Edmond & Dorothy

Introducing "BOTA" filters

2011-04-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and friends,

Check out these glaring facts:

- Over 36% of Tanzanians live below poverty level… that is levels that are deemed necessary to meet their daily physiological requirements such as food, water, and shelter.

- Estimated that over 90% of people in Tanzania use wood-charcoal (locally called “mkaa”) to meet their domestic energy needs. Wood charcoal has been proven to be an expensive source of energy; especially when aspects like environmental and health costs are factored in.

- Results from quick survey and focus group sessions done in Kigogo neighborhood (Dar) revealed that; given $ 0.70 (70 US cents) to spend on domestic energy needs, the family will choose to use that $0.70 on wood charcoal (“mkaa”) to prepare a simple chai for breakfast, a meal for the family, and “if any charcoal is left, use to heat bathing water for the husband”. Not so surprising to us was the fact that, none of participants in our focus group (made of women/wives/mothers) mentioned using the charcoal to boil drinking water.

Please be introduced to “BOTA” filter! BOTA as for "Boresha Tanzania" (Make Tanzania Better)

With a “BOTA” filter, the same family of six, can simply place the “BOTA” filter on a safe and secure place in the house, pour water (from virtually all sources) on the top container, wait a few minutes, and access clean and safe water through an easy to use tap at the bottom part of the filter - EVERYDAY; IT IS THAT EASY.

“BOTA” filters have been designed and made to give people - especially those living in challenging environment; access to clean and safe water at a cost that will encourage them to stop drinking unsafe water. It is our ultimate goal to use these filters to help reduce unnecessary deaths, improve health, reduce poverty, and improve the overall living standards to all – very good news in deed!

Other benefits of using “BOTA” filters:

Using “BOTA” filter help reduce incidences of water-borne diseases in constituents that do not have access to clean and safe drinking water.
“BOTA” filters are manufactured locally! We recruit “unengaged” youth and adults (especially women); train and transform them into “faithful volunteers”. We then provide them space and time to manufacture good quality “BOTA” filters. For a full days work, these faithful volunteers earn an average of $8 a day, a far improvement from “nothing” to under $2 a day (if "lady luck" is on his/her side on that day). Our dream as a team is for us to grow enough that we can start paying these faithful volunteers meaningful salaries with benefits.
WE also provide free training on general health hygiene to households in all communities that we distribute our filters. This free training has been found to be foundational in improving people’s awareness of unhealthy practices, and help them develop healthy habits.

It is with there facts in mind that we can confidently say: Our “BOTA” filter IS “Making Tanzania Better”.

Please consider joining our noble efforts, and become a part of the good news.

How?

- YOU CAN help us produce more “BOTA” filters: For $25 you can guarantee a family of six access to clean and safe water for 2 straight years!

- YOU CAN order and purchase in bulk and help distribute this valuable tool to the economically challenged constituents. It is a worthy call, and efforts that will guarantee your satisfaction.

- YOU CAN help us set up a modern workshop for production of the filters

o Currently we are assembling these filters in a founder’s backyard

o Our faithful volunteers are using crude tools including knives to drill holes on containers. We do not have adequate space for assembly of the filters.

o The workshop also will serve as a training and a resource center for our faithful “foot soldiers”.

- You can also support us with more training, more skills and more knowledge. If you or your organization has something that can help maximize the impact of these efforts, we would like to hear from you. Please contact us at:

“BOTA” Filters

P.O. Box 105946, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Botafilters@matabeinc.com

+255 787 890 262 or +255 686 592 344

From Dar With Love

2010-10-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Hello friends
Thank God for His kindness and Love for all of us! We are all healthy following some minor health scares - nothing serious, just a "little" flu (enough to put us down for two days) for Edmond and then Rachel.

Family:

David celebrated his 13th birthday on the 4th Of July, Rachel her 15th birthday on August 11 and Albert his 22nd on August 29 - Phew... just writing these down - kind of give me chills... seriously; it kind of saying we are getting old... not bad being in Africa (supposedly more wisdom & thus more respect-LOL)

Over the summer Rachel and David got to attend summer camps - something that was surely the highlight for them (that and a trip to Kings Island). We are now back in Dar., where we are trying to get back in the groove of things: Rachel and David are back in school mood, Albert continue to enjoy his "dream" job; and the two of us... busy trying to find our feet after 10 weeks away from here.
Rachel is doing her PSAT's now, will be doing mock IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education - some Cambridge stuff) in December, and the "real" IGCSE in May. Somewhere in there, she will also sit for her SATs... Yes it will be a busy year for her, and she needs all of our prayers. Guess what is her greatest sacrifice?:-LOL. Not playing Soccer this year! She is really missing playing her soccer... but then she made her own choice to not join the team this year (which we thought was a very wise decision for her to not do soccer). - In anyway, she has come to term with this new reality of her growing up.

Some of you might remember that we vacated our former house and moved to another house not far down the road. The house was not in very good shape, and knowing we will be away for 10 weeks, we arranged with the Landlord to do some fixing (some of them pretty necessary). We came back to find out that; the only thing that he cared to do was to re-connect the water to the house (which is nice). The rest of the things were not done. And so we found the house very dusty, rats (yes rats - not mice) everywhere, and with a few of our things missing. It was not nice, and we thought we had the right to be mad and express our frustration with the whole situation. We asked for our money back - and wanted to move out the following morning! Unfortunately the landlord - already spent the money, and he has none to refund. And so... we are in a situation that we have to survive for at least the next 3 months (that is kind of equivalent to the amount of money left with him) before we can move "again".

Church:

The Mzizima Vineyard Church is doing very well.
We are so thankful to God! Brother Chris and other leaders did a great job while we were away. (The picture on the right is Chris - on stripped shirt and Aloyce)
IN these past three weeks we have about (average) 35 adults attending plus a few children. Since our return, we have seen a few new faces, and we pray they will "stick" around long enough to be touched by the Lord.
We continue to press on reaching out to the community, and we would identify our prison ministry as the highlight of these activities.
A little background: This ministry started with Brother Chris, as he felt led to go reach out to the kids in a maximum security prison - not far from the church (right here in Dar). Most of these kids were brought here from other parts of the country to come "pay their debt to the society"in this prison. We letter found that as some of them finish their sentence, most are not returned back to their home towns. Instead they simply get released on to the streets. (Some commit some stupid crime - just so they can continue stay in prison). But for those who come out, life is not easy either. With no means of earning a decent life plus the stigma that tends to follow these kids (ex-convicts); plus the absence of an adult to receive and re-introduce them back into normal life; most of them end up in the streets and wind up re-committing to their past criminal behavior - and often a straight way back to prison. We thought we could do something to break this "oppressive" chain of events, and decided as a church; to try and locate their relatives up-country, and in cases that they are ready to receive their child - for the church to act as a "go-between" sign the release papers so these kids can be released from prison, and pay for their tickets back to their home towns. We try to follow up with their parents/guardian to make sure they reach their destination and get reconnected to their families. Friends, we truly wish you could hear a mothers, uncle or a grandmother... Often in tears of joy; thanking "you" for taking care of her/his child/grandchild and return the kid to them... friends, that is the in-breaking of the Kingdom right there! So far our little church has re-united 23 kids with their families - praise the Name of Jesus.

Projects:

Jewelry for Justice (Okoa Jewelry)

Baraka (Blessings) women group just finished the September order. All the six women participated and made an average of about $50 (each) for a two days job (compare that to less than $1 a day they use to earn - doing unspeakable stuff just so they can feed their kids).

IN addition, the group has now over $2000 in their bank account, the money that they could use to "dream" up a more consistent income generating activity. To facilitate that, we are getting ready to conduct an entrepreneur classes that will facilitate their thinking process.
The shipment is already out (to the US), and you may be able to purchase some of these new edition pieces very soon.

Please be on the look out by checking out the Trade Justice Mission website Or by connecting with them on face book (simply search for: Trade Justice Mission); and plan to purchase a few of these pieces for yourselves and/or your loved ones. Do it and you will be proud to know that your purchase also help change the lives of several women (and their families) in Africa.

Water Filters:

As some of you may be aware, we do have a new filter that we will be using and distributing in the poor neighborhoods of Dar. As you can see (picture on the left), it is a pretty simple design, using locally available materials. It looks good, with less chance of contamination. We did a small focus group on this prototype, and discussion indicated broad acceptability (as compared to the previous model). Also, this prototype had an added value: we are sourcing most of the parts right here in Dar, and it will be assembled right here in Dar (right now in our backyard). Our hope is that, this project will be able to create employment to a few young men and women. Unfortunately we are facing serious financial challenge in getting this project up and run in a meaningful way. It is an important aspect of our efforts to reach out to our neighbors, and so far we (Dorothy and I) have been using a portion of our family funds to finance the design, manufacturing, testing and a few filters that we could start selling.

If you feel led, please consider donating a few bucks for this and other projects on our drawing board. You can contact the Trade Justice Mission (866) 723-9118 or directly to us by dropping us a quick email: edmond@tanzaniaconnection.com Or dorothy@tanzaniaconnection.com for details on how to do that.

Prayer Items:

Pray for our living situation.
Pray for our church to continue to grow both in depth and in numbers
Pray for our kids, to grow into Christ disciples and role models to other kids. That they will excel in their schoolwork.
Pray specifically for Rachel as she sat for her PSAT and IGCSE exams

For the nation of Tanzania: On October 31st, people will be going to the polls (General election for President & members of parliament)* So far election campaigns are going well – but with no short of passion among supporters of various political parties. Please pray for peaceful campaign & peaceful election.
* That the Lord will orchestrate for this nation to get leaders who fear Him as the Lord God, and with compassionate heart for the least and the last of this nation.

Thank you!

We are In America until September!

2010-07-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

We are now a week in America,We are so humbled by our friend's hospitality, they help us so much! We can say we have such a soft landing and the settling is so smooth because of them. God bless our friends. We have been given a free full-insured car for our family and our friends are finding a house for us to live , Whew! With this economy? I am melting with gratitude to our Almighty God!

We still need prayers for our own house, on what to do with it, the economy is still not good for us to sell the house, we need God in making some crucial decisions about the house.

2010-07-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

So amazed by God's goodness, got a report from our Mzizima Vineyard leader Chris Chale, who oversee the prison Ministry,that the court has released 20 youth to the care of Mzizima Vineyard to make arrangements for their safe return home. Chris took 16 of the kids and told them if they really want to go back home they should show up at his office the next day. Everybody told Chris that these are street kids they will never come back tomorrow. Something so cool happened the next day around 6am the young men started coming. The guard person called Chris to inform him that there are several street kids waiting for him in the office. He immediately came to the office took the waited a little and around 7am all 16 kids arrived. He took them to the bus stand and send them home. The next day he started receiving thank you messages from the parents thanking the Vineyard Church for helping uniting the kids to heir family! Glory to God! The four kids who were left were all sent home the following week, it's just so amazing!

Thank you for all your prayers!

2010-05-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all your prayers and support, your Mzizima Vineyard is growing and steady.

An abbreviated praise report:

Our worship location:
When it comes to real estate, It's a common thing to be informed that "your rent will be / or has gone up"!
Not to this little group... Amazingly - and evidently by God's abundant grace our rent for was slashed by 75%; in contract for a year with a rent payable in two installment of 6 months each! ... friend; this may not be as jaw dropping as seeing a dead man raise from the dead... never the less an amazing miracle in our book!

Trainings:
Eight weeks of Leadership training are finally over... We were encouraged to meet, talk, learn and grow with six amazingly "down-to-earth-God-fearing" leaders.
Eight of our new belivers are ready to be baptized! We are planning for a baptism class soon!
Did a short training for people who would like to commit to pray... We now have a small but a great group of people who have committed to pray for our church, the community and the nation as a whole.

