Women's Night of Worship

God continues to stretch and grow me through my role as a worship leader. In addition to leading worship at church most Sundays, I've had the opportunity to lead worship at three Women's Nights of Worship. The first one happened last June before a dear friend left. It was really her brain child. She wanted to get together with women in her community to worship prior to moving back to the States. So we did. Then, my friend Dyan and I decided we should do another one in August after everyone who had travelled was back. And finally, we hosted the third event on November 30th.

 Around thirty women came to worship and pray through the prayer stations we had set up. One station was dedicated to meditating on the story of Jesus birth. We took time to read the accounts of Jesus birth and pondered the thoughts and emotions of each person in the story. What was Mary thinking and feeling? Joseph? The shepherds? The wise men? The animals?

Another was focused on praying for those who do not know the Lord. We identified those people in our lives and wrote their names on paper, adding them to a chain when we had prayed for them. We also took time to think through areas in our own lives that needed to be brought again to Jesus.

The last station was to choose a picture of a Young Life staff member in the ebola stricken countries in West Africa and pray Psalm 91 over them. We covered those faithful servants of God in prayer.

 

And of course we had lots of amazing food and fellowship.

 

Even though Dyan has left for home assignment until August (tear!), 'we' still plan to have a few more of these throughout the year. It was a beautiful night of worship, prayer and fellowship. My only regret is that I didn't record any of the songs as these women sang their hearts out to God! WOW! It was truly awesome and a meaningful way to 'kick-off' the holidays season.

 

 

 

Black beans, parmesan cheese and chocolate chips.

Friends, we are so excited...

We have a group from Grand Rapids Christian High School coming the first week of January! We can't wait to show these students both the beauty and brokenness of Dar Es Salaam and engage with them as they process the work of God here and in their own lives. We LOVE having groups and sharing this experience with them.

Not going to lie - we also love them because they get extra luggage space, and that means we get a few goodies from home!! :) We're filling a few suitcases with school/church items, and giving some space to friends who are in need of particular things. BUT have saved a little room for our family as well.

So if you're out at Meijer and want to pick any of these items up, we'd love you forever & ever. Let us know and we can connect you with someone coming on the trip to hand it off to.

Our list:

* 6 bags of dried black beans
* 2 containers of parmesan cheese
* 3 bags of chocolate chips
These three are the top of my list EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. :)

* 20 packages/containers of Crystal Light drink mix OR Kool aid  - various flavors, but several lemonade (this is for my Tanzanian friend who loves Kool aid!)
* Ziploc bags - 1 box quart size, 1 box gallon size
* 2 containers Italian seasoning (again, for my friend)
* Socks for Isaac (a package of 3 ankle athletic socks- he wears size 1-2)
* Tennis shoes for Isaac - he needs size 2 - used it great!
* Medications: Aleve, Tums, chewable Immodium, Children's tylenol, Zantac
* notecards. I would love packages of cute note cards to write notes to people.
* iTunes gift cards to buy movies/music
* hand-me down summer dresses size 4-5T for Hope. I've got plenty of other clothes for her, but running short on dresses.
* non-Chocolate candy - marc loves it. skittles, starburst, etc.

Thanks friends! I miss Meijer. :)

Giving Tuesday - THANK YOU!

As today is "Giving Tuesday", we wanted to take a minute to THANK YOU for your giving!

1st fundraiser on December 1st, 2012
 

Two years ago yesterday was our first fundraiser for our move back in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We had a craft show at Plymouth Heights CRC and raised over $2,000 to jump start our fundraising process.

Since then, many people have partnered with us through giving, whether special or monthly gifts, and we are so completely grateful for your support.

Your support goes far beyond what you may know.  Your support helps us pay rent, utilities, buy food, put gas in our car, yes...but here are a few ways your giving continues to give that you might not know about...

Eva and Hope 'helping' Elnert make tortillas.

