Easter Sunrise Service

This year, we joined some good friends for a time of Easter celebration.  We met early in the morning and walked to the beach to worship together.  Although we missed meeting with our church family back in the states, we shared a memorable time here on the beautiful Indian Ocean.  :)

The morning started off a cloudy, but eventually the sun broke through!

   

Decisions Made and Spurring Others On

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Hebrews 10:24 is a great verse on exhortation and inspiring others to press on for the work of the kingdom. As we have worked here in Tanzania for over six months, we have felt the Lord calling us to do just that.

Carolyn and I have been personally overwhelmed by the friendships, housing, provision and all the open doors to the Tanzania government in the few short months we have been here.  We know it is all because of the faithful prayers of our friends and family.   As you may recall, our commitment in Tanzania was for one year—this was based on many factors. One of the main factors was the belief that we were coming to Tanzania to start the work of government relations and advocacy, inspire others towards this goal and then hand the work over to our Tanzanian colleagues. In other words we came to stir others. We came to inspire but frankly our Tanzanian staff have inspired us!

We are grateful for the talented and gifted staff here in Dar es Salaam who engaged very quickly at both the local and highest levels of government.  God has also opened many partnership opportunities with other organizations in Tanzania in dramatic ways.  If we are going to see every language have a translation project started by 2025, the national colleagues must take more and more responsibility of the work in each country.  We desire for them to become the primary face of SIL in Tanzania. 

We have never been more inspired by the work here in Tanzania, however, after much prayer and seeking of Godly counsel,  we feel the Lord leading us to take a consultant role with our staff in Tanzania and Uganda and head back to the US. We will still have a part time role with the leadership and staff in Tanzania and Uganda and Craig would work remotely with a few trips each year to Africa.  We say we will be working part time with Uganda Tanzania because an amazing thing happened during this process-- God revealed an even bigger role for reaching the remaining languages of the world through the ministry.

Many of you in Northern Virginia may remember Alemayehu who became the first national to serve as an SIL national director back in 2007. His story was an incredible story of how he as a young man was persecuted by the communist in Ethiopia for his faith in Christ. We are excited that Alemayehu has now been chosen to become the regional director for East Africa.  With that role, he has asked Craig to join his regional team and help him consulting in the area of government relations, leadership training and partnership! We praise God for this amazing opportunity to expand our work throughout  Africa. So not only will we continue to focus on Uganda and Tanzania, but our work will expand to all of East Africa!

                                           Alemayhu visiting with us in Dar.

As John the Baptist said, “I must become less and he must become more. “  With God’s hand, we have lit the fire, we have stirred the pot, and the kingdom is advancing. Praise God!  It is so exciting to be a part of God’s work! 

If God allows, our plan is to return to the US in the fall, and continue to serve the people of East Africa in a consultant role.  Please pray for us as we continue to serve here in the remaining months. 
We love you all and thank you for your continued faithfulness!

Vocabulary Lessons

Even though we only had about a week of “official” language school, we are slowly learning some basics to help us communicate in Tanzania.

In Kiswahili, knowing how to greet someone is essential.  And greetings extend beyond simply, “Hi, how are you?”  Most people are familiar with the greeting, “Jambo” but we have learned that will often mark you as being a tourist.  Officially, you would say “Hujambo” and the reply would be, “Sijambo”.  There are many variations on this, but more commonly you would greet someone with “Habari za….”  This means, literally, what is the news of…  So it can be what is the news of the day, work, the family, the school, the possibilities are endless!  And you never ask just one, they can keep going!

Some other basic phrases that we use often are “asante” which means thank you, “karibu” which can mean you’re welcome or just welcome, and “pole sana” which means I’m sorry.

Although many Tanzanians in the city speak English, there are many basic words like these that make interactions easier.  One of our favorite dukas (store) has some great guys that work there who are always trying to teach us new words.  Not only are they the nicest guys around, they make shopping there so much more fun. 

Then there are the traffic words.  Dar es Salaam is never short on modes of transportation.  There are dala dalas (buses), piki pikis (motorcycle taxis), bicycle taxis, and bajajis (like a motorized rickshaw).

Certainly, Tanesco (the electric company) and Dawasco (the water company) are important words to know, since you are often dealing with issues with one or the other. 

The part of my new vocabulary that I haven’t been thrilled with, actually has nothing to do with learning Kiswahili.  It’s all happening in English and at times is troubling.  Living in a third world country means that talk of hospitals and clinics is commonplace.  Malaria, amoeba, worms and deworming (not just for your pets, but your family too!) and unknown diagnosis are also pretty typical.  And just recently, I’ve gotten to add the term “flesh eating bacteria” to my list of discussions (thankfully not for our family, but you can certainly keep another family in your prayers).

Living in Dar es Salaam has made me realize, in many, many ways, how much I have taken for granted while living my life in the United States.  And, despite the difficulties we often face here, I know that we are blessed beyond measure.  God is working mightily in Tanzania.  You can see it in the number of translations of His Word that are being completed, you can hear it in the praises, and you can feel it the joy that manifests itself in the His people.  And the best news is, He’s not done yet!