Worship:
Finally... we have concluded the writing, recording and mastering of our first ever CD. With songs composed and performed by one of our worship leader (Angle Bernard), the CD "Nakuabudu Milele" (I'll Worship You forever) has all the traits of a great worship experience.
A few of the songs have started to air in three local Christian Radios... response (by callers) so far... "that is what we call worship"! - Glory to Jesus.
Still praying and waiting to be able to duplicate and distribute the CD very soon.
Launch date? that has to wait a little:)

Community:
Our three small groups continue to meet in Mbezi Beach, Morocco Rd. and Kigogo area. Please feel free to come and grow with us.
Contact? Simply drop us a line by email, or comment on this entry.. we will get back to you asap:)

The picture on the left shows our chai (tea), kahawa (coffee) and maji (water) break just after worship. This is a great time to met newcomers, connect with those we haven't met for the whole week,meet new people and all about Socializing and networking - a great time all around!

Prayer request:
We covert your prayers with regard to growth... we need to see those who are not connected to any church here in Dar, come and be a part of our growing family; please pray for a sustainable children Ministry team, a strong prayer Ministry team and seed people for a vibrant women ministry.

Thanking you for all the support
Dorothy & Edmond - for Mzizima Vineyard

"He is no Fool"

2009-11-19T00:22:00.000-08:00

Scott Wesley Brown, a "musicianary" (musician missionary) who wrote this after reading "Shadow of the Almighty" (Elisabeth Elliot) and "Lords of the Earth" (Don Richardson). May we be challenged to higher levels of devotion to our God.

HE IS NO FOOL

I've lost track of all the Sundays
The offering plates gone by
And as I gave my hard earned dollars
I felt free to keep my life
I talk about commitment
And the need to count the cost
But the words of a martyr show me
I don't really know His cross

Chorus:
For he is no fool
Who gives what he cannot keep
To gain what he cannot lose
Yes, he is no fool
Who lays his own life down
I must make this the path I choose

Obedience and servanthood
Are traits I've rarely shown
And the fellowship of His sufferings
Is a joy I've barely known
There are riches in surrendering
That can't be gained for free
God will share all heaven's wonders
But the price He asks is me.

Edmond's Dad - Update

2009-07-23T06:52:00.000-07:00

Friends,
I am sad (but with full of Joy in the Lord) to inform you that my dear father passed on and went to be with the Lord on Thursday the 16th (around 12:20pm).
It was a very sad experience as I felt the vacuum left by a man who invested so much of his life on mine and my siblings; but then glad and encouraged by the fact that Dad knew and loved the Lord.
The funeral was on Sunday the 19th (in Mahoma village - on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro), of which we were told there was a little over 400 people attending.
As we were responsible to arrange everything regarding the funeral (there is no funeral service like the ones in America), We had to grow up very quickly, learn a lot about the culture, navigate and reconcile what we were told needs to get done with our faith in the Lord (surely there are people who did not appreciate everything - especially the service itself). I am glad to say - The Lord showed up big time!
As I am typing I am still in Moshi (took a 2 weeks vacation) trying to settle my dad's estate.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the prayers, phone calls, emails and all that you do to support us. We your love and care is so evident (literally feel the power surging from within us), and we will forever cherish your love.

Blessings
Edmond

PS: typing fast... Please forgive any grammar /sp mistakes

Edmond's Dad

2009-07-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

Friends,
I am writing to let you know of the fact that my (Edmond) dad is seriously ill.
Some of you may have known that my dad is totally blind (from Glaucoma), diabetic and that he has been “free” of Cancer for a little over 11 years. Late last year the Drs’ found lumps in his Esophagus and his bladder; and test revealed the lumps to be very aggressive and already advanced malignant tumors.

Long story short; he was rushed back to the hospital on Thursday last week where he was admitted in the ICU at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (K.C.M.C) in Moshi. I (Edmond) rushed to be with him (as only my brother Nicky and I could take turns be with him, and serve his needs - he is totally blind and mom can't spend a night as he is sharing a room with another man).

The Dr's have given up trying to save his life, as the Cancer is now all over his digestive system and have started to metastasize into his trachea and lungs.

As I am typing, Dad is in a Comma, and we are bracing for whatever the Lord will allow to happen.

It has been a long and hard journey – but never the less glorious. Along the way, we all witnessed our dad clinging himself more and more to Jesus, and starting urging people around him to not waste their opportunity to walk their lives with Jesus. Just before he stopped speaking I heard him repeating "Worship Jesus” “worship Jesus”... Repeating same line over and over - As sad as it was, it was beautiful and very refreshing to hear.

How am I doing (you ask); I feel strong, and I know in ALL things the Lord is Sovereign and regardless of how this ordeal ends - He WILL ALWAYS BE GOD!

I am the first-born of the family; and I guess the rest are watching to see on how we (kids) handle this. So far, The Lord has been faithful; but we continue to covert your prayers for His comfort, strength and wisdom.
More importantly, we pray that the Lord will be glorified and that lots of people will be ushered into His Kingdom through this.

Love
Edmond
(Tuesday 14th, June)

Update: Summer 2009

2009-07-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

Friends,
It is hard to believe we have been here for 2 years (+ 2 months) in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania!
Surely following Jesus is exciting!
While it does not guarantee we will see and know every step ahead of time, there is an iron-clad guarantee of Him always being with us and be a faithful guide along the way. That has been so evident to us here as we strive to catch up with Him and, grow in our love and commitment to Him and His Kingdom.
Despite some unique challenges to both our family and our team; we feel blessed to be a part of this community. We know this has a lot to do with you and your unwavering commitment to what we do here. You have been an amazing supporter… a source of strength when things felt unbearable and when it feels like we no longer see beyond our noses. We are SO THANKFUL you are here with us!

Past 6 months: The majority of our activities centered around: leading the team, prepare and preaching on Sundays, preparing and teach at universities and colleges (especially in the evening and Saturdays) and nurturing those who were brought to us by the Lord. Yes, it is a full load; and at times very frustrating and confusing. It is by grace that we see the Lord compensating a lot for our weaknesses, and cover for what we lack.

Besides leading our team, preaching and teaching, here are some of the things we feel you may want to know:

Mzizima Vineyard Church - plant #2

We opened up doors for our Mzizima church on February 1st, of this year. Initially we called it “Kanisa la Vineyard” which simply translates into “the Vineyard Church”. As we grow however, we find it necessary to be a little more specific, and have a name that will uniquely “identify” our church. And so we are the Mzizima Vineyard.
“Mzizima” is an indigenous name for Dar Es Salaam. It is a local name used way back then - before the Sultan came and give this place its current name (“Dar Es salaam”). Now, please do not ask what it means... – LOL; I have come to a conclusion that probably no one (still alive) knows exactly what it means. Even the Swahili dictionary resorted to a single line definition: Mzizima = Dar Es Salaam.
And so we are growing... both in numbers and in the quality of our services. We started with 11 adults + our kids; that number has increased to 57 adults and 13 children a week ago!

Kilwa Vineyard (plant #1):
We continues our support to Kilwa Vineyard... our first church plant after we arrived here; this community of believers is located 6 from Dar (10 hours if you decide to brave the rain season...) . Located on the south coast, Kilwa is primarily a Muslim area with and estimated 99% of its residents being our “cousins”. Our dear brother and his family there are doing well, with the wife running a daycare with about 80 kids (cramped in a 2 living room sized rooms). The 15 member church is looked with relative favor in the eyes of the residents, as it seem to be there for them and their kids! - A testimony for “servant evangelism”. Please keep this Kilwa Vineyard Church in your prayers.

Youth Development:
We continue to be more involved with the Youth house on the south side of the city. You would remember; these are the same kids that we spent our first Christmas with way back in 2007. Since that time we have maintained a relationship with the staff and kids, providing guidance and support as needed.
Dorothy and I had decided to financially support two kids from this House (bringing a total number of children that we financially support their education (including their tuition fees, uniforms, transport and health care) to four (4). Depending on how the Lord will lead and provide, we intend to continue doing this, and God willing; add one or two more in January next year.

Please continue to pray for these kids as we seek to see the love of Jesus impact their lives directly.

Looking back we cannot help but give all the glory to Jesus – whose power we depend on for everything we put our hands to. IF IT WAS NOT FOR HIM; working directly on these efforts and through people like you, none of these things could have happened!

Looking ahead: We know the Lord WILL continue to show up with even greater things. What we ask from you, is your commitment to continue to keep our family and our team in your prayers:
You may decide to use the following prayer points to help guide you as you consider your work (through us) here in Dar es Salaam.

Please pray for a venue for our church. We currently use a college cafeteria and we have been made aware of the fact that, we will need to start working to find a different venue. Unfortunately, Dar has very few suitable locations (to fit our meagre budget). Please pray that Jesus leads us to where He wants us
Our "Maji Salama" (safe water) Initiative is off the ground and flying well. Please pray for favor within the community and on the neighborhood that we will be working.
Dar is said to be the most sectarian city in the whole of East, Central and Southern Africa. Please pray for good communication and connection with our brothers and church neighbors. We have developed a strategic plan for reaching out to the community surrounding our church. Pray God blesses those outreaches and we see His Kingdom come!

Friends,
We have seen the power of your prayers, and have benefited from your financial and material support – PLEASE DO NOT STOP NOW. As we start to see some fruits, we are also aware of the fact that we need you now more than ever before.

May he Lord himself, bless you and all of yours according to His riches in Christ Jesus.
Blessings

IN respondng to "Jane"

2009-03-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

Almost a month ago, I received an entry on this blog... (unfortunately with no way of reconnecting except through this very blog)

I desperately desire to reconnect with the author, and thought of trying to use same means... this blog. Why now and why this burning desire... only God knows...

====
Hi Edmund and Dorothy, Im sure I like what you do but would advise you to probably use both languages I mean swahili and english cause im sure most of us Tanzanians have a problem in using english language especially when it comes to social life.

I also think you should focus more on marital counselling, this is now a big problem in tanzanian societies, a lot of families are broken because there is no that fear of god, yes people swear everyday in churches and have nice parties after but after one or two years no one remembers what he/she promised god. And to be honest I found myself at your blog when I was looking for marital councellors in dar es salaam, I doubt if there are any.
I pray for you, and im sure god is using people like you to serve our lost society.

comment made by "Jane"

===
"Jane" I left a comment in response to this entry a few minutes ago... but here a few facts about our church:
we meet at the Institute of Social welfare cafeteria along the Shekilango Rd., A few meters from the Bamaga junction (if you are riding a daladala along the New Bagamoyo to or from Mwenge area, you can safely drop at Bamaga station and walk a few meters on Shekilango to the Institute .
Because we are desperate to connect with as many Tanzanian as God will allow us to be, WE ARE using Swahili as our primary language of communication. But also because we acknowledge the presence of a few whom Swahili is not their mother tongue, we put all of our teachings in English overheads - so one can at least follow. BUT as a principle we are praying for all of our congregant to come knowing they are coming to join an army for the Kingdom of Jesus in the lives of our fellow Tanzanians.
with regard to Marital counselors in Dar, please call me or my wife Dorothy... at 0787 890 262 and 0787 890 172 respectively. You may also drop us an email (probably the best way to connect) at edmond@tanzaniamissionteam.org and dlyatuu@tanzaniamissionteam.org respectively.
Jane... and all the other "Janes" and "Joes" out there.. please feel free to come see and taste a fellowship with us on every sunday (starting at 10am) or in one of our small group meetings on wednesdays - drop me an email for info on these.

