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! 

Lost & Found: My identity as His Beloved

I bet I have at least 20 different messages/lessons on the topic of Christian identity hidden away in my files from my years of being a youth director. It's a topic I covered every single year with my middle and high school students - and not just with one lesson, but several, sometimes an entire month. Adolescents are asking the big questions of 'Who am I?' 'Where do I belong' and 'Do I matter'. It is a season of life many of us have no desire to revisit. We know how difficult it is to be searching for answers to these questions in a world that can be harsh, unforgiving and unrelenting. I longed for my students to have a Biblical framework in which they could start making sense of these things, as well as a safe place to explore their beliefs, doubts, gifts, passions, failures and faith.

When we moved here in July of 2013, I was 33 years old. I was certainly not an adolescent but slightly on the young side to be having a mid-life crisis, but in a sense, that's how I felt. I had gone from full time church ministry to missionary. It might not seem like that big of a switch. Except it was.

From the age of 21, when I graduated college, I had been involved in full time ministry. I participated in Mission year straight out of college in Oakland, California. From there, I took my first youth ministry job which I was at for five years. I then moved to my second church as the youth pastor for another six years. Student ministry in the context of a church had been my entire post-college, professional life so far.

I went from being a well-known and respected leader in the church to a newbie missionary who had no idea what culture and language I had just entered into. I went from having regular child care lined up so that I could work to not feeling comfortable leaving my kids with anyone for months and months. I went from having long-term relationships with students who called me 'Mama-G', 'G-money', 'mom' and friend to students calling me Mrs. Driesenga. I went from being in charge of planning and leading weekly youth group, teaching, preparing lessons, Sunday school, retreats, trips, bible studies and more to not really having anything regular on my weekly schedule (at least at first!). I went from feeling fulfilled and satisfied as I was able to use my gifts to questioning what my gifts were and how I could use them in this new context. I went from a regular salary and benefits to lousy benefits, self-employment taxes and a 'salary' I had to raise (which wasn't going all to well).  I went from a strong community and network of friends, family and co-leaders to a missionary/expat community that, to be honest, can be a bit challenging to break into as a newbie. I went from feeling confident that God was using me to questioning why I was even here in Tanzania.

You can see where this is going, right? I found my self, at age 33, asking the classic adolescent questions of 'Who am I?','Where do I belong?' and 'Do I matter?'.

Throughout my years of ministry, my identity had slowly became enmeshed with my work. I was Gretchen, The Youth Pastor. Coming to Tanzania without that identity caused me to panic slightly. Our first year here, I frantically tried to find places to plug in - I had 40+ kids come play in our yard every week, I taught 8th grade Bible for a term, I co-coached primary swimming for the year, I started taking Swahili classes, I joined the worship team & ended up a worship leader, I joined a Bible Study, I went to a weekly prayer meeting...looking back I see that I was desperately trying to 'do' something, because in that, I thought I would find my identity. There was the added layer of complexity that now we were raising our funds, so I felt a pressure to produce something tangible that was worthy of the financial sacrifices of my friends and family.

In the midst of feeling fragile, lost and frustrated, God graciously revealed His stunning truth to me once more: I didn't need to 'do' anything to be his beloved, I simply was. He gently reminded me of His great love and His unending grace, which I am still trying to comprehend and wholeheartedly believe.

Before entering into our second year in Tanzania, I felt very strongly that God was asking me to limit myself to three things: family, worship and Swahili. I vowed to say 'no' to anything that didn't fall into one of those categories. I was asked to things that year that were good, yet I said no. It was challenging. I feared letting people down, or not proving my worth to supporters. I wondered if people would understand. The Lord patiently used that time to untangle my mess of an identity and draw me closer to Him. In saying 'no' to doing a lot of things, I was saying 'yes' to just being.

