What does Gretchen do?

Over our four years in Tanzania, I had many people ask me, "So what do you actually do?" The term missionary can be so vague, and while Marc had a very defined role at HOPAC, my role was a bit less concrete. I figured some of you might be wondering the same thing now that we've moved to Rwanda - "What does Gretchen actually DO?" 

First, let me step back to last year in Tanzania and tell you what my time was spent doing there, just so you can get a feel for how different life is for me now! 

Things I was involved in last year in TZ:

* led worship 3 times a week for the primary school chapels

* worked 10-15 hours a week for Karama (www.karamacollection.com) - last school year, this included traveling to Kenya 3 times, Ethiopia 2 times, and Uganda 1 time. 

* was one of four coordinators for the largest bi-annual artisan market in Tanzania 

* led a monthly online health/fitness challenge group called "Commit To Be Fit"

* started a pre-school for staff children at HOPAC - spent several hours 3 days a week there

* partnered with a friend to develop her sewing business 

* attended weekly bible study 

* classroom mom for Isaac's class 

* normal life stuff - groceries, helping with homework, church, writing newsletters, etc 

Things I am involved in now in Rwanda:

* Teach Pre-K part time (Monday-Friday, 8am -1pm)
* work 15 hours a week with Karama 

* Kinyarwanda language lessons 2 hours/week

* Marriage bible study for 7 weeks

* Body and Soul exercise class 

* normal life stuff 

It looks like my list is much smaller now, and to some extent, it is. Marc and I have made a point to take this first semester to focus on transitioning our family and settle into our roles at KICS. First of all, we feel our call is transformational education through teaching at KICS. That is our primary reason for being here and we want to give our roles at KICS 100%.  This has NOT been super easy for us - we've had to hold ourselves back from jumping into areas where we could serve outside of school. In fact, this morning at church they made an announcement about needing extra help with the worship team - the whole time I was looking at Marc with eager eyes. I probably will talk to the guy currently in charge, but will say I need to wait until January to really dive into anything....which will be hard for me! In our first month of being here, we realized how much we had allowed our family time to move to the back burner as we packed up/left TZ, had a whirlwind of a summer in the USA and then arrived in RW and two days later started work. It's been hectic. Our kids need us & we have decided that outside of school, that's our focus for now.

Pre-K

The KICS Pre-K is held in a house a few minutes down the road from the main campus. There is one full time teacher that I work with and two para's who assist us. We have 20 students in our class and they are incredible. There are 7 (I think) different nationalities in the class, but several of the students have barely lived in their passport country. For example, Geneva is American, but of her almost 5 years of life, she's lived less than a year in her passport country. She's not the only student like that - many of our students are TCK's or Third Culture Kids.

My co-teacher and I have split the curriculum so that she teaches Math & Science and I teach Bible and Language Arts. Social Studies gets incorporated across both of our subject areas in a variety of ways. Our team - my co-teacher, our paras and I - work amazingly well together. We are all learning a lot from one another and enjoying our students immensely! 

Karama 

I'm continuing my work with Karama that I've been doing for over 1 1/2 years. I am the product coordinator and work directly with the artisan groups in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia (thus my travels over the last year). Mostly, this means I'm in communication between the artisan groups and our executive directors in the USA through email, whatsapp, viber and sometimes traveling to meet them in person. 

The vision of Karama is:

To live in a world where poverty is overcome through dignified work, so families and communities can thrive.

The mission of Karama is: 

Karama alleviates poverty by restoring dignity through creative, purposeful work for artisans, beginning in Africa.

I entered into this position in February 2016 knowing that the goal was to eventually hire national leaders to do my job. That's been the vision all along, and it's finally happening!! Karama has hired an amazing woman in Ethiopia to take over the work I do there, and is in process of hiring in Kenya. I'll spend the next few months training these new leaders and then will hand off this role completely. That means, around the end of December I will conclude this work with Karama. It's been an honor to work with this social enterprise as long as I have and while it will be sad to hand it off, I am so proud that it's being handed off to national leadership and excited to watch the impact to grow! 

Please visit the website to learn more about it, or to shop! www.karamacollection.com 

Kinyarwanda

Ugh. That's how I feel about learning another new language. Though I am conversational in Kiswahili,  I never became fluent, so that's hanging over my head a bit. And now I'm attempting Kinyarwanda, which I hear is much harder than Kiswahili. Great. I'm starting out with just 2 hours a week and I'm doing it with another TeachBeyond teammate, so it'll be fun to get to know her as well as the culture/language. Our kids are taking Kinyarwanda AND French in school, so they'll certainly surpass me in their language studies. We'll see how this goes. 

Marriage Bible Study

Our church is offering a 7 week marriage course, which we decided to join. It's in our neighborhood each Sunday evening for a few hours. While we are breaking our own rule of not getting involved in too much, we felt like it fit in with focusing on family right now and it is only 7 weeks, so it's got and end date. Our first study is tonight and I'm looking forward to meeting a few other couples in our church. 

