Group Visit: Monday

MONDAY
After a quick tour of HOPAC, Marc took the group to the city center for the day. We live about 30-45 minutes (in no traffic) from the heart of the city and do not get there often. It's crowded, full of businesses, buses, shops and markets. The purpose of the groups trip, however, was mainly to go into to the Hindu Temples and see the outsides of the Mosques.

Other World Religions are prominent here. We hear the Muslim calls to prayer 5 times a day. We see the different styles of dress all around us. We notice the lack of pork in many butcher shops. We dress more modestly as to not offend other culutres and religions. Marc has Hindu and Muslim students in his classes. We have several friends who have converted from Islam to Christianity. It's real.

We wanted to share with our visitors this reality of our friends/neighbors worshipping in temples or mosques and the heaviness and seriousness of what (and who) is truly at work. It's not something you would see often, if at all, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You would have to search out an experience like this, where in Dar it's a part of everyday life for so many. We wanted to share with them that it is not necessary to fear, but it IS necessary to pray. There are so many in our world who are lost and searching for Christ. While we all have idols in our lives that we put ahead of Christ, it's a different experience to walk into a Temple and see a god and witness people praying to it.




After visiting several Temples, the group ate some Indian food, met up with our church friend, Izzy and then ventured into the markeplaces to see textiles, spices, fruits, vegetables and anything else you can imagine. They had a long day and in true Dar fashion, got stuck in traffic on the way home.

While the group were downtown, I had the priviledge of subbing for Marc in his Grade 8 and Grade 9 classes.

We all arrived home and had a delicious Tanzanian meal of Pilau and Ndizi, prepared by Lucy.

Visiting "Temple Street"

This past week our dear friend, Kelly Buist, was here to visit us and see our work and ministry here in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Marc took Tuesday off so we could make the traffic-heavy trek into the city center. Our destination of "Temple Street", or Kisutu street, is lined on both sides with Hindu Temples. We were able to visit three of those temples last Tuesday.

Somberly we entered the first, removed our shoes and wandered up a short staircase in the almost empty space. As we moved from shrine to shrine, several people entered the temple and approached the different gods to pray. Trying to stifle the sobs I felt rising up in me, I had to look away from watching real and beautiful people pray to very fake and empty gods.

"You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything...You shall not bow down to them or worship them;" Exodus 20:1-5

As followers of Jesus, we are also "prone to wander" and "prone to leave the God I love" as the great hymn, "Come Thou Fount," recalls. We are all idol worshippers. We might not kneel in prayer to our gods but we certainly do in our hearts.

If we claim Christ as our Lord and Savior, we know that HE is the source of all life and salvation, not these other gods. This is the reason we are here: to share the gospel with those who do not know it. We long for people to know the promise of forgiveness, the hope of salvation and the assurance of our ultimate standing before God. 

^" Jesus answered, I 'am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" John 14:6

Visiting these temples was a cultural experience, to be sure, but it was also a personal one. Marc and I both have Hindu students in our classes who attend the various temples on temple street. We also both have students who have converted to Christianity, but still go to temple with their families and are struggling to live with the tension that creates.

Will you join us in praying for these students? Will you pray for us to be bold in speaking the truth yet sensitive to the complexity of each students situation? If you feel called to intercede on behalf of our students, will you send us a message and let us know? We would love to give you a specific student to pray for and also know who is praying for them throughout the remainder of this year.

Please send an email to: thedriesengafamily@gmail.com

Thank you for partnering with us in this important, kingdom-building work!

Marc & Gretchen

Gifts left for one of the gods

 

We met this young man in a temple. He asked if we would take pictures with him and his mom. He told us to come to temple every day to pray. Have to admire his boldness in evangelism!

 

She asked us to pray to the god for the picture. I said, "no, we'll just stand here, thanks." She insisted again. I insisted again as well. She still took a picture with us even though we wouldn't pray to the god.