* Your support pays the monthly wage of 2 employees. Their work for us is a huge asset to freeing up our time to engage in ministry. Elnert is our house helper and does our cleaning, wash, dishes and periodically helps with the girls. She is 24, married and has a almost 2 year old son. She did not have full time work prior to us coming. Hosea is our gardener - he cares for the proprty, helps with the dogs, opens and closes our gate, runs errands for us and is incredible with the kids - they love to play with him! He and his wife, Lucy live on our property and we are so thankful for them! Hosea has a big and generous heart, and I have heard often of times when he and his wife are giving some of their salaries to help people who are sick, buying mosquito nets for families without, or just using their hard-earned income to take a bus over 4 hours to go into a small village and preach the gospel. Providing work for him allows him to engage in ministry.



Lucy and Angie during a Swahli lesson
 

* Your support pays for my langugage lessons. Lucy, (Hosea's wife, who lives on the same property) sits with me and my friend Angie for 9 hours a week to help me with my Swahili. She, like her husband, has a huge heart and I consider both of them local missionaries. She has become a very dear friend and sister in Christ. Again, by supporting us, we are able to provide a bit of additional work for Lucy, which helps them make their monthly trip to the village to minister.



The Life Group we co-lead on Wednesday Evenings
through our church, God's Tribe.
In our group we have 6 countries represented: Tanzania,
Kenya, England, Zimbabwe, Canada and America.

* We tithe to our local church, God's Tribe. This church plant is just over a year old and is very much a toddler church, but is faithful in preaching the gospel each week. Your support is also supporting the work and ministry of this church.

* Your support allows other missionary families to engage in their God-given callings. Many, many, missionaries who live in remote areas are given only one option for schooling for their children: homeschooling. This is a viable and great option for some. HOPAC is strategically planted, however, in a large city which becomes the center for many missions agencies. This allows parents of these children an amazing, Christ-centered option for their kids for school.

If you're a parent, take a moment and think about what you could NOT do each day if your child's school did not exist and you had to homeschool....

LOTS, right?

Now, think what a blessing it is to have an international Christian school for these families! The missionaries who send their kids to HOPAC are doing amazing work: Young Life across 20+ countries in Africa, Doctors, Survey work (figuring out where the unreached people groups are in order to send new missionaries there with the gospel), local pastor training through theological education, ministering to the poor through kids clubs, sports clubs, and relationship building, teaching English to future teachers, teaching skills to women in order to give them sustainable work, drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, church plants, etc.

YOU are supporting these missionaries as you support us. Think of the lives that are being touched by all these missionaries here in Dar - YOU are partnering with them! What an amazing gift!

I'm sure there are ways your giving is touching even more lives and ministries - unseen ways - even to us on the field. I know it blessed us and brings joy to have so many partnering with us in the work God has called us to do here.

Now here comes the other side of this: We're still in need.

In the next few months, we are going to need to pay another 6 months rent (most of this is saved so far, need $800 yet), self-employment taxes (possibly around $8000- $9000) and we really, really, really hope to come 'home' for 8 weeks or so next summer, but that requires plane tickets (around $7000). We have not met our montly budget once since being here, despite reducing it twice. We've used every penny of our own savings. We're confident the Lord is asking us remain and continue on, but we need help in doing so.

Specifically, we are in need of an additional $1500 in monthly support and also in need of some annual or special gifts. We have some who give $5 a month, and others who give $200 a month. We have some who have given $20 a year and others who have given $1000. Would you consider supporting us with any amount this giving Tuesday or in the upcoming year?

If so, please click HERE and select "Missionaries - Africa" and then "Driesenga, Marc".

Posts and requests like these are difficult. We want to just share the stories and the great work that God is doing here in Dar, but fundraising is a part of our job as well. It's humbling, it's overwhelming, it's faith-building and it's truly a joy to watch the Lord provide for our needs.

Thank you for truly being our partners in ministry.

Asante sana, marafiki. Mungu ni Mwema.
(Thank you very much, friends. God is good.)

When you don't know what to sing...