Body & Soul 

There is a church about 4 minutes from our house that offers a few fitness classes each week. Due to my work schedule, I can only go Monday evenings and Saturday mornings, but I've been loving the accountability and challenge of these exercise classes! It's been good for me to be intentional about taking care of my mental and physical state and I've enjoyed meeting people outside of the KICS community. 

Normal Life Stuff 

Normal life stuff right now is helping kids with homework, making lunches, baking bread, taking the dog for walks, arranging playdates for our kids to build friendships, trying to find cheese somewhere, church, trying to make the house more our home, lots of coffee, newsletters & communication with supporters, etc. We don't have a car, so going shopping or running errands is a bit more difficult. We either get a taxi, or we check out a car from KICS if it's available. We're still trying to figure out where to buy things, how much things cost, how to get around (hilly/curvy roads EVERYWHERE!) and what to do for fun/relaxation. 

So that's my life in a nutshell. It's full, it's fulfilling, it's new and sometimes overwhelming. Overall though, we're setting in and trying to give ourselves grace as we remember we've been here less than 3 months. While it's still East Africa and some things feel familiar, it's a new country with a difficult history, new language, new school, new friends and new routines. Somedays we miss Tanzania terribly, other days we're ready to take on all the new challenges of cultural adjustment. 

This week, we only have school on Monday. Tuesday & Wednesday we have full days of conferences and then we have Thursday and Friday off. We're REALLY looking forward to the break! 

Thanks for reading along! 

At it again...Nitajaribu kujifunza Kiswahili pamoja familia yangu

One of my lifelong goals has been to be fluent in another language. Easy to write on a bucket list, much harder to accomplish in real life.

Our first year here, actually within our first few weeks here, Marc and I took about 10 hours of Swahili lessons with another couple who had recently moved. We learned the important greetings, learned numbers and some key verbs and sentence structure. It was hard to do during such a big transition and with the small kids, but it felt good to make some quick progress. School then began and Marc lost any free time to dedicate to lanague. Finally in December 2013, I partnered with a few other ladies and began a language and culture program called GPA, or Growth Participator Approach. For eleven months, I spent 3 hours a day, 3 days a week, studying KiSwahili with a few other ladies. After a few months in a group of 6, we paired off into twos. My main partner, Angie, also has a young daughter just a few months older than Geneva, so the two of us were constantly interrupted with requests for juice, TV shows, naps, bathroom breaks, arguments, etc. I'm pretty sure the other two groups (whose kids were all in school) progressed MUCH quicker than we did. It was discouraging at times, as many days we felt like we were taking one step forward and two steps back instead of the other way around.

My partner Angie with our friend and language helper, Lucy a few years ago. 

After about 11 months of language study, our language helper got very busy with a full time job and was unable to continue with us. We took a break for the holiday season and then actually never got started again!

This past year, HOPAC's Kiswahili teacher offered classes for the teachers during the school day. I wiggled my way into that as I am at school three days a week helping with assemblies. It was good, and early on I got moved from the intermediate class to the advanced class, but it was a more traditional style of language learning and I honestly did not practice or retrain most of what we covered this past year.

BUT THIS SUMMER....

The whole family is getting in on lessons! Our kids and three children from another family are going to work together with a language helper to begin learning vocab. The GPA approach,at least phase 1 where the kids will start, includes a lot of physical response and games - I actually really enjoyed it and think our kids will have a lot of fun with it as well! They will begin next week with 2 hours a day for 3 days a week. Marc and I are then going to work with the helper for about 5 hours per week as well.

I'll be sure to post some updates about our progress and maybe some pictures as well!

If you have any interest in the language approach we are using, check it out HERE

Staying.

Most of you know that we are partner-missionaries with Christian Reformed World Missions working at Haven of Peace Academy. What this means is that we get a stipend from HOPAC to help cover housing, but the rest of our 'salary' we have to fund-raise for.

Over the past 2.5 years, we have only twice met our monthly budget. This means we've struggled to stay here, questioning if this year would be our last. In October, we shared this dilemma through our prayer letter and WOW. God has used so many people to affirm our call and make it possible for us to say:

WE ARE STAYING IN TANZANIA FOR ONE MORE YEAR! 

I get a bit giddy just thinking of the amazing ways God has shown himself to us. Let me share with you how we've been blessed, affirmed and provided for:

* Our friend, Rachel, hosted a Trades of Hope fundraiser for us!

* A supporter came into a large chunk of money and donated $2000!

* We've added 3 new monthly supporters!

* We've had 4 supporters increase their giving!

* We've added a partner church who has already taken a special offering for us!

* One of our existing partner churches took a special offering for us!

* One of our existing partner churches gave us the money needed to pay our September self-employment taxes!

* Family gave us money to pay for our extensive car repairs!

* Many individuals from one of our partner churches gave special gifts!

We have been overwhelmed. We feel excited and at peace about staying for the 2016-2017 school year, and look forward to our continued partnership with so many.

All of these gifts have gotten us closer to our budget for the year, but we still aren't quite there. We are still looking for a few more monthly supporters or one time gifts to be pledged for the remainder of this fiscal year (now - June) and pledged for next year (July 2016 - June 2017). If you're able to donate even $10 monthly for the next 6, 12 or 18 months we would be so grateful!

