Merry Christmas

Hiya Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas! What a special time of year this is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I pray you can enjoy this holiday with family and friends and truly focus on the reason for the season.
I am just returning from another trip to Dar es Salaam to work on finalizing my work permit and I praise God that the woman working in the Ministry of Health office said it would be completed next week. This is such a huge answer to prayer to have this, especially as in January I head to the Lake Victoria area of Tanzania to do some more hands on nursing as I shadow a team that includes 1 doctor and 3 nurses to increase my knowledge of medicine in this part of the world. I have a lot to learn with tropical medicine and look forward to gaining experience in HIV/Aids ministries. So anyway I am very thankful to soon have a work permit, after over 6 months of work to get it.
You may wonder what we are doing for Christmas. For December 24th, we will have a team member, Mary, and another single missionary woman visiting us, Kim, over for dinner. Christmas Day we will spend at our church. Our pastor is putting on a Christmas presentation and there will be lots of food and fellowship. From what I hear, many people come from the community. I am excited to experience this. A few days later, our team will come into town and celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas day together. We drew secret santa's to buy presents for and will plan to cook lots of good food. It is not home, but again we are so blessed by our team and community and I look forward to celebrating together.
Rejoice! Merry Christmas!
Christmas Blessings,
Emily
PS-Sorry this is so short, have to head back to the village!

Choose your own adventure!

Hey there friends! What adventures we’ve had since our last post…I know I say this often, but life here really is an adventure. My tag line for most things I do has been “choose your own adventure.” You know…the books you read as a kid where you had to decide what happens next then turn to page 34 or 76. Such good times. Any who, I use this philosophy with cooking, visiting, traveling, etc… It works out well since most things don’t quite go as planned. In the wise words of my dear friend C.S. Lewis- make plans and hold on to them loosely.

So…the story begins last Tuesday at our team day when we found out Emily’s resident permit would finally be ready on Friday! Hooray! We couldn’t let Emily go to Dar all by her lonesome, so one of our team members-we will call her M- and I took the liberty of escorting Em to Dar on Thursday so we could head straight to the government offices on Friday morning. So…Thursday morning comes and Em and I are ready and waiting for the first bus at 6:10…we are a little antsy because we have to make a bus out of Tanga at 8am. Our village bus does not arrive until 6:45. We are laughing at this point and making slight adjustments to our plan if need be. We are put putting along when M calls and asks where we are. She’s in town and ready to go at the bus stand. This particular bus line leaves on time (the only one in East Africa), so we are trying to get to town on time and M is stalling at the bus stand. Suddenly it starts to rain and we are thinking…hmmm, maybe this rain will help stall the bus too. Needless to say all of our stalling was wearing on the workers’ patience and they decided to leave with M on the bus. We told her we’d jump in a taxi and chase down the bus…which is exactly what we did. It was like a scene from a movie…and though we were eager to catch the bus we didn’t want to die in a car crash either. Our trusty taxi driver got us behind the bus and they pulled over on the side of the road and we hopped on, wet and exhausted already from the first leg of our adventure. Good times.

Thankfully, we made it to Dar and even got to see a movie and do some Christmas shopping at a mall on Thursday…a real treat! Friday we went to the office eager to get the stamp in Em’s passport, but sadly we were told to come back on Tuesday…Tuesday?? This was only Friday. What were we going to do in Dar for 4 days? Hmm…when meandering around downtown Em had the genius idea to ferry over to Zanzibar for a mini holiday. Why else would her permit get postponed other than to provide a little island excursion? We thought about this for a while and weighed the pros and cons of going back to Tanga, staying in Dar, or going to an exotic island for a few days. The island won, and on Saturday morning we were off to Zanzibar. The funny thing about our trip was that the entire island was out of power and running on generators. We stayed at the beach and even though our power was rationed, it was an amazing time of rest and renewal. Em and I went on a spice tour and it was amazing! It was also a good time to practice language and meet new people. All in all, it was a perfect little girl’s getaway!

We returned to Dar on Monday and on Tuesday morning Emily got her resident permit! Praise Jesus! We found out some info on her work permit and she has to return to Dar next week for that, but we are hopeful it will all be taken care of and completed so she can continue her work with no anxiety or stress. We are very thankful that things have worked out as they have, as you have to be very patient with these processes. We are learning to be grateful in all circumstances and to make the most of each day. We are now back in Tanga and will return to the village today. Even though it has only been 6 days, we feel like we’ve been gone forever. It will be good to get back and reconnect with our friends and neighbors. We are excited to share our joys of the Christmas holiday season with them. Pray we take advantage of every opportunity to share the real meaning of Christmas! We will celebrate with our church on Christmas day then on the 27th head into town for our team Christmas. Though it is difficult being far away from home during the holidays, we know we are right where God wants us, and there is great comfort in that! Thanks for your continued support and prayers! Keep them coming! We pray you have a blessed Christmas!

Love,Sarah (& Em too)!

Lot's Been Happening

Where does the time go I want to know? We have now been living in Tanzania over five months and it seems like we were just preparing to leave last summer. We have a lot to report in the last couple weeks with the end of our school year, school registrations, our team Thanksgiving, and the death of a dear little one. So I’ll try to update you on them all.
A kiddo who I have been closely following, who I think I have mentioned before, passed away two weeks ago. This was very challenging as she was the daughter of a dear neighbor of ours. She was a twin born in August to a mother who currently has 2 living children, 11 and 6. When the twins were born in August we were so surprised, two precious little girls, born in the village to an older mom. We were told by our teammate who left this summer, that the twin’s mother has lost her last two children at 4 months of age, so to watch the twins carefully. So I took this seriously and visited frequently. The littler twin started having small health issues which I advised them to go to the clinic twice, then things got a bit worse in October, so I took them to the public hospital in Tanga, the larger town 45 minutes from us. She was immediately admitted, given a blood transfusion for severe anemia and after a few days started looking much better and was even smiling a bit. I would go every weekend to visit and then she started deteriorating again having jaundice (indicator of liver problems). I spoke with the doctors and made special trips into town to see what I could do, even taking a blood sample to another lab in town to get more tests run. But it seemed our hospital did not have the capacities to help this child and they planned to send her to Dar es Salaam, but she died the night before she was to leave for Dar es Salaam. I was so saddened that there was nothing I could do but pray. God has taken this precious little one home and I look forward to seeing her again. The funeral was challenging to see all the people in community come and just dismiss her death as, “The work of God.” I was pretty open with my emotions of how sad I was. The community knew we were frequently visiting and helping care for the family, but I had inner frustrations as this community does not often help those in need, until someone is already passed away. Join us in prayer for this family.
Well onto some awesome news, our school had it’s end of the year celebration on Friday. It was a special time to see the kids perform in front of their parents. We were told by one mom, her son woke up really early and got on his uniform to get to school very early. You could see the joy in a lot of them, nervousness in others to perform in front of their parents. Each class did a few songs and the Standard 1 class even did a presentation in English about the importance of education verses money in which Sarah oversaw. I remember the day in August when Sarah was told about how she would oversee this presentation and how nervous she was, remember this was our first week on the job, and it turned out so well. The kids knew their lines to say and it was even up to them to come up with their reasons education is important. Four students from the 6 year old class read a poem to their parents. Many parents are still functionally illiterate, and reading as a 6 year old was once unheard of in this community, but thanks to great teachers and the Lord who has enabled us to build this school, great things are happening. Thanks to you all for supporting us in this. I even had a part in the presentation to talk with parents about the importance of caring for their child’s health. My language helper helped me write my speech and I think it went pretty well. My first speech in another language. After the presentations, there was a huge feast which many of the mom’s had helped prepared. The parents and kids had soda’s and as much as they could eat. I wish you could have experienced the excitement and enthusiasm parents had for this school. Hard to think of the opposition they once had warning parents not to send their children to our school. While there is still opposition out there, many are so proud of the work being done and even call the school, “Our school!”
School registration for the new class of 5 year olds was two weeks ago. Within 90 minutes, we had all 30 spots filled and a waiting list. It was a rainy day and many were not able to make it, so they have been asking us to open up another class, which we cannot at this time. Children interested in entering our Standard 1 and 2 classes had to take tests last week to see if they were ready, but we were saddened by the lack in quality education of the government schools and only a few can enter our upper grades (we wanted to fill the classes all to 30 students each). Education is what will change the future of this country, but it cannot be done without teachers and schools.
Well there is a lot to tell you about our school registration, but I will hit the highlights. God has worked miracles in getting three inspectors out to our school and we have two letters of approval and just need the third, but we may have to pay a fine because our buildings are not “Earthquake safe.” I hope this gives you a picture of the challenges we face here in trying to better our community. God knows the hearts of all people, so we will trust Him to work in people’s heart to get our school registered so we can remain open in January. And be praying as we need two teachers for next year with a special certification. And it is 5 weeks to the start of school.
We had a great Thanksgiving dinner last weekend. I planned the event and shared the cooking with my team. We had chicken kabobs which I think everybody enjoyed and had a special time of sitting around our table and just talking, like we do at my house for the holidays. And we had a special visitor, a man who teaches at a small Bible college in the Lake Victoria area of Tanzania. He was in for a couple days and we had great time with him.
Well this is getting a bit long, hope this catches you up to speed. We have three weddings to attend in the next week. We both really enjoy these cultural experiences.