Love and praying for you
edmond

Church plant: Day 1

2009-02-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

Well,
I am still reeling and basking on what the Lord has done… and so if you sense I am kind of rumbling; you may be right – simply extend a little grace – (Of course you know I struggle with my grammar - do I need to say anything more? - LOL)

Regardless... , our first day (of church) came and passed… and - as expected - THE LORD SHOWED UP! – Praise Jesus. A Tanzanian lady came up to D and commented… “... I love this church already… the service was so organized, and it feels so refreshingly different...”
Well… granted… it was the first day, and that lady may not even show up next week! But you have to believe it when we say what we heard in those statements is "...the Lord showed up".
The truth (according to the way we see it) is... there were a few miss-steps here and there... - of course it was the first day... And you now what - who care?
For three months, we prayed, planned, executed, negotiated, followed-up… you know the drill... And yet… on Friday afternoon when we had our final follow-up meeting we got to a point when we all got quite and prayed that the Lord show up on Sunday.
While I know we all knew the truth, I think it was at this point, when I could see in the eyes of all of my teammates a real sense of dependence on the Lord, and a deep desire to see the Lord showing up and do His things - It was an amazing feeling! Result? sunday came and passed - ALL Glory to Jesus.

I know all of us in the team sent a "gazillion" prayer requests to all of you. I KNOW lots of you prayed… people called, dropped us emails, wrote on our facebook pages… did whatever they could to assure us that we are all together in this. And guess what?... we could feel the power of your prayers! It was your prayer that made the difference… Again...; when all is said and done, It all came down to Jesus! And for that… ALL GLORY, and HONOR to Him AND Him Alone!

with regard to you... all we can say is THANK YOU for all the prayers and support you sent our way; THANK YOU FOR hanging around with us. we know it pleases the Lord for you and us to play a significant role in this glorious work of his. Your obedience was key; and for that we are so thankful for you and all that you do.

Now, we know the TRUTH...;
…This was only the beginning! we just started... We still need each other; you, your prayers and support. This is especially true now that the battle lines have been drawn.
You know as well as we do that the enemy will not go down quietly… he will try to defend some of “his territory” (which he already lost at the cross...). What we are asking is for you to continue making yourself available, come alongside Jesus and bring the good news to those who need to hear. We are here for this very purpose… and we know you and us can continue to do this for our father’s own glory.
Please continue to encourage everyone to pray for all of us (you included).
Specifically, please pray for protection on us and our families; for the Lord to continue to bring those He would like to come to our church and; for this new church to enjoy a positive reception and favor from our neighbors.

Thanking you
Ned

Count down to Chapter 2

2009-01-30T12:39:00.000-08:00

As some of you may remember; we (with the rest of our team) turned our attention on to plant our second church since we arrived here... Technically this will be our second church -plant (the other being in Kilwa - 4 hour drive South of Dar)... and our vision is to see this particular plant grow into a model of an outwardly focused church for all to see and give glory to Jesus.

We are so thankful, we have truly seen the Lord directing our steps - even when things seemed a little abstract and confusing.
We are at a point of opening our doors to the public, and our first day of service is this coming Sunday (Feb 1st) - PRAISE JESUS!

The Lord enabled us to secure a 1-year contract for a cafeteria hall on a college campus; for us to use on every Sunday 7am to 6pm. through personal contributions, we have been able to pay the rent for the first 6 months - a period that we will also use to evaluate on how things are going.

The Lord has also been faithful to bring a young man to us... A Tanzanian (kind of my type; spend some of his life abroad, came back a few years back and is currently totally un-committed to any church (as he has a vision for something different, a church that can truly focus on bringing the Kingdom of God to especially those who are on the outside). He is currently involved in leading a non-denominational Friday fellowship, not far from where we live.

We will be doing a Swahili church... Using Swahili as our primary language of communication in preaching, announcements and worship.
And while I (edmond) still struggle in "thinking in English - as I speak Swahili" (something that brings its own kind of hardship in teaching); the Lord has been faith, and I have seen some improvement on myself with every opportunity to teach in Swahili.

This past Sunday (Jan 25th) afternoon we had a chance to meet with our core group of Tanzanian to formally share our vision, allow questions and simply hang around each other. We didn't get close to the numbers we expected... Never the less we were encouraged.

In a nutshell... Feb 1st WILL BE OUR FIRST DAY OF church! - May Chapter 2 begins...!

Please continue to encourage everyone to pray for us.
Specifically, please pray for protection on us and our families; that the Lord will bring those He would like to come to our church and; for a positive reception by our neighbors.

Love you all
Ned

Getting Ready... Need your prayers!

2009-01-08T01:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New year my friends,

After a long year of settling n' stuff, Our team in Dar is setting itself up to "open doors" on the 1st of Feb. Yes... we are finally getting ready to open a place of worship!! The home stretch started on Dec 1st, and a month later there are still lots of things that need to get done! The hardest so far... getting a place we can rent! Thanks to our teammates, we were able to visit and see several places; ... shortlist 'em to 3 possibilities... with one (on a college compound) being the most preferred! I would say s'thing that I am struggling to come to term with is the cost of renting a place ... even for a place of worship!!! YOU would think with the culture being so sensitive to the things of the "book" you will get a break or something; BUt this is Dar... and everything - even dirt IS OVER PRICED (so much for market dynamics!) ...Long story short, we think we are going to settle with the college place and make it our "crib" for now - looks very promising to us! As I am typing, I have a copy of the contract in hand, ... need to review it, send it to the team, discuss stipulations a little and probably be ready to sign it by Wednesday next week! Then it is... Pray, pray and pray again; AND publicity, invite, publicity, invite and invite again (of course word of mouth expected to be our primary means...).

Ohh... the next most challenging "thingy"... starting it in a way that can be reproducible! We are determined to start s'thing that s'one can look and say "I can do that". But my friend... how can a new and embryonic indigenous church afford $800 - 1200 a month? - where will they get that kind of money? - I simply do not see that at the moment! ...But, yo know what? The Lord is still with us... I am sure there is a way...somewhere, somehow... just that at the moment things like this gets under my nerves a little... ok... a lot!
Please put us in your prayers!! As I said... lots of things need to get done, extremely short time, and determined to do it on a shoe-string budget (s'one must be able to look and say "I can do that").

blessings
Ned

Update: 2008 Wrap-up

2008-12-23T13:54:00.000-08:00

Friends,
How are you today?

The end of tis year (2008) is fast approaching, and we thought it appropriate to drop a line or two updating all of you with our happenings.
Our family and our team are doing very well after over a year on the ground. God has been amazingly faithful, as we have grown personally and together as a team. Following Jesus is exciting! While it does not guarantee we will see and know every step ahead of time, there is an iron-clad guarantee of Him always being with us and a faithful guide along the way. That has been so evident to us as we wrap up 2008.

We set out in 2007 exploring ways God desired to use our team to impact our neighbors. We realized our understanding of this would develop through becoming more familiar with this culture, which, despite our obvious advantage (being Tanzanians), brought with it some unique challenges to both our family and our team. With that in mind, much of our first year was devoted to gaining perspective on how our presence here will impact the church, the community and the country. As Dorothy and I sought to re-explore this culture, build relationships and lay the groundwork for our team, each of our teammates devoted much of his/her weekly schedule to learning the Swahili language and culture, as well as other volunteer projects. We have all come so far! And we now see many opportunities to impact many lives – all because of your faithful partnership with us.

Here is a snapshot of the past year:
We coordinated and led trainings in Dar Es Salaam, Iringa (Southern Highlands), Mwanza (North – by the shore of Lake Victoria), Arusha (North east) & Kilwa Kivinje (Southern coast).
o As a result of our training in Dar, we now have our first church plant in the village of Kilwa. Ben and I (Edmond) recently traveled to Kilwa for further training and encouragement. We found fifteen people in that church - five of them brand new believers from the background of our “cousins”. Kilwa Kivinje is primarily a Muslim town, with 99% of its habitants considered our “cousins”. It is a relatively hostile environment to Christians, often non-Christian residents resort to intimidating those who profess Jesus Christ as their Savior - harassing and sometimes terrorizing them by burning their homes. Nevertheless, we see this place as ripe for servant evangelism. Please visit my “facebook” (Yes... I finally join the craze...) to enjoy a few of the pictures that we took on this trip, AND PLEASE keep this Kilwa Vineyard Church in your prayers.

o As a result of our training in Iringa (hosted by Peter Msigwa of Iringa Vineyard), we have two more families who demonstrate leadership and a desire to plant Vineyard churches in the Southern highland area. Please continue to pray as we continue to encourage them as they begin small groups. Please visit my “facebook” to enjoy a few pictures of this event.

o We also saw some interest in Mwanza and Arusha – We are working with a Joshua Foundation couple there (David & Judi Owens). They are praying for and working to build up indigenous “Vineyardites”.

As you may remember, we celebrated our first Christmas day here (December 25, 2007) with over 120 youth from a home for street kids in Chang'ombe, an area of Dar Es Salaam. Since that time we have maintained a relationship with the staff and kids, providing guidance and support as needed. Please visit my “facebook” to enjoy some pictures of these kids.

This summer, after attending Water Filter Awareness and Implementation Training, our team helped run a local water project which provides concrete bio-sand filters for villages on the outskirts of the Dar Es Salaam Area. With the help of our Tanzanian colleagues, our team was able to successfully deliver 100 concrete bio-sand filters, nearly all of which were funded by Thirst Relief International.

In line with our desire to strengthen and support the existing Vineyard initiative in Tanzania, we have completed a Leadership Training series at a local Vineyard Church here in Dar Es Salaam. During this training we were able to identify five couples as potential small group leaders. They are currently working with their pastor to strengthen and build the church as it develops in reaching out in the community.

Our team has also financially supported nine Tanzanian children to attend school this past year. Dorothy and I are now supporting four children, directly paying tuition and school fees for two of them. Friends, none of this would have been possible without your generous support. Please continue to pray for these kids as we seek to see the love of Jesus impact their lives directly.

In addition, our team has started three small group Bible studies. Through the relationships that the Lord has brought to us, Dorothy and I have touched the lives of over 300 students in eight universities and colleges through seminars and fellowship teachings!

Not to mention the countless numbers of relationships that we have developed over the past year. Through these relationships we have seen God bring freedom, healing, love, joy, and peace to our friends’ lives.

And so 2008 is coming to an end! Looking back we cannot help but give all the glory to Jesus – whose power we depend on for everything we put our hands to. IF IT WAS NOT FOR HIM – none of these things I have shared with you could have happened!

As we look toward a new year, we ask you to continue to keep our family and our team in your prayers. We have seen the power of your prayers, and have benefited from your financial and material support – PLEASE DO NOT STOP NOW.

As we approach 2009… we expect to continue to experience the Lord’s presence in all that we are planning. We are very excited to begin services out of our OWN church location starting Sunday of February 1st, 2009. Opening our doors will be a challenging task and we need your help! The following prayer points will help guide you as you consider your work (through us) here in Dar Es Salaam.

Currently we are seeking a venue for our church. We live in a city that has very few suitable locations. We have come up with some guidelines to help us in this search, but please pray that Jesus leads us to where He wants us.

Please pray for favor within the community and on the street we will be located

Dar is said to be the most sectarian city in the whole of East, Central and Southern Africa. Please pray for good communication and connection with our brothers and church neighbors.

We have developed a strategic plan for reaching out to the community surrounding our church. Pray God blesses those outreaches and we see His Kingdom come!

Friend, we can go on and on and on… BUT we know you can see that the Lord is in what you are doing here (through us). Again, thank you for giving your time, your prayers, your finances and all sorts of support for what the Lord is doing here in Tanzania. Again… while we know the Lord is sovereign, we acknowledge the fact that none of this would be possible without you saying, “yes” to the Lord.

Finally, we have a special request for one or two of you! Unfortunately we are unable to communicate frequently with you the way that we desire and thank you for giving us grace in this arena. Our prayer is that we would find someone who feels God can use them in this way to support us stateside. Would you consider praying about this need that we have?