Visit Christian Reformed World Missions to give.

THANK YOU to everyone for your prayers, your love and your support!

"He sees you and remembers you today."

For the last seven days, I feel like God has been showing off. 

In my Bible Study this week (Beth Moore:1 & 2 Thessalonians), one of the points in the video was this: 

"Often we hope God is at work, but sometimes we get to know it (1 Thess 1:5)". 

This has been my experience the last seven days - KNOWING that God is at work. 

Really it started last week Wednesday, when I gathered the email addresses of those who wrote to say they'd like to join our prayer team, and I sent out the first prayer team email. This is something we've needed for a long time, finally asked for, and are so grateful to those who are joining us in more intentional prayer about our future here at HOPAC and in Tanzania. So I sent out the email in the afternoon, we had our church Life Group that night, and we went to bed. 

Thursday morning, I woke up and for whatever reason, decided to check my email before even getting out of bed. 

First email: "We just made a donation of $2000 to you through CRWM. While we know that you will be grateful for the gift, our desire is for you to see this as God's gift to you - a reminder that He sees you and remembers you today. We're just excited to be his hands to transfer the money to you."

WHAT?!?! I actually started laughing and crying at the same time. I'm actually tearing up reading this again. Not only because of the incredible financial gift that it is, but because of the heart behind it. Isaac heard me and came into our room, asking if I was laughing or crying, and why. I was able to share with him what the email was about, and he had to wipe away his own tears. Our kids are learning some valuable lessons right along with us. 

And if that wasn't enough, God continued to work. 

Second email: A church is having a conversation about possibly supporting us.

WHAT?!?! The pastor of this church is someone we've known for around six or so years, and he and his family have personally supported us from the beginning. The church will have a meeting in December, but the deacons of the church are proposing that the church begin supporting us in 2016. Again, this is an incredible financial gift and answer to prayer, but with a church partnership comes so much more than money. We will have another WHOLE CHURCH to share with about what God is doing here in Tanzania and to have praying for us! This is incredible!

And if that wasn't enough, God continued to work.

Third email: A church is going to take a special offering for us.

WHAT?!?! The missions committee of this partner church felt burdened for us after our last prayer letter, so requested a special offering from the deacons and it was approved. How can you deny the hand of the Lord in all of this?

Many tears have poured from my eyes these last seven days. I just cannot keep from being so overwhelmed by God's goodness and faithfulness. We feel humbled and affirmed. We feel, as the first email said, that God has "seen us and remembered us".

It's been a week of KNOWING that God is at work. He is working in out situation. He is working in us. He is working in the world around us. I am praising God for his sovereign hand and that he has shown us so many glimpses of his work in our lives!

57 Days til Christmas! Shop & support us at the same time!

There are only 57 days until Christmas. Our friend, Rachel, is hosting a fundraiser to help us meet our financial needs.

She is a Compassionate Entrepreneur for Trades of Hope! I love this business, because it provides sustainable work with dignity for women coming out of dire circumstances. So when she approached us about this fundraiser, of course, we were excited. They have amazing products that I think many women on our gift lists would be honored and excited to wear or use. 

Would you consider purchasing something for someone on your Christmas list? A parent? Teacher? Friend? Pastor? Mentor? Yourself? :) 

Please see the details below: 

Empowering women
Empowering families
Empowering generations

This is Trades of Hope!

You have been invited by Gretchen to help inspire hope + create change worldwide. Trades of Hope partners with small groups of artisans who are working their way out of poverty and desperate circumstances including slums, sweatshops, and the sex trade. They live all over the world: Haiti, Uganda, Guatemala, Costa Rica, India and Cambodia... even here in the United States. These women don't want charity, they want opportunity!

In addition to these women being given opportunity, you have the opportunity to help SUPPORT the Driesenga Family!! 

***ALL proceeds from this party will be given to Marc and Gretchen to aid in reaching their goal to continue missions work in Tanzania!!***

What's better than giving back in multiple ways?

Join us for this purposeful party for the next month right here on this event page to learn more about the mission of Trades of Hope and to shop beautiful fair trade, handmade jewelry, accessory and home decor items.

View the entire collection now through the Driesenga Family link~

http://bit.ly/DriesengaFundraiser

THANK YOU!

QUESTIONS?
Email Rachel Cunningham at rachel.tradesofhope@gmail.com or call 805-390-329

He Is able. More than able.

THIS SONG has been in my mind today. It's an OLDIE, but it's still true and it's a message I need to focus on. (Can you tell which era I grew up in!?! ha!)

He is able, more than able, to accomplish what concerns me today

He is able, more than able, to handle anything that comes my way

He is able, more than able, to do much more than I could ever dream

He is able, more than able, to make me what he wants me to be. 