Blessings,
Emily (and Sarah)

A Day in the Life...

Hey kids!

To give you a glimpse into what life is like here I will give you the play by play of my day yesterday. I will tell you it was not an entirely typical day, but it speaks well to the culture, community, and spiritual life here. I woke up and went for a bike ride with one of my teammates. We are trying to exercise some mornings by riding through surrounding villages early in the morning. This provides good fellowship time, prayer for the villages, and entertainment for the locals. They get a kick out of riding a bike just for exercise-but not really having a destination in mind. We wave as we go by and wave as we come back and they just laugh.

After the ride I ran home to get some water and head off to work on my friend Mama H.’s shamba, or farm. With hoe in hand I trudged through the bush to her farm where we plowed and hoed for about an hour and a half before it got really hot and I said I had to head home. It was fun to spend time with her and learn how to farm from her. I love learning how to live here…not that I’m ready to run out and start my own shamba tomorrow. Farming is vital to life here. Many people in our community rely on their crops not only for food for their family but to cook and sell too. I got to have a great conversation with Mama H. the other day because she asked me about the big holiday that we celebrate that was coming up next month. I then got to share with her the real meaning of Christmas. She is a sweet, gentle woman and her son might be one of the cutest kiddos I’ve ever seen. Every time I go by he sees me from afar and calls out my name and runs to me. Talk about warming your heart.

Any who, after the farm I headed home to clean up and prepare for my language lesson and studied with my language helper until 11 when I made some lunch and headed off to school to help the teachers get end of the year assessments ready. I hung out for a while and then went with one of your teammates and Emily to visit a friend of ours who may be the sweetest old man in all of Tanzania. We met him at his farm and our teammate shared a story from the Bible with him. She uses the chronological Bible storying approach to sharing God’s word with friends and people in our villages since oral traditions and storytelling are still very prominent in this culture. It’s a great evangelistic tool. So, we got to sit in on her story time and it was great to see our friend so engaged in the story.

Midday, news of a baby’s death in the village next to ours reached us and we got the details that the young mother had taken the child to the hospital in the village nearby and they were sending her to town, but the baby died on the way. The traditional funeral was to be held that day and though we did not know the mother, we knew her family and were encouraged to go mourn with them. We arrived at the funeral and sat with the women as the men left to bury the baby. We then moved inside the house to give our condolences to the family and sit with the mother as she cried for her lost child. A picture of her sitting on the floor with tears falling down her cheeks as the sun came through the bars of the window illuminating her sad face will be with me for as long as I live. I kept peering back and forth from the barred window to the young woman sitting on the dirt floor of the house and I could not help but mourn for the prison that so many of these people live in day by day. The bondage of poverty and living a life that seems lost without hope is such a heavy weight to bear. Others attending simply stated that this was the work of God and life must go on. This is partly true, and though the loss and depth of despair can be overwhelming, it is confirmation that there is a need here to pour love and light into a place that can be so dark.

Moving from darkness to light, our day looked up. As when we were leaving we stopped by a neighbor’s house where our teammate introduced us to some old friends of hers. They started asking questions about God and she was able to share the Gospel with them. We then went on to visit several other people and had my language helper and her family over to our house for dinner. It was a great time of fellowship and we wanted them to know how much we appreciate them and love them. We also got to share a story with them, and thanked the Lord for all He accomplished in that day.

Though by the time my head hit my pillow I was spent in so many ways, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, my heart was filled with joy. Though there are many struggles each day and there is sorrow in the world, God’s word says, “I have told you these things so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jn. 16:33. In all these things, we know God is working, and He has a purpose for us here. Not only to meet the physical and tangible needs of the children and people of Tanzania, but to love them and most of all, share the Truth of His love that brings liberation. I hope this update encourages you and allows you to look into the reality of the world around you. Though there is darkness, He is the light.

Word,

Sarah

What is Joy?

The topic of joy has been on my heart this last week, so let’s talk about it. What is joy you may ask? Webster’s dictionary says joy is “the emotion evoked by well being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” But I am not sure how I feel about this definition, so let’s head to the Bible to examine joy. Joy comes from within. Joy is an internal peace of knowing your salvation through our savior Jesus Christ. The book of Psalms and Proverbs is full of the word joy. The reason for joy is well summed up in Psalms 71:23, “My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you-I, whom you have redeemed.” Jesus Christ died on the cross for all our sins and for that we are to be joyful. Having joy is not contingent on circumstances. You may not have health or wealth or even a job or a home, but you can be joyful when you put your hope in Christ. The world is facing many hard circumstances, but be joyful because God is in control and that will radiate to all around you. Another verse that has powerful words concerning joy and prayer is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” And these are commands, not advice.
This last week has been awesome to get back into the routine of things. I have been delighting in my time with the children of this community. They run to me, faces full of snot, covered in dirt, and give me a giant hug that makes your heart melt! I do not mind the snot or dirt, or even the many weird skin conditions so many of them have, I just love the hugs. You toss them up in the air or swing round and round and they cannot stop giggling. Generally in this community adults do not play with kids, so I soak it up. I love it when the kids come up to me and show me how they can blow up their muscles through their thumb, a trick my dad showed them. I hope you know what I am talking about; flexing your muscles when you blow on your thumb. Instead of saying, “Show me your guns (biceps)” they say, “Show me your potatoes.” Priceless.
Praise God the rains have come. It was predicted to be an El Nino year here and they might be right as the rains have been great. We have had a few days where we could barely leave the house due to all the rain. Although having a tin roof when it rains makes it a bit hard to have conversations. You have to shout over the rain to be heard. But we are very thankful for the rain as this is an agricultural based community. A couple of nights ago I heard this very weird noise outside. I asked Sarah what it is and she informed me it was frogs. Sounds like we have thousands of them now! Thank you Lord!
This last week I took two children into Tanga to see the doctor. One was immediately admitted to the hospital and the other we are starting her on strong meds for a problem she has had for over a year. Sometimes I have a bit of doubt about what I am doing here since I do not have a lot of structure in my role, but then it is through those situations where I can be an advocate and get children the help they need that the Lord truly affirms all I am doing. Both Sarah and I have both visited the little one in the hospital today and she is making great improvement. Her mother has lost her last two infants at the age of four months, so we are working hard to keep mother, this little one, and her twin healthy.
Now it’s Sarah’s turn to update. She has some encouraging news regarding our school. Please continue to pray for us, especially endurance as I have been feeling tired, but still strong and healthy. Also pray for my work visa. Sarah got hers two weeks ago, but the man who needs to complete it has had many trips away from the office. But I am confident it will come through, just join me in prayer.
Hey kids…not much to say after that. God has a way of bringing joy to our lives every day. The Bible (and my mom) says in this world you will have much trial and tribulation, but be of good cheer because GOD has overcome the world. I have learned so much about trusting in the promises of God when facing many of life’s trials here. It is only through Him that we continue to thrive, and the outpour of my heart is that all who I interact with will know where my joy comes from. I have been able to have more conversations about that very subject with some of my close friends here, and I hope to encourage them more and continue to talk with them as I grow in my Kiswahili. We have many reasons to praise God for His faithfulness.
As you know, we have been working for years now to get our land and school registration for our primary school. After a whirlwind of ups and downs, we were approved for stage one of this process. There are three stages, and as we embark on stage two, I ask that you pray for our interactions with government officials and that they would be supportive and actually in their offices when we go to visit. We still have a long way to go, but God has worked miracles to make this first stage complete, so we are very thankful! It has been good getting back into the classroom, and as Em stated, nothing in the world is better than a good hug! When I returned to my grade one class the students all shouted, “Teacher!” and ran up around me to hug me. The joy I felt about made me burst! As we enter this last month of school for the year, there is much work to be done so please pray that I can balance teaching, administrative tasks, and my involvement in the community.
Speaking of community I am super stoked to start a netball team in our village. Netball is a game girls and women play that is similar to basketball. I learned about it through a language lesson last week, and this week I walked to every house in my village with my language helper to invite women to come practice with us next Wednesday. So far we have 21 women signed up and a few weren’t home. Since we visited everyone, there has been buzz about playing throughout the village and I can’t wait to see who shows up. I am hopeful that a portion of this group will stick it out and commit to playing so that we can even play women from surrounding villages. It will be a fun time to get together and enjoy one another, and provide an avenue to share God’s love with the women of our village. Em and I are both excited about this endeavor.