I have been in the position of "worship leader" for a few weeks shy of one year now. As I write that, I cringe a tiny bit. You see, I hoped one year of doing this would lead to great strides in my leading capabilities...or at least the ability to play an "F" chord properly. Yet, a year into this new calling and I have so much to learn - about playing guitar and singing, yes, but more so about how to truly "lead" a congregation of worshipperes.


My first Sunday leading/playing last December (2013).
I had to sit down because I wasn't sure I could play/sing/stand all at the same time! :)
 

Our last church had a Minister of Music who created the flow of the service, rehersed with musicians, wrote Calls to Worship, etc, but he did not sing or play an instrument in front of church. In fact, no one sang into a mic at church unless it was 'special music' during the offering- the musicians played and the congregation sang. It was liturgical. It worked. It allowed the congregations voice to be heard. There are elements of that I truly love and appreciate.

Now, I am upfront with a guitar and a mic, with other band members with me (thankfully!) and I'm also working behind the scenes planning out the musical aspect of the worship service. This is not an easy task.

Some weeks, the service comes together easily - there are songs that fit the theme of the message, we have a full worship team, everyone is healthy, at rehersal and on Sunday the sound equipment all works, we don't lose power and the songs work together beautifully.

Other weeks it's Thursday afternoon (rehersal that night) and I still don't have a single song chosen, I'm sick, I don't know who (if anyone?) is coming to worship rehersal, I don't know the theme for the sermon and the power is out. Again.

This week was looking to be a train smash (thanks to South Africa for that fun phrase). I haven't felt 100% in about 8 weeks, I knew of one person coming to rehersal but wasn't sure if the other 2 could come, I hadn't picked any songs yet, I didn't know the theme of the message and I was temped to just throw some songs together & hope for the best.

Instead, I asked the Lord for his guidance. And He was faithful to help me.

The songs came together and rehersal went well, despite the keyboard adaptor blowing up mid-prayer! I can't really say how it happened. I just started browsing my song folder again and slowly I picked ones that all fit the theme of God's love. I didn't realize how strong the theme was until Sunday morning was all said and done.

Without knowing our first song, one of our Pastors got up to read Psalm 118 to call us into worship:

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.

² Let Israel say:
    “His love endures forever.”
³ Let the house of Aaron say:
    “His love endures forever.”
⁴ Let those who fear the Lord say:
    “His love endures forever.”

Our first song was "Forever"

"Give thanks to the Lord, our god and King, His Love endures forever"

The theme of God's love continued throughout our worship. It seemed as if God was weaving a beautiful tapestry together for the service, His love washing over us in incredible ways as we heard his word and sang songs of his great, unfailing, protecting, enduring love for us.

Our first Sunday at Mlimani Theater - October 12, 2014

I had many people who came up to me to tell me they appreciated and were ministered to through the music this morning. One of the youth group leaders told me that the the lesson for their group that morning tied in strongly with a few of the songs we sang. Another missionary who lives in the bush, but is in Dar for a few weeks said that she was so blessed to sing in her heart language, English, to songs that were so meaningful to her. A few others mentioned being ministered to through the service.

Most weeks I do not get any feedback about worship. Maybe a person here or there will encourage me or say they liked a new song. It's not common, and that's really okay. I'm not looking for the attention that could come with this very public role. I do appreciate it, as well as loving criticisms/corrections, but it's not something that I base how well I did my 'job' on.

The beauty of this morning is that not everything was perfect. I'm still struggling with a sore throat, coughing, stuffed up nose & blocked ears. Our team wasn't all there until about 10 mintues before the service started so we didn't get to run through our songs. The speakers were in & out during most of the service and the slides for a few of the songs were out of order.

BUT.

God was present and pouring out his abundant love on us. His message was clear and loud and penetrating.

2 Corinthians 12:9
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.

Christmas Cards

Friends -

We LOVE getting mail. It's a rare, rare occasion around here, so it becomes a big deal.

I just wanted to give you all our address, in case you don't know where to find it or never had it to begin with, in case, you know, you are thinking about maybe, possibly, sending us Christmas cards. :)

I've found that because our kids are so young, they are forgetting what friends back home look like. And as we pray for our friends, family, supporters back home, it's so great to have pictures to go along with names. We would love to cover our walls with pictures of you all!