We owed our government $1500 on September 15th for estimated self-employment tax for this year. We owe another $1500 in December. Geneva needs to get to the dentist for a cavity. We should really take care of our remaining dog (we had two - one died mysteriously this week) getting neutered. Our van needs a new engine. Yes, a new engine. Selfishly, we found an inexpensive used A/C unit for the kids room for during the hot season - certainly not a necessity, but would be nice for our kids to sleep through the night during the hot season and not have heat rash.

HE IS ABLE.

We budget for these things.
We have line items for them.
We've planned for circumstances such as these.

In October, our actual received income is only 59% of our budgeted amount. When we aren't fully funded, we don't have the money for car repairs, or taxes or medical expenses. We should have money in our savings set aside for these things, but for two years, we've been living below our budget, meaning there is no savings.

HE IS ABLE.

Is God using our circumstances to redirect us? To move us? Is God using our circumstances to test our faith? To cause us to more fully rely on Him? Is God using our circumstances to display His Glory? To display is power? Are these hardships evidence of spiritual warfare? Is it the enemy who wants us to be done here? Have we been foolish to continue on without full support?

We're in the midst of a storm. We're in a fight. We're trying to keep our focus on Jesus. I have to admit, though, I'm growing weary over the constant battle of fundraising. There have been many days recently when we feel ready to throw in the towel and move home, get full time jobs and not have to rely on others. Neither of us wants to do that, though, when we press ourselves. We want to be here. We came here out of obedience and have not felt God telling us to leave this place or ministry. He might yet, but so far, we feel called to stay in Dar.

HE IS ABLE.

This morning I was lead to Mark 4, where Jesus calms a storm. After rebuking the wind and the sea was calmed, Jesus says to his disciples,

"'Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" 

And they were filled with great fear and said,

 "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?'"

Mark 4: 40 & 41

Our God controls the wind and the sea. He is the Creator and Provider. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the Great I Am. He is our Savior. He is sovereign over all. Surely a few thousand dollars is not too much for him to handle. Surely HE IS ABLE! We are choosing to continue on in faith, trusting the Lord to guide our steps and to make His will know for our present and our future. 

HE IS ABLE.

Maybe we won't get the van fixed. Maybe we have to move home in June and get full time jobs. Maybe our other dog will die. Maybe we can't pay our taxes. Guess what? HE IS STILL ABLE. He is the one to decide these things, not us. By continuing on in faith, it doesn't mean we expect God to bend to our will, but more that we bend to His. Perhaps, maybe, through all of this, he is just making us who he wants us to be. And that is enough. 

We are looking for a few people to join us in prayer for these next few months - from now until mid-January, which is when we expect to need to make a decision about our future here in Tanzania. If you're willing to commit to pray for us and with us, will you email us at thedriesengafamily@gmail.com and let us know? We will send out prayer updates weekly (ish) to keep this specific group of prayer warriors up to date on what's going on. 

We also realize that our situation and story is not unique. You might be going through something yourself, where you feel worn down and weary. Maybe you also need the message today that God is able. Maybe you also need to be reminded to reach out to your community for prayers and support, as we are trying to here. Maybe you feel uncertain about where God is leading you in your future and need to know you're not alone. Maybe you're feeling like one of the disciples, full of fear and little faith and need to be reminded that 'even the wind and the sea obey him'. Maybe you need that reminder of the power of God today. Whatever your circumstances, may God's grace and power be evident in your life and may you trust that HE IS ABLE. Let us know if we can pray for you. 

If you feel led to give, please visit the tab above "GIVING" or click HERE to be instantly directed to Christian Reformed World Missions website. 

A bit quiet - let's catch up!

It's been months since we've posted anything here. We've been to the States and back again and experience so much in the last several months that it would be impossible to play catch up. So, instead, I'll start with where things are at now.

We're 4 weeks into the school year and 5 weeks into our 3rd year of being here in Tanzania. In some ways we've settled back into 'normal life' easily, although that looks a little different than it has in the past. 

Marc is teaching grades 9 - 12 this year as opposed to both middle and high school. This helps to lighten what was a heavy load, and also frees him for more intentional time with students outside of class.  Isaac is in grade 2 and has joined the primary swim team. He has practice three days a week after school. I've started to give him piano lessons as we were able to get a keyboard from friends who left at the end of last year.  Hope has started preschool again (2 days a week) and just celebrated her 5th birthday. Geneva is now potty trained and joins me for our weekly adventures of driving people places, worship team rehearsals, swahili class, leading assemblies, going to the market and prayer meetings. 

Our roles at church are different as we've come back. For various reasons, we are slowly phasing out of some of our leadership positions within the church. Marc is no longer doing all the tech/design stuff nor on the leadership team. Instead of leading worship every week, I am now in rotation every other. We are still helping with our life group. One of the things we recognized while being 'home' this summer was that our family time was beginning to suffer under the load of our church and school commitments. We may have a 'large capacity' for ministry, but we sometimes find ourselves saying YES to too much and it not being sustainable or healthy for our family in the long run. When we left for the States, we were there. Between that, some theological differences and the need for more Tanzanian leaders to step into leadership roles at the church, we are phasing out of some of our roles. Its not easy, as we love our Pastor and his family and we love our church! We've had some difficult conversations over the past few weeks, but we are at peace about the changes being made and continue to support God's Tribe and pray for the church, here and worldwide, to grow! 