From this side of the “pond” we wish you a very blessed Christmas season and a hope for you to see even greater things in 2009

Blessings,
edmond

From Dar with Love

2008-07-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Thank you so much for all of your emails & prayers.
It is always very encouraging to read from all of you
As for us, we are so very grateful that we are all healthy and happy in the Lord. Dar is considerably cool at this time of the year… the weather is so pleasant that I sometime wonder why would anyone want to leave Dar at this time of they ear.
Yes, our pastor R.N was here and for his first week (Wednesday the 18th to Sunday the 22nd) we were very busy trying to take advantage of everything we could from him. As you may know he is a very gifted preacher, teacher and sometime I wonder if we are not seeing a modern day prophet. Surely the lord is with him! But… boy it was exciting!

For Thursday and Friday mornings we conducted two sessions in which R.N and I shared the lord in training 20+ potential Vineyard leaders.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings were pretty much open conference – open to the public. R.N spoke in all of those, and I was tagging along interpreting for him. It was fun working with him in that capacity; this was the second time I had the privilege to do this (the other was 2005), and I always learn a lot when we do that. These meetings saw an average o 60 – 70 people.

In addition, we were blessed to get him to speak to one of the early morning service in downtown (@ the Lutheran church); - and that was a blast. We walked in at around 6:15am, and the room/sanctuary was packed with 250+ people (later the pastor told me that was one of the largest crowd and, he estimated at around 300 people). Most of these (if not all) were people working in various government and multi-national corporate offices in downtown – and thus we thought R.N could talk without the need for translation. As usual – he did a wonderful job!

Given the fact that the Vineyard is not known much (especially in indigenous circles), everyone in the team thought the activities went very well and that was a very good start. On Saturday (the last day of the public meeting), I was the last to speak… and on the Q & A session, we ended getting an earful of the “…why are we not making “these kind of teaching” available so people can hear and understand…”. Unfortunately we did not think of recording the teachings, and some people thought we should have done that (we will see next time). IN addition we were trying to be sensitive to what we feel is a real concern of some pastors here. And while the comments were flattering we had to be careful not to be like “…. Yeah… come to our church – we teach this things al the time…” – you know what we could say (LOL)…
We thought that kind of reaction could draw unnecessary “bad blood” with our “other” brothers in the faith.

Also “D” and I are so grateful to the Lord as we see the team ready to take the next step – that is… everyone seem to agree with the fact that the time seem ripe to now find a place and start meeting as a body of believers. If this will happen in the next few months, it will be significantly sooner than any of us expected. But then, we believe it is the Lord who directs our steps, and so far it seems he is lining up things that way. And so we are all in prayers, looking for a place that we think will be accessible, and easy for most people to come. We are taking our time as we move carefully. Once we get a place, we will first move our two small groups there (Yes we now have two groups), and continue the gathering activities. We will then try to assess the situation and hope to start meeting on Sunday morning as soon as the lord may allow.

And so friends… that is the news! As you can see, your prayers and sacrifices are starting to bear fruits! Please do not stop now! We still covert your prayers... probably now more than ever before.
Please help pass our boatload of love and greetings to all and especially those who know and have heard and are praying for us.
Love
E

PS… please pardon any grammar mistakes… English is still not my first language (LOL)

Prayer request

2008-06-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

I would like to specifically ask for your prayers. Our pastor R. Nathan is going to visit us here for a few days and we thought of trying to take advantage of his presence here to:

1. Introduce the Vineyard to the Tanzanian public. IT is important to note the fact that… there is already a Vineyard church here in Dar. And while it is congregation is drawn from primarily the expert community, we both agree in the importance of making sure indigenous Tanzanians see our movement as the best friend to them and their community. Towards that, the expert church joins hands with us as we are trying to reach out to our city.

2. Introduce and present key Vineyard distinctive (Vision, values & priorities) to the potential pastors, leaders and those who have shown interest and desire to understand the movement (and possibly become a part of it).

3. Connect with pastors and ministers of other churches in Dar Metro area. Tim B. (The founding pastor of Dar Vineyard) had connection with a few pastors form other denominations. It has been a year since he left, and there has been a vacuum, especially among the majority of indigenous pastors who do not even know we exist.

TO achieve this we have organized a 4 days conference (Wednesday; June 18 - Saturday; June 21) that will include events that are geared to address the above 3 key objectives. These events include: Three (3) day public conference on “Relevant Christianity in a Modern World”. 2 days of Vineyard distinctive. And a Saturday morning of “Pastors & Leaders Fellowship” We are also looking forward for a two early morning worship services in the heart of the city. We are looking forward to anything between 150 – 200 attendees to these morning services.

Please pray for
- Continued Lords’ favor on all that we have set our hearts to do… Both Rich and I will be teaching, and we wish to only be used as tools for his own Glory
- That people will see evidence of the breaking in of the kingdom in their lives.
- That he will use these events to jump start our efforts to reach out to the indigenous with the good news of the gospel

Blessings
Ned

Quick Update

2008-05-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

Friends,
I am struggling even on how to start this entry… for one; it has been a while since we last posted an entry. Lots happened… and we found ourselves going through various emotional motions.
One thing we never doubt is the assurance of the fact that a whole lot of you are praying for us. Even as we found ourselves in challenging situations, we continue to feel the power of your generous support here – over 8000 miles away. It is amazing and at times difficult to comprehend. Yet, very true and real! – THANK YOU so much for your faithfulness.

On a different note, I am not sure how many of you took a note. But the other day we were reminded of the fact that it has been a year since we said our goodbyes to you and re-located to this part of the world. Now it is almost natural to ask ourselves some “evaluative” questions such as: “how are we doing?” How far along have we came? Any adjustments? etc etc. Of course these are good and useful questions… and we did ask ourselves those + a few others. You would be pleased to know that are very happy, and generally in an appreciation of what the Lord has done through you and to us directly.

Of course we experienced challenges; and of course it hasn’t been “a walk around the park” But then we didn’t expect otherwise – it is a mission… and by definition RISK (in missions) is like breathing to life! Through it all, we can confidently testify the fact that, the Lord has preserved both our lives and the vision that he had placed in our and your hearts.

During these past 12 months, we have seen and experienced the lord’s presence in our lives and that of our teammates more than ever; We have seen ourselves grow in knowing him more and, in understanding his gifts to us and in experiencing his power and His awesome love to his church and us.
Yes! It has been a good ride – and you had a huge role top play. Everything that we have seen working in our lives, we know it is because the Lord honors and is faithful to answer your prayers.

As a team, we have just concluded 8 days “how we are doing”. Mark B, Bill C. and Kris were here for those 8 days... and, while we “almost” felt sorry for them (they worked so hard – literally from the time they landed here) we had a very good time with them.

As we look ahead, we are confident of where we are heading. We know with you by our side and the Lord ahead of us… we are sure (probably more than ever before) His Kingdom will come and be express here in this beautiful land. Suffice to say, we are excited and are looking forward to see the fulfillment of his glorious plans.

Please continue to lift us in your prayers, and give a big hug to all who knows us passing our regards to them.

Blessings
Ned

Hello - from Dar

2008-02-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

Friends,
It has been two weeks since our accident, and I am glad to say by the Lords’ grace we have recovered very well (emotionally). We (I specifically) experienced a few nightmares (which surprisingly started about a week after the accident)…but that was it - praise the Lord.
As expected…we soon started to follow up on the insurance stuff (as it will surely cost a bunch)… and that proved to be no fun! As you can imagine… since everything is done manually, we have spent long hours at the traffic stations and dealing with insurance guys - so far we have had three sets of the guys (including assessors & others from the big guys with money-underwriter) who all come to investigate the car and ask questions. This past Monday, We had to travel all the way back to Rufiji to collect a single page form (PF90) – without it one should forget payment from the Insurance. Also they do not cover for rental… and given the fact that we do not expect the car back for the next month (or two) we have to try and juggle schedules with picking up kids from school etc. Thanks to the Lord our teammates have really rallied around us and helped us with the kids when we got stuck in downtown –o something.
All in all though, - we feel blessed and that everything that is happening with us (and our teammates) is part of life! Part of our growth in the Lord experiencing, and learning new stuff in him. Thru these experiences, the Lord allows us to meet with lots of people who we would have never met otherwise. These include a Sheikh (It is estimated that up to 99% of residents in those areas of the coast region are Muslims). We picked and gave him (the Sheikh) a ride on our way out there (Rufiji basin) ...and we were together for over an hour of our ride. We had a lot to discuss – and of course we ended up talking religion… before he arrived at his destination, he asked us if we could consider coming to his neighborhood - as he knows we can bring with us some "blessings". He thought we were very different from other x’tians who he claimed to be too judgmental and “arrogant” in their faith. He also asked if we would like for him to find us land in his neighborhood (which happen to be on the other end -south - side of Dar) so we can come and work in his community. We however told him – we just cam and that for now e are concentrating our efforts in knowing our neighbors (on the north side) and see what we can learn from them and them from us. I however joked to the fact that we may take him up on his offer – of which he laughed and told us to consider it seriously. Too bad 3 days later he called and asked if we can help him out with some money. We couldn't fulfill his request ... (and I am not sure where that left us with him). I do have his number however and may decide to call him sometime later.

Well, thought of dropping a line to let everybody know how we are doing.
Dave, Rachel, & D joins me in giving their hugs to all of you.

Love
Edmond

Scare in Dar

2008-02-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

Friends,

I’m writing this with a heart full of praise and worship to our Lord Jesus
Christ… for HE IS TRULY our ROCK of SALVATION – literally!

At around 12:30 pm of Thursday Jan 31 Dorothy and I (+ a Dr. from one of the
local hospital here) were involved in a car accident – with our car rolling
over in Rufiji delta area.

We were on our way to a Muslim village that is 4 hours out of Dar (Delta basin of Rufiji), to participate in a community health outreach to our dear Muslim brothers and sisters.

Twenty minutes away from the site of the clinic, the front left tire busted.
Dorothy who was driving at the time tried to control the car but lost it and we rolled over. It was simply BY THE GRACE of God that we all came out with – NOT EVEN A SCRATCH! Yes we had our seat belts on… BUT… It was purely the Lord who not only warned us to reduce the speed to less than 60 km/hr (about 35 miles/hr) – of which Dorothy did… but also literally protected us from hitting a big boulder that destroy mostly the rear side of the car as it flipped!
It took us more than 3 hours to finally get the police to the site… and we were finally able to get home around 1a.m

Today we woke up a little sore (very expected) – BUT ALL so very grateful that the LORD literally protected us from the worse and got to see and hug our kids (they were not with us).

A number of our teammates were to accompany us to the delta – but cancelled as something came up on the 11th hour. On hindsight, we now know what was in store.

Good news: Before we left for the police station, we got to go to the clinic – just to see what was happening – and we were still able to see what was going on and talk to a few people there – couldn’t stay or say much really. Today we received news that… 2 people publicly gave their lives to Christ, and an 18 years woman who came to the clinic unable to see, was prayed for and walked away with her sight restored – Praise Jesus!

We have received a number of messages + SMS… and we are so very grateful for your support!

PLEASE continue to keep us in your PRAYERS! We covert them, like we have never covert anything like that before. This ordeal not only proved (once again) of the value and power of your prayers; but also reminded us of the seriousness of the business we are in! Please remember – not only my family and I; but with the rest of our teammates here and back home in Columbus!

Loving you
Edmond

PS: Our Internet is kind of slow tonight. Will try to upload some pics later

Wishing You A Blessed 2008

2008-01-01T00:28:00.000-08:00

Friends,

Depending on where you are, It may be hard to believe... BUT 2008 is here!
We are all so very grateful for a wonderful 2007. Yes it had its challenges, yes we sometime felt pressed beyond what we thought could bare... BUT in EVERYTHING our good Lord remained faithful and delivered us from it all!!!
Yes... 2007 came and passed! We saw ourselves moving back to Africa (little confession... if you would have asked me 2 years ago, I would have categorically place that idea in the realm of "impossibility" - that is if you would have avoided being labeled "krezy"!) - but it happened in a very glorious way!
We arrived here, and (-overall-) we have settled well. Yes the landing was rough! Hey, who am I kidding... It was very hard for all of us! Our good Lord allowed us to be stretched so far beyond what we thought we could bare - on a hind-site; for a very good reason! But HE SAW us through and we made it!
If I could put everything in less than seven words! " ... 2007 was an exciting ride!"