Please send us your family Christmas card/letter!!!

C/O Driesenga
HOPAC
P.O. Box 70027
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

It takes a bit longer to get mail here, but know that even if we get your card in March, we'll still be so excited and grateful!

XOXO

Broken Bones - Days 2, 3 & 4

The day after Hope's accident, Marc took the day off of work and we drove back to the clinic in the morning. The clinic sent us over to a hospital nearby, called CCBRT. There we waited in a crowded room for the doctor to see us. He reviewed the X-rays and agreed that the bone could most likely be set without surgery. The schedule was completely full that day, so it would have to be the following morning. After visiting the lab for a blood draw, and another stop in the Doctor's office to give him lab results, we headed home after about 6 hours at the hospital...and Hope still had a broken arm. For those of you who have broken bones, how long did it take after it was broken until you were in a cast and back into 'life'? Here we were about 24 hours after the fall & nothing had actually been done yet. At this point, I was greatly missing DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids. During this whole day, we were so thankful for a few different friends who watched Geneva...she's not a sit still type of kid, so 6 hours of crowded waiting rooms would not have gone over well.


The next morning we arrived, ready to be the 'first case of the day'. We were brought into a private room and were left to wait there for almost 3 hours. Thankfully there was a TV in the room, so we had our fill of Nickelodeon. I was surprised at how nice this private ward was. It had it's own bathroom, a small little loveseat, a bed, a mini-fridge and the TV. Not at all what I expected, and likely, not what most Tanzanians every see. This private ward at the hospital had maybe 10 rooms, most people stay in any many large rooms with dozens of beds in each. I suspect we were put in a private room because Hope was a child, or because we were assumed to have the money to pay for it. Maybe both.

The nurse finally came and we wheeled Hope on the bed through the outdoor hallways into the 'theater' where they would put her under. We waited in a tiny waiting room with a few other people waiting to go in. They came and gave her a small dose of something to sedate her and after a few minutes she was a rag doll in my arms. I had been apprehensive about this part of things. I had asked the day before if I would be with her while they sedated her and they said no. They said they would need special permission from the director of the hospital for me to be with her. I thought this was a bit ridiculous. There was just about no way I was going to hand off Hope to a doc to go back for sedation...she would've scream having to go off with some stranger for a reason she didn't understand! I think in the end, they misunderstood my question or I misunderstood their answer, as it was no problem to let me hold her when she took that med. I was so thankful. They took her back and set her bone while we waited outside.

 



This is where Hope's proceedure was done.

After it was set, the doc came out and told us it went well, "more or less". WHAT? What does that mean? Those are not words you want to hear. He said we needed to stay overnight to watch for swelling and we were taken back to our room. We were not anticipating staying overnight. So after Hope got settled a bit, Marc and Geneva went home to get us a few things for our stay. While they were gone, Hope's pain started to get worse, so I asked the nurse for some pain medication. She came back with a shot. I was a bit surprised that for a child they didn't have another option. I've since come to realize that injections are extremely common practice for everything here.

So, after the nurse attempted 5 times to stick Hope and Hope pulled away, she gave up. Hope was in tears. I was almost in tears. The nurse left, leaving the needle in our room. I was half tempted to do the injection myself, as I was almost certain I could do it quickly and not stop just because Hope was crying. But I didn't. My kids have had shots before, but never did it take this many failed attempts. At one point the nurse asked, "Oh, is she afraid of injections?" Um, YES. She's 4. And you're poking her in the butt with a needle. And it hurts. And she's scared. And everytime a person comes in to see her, they end up hurting her.

 

Another nurse came in, gave her the shot and Hope slept for a bit after that. Marc and Geneva came back with our things, including food. We were not sure if the hospital would actually provide any food, as often family members are responsible to care for patients needs like that (they did bring us a plate of chicken, chipsi and mchicha around 8:00pm). We had an uneventful evening, a bad nights sleep (we shared a twin bed and I work everytime Hope moved), and a quick X-ray in the morning to make sure things looked good and then we were home! Both the German doctor and his Tanzanian collegue said the cast should stay on only 3 weeks. I was expecting 6-8, but because she is so young, they believe she will heal quickely. We were so thankful to hear that!