When it comes to relationships it’s difficult to cross language and cultural barriers, but I have found so much joy in many of the women and children I have met, especially my language helper. We laugh together, learn together, sit in the shade when it’s hot together, and hopefully I will get to go work her farm with her soon. I have truly enjoyed our time getting to know one another and consider her a true friend. I can be honest with her and she is honest with me. About a month ago we had made a cake together (as part of our baking ministry…ha ha) and we were sharing it at her house with her husband (who just happens to be our knight in shining armor when it comes to rats). We were enjoying the cake as it was quite tasty, and for some reason I just thought a nice cold coke would be so good with this cake. I voiced my thoughts and we all had a good laugh and that was the end of it. We laugh a lot together, mostly from the silly things I say. Fast forward to last week. Emily had to go to town to help one of our sick team members so I spent my first 2 nights alone in the village. I had completed my daily routine and was getting ready to do some work in the evening inside my house when I heard a knock at the door. It was my language helper and she asked me to come to her house. She was acting kind of strange, so I didn’t know what was up. The next thing I knew, she and her husband were sitting on her front porch with cake and three ice cold sodas. They remembered my silly comment and the gesture was so kind and considerate that I was beaming and about to cry. This was such a complete act of love and joy. I thanked God for what an encouragement it was to have someone do something so special just for little old me. Joy filled my heart and in that moment I wanted my new friends to know the true joy that Emily so poignantly wrote about. God has put us here to share His joy and redemptive story, and for me that is going to be through love and relationships. Even when it’s hard and we’re tired and grumpy, He provides just what we need to keep us going. In all these things our faith is built on His unfailing love for us. As our team member, Joyce says- He will not let our faith get lazy. I pray we can continue to find joy in the good times and the struggles. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement as we continue to do what God has called us to do here. Blessings to you all!!!

Emily and Sarah

PS-The picture is of our school children lined up in the morning to sing!

Word from the Road

Hey there friends!

We’re sorry it’s been a while, but there’s so much to share since our last post. Hold on to your hats because this may be a long one! We have been all over Tanzania over the past 3 weeks, and we are blessed to get to experience more of this beautiful country. Our journey began October second as we hopped on the bus at 6:00am to head to Moshi to explore the city, hopefully to see Kilimanjaro and pick up Emily’s parents for our six-day safari to Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater Nature Reserve and Lake Manyara National Park. Moshi, as some of you know, is home to Kilimanjaro: The Roof of Africa. Getting to explore the small city was fun as we talked to many people who had just made the trek or were getting ready to head out. It made me very excited for my return in January with our teammates Wayne and Joyce. We plan to conquer Kili together. Sadly it was too cloudy to see the mountain while we were in Moshi.

Any who, back to Em’s parents. We were very eager for their arrival to show off our new home here, and when we first saw them it was both exciting and emotional. It meant so much to have a piece of home here with us. Emily was ecstatic as you can imagine. Em’s parents were nice enough to bring some items for us, our team, and school supplies donated from my home school in the States. It felt like Christmas! After we had a chance to catch up and relax for a day we headed out to Arusha and beyond on our safari. What an amazing opportunity to experience God’s creation. I, being the nerdy teacher that I am, kept reading up on all of the animals and came each morning ready with a slew of questions and fun facts to know and tell about all of the creatures of the African savannah. I am sure our guide was ready to ask me if I wanted to lead the safari, but he put up with me. He was so knowledgeable and it was amazing to learn so much about the habitats here in Tanzania. I was simply fascinated by how all of the animals interact and the interdependence that keeps the entire ecosystem in balance. I kept thinking of applications for the classroom and wished all the little kiddos from here and in the US could get to experience the wildlife firsthand. Needless to say, it was an amazing trip.

On our way back home we stopped to spend the night in Arusha and took Em’s parents to the Circus Mama Africa we saw our first month here in Tanga. It was good fun, and by the end of the week we were ready to head back to the village to get back to friends, school and the community. Thankfully on our way back from Arusha we had to go through Moshi and got a beautiful view of Kili for Em’s us all to enjoy.

On the next leg of their trip they had the privilege to join us in the village for 3 days, and they were troopers. They learned the ins and outs of life in the village and got to meet all the special people in our lives as well as go to church with us. Everyone was excited to have guests and they got to enjoy a dinner out at my language helper’s house. They visited school as well and played with the children who could not get enough of Emily’s dad! We were proud of how well they did being out of their comfort zone in so many ways and hope they have a clearer picture of how and why God has called us to serve here.

After 3 days we packed up again to head out to a conference for all of the AIM workers in Tanzania. Before leaving Tanga, Em put her parents on a plane to relax in Zanzibar while we headed to Dar. We also got to celebrate one of our team member’s birthdays! These are special times for us since our team is our family here. God has blessed us with such amazing, encouraging people who work along side us day in and day out with such fervor and passion. After the birthday night out, we headed off to Dar for the conference. This meant another bus ride, but we’re growing quite used to public transportation. I can’t even think of words to describe the conference. It was a time of encouragement, spiritual renewal, joy, and excitement about what God is doing in Tanzania and all of Africa. We got to share what is happening in our ministry and hear updates on all regions of Tanzania. From building churches, schools and mobile clinics, to ministering to street kids, fisherman and everyone in between, huge things are happening! I was in awe of how big God is and how He created each of the workers here for a specific job and purpose in His ministry. We got to reflect on the wisdom of God verses our human wisdom and our guest speaker was very dynamic in reviving us to go back to the field rearing to go! We made many connections and truly feel apart of the community of AIM workers here. We hope to visit some to learn more about health care, tropical medicine, and education as well as ministry outreach. Our entire team left feeling revived, and though there are bumps in the road, we press on!

We are currently still in Dar today visiting friends who came up to our village to do a Bible storying seminar about a month ago. They leave on home assignment in December, so we wanted to visit with them one more time before they go. The city life is vastly different from our humble life in the village, but it is amazing to experience this different culture in Africa. While here we had an opportunity to visit a friend from our village who is recovering from a broken leg after being hit by a car while on his motorcycle about 6 weeks ago. He and his wife are staying in Dar until he fully recovers. He had surgery to place a rod in his femur, and he seems to be on the road to recovery. It is a slow process, but we were able to speak with him and he seems optimistic and said he wasn’t experiencing too much pain. Meanwhile their youngest son is a student at our school in the village, so I was able to report that he is doing well and that we are looking after him along with many others in the village. Our friends were beaming as we visited with them, and it was good to make that connection to let them know we were praying for them. They even allowed Mary, our teammate, to pray for them at the end of our visit. It was a blessing to experience that, and I hope they will continue to be encouraged knowing we are praying for them.