IN all... we constantly felt the power of your prayers and support to our family! Even with over 8200 (some of you 10,000) "crow" miles away, we never felt alone once! We constantly felt your support, constantly felt your presence with us here! For that our friends... we have all the reasons to thank the Lord for you and your family!

As we set our eyes ahead in 2008... none of us has a crystal ball in our hand! But really we DO NOT need it anyway! We have seen the Lord working in our lives... WE KNOW he will continue to do even bigger things through all of us! We know of His faithfulness, of His love for ALL people, of His divine plans for humanity, and of His determination to carry both you and us on His mighty hands... We KNOW He has been, and will continue to be good to all of us!
With that knowledge, we can confidently say... LET YOUR KINGDOM COME! We are all looking forward for even more exhilarating 2008 (minus pain if possible - LOL)
We will continue to need your prayers, we will continue to rely on your involvement in the things that the Lord will ask you to do for His Kingdom - In whatever way! The single most valuable resolution you can make for yourself is - To allow yourself to grow in knowing and obeying His directives. That will require your increased sensitivity to His spirit, your availability to the things of the Kingdom, and your determination to resist the enemy and his little plans to distract you!

We love you dearly... and we feel privileged to be on the same team with you - Together, lets make 2008 the year of the Lord in our lives and that of the people around us.

Wishing you all a healthy, secure and prosperous (in the Lord) 2008

E (for the rest of Ls)

Our Christmas!

2007-12-26T12:49:00.001-08:00

Friends,
Hope you had a joyous Christmas and that you are getting yourself ready for a brand new year!

Over this end, Christmas came and passed! We are so very grateful that our good Lord orchestrated a series of events that saw us spending our Christmas with the people that matters to our Father!

While we all are used to spend our Christmas day with our loved ones... this one was different! As days passed bye fast towards the 25th... it became apparent that "D" and I were struggling to hear the Lord on how we would spend our first Christmas back in Africa. We know it was NOT to be with our relatives... Please do not ask me why (especially after being away for 13 Christmas before) - I truly cannot give you an honest answer - I do not know... just felt the Lord would want us to spend it otherwise (but we were not sure how).
On the morning of 23rd we started talking on how we see our hearts changing and things, issues or circumstances that seem to capture our hearts the most . Our discussion ended up with the kids most of us call "street kids". We felt prompted to find a way to practically blessing them on a Christmas day!

Street kids in Dar...

Since our arrival here we have grown to know and admire a young man (who now attends the same Vineyard church we attend). The rest of his "brothers and sisters" call him the coach. He is a brother to 120 other kids (aged 8 thru 18 years of age) who live in a rented house in somehow the middle of this city. All of them have been drawn together by this awesome gentleman (a retired physical ed. school teacher) who thought he could change a few of "street" kids lives if he could scout for talented ones, bring them together and work on their moral and spiritual values while taking advantage of their athletic abilities (especially soccer). The "coach" acts as a big brother, and together with 3 other outstanding kids, he leads the rest of the pack in frequent bible studies, soccer practices and making sure everybody behave accordingly. The coach and the teacher also tries to connect the most promising kids with potential sponsors who can sponsor the kids education - while also pursuing their soccer dream. They all look forward to a day that their soccer talent will help them attend a good college - and God willing play for a professional team.

One problem though... no one seem to notice and provide for them.

On the 23, we called the coach who confirmed to us that they had no Christmas plan and that, he really was not sure what he will give his brothers and sisters so they can feel loved. He thought he will allo them to go roam the streets - or try to go visit their "families" - The problem - most of these kids - had no desire what so ever to go visit their families - who according to most of them - "were responsible for kicking them out of their families"
D & I felt our names called out of the "dug out" and thought we were supposed to spend the little that we had with this group of kids. After we hanged up the phone, we got a sense to share what we thought was the Lord's plan with our team mates. Everybody felt this must be the Lord and we all decided to chip in financially. And so - just like that a few $$ that we had become enough to not only buy some sodas.. but to provide the entire meal (Special Plaf - traditionally a delicacy for special occasions) + soda & water. The result was a wonderful wonderful day for ALL of us, our young friends + a few neighbors who the kids felt they should invite!

Knowing pretty well pics will not do justice to communicate the amount of fun that we had, we thought we can at least give a test by posting a few pics.
Please enjoy and give ALL the glory to the Lord for his goodness.

Chillin' out with our new friends

"G" with her new friends...

The place also house 11 girls. The "ideal" is for the girls to be housed in a separate building from the boys! for now however... it is just that... a wishful thinking!

As usual "A" was quick to connect

Thought we will do well to serve the meal t our friends first

They range from as young as 8 to as old as 18 yrs
all brought together by soccer and a dream! Through that.. they are ready to consider Jesus as their source of hope. With a few success stories... they all believe in the dream!

After meal - it was time to sing and pray for the group

friends... I know you wish you would have been there...
The truth is friend... YOU WERE right there with us. I wish you would fully understand how much we appreciate your prayers and support! We are literally carried by you and your prayers.
All I can say (And I am sure all of my teammates will say the same) - THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.

With Love
E

The scoop on thanksgiving

2007-11-29T04:05:00.000-08:00

Friends,
It is always a privilege to sit and type a line or two and give you the scoop of what is going on here.

Well…. Thanksgiving came and passed! We all had good reasons to thank the Lord... I mean it has only be a few months since we arrived here. But we have seen a lot of the Lords hand in our settlement and re-adjustment. And so we all met in our home for that one purpose... to celebrate the goodness of our Father... and boy it turned out to be a day full of fun stuff (never mind a few hiccups - including an hour long "blackout" - of course we are in "Bongo").

The Lord was faithful to provide us with a fresh turkey (courtesy of my Muslim classmate) and Grace had the honor of preparing it. She surprised all of us for pulling it through (of course she had to consult her mom… so probably we should pass all the credits to her mom – LOL)… But seriously, everybody did a wonderful job making sure they execute their part of the plan… and it end up being a very good day (since I do not consider myself a very good writer you may want to visit my teammate blogs: Ben & Melissa, Dan & Melissa and Grace for more details.

I should however mention an event that I am sure the enemy intended for evil, and our good Lord turn it into a blessing.
**
PLEASE… as you read, understand that, it is not my intention to “freak” you out or any of the negative feelings you may experience. I feel like… mentioning the events here (and especially the first one) will encourage you to intensify your prayers for the team and also provide a better understanding of our enemy and his schemes.
**

That thanksgiving morning we experienced a little scare (a bomb threat) - at our children’s school. ALL kids were immediately evacuated to a safe location, Security people were called and after 2 days of investigation, it was determined to be just that – a threat! ALL the kids were safe… and I must say that the school did a SUPERB job to make sure the kids are not traumatized in anyway. In fact… David even made a fun of the whole situation! I truly think it was the Lord who protected these little minds from the spirit of fear – Praise the Lord.
Just that morning, Rachel was complaining on how it “was supposed” to be a public holiday… and both of them could NOT understand how could the guys in power here NOT understand that it was a “Thanksgiving” day… our answer did not satisfy (that it was basically an American holiday… and not the “world” holiday). With an early release, the kids got their much desired 2 days of “thanksgiving” – never mind that it took a stupid “prank” to get the 2 days off.

Well… now that you have an idea of the fact that the team is truly treading in an enemy’s please MAKE sure you include us in your prayer list.
You will be encouraged to know that – today is the second day of our “planning” days… This being our first ever planning here in the field, and the fact that we are still trying to find our way around (yes, it takes that long); we thought we should make relative short-term plans (i.e. 3 months). We thought that will allow us a much needed flexibility (as we are still learning a lot) and also in a way force us to only take small “bites” that we can chew easily (read successfully).

Again, thank you so much for everything that you and your family do to support us in prayers and everything else.

Love
edmond

Who said Nov 17 is a "Big" Day?

2007-11-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

Hello from a very hot Dar,
.… man it is HOT outside! Today we were hovering around the upper 80’s (87F) with 91% humidity… and that is considered cooler (following two days of rain – and thus floods in the streets). It is a little past midnight here and it is still 80F! Somehow I keep reminding my self to “cheer up” regardless of the humidity… I mean… at least I do not expect “snow” anytime soon!!!! (Even with Mr. David already missing it like crazy!).

Otherwise, we are all happy healthy…. And... just got the good news: "The Bucks beat the "wolves" AGAIN!!!! Go Bucks!!! – I know I know… you must be from Columbus to understand - for those who do not know what I am talking about... please just extend a little grace to us... For some of us beating "M" makes the whole lot of difference in "our football world" for that year..., beating them six times in a row? Man that is huge like coach Tressel himself.. and yes... he is a hero in the Buckeye country!!! By the way, six times in a row...is that history? So, Yes… Saturday (Nov 17) was a big day for me!
The game aside, there is another reason (perhaps the best) that makes Nov 17 so special! A day like this a few decades ago a baby boy was born and they called him Edmond! Yes.. Nov 17 IS my birthday! Yah yah yah… I can hear the "he is getting old" whispers… hey... yes I am getting old... so what?...

But honestly, I feel good! There must be some truth to the saying "age is just a number". I mean... I have never felt younger, healthier and passionate about life like I feel right now. I do not know why (since I heard people tends to be miserable as they get older)... BUT I know It must be the Lord! I mean...all other indicators signals me getting "up there" (I mean you "know" how it feels to be "84" right?... one starts talking of Dolly Parton and Jim Reeves as an age-mate..., creaky bones, pain here - pain there, short of breath here, some teeth falling out there... I tell you... age may be just a number... but your body do not lie (laugh)

Despite that, I feel like a kid in a candy store! Day after day, I see things and experience stuff that I know must be of the Lord. WHile I can see myself becoming what we used to call a "softie" I feel like I am more in touch with the things of the Kingdom now than I have ever felt before! How else can you explain feeling teary eyed over a child that cries because he/she is hungry and "dad n'mom" have nothing to give her/him..., feel like intervening and help a family that has been badly infected with S.T.D - so bad that they literally stink! I mean the whole family (Dad, mom + 3 kids... ALL sick like they are nobody's business) and yet can't go to the hospital because "they do not have $70 for medication (the Dr. had agreed to see them and do testing for free... but they had to buy medication by themselves - and that they couldn't do... and the Dr told them to go find the money first! $70 ONLY...!OR feeling like crying seeing people walking 1 - 2 hours looking for water (any water) so they can bring it home for their family.... and this is not to mention a school that has 400 kids... with no toilet, no water... very very dusty... literally every kid looks "whitish" not because it is their color... but because of dust!... all those kids.. with 8 teachers!!!! Yes EIGHT teachers for over 400 kids!
Friend... NOW that I am growing up;... I see stuff which SCREAMS injustice. Things that begs for the LORD to intervene and do something! I know I see these things because he wants me to see them... a few years back, I would have never seen them the way I see them now... AND for that I AM so very grateful for him!
I know something needs to be done! Something divine, something that will change things forever... Now that I am older, I can hear the Lord saying... "You (that is I) do "that" something. Yes it seems overwhelming... I mean needs are every where! and one may wonder on how OR where do I start! Now that I am older, I know he has a plan, I know he wants to do something.... to do something through me and my team mates. We do not have a clear picture on how to start... but we can see the pieces falling in their place. getting old? I have never felt better! Never felt to be in a right place at the right time before! Of course things a still a little blurry... but boy I am anxious! I can't wait to see where we will all be this day next year. I can only say... "Let your Kingdom come Lord... Let it come!!!

