January and February '24
/We hope this update finds you all well!
This update will be long on pictures and short on words, because we have so many great pics from the last couple of months! ***NOTE: I’ve been trying to finish this for a couple weeks, but our internet connections here have been on the struggle bus. Something about undersea cables being cut… Better late than never, right?”
Prayer Requests Up Front:
- We’re on the home stretch for homeschooling- a couple more months in the school year! Please pray for endurance to finish strong for all the boys and their beleaguered teachers(us).
-We are praying for little “Rehema”, a girl with a presumed massive hemangioma on her head as we are trying to find someone who will operate on her.
-We continue to pray for local churches and leaders- that God would guard them against false gospels and doctrine, and give them a heart for the Great Commission- making disciples here and abroad.
MINISTRY
In January we had a lovely baptism down at Lake Tanganyika. 5 individuals were baptized, and became members of Azimio Baptist Church. 2 of the new believers came from a Muslim background.
We continue to see God’s blessing in the Mercy Ministry. Our home visits to palliative/home-bound patients is a beautiful expression of Christ’s love and mercy. In January, a village we had worked with for months planted it’s first Baptist church, and today that gathering is about 24 adults and they’re looking to build a small banda(until now they’ve been meeting under a tree!).
Rebekah’s Kids Club on Mondays had a guest leader for a bit in January as our dear friend Rachel came to visit and brought all her energy!!
Every last Thursday of the month a dozen local pastors come to our house to fellowship and share a meal. This has been a sweet joy and encouragement to all of us! Pray for these men and their wives- ministry in Tanzania is HARD!
The last picture is of a special project Rebekah has been working on for a while. She designed and created a leather bag with her dear friend Francey, and it’s beautiful! It’s so nice that some missionary friends of ours asked if they could use her design in their leather-working ministry. They have a workshop in a slum in Nairobi as a part of their ministry. While we travelled last month Rebekah got to go up and teach the men in the shop how to cut, sew, and build her bag. She had a great time working with those guys- peas in a pod! You can check out our friend’s ministry here: Kilele Gear.
Life update
Busy as usual! For New Year’s Eve, the local missionary fellowship has a fun/silly talent show. Our team this year did the Silent Monks “singing” the Hallelujah Chorus. Our sister Kari worked hard to organize and direct, and we all had a blast!
In January our dear friends the Sagers left the field to transition to a position with Member Care in our organization. They were such great friends and mentors to us, and we miss them terribly, but are excited for the things God has in store for them in the future!
February marked the 1 year anniversary of Mary’s(Rebekah’s mom) passing, so we remembered her by going out for a hike- one of her favorite things to do together when she was alive.
We had some friends come visit us from the capital city for a couple of days, and we took a break from ministry and went out to camp. It was a sweet time getting to know them better, and the kids got along great. They have one daughter and three boys, but H held her own!
When we got back from our trip to Nairobi we had a lot of catching up to do, so our sisters(Kari and Debra) came up for a surprise sleepover. We played games and hung out for a very restful Saturday as a “family”. We love these ladies like sisters, for sure!
We were blessed to take a couple of trips these past couple of months.
First Judah, Luke, and I(Josh) drove to north of Arusha for a medical camp in a group of Masaai villages. On the way I had my battery run out of charge WHILE I WAS DRIVING. That as a first! The engine shut off while going 55 on the highway, and fortunately I was able to pop the clutch before we slowed down too much and we rolled into a car shop a few hours later to replace the battery. It’s a two day drive, and we were exhausted when we got there. We took the opportunity to snag a pizza lunch at Pizza Hut in Arusha though! The night we arrived they cancelled the camp. That area of TZ hadn’t had rain for over THREE YEARS, but in November the rains returned. As a result, in the end of January the road was too muddy to pass, and in fact, they got all three 4WD trucks stuck trying to get in. So the next day we turned around and headed back to Kigoma! One thing that Africa teaches you is to go with the flow, and expected nothing! We got a good few days in the car, and to see some beautiful country!
In the end of February we went up to Nairobi for some ministry, medical, and vacation. We love visiting Nairobi- it feels a little homey and familiar because that’s where we started our time on the field. We stay at the Hampton House compound- the same place we lived for 6 months in 2021. We got to take part in church services in English, connect with friends, eat out at fun restaurants, go bowling, and experience the big city conveniences! Unfortunately we also experience the big city costs, so a couple weeks is about all we can afford! We can’t return without something ridiculous- this time it was three 50lb prices of tree trunk(they were trimming trees on the compound) so that Rebekah and Judah can make tables…
Driving in Tanzania is really great! You get stopped by police a lot, but they’re generally very pleasant. Kenya is another matter! There are so many cars and so many police! Just an hour or so from the border a Kenyan officer flagged us down, probably due to our lack of melanin. Kenyan cops are notoriously corrupt- they supplement their salaries with roadside bribes for $5-10 each. After flagging us down the officer noted a small crack in the windshield on the passenger side. He was very upset about the crack and tacitly asked for a bribe. We by principle don’t pay bribes, so he made us drive to the nearest police station, where we were told to park in the impound lot. They had me come into the police office where they scolded me for my dangerous infraction of a 6 inch crack, and told me that we would have to return in 4 days for a court date OR leave the car in the impound lot until it could be inspected. They had me sit and sweat for 15-20 minutes before taking me up to the police captain in her office. She was actually very reasonable, rolled her eyes when they told her why I was there, and told me to just go home! Praise the Lord they didn’t decide to make it a whole thing!
That’s it for this update. We’ll have another after our big medical/family conference in April. Thanks to those who helped us raise funds to go- we hope it will be a blessing.
Thanks to all those who faithfully pray for, encourage, and support us and other field workers. You all “hold the rope” for us, so we can go down into the places where God has called us.
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