Time to Travel

It was time to hit the road the again!  We had the opportunity to travel and visit a few of our friends in Georgia and North Carolina.  It was so wonderful to spend time with many loved ones  that we hadn’t  seen in over a year as well as see some friends we made while in Tanzania.

 

Our first stop was to visit Susan and Marty Larsen in Georgia.  We had the privilege of meeting them while we were in Tanzania and we just love them!

 

Next stop was Waxhaw, North Carolina where we caught up with some more friends from Tanzania, Brian and Karen Anders. It was great to see them and hear about their time being back in the states.

 We visited the JAARS center...

 

 

Spent some time enjoying the fall leaves with our friends from Virginia, the Dillinghams, who are now with Wycliffe...

 

Met up with our friends, the Cravens, who we first met during our initial training with Wycliffe.  We have stayed in touch with them through the years as both our families have served both overseas and stateside...

 

And got to shop at the very-much-missed Trader Joes for the first time since returning to the states!

 

Then, after arriving in Bakersville, NC, with our friends the Leavells, we carved pumpkins...

 

Collected candy at the town's fall festival....

 

And played in a surprise snow shower!

 

 

2012 Global Outreach Celebration

We enjoyed a great week with our friends at Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Florida.  Whenever we are invited to their Global Outreach Celebration, we know we are in for a special time!

Throughout the week, we caught up with old friends and made new ones.  We spent time with missionaries from all over the world and heard miraculous stories of how God is at work.  Our God is an awesome God!

Birthday Week

 Mid September brings us lots of time to celebrate!  (As you can tell, this is a very belated birthday post!)

Ariana turned 8!

Celebrating with friends at Steak n' Shake

       The birthday person always starts their special day with breakfast in bed!

Anissa turned 12!

The super-star bowlers!

 

 It's great to celebrate with friends!

 

And, Jim (Carolyn's dad) as well asVirginia (Craig's mother) celebrated their birthdays as well!

The Return

Wow!  When I think that we have been back in Florida for a little over a month, it's hard to believe. The time has flown! 

 

And now, we find ourselves in yet another transition.  And with every transition comes lots of emotions.  As excited as we are to be "home" we are EXHAUSTED.  Although it literally feels like a weight has been lifted off of our backs by not dealing with the daily stress of just living life in Dar, we still find we are struggling to have the energy to get through all it takes to get re-established someplace new.  We sold our house before we left for Africa and now need to look for a new home to settle in.  That is both exciting and overwhelming.  And through it all I am so thankful that we don't have to do it alone and that God is there to see us through!

I wanted to share a few pictures from our first weeks back in the states.  (And I have to note that the type in the blog post is going crazy and I can't seem to get it all to match up, so forgive me!)

We had a wonderful greeting at the aiport by great friends from our church!

 Craig returned 3 weeks later.

 

 

The first stop back in Tampa for both the girls and I and then Craig-Tijuana Flats-our favorite Mexican place.





We were also welcomed home by a hurricane/tropical storm.  This is the back yard of the home where we are staying.  Typically, the water from the lake is behind all those trees.  Ariana thought it was pretty cool that we saw fish jumping in the yard!

 

We visited the Wycliffe center in Orlando.

For those of you who may remember, one of the hardest parts of us leaving for Tanzania was the fact that we had to leave our three cats here in the states.  My sister was gracious enough to take them in and start her own geriatric ward for kitties.  Our oldest cat is 21 and is diabetic, the middle one is almost 18 and has seizures and the baby is almost 12.  Needless to say, we when left, we really didn't think that we would see them again.  However, we are excited to be able to spend more time with all of them!



 Jasmine, our "baby".

Luke with the girls

 

 

 

 

Beboo, the old man

 So right now, we are still trying to settle in, visit friends and family, find a place to live, re-adjust to life here in the states and do many of the things you need to do when you move.  We look forward to seeing more people in the next few weeks and we have a upcoming missions conference and then some travel. 

Although we don't live in Tanzania any longer, we would ask that you continue to pray with us for the people there.  There are still so many people that need to hear about our Saviour and so many translations to be completed!  We have friends working hard in an extremely difficult city to help bring the news of Jesus Christ to the Tanzanians.  We have a special place for them in our hearts and in our prayers!

A Visit to Tanzania's "White House"

We serve an awesome God! He is able to open any door he wants and close any door he wants. He is the God of relationships. Starting with the Trinity he uses these relationships to advance his kingdom and glorify himself. Over the course of our six years serving in DC, Tanzania and around the world, we have seen relationships orchestrated by the hand of God.

 It was about two and a half months ago when I (Craig) was reading The Citizen, an English newspaper in Tanzania, when the hand of God moved again. With surprise, I came upon a name I recalled from my time in Washington, D.C.