Ohhh ... with regard to that “big” game up in “Ann Harbor” well let me just say; It was not all that “big” this year… at least not for me! Now I know a few of you (who knows of my otherwise fanatical following fo the Bucks are like… “What?” BUT yes... the OSU – “M”. day was not the same… I mean the significance of “The game” faded so quickly - I mean.. I had totally forgot about it!!!!
You see, there are things in our lives that we "think" are all that important... But then, something very little changes... and that "thingy" loose its value quicker than "Zim's $". Imagine my case: same person, same love for sports, same passion for the Bucks (Yes it is still the best school in the world) but,… change the context and all of a sudden “the game” is NO longer such a big deal!
May be that is why we are all argued to invest more in things that transcends distances, context… things that transcends even our own “little” goals and desires. May be that is why it feels so good to know-that-you-know you are in a right place, doing the right thing and walking on the path that the Lord has set up for you.

Again, THANKS so much for you and all of your prayers for us. We can tell the difference, and please do not grow weary on that!
Pass our regards to all and especially brothers and sisters in your small group and all who know us.

PS: pardon my rumblings... (hope yo are starting to get used to it... grin)
Edmond

Quick Update

2007-10-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

Friends,

We are sorry that we haven't been able to formally update you with all of our "happenings" in a timely manner and that, it has been almost a month since we last posted anything here. We are facing a real challenge with our Internet connection. While our former provider totally failed to provide connection to our part of the city (despite taking a 3 months payment in advance!), we are still trying to figure out our networking configuration with our new provider. Today things seem to work and we are very grateful.

Despite that little problem, we are thankful that we are all OK, healthy and very grateful for all of your emails, phone calls and everything that you do to make us feel so very loved, cared and covered (with your prayers).

With regard to our settling, we praise Jesus that things are starting to come together (5 months later). We now have in our possession everything that we had shipped to this side of the pond, and that we are starting to see some traction on the other aspects of our lives.
The highlight of this past month was definately the arrival of our team mates. So far we have been blessed with 3 units.

N's arrival... "A" was quick to
remember an old friend and had no
problem to quickly jump on to my hands

"Thank God we are here" seems to
be "mama" J's words as she stroll
towards the parking lot

an unknown stranger greets the M's

"Hello Bongo"

We are all grateful that our father seem to take a good care of them and that they seem to adjust well to their new environment. All kids seem to adjust exceptionally well. Given the fact that kids welfare can adversely disrupt parents adjustment, we owe all of our gratitudes and p[raises to our Lord. He (the Lord) has been faithful to graciously provide each one of them with a good home and nice vehicle. While they are all in Iringa (for their language training) they have all secured and signed rental contracts for their homes.
All of them are now planning to spend 4 to 6 weeks in Iringa - the duration that will see them there for the whole of this month (Nov). We have a pretty reliable connection (cell phones), and so far they seem to enjoy their time there - with the exception of a few sleepless nights (thanks to huge rats that seems to roam at will in their Chalets - real rats!).

*Please pray that the Lord will protect our health, support our continuing adjustment and that He will continue to clarify and shape our calling to see what He is doing here.

Well, enough of my blah blah... Please pass our regards to all of our brothers and sisters , and please continue to lift us in your prayers.

We love you and appreciate all that you guys have done for us. We know we are here 8,000 to 10,000 miles away – but are protected and carried by your support and prayers. THANK you ALL from the bottom of our hearts.

With Love
Edmond (for the L's)

FINALLY re-connected... !!!

2007-10-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

Friends,

We regret that we haven’t been able to update this blog for quite a while. – Our ISP (now former) totally failed to provide an Internet access to our area of town (despite forcing us to prepay for 3 months).
We have since switched to a new provider who just finalized our connection (this evening).
Please stand-bye… we are on for a long weekend – since it has just been announced that tomorrow is the beginning of the 3 days of "Eid ul Fitr” (Muslim holiday that marks the end of “Ramadan” – the month of fasting. Will try to type a line or two.

Thanking you so much for all that you do to support us,
edmond

We have moved!

2007-09-03T23:19:00.000-07:00

Friends,

It is Tuesday morning here (very beautiful outside) and I decided to stop by the café (having dropped the kids at school) to quickly check my emails and drop you a line or two.

I am sorry that I did not send this earlier (and some of you have started to wonder on what is happening) ... But, we have moved to a new home - and our container was finally brought to the house this past Friday (Thank you Lord). We are still trying to unpack boxes, and we are yet to open boxes with electronics (such as computer stuff) … so far however, it seems almost everything arrived safely. Of course there are a few breakage (so far about 12 glasses), everything else seem to have arrived intact.

DAR is getting better by the day (or at least that's how we feel); we are starting to get the hang of it. And despite the fact that we are still learning, and on a relatively fewer occasions; still get scammed like little kid – we sees that as a part n’ parcel of being a “newbie” in any place (not even mention a big city like Dar). All in all we can see progress.
With the moving in to a semi permanent home (rental), it feels like a kid graduating from a high school… with us… more like we are “graduating” from living “out of our boxes and suitcases” into a more settled (and civilized) life (grin). It is amazing how that familiar piece of art (for me it is a painting that was given to me as a birthday gift)… but it amazes me how that otherwise inanimate thing can makes one feel so much at home. Walking into a living room and see that paint – kind of assuring me that this place is “mine” (kind of funny – but true).
Perhaps of more importance though, is the fact that our move also provide a “solid ground” for our teammates to “land on” when they join us in less than 3 weeks (and boy… that will be a good feeling… I can’t wait).

Uups… I am told my minutes are all gone….
Unfortunately we haven't been able to transfer our internet- connection to the new house yet. I do however hope to be back online in the next 2 - 3 days. Until then, we will be out of the loop and our connection a little more erratic. (Of course you can still catch us on our cell phones - mine +255 78 789-0262.)
Till then friends… KOP (Keep On Praying) for each other

Loving you dearly... And miss you all like crazy
edmond

Thinking aloud: Stewardship

2007-08-22T04:38:00.000-07:00

Friends,

We are so very grateful that our Father in heaven continues to sustain, provide and to protect us.
For a start… we would like to share the good news! Our container got cleared this past Thursday (Praise the Lord) + we also got one of the car (a Subaru Forester) this past Friday and we believe we got ourselves a long term home! We are all very happy – all praises to the Lord – and sincere thanks for your prayers whose power we feel everyday!
It is amazing how events (or even things) that in the context of things seems small, translates into small victories and completely change one’s demeanor. Most of you are familiar with what has been happening to us, things that in the context of our calling here are normal – and yet a little hard. The fact that we are now about to get everything that we shipped here may not appear to be much of a big deal. BUT, these otherwise small developments have somehow boosted our morale significantly! Even “Mr.” David smiles a little bit more now!
You see…(and I am afraid this may end up being one of those random thought blog…); even young children know the difference when it comes to s’one else’s “stuff” Vs own “stuff” (we have been using a borrowed car for the past 3 months and thus they could relate). While one may take all necessary measures to maintain and preserve their own “stuff”, at least there is a sense of freedom on how you use your own stuff. It is often not the case with the “borrowed” stuff! Now I know there is a common knowledge that people rarely takes care of things that are not theirs. But I would like to argue that is only true when we pay to use those things (for example… when we rent a place to stay)… I think the fact that one pays to earn the right to use, bring with it a different dynamics on how one treats the “borrowed” stuff. Paying tend to make us think we have earned it! And rarely feel obligated to take care of those things… (By the way the Lord hates it when we treat other people’s stuff” carelessly simply because we have “earned” the right to use them! – that is a reflection of a sense of entitlement – which is SIN! Sorry if I have offended you… but that is what I believe)
Back to my thoughts… I am not blogging about that kind of borrower stuff. I am primarily referring to things that have been entrusted to us freely! Meaning – you did not pay a thing to “earn” it – pure grace!

When “freely” entrusted with s’ones else’s “stuff”… it is normal for us worry a little more (than when we use our own). We tend to be a little more careful on how we use it – primarily because we somehow know we will be held accountable to what has been entrusted to us. I mean, if anything happen to what is under our custody, not only we may be called upon to fix it, but also we may find ourselves incur the emotional cost of having to explain to the owner on what and how it happened to his/her thing! There is cost involved to being trusted! And for any sensible person, being entrusted is synonymous to a call to prove oneself faithful (1Cor. 4:2) why? Because stewardship involves being entrusted to minister, manage; make use/administer things that are of great value to the owner.
Bringing it down to more important issues in our lives, we all have been entrusted with s’thing of value – something that is in reality not ours, but have been placed under our custodianship to administer and manage. Our spouses, our children, our jobs, our properties, our valuables ($$), – all falls under the things that we have been entrusted with!
BUT I would like to reflect a little on what I believe is the most important thing in our custody! … The mysteries of God that have been revealed through Christ (Eph. 3: 7-12). You and me knows what is at stake here… we know the “State of humanity” and we know what the Lord has done to correct things and bring back the order! We know what it takes for people who are otherwise clueless of this mystery can in fact come in contact and enjoy the blessings that are in reality theirs for the taking.
Probably the most important question then is… “How are we doing in administering and managing what we have been entrusted with? I mean… if the Lord shows up (physically) this very moment, am I in a position to say; (with confidence) “…I have been faithful with what you have entrusted me with?” As for me, I know there are several areas in my life that still needs work! I have caught myself (several times) treating things that I know are not mine… like mine! Since to most people with children… those children become “EVERYTHING” to us, I will use them as an example:
I learned long ago that the 3 angels in my life are literally not mine! I learned of the fact that… these are human beings, known to our Father before they were formed in the womb of their mother! With their lives and destiny in life planned well before you and I came around! BUT it is also true that things have happened in their lives that kind of made me mad a little (ohhh who am I kidding?)… made me very mad!
On evaluating on what “really” made me mad! I came up with several alternative answers: I mean… was I mad because their action made me looks like a failure as a parent? Or is it because I felt disobeyed – and thus my authority over their lives has been challenged? Or is it because by their actions they have shattered my hope that I have been living through them? You may have some other reasons… but with me I found the idea that their action puts their future in jeopardy (both physically, emotionally and spiritually), makes me mad – almost always! As a parent do I have the right to get mad when a child does something stupid…Absolutely Yes! But then I also know our Father in heaven expects me to ultimately trust him in everything that is happening over my not so little (anymore) angels! EVERYTHING – without subjugating my responsibilities as a parent! I know it is hard... but I am praying that the Lord enables me to do just that!
Now as I said I have used the children example because to most of us… these young people are “EVERYTHING” in our lives! And it is a fact that… by virtue of being that important to us… we become so very vulnerable to the attacks from the enemy!
Similar situation may present itself in other areas of our lives (Our jobs, our finances, our properties – any of the things can be used by the enemy to “hook” us.
Praises be to the Lord who is faithful to continue working in and thru us as we grow!

As for our prayer needs: Please pray that we close the house thing and that our transition and move will happen smoothly (we may move slowly in the next 2 weeks). Also we still have a car (thank God it is in bonded warehouse) to finalize. We pray that the process will end smoothly and that they will not "kill" us in storage costs (the way they did with the Forester!).

Loving you all
Edmond

Thinking aloud

2007-07-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

Our dear brothers and sisters,
It has been a few weeks since we last posted anything on this blog…. Everything is OK, everybody is healthy; and we are so very grateful for all of your emails, phone calls and everything that makes us feel so very loved, cared and covered with your prayers.
I thought I should share some of my random musing about life… To some of you this may not make any sense… of which I would like to apologize upfront. Perhaps it will help to remember that… they are just random thought! Please feel free to ignore if I make no sense… otherwise, you are very welcomed to share your thoughts, comments etc…. Oh whom am I kidding? I am dying to read your opinion!