Tomorrow we head back to Tanga and then on to the village. We are happy to return home where we can get back into the swing of things. This is a busy time of year with school winding down, and there is much work to be done. We are still interviewing teachers for grade 2 next year, and we are working on the school government registration. This has been a long, tedious process. Please pray that these processes will be completed by December and that we can be an officially registered school by next year starting in January. Please pray that God provides a teacher who loves Him and shares our vision for the students, school and community. On another note, I got my residence permit! Praise the Lord! Emily’s had a slight glitch but she is expecting the paperwork to be sent to her next week and she can complete the process in Tanga soon. We know it will all work out. We continue to learn daily how to surrender things to God and be patient. This is Africa.

Hiya, it’s Emily here. Hope you enjoyed reading all about what has been going on lately. Sarah summed it up well. We will try to write more often, but it’s very busy here as you can imagine. Thank you for your support, love, and encouragement!

Thanks for tuning in!

Grace and peace,
Sarah & Emily

Safari Abroad

Hiya Friends,
As the title indicates, we are headed for a safari. Can you believe we have been gone for three months? Hard to believe! We were both reflecting how as you get older, time goes by so quickly. My parents arrive to Kilimanjaro Airport tomorrow evening for a two and a half week adventure in Tanzania. Sarah, my parents, and myself head to the bush to check out Tanzania’s wildlife on Sunday for six days. We are pumped about this opportunity to see many animals in their natural environment. Sarah really wants to see some giraffes run and I just want to see lots of elephants. Hopefully we will be able to post some pictures. After the safari, my parents will be joining us for a few nights in the village. We have been telling our friends they are coming and many people in our community are very excited to meet them. I wish you all could have the experience of living in a rural village. It would definitely change your perspective on life and what you have.
The time away will be such a blessing. We are both feeling a bit tired and need of some time for relaxation and rejuvenation. Living in rural Africa in a village and learning a new language can take a toll on your physical body, so the rest and time away I trust will be good. Also the time away will be good to reflect on what we are experiencing. I am finding I need to spend more time reflecting on God’s work within my own heart and the heart of this community.
We had a bit of an unplanned get away this last week as well. Our temporary 90 day visas were up and we still had not received our residency permits, meaning we had to make a trip out of country for two days in order to come back in to get another temporary 90 day visa. So we headed to Mombasa, Kenya, a little over three hours away by bus. We were joined by a couple we work with, Wayne and Joyce, and had a really great time. Wayne, Joyce, and their family lived outside of Mombasa for 16 years, so they gave us the tour of the island of Mombasa. We enjoyed lots of good food and laughter. And most importantly, we were granted another 90 day visa. We hope to iron out the official residency permit situation when we go to Dar es Salaam for conference in a few weeks.
I bet you are wondering, “How is work going for us?” For me I continue to stay as busy as I want to be. There was a school holiday and when the children returned, there were countless major health issues. The problem I battle most is skin issues. They come up with the weirdest things and then I searching through village medical manuals about what to do about it. The biggest thing is that parents need to learn to bathe their children with soap and water at least once daily, and I think a lot of these problems would be eliminated. I have recommended a few go to the hospital because of serious infections. Language continues to be an issue at times. Sarah and I visited a lady last week that was bit by a dog. Her doctor wrote that she needed the rabies vaccine. We thought she said she was unable to get it due to money and that is was not available. I was so concerned because if she was truly bit by a rabid dog and does not get the vaccine, it can be fatal. So I get to her Tanga to the vaccination clinic and turns out she was able to get the rabies vaccine the day before, just where she got it, it was their last dose, so would be unable to get the rest of the series. We thought we very clearly asked her if she was able to get it, but obviously there was some miscommunication. But our language skills are coming along.
Good stories Em…now that she has brought you up to date on life here, I will fill you in on my side of things. I, too, am excited about our safari, and we hope to return feeling refreshed with a renewed purpose and desire to serve our community. It has been amazing so far, and even though we face struggles and hardships daily, God has blessed our work and ministry. Here’s a recap on all things school: After our latest school break, the kiddos returned in rare form. As sad as it was to witness some of their conditions (as Em explained before) it showed just how much the school impacts the community. The kiddos were also super excited to be back at school. I realized how much I missed them too! The teachers genuinely care about the wellbeing of students and work with families to make sure they are taken care of. I am thankful to be an additional resource to help the children in and out of school, and more importantly, share with the families that our love comes from Jesus Christ. I got to experience my first round of teacher interviews as we are searching for 2 new teachers next year. Each year the school will expand to the next grade level, so next year we will have 2 kindergarten classes, 1 first grade class, and 1 second grade class. It was quite an interesting experience, but I was very thankful to get to be a part of the process. I got to meet with our principal and discuss possible questions beforehand and discuss how to ask them in English and Kiswahili. We interviewed 3 candidates over a four hour period. It was a long day, but we all learned a lot, and we know God will provide the right person for the job! We are still looking to follow up with more interviews, but we are excited about these first steps in the process. I am feeling more at home at the school and I have been taking over some administrative rolls regarding the registration of our school. We are not yet registered with the government, but we have been working for the past 2 years on this process. Everything here takes a lot of time and follow up to make sure things are happening! Our team has been working with our principal to aid and assist in this process, and we hope to complete it within the next year. I would love to see it done before our time here comes to an end, God willing. Please continue to pray for the kiddos at the school and for the interviews and registration process! As you can see, we have a lot going on! I will end with a cute teacher story. I have been teaching the standard one children the prepositions on, in, under, behind, and in front of to express location. We have done all sorts of activities to practice the words from asking questions playing hide and seek with objects and playing Simon says by putting their hands on their heads and sitting under their desks…I have to be creative. Any who, I saw one of the parents of one student on Wednesday night and she was very excited to be telling me that her daughter came home from school and was describing the location of every object in her house! As a teacher, the best news you can hear is when a child goes home and shares what he or she is learning at school! I was elated! Praise the Lord their English is coming even though there are gaps in my Kiswahili! I will miss the kiddos over the next few weeks, but I am eager to get back in the classroom with these kids that I’m falling in love with! Until next time, thanks for reading, and we can’t wait to share our safari adventures with you.
Peace out,
Em & Sarah

What a Week!

As we say about most weeks here, what a week! But this week was special most definitely. As a team we felt it necessary to better equip our church body to witness about Christ to their family, friends, and neighbors. A way we reach people here with the Word of God is through chronological Bible story telling. Have you listened to a story lately? Do you realize that nearly 75% of the Bible is narration? Stories are fun to listen to, aren’t they? There is a missionary couple in Tanzania who focuses their work on storying the Bible with people. It is through the stories they can come to understand the whole picture of the Word of God and come to know how Christ saves us from our sins and makes us right with God. Monday through Wednesday the missionary couple and their friend, a native Tanzanian, storied through 37 stories of the Bible. After each, they took time to answer questions. Boy the look on the faces of the church members was beautiful. They weren’t just hearing a story, but the Word of God start to finish. Unbelievable! It was also through the church members’ questions that we realized who among the church body truly understood the Gospel. For those who didn’t understand, we were able to clarify Grace and especially that faith in Christ is a gift. The last two days were used for the church body to themselves story in front of the group. A challenging thing for sure! After they storied, they were given input about how to improve. The highlight of the week was when young man storied who is not able to read or write. He had just listened attentively to when the story was told at the start of the week and then had his children read the passage in the Bible to him the night before and he did a wonderful job of storying. He proved to the church body that is unable to read or write that anybody can do it. At the end of the week he praised God for what he learned this week so he can witness to his friends and neighbors. It almost brings you to tears! Overall, it was a very special week. As a team we are praying about where to go from here to make sure people truly understand what they believe in.
So I bet you all are wondering how our visas/residency permits are coming along. Well we only have 11 more days until we are illegal’s in this country. There continues to be some major glitches, especially with Em’s nursing license. There is so much to this story that we will not go into, but please pray. Our team member has taken our passports to Dar in an effort to get it to go through. If not able by Thursday, she will return and we will have to spend a weekend in Mombasa, Kenya to reenter the country with a 90 day visa. We have been missing going to the movies, so this might be our chance to go see a movie. However, it’s not exactly how we wanted to do it since it takes time away from our community and is rather costly.
We are really getting into our grove of where we fit and what our roles are. Sarah had a break from school this week and returns the middle of next week. Hard to believe midterms were here already for school children (school year runs from January until December). We have two more weeks in the village until we go on a safari with Em’s parents for a week. Then she is very excited because her parents will be coming to the village to experience life here for a few days and meet all our friends and see our church and school. Then we head to our Africa Inland Mission conference in Dar and Em’s parents go to Zanzibar. Needless to say, October is a busy month. Please pray for travel mercies as we are going all over the place! Traveling can always be an interesting adventure.
We hear so often of how many people are tuning into our website. This is such a blessing. Thanks for your prayers and support! Keep them coming!!! We wouldn’t be here without you all, and we are both eternally grateful.


