March and half of April
/Hello to all our friends and loved-ones! This is our March update, just a few days late…
Rebekah’s (insightful) comments in italics.
Prayer Requests:
-We have some travel upcoming this summer for Mary’s memorial service in CO, a work meeting, and some vacation time. We’re still working out the details for these trips, so please pray for smooth travel, sweet times with family and God’s provision financially.
-Please be praying for the Baptist Hospital here in Kigoma as they try to make some much needed reforms and changes to the hospital. May God be glorified through the process!
-Please be praying for us as we try to figure out the best way to educate the boys amidst the craziness of African life. We really need God to provide us with wisdom and discernment, and maybe a good bit of energy!!
March recap: March started off with a trip to Nairobi for a homeschool conference. We are enjoying the African roadtrips! This time was especially beautiful as it is the rainy season in most of the country, so the drive was green and lush, and not too hot! Below is a gallery of various landscape pictures we took this month. We’re so blessed to live in such a beautiful place- the earth is full of His handwork!
The drive to Nairobi is about 21 hours of road time, and stops don’t add much because there really isn’t anywhere to stop! (when we say there really isn’t much of any place to stop, what we mean is that when we DO stop it’s at one little gas station at the half way point on the first day. They have two different options for your restroom needs. One was new as of December of last year, but when I received the key and unlocked the door this time around, a mere 3 1/2 months after the last time I was in there, I was certain I had been the very last person to have been in there since December. A strange sandy looking substance was strewn about and brilliant yellow mushrooms were growing on every conceivable surface. I even walked into one of the stalls to see if perhaps I could just work around this short little forest of fungus, but decided against it as I wasn’t sure I could use the squatty potty without disturbing the landscape - or without risking tripping or shuffling through or falling on these little caps and suffering who knows what kind of rash. I exited the bathroom, relocked it and as quickly as I could used the bathroom that has no door and smells as if it hasn’t been cleaned….ever.) We’re still waiting for our first Buc-ee’s, that legendary Texan rest-stop my sisters keep bragging about…
We spend the night in Singida, TZ next to a salt-lake. The guesthouse there is safe, clean, and has a good restaurant(we can order food ahead so it’s ready when we arrive!). Finding a place to stay is the most stressful part of traveling, as guesthouses can run the gamut from a simple room with a bed and a shared toilet($4-6/night) to a full-on western-style hotel room($20-40/night). The second day is less driving, but includes crossing the TZ/Kenya border. We’re getting better at getting through efficiently and talking our way out of customs inspections that would require us to unload the entire vehicle. Usually the encounter goes something like this:
TZ Customs Agent: What is in your car?
Me: Things of the house, clothes. We are traveling to Nairobi to visit our friends.
CA: I need to see them
Me: It is a lot of work to unpack the box on the top of the car. It is only things like clothes for our trip. (and the sun is very hot today)
CA: All bags must be scanned inside.
Me: Truly? That is strange, we have passed here 4 times before and have never had to scan our bags. (when it’s me, I typically say something like, “but you really don’t need to see our stuff. Truly, it’s just clothes and shoes. Thank you, but I am not going to climb and unpack”)
CA: Yes, all bags should be scanned.
Me: I see. I see the tourists scanning their bags, but you know, we are not tourists. We’re locals. We’re Tanzanians. We aren’t visiting here, we live here, in Kigoma. They call Kigoma the End-of-the-Rail. Do you know it?
CA: That is very far! How was the trip?
Me: The trip has been good, thanks be to God. They speak Kiha and Kibembe(local languages) in Kigoma, do you know that language? ‘entertain the guard for a moment with a few Kiha and Kibembe phrases’
CA: ….
Me: OK, thank you very much for your help! Greet your family, and God bless you!
CA: Thanks, have a safe trip!
Me: ‘drives off with a small feeling of triumph’
In Nairobi we got a chance to connect with friends from around Africa, and Rebekah got some good homeschooling tips and resources, and a healthy dose of feeling inadequate. (a healthier dose than I’m comfortable with - we are in a very unique situations here. Our location and the ages of our boys when we arrived on the field have left us feeling quite unique in the struggles we deal with just in homeschooling alone. Friends, please pray for us in this area.)
I also had a chance to go visit Ekklesia Afrika, a local org that does translation and printing of theological resources, and they had three great books in Swahili!
The trip back was uneventful, included a very similar conversation to the one above at the border. Most of the roads are asphalt, with only a couple of hours of dirt-road driving near Kigoma. That’s the roughest part of the trip, but still isn’t bad at all. A couple decades ago this trip would have taken 2-3 times as long because of the roads, but we’re moving on up in the world!
When we got back from Nairobi we had Isaac and Sarah’s wedding to attend. Weddings are an all-day affair! Isaac and Sarah have been ready to marry for over a year, but Isaac had to save up for the bride-price, and Sarah’s family kept adding demands, thus delaying the marriage. Sarah is a believer, but comes from a Muslim family, and they weren’t happy about her marrying Isaac, who is a Christian. One uncle especially created a lot of trouble ahead of time, but it finally happened! The wedding was scheduled to start at 9AM, but that’s just a number- everyone understood the actual start time would be 10-10:30. We got there at NOON, and still beat the bridal party and the groom by more than 30 minutes. The service went from around 1-4. Then everyone takes a break, and the wedding party goes to take pictures, rest, and get a make-up refresh at the salon. They were supposed to return in an hour(yeah, right!). We returned at 5pm, and the wedding party got back around 6:30. More ceremony happened, and food was served around 9PM. (The boys and I, save Judah, had bugged out well before that) Because they forgot to get a “disco permit” to play music at night, the party ended early around 10PM. Phew! It was a day. We’re so happy for Isaac and Sarah and their new life together! Rebekah and I will be doing some marriage counseling with them in the coming weeks, walking through what a biblically faithful marriage looks like.
The last couple of pics there are of a different wedding the next weekend.
Life here continues apace. We’ve had some baptisms and started two new bible studies in the community. We said goodbye to Grayse, Zeke’s favorite lady, as she graduated from high-school and moved to the US to start working and preparing for college.
The boys are doing well, enjoying a mini-break from school while we travelled and got back.
I got the truck stuck for the first time, which is when I discovered that our 4WD wasn’t working. No worries, a couple shovels and the goodwill of passersby got us unstuck.
We continue to covet your prayers as we do our best to be actively obedient to the Great Commission here. God is moving, and we’re blessed to be a part of what He is doing.
We celebrated Easter last weekend, and we’re still struggling with figuring out how to do holidays here. These are hard holidays because our traditions and nostalgia are so culturally influenced, our holidays typically involve family, and everyone who lives cross culturally has to strike the balance of preserving/recreating traditions and practices with immersing in local culture. We aren’t there yet. But Easter was good, in its way. Church was actually quite nice, as we sang a lot of songs together as a congregation. A friend of our generously provided songbooks and bibles for the sanctuary, so people are able to sing along with more songs and read along as we listen to preaching. It’s great!
That’s the update for now! We plan to be in the US this summer for a few weeks, and look forward to catching up with everyone, even if only briefly. May the Lord bless you and keep you!
As always, our work is supported by the generous giving of individuals and churches all over the US. If you’d like to give you can go to www.imb.org/give
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