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

Huge Blessings

Hey Friends,
Well I wanted to give a report on the garage sale we had last weekend to benefit Sarah, myself, and Africa Inland Mission. It was just fantastic and we raise a substantial amount of money for a garage sale. I think it may have been a garage sale record. We were so blessed for the countless donations from friends and family. We filled my entire garage, sun porch, and front porch with all the donations. The Lord blessed us with perfect weather and lots of people. So thank you for all your help. So that finishes our fundraisers. We feel very blessed with how well our support raising is going. You have extended great generosity and prayers which we are very grateful for. We have just a bit to go financially.
So I though I would address the two questions we hear most about going to Africa. First it is how many shots did you have to get? Since Sarah and I have both already been to Africa, we were mostly caught up on all our immunizations. In addition to the routine ones we had yellow fever, typhoid, and a few extra boosters. So we are set with immunizations. And while we are there, we will both take doxycyline daily to prevent malaria.
The second most asked question concerns our safety. First off, we are not worried about our safety. We are heading to work with a great people group and feel very comfortable about our safety and of course we will be smart. The Lord has protected me in so many situations in my life, and I trust He will continue to watch and guide both me and Sarah. I have been studying the Life of Moses this year with Bible Study Fellowship and last week we studied Deuteronomy 30-31. There is a great verse that speaks of God's protection. Deuteronomy 31:8 "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Moses said this to Joshua just before he led the Israelites into the promised land. Think about how scary this could have been. Joshua was leading millions into a land that was full of their enemies. But humble Moses reminded them to trust in the Lord's protection. And Sarah and I will do the same as we venture into land we do not know, but know the Lord goes there before us to prepare the way.
Thanks for tuning in. I am back to Kansas City this afternoon for one more week of work. We have about 7 weeks until we leave. And be praying for Sarah as she finishes her school year.
Hugs,
Emily

Bowling-What Fun

Hey Friends,
Well the bowling event was a great success. We had probably close to 60 people and I think everybody had a really nice time. Good fellowship, great cause! And we were so blessed to raise quite a bit of money which goes direct to Africa Inland Mission to support us for our year in Tanzania. Below is the email I wrote to thank everybody for coming:
Dear Friends,
First off, I would just like to say thank you so much for attending our bowling fundraiser yesterday to benefit Sarah, myself, and Africa Inland Mission. It was just awesome to feel the support you all gave us for this ministry. It was a great fundraiser for us. Thank you for your generosity!
I wanted to take a moment to give God the glory for the blessings in this ministry. Sarah and I both have a heart for Africa and the Lord has really pulled all this together to minister to the D people (full people group name not disclosed for security reasons). We both have a desire to minister to these people because of our relationship with Jesus Christ. As He came as an example to the world of a true servant; we want to share that deep love with others. We are honored to be a part of this ministry.
I wanted to share with you some thoughts the Lord placed on my heart about going to Africa. The apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2 really summed up well his care and concern for the people in Thessalonica. I encourage you to read this chapter as it speaks well to the heart we have for the D people as Paul had for the Thessalonians. Verse 4 says, “We speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel.” We are blessed to know the Gospel, have personal relationships with Jesus, and have been entrusted to share the Gospel with all we encounter. Verse 8 is a great verse, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you became so dear to us.” We feel a great love for the D people even though we have not met them yet. We are devoting our lives and service to these people for at least a year and our hearts for many years to come. And finally verse 12 says, “encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” This is a great prayer. I leave you with another verse in John about trusting your lives to the hope in Christ. John 11:25-26, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’” What great hope to spend eternity in heaven with Christ.
We leave June 29th for two days of orientation in New York and then leave July 1st to head to Tanzania for a year. Please keep up to date with us on our blogsite at www.emilyandsarahinafrica.blogspot.com. Some prayer request now would be that we continue to effectively use our time in spiritual preparation, continued trust in the Lord, and expand our knowledge in our job roles for our service (nursing and teaching). Thank you so much for your generous love and support!

Also a big thank you to you for tuning in and praying for us as we prepare. Sarah and I are both so excited because today at 4:30 we meet with Warren, our district area liaison with AIM, and Katie, a lady who just came back from working in the community we will be working. She is from Kirkwood and has been working with the D people for many years. If fact we will probably be living in the house she lived in. We look forward to meeting with Warren and Katie and really learning more about the community we will be working with and what life is like there. I just can't wait for this afternoon.
Well got to run to finish preparing for our meeting! I finish up working in Kansas City in just three short weeks. I am ready to be done commuting every week.
Hugs and Blessings,
EM

Yeah Earth Day!

Greetings friends and Happy Earth Day!

In the wise words of my friend Ginnie, "Every day is Earth Day!" It's quite challenging to keep that in the forefront of your mind each day. I read the Lorax to my students today. It's one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. It is the tale of our dear friend the Once-ler. You see, the Once-ler was a greedy man who moved to a beautiful place with beautiful Truffula Trees. The Truffula trees had Truffula tufts softer than silk. Soon the Once-ler was cutting down all the trees to make beautiful and multipurpose Thneeds (See the picture above). Before you know it, the Once-ler had built huge factories to produce his Thneeds to meet every one's demands because, after all, everyone needs a thneed, right? Eventually, you guessed it, he had successfully cut down all the trees and polluted the beautiful place he once loved with the dark, dank smog of his factories. In the mean time, all the wonderful critters and creatures were forced to leave because of the destruction of their dear Truffula trees. The title character, the Lorax, tries to warn the Once-ler of his deeds, but he pays not attention, and alas, the Lorax must leave as well. He leaves behind one message for the Once-ler. A word: UNLESS. When someone comes to the Once-ler to hear the tale of the Lorax, he finally gets the message. He sends the messenger on his way with a Truffula seed. Unless you or I make a difference or take a stand to change things, the world will continue to grow dark and ugly. Ok- so this is a story about deforestation, but let's expand this idea. Each of us in our own way contribute to the beauty of our world and we are called to be good stewards of what we have been given. This message transcends Earth Day and the message of reduce, reuse, & recycle. We are all so consumed with what we want and think we need. Pretty soon we're a runaway train out of control so fixed on ourselves we are blind to the outside world. We don't see the devastation we leave in our path until it seems too late...the good news is it's never too late. It's that simple. In researching organizations established to serve the people of Africa, I was so encouraged and humbled by how many were started by one person. One person who said unless I do this, people will continue to be in need without hope. The hope we are given through the One who made us is a gift that, despite our own limitations, allows us to do great things for His glory. Whether it is going to Africa, becoming a Big Sister or Big Brother, initiating a recycling program at your school or workplace, or random acts of kindness, remember the message of the Lorax. Unless. It's scary navigating foreign territory, but with God all things are possible.

PS-This was not at all what I planned on updating today, but I hope this message is an encouragement to you. =)

Peace out,

Sarah