Blessings,
Em & Sarah

PS-GO CARDINALS!!!!
PSS- The dead rat count is now at 5. We have been rat free for 6 days! Praise Jesus!

September Morn

Is anyone a Neil Diamond fan? Hopefully one of you got that reference. My mom raised me on Neil Diamond. When I return I will be blasting America! Well maybe not. Any who, I can’t believe it is already September and we have been here over 2 months! We are hitting our stride and God continues to provide us with everything we need and more to live with and serve the people in our community (though not without challenges-each day brings a new humbling experience). With each week at the school I grow to know the students more, and I realize my purpose is so much more than teaching (though I do enjoy it). Some of my favorite moments with the kids occur when I am sitting with them during porridge time or playing with them at recess. It’s amazing to see their little faces light up when you give them a high five or encourage them! They are eager to learn and teach me Swahili. I have visited some of the children at their homes, and it was great to speak with their parents about their progress and how they are doing on homework. This is a special time for families too, as other schools do not conduct home visits. It is good to check in to make sure the children are being cared for as well. Sadly some kiddos are neglected, so we want to make sure they are safe and getting what they need at home. The school has worked very hard to get parents and families involved in their child’s education. My relationships with our headmaster, Matinya, as well as the other four teachers continue to grow and deepen. It is exciting to get to know them and their families. Emily and I were able to celebrate teacher Mary’s daughter’s birthday last week, and we were delighted to be a part of the celebration. We are welcomed into their homes, and we hope to host them once a month for dinner at our house! We continue to learn how to cook African food, so it will be exciting to cook entire meals for guests in the upcoming months. Midterm assessments are this week for the kiddos, so we are hoping to see great progress for the first half of the second term. I feel that before I know it, we will be ending the school year in December. The standard-one children are working on a presentation they will perform for parents in English at the end of the year. They will speak about the importance of money and education and decide which is more important. Good thing we all agree that education is very important. Each day when I go to each class they say, “Education is the key of life, Good morning teacher, how are you?” It is so sweet. They understand the importance of education to better their lives and enable them to have more opportunities. God willing, they will continue to be motivated by the possibilities of greater opportunities through education. Not only so, but our school hopes to teach them the Gospel to give them real hope for their future. It can be discouraging seeing the state of local government schools, but Tanzania is working very hard to improve their schools however, it is difficult to fight corruption in rural areas such as where we live. We just have to continue to pray and be an advocate for the children in our area. All I know is that God continues to bless each day at the school even though I am still learning language and can’t communicate fully. He gives me peace and patience to persevere. I am thankful that I can rest in that and not feel like I have to have all the answers. I know I don’t. There’s liberation in that, though it’s hard to admit and know you don’t have any control in certain situations. I usually get flustered then take a moment to step out of myself and look in on the situation, realizing I just need to take a deep breath and press on. Emily continues to visit the school daily to check in on specific students with health issues and help those with every day cuts and scrapes. It can be overwhelming because once they see one; every kiddo wants a band-aid. We have gotten very good at teaching them how to wash with soap and water. You’d be amazed what those two things can do! Outside of school, Emily and I continue to learn Swahili through our language lessons and visiting friends and neighbors. It’s become more challenging now that we’ve made it over the first hump of initial greetings and basic conversation. Now we are getting into correct grammar and subject verb agreement with all these different noun classes, and it gets very tricky. We want to speak correctly, but if we only spoke when we knew the agreements, we’d barely be talking to anyone. We just have to put ourselves out there and be ready to get corrected. Everyone is willing to help us speak correctly, and it is a big help! We continue to get more visitors now that we have been here a while! We are adjusting to the cultural differences when it comes to stopping whatever you are doing to visit. We have learned to make plans but be ok if we don’t follow a single one. We feel so blessed to have the continued support of our team, as well as the help of our close neighbors and friends. I was not feeling well the other day and stayed at the house instead of going out visiting, and I had several people (including our “grandma” next door) make sure I was ok, and others told Mary and Emily that they were sorry I was sick. To know people are looking out for us encourages us.

One more quick story about how God is faithful. Emily and I have encountered two families with children who are hearing impaired. Emily had the intention of going to the Disabled Children’s Clinic in Tanga last Friday to see if they had any resources but forgot. Just by chance, she was walking by on Saturday and the door was open. She walked in and they were having a meeting with several hearing impaired people. She was able to talk to the workers there and make some contacts to give information back to the families in our village. We were so excited to have this work out! God has a way of putting us right where we need to be to accomplish His plans. We are so grateful to witness Him working in this place each and every day. I keep reminding myself to be thankful that God works in us and through us despite us (thanks Darren Patrick for that one). It’s just exciting to be a part of life here. Even when we’re exhausted and at the end of our rope. He meets us right there! Thank you too for your continued love and encouragement. Keep the thoughts and prayers coming!

Ps- in the past two days there have been 4 mouse sightings in our house. Three have been dealt with (thanks to 2 of our manly neighbors) and one is MIA…we’re definitely finding a mousetrap while in town today. It’s a sad day when you start naming your mice and talk to them when you see them scurry into your kitchen instead of being shocked by their presence. Let us know if you have any suggestions. Poison only appeared to produce more vermin.

Peace out ~S

What We Love About Africa

Top 10 Things I love about Africa!

10. Where else can you see all your old t shirts! My favorites are the many Cardinals shirts, but the highlight last week was seeing a 2002 Lafayette Lancers Sophomore Conference Football Champions on a man at the bus stand.
9. Viewing the sky at night is an unbelievable site. You can see galaxies, shooting stars, and even the international space station orbiting. And the southern cross is an encouraging site watching over this community.
8. The wildlife is definitely wild. The count in the two months here:-2 rats, one dead and one still to catch-5+ scorpians killed in our house, thankfully no stings-hundreds of cockroaches did live in our cho although since we did a treatment nearly three weeks ago we have not had one-a few very big spiders, but we have only seen them at our team members house
7. The children are so excited to see a Mzungu (white person). The kids are delight to be around and keep things light and fun.
6. Language learning is an opportunity to laugh at yourself. A few nights ago I asked our dinner guests if they wanted chai na mahindi (tea with corn), when I meant chai na maziwa (tea with milk).
5. You get to see medical problems that you would never see in the US. Lets just say I have never seen so much pus in my life, but I will spare you the details.
4. We have seen God’s hand in our safety, protection, and health. We feel strong, are encouraged when tired by His Word, and know He is always with us.
3. We pray at church on our knees with our head bowed down. I high recommend praying this way for focus and reverence.
2. Each day begins in the Word and with total surrender as here you cannot survive without strength from the Lord.
1. Seeing God work so intimately in people’s lives is the most beautiful thing I can think of.
We have been blessed by another challenging yet rewarding week. We still feel like we are learning how to live life here. Thursday morning brought tears for both me and Sarah. For me, I was struggling with learning to make hard decisions about who and how to help along with frustration with getting taken advantage of (doctors ordering unnecessary test and me paying for them, etc.). For Sarah, she was experiencing many emotions of teaching in a totally different culture and learning to keep the children in control while still learning the language. But we surrendered our emotions to the Lord, and wow what a day. God was so faithful to our prayers and turned the day around. We had great interactions with many people and felt encouraged by His word in Colossians about suffering for the glory of Jesus. And the day ended with having the teachers from the school over for dinner and the evening was filled with laughter and fun.
Sarah has been busy working on developing her English test she will be giving in a few weeks. In September the children have “midterm” testing before their school break. Our team is very excited because in September, we are having a conference for our church members about learning to story the Bible. The primary role of part of our team is chronological Bible story telling as a means to share the Gospel and this is a skill we want our church members to learn to witness to their family and neighbors. Please join us in prayer that many will attend and better learn how to witness to this community.
As for me, each day is different but it’s always a full day. I made two trips to town this week bringing in sick people who need medical attention. And a main focus continues to be language learning and practicing. Through practicing, we are developing relationships. Please be praying for this community in this time as it is a time of fasting for their religion. Many do not know why they fast, they just do it. We are trying to ask questions to provoke thoughts about the reason they do it.
Thank you for tuning in. The pictures are of some of our school children and of Habulie in his new chair our team got made for him. He is the little guy with cerebral palsy and cannot sit up. This chair supports him in a reclining position so he can sit. I enjoy meeting with him and his family ever week.
Many Blessings,
Emily