Traveling to Arusha

Mt. Meru, from just outside of Arusha

One of our recent visits took us to the city of Arusha, in northern Tanzania.  Arusha is located near Mt. Meru, one of the highest mountains in Africa. (On our drive to the city, we also got an incredible view of Mt. Kilimanjaro—THE highest mountain in Africa.)   Arusha is also a stopping point for many on safari.  Within just a few hours of the city are many of the best game parks in the country.  And, being that it is at a much higher elevation than Dar, the weather was so much cooler…what a refreshing break from the summer heat!

One of our highlights was visiting the Cultural Heritage Center.  The main part of the center is shops that sell many African crafts and different types of art work.  There is also a bookstore, a glass store, a clothing store and a restaurant.  However, the bulk of the business is in the sale of tanzanite.  The owner gave us an interesting education on the gem and showed us many different sizes and colorations of the stones.  I have never seen so many tanzanite stones!

Next to the center is a museum/gallery that showcases African artists.  Just as impressive as the artwork was the building itself.  It reminded me of the Guggeheim museum in that you followed a spiral path around the building, gradually moving higher (or lower) throughout the displays. 

While we were there, we were able to visit with Gary and Diane Eberts who pastor one of the local churches in town.  They were so gracious to take their time to show us around the city and we were blessed to be able to worship their church on Sunday. 

Mt. Kilimanjaro, in the morning.  It was a beautiful drive with the mountain on one side and the sun rise on the other.

A Little Bit of History

We have done some traveling over the last few weeks and have been blessed to visit some interesting parts of Tanzania. 

About an hour north of Dar es Salaam, is a small city—Bagamoyo.  It sits right on the coast and offers an amazing glimpse at some of the history of this area.

On our first day there, we visited this spot.  Obviously, they are doing some work here at the moment.  But this cross sits on the coast and commemorates the missionaries that “redeemed” the slaves from the slave markets in Zanzibar in 1868.  From Zanzibar, the slaves were brought back here to a settlement.

 

From there, we visited a museum that displayed through old photographs, maps, articles and artifacts, the history of slave trade in the area. 

Also on the grounds of the museum is a Catholic church and a large cemetery.

There is also this tower, where David Livingstone’s body brought before it was returned to England.  Livingstone played a huge role in attempting to abolish the slave trade that was happening throughout eastern Africa.  Over 500 slaves that he had “redeemed” carried him here as a tribute.

The next day, we visited an old fort that at one time served as the place to house the slaves before they were chained and put on ships and sent to other countries to be sold.  The conditions there were unbelievable as our tour guide described that 25 people were put into one small room for days at a time.  There was only a small window for light and air.  This was after they had been captured and walked for miles and months carrying heavy loads.  It is amazing to me that anyone survived long enough to even make it on the ships to be sold. 

At one point the building also served as a prison and you could almost feel the sadness of the place. 

We stayed at a small inn, the Traveller’s Lodge, which was also right on the beach.  The grounds were green and lush and so peaceful!  It was a wonderful retreat.  It also had a great play structure for the kids.



We definitely had a great trip!  Wish you were here!

In the Time of Crisis, Choose Grace

Many of you read our last blog on decisions and have been standing in the gap for us and praying. Thank you!! We hope to be able to let you know our next steps soon.

In a previous blog, Carolyn shared the overwhelming feeling of driving in Dar. Our friends experienced a crisis a few days ago as they were driving at night here in Dar es Salaam. This incredible story is not just about what happened to them, but more importantly, how they chose to respond to the crisis  We appreciate them (thank you, Dan!) for allowing us to share this guest post with you.  Please read--and let us know, what would you have done?

Tonight we were in a car accident. First let me say everyone is fine, our whole family was in the car and we're all ok, no harm done. We went to a couple's house on the peninsula for dinner and left to drive home at about 8:30. That means it had been dark for about an hour and a half or so. I dislike driving in the dark. I really have no problems with it during the day, but night is a whole different experience and one that I don't generally enjoy.

We were driving home and I came to a red light. This doesn't always mean what you think it would. In Dar (and Tanzania in general from what I've seen of it) a red light is a suggestion that you should stop if there is no traffic crossing or the car in front of you has stopped. In tonight's case I stopped at the red light because there were cars turning directly in front of me and to run through it was to invite destruction. So I was being careful and I stopped. ( For those who know the area it was the light before Mwenge market going north.) I came to a full and complete stop and about five seconds later a taxi slammed into the back of our car. There was a loud boom and we were all pressed firmly back into our seats. It was startling and unexpected.

Stacy called for Adah and she made a babbling noise that didn't sound particularly injurious so then she yelled for Micah to see if he was ok. He didn't respond and I was immediately terrified and yelled a bit louder and more forcefully for him to respond and he said he was ok. I think he was just scared and startled at first. Bernadette was also with us and she was fine too. Once this was all determined I put on my hazard lights and we looked around out the windows. It is not always good to get out of your vehicle at an accident scene as there is often a mob. It was similar in this case as a group of men were walking around the cars. Within half a minute we saw a police officer (Mr. Mensa) walk over and I went to talk to him. He was speaking to the driver of the taxi and I told him that was my car and pointed at the one with the big dent in the back of it. He nodded and said, “Please move it over there,” pointing to the corner out of the center of the road.