I would like to think that most of us, would agree with the fact that most of us loves to complain a little… I mean it is the easiest…almost a natural tendency – especially when things went a little off our expectations. At least I know I am (big time complainer!)
IN an attempt to better myself (since our Father is not very fond of complainers… I mean he would rather have you go to him and present your case than complain). …So a few days ago, I made this promise to myself to try and not complain… and NOT to blog anything that may in anyway suggest that we are experiencing anything but normal of the “not-yet” of this era.
Soon after I made that promise to myself, things started to go way “south” I mean seriously out of hand. Of course our enemy knows he is running out of time here (since my team mates are literally 6 – 8 weeks away from landing herein Dar…. Hallelujah….), but boy things changed. You see, it is a fact that life involves going through difficulties (of all sort) + times that one may find him/herself exposed to an unfamiliar situations.
If you were anything like me, you would agree that… this fact pose a serious dilemma on how one communicates his/her (not so good) experiences to others. I mean… how do you say it… “ I am hurt but I am OK”; “I am OK”…. “It’s no big deal”... what is the most appropriate way?

Praise the Lord that he didn’t leave us without an answer. The Bible argues us “…continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling…” knowing that “…it is God who work…” in us to what?
1. To will
2. To act
In order to fulfill his good purpose.

So it seems in everything that goes on around and thru us, one always has a choice on how to “interpret” the experience. Note that I put “Interpret” in quotes…meaning one would still go through whatever he/she is going thru – and often feel the pain and face the brunt. There is a choice to be made… either to interpret the situation as an opportunity for greater achievements in His good purpose OR, interpret the situation as a setback, wastage, ().
You read and think of all the great people of God… from the beginning of time… ALL went thru tough time… and yet they maintain their focus on that greater achievement in His good purpose.
You see, people interpret different. To some, challenges & frustrations faced along the way are seen as a confirmation of the path taken; Yet to others…even when exposed to exactly similar situations; challenges and frustrations are seen as nothing but pain and suffering.
Why the difference – you may ask? – I believe to a large extent the difference lies on the perception… that is what we believe to be the “Truth” about of the situation. – Sort of a belief system about the situation. This not only embodies what we believe are the true attributes associated with the situation, But also a belief about the end result, the meaning and the ultimate purpose of it all.

All of this amounts to a simple question:” Is it worth it?” I mean. What you are sacrificing your life for, what you persevere, you struggle to achieve, you spend your up to 3/4 of your life time on… whatever… IS IT WORTH IT? If the answer is yes, then we say… there is “meaning”…to what is happening. Otherwise, if the answer is No… then we say there is “No Meaning” “No purpose” etc.

So it seems the main issue that causes us to complain and grumble, is not necessarily the “pain,” “frustration” or even “suffering” that we get exposed to. Rather, TO most of us, the problem is “pointlessness” or “meaninglessness” of most of our pain, frustrations and suffering.
So the awareness and the understanding of the ultimate goal (that is the “fulfillment of His good purpose”) provides us with a lens thru which we should view and thus interpret our experiences.

My prayer is for each one of you to take a deep breath, look at all of your priorities, all of what you are doing (or planning to do) and ask whether there is a point to it! Ask whether it is worth it, worth your attention, your time, your $$$, your
If you find out it is all worth it… go ahead and do it and do it diligently as for the Lord. In the unfortunate event that you find out that it is not worth what you are investing in… make a bold decision and STOP it right now. And pray that the Lord enables you to focus ONLY on what counts.
Friends… while the value of this exercise may not be obvious at the moment, I have found it to be of utmost value…especially when you find yourself in not so rosy of a situation.
[Phil. 2:12-18]

Ciao
edmond

ELEVEN (11) WEEKS IN DAR

2007-07-12T17:38:00.001-07:00

Friends,

It is hard to believe... but it just dawned on us that we have been here for 11 weeks already!!!
We have learned a lot since we arrived, and in a way we feel a little more adjusted than before. You ask how do we know? Well..., despite the fact that - we are still fumbling our way around - at least we know where to go get our basic needs such as the "LUKU" (that is an acronym for "Lipa Umeme Kadri Unavyotumia" translation - Pay electricity as you use" - a pre-paid system for electricity. As a mater of fact, most services here are pre-paid - you pay before you use.
The other day, I was on my computer and the kids were watching something on the TV - when suddenly... - dark -. We were all like wow (unfortunately we did not have any candle, and no emergence light). After the initial shock - we looked outside and it seemed "everybody else's house had light - that is except ours! Then it clicks... we had forgotten to check our meter - and we apparently run out of "juice" - go ahead and laugh... but I had to run out (around 10:30p.m... and go find the "LUKU" - which turned out to be a code number that you purchase - and you come punch it in your meter and... just like that... Light again!!! Well... one more thing and; now we know!!!! - When we meet ask us about those kind of stories... - we have several... and every now and then we looked back and laugh and laugh - and the life goes on - kind of funny - when you think about it!)

Regardless of whether your relocation involves a move down the street, or to another continent you will eventually experience pretty much similar challenges: finding a good home, getting to know your way around (and minimize wrong turns), finding places to buy your groceries (without being "cleaned"), A little sickness here n’ there...etc etc... those and other challenges like that are very “normal”
Relocation to a developing country however - brings with it extra sets of challenge which are unique to developing countries - most of them associated with living in an environment that has limited infrastructure + and a very different way of doing things.
You see, living in America... one would expect things to work a certain way..., and if they don't... s'one may get sued! Example... you et in your car to drive - say to work... you know most likely all traffic lights will be working, everybody on the road will pretty much follow the rules - and the roads will have some markings + relevant road signs.
Out here things works slightly (or is it very) differently! Not only - you may drive the whole day without crossing a single working light... you will be lucky to find a road with any marking And yet... people drive - and people get around safely! How? You will have to learn - just a tip.... get ready to learn "eye language" - go figure!! Once you get a hang of it however... it gets to be fun getting around - and you learn to like and use your car again!
ON processes - While the system tries to make sure people understand how things should work... , nothing is guarateed! You may be (or feel) "entitled" to a service - the reality is however, you may not get what you are "entitled"! Entitlement here is soo "foreign" - almost a myth! and truly nothing has to happen! It is like everything that you get is by grace. In that sense - one learns very quickly to appreciate little things that works - and give the Glory to J.C for making it work.
In America, we tend to forget the fact that; if anything works in our lives is truly by the grace of God - and that without it... nothing would have worked! I believe this is because we have found ways of making things work around us!
Morever... with 36% of the population here living on less than $3/day - the reality that "hardship" is normal in this era of the "Not-Yet" of the Kingdom - is clearly demonstrated. The fact is friend; ...despite all the adjustment issues that one has to face when entering a new culture, we are still soooo much blessed compared to millions others in the world
Perhaps the best thing in all this, is in knowing that we are all (together with you - our brothers and sister) getting "schooled" in 1. “grace” and, 2. the state of being blessed - is more about the "presence of the Lord" in our lives than being in a state of abundance.
- Enough of the yapppi yappi... ... it is all about the Lord's Amazing grace! And thus we count our blessings and learn to continue relying on his grace and, extend it to those we feel has slighted us along the way.

Rachel in the hospital - getting her "buu buuus" (wounds) fixed...

With insurance coverage, health care here is not all that shabby. Problem... the majority CANNOT afford insurance - and have to rely on the free public hospitals which are in not so good a shape.

If you have been following our “happenings” on this blog, you know of the fact that our Father has been faithful to answer your prayers! Yes we are now in oursmall but nice 3 bedrooms ranch located a few minutes north of Dar downtown.

Our new home (for the next few months)

After what we have been thru (with houses)…it feels soooo good to finally have a place we can call home!!!

The little car that could...

With our container still finding its way through the high seas (then) we had to get some new mattresses, a little LP stove and a dining table...

So… for the last few days we found ourselves running around cleaning the place, bought a couple of beds + a bunker, a dining table, a little gas stove… and we are on!!!!

Well... enough of the rumbling…. Please keep praying for us, keep writing and pleeeeeease keep blogging.

We miss all of you badly - and we are dying to see and give each one of you a big hug!

Please pass our regards to all and especially your spouse and kids.

With Love
Lyatuus in Dar

4th of July Celebration in Dar

2007-07-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well… 4th of July is always David’s birthday… I mean there was a time in his life when every time he sees fireworks he yelled “My birthday!!”
In Columbus, we made the habit of not missing the “mighty” red-white & Boom” down by the riverfront. And I figure in his little head he thought “ I must be very important… all these people celebrating my birthday!!!! Well we are now in Dar… and the 4th of July arrived and there was no fire works - that did not sit well with bwana (Mr) David. I letter learned there was in deed 4th of July fireworks at the embassy – Was not announced as it was strictly for Govt officials and other “VIP’s”. For the public (strictly for Americans & their families) Friday the 6th was the day .
To make sure we live peacefully with bwana David for the rest of this year – we arranged and attended the 6th of July celebrations.

I must admit… it was very nice. There was a lot of activities including "dunking booth” in which "respectable" adults agreed toget "dunked" in a water tank for charity causes. There was also: ring toss, bean bag toss, basketball toss, cake walk and 2 bouncy castles – which was (as expected) the main attraction for kids.

Our very own Stephen (attends the same church as ours), sang the National anthem.

And... as usual... It will not be a 4th of July without fire works - right?

Well, the evening ended with fire works, which despite pauses between the “booms” was very entertaining.

Happy 4th of July - be-lated and...
please enjoy the rest of this weekend and have a blessed week ahead!

Ciao~

Finally a HOME!!! (Revised version)

2007-07-02T02:26:00.000-07:00

Our dear brothers and sisters,

** This is a revised version of our earlier posting - Enjoy

We are sorry that we haven't been able to update you with our "happenings"... and that it has been a few weeks since we last posted anything on this blog.
We are all OK, healthy and are so very grateful for all of your emails, phone calls and everything that you do to make us feel so very loved, cared and covered (with prayers).

A piece of good news...WE ARE NOW in our home!!!!
The Lord has been very faithful and has answered your prayers! We manage to get and move into a small but very nice 3 bedrooms ranch.
So… for the last few days we found ourselves running around cleaning the place, bought a couple of beds + a bunker, a dining table, a little gas stove… and we are on!!!! After what we have been thru (with houses)…it feels soooo good to finally have a place we can call home!!!

As to our state of mind... I believe we are doing well...
Of course it wouldn't be right to be-little what we have experienced (pain, frustrations etc)... Yes it has been hard! But friends, we do not want you to forget the fact that, what has happened to us is "Normal". It would have been "abnormal" to "glide" into this new phase of life... I mean... being on a mission - these things comes as a package. And what we are all learning here is to rely on the Lord's grace and accept the whole package... Morever... we arrived here with no prior arrangement for a housing or anything like that. We had tried to do it before... BUT it was hard (almost impossible) to do while we were still in Columbus! The system here is not that advanced. so while we did not expect it to be this hard, we expected some hardship in our first few months.

Also... few weeks ago we received an email from a friend expressing concerns on how what we are going thru may affect the rest of the team... we would like to assure you - They will ALL be OK. While every single one of them will experience his/her unique challenges - WE ARE very confident of the fact that they are ALL very equip to face the challenges. This is our part - the role that we know will benefit everyone of them. The Lord is showing us ALL the "crappy" and "scary" stuff, all the things that the enemy would have used to frustrate other members of the team and "drive" them nut!!!! We are so grateful and thankful that we are learning the "ropes" and when they come, they will find us already experts! we will be the "locals" for them! – How cool is that???
The good thing is... despite everything that has happened, We KNOW for sure... THE Lord WANTS US (and the rest of the team) HERE!!! Even as we run around chasing papers for our vehicles, finding a home and try to put together things that are basic for our lives…, we have encountered many incidences that confirm his plans for us here! We see the Lord in every step we make. We meet people who we would have no way of meeting them otherwise - All in preparation or the things to come!