The Tale of Panya

This is a blog post about 2 girls, a panya, a kitchen, and our resident hero, Baba Twa. You may be pondering hmmm…what in the world is a panya? That is a very valid question my friends, one of which I will happily answer. Panya is Swahili for...you guessed it, RAT!!! Just when we conquered the cockroaches a lovely little friend decided to pay us a visit in our kitchen this week. Mind you, I saw him (I like to think it was the same rat) scurry across our storeroom ceiling beam last week, but I just imagined he was leaving and would not come back…or at least show his beady little face again. I was wrong. The tale begins with two crazy girls getting ready to do a fun Jillian Michaels workout video in our tiny little cottage in the village. Tucked securely in my room (for if anyone saw us white chicks in tank tops, shorts, and tennis shoes at 8:30 at night it would surely confirm we’re nuts) with my laptop all geared up, we were preparing to break a sweat. Em just had to run to the kitchen to throw something away. The next thing I knew, I heard a gut-wrenching scream. I ran to see what was the matter, and Emily pointed to the cabinet and informed me that a “mouse” was hiding under it. With my mind flashing back to last week’s cameo, I was certain it was no mouse, but in fact a rat!!! Apparently the vermin was on our table attempting to chow down on the compost when Emily reached around the door. In a flash, he ran and jumped right in front of her to scurry to safety under the cabinet. Before we had any time to think we heard voices outside our door. Have we mentioned yet that neighbors can hear everything that’s happening in your house and vise versa due to screen windows? Well you can, and thankfully we have some very protective and chivalrous neighbors. I recognized the voice of my language helper, Mama Twa along with a few male voices. She had brought her husband, Baba Twa (Father Twa in English) and a neighbor with her. Without thinking, Emily and I left the cornered rat in the kitchen all by himself because we were more terrified of someone seeing us without a khanga on! We quickly got dressed, grabbed our dictionaries, and answered the door. Through some charades and limited vocabulary, they understood we had a rat in the kitchen and sprung into action. One man was armed with a stick and the other our broom. The sneaky rat ventured from under the cabinet to the table with the stove in one swift scurry. Emily, waiting in the front room on a stool, stood anxiously, while I (mostly because I was curious and wanted to see how this whole thing was going to go down) peeked back into the kitchen. Before I knew it the rat jumped off the stove top cooker onto the floor and was gunning right fore me! At this point I decided I had seen enough, and as I ran into the living room I heard the painful smack of the stick on the concrete floor…followed by several other quick smacks. Surely they had killed the rat! I found myself standing on a chair in the front room right next to Emily, Mama Twa just laughing at us. Upon reentering the kitchen I saw the rat in a puddle of blood, the last bit of life twitching out of him. I grabbed a bag, and Baba Twa picked him up by the tail and placed him inside to dispose of him somewhere. We were so thankful we had been rescued. The thought of killing a rat myself didn’t seem too appealing. Plus, it made for a good language lesson the next day as we all sat on Mama Twa’s porch and rehashed the tale of the rat in the kitchen. We baked them some carrot cake as a “thank you for killing the rat” present, and they loved it! This is just one of the ways we are connecting with our neighbors, and little by little we feel more at home here in the village. We are very blessed to have such caring people to come to our aid, and it makes us feel secure to know there are others looking out for us. It is a funny story we won’t soon forget, and some small part of me is thankful for that little rat scurrying into our kitchen. Just one more little adventure in Africa. PS- I attached a picture of the kiddos with me waiting for porridge at the school! Teaching is going well, and I will update more on that soon!

Well I hope you have enjoyed this tale Sarah has written. Sure was an adventurous night and I was thankful through it all we were able to depend on our neighbors. Good for relationship building. Now I just have a quick summary of the day I had today. I want to remind you that all these things happened in one day. Not everyday is like this though. The day began at the school where I see children to address health needs. I have been washing a child’s head everyday due to ragging impetigo she has probably had for months that has gotten way out of hand. Today it has worsened severely, so please pray for healing, as I am concerned about a possible blood infection if we cannot get this in control. Then a man came to our house seeking my medical, well nursing really, opinion. He has a sick sister and grandmother. I think we figured out that the sister may have celiac disease due to her severe intolerance to certain foods, and then we went to see his grandma. Going to his house opened the door to making me aware of a plethora of health issues. His 80+ year old grandma has severe leg swelling, high blood pressure, voiding frequently, and how am I going to assist with this problem when she cannot even get out of bed to take to the doctor. I will encourage them to just care for her as best they can. Then they introduced me to a child relative who does not talk as a 6 year old. While sitting to play with him I quickly realized he could not hear. I screamed his name and did not even so much as look up. I am going to try to find some resources to help him, but not sure how this will go about in Africa. While still at the same house with all the health issues, they introduced me to a older woman who showed me her breasts due to what she thought was just a sore which she has had for several months. In looking at the growths on her breast, I have a feeling that it could be cancer. There are multiple outgrows of lesions, very sad. We encouraged her to get to the doctor. Then as I was riding home on my bike, I met a very pregnant lady. She was due 12 days ago and asked me to feel her belly and it seems as if the baby is breach. I felt as though they were asking if I would deliver the baby. And I said she really needs to get to town, as I believe this could be a very difficult delivery in the village and I am not going to deliver it. This is just a bit about my day. This is not a typical day I remind you. But thank goodness I feel the Lord’s peace through it all. I am only capable of so much and I am trusting to Lord to guide my words and who to see. The community just sometimes needs to be reminded that I am a pediatric nurse, not a family practice doctor. Thanks for reading a long post.

Many Blessings,

Emily and Sarah

Week 2 in the village!

Habari za leo? How is your day today? Say, "Nzuri!" That means good!