The other challenge we have faced since returning is the recognition that despite our amazing supporters and our various church and small group presentations this summer, our funding is still low. The past two years have been difficult in regards to fundraising, and we've actual incurred a bit of debt just to stay here as some months we had only enough money to cover rent. We don't believe that's God's plan for us, to go into more (any, really!) debt, and we've come to feel that if we are not fully funded by the end of December, we may need to leave Tanzania at the end of this school year.  Our school will need to know in January if we are coming back or if they need to begin recruiting another Bible teacher, thus the timeline. We're trying to be open to the Lord's leading for our family. Would you please pray for the Lord to make his will clear to us as we contemplate and pray about our future? We would love to see huge breakthrough in the area of our finances and be able to testify to God's provision. We want to stay! We also want to follow Jesus if he's showing us a need for us to return to the States, whether for a year to fundraise and then return or for good.  We get that we don't see the big picture. This is just another way we are daily learning to rely on ourselves and our own abilities less and on Him more. We can't just go out and get a part time job delivering pizzas or something to help our own financial state - we're not in control! Please pray for clear direction and for patience as we wait. Our latest Prayer Letter will be going out later today which lays this out a bit as well.

So those are the big things going on with us. We feel at home here and are enjoying getting to know some of the new faces around the HOPAC and missionary community. 

Living Out Our Sending

On New Years Eve, we had a few friends over to celebrate the coming of a new year with us. Throughout our evening of food, games and conversation, we joked about collaborating together to write a book about our years as "fake" missionaries here in Tanzania. We talked about chapter titles, such as "Arguments that no longer work on the mission field" (i.e. 'at least I'm bringing home the bacon') or "A Survival Story: 15 hours without power" (we complain about it, but only around 20% of Tanzania has electricity to start with).

We joke about it, because we think it and feel it. Not because it's true, but because the term 'missionary' has held such a narrow definition and we do not fit in it. We've felt it as we've spent time with "real" missionaries living in the bush and realize the luxeries and conviences we take for granted by living in a city. We've felt it from some who don't support us because we're "fake" missionaries.We've felt it when we post pictures of our lives here and people make comments about being surprised by how nice our house is (which it is!), or how it must be like vacation because we're close to the ocean and get to visit it frequently. We are "fake" missionaries in some peoples eyes...even our own sometimes.

Where does our definition of "missionary" come from? 

Ponder this for a few moments. What images or stories immediately come to your mind? What causes those specifically to come to mind? Who or what has shaped your idea of what being a "Missionary" means or should look like?

As a child, I remember hearing an older single woman come to speak at our church. She was a missionary, though I cannot remember where. She had on an ugly, outdated ankle-length skirt, had a short and non-flattering haircut, no make-up and seemed to be someone I could not, nor would not want to relate to - at least according to my pre-teen, totally hip and stylish self. In my young, concrete-thinking mind, I judged her as out of touch and well, dorky.

But she - SHE - was a "real" missionary.

And then I grew and read stories of "real" missionaries - stories of people leaving their family and country - not just for a 2 year stint on the field, but for LIFE. Servants of God who packed in their coffins with the expectation that they would die on the field. Followers of Jesus like David Livingstone, William Carey, Hudson Taylor, and Amy Carmichael. I took missions courses at Calvin Seminary and was inspired by the real-life sacrifice and devotion of those we studied. I went to a missions oriented dinner-theater that introduced the story of Jim Elliot and Nate Saint to me. These were the "real" missionionaries.

Then there is us. The "fake" missionaries.

We work at an international Christian school. It's made up of missionary kids, expat kids and local Tanzanian kids who have the money to attend a private school. There are scholorships and some families are truly sacrificing in order to send their kids to HOPAC, but many have the money to do so.

We attend a church plant which meets at a theater in the local mall. Our church is incredibley diverse with a large Tanzanian population but also a large expatriate population coming from the USA, Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, Denmark and I'm sure I'm missing others. Our church reaches out into the community but also helps those in our family with micro loans, school fees, etc., which I love, however, many in the church are well educated and are able to make ends meet.

We have a car, running water (most of the time) and electricity (most days), we have a wall around our home with an electric fence, and as the team from Christian High recenetly noticed, we even have 'fancy' ceilings in our house. We visit an orphanage periodically, interact in our community when we can, but almost all of our time and ministry is currently spent with educated, working Tanzanians or other missionaries/expats.

Where does our definition of "missionary" come from? Where should it come from?

Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." —John 20:21

Oswald Chambers says in the classic devotional, My Utmost For His Highest, "A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus."

 

Some have been sent by Jesus Christ to serve the poorest of the poor in the world.                          They are missionaries.
Real missionaries.


Some have been sent by Jesus Christ to serve the educated, future leaders in the world.
They are missionaries.
Real missionaries.

Some have been sent by Jesus Christ to stay where they are to faithfully and obediently serve.
They are missionaries.
Real missionaries.