The cast will come off this coming Thursday already and she'll have another set of X-rays to determine if it has healed/set properly. Will you take a minute to pray for this? If the bone has moved at all, we will likely need to go to South Africa for surgery. I want to go to SA, but certainly NOT for this. We don't want Hope to have to have surgery, and it would obviously be quite a large expense for us, which we do not currently have funds for and our insurance will not cover.

All in all, we were happy with our care here and are so thankful that there are resources here for this type of injury. Medical care was a major concern for us as we anticipated moving. It's hard to put your children in a situation where you know there isn't a DeVos Children's Hopsital 10 minutes from home. I have been thinking about the many missionairies who have even less than we do in regards to medical care. Will you take a minute and pray for some missionaries you know, especially those in rural/village areas? Pray for their physical safety and protection, but also their spiritual safety and protection.

This ordeal has cost about $400. After 15 months of being in Africa, our monthly giving has yet to reach our monthly goal. Over the past year, we have used all of our savings to subsudize the gap in our budget. If you'd like to donate at all to help with these unexpected expenses, please visit http://www2.crcna.org/pages/crwm_donate_online.cfm.

Thanks for praying for the healing of this sweet little one!
 

Broken Bones - Day 1

On September 15th, Hope's 4th birthday, she slipped and broke her arm. She had walked from the living room towards our bathroom for her nightly bath, slipped, landed on her left elbow and started to cry. Marc and I were in the living room still while it happened. I got up and found her on the ground unable to move. I did a quick assessment, asked her a few questions and discovered it was her arm that was hurting. I moved her onto our bed and immediatly saw her elbow was much larger than it should've been.

I've known friend's children who have dislocated their elbows, and I was hoping that's what this was. We made a call to our clinic, called IST, who had us call the after hours doc (this happened around 6:30pm). She told us to make our way there and she would meet us. Our clinic, without any traffic is about 30 minutes away.

We asked Isaac to walk out back and ask Lucy (lives on the same property as us with her husband, Hosea) if she could come in and watch Isaac and Geneva while we both went to the clinic. She quickly made her way and we got in the car to go. We are so thankful for their presence and help!

Over an hour later, we finally made it to the clinic. Hope fell asleep on the way, and we were so grateful she could get a bit of rest. At the clinic, the nurse gave Hope a suppository for pain, and attempted about 3-4 times to get a sling on her. With each move of the arm, Hope was crying out in pain. Marc and I actually ended up doing more of the sling placement than the nurse. That was my first frustration. This was an international clinic, but it honestly seemed like she had never placed a sling before.

Anyhow, we loaded up again, having to move Hope with her huge, painful arm, back into the car and drive to HiTech for x-rays as our clinic does not have the equipment to do so. We got stuck in traffic  getting there also. When we finally made it, we got right into the room for X-Rays. The tech had Hope sit on my lap and me sit on a chair. Then he asked me to move oh so slightly, which caused pain for Hope. Then I had to move again. Then again. I was fed up & asked them to PLEASE figure out where you want us before you move us again. Finally we got the x-rays and Marc could hear the radiologist looking at the x-rays saying it was broken. UGH. Poor Hopey girl!

We got copies of the x-rays to bring back to our clinic with the report from the radiologist (no digital here! Good old film copies!). Finally back at the clinic, the doctor met us, told us we would need to go to a different hospital the next day because she needed either her bone set (with being put under) or that surgery was also possibility. They put a back slab/cast on the back of her arm and sent us on our way. We left with an arm still broken, no confirmation of a doc appointment the next day and the lingering thought of surgery and a possible trip to South Africa the very next day.

We arrived home just after 11pm, got Hope settled in bed and started reading up on our insurance policy, emergency medvac coverage (or non-coverage) and investigating potential flights to South Africa.

More on days 2 & 3 later!