I just wanted to add a quick little blurb about our time in the village thus far! I have completed my first two weeks of teaching at the school, and I am excited that I am finally starting to get the names of the 70 students down. It is a work in progress, seeing as many of their names take me about 5 tries to pronounce correctly. They just look at me and laugh! It's so cute! I have a new found respect for teachers that have a huge number of students. I am used to keeping my own group of 20 or so having taught third grade, but I must say there is great joy in getting to interact with each student in the school. Teaching English can present some challenges since I don’t quite speak Kiswahili, but the teachers at the school are very supportive, and they help translate for me. Emily just completed the health assessments on the kiddos and the vast majority of kids gained weight! As a whole, the kids gained 63 kilos! We were very pleased with their growth as the school works hard to provide porridge for the kiddos each day. It is infused with a vitamin powder made from a local leafy plant they call the ‘miracle tree.’ We hope to continue to use of this powder in the school and throughout the community to promote good nutrition. This week we had our first dinner guests as we invited our pastor and his family to our house for dinner. It was a great joy to get to host them as a token of our appreciation for their help, support and encouragement thus far! They work so hard to lead the church, run the school and serve the community as a whole. We are very humbled and honored to work alongside such people. Emily and our friend Mama Hadija cooked the rice for dinner and, since we haven’t quite mastered cooking local food, Mama Hadija cooked the beans for us. We provided a potato and vegetable dish that was well-received and chocolate cake for dessert! It was a great success, and we were very thankful to share in some fellowship with them. On the language front, we continue our language lessons, and we are learning more each day. Just listening and writing down what we hear has made a huge impact. We spend about 4 hours a day on language learning from working with our language helpers to studying and listening to our digital recorders and then practicing our phrases out in the village. We have broadened our visiting to surrounding villages too, so it is fun to travel around. We have found that we tend to stick out. When I arrive home neighbors often tell me that Emily went off to visit in another village. If either of us doesn’t know where the other one is, we don’t even have to call each other on our cell phones. We just have to ask a neighbor! They know exactly where we are at all times. It’s pretty funny! We live in a fish bowl. We came into town yesterday to run our weekly errands, and we enjoyed a nice night in at the town house relaxing. Today Emily is attending a natural health seminar and I am working on planning out my curriculum for the next few weeks until mid-term assessments in the beginning of September. We return to the village tonight just in time for a wedding celebration today and tomorrow! These are big events and the first official wedding invite we received. We are excited to attend and continue to connect with the community! We will report back on the festivities next time! In the mean time, please continue to pray for our team, language learning, teaching and serving in the school, and connecting with the local people. We are glad you get to experience this adventure with us, and we will continue to update you on life in Tanzania! Can you tell I like excaimation points???

Peace out,
Sarah

Language Week

Greetings Friends,
We have just passed the one month mark since departing St. Louis. Time has flown by. First a little update on my last post. The little baby girl, whose name means “Success,” is doing much better. I have not been back to the village to see her due to my language course, but the couple on our team, Wayne and Joyce, paid her a visit and say she looks much better. Praise Jesus! I look forward to seeing her early next week and will plan to closely follow her status and growth. It is opportunities like this that I look forward to.
This week we have been diving deep into a language course called LAMP. It stands for Language Acquisition Made Practical. It was developed by a couple who traveled all over the world in missions and came up with this way to learn languages. It is not an intense Swahili course, but a course on the Biblical importance of learning the native language as a means for ministering and relating to local people and how to go about learning a language in a practical way. We learn things slowly and by lots of repetition. Each day we take the phrases we learn and go and practice it with at least 20 people with our language helpers as assistants. I like this style of learning as I just need to hear things over and over again and practice them over and over again. The course also teaches lots of games we can use with our language helpers in the village. Swahili will come and it requires of step of faith in trusting the Lord through this all. Often I get tired and just want to be done, but I must keep persevering. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” We will each be meeting with our language helper for 5 hours a week for likely our entire time of service.
Next week is the big week as we begin our work, myself as a nurse and Sarah as a teacher. What we keep saying is that to walk on water, you must get out of the boat (Matthew 14). We will be living on our own, starting our work, and no longer have the crutch of a constant interpreter. Please lift us up in prayer. We are excited, but also nervous at this responsibility we have been given.
Hey kids! It’s Sarah now! Emily has done a great job of summing up our time so far and we have both learned a lot this week about the importance of language. Being a teacher I keep evaluating the program, and it’s really applicable and effective. The entire team has gone through this course, and they are fluent speakers, so that’s encouraging! We have slightly different goals since we have committed to being here one year, but I am eager to get the language process going. It is so important to use this as a tool to depend and rely on people in the village to help with this process too! Hiding and studying in our house is not an option. By going out into the village and embracing the humbling moments when we forget the meaning of a word or mispronounce something will actually show our neighbors and friends that we are trying. There is a Swahili proverb that says “Haba na haba hujaza ki baba.” It’s easy to read-just phonetically sound it out! It means you put a little bit in and a little more in and it fills the bucket. This is one of the phrases we’ve learned to share with people. As I like to say, “Slow and steady wins the race!” Hopefully the language-learning process will provide some humorous blog posts! In all seriousness though one thing this course has taught us is that language is ministry. Meeting people where they are at by communicating on their terms in their language will promote trusting relationships that allow us to serve them in real ways. Though it will be difficult, we are excited to apply the tools we’ve learned to grown in our language skills!
Any who-back to school! As Emily mentioned I start teaching on Monday! I even get to wear my snazzy uniform-a bright pink blouse with a grey skirt! I am eager to teach the kiddos and get to know them! I am also excited to get to know the teachers and support them. Thanks to generous donations from some teachers from my school in the US, I was able to bring 3 big bags of school supplies and resources to the school, and I am eager to organize them and plan how to implement new activities with the kiddos! It is important to be consistent with the current instructional methods, but I hope to blend in my style and incorporate some fun interactive games. The students range from 5 to 7 years old, so I get to play up my teaching! They are so precious, and I just want to love on them and get to really know them. We will definitely keep you posted on our first week!
Well, now back to Emily or Emmie as they call me here! Thought you might want to know a bit about what I am doing. My primary focus is caring for the children at the school and children who have disabilities in the community. I plan to do health assessments on all the school kids (they have height and weight measurements from the start of the year for me to track their progress). I will address health needs of children at the school as they come up. And I look forward to starting consistent exercises with a few toddlers who need to learn how to walk and sit up (one has cerebral palsy and another has Downs Syndrome). And I will expand my nursing practice as I can and as I feel led by the Lord. I am considering implementing a nutrition program (will expand on this later).
And I will leave you with a funny language story. I was saying goodbye to an older lady I had met. I thought I was saying, “Tutaonana” which means, “We will see each other,” a type of goodbye, but instead I said, “Tutaoana” which means, “We will marry each other.” So I proposed to a 60 year old woman with just the difference of one "N". Must keep a good sense of humor!
Mungu Akubariki (God Bless You),
Emily and Sarah

A bit about health care in Tanzania

First off, I bet you are wondering about the picture. It is of Sarah and myself at a crossing point of a lake (a shallow area where you can cross the lake to get to other villages). Behind it is a man made waterfall. We biked to this spot one evening and took some funny pictures. What we are wearing is called Khangas. It is two large pieces of decorated fabric that have a proverb written on the bottom. One covers your skirt and the other is worn around your shoulders and/or head. We always where the bottom khanga, even while at home, and when out in public, we must wear a head covering and also a top khanga.

So I have a story to tell you. I was made aware of a month old baby that was not thriving and losing weight. Another team member of mine saw her last week and wanted me to examine her. I went on Tuesday and was very concerned. Her skin was loose, she was lethargic, and only feeding two times a day. I was immediately concerned and knew action needed to be taken right away. Today we brought her with her mother to a clinic in town. We first went to the Disabled Children's Clinic because not only is she losing weight, but there are also other physical concerns. The doctor saw us right away and without examining the young baby, said all these problems were related to her mother. He saw charms, bracelets, and markings on her head (cultural thing here) and attributed all these problems to the mother because of those things. I was very upset as I knew this mother was trying her best. She is trying to nurse the baby every 2-3 hours, but the baby would not nurse and would fall asleep. The doctor also said he could do nothing since the baby had not been weighted since birth (they are supposed to be weighted every month, but said had not yet). So after I kindly asked if he would mind examining the baby and he did not, I decided it would just be best for us to leave. Clearly this man was not going to help and me getting frustrated with him would not make it better, so we headed to the hospital.