I'm still learning what it means to be a beloved child of God. I struggle yet with fully living in God's grace for me. There are days when I just don't buy it, days where I find myself foolishly trying to earn points with God because I fear my depravity is too much. There are other days when my pride gets in the way and I waver into thinking I've somehow earned my "beloved" status because of my "good works". As the Heidelberg Catechism so articulately states, however, "even our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin." (Q&A 62 - see below)

There are a lot of labels I can and do wear on a daily basis: wife, mom, worship leader, student, missionary, fund-raiser, friend, daughter...but my true identity, the thing that defines me above anything else is this: I am Beloved By God. I might be a slow learner and need constant reminders of this fact, but I follow a Savior who is incredibly patient with me as He shapes me more into His likeness.

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God!
And that is what we are!"
1 John 3:1

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -
it is by grace you have been saved.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him
in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
in order that in the coming ages he might show
the incomparable riches of his grace,
expressed in his kindness to use in Christ Jesus.
For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith - and this is not from yourselves,
is it the gift of God -
not by works,
so that no one can boast.
For we are God's handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 2:4-10

Heidelberg Catechism Question & Answer 62 & 63

62.	Q.	But why can our good works not be our righteousness before God, or at least a part of it?
	A.	Because the righteousness which can stand before God's judgment must be absolutely perfect and in complete agreement with the law of God, 1 whereas even our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin. 2
		1.Deut 27:26; Gal 3:10. 2.Is 64:6.

63.	Q.	But do our good works earn nothing, even though God promises to reward them in this life and the next? 1
	A.	This reward is not earned; it is a gift of grace. 2
		1.Mt 5:12; Heb 11:6. 2.Lk 17:10; 2 Tim 4:7, 8.

"He's asking us, 

'Will you take what you think defines you, 

leave it behind, 

and let Me define who you are instead?'

The cool thing about taking Jesus up on His offer is that whatever controls you doesn't anymore. People who used to be obsessed about becoming famous no longer care whether anybody knows their name. People who used to want power are willing to serve. People who used to chase money freely give it away. People who used to beg others for acceptance are now strong enough to give love. 

When we get our security from Christ, we no longer have to look for it in the world, and that's a pretty good trade." 

- Bob Goff, Love Does

Things I miss & Things I don't

Yesterday marked 3 years since our family first arrived in Tanzania.  I intended to write a blog about 3 big things I've learned these last 3 years. What did I do instead? Looked through almost 3 years of pictures from facebook with Hope (who was up very late!) We relived our move here, our first few months of everything being new, new friends, remembered old neighbors and commented on how things have changed and people have grown. It was actually a really fun hour or so, but alas, no blog post. And I sit here now, having had a busy day of Swahili, laundry and packing for a 2 night getaway and have no real energy to put into a "things I've learned" type of post. Instead, how about things I miss & don't miss about living in the US? That'll have to do for now. 

Things I miss about living in the US, in no particular order:

Family and friends top the list by a long shot, of course. 

•       neighborhoods with sidewalks, streetlights and parks
•       having daylight past 6:30pm
•      consistent internet, electricity and water
•       accessibility to things - if I need new guitar picks, I know 5 options of where I can get them in the US...not the same here. 
•       fall and everything that goes with it
•       berries
•       highways & the ease of travel
•       free or inexpensive things to do with the kids -parks, fishing, hiking, walks, lakes, availability    of rec league sports, lessons of various types (ballet, etc)
•    liturgy in church 
•    good health insurance and access to top doctors and health care
•    thrift stores & garage sales 
•    the children's museum and the meijer gardens
•    a sense (though often false) of security - not always feeling stressed when driving or out at        night, or wondering about your home security, etc. 
•   camping 
•   PBS
•   Tiger's baseball 
•   certain restaurants & good pizza 
•   Ice cream/frozen yogurt 

Things I do not miss about living in the US, in no particular order: 

• advertising and commercials 
• kids sports being god in the lives of some (many?) families
• processed food being cheap and whole foods being expensive
• the temptation to consume, consume, consume
• fast food
• the hurried pace of life - everyone always being "crazy busy"
• pressure to have the latest, the best, the biggest, the most, etc 
• politics
• winter & snow (the kids would without a doubt disagree with this one!)

