ANSWERED PRAYERS!

This week started off full speed ahead, church with Stanley’s family and some friends and then errands and a visit to a family that lost their daughter recently. Later in the day, Pat was not feeling well and was running a fever. Monday she felt a bit better but I insisted that she go to the hospital (clinic) or I would cancel the trip we had planned to the two sites of our medical mission in June. Pat and I had anticipated the trip for some time and the timing was right for us to go, with Pascal and Paul, back to the Ngorongoro/Karatu area of Tanzania.

Monday: We left Pat and Sara at the clinic and the three of us (at Pat’s insistance and promise that she would take a taxi home and let Sara care for her) headed off to visit the Maasai. After getting lost twice during our many hour trip, we finally arrived and set up our tent (so we wouldn’t have to do it in the dark) in the area where we lived in “tent city” for a week in June. We had a great traditional Tanzanian meal at the school headmaster’s house, after visiting with the two head officials of the village (to get permission to spend the night). The phone call we got from Pat was not what we had expected, she had tested positive for tick fever and was also diagnosed with a urinary infection and was given medication for both. Our “instructions” from Pat were to not worry and try to find her friend Paulina and give her the Maasai blanket we had brought for her. When we got to the boma where she lived, we found that she had moved and the people told us they would notify her, so we had to leave the Maasai blanket with a team leader to get to her later.

Tuesday: We headed to the Karatu area, site of the second half of our medical mission. Our objective was to visit two areas where new churches had been planted (after the showing of the Jesus film) and to find the young lady that I mentioned in our blog after the medical mission. You may remember that the English translation of her name is “Taboo” (probably because of her crippled leg). When we first met in June, she looked depressed, would not look at me and smiled only after receiving Christ as her savior. Pat and I had been praying that she had connected with a church family who would show her the love of Christ. We had a Katange and a Maasai blanket for her and our prayer was that we would locate her in the remote area where she lived, where there was no road to her home. We did find her and the reunion was such a blessing, she remembered that I had said that God’s grace would be sufficient and that I was going to call her Grace (Neema, in Swahili) from then on. She was smiling, was happy to see us, and told me (through an interpreter) that she was growing in the Lord. I wept with tears of joy for her, and sadness that Pat was not there to experience it all. Earlier in the day, we had visited the site of one of new churches, where we were met with praise songs and smiling faces. They gave us a tour of the three acres they had purchased for the building. We prayed over the plot and sang praise to the Lord, then went back to the home of Stanley’s dad (where they have been having prayer and worship service) where we ate rice, chicken, goat, and soup to put on the rice. After dark we attended a showing of the Jesus film and rejoiced (with the angels in heaven) at the addition of some new brothers and sisters to the body of Christ. We got back to the location where we had set up our tent, between a church and the pastor’s house, at just about midnight (what a full day). We were served a big meal by the pastor’s wife, and while we were eating we got a text message that Pat had stomach cramps, nausea, hives and that her throat was swelling. She took some benedryl and thought she might have to have our landlord take her to the hospital. When Paul got the message on his phone (Pat had mine) we all agreed to pray for Pat’s healing. You can’t imagine the seven of us seeking the Lord for Pat’s healing. We first sang praise to Him and then prayed for a long time, all at the same time, as is their custom. I have never witnessed such passion as these Tanzanian brothers lifted Pat up to the Lord, in English, Swahili, Maasai and possibly in another tongue. We had no way to hear from Pat after that because both phones were out of minutes and we were outside of Karatu. My night was very emotional as I prayed and cried out for my “beloved” wife.

Wednesday: After an early morning meal at two different homes (their custom is to feed guests, no matter when you are invited into a home) and a short meeting to evaluate the film showing, we headed home to Arusha. About two and a half hours later we got to Paul’s home (another meal) to meet his family, and finally arrived back at our home. I was so happy to see Pat and report all our experiences and see that she was feeling much better. We found out later that two of our prayer warriors in Alabama had experienced hives at about the same time as Pat, we had all been praying and fasting, on Wednesdays, for the ministry during the time that Stanley has been in the U.S. to visit many churches so we knew that it was an attack from the enemy but we know that the power of the Holy Spirit that is in us is more powerful than the power of the enemy. Bwana Asifiwe! (Praise the Lord).

Today, Thursday, is a time for relaxation and thanks giving to our Lord. Our God is Good. Mungu Awa Bariki! (God Bless all of you)

BITTERSWEET DAYS!

It has been pretty busy since I last wrote. We have been back to Monduli Juu, to a small church in the mountains at the edge of the Munduli Forest, where we enjoyed the singing and fellowship as well as the scriptures that were used in the message. There were sometimes two interpreters because we speak English and some speak Swahili and some Maasai. I don't think that there is a more colorful group of people on the face of the earth and the mountains are beautiful. We also had the opportunity to visit in the homes of two evangelists from our village. It blesses us so much when people who have very little share all they have with us and treat us as family. Maliaki, one of the evangelists at the Oloirien Lutheran church is bringing his family for lunch at our house this Saturday. Pat finally got her new tooth and we have been able to visit Stanley's (Here's Life Director) family three times since he has been in the US. We also made a quick visit to the boarding school where a young Maasai friend of ours is getting ready for exams next week.