After a series of many lines as the hospital and me having no idea what is being said (just me, the mother, and baby) we finally got to a door that said "Dacktari Watoto," Children's Doctor, and knocked and because they saw a Mzungo, me a white person, we were seen right away. I was praying frequently that someone would take action for this precious little one. I am concerned her time on earth might be cut short if there is no intervention. I met two great doctors and they were also seriously concerned. They took much time to examine her. I even brought my stethoscope for them to use as I was concerned about a possible heart condition. She was below her birth weight, had a serious skin infection, and they were going to investigate more issues that could be going on to cause her failure to thrive. They agreed that she needed to be admitted to the hospital for intervention and thanked me for bringing her in. I will try to keep you posted on her status. What a blessing how the Lord got us to two doctors who cared and were taking action. Please continue to pray for this little one. I got the name of the two doctors and I am thankful for their service and am glad to know they truly care.

This is just a little bit about what I am facing here, but with action and passion we can help people. I visited another hospital my second day in the village and was brought to tears as they did not even have water for the patients. You cannot even imagine the site at that hospital, but the one I want to today is much better.

On a lighter note, we head to the beach tomorrow for a few days of rest. Then on Monday we begin a language course. This course teaches us how to learn a language using skills and strategies. Continue to pray for our work permits and visas. We need those as we want to start working as soon as we are done with language class!!!!!

Thanks so much for all the encouraging emails we have been receiving. Our time at the Internet cafe is very limited so we apologize if we do not get to get back with you.

A most important note is that in a village close by, 11 men have committed their lives to Christ. After much time of storying the Bible, these men have chosen life with Christ. Pray for them as they grow and mature and also that it is a serious commitment. Two of the men have been attending church the last two weeks. A joyous site.

Thanks for reading and continue to pray!

Blessings,

Emily

Village Life

Hello friends! We are in Tanga! We spent our first week in the village taking turns living with our team members Heather & Mary. They did an amazing job introducing us to friends and showing us the ropes of how to survive in rural Africa. We have cooked, cleaned, burned trash, and learned to sport a kanga and long skirt whilst riding a bike (an essential to life in the village). The rest of our team consists of a couple, Wayne and Joyce, and the pastor of the church, Matinya, and his wife Mama Sara. Matinya also runs the primary school, so both Emily and I will get to work with him closely. We are so blessed to have received such a warm welcome, and we have made many friends. Our second week in the village consisted of our home stay! Emily and I both lived with village families and learned the ins and outs of authentic life in the bush. We were both ‘adopted’ and well taken care of, though it was challenging and humbling to feel helpless in so many situations. It was a good test of patience and humility. Our language skills are coming along and we both look forward to our language workshop with Mary in Tanga next week. She is going to give us some important language learning tools and tips to apply to our time with our language helpers. We have had tea with both of our language helpers and we are eager to start our work together and build strong relationships with these women. I will start teaching in the beginning of August and Emily will do assessments on the kiddos at the school to track their health. She also plans to regularly visit families with children with special needs. She hopes to connect families with a disabled children’s clinic in town and help them to do exercises and physical therapy with some kiddos. She is eager to get started, and I am eager to get back in the classroom after visiting some classes and helping Heather teach English our first week here. Though we are still adjusting to life here while recognizing the beauty of the D people, there are so many needs and areas of the community to pour into. The Lord is active in this place, and we are excited to reach people for Him. There will be trials and struggles, but both Emily and I are so encouraged and humbled to be here in this place and at this time we know God is going to work mightily. We are doing a study with our team on Colossians and I will leave you with a little nugget that pretty much sums up our vision and hope for what God is going to do with our time here. Col. 2:6-8 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than Christ. Whether is be through teaching, nursing, or just spending time visiting and encouraging, we hope to build life-long relationships that have an eternal impact. Thank you so much for your love and prayers, and we will report back soon! Be patient with us as our Internet access is somewhat unpredictable! We miss ya and love ya!

Grace and peace,

Sarah Majino

Side note: I thought of home yesterday while I sat huddled and crammed on the bus with my home stay mama, Mama Bakari. We were packed like sardines with people shoving trays of anything under the sun in our faces asking us if we want to buy stuff... we were surrounded by chaos, and then I heard the faint, calming music of Kenny G. Yes that’s right. In the middle of the bus station, someone was serenading me with the musical talents of Mr. Kenny G himself. Oh how I love Africa. (Shania Twain’s “From this Moment On” followed it up and yes I did sing along because it was the only English I’d heard in a while).

Watch out Tanzania

Watch out Tanzania, here we come. What a special day of orientation at AIM. I felt the Lord's presence and comfort overwhelming me. All the women who are at orientation this week for short term missions with AIM had the opportunity to share their testimony. Each one was so powerful. God has such a strong calling to missions and I am a part of that. Thank you Lord for this calling! I look forward to more opportunities to share my testimony.
So tomorrow is the big day. I car service picks us up at AIM and takes us to JFK for our journey to Dar es Salaam, the capitol of Tanzania. Heather, who will be training us, will be waiting for us in Dar where we will stay for a couple days before we head up north to our village. I am anxious to meet the other missionaries and the people we will be serving. I have updated our prayer requests about our travel and transition.
There is so much excitement in this time. I have been flipping through my Bible all day reading and praying through much of God's Word in preparation. He has given us a whole book of His Word and precious promises. I need to walk with those on my heart. My prayers for this year are summed up well in Colossians 1:10-14, "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Put your trust, faith, and hope in Jesus for He will never disappoint and will always walk with you, through your joys and challenges.
Thank you for tuning in. We will try to update as time allows! Please be consistently praying for us. And keep us up to date with what is going on in your life as well.
Blessings,
Emily

T Minus 5 Days & Counting...

What up faithful friends?  I am currently writing from my friendly neighborhood Kaldi's Coffee in Clayton.  My friend Melissa is on her way and I am preparing for another goodbye....though it is more of a "see you later" than a goodbye.  I've been saying see ya later to a lot of people lately, so praise Jesus for our amazing group of supportive and loving family and friends.  This is crunch time.  Emily and I are so excited to actually get to do what God has been leading us to for so long, and at the same time these butterflies in my stomach keep reminding me of just how different life is going to be for the next year.  Over all the emotions (and I've been experiencing a lot) I have an overwhelming joy.  God has blessed this mission every step along the way, and it's time to dive in head first and trust Him even when I think am I really doing this?  It's going to be so hard, but I wait in eager anticipation to learn so much more about God, the world and me.  We will update again soon, but for the time being please be praying for safe travel to NY on Monday and Tanzania on Wednesday.  Please also pray that our visas and everything get through so we can arrive and get going right away!  Most of all please pray that God prepare our hearts to serve the people with humble hearts and that we will join the team in place with a unified vision!  Thanks for your love and support!!!

Until later,

Sarah 

T minus 21 days

I cannot believe that Sarah and I leave for orientation 3 weeks from today. To be honest, I cannot wait. I am ready for all the preparations to be finished and get this started. The application process started in September and have spent so much time preparing in these last few months, so now I feel just ready to get there. Of course there is still so much to wrap up. I finished work about 3 weeks ago and have been going non stop ever since. I made a quick trip to Uganda with Children's Heart Project, a ministry of Samaritan's Purse, and then to Kiawah Island with my family and head this afternoon to Kids Across America Kamps (a division of Kanakuk Kamps) to work as a nurse for the next 8 days. Sarah finished school a week and a half ago and now she is catching up on life and doing a little relaxing.
So a little update on everything. First off, please be praying for our visa's and residency permits. We do not have these yet, so please cover them in prayer to come in on time. Also pray for my nursing license to be approved when I get to Tanzania. We are gathering supplies and starting the packing process. Heather, our short term coordinator in Tanzania, has given us a good list to work with. Pray for us as we pack to use discernment in what we bring. Two fifty pound suitcases each for a year is not much. We do not need much as far as clothing goes as we will get it sewn there. We will wear traditional clothing. Can't wait to show you pictures. I have never been much of a skirt person as many of you know. If you would like to help with supplies, gift cards to Walmart would be great. There is so much we will be buying there. Swahili is coming along with Rosetta Stone. Of course it could always be better. Learning Swahili is critical to our ministry. And the most important preparation is spiritually. Pray that we can clearly hear how the Lord is directing us in this ministry.
I promise it will not be this long in between updates. Just an incredibly busy May. Can't wait to report on our progress!
Hugs,
Emily