What about you? If you moved away from where you currently live, what do you think you would miss? Anything you'd be glad to leave behind? 

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

Western Michigan Christian trip to Tanzania - 2016

We just got done hosting a team from Western Michigan Christian High School. They're actually probably in the air somewhere, arriving home to the USA in a few hours. I thought I'd share what our schedule looked like while they were here. We kept them very busy, but wanted to fit in as much as possible during their trip. 

We have another group coming in 3 weeks time! They will have a different schedule than below, but some of the elements will be the same. 

Saturday, May 14

9:05pm                             Arrive Dar Es Salaam

                                             Orientation - cultural rules, expectations (if not too tired)

                                            

Sunday, May 15

7:30am                             Rise & Shine, Breakfast

8:15am                             Leave for Church - help set up for church

9:30am                             Worship at God's Tribe Church

11:30am                          Help pack up church

12:30pm                          Lunch & pack 

2:30pm                             Leave for Mikumi  (dinner at Tan-Swiss)

Monday, May 16

6:00am                             Breakfast

6:30am                             SAFARI – Mikumi National Park

3:30pm                             Leave for Dar

                                            

 Tuesday, May 17

7:00am                             Breakfast

8:00am                             Mbezi Chapel Preschool - teach lesson, craft, game, songs

10:30am                          Nuru Center - working with adults with disabilities

2:15pm                             Karama - learn about Gretchen's position with Karama

3:30pm                             Sala Sala kids club - help with the volunteers who lead this club

6:30pm                             Dinner & Debrief                       

Wednesday, May 18

7:00am                             Rise & Shine, Breakfast

8:00am                             Mbezi Chapel Preschool - teach lesson, craft, game, songs

10:00am                          Visit some Karama artisans: Mabinti, Africraft, Nzito

6:00pm                             Dinner at home

7:00pm                             Life Group - our church small group 

Thursday, May 19

7:45am                             Primary Assembly

8:10am                             Mbezi Chapel Preschool - teach lesson, craft, game, songs

10:30am                          Wamama Kahawa - learn about this small business

11:30pm                          Lunch @ HOPAC Snack Bar

12:00pm                          Grade 2 - plan teacher party

12:30pm                          Go through donations for the orphange

1:15pm                             Assist a service Learning class at HOPAC

2:30pm                             Fish Market 

5:00pm                             Home to change

6:30pm                             Dinner at Addis in Dar

Friday, May 20

9:00am                             Leave for city center : Hindu Temple visits

1:00pm                             Lunch on Kisutu street

2:00pm                             Textiles market/Sokoni/purchase ferry tickets                  

6:30pm                             Dinner  

Saturday, May 21

7:15am                             Rise & Shine, breakfast

8:15am                             Meet at HOPAC, head to Green Pastures Orphanage

12:30pm                          Lunch

3:45pm                             Ferry departs for Zanzibar

Sunday, May 22

8:00am                             English worship @ Christ Church Cathedral

                                            Zanzibar tour: stone town, slavery memorial sites, etc

3:45pm                             Ferry departs for Dar              

6:00pm                             Arrive in Dar - home for dinner

Monday, May 23

8:00am                             Pack 

10:00am                           Kunduchi Beach   

3:15pm                             Home to shower & finish packing

5:00pm                             Early Dinner

5:30pm                             Leave for airport

10:20pm                          Depart Dar es Salaam 

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!

December Prayer Letter

We would love it if you would take a few minutes to read through our

DECEMBER PRAYER LETTER!

Here's a little quiz to read through - keep these questions in mind when you read the update, then come back here and see how many questions you can answer when you're done! 