The article quoted the Chief Secretary from the Office of the President of the Republic of Tanzania. The Chief Secretary is responsible for every Permanent Secretary of every Ministry of Government in Tanzania. (The Permanent Secretary at each Government Ministry runs the entire Ministry.) The name I read was Ambassador Ombeni Sefue.  I met Ambassador Sefue nearly four years ago when I attended a program in Washington, D.C. about China’s expanding role in Africa.

At the time I first met him, he had just been appointed as Ambassador of Tanzania to the United States. We enjoyed several visits over the next year and a half in DC until he was appointed as Ambassador to the United Nations for Tanzania and moved to New York. We lost touch so I was surprised to read in the paper that he had been appointed to one of the highest positions in the Country of Tanzania- The Chief Secretary.

I have learned from my mentors Dave Farah and Ron Gluck it is the little things in relationships that count. So our leadership here in Tanzania decided it would be fitting to congratulate Ambassador Sefue in person and present him a language map of Tanzania produced by SIL. Our leaders (including Director Liz Thomson, Louise Nagler and Allen Mchake) had a great visit at Tanzania’s “White House” (the State House) and spending time with Ambassador Sefue.  At the end of our time we were able to pray for Ambassador Sefue.

Ambassador Sefue with UTB Director Liz Thomson

It was great for me to see Ambassador Sefue again and be reminded God is truly an amazing God.

Congratulations Ambassador and best wishes on your new position serving your country!

The task for reaching those without God’s written word in Tanzania and around the World is immense but with our God nothing is impossible!

Selous

During our time of packing to return to the states, we were blessed to be able to explore one more area in Tanzania, called Selous.  Selous is one of the world's largest protected wildlife areas, and is larger than the country of Belgium!

We stayed in tents along the Rufiji River which runs through the park.  I think what struck me most about this place was the quiet.  Maybe it was just because we have been living in a crazy, big city for the last year and this park was very remote.  No matter the reason, it was wonderfully peaceful!

(photo taken from Jimbiza Lodge web site)

The park itself is a little difficult to get to, and we were able to fly.  It was amazing to see how the terrain changed so significantly in the different areas of the park.  Some parts were green--around the lakes and the river, other areas very dry and dusty, some areas very rough and rocky.  All were amazingly beautiful in their own way.


Of course, our favorite parts were when we spotted animals.  We really hoped to see cheetah on this trip, as it seems the cheetah have been elusive on all our travels.  We still didn't see any, but we did score with the hyena!

We also enjoyed a boat ride along the river where we saw lots of hippo!

So, does it get any more relaxing than this?!?!  I told you this place was peaceful....

Heading Home, but the Work is Expanding

Several months ago we wrote about our decision to return home to live, but continue to work with our Africa team remotely. Since that time, Craig’s assignment has expanded to include some exciting new opportunities.  Our dear friend, Alemayehu, has become the director of the newly formed Eastern and Southern Africa Area of SIL.  He has asked Craig to serve as his consultant for external relations and legal affairs.

This assignment will allow Craig to work directly with Alemayehu on issues impacting many different countries in East and Southern Africa.  This new position will allow him to pull from his past experiences working at both the international and in-country levels and it will also allow him to continue work that was initiated while serving in Dar. 

Just to give you an idea, in just over one year, Craig has had over 60 meetings with Government  Ministries of Tanzania and Regional/District  government officials , Non-Governmental organizations, Donor nations to Tanzania, National Networks, Church leaders and Universities to serve language communities seeking to bring spiritual transformation to their communities.  All of these opportunities were from the hand of God and we praise him for his faithfulness.

Our journey while here in Dar has allowed us to explore many different areas of this beautiful country in our short time here. Here is a list of places we have traveled: Iringa, Mbeya, Malindi (Kenya), Entebbe (Uganda), Arusha, Zanzibar, Nairobi  (Kenya), Bagamoyo , Musoma, Mwanza, Selous,  and Ruaha.  It’s been a busy but amazingly rewarding time. 

 The new assignment will begin on January 1, 2013. In the meantime, we are starting to pack and say our good byes.  It’s hard to believe we leave in less than 2 weeks.  (Craig will stay until September).  So, after our return (and catching up with much-missed family and friends!) we plan to take part in the Bell Shoals Missions Conference and then do some traveling to visit other friends and churches, and hopefully determine where we will ultimately call “home” for this next stage in our journey.   In early November, we will take part in a program Wycliffe has for missionaries returning from overseas assignments.

It seems like so much before the end of the year!  We are looking forward to our return and hope that we will be able to see everyone soon!  We know many of you have stood in the gap for us over many years and we are truly grateful and humbled by the support and partnership in the work.  Thanks for going on the journey with us!