Strip away the images of mud huts, language lessons, selling all that you have, medical clinics, swollen bellies, fundraising, rice fields, dirt floors, school buildings, church plants, village life, city life, orphanages...being a 'real' missionary isn't about these things - it's about one simple question:

Are we living out our sending?

Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." —John 20:21

 It's really all about being obedient to Jesus' call, isn't it? That's what qualifies you as a "real" missionary - being obedient to the sending of Jesus Christ.

We have felt and continue to feel that God has lead and sent us to teach at HOPAC here in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. While we continue to learn what living out this sending looks like, we are confident that God has sent us to be missionaries, REAL missionaries, here in Tanzania. And He has sent you too, wherever that may be.

Jesus said to them again, "…As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." —John 20:21

 

 

7 months in

We've officially lived in Tanzania for 7 months. Thought I would celebrate the occasion with a few lists of '7' for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

7  LOVES:
1. The amazing community we have through HOPAC and God's Tribe
2. Living so close to the ocean
3. Learning a new culture and language
4. Marc and I being able to work & minister together
5. A simpler life and pace of life
6. Fresh, non processed foods, delicious fruit/veg in season
7. Diversity within our community

7 CHALLENGES:
1. The heat
2. Cooking truly from scratch - it takes so much time and energy!
3. Learning a new culture and language
4. Bugs - in the house, in the food, on the dogs, on my kids...
5. Traffic
6. Not knowing how to respond to the poverty & injustice around us
7. Not having family nearby to watch the kids! 

7  THINGS I MISS:
1. Convienence foods/snacks
2. Carpet
3. The amazing family & community we left behind
4. Fall
5. Target/Meijer/D&W (espeically ones with a Starbucks inside!)
6. Andrea's pizza
7. Getting a paycheck & not depending on others generousity for your livelihood

7 THINGS I DO NOT MISS:
1. Snow
2. TV
3. Pressure to be trendy/keep up with the Jones'
4. Working. I still love being a part of ministry, but enjoy not having any obligations!
5. Hosting international students. It was good while it lasted, but great to be just our family for now.
6. Snow. Did I mention that already?
7. Marc working an hour away!

7 THINGS I'VE LEARNED
1. We are meant to be here.
2. I need to learn how to slow down and wait more.
3. God is working on my pride. It's not fun.
4. My kids are more flexible and insightful than I realized.
5. Language learning is both an amazing joy and huge frustation at the same time.
6. Greetings are VERY important here! My kids are learning to respect their elders much more.
7. Most things are just as expensive here, if not MORE expensive.

7 THINGS I FEAR:
1. Something happening to someone I love back home & not being there right away.
2. Being hit or hitting someone/something while driving
3. Not raising enough money for us to continue ministering here
4. Our supporters not seeing the 'fuit' of their giving through our lives and ministry here.
5. The long-term outcome of our kids growing up in a 3rd culture - will they resent us? not fit in whenever we move back?
6. Something happening to one of us & not haivng proper medical care close enough
7. Changing so much that relationships back home are no longer the same

7 QUESTIONS I HAVE:
1. How long will God call us here? 5 years? 10 years? 15? More? Less?
2. How long until I can converse in Swahili?
3. Who will visit us while we're living here?
4. How can God use us in our supporting churches? What does that look like?
5. Will we adopt?
6. What is God's big picture of us being here? Where do I fit in that?
7. Will my kids be fluent in Swahili one day?

7 WAYS TO PRAY FOR US:
1. For language learning
2. For support raising - we have about $14,000 more to go before we're fully funded this year!
3. Marc's role as a Bible teacher and leader in our church
4. My role as worship leader at our church - it's VERY stretching!
5. Ability to say NO, even to good things, when they aren't what God is asking of us at the time.
6. The kids health
7. Safety and protection against the schemes of the enemy

What do we actually DO each week?

I've had a few people ask what our weeks really look like here, so I thought I'd give you a rundown. It might be kind of boring, but will likely give you a feeling of what 'normal' life is here!

Monday:

Marc's weeks are a bit more regular than mine are at this point. He is teaching Bible to grades 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12, plus spending his free time with students around campus building relationships. This is why we came and our biggest ministry avenue right now.

My biggest " job" right now, besides the girls, is learning language and culture. I spend about 9-10 hours a week in actual 'lessons' and then time outside of that watching recordings to refresh my memory. My hope is that putting in all this time now will open up doors for ministry in the future. It's a bit hard to tell people about Jesus when you don't speak the language!

So, into our week...

Drop off Marc and Isaac at school around 7/7:15am. I head to Swahili lessons with the girls from 7:30am - 11:00am.
 Leave the girls with a friend & go to HOPAC to teach Grade 8 Bible at 11:20am

Go pick up the girls & hang out a bit with my friend before heading back to school.

After school (2:15pm), Marc coaches basketball and I coach swimming, so another wonderful staff member watches our kids. We head home just after 4pm and have the neighborhood kids over from about 4:45pm - 5:45pm.