I moved the car and he got in the taxi and they parked nearby. As all of this was going on there was a steady and heavy stream of traffic driving around us. The police officer got out of the car and was physically holding a young guy and moving him around towards another car. Apparently there had been another accident at the same time where this young guy hat hit another car behind me somewhere. I didn't know the details and the driver who was hit was pretty mad and yelling in Swahili, none of which I understood. After a few minutes they settled something and the cop looked at me. I said that's my car over there and that I was stopped at the red light and the taxi ran into me. I said we should go look at the damage.

We stood there looking at the large dent in the back of my car as he talked to the taxi driver. The man was obviously poor and had three children standing next to him. I doubt they were his, I think they were just borrowed from the crowd, but who's to know? The police officer made his report, I wish I had taken a picture of it but I was too hyped up on adrenaline to think to do it. Basically he had a clipboard with a blank sheet of white paper, upon which he drew the road with arrows for the direction of traffic and a rectangle for my car and one for the guy behind me with an x at the back of mine where the damage was. He then asked me what happened and I told him I had stopped at the light, which was red and there was traffic crossing in front of me so I couldn't go forward and I was hit from behind. He nodded and noted some things down in swahili on his paper. He then took some of my information including my name, phone number, job ( missionary), religion (he guessed Christian correctly) and a few other things that escape my memory.

The police officer said, “This man is obviously poor, he has no money, what do you want me to do?”

I said, “I have no idea, what can I do?”

He said, “You can take him to court and I can take him to jail or not.”

I said, “One moment please,” and I went and got the keys and unlocked the back of the van to try to open it. It of course was caved in over the locking mechanism and did not open. This made it so that it really does have to be repaired. Just a dent I could live with but I need to be able to get into the back of the van. I then went and told Stacy what he had said and she wisely said I should call Dwight. Dwight is awesome, he knows a lot has lived here for a long time and has a lot of experience on how things work here, so I took her advice and gave him a call. He told me my options and I thanked him and went back to the cop. I told the cop I thought it would cost almost 200,000 shillings to fix the car and if the driver could do that then I'd be fine with it and we could let it go. He told me that the man didn't have the money that he couldn't pay but that I could take him to court if I wanted to. I considered my options and went and talked to Stacy again.

I said, “This guy is poor and the hassle of going to court and trying to get money out of him doesn't seem like a good idea. I say we just eat the cost of repairs and go home.”

She agreed and I went back tot he police officer. I told him, “Here's what I would like to do. I would like for you to tell the man to drive more carefully. Then please tell him I will be praying for him and that I wish him well. We are done here as far as I'm concerned.”

The police man was very kind and offered his phone number and name so that if I have any other problems I can call him and he would do his best to help. I thanked him and we drove the way home. As we were pulling back into traffic Micah asked, ”Did the policeman ask you for supper?” I grinned and said, “No man, not this time,” and we drove the rest of the way home uneventfully.

I hate to say it but I think this was inevitable. Driving in Dar is inherently dangerous and driving at night is more so. In this case there was nothing I could have done to have been more careful beyond not being on the road at all. Hopefully I will be able to get the car fixed this week. We have insurance but there is a deductible we'll have to meet first which it would have been nice to have gotten from the other driver but wasn't really realistic given that I wanted to get home before tomorrow. Hopefully this won't ever happen again, but if it does I can only pray that it is as minor as this.

Decisions

Decisions, decisions, decisions.  Sometimes, I find it really hard to make a decision.  Like right now.  Since we are about half way through our time of commitment in Tanzania, we are at the point where we need to decide if we will extend our commitment—or move back to the states.  We have been praying for wisdom, for guidance, for unity in our decision and most of all, that we will be in the center of God’s will.  Does that mean we will stay here?  Or, will that move us somewhere all together different?  We wish we knew for sure!

Often, I would prefer that the answer would come like this:

This is what we came across the other day on the way to church. (I wish the picture was a little clearer, but essentially the truck was heading up our hill, lost its clutch and brakes, slid back down the hill, and completely blocked the road!) There was no wondering or debating—we could not go this way!  The decision was easy.

But what I find more often, is this:

I think I have a plan.  I think I have it figured out and that we are traveling along just fine.  Then, we begin to feel that God is leading us on a different path.  The path isn’t always clear.  We often don’t know what the road we travel is going to look like or exactly where it is headed.  Those times, like now, are tougher.

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Proverbs 16:2-4

Am I really supposed to change directions now?  Is it that I want a diversion or that God wants to grow us and take us somewhere different?  Although not as clear as the truck blocking the road, often I find that a change of course is clear, just not the direction. 

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:10-12

So, I continue to pray and to seek and to know that God is good.  Will you pray with us?