The bitter part of the last few weeks, in addition to the usual attacks from the enemy, took place very close to our home last week. A little boy was killed by a mini-bus that went out of control and ran over him in his yard. He was an only child and an only grandchild. It was hard on our whole neighborhood. We went to the home, along with a few hundred other neighbors, for the funeral and then walked about a mile to the burial site. The line of people was probably a half mile long, all walking to the grave site. We plan to go back to the home tomorrow to offer them the love of Christ the best we can.

Our Thanksgiving meal today consisted of Ugali, meat (with sauce made with onion, tomato and bell pepper) and fresh avocado. Sara prepared the lunch and shared it with us and two young friends from our neighborhood.

This Sunday we will go to church with Stanley's family at St. Paul's and be blessed once more by the praise, worship, and fellowship. We may have the opportunity to return to the area of the June medical mission this next week, for a few of days. We will probably be staying in tents so keep us in your prayers. It will just be about three days without a bath, so the blessings will far outweigh the difficulties.

Please keep Stanley Hotay in your prayers. He will be in the US until the middle of December. He has already been a blessing to many churches and individuals. I just had to add to this because one of our last blessings of the day was a phone call from Stanley. It was great to hear his voice from America telling me how good I looked, Ha!

MONDULI JUU AND THE MAASAI CHOIR

We had quite a weekend Nov. 3-4. We left Arusha on Saturday, with our Tanzanian "daughter" Sara, headed to Monduli Juu (northwest of Arusha in the mountains) in a Toyota mini van loaded with 22 people packed in very tightly. We got to Monduli, about 50 kilometers from Arusha, rode in another vehicle about 20 minutes to Monduli Juu, and then walked about 45 minutes into the mountains to a Maasai boma where our friend Isiah lives. We had a wonderful day with him and his extended family who live in several houses in the boma. After visiting for a few hours, and enjoying a traditional meal, we walked back to Monduli Juu and rode in the back of a truck to Monduli, then crowded into another mini van and returned to Arusha. What a day! We even got to rejoice with three of Isiah's family members accepting Christ as their savior.
Sunday, Pat's birthday, we met Isiah and the Maasai choir from Monduli Juu at a Lutheran church in our village (Kijenge), where they sang for the morning worship service. After the service we were all treated to a meal of rice, meat and cooked cabbage and carrots. We got to listen to some great worship music and were blessed by all the members of the church. Isiah's younger brother, Lazaro, is staying with us for a few days before returning home. We are really enjoying his company; he is a very dedicated Christian young man, 18 yrs old.

Arusha Update.

(Nov. 1, 2007)

We have been pretty busy since the last of the Americans (Bill and Sally Sandford) left for home on Oct. 22. It seems like more than just a week and a half ago. Sunday, Oct. 21 (the day before Bill and Sally left) BF, Bill, and I were in the Maasai choir at St. Paul's church, what a hoot. Tuesday(Oct. 23) we just stayed home and chilled. During the rest of the week we did our shopping, went to the office to visit with Stanley Hotay about our role in the ministry and discussed his presentation for the meeting in the US. Pat’s dentist appointment turned out to be another bummer, the technician couldn’t get the new crown/bridge off to replace it and broke the crown removal tool, so we have to go back again this week. Pole Sana, TIA, Hakuna matata! One evening, at the banana market, a lady saw Pat’s necklace and asked if she were Maasai, Pat said she was and said some greeting in Maasia. They (several ladies) were impressed and started singing praise in Maasai, before it was all over Pat and I joined in the movement part of the song (trying to get more practice like Sally said I needed). It was quite a deal, all the ladies were having a good time, us too! We had two Maasai students spend the night with us on Friday night, they were on their way home because they graduated . Saturday we met with Stanley, then met with the student we help with fees and took him to lunch. Saturday night we had Munka and his wife (our landlord) over for supper. On Sunday we went to “Field of Salt” church for the second time and I preached on the need for continual self examination in the Christian walk. The brothers and sisters there were a real blessing to us (all 20 of them).
Sunday afternoon we took Neema (Stanley's secretary) out for a birthday dinner, she turned 29 about a week ago. Also on Sunday, Pat made some new friends in our neighborhood and had one of them over for tea yesterday (Mon. Oct. 29) evening. She spoke hardly any English but Sara translated and the conversation turned into a gospel meeting. Bwana Asifiwe! We spent much of the day trying to catct up on e-mails, etc. That takes much longer over here because of power outages and internet problems on an almost daily basis.

We are excited, yet concerned, about Stanley coming to the US. He hasn’t been back to normal since his last issue with malaria and some recent medicine he took for stress lowered his blood pressure to the point he felt bad. I think he feels better now but he is still trying to get everything just right before leaving, which is understandable. We meet with him on both Tue. and yesterday and went with him to the airport last night. His plane was to leave at 9:40(Arusha time) We have been going over things we he wants us to do while he is gone, as well as doing our best to help him be prepared for "life in America". He had asked us to work with Neema, Paul, and Saddok on some organization and editing of his notes and pictures. I hope that our very slight input was not detrimental to the over-all effort. Stanley is so full of ideas and energy, even when he should rest. Our prayer is that our American brothers and sisters will take good care of our brother, Stanley. We got a text message from Stanley this evening, Thur. Nov. 1, that his flight had been canceled and he was in a hotel, probably in Amsterdam. Please keep him in your prayers for the next several weeks, he will be very busy in the US.

Mungu Awa Bariki
John and Pat