June 2009 Update

Kigoma, Tanzania. As we reflect on last month the first thing that comes to mind are all of the trials we struggled with. Most of them minor, but still not fun. We are reminded of these verses for encouragement. James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Also 1 Peter 5:6-11,”Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care on Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Though it’s not always the case we are also reminded of a phrase our friend Corrie always says, “If you’re not bugging Satan, he’s not bugging you.” Well, we must have bugged Satan a lot last month!

Jon has completed the book of Daniel with his students. He has mentioned one of his students in a previous newsletter named Bahati, who has come from Congo. We’ve been sponsoring Bahati in his education and because of this we have developed a special friendship with this particular student; so much so that Bahati named his baby after Jon!

I’ve been teaching a small group of ladies at a local church. We’re studying the beautiful Proverbs 31 woman. We are taking it very slowly and gleaning everything we can to be more like this Proverbs 31 woman. As I encouraged each of the ladies to read their Bibles daily I saw that two of the ladies didn’t have Bibles. I am looking forward to blessing them with Bibles at our next Bible study.

At Home. We’re excited to say that Keenan has successfully completed the 2nd grade and Caleb the 1st grade. Kevan is working extra hard and will soon finish the 5th grade. Our children are doing well in their studies and we’re very proud of all of them. Kevan recently sent an email to his best friend Brian. He asked me to read it so that I could make any needed corrections. I was so blessed when I read it because out of his own doing he encouraged his friend to read his Bible daily and even shared some of his own favorite Bible verses. Keenan also brought excitement to my heart as I woke up one morning. He said to me, “Mom, can I show you what I wrote this morning?” I have to share with you, word for word, what he wrote because I am so amazed and so blessed by it. Here’s what he wrote: “God sent His only Son on to Earth. God is our shepherd. People are the sheep. God teaches us to stand, that means He teaches us the Bible. God teaches us to walk, that means God teaches us to have faith and to walk with Him. God teaches us to run, that means to go where He tells us to go . God teaches us to talk, that means to spread His Word.” So much wisdom for an 8 year old! I would have been totally impressed if we had been teaching him a similar lesson and he came up with this explanation. But that wasn’t the case. He came up with it completely on his own!

As most of you know, we’ve been taking Swahili lessons as a family for almost 3 months. Though we’ve been able to learn a few things, we’ve discovered that the instructor we hired doesn't have any structure to the lessons and is leaving out very important things. Also, he isn’t really good enough at speaking English to be able to explain things clearly, so we haven’t learned nearly as much as we had hoped. We are praying about alternatives because learning the language is an absolute MUST at this point. It’s our desire to be able to minister to the people here on a personal level, as friends and fellow members of one body of Christ. We can’t do that if we can’t speak to them without a translator. We feel like perpetual “visitors” instead of residents, and it leaves us feeling very alienated. We have a lot of empathy now for the difficulties that immigrants endure when moving to an English-speaking country before having the opportunity to learn English. We’ve heard good things about a language school just outside of Nairobi. If that’s what God wants then we’re excited at the thought of still being able to serve and minister at Calvary Chapel Nairobi and the Bible College that they operate while learning Swahili.

Please pray for...
...God’s will concerning language school.
...continued love for the people of TZ.
...our possible move to a different house closer to town.
...God to reveal any other specific ways He would like us
 to serve Him.
...Carrie’s wrists.
...the orphanages to have better caretakers that will care for the children and their needs.

Please pray for our friend Yada and her family. We’ve just learned that her newborn baby, Anna, is not only blind, but also has Down’s Syndrome and a heart defect. Her eyes and heart might be fixable, but only with expensive surgery in Dar es Salaam on the coast.