how to breed and raise chickens in the tropics. Our goal is to be able to raise enough meat and eggs to supply the village and teach all our children how to do the same regardless of what they end up doing. I have written before that about 70% of our children will be university material if they want to go, 20% will end up in blue collar skills (vocational training) and 10% gardeners, laborers and house girls. Rafiki is committed to sending all our children who are capable to a university for advanced training in some vocation but here in Tanzania everyone who can possibly do it should have at least a small garden and chickens. We think this will be a really good use of the Lord’s money and we were competing for the funds with many truly worthy mission organizations who had suggested other projects. The reviewers for the STEER organization must have agreed that our project was a promising one.

Please be praying with us about these items especially the position which is soon opening as the director of our school. Maybe God has something for you in this need or someone you know. It would involve also supervising about 20 Tanzanian teachers.

THE goat

The Best of 2016

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has been one of my favorite books in the New Testament; it is a repeated source of wisdom, encouragement, meditation and wonder. And it continues to be a source of new discoveries. We have been studying this book in the Rafiki Bible study series (this is usually a four page series of weekly notes with questions for each day eventually covering the whole Bible in three years). I still marvel with many others that God gave such a wonderful revelation to Paul while a prisoner in Rome and awaiting a trial before the emperor. There have been some things which have passed through my mind repeatedly but which have been beyond my ability to comprehend. I am writing this chiefly to get my thoughts organized and clarified so that they can be verbalized to others when the occasion comes along. Some of our adult students are going to be with us for three years by the time they finish the teacher’s training program so it is important for me to be always thinking about what could benefit them most in spiritual teaching as well as how we teach their curriculum.

 Pray with us for the effective discipleship of our orphans and teacher candidates. This is truly a golden opportunity.

New home for teacher's training institute

As a back ground I would commend to you an article from the internet which can be accessed by typing in “seven pillars of wisdom”, then choosing “Bridge to the Bible”. There is a lot there about the life and adventures of TE Lawrence but focus on the comments about Prov 9:1 and then in detail on 8:12-14. This wisdom is absolutely free to anyone who seeks and asks, it is the best of the O.T. and the heart rejoices in such a discovery. But I promise there is another world of wisdom which surpasses all that men can dream about and it ours for the asking! Just finish reading, I wish I had seen it long ago. What stimulated my discovery was our Rafiki Bible study in Ephesians 3:10 where Paul writes, “in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places”. He is writing about the details of the mystery of the Church and commenting that God has summoned angelic authorities to come and learn about the deep mysteries of His wisdom through observation of what He is doing in the Church (us, Gentiles mostly now and some Jews). And what is He calling them to observe and learn? I received some light on this through one very helpful reference, Believer’s Bible Commentary by William MacDonald. He lists at least nine things angelic authorities can learn: 1. God has triumphed over sin to His own glory, 2. He has sent heaven’s Best for earth’s worst, 3. He has redeemed His enemies at enormous cost, conquering them through love and is forming them as a Bride for His Son, 4. He has blessed them with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (there are 11 of these in chapter one), 5. Through the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross more glory has come to God and more blessing to believing Jew and Gentile than if sin had never been allowed to enter, 6. God has been vindicated, 7. Christ has been exalted, 8. The devil has been defeated and 9. The Church by God’s reckoning has been seated in Christ to share His glory!

Laboring over lessons

I found this extraordinary list hard to swallow whole heartedly because as a physician and constant party to the open and secret sins of mankind including my own, why didn’t God create a sinless universe where it would have been impossible for sin to enter? Think of the suffering He would have saved and avoided the unspeakable evils of the last century alone. I focused on point number 5 and asked the Lord, wondering if the request was too philosophical, to show me how this could be true. Around Christmas time when typing an old diary I came across a list of nine (9) things which Christ has given us specifically mentioned in John 17. The chapter was very familiar from repeated meditation.

Making furniture for classrooms

Before reviewing them it would be good mention some startling discoveries about myself from the previous missionary service in Africa 25 years ago. There were eight things which stood out very clearly. I was: 1. proud of what I had accomplished in my life, 2. arrogant despite efforts not to be, 3. rebellious in not submitting to the discipline which God brought upon me, 4. ungrateful in forgetting all that God had done for me in the past through His fabulous grace, 5. young and self-sufficient, not having encountered yet the infirmities of aging, 6. self-righteous in witnessing close up some of the horrible failures of believers, 7. capable of despising so severely that I could consider murder and 8. go on to plan secretly my own self destruction. This was the man I had become despite the wonderful forgiveness of God applied to the past. “Sweet are the uses of adversity”.

7th grade with new desks made in our "carpenter shop"

God shows us in John 17 that through the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross He has given us: 1. eternal life which starts now, 2. the Father’s words, 3. The Father’s name as our own Father in a personal way, 4. His joy and peace, 5. His separation from the world, 6, His commission, 7. His sanctification, 8. His glory which He had with the Father before the creation and 9. His love. What an amazing thing that He could bring sinners (some really bad) from their lost estate to such amazing grace and they would be truly transformed! This would indeed, be a theme which heavenly intelligences would want to pursue because it highlights extraordinary, unexpected grace. Here is wisdom, strength and love which are incomprehensible. This is my story, this is the story of everyone who has been transformed by the grace of God; God Himself has come to us, even becoming sin for us.

Art, music and PE teacher PTL

It is no wonder as Jesus walks among the seven churches in Revelation (chap. 2,3) He is looking for our faithfulness in holding to the truth about His person and work, service in the church and our lost world and ultimately, fervent devotion to Him. He is truly worthy of everything that we could offer. He has challenged us to walk worthy of Him and has urged us to the deepest devotion since He has given us so much. Peter asked when reminded about the coming age when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, “Lord, what then will there be for us?” Jesus challenges him and us, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for my name’s sake, shall receive many times as much and shall inherit eternal life” (Matt 19:29).

Teacher candidates and SOME disciples

Look at these pictures and reflect on the opportunities to bear fruit in this single village in these individual lives. Whatever we have given up for the brief time left, cannot compare with what we have gained and what is waiting for us. Thank all of you who have supported, prayed for and encouraged us along the way. We too are attending the school for heavenly intelligences regarding the riches of God’s wisdom and grace hidden for past ages.

Keeping track of where the money goes.