Dinner, baths, reading, prayer and Bible time, bed. Most adults here go to bed between 9 & 9:30pm. I'm still working on being in bed by 11pm, but see the value in an earlier bedtime...this heat really is extra draining!

Tuesday:

Marc has a mens prayer meeting at 5:30am with other guys from our church. He comes home around 7 and we load up to head to school.

Head to Swahili lessons.. Tuesdays lessons are a bit further drive, so we usually don't get done until noon. Then we sometimes stop by the mall if there is anything we need from one of the bigger grocery stores rather than the road side 'dukas' that don't carry everything.

Pick up Marc and Isaac around 2:15pm and head home. Tuesdays are the only day of the week we do not have after school activities. That being said, I have bible study at 4pm and get home around 6:30pm.

Dinner, baths, reading, prayer and Bible time, bed.

Wednesday:

Wednesdays are my day at home. I let Marc take the car in the morning and we have Swahili lessons at my house, so I don't have to pack up the girls and go anywhere, which is nice. We alternate homes the 3 days a week we do Swahili between the 3 of us that have kids at home yet.

We usually wrap up around 11:30am on Wednesdays and I'm home the rest of the day. I typically get worship music together and send out the email for our worship team on Wednesdays. I try to get some guitar practice in as well - I need as much practice as I can get!! Marc has a staff meeting after school and then has bball practice after that, so he doesn't get home until almost 6pm. We quick eat dinner and he's out the door again to a leadership team meeting for church (kind of like elders) until 9:30 or 10pm.

Thursday:

Drop off Marc and Isaac then head home for the morning., I teach Grade 8 Bible again at 12:00pm, so have to do any last minute prep for that. On Thursdays I've been leaving the girls home with our 'dada'. Dada means sister, and it's what we call our houseworker, Elnert.

I come home after teaching and depending on the girls naps, either go pick up Marc and Isaac or have them take a bjaji home after Marc coaches bball.

Thursday nights I have worship rehearsal. I usually leave around 6:30pm and get home around 9:30pm. Marc handles dinner clean up, baths, bedtime by himself.

Friday:

Drop off Marc & Isaac then either run home for about an hour, play on the school playground for an hour or find an errand to do. Our church has a women's prayer group at 9am on Friday, and we always meet close to school. We catch up for a bit, spend a lot of time in prayer and worship and have a few snacks together. From there, I've typically been running some errands - going to the grocery store or whatnot. After school I have swim practice again. After swim practice, the school pool is open for swimming, so we periodically bring all the kids stuff and the whole family swims for about an hour. We usually have the pool to ourselves or maybe one other family. It's great!

Friday nights vary. Some nights we just come home and lay low. Some nights we meet have friends over for games or movies. Every once in a while we might go out to a 'restaurant' called Vernas. She and her husband are from South Africa, but make mexican food & serve it out of their home. :)

Saturday:

Saturdays are different each week. Some weeks we visit the orphanage that our church is partnering with. Some weeks we have leadership training through our church. Some weeks we have nothing and stay at home. Some weeks we head to the ocean and pay $6 for our family to sit poolside at the local resort. Some weeks we invite other people from our church over for a meal to get to know them. As we get to know more people and as Marc gets more involved with the leadership of the church, Saturday afternoons or evenings might become a prime time for discipleship groups to happen. We'll see!

Sunday:

We get to church by 8:30am. I am currently the worship leader, so we get there early to practice for the morning. Marc heads up the greeting team, so he hangs out by the entrance to welcome people as they get there. We are so grateful that a few other families are there early & their kids usually keep an eye on our kids. During church, I am obviously up leading worship and Marc has the responsibility of passing out welcome cards to the visitors, and we both take up the offering. After church we typically head home, though sometimes we visit the local 'fast food' which is anything but fast, but it's good and cheap food when  we don't have the energy to spend an hour cooking when we get home. Sunday afternoons we all rest and usually most of us actually sleep for a bit. It's amazing how much we really need the rest. The added stress and heat of living in Dar certainly takes it's toll on us and we're all exhausted by the time Friday rolls around. Having not many plans on the weekends is such a blessing! Marc did just start meeting up with some others on Sunday nights for Ultimate Frisbee as well, which is a  fun physical and social outlet. I stay home with the girls and Isaac usually goes along and plays with friends.

So there you have it, if you've stuck with me for the whole thing! :)

Life is similar in so many ways to what it was before and completely different at the same time. Feel free to ask questions about anything we're involved in right now! We'd love to answer questions!

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

 We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving day with MANY friends here in TZ. We joined over 40 others in the afternoon for a delicious meal with all the fixin's! I brought a corn bake/casserole and 2 whole chickens. A turkey here costs about 114,000tsh, which equals about $71. And for 40+ people, you'd need more than one. And we're missionaries. SOOOO, we brought chicken instead. Though, our hosts for the day did make a turkey breast that many did enjoy!

Thanksgiving number 1!





 We zipped home to put a casserole in the oven & then headed to Thanksgiving #2 with some other dear friends. We brought a sweet potato casserole, rolls and a apple/cranberry sauce crumble. The crumble was not my favorite, but the sweet potato casserole was great! I was a little nervous making it with white sweet potatoes, but it went over well. I'll likely put it into regular rotation of my meal planning.