By the way... talking of the rest of the team, Dorothy and I are especially excited to know that the rest of the team will be coming to join us soon! Doug & Lyndi Buckley (potential team members from Central Vineyard) came for a scouting visit. and they got to live and share our "crazy" life 10 days! Despite sitting on the floor + missing out on a few luxuries of life... we had such a blessed time with them. we laughed more than any other time (since coming here)... and, for the first time their presence here allowed us sometime to slow down a little and looked back on what has transpired so far. We shared our lives with them, we talked, we laughed and we thanked the Lord for the fun stuff. In a way they brought us a “taste” of how things will be when the rest of the team is here! WITHOUT A DOUBT… THAT WAS THE BEST 10 DAYS OF OUR LIVES HERE so far!!!
While it was sad to see them leave this past Friday, we know it is just for a while and soon the rest of the troop will arrive (and this time to stay)!

Well enough of my rumbling…. Please keep praying for us, keep writing and keep blogging - we read every posting!!! We miss all of you badly - and we are dying to see and give each one of your a big hug!

Please pass our regards to all and especially your spouse and kids.

With Love
Lyatuus in Dar

Reality Check in Dar

2007-06-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

(...this is Dorothy...)
Hi everyone? How are you doing?
We are very thankful to God for everything that he is continuing to do for us and for our teammates! Please continue to pray for the team… we all really need your prayers now.
To say that we miss you is an understatement. Being in Dar, We are made awake by the reality that we are now living in a different world. Things don’t work as we wish they would work.
Of course I know we are in a battle… but we so often find ourselves to check out on what is the reality! That… we are in the winning team no matter what the enemy is trying to throw on us.
Only yesterday (June 1st) we were supposed to sign our lease for what we thought was to be our home for the next year. We had an agreement with the landlord to sign and pay for six month rent…pending him fixing several things in the house – including broken windows, mosquito gauze on the windows and a court of paint! Of course we could easily do those things …but he said he would like his “fundis” (contract people) to do it. To our amazement the day of signing the lease, the old man changed his mind and brought to us (and require that we sign year contract + an increase in the amount we had to pay (of which he wanted us to pay for the whole year – including the added amount). Needless to say, we were so frustrated by his response. We tried (and we think we managed) to maintain our cool but… boy it’s hard! (Second time this is happening to us). Now we are back to square one looking for another house, it’s not fun at all.
The good thing is that… we are learning fast. And we know we are experiencing all of what we are experiencing so we can help the rest of the team as they come (of course they will face their share of frustrations – comes with the learning –but we hope and pray that it will be a little easier).
On a different note, it’s raining wet in Dar… and I mean “RAIN” with a capital “R”. We had forgotten that it has to first go through rainy season before we got on to a cool and very nice (almost paradise like_ cool months of June, July & August). People here people are encouraging us to count our blessings… as it better to be rainy than face the hot and steamy nights we had a few weeks ago.
My young brother (who lives in Musoma – about 1200 kilometers northwest of Dar) had borrowed us his little Nissan March (very little Nissan – more like a mini-cooper)… It is really helpful and Edmond is having a blast with it, as it is a standard manual shift!!!! But yesterday we were floating on so much water along the road – we thought we would be swept away… It is Dar and the roads are not well drained (You are not supposed to be surprised:). The other day we got stuck on a muddy pond… and people are so generous to come and literally lift our car by hands (one side… as we were driving off). It was so funny we had to give them some Tsh to show our appreciation. Their response… “No problem brother; today you are stuck… tomorrow it may be me…”

The children (Rachel & David) are doing much better now. They just finished their final exams in school - before closing for their summer break. They have been able to make friends quickly (you know kids) and today Rachel is sleeping over to a friend’s house… de-ja-vue Columbus all over again!!!!! It is a birthday party though. The school reports are not out yet; but they seem to enjoy everything and, they are telling us, they are learning stuff that they had already covered in the US. So we tell them that we expects for them to get all A’s - that was not very exciting… (ha ha ha).

Well, I should stop here… (It is getting very late here) please continue to pray for all of us and especially for the rest of the team in Columbus, as they are finalizing their preparations – they need God’s favor in everything they do. Pray also for Edmond… he will be preaching this coming Sunday at Tim & Ingrid Briscoe’s church.
God bless you all!

The work begins... still homeless!

2007-05-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

Friends,
We are sincerely grateful for all of your prayers and support.
You have no idea how encouraging it is to read all of your comments, prayers etc. Please keep them coming. We will try to bring updates as much as we can.
I (edmond) 'm currently in Iringa (about 200 miles south of Dar).
There are about 12 African leaders in training with Peter Msigwa (A pastor here in Iringa) - who have been trying to share with other pastors what he learned from his time at Vineyard Bible school in South Africa. It is a 3 months course (supported 100% by Dar Vineyard - Tim Briscoes' church) and the attendees were hand picked from a score of those who are intereted in learning about the Vineyard.
Tim and I arrived last night - and we are planning to be here to this coming thursday when we will be leaving for Dar.
Since our arrival here we have spent some of our days here with Tim, trying to assess the situation and where the church is. Tim who has done a tremendous job in starting the church and introducing the Vineyard movement here is on his way out. so we are spending these few days with some of the key leaders herein Iringa - trying to see where the Lord is taking us from here.
On the home front... we are still homeless (not exactly as we are still enjoying the Briscoes hospitality)... this weekend we had a good lead and we started to get excited. Today Dorothy was supposed to go see the owner - who to our surprise (not so much of a surprise to those who have been around), the land lord declared to Dorothy that she was asking for $1500 per month!!!!!! Needless to say Dorothy left - almost in tears. We are still very hopefull though... it is not like we have despaired in anyway - and that is the truth. Keep praying - and yes we need the house so desperately... but Our God is a good God! He does have a home for us somewhere in Dar... and on his timing we will get it!
Good news... Rachel (or "rakhel" as she would like to be called now) and David started their school today. I was not there when they returned...but I will guess it was an exicting enough. This past week we were able to get them their uniforms (yes they wear uniforms here) - and you should have seen the sparkle in their eyes! It was so much of a blessing to see them excited over something... I think this house hunting "thingy" had started to wear them out. Because we still do not have a car, we have signed them to be picked up by a school bus - and we think that is a real good help.
Over the weekend, Rachel was running some fever from the skin breakouts (mosquito bites are very itchy, and scratching only increase the chances of being infected). We took her to see the Dr. who cleaned her up and prescribed some days of antibiotics (2 of them in injection - not fun). David on the other hand broke his glasses... his mom was planning to buy him some new ones today
In everything though... our Lord is good.
The good thing is... we are starting to get used to the pace here. I (Edmond) have been driving (when I get a car) and that has been of great help...especially as we are visiting different neighborhood.
Uups... I am in the Internet cafe and my time is about to run out.
THANK YOU... THANK YOU for everything.
We truly appreciate your support, and we are literally been carried by your prayers!

Loving you
Edmond (For Dorothy & the kids)

PS... forgive any typos etc... no time to proof read:) - good execuse

Triumph In Pain

2007-05-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

Dear friends
Yesterday Tuesday the 8th of May was Dorothy’s Birthday! As I am sure most of you are... we are all very thankful to the Lord for allowing us to be a part of this amazing lady's life. She has been a source of joy to many and an inspiration to everything meaningful in my (Edmond) life. She is a blessing to all of us and a source of confidence, joy strength to not only our children - but to everyone who comes in contact with her. She is an amazing woman, a loving mother and a very faithful friend. She is a total package... a blessing from the Lord. If you can, please find a moment to pray for her. Pray that our good Lord will continue to keep her and make her a blessing; continue to grant her His wisdom and grow her in His image.

Apart from spending a night with our kids in a relatively nice hotel in Tanga (On our way back from the Village), it was unfortunate that the kids and I couldn’t do anything special for her. We left the village on monday afternoon, spend an evening in Tanga, and most of yesterday (her special day) in a bus traveling back to Dar from Tanga. Hopeful we will be able to take a rain check and cash it later.

About Dorothy’s dad… I am not sure how to express it in such a way that will give glory to Jesus. Our father passing was caused by cardiac arrest that resulted from a blood clot traveling to his heart (emboli). Having spent the whole of the previous day with him, Dorothy left the hospital at around 8pm with a promise of bringing the kids the following morning. Before we left Edmond parent’s place (on the next day), we got a call that there has been a sudden turn of events and that they had to take him back for surgery. We arrived in the hospital a short while later – to find out they had already took him in. A little over an hour after we arrived at the hospital, they called in Edmond & Rogers (Dorothy’s brother) to pass the news of his passing.
As some of you know, the passing of our dad was sort of a “one-two punch” from the enemy. My younger sister (Lucy) who lost her daughter less than 24 hours after Dorothy’s dad passed is back to work and she had sent us a nice encouragement. Despite the funeral of her daughter being a few miles from Moshi – where Dorothy’s dad was hospitalized, I couldn’t attend that funeral as I thought I should be with Dorothy – who needed me more at that time.
It has been a hard week! But the bottom-line friends, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING happen under the sun without the knowledge and the permission of our father in heaven! Our Lord God is still sovereign and always in control of absolutely EVERYTHING!
We are aware of the spiritual danger that often lurks behind this kind of “human” pain and a sense of a loss. We (and especially Dorothy is) are still experiencing cycles of emotions… it is healing in progress! What you can do for us at this time; is simply to take time and lift us before the Lord. Pray that the Lord will continue to grab everyone’s attention and focus it to himself who is the source of our comfort and strength. Pray that he will preserve the vision that he has placed in our hearts and that; he allows us to see and learn the lessons that he is placing in us.
We know in all of this… the name of the Lord will forever continue to be blessed and, His Kingdom will continue to grow, shine and expands!
We know this because we saw it – even in Tanga (Maramba village) where we went for the funeral. Through out our time there, we felt as if the Lord took us there for a boot-camp training on culture & traditions. We came back thinking we knew of “our” Tanzanian culture and that we will re-adjust pretty quickly. The funeral experience reminded us of the fact that we have a lot of things to re-learn and adjust. It was interesting to see how meetings are conducted, how decisions are made, the power hierarch in the community and all of the accompanying protocol and procedures. While the elders still asked us for our opinion… we were so aware of our ignorance in a lot of things. In short friend, the Lord used this time to “school” us in what it means to be a part of the community.
Back in Dar… we are back on our house hunt. Somehow this appears to be more challenging than we thought. So far we have visited about 15 houses – and either they are way too expensive for our budget OR will need lots of work for us to be able to move in. We have started visiting neighboring areas such as Sinza & Kijitonyama (for some of you who knows Dar) and some of those houses do not even have a place where one can park a car. We are starting to notice our “anxiety – o – meter’ and in a way [raying that we stay calm. Our stuff (from the US) will arrive shortly – and we will need to have a place by then. Please pray that the Lord open up the doors in this area.
Other news: Edmond & Tim Briscoe will travel to Iringa (a small town in the southern highlands region) on the 12th where Tim has arranged for them to meet with all of the key leaders here in the country for 3 days. This may be Tim’s last meeting with these leaders… and the first for us as a team from Columbus. The way we see it, some of these leaders are the seed of what we expect to be a contextualized, vibrant and self-sustaining Vineyard church planting movement here in Tanzania (and beyond – by Gods’ Grace). We sincerely ask for your prayers on this meeting – that the Lord will reveal his direction to us and bless us with His with wisdom that we so much need as we continue to follow him.

Friends…we love you and, we miss greatly miss the opportunity to fellowship with you. We praise Jesus for technology, and are grateful for the blog, email etc. We are not sure you understand how much we feel encouraged as we read your comments, words of encouragements etc. Your comments make us feel so very close to you! While we were in Tanga – your comments (including the cards that some of you gave us before we left for TZ) were such an inspiration to Dorothy who was otherwise very down and sad. IT WAS your comments and words of encouragement that sustained us – We are forever grateful for your love to us – Only in Jesus – and for that we praise his Holy name. We are grateful for your continued prayers and intersession. For all that you do in the Lