"How exactly do you pray to God?"

"How exactly do you pray to God? I've been praying 5 times a day as a Muslim, but how do you actually pray to the real God?"

This was the question asked of me last week Saturday by a beautiful lady who had just a week or two prior, converted from Islam to Christianity.

A missionary here in Dar who works at HOPAC had befriended this lovely lady and had been praying for her for over a year. Recently, the conversation turned into a conversion. And then an invitation to attend our latest "Ladies Tea" that our church hosted.

Our church hosts a ladies tea every 3-4 months. It's a 3-4 hour long event where we get to leave the kids home and enjoy time with just ladies. We push for eveyone to invite a friend, especially if that friend might not feel comfortable coming to church. We hope that it's a safe place for ladies in all walks of life and faith to come and share in community.

This past Saturday, my friend Angie and I were in charge of the tea. When we began praying together about it, it was quite clear that God's Grace was to be the theme of the morning. Angie has such a heart for women, and a passion for sharing God's grace. I have been drawn to her since meeting her because she is a humble, faithful, passionate follower of Jesus who loves others deeply. I have already learned so much from her just by spending time with her, and her gifts have been a huge asset to the life of our church (and to me, personally!). It was clear that she had much to share with the ladies, so she graciously agreed to be our speaker.

 

2 Corinthians 12: 9 & 10

 ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

 

On Saturday we ate together and had time to welcome guests and chat for a bit. We then moved into a time or worship that I had the priviledge of leading. Angie then shared about the above passage and did a fantastic job. We broke into small groups to share with one another and also did an activity that really demonstrated God's grace. We were all given a rock. As we shared with one another what we found to be our areas of weakness, struggle, hardship or difficulties, we wrote them on the rock. We then went walked out to the ocean (the house we were at is right on the beach - it's lovely!) and spent a few minutes in prayer before throwing our rock into the ocean. Now, this was NOT an activity to 'throw away' your weaknesses, but Angie reminded us that God's grace and love are bigger than the ocean, and we were merely throwing our rock into God's immense grace, because it's big enough to cover our weaknesses. What a beautiful picture!

 

 

As I stood on the beach, this lovely woman, who had been in my small group, came up to me and asked the above question.

 

We talked about the freedom we can live in as followers and lovers of Jesus. She already knew about the Lord's Prayer, and I shared with her how Jesus wants a relationship with her, not just a prayer of obligation. It was a fantastic conversation, and it was clear her heart longed to know more.

 

After everyone wrapped up their groups, we headed inside where we did a small craft. We took journals and covered them with old scraps of fabric, making designs or simply covering them. The idea was that these old pieces of throw-away fabric could be turned into something beautiful and useful, much like God's power being made perfect in our weakness.

 

Towards the end of our time together, one woman commented, "I wish this was a whole weekend thing!". It's obvious there is a desire for women to connect and share life together, and it's an honor to be a part of how God is doing that work in our church.

 

Please say a prayer for this woman today, as she learns more and more what it means to follow Jesus and walk in His ways!

Group Visit: Tuesday

TUESDAY
Tuesday Marc went to work and Isaac to school. We had a bit of time in the morning for some coffee and then ventured over to the Nuru Center, which is a center for diabled folks - many of them deaf. Some of them live on sight, but others commute and just come during the day. They make craft items to sell as a source of income. A post will come someday when I know more about the true limits of those with diasbilities here in TZ.

We were able to hear a bit about the center, and then sit with the folks and work on craft items with them. It ranged from cutting strips of paper to make beads, making bead, sanding wood pieces and watching Geneva and another baby play. :) Despite one of the staff telling me (in sign language) that I've gained weight since he last saw me, we had a great time! Ha! He said I must like Chipati (similar to tortillas) a lot!

 

 

We stopped by HOPAC for a quick bite to eat at the snack bar and to pick up my dear friend, Trudie. She works at HOPAC as one of the Service Learning Coordinators, and her husband is our pastor, so she wears many, many important hats! She has connections in the community, and our group from WMC had collected books to bring to a school and an orphanage.

Trudie took us to Benaco school which is about a 10 - 15 minute drive from HOPAC. There is a group from our school that goes to this school to read to the students in English, so it was fitting that we were able to visit and bring little kids books in English for them to read!

After meeting with the principal of the school, Jake, Kyle and Selina all got to take turns reading a book to one of the classes. This school has over 1, 250 student and has 6 classrooms. There are 60+ kids per class with one teacher.

We returned home and got supplies ready for my neighbor kids to come over. The WMC group brought tons of craft supplies and a few simple games (Go Fish & Memory), so we had an extra special play time with the kids.

 

We ate an AMAZING Tanzanian soup, called Kande, made again by Lucy. She said it's a special soup they eat on Good Friday and she maybe has it 3 times a year. It's amazing. I'll write up her recipe in a future post.

Does all of this sound amazing? Are you temped to come for a visit yet?

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.

A group came to visit & you won't BELIEVE what they said when they left...

In true BUZZFEED fashion, I'm going to attempt to use catchy titles like this for my future blog posts, which will certainly increase my readship, no? Made YOU click the link, didn't it? :)

We had five visitors last week and so much to share about what they saw, learned and experienced here in Dar Es Salaam! We have two groups coming in 2015, with a potential third group as well. I thought I would break down our week for you, in case YOU want to come for a visit or bring your own group! Karibuni (You are all welcome!)

In order to not make this post too long, I'll post a few days at a time.

Saturday: Picked up Kyle, Jake and Selina (connected to Marc through his previous school) from the airport middle of the night. They slept for a few hours and then we headed to the Artisan Market. It was over 50 booths/vendors of artists that made hand crafted items ranging from beaded jewelry, clothing, hand woven sheets, music and SO much more. These artisans are all trying to make a living using their handiworks. For example, there is a drug rehab group there - they teach these women a skill in order to make a living. Or an AIDS widows group who makes purses to provide and income as their spouse has died from AIDS. This takes place on the penninsula, where a lot of international folks live, so they didn't quite feel like they were in the minority yet. We came home to my dear Tanzanian friend, Lucy, who prepared a traditional dinner of rice, beans and mchicha for dinner. She ate with us and shared a bit about her life and culture here in TZ and her heart for sharing the Gospel message! She's an amazing woman.

Selina, Lucy and Jake

Jake and his dad, Kyle, on the beach for devotion time.

Sunday: Marc picked up Erica (my former youth group student - now just friend!)and her friend Kelsey at the airport middle of the night. We arrived at church, God's Tribe, at 8:30am for me to have worship rehersal and the rest of the group had personal devotions on the beach of the Indian Ocean. It was a beautiful morning.

Our Pastor preached on spiritual gifts, and it was neat to see that theme resurface during the week with our guests.







Marc took the WMC group to Kurusini orphanage after church for several hours. They learned about the orphanage from the director and spent time playing games, football and just loving the kids there.

I took Erica and Kelsey to a local market to do a little sovenier shopping. We also visited the TingaTinga co-op, which is an art school for tingatinga art. They had spent 2 weeks in Uganda and had been working with kids the whole time. We all arrived home for a homemade pizza dinner and spent some time discussing what had stirred our heart that day over dinner.

The Slipway market is on the penninsula, so we had to get an ocean shot!

Kelsey & Erica at the TingaTinga co-op

Stay tuned for Monday and Tuesday!

Your spring cleaning might = Our wish List

We have a few visitors coming in just under a month & they are able to take a few tubs for us!! So, it's wish list time once again.

If you happen to have any of these USED items laying around your house that you're looking to part with, please let us know! My sister is going to get a tub together and hand it off to our visitors in a few weeks.

* Bed sheets - double and queen or king TOP sheets (our mattress will be an odd size, so we have to use top sheets tucked in)

* bean bag covers (1-2)

* Bath mats (3)

* Beach towels (2-4)

* Big pots

* cookie sheets

* guitar stand (small/collapsable)

And if you happen to go to Meijer & want to pick up any of these, we'd love you for it:

* chocolate chips

* bags of dried black beans

* parmesan cheese

* Candy of any kind

* fruit snacks

* dry/powder flavored creamer

I will likely think of more, but just wanted to get a list going in case anyone is beginning their spring cleaning!

THANKS!!

NEW HOUSE!

Many of you know that we are house sitting for a family this year. It was an enormous blessing to move into a furnished home, close to school, with just about anything and everything we would need in it.

In July, the family moves back and we have been on the hunt for a new home.

We found one across the street from the ocean. Amazing. We mentally 'moved in'. Then we saw another home which was close to school and many other perks.

We debated. We made pros & cons lists. We prayed. We recruited others to pray. We felt completely torn. We didn't feel a peace and kept wrestling with what to do. I liked one better, Marc liked the other.

Finally a week ago, I told a few ladies at Bible study that I just wanted someone to tell me which home to move into. That night, as I was giving the girls a bath, Marc walked in and said, "I've decided where we are going to live". I felt almost immediate peace about his decision. Having talked enough about it, he knew my heart and chose the home I was leaning towards.

This afternoon we were able to meet the landlord. He is a kind and gentle man and was willing to do all the 'upgrades' we asked about. Mainly we wanted a few additional safety features such as an added door to the hallway, bars across all the entrances and a grated in patio. He also plans to paint the interior and exterior (and we can choose colors!) and fix a few places that need repair.

In addition to our rent being $50/month cheaper than our current home, he is willing to take rent 6 months at a time instead of a full year! This is a HUGE answer to prayer. I'll be honest - while we are still so grateful for all the gifts, giving has been down (a LOT) in February and March, and we've had to use a lot of our savings just to pay for utilities and food. We weren't quite sure how we would be able to pay for a whole year of rent when we can barely make it through a month. We also found out the water bill is the equivalent of $6/month. Our current home it's more like $40-$50/month (we're not so sure our neighbors aren't stealing our water - this is a pretty high bill compared to most).

We are feeling so at peace about this home, the landlord and our decision. We thank God for his answering our prayers, and thanks to many of you who were also praying for us.

Now, a bit about the house: It's got 3 bedrooms and a 4th room for an office or spare bedroom (read: guest room - be our Guest!). The kitchen is not huge, but very nice. A large dining room and living room which have many windows and are very bright and open. The yard (it's called a 'garden' here) is landscaped very nicely with a papaya and lemon tree already planted. We're hoping to add a few more fruit trees. There is an out building which could be used for storage or for living quarters for our workers - we're still debating this one. There are two HOPAC families who live on the same dirt road. There are dukas (little shops) very close by I can walk to, and we could walk to school without facing chaotic traffic. We're also inheriting a few chickens. I'm a little nervous, yet a bit excited to try this out. There is already a coop, and the lovely lady who currently lives there is going to give a few away, but then also leave a few for me. If I give up, there are plenty of people around who would love a free dinner. :)

We aren't entirely sure of our move date - we have to be out of this house by July 15, though we might be out earlier and house sit for another family for a month or so. Likely we'll move into this house the beginning of August. When we do move, we'll be sure to post pictures! Thanks for your prayers, love and support!

Here are a few pics of the house that the current family still living there let us take. I think our kids are a bit disappointed that they aren't moving in WITH these kids, just into their house! :)

 

THIS WILL BE HOPE & GENEVA's ROOM

 

THIS WILL BE ISAAC's ROOM -
I THINK HE's EXCITED TO HAVE HIS OWN ROOM AS ALL THREE KIDS ARE IN ONE ROOM THIS YEAR.

 

HERE IS THE GUEST ROOM/OFFICE -
WE ARE HOPING TO PUT BUNK BEDS IN HERE SO WE'LL HAVE EXTRA SPACE FOR VISITORS! :)

 

THIS HOUSE HAS A LARGE LIVING ROOM AREA -
WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO USING OUR NEW HOME FOR WHATEVER PURPOSES GOD HAS FOR US!

Things you don't hear in Grand Rapids, Michigan...

This week I had a few laughs at things I heard, and said to Marc, "We would've never heard that in Grand Rapids!". So I thought I'd make a blog post out of it - some serious, some funny, some just different, but all things we likely would not have heard back in GR:

* Muslim calls to prayer 5 times a day over a speaker system

* a cow mooing while listening to the sermon at church

*  "Mama Isaac! Mama Isaac! Kucheza! Kucheza!" being yelled by the neighbor kids from the tree they climb so they can see into our yard. This happens daily. "Kucheza"  means "to play". They're asking when they get to come and play. My response is always, "Jumatatu, saa kumi na moja" which means, "Monday at 5 O'clock"

* "Shikamuu" which is the greeting you say to your elders. My house worker (who is 23) says this to me first thing when she sees me each morning. My response is "Marahaba". My kids must say Shikamuu to their elders as well. Greetings here are very, very important. You can spend several minutes greeting eachother before you get to anything else. Even Geneva is expected to "Shikamuu" her elders, even though she cannot talk. They way she does this is by taking her hand and placing it on the top of the elders head. She has learned this and will do it when we tell her, "Geneva, Shikamuu". This makes random people we meet SO happy that we've taught this important greeting to our baby.

* this announcement at the primary chapel:
          Principal: "If you see the monkey, should you chase it?"
          Students: "NO!"
          Principal: "Should you try to pet it?"
          Students: "NO!"
          Principal: "Should you try to corner it?
          Students: "NO!"

* Ceiling fans on constantly in the middle of March. Cause it's hot & humid.

* "Hey Mr. Pickel!" Marc hears this at school. There is another family here who we spend a lot of time with, the Pickels. They also have three children, a boy, a girl (in Isaacs class) and a toddler around Geneva's age. Our families get confused by students quite often. One of Marc's students actually told him that "all the white teachers look alike to me". Ha!

* Lizards that sound like birds at night. I don't know which kind of lizard it is, but we've been told that that's what we're hearing at night, not birds!

* "Mrs. Driesenga". I hear this everyday, and until we moved to Tanzania, I'm not sure anyone called me that! I was just "Gretchen" back in GR. Here, though, I'm in a different role. I'm a coach and a teacher at school, and therefore I am referred to as "Mrs. Driesenga". It's taking some getting used to, actually.

That's all I can think of for now...hope you can 'hear' a bit more of what life looks like for us here in Africa!