Geneva rarely makes it through a day in clothes. She's just so sticky and gets so dirty!



The kids rush to the freezer to get a frozen juice for dessert. Because yes, it is that hot.



Thanksgiving with the ocean in the background. Can't say we've ever experienced that before!

Marc's 'no shave november' stache & Geneva munching on a roll.

Thanksgiving outside.

delicious!

 

 

So thankful for the community here to celebrate with, even through we certainly missed family back home!

Devestation

So I don't have a photo for this update, but a simple story to share.

Last week, after I helped the KG class during their swim lesson, I was waiting on campus for another service opportunity. I grabbed a quick lunch at the snack bar & then claimed a bench overlooking the playground, but far enough away to not get distracted by the kids on their lunch break. I hauled out my Bible study on James and read about 3 sentences when a cute little girl came & sat on the bench. She had a paper & pen with her and began writing a few words. I asked what she was doing & she told me writing a poem about what kids do on break at HOPAC. She finished writing & asked if I would read it. It was a cute little poem and I affirmed her creativity.

She started writing again. She wrote & wrote. She finally looked up and told me she was writing another poem. I asked what this one was about, assuming another playground poem, a tribute to her teacher, or a cute rhyme about her best friend. No. This one was titled, "Devastation". She told me it was about how people feel when they don't have any friends.

Immediately my heart became heavy.

I asked her if that was how she felt sometimes, "Yes."

We ended up talking for about 10 minutes on that bench, overlooking all the other kids playing. She elaborated on her friendship issues and her loneliness. I asked her if she knew Jesus. She told me that she did. I reminded her that Jesus was her forever friend, that he would never leave her and would always be close to her. I told her that in those times of loneliness and devastation, she could always talk to Him and that he LOVED her. I told her that HE had given her the gifts of creativity - writing poems and songs and loved to see his daughter using the gifts he had given her. She was looking down at her paper as I talked. She looked up and said, "I'm also brave. I'm going to read my poem to my class". We talked for a minute or so more before she got up to go show her teacher her poems. Before she walked away, she looked at me and quietly said, "Thank you."

I've seen this little one a few times on campus now. She gets excited, waves & says hello to me. She did show her teacher, though I'm not sure if she's read anything in class. I'm not sure what her story is, but I think God had our paths cross to hopefully encourage her, first and foremost, but also to encourage me that my time of ministry is not over. Going from 11 years of youth ministry to, well, I don't really know...missionary...stay at home mom...volunteer...fundraiser...has not been an easy transition for me. I'm missing a sense of purpose here. It's not as clearly defined as it has been in the past. I'm still searching for where and how God wants to use me here. Until that time, He is gently reminding me to be open to his leading and obedient to his will. I am so thankful for this little moment - this gift.

Would you take a minute and say a prayer for this sweet little girl?

NOVEMBER PRAYER LETTER

November Photo Challenge - Safety

Living here in Tanzania, we are the minority. This could be another post altogether & someday, maybe it will be. Today, however, I just want to focus on the issue of safety.

While there have not been any moments where we have felt threatened or in danger, we do have to be precautionary as we live and minister here. Most of the threats and dangers of living here are everywhere else in the world as well, but because we are white, we have a bit more of a target on our back. The stereotype of white = affluent is actually mostly true, so it's no wonder we are looked at as having so much!

Two families who came around the same time as us have been affected more directly than we have in regards to safety. One family, a mere four days after purchasing a vehicle, had it vandalized in their driveway during the night - parts stolen, window broken. Their water pump to their house was also stolen.  Another friend was walking to Bible study when a car pulled up next to her, pushed her down & tried to steal her belongings.

So, while we don't live in fear, we try to be smart.

We have bars on all of our windows

 

We have locks AND extra bolts on our doors. When we go to sleep at night, we actually lock most rooms off. We have a door that divides the living spaces from the bedrooms that we lock and bolt each night. We also have a security system.

 

We have a gate and our home/compound is surrounded by a wall with broken glass at the top of it. We have security lights on the house and wall that we leave on all night as well.

 

Minnie

Along with that, we have guard dogs, Frodo, Precious & Minnie. Minnie may be small, but can that little one bark!


Precious

Frodo













As we have mentioned before, we are so, so grateful to have moved into a furnished house where the family is letting us use all of their belongings.  They are moving back to Dar this summer, so we will start purchasing our own household items soon. We also got two puppies a few weeks ago, as the dogs above are only on loan. :)



Puppy #2

Puppy #1

So these two cuties are our own dogs, that we hope will be big and ferocious enough come summer to really be our guard dogs. They are half German shepherd, and half Rhodesian ridgeback - they should be pretty big. They are still nameless - feel free to comment with your suggestions!




While these precautions are not fail proof - walls can be climbed over, dogs can be poisoned, bars can be cut - we hope that they give second thoughts to anyone wondering what might be inside our walls. We do always appreciate prayers for protection, and we trust God's sovereign will for what he has for us while living here.