1. What is the name of the new President of Tanzania? 

2. Do we have all the support we need to stay for 2016 - 2017? 

3. What sport is Marc going to be coaching? 

4. Is Gretchen fluent in Swahili yet? 

5. Why do we have 6 stockings hung this year? 

6. Who made our stockings? 

7. What sport did Isaac do this past term? 

8. How many people came over for Thanksgiving? 

9. How can you be praying for Marc? 

10. What will be new for Hope & Geneva starting this month? 

So, how'd you do?

Thanks for taking the time to read through our Prayer letter!

"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. 

USA visit!

We are crossing off days on the calendar until we are back in the USA for a visit! We've added a calendar (look to the right) here on the blog to update you all of our comings & goings over the next few months.

In addition to our church visits, we would love to have some 'small group nights' in different peoples homes. Our hope is to have a more intimate time with smaller groups of friends/supporters and enjoy the personal interaction in someones home as well. While we would love to spend time with all our friends and supporters individually, we realize it might not be realistic. We hope to have one in Chicago, one in Muskegon and several in the Grand Rapids area.

Would YOU be willing to host a small group of friends at your home?

You would pick at date/time and help provide some food. We would get the word out and jointly we could invite people who might naturally fall into your 'sphere' of our community. We would share about life & ministry for however long people are interested, including pictures, sharing stories, maybe a video and answering questions while enjoying snacks, etc. To be upfront, this would include a brief update on our current financial needs and asking people to consider partnering with us. We would NOT make that the bulk of the presentation and it would certainly not feel like a sales pitch, but raising support is essential to us continuing here. We would also have a table of items from Tanzania that people could purchase to help our fundraising. Finally, we would want time to just hang out and catch up with people and share life!
 

What do you think? Would you be willing to host a brunch/tea/dinner/dessert night in your home?  We would love to start setting up some dates and talking through it a bit more. Feel free to email us at thedriesengafamily@gmail.com if you'd like to chat more about it!

 

What do carpet, street lights & garage sales have in common?

Besides the obvious joy of seeing family and friends this summer in the USA, here are some things I'm looking forward to, in no particular order:

* carpet
* camping
* meijer
* paved roads
* street lights
* orderly traffic
* not living behind a wall
* cooler temps
* as many chocolate chips, black beans and parmesan cheese as I want!
* salads
* fast internet
* garage sales
* parks
* places to take the kids: meijer gardens, zoo, children's museum, skyzone, etc
* farmers market
* going for walks
* ice cream shops
* drinking water out of the tap
* consistent electricity and water
* being light out past 6:30pm
* Wolfgangs (and a whole list of other restaurants...)

Marc agrees with my list, but wanted to add:
* Brewery vivant

Isaac's additions:
* McDonalds
* going to football (soccer) camp
* spending time with family
* having playdates at other people's houses
* going to Legoland (date with auntie Ker)

Hope's additions:
* going ice skating (a date with Auntie Ker)
* going to get ice cream

Geneva's additions:
* children's museum (date with Auntie Ker)
* playing

Grace like Rain

"Halleluiah, grace like rain, falls down on me"

This line from the song "Grace Like Rain" was in my mind all day yesterday.

I woke yesterday morning and after looking at the sky thought, "Today is the day - it just HAS to rain today!" There were beautiful, rain-filled clouds in the sky and I just hoped they wouldn't pass us by. It's been hot and dry and the crops need a drink. While the rainy season can bring flooding and other problems with the inadequate infrastructure here, it also is essential to life and food and income!

We've been praying for the rains to come.

During our normal morning routine of the girls playing on the HOPAC playground, I heard Hope joyfully proclaim, "Mommmy! It's raining!" It was light and gentle and we held out our hands to enjoy it. It was a little foretaste of what was coming.

A few hours later we sat in the middle of an all-school assembly. As the speaker was walking to his seat after sharing God's word with us, it started to downpour! The whole school broke into cheers of celebration. It didn't last long, but it was glorious! About an hour later it rained again! 

