"A Good Waiter"

A good waiter is worth his or her weight in gold, or tips, or something. Restaurants here actually have waiters believe it or not, and although the restaurant choices aren't in abundance, from our limited experience we have had some really good waiters!

Unlike them and even this chameleon here (what a patient creature!), I'm not a very good waiter. Waiting is a part of the Christian life, another tool the Lord uses to shape and mold us, to test and prove our faith. Abraham waited (for Isaac), Moses waited (in Midian), Paul waited (in Arabia), even our Lord Jesus waited for His Father to answer His cries as He went down into death on our behalf. Waiting is hard, but I'm thankful for the Lord's presence, His voice, and His promises during times like this. As you can see, waiting can actually make you a little crazy! One thing is for sure, waiting does not mean for us to sit around and do nothing! Let me share with you what we have been doing this extra long month of February.

These little guys stop by the maktaba in Ujiji to shake my hand and say hello several times every week. This little gang of pre-school age boys roam the neighborhood behind the maktaba pretty much every day. They are always so happy to see the only "mzungu" in the area and occasionally get their picture taken.

The maktaba has steadily become a hub of various kinds of activity. There are several groups of children of various ages who stop by to see if "The King of Glory" is showing. We have pastors stopping by to check out books to help with their sermon preparation. We have a small but growing group who have started the Emmaus Bible courses. Also, we occasionally get a leader from one of the local mosques to stop by with a Bible question. We thank the Lord for these many opportunities to share the truth and make the Word of God available in a place of such spiritual darkness.

Although I am not doing any teaching, I continue to accompany Gerald to Karuta (elementary school in Ujiji) for our weekly Bible class. We have studied the first 11 chapters of Genesis and are now studying highlights in Abraham's life before moving on through the Old Testament, laying a good foundation before going to the New Testament. Gerald is very gifted with teaching children and does a fantastic job!

At the end of each lesson, in closing, he prays for the parents of these children. One child told her mother that her Bible teacher prays for her, and her mother sent her child to the maktaba with specific requests and also asked for a visit. We are starting to see doors open in this way as we develop relationships with these precious children. Below is a picture of her visiting us this past week with a note from her mother.

Last week I was walking down the street on my way to Ujiji wearing an "Emmaus" t-shirt. A man approached me and said he had studied Emmaus courses and asked where he could find them! We exchanged info and I pointed him to the maktaba. It turned out he was an evangelist on his way to a conference and outreach. We were able to send him with 200 Gideon Testaments and lots of Gospel literature!

So we thank the Lord for the various ways HE is working here in Ujiji! I continue to meet with the Street Boys each week also. I ordered red jerseys for the boys to wear to be able to differentiate teams. They liked them so much everyone put one on, and then we couldn't differentiate teams! I just let the chaos continue until a few finally decided this wasn't a good idea. :) Below is a recent picture of our rowdy group.

On the home-front, I finally did something I have been wanting to do for a long time... build a basketball goal! We have a tennis court on our housing compound which was built by the Norwegians many years ago. Recently a missionary brought out a new net and resurfaced the court. Over the past 2 years we have played some tennis, but what we really needed was to build a goal. I built the back board with wood, managed to find a good rim, and Elizabeth brought out a ball and nets. The project is completed and now we are enjoying some much needed court time!

I have saved the best for last, but I don't have any pictures to show you! We had been praying for help with homeschool for a long time, and as we shared in recent blog posts, the Lord answered our prayer through a friend from language school in Morogoro! Paula arrived in Kigoma at the beginning of the month and jumped right in helping us teach the younger two (Sam & Katie) while Jenn continues teaching the older two (Isaac & Elaina). She plans to stay in Kigoma until we return to the US for our furlough. We can't express how much of a blessing she is to us, a huge help, and the kids love her class! Paula comes with us to church on Sundays, to the Wednesday night fellowships, and even to the ladies Bible studies. I promise to have pictures of her and the kids together for the next blog post.

So while we are still waiting an answer to our appeal, we are staying busy and remaining hopeful. This week someone from CMML-TZ is going to follow up on our appeal at the labor office. We continue to pray for the Lord's perfect will in this matter and for His perfect timing. Hopefully we will hear something very soon!

We are so excited about returning to the US for a four month furlough. We return to NC the third week of April, and will stay until the middle of August, Lord willing.

We thank you ALL for your prayers and support of the work here!

Tutaonana badaaye! (We'll see each other later!)