Grand Rapids Christian High School Vision Trip

We have a few friends who teach at Christian High. Almost all of my former youth group students from my time at Plymouth Heights attend GRCHS. So naturally, we suggested a trip to come visit us during their two week "Winterim" term, hoping it would actually happen but thinking realistically it probably wouldn't.

Guess what? It DID happen and it was AMAZING!

The group that came to visit was fantastic. They had humble, grateful attitudes and were ready to learn. They asked insightful questions and were willing to let their ideas/thoughts/hearts be molded and changed. Even the first day, when they were completely wasted after travelling/being jet lagged with little sleep and dealing with the extreme weather change, they did not complain. They may have taken a few cat naps that day, but they pressed on and were obviously ready to embrace their week here.

First day tour of HOPAC on no sleep - they were troppers!

One of our many goals was to introduce these students to what "missions" actually looks like. It can be incredibly vague, and often we think "missions" is living in a mud hut in an African village with half-naked children running around. (See my LAST BLOG POST for more thoughts on this). So throughout the week, we had different missionaries come and share a meal with us and tell us about their call into missions and what they ACTUALLY do as a missionary. We also met with local pastors and friends who have incredible ministry happening here. We heard about church planting, training local pastors, village ministry, teaching, training programs for girls to learn sewing/business skills, Young Life Africa, coffee house buisiness providing jobs/income, midwifery/mother care, and more. It was amazing for me to even hear the stories of some of my friends and their experiences. It was inspirational.

Visiting the Hindu Temples (priest is in the middle of the pic)

One of the things we continued to talk about was both the beauty and the brokenness of what we saw and experienced. It was neat to see the students really grab hold of that. We wanted to make sure that they saw not only the broken things here in Tanzania, but the ways that God's beauty is all around us. Of course in the animals, the ocean, the palm trees, but also in the people, the ministry happening and the ways God is already powerfully at work.

I've previously posted our schedule (SEE HERE), so I won't go into all the details, but I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite moments with this group.

* A conversation on the bus from Mikumi National Park (safari site) back to Dar with a few of the students who were asking incredible questions about systemic poverty, following God's will, entitlement, materialism, faith.

* Being trapped in an open air banda because an elephant was too close to move out of it while we were on safari. He was interested in the trash can, which he tipped over and went through.

* Catching up with two of my former youth group students who came on the trip. Just amazing.


* Discussing spiritual warfare with a few students after hearing about the reality of these encounters by some of the missionaries here. They had doubts and questions, but listened and asked good questions.

* Having 12 people from Grand Rapids, Michigan in our home in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. They've been here! This really is incredible to have 12 more people who have seen and experienced a bit of life here.

* Seeing things through the eyes of people seeing it for the first time. Even after only being here 1 1/2 years, some things have become 'normal' - traffic, bumpy roads, the heat, etc.

* Hearing one of the students say, "I actually never really knew what it meant to be a missionary before, and now I'm starting to understand!"

One of our dear friends and Christian High teacher, Mark VanderWerf, wrote a reflection about his time here with the group:

Mark with Isaac (and a nice photobomb by Kendra!)

"Exploring God’s world, exploring God’s kingdom, and discovering God’s call. Those were our three goals for the Grand Rapids Christian High School Winterim trip to Tanzania…and what a success! Steve Tuit and I and 10 students were richly blessed by Gretchen and Marc’s leadership as they shared their firsthand experience of life in Tanzania. We experienced the rich beauty of Mbudya Island, the rich cultural and religious diversity of downtown Dar, and the stunning beauty of a safari. But more than that, our eyes were opened and our hearts stirred as we experienced some of the deep brokenness present in Dar: false religions, broken families, and systemic poverty. Through all of this, we were constantly reminded that God is at work in and through a whole range of people who have heard God’s call to serve – sometimes in radical ways and sometimes in subtle ways. This trip would not have been at all possible if were not for the amazing work of Gretchen and Marc Driesenga. Thank you guys for sharing your life and ministry with our students! Their lives are changed because of you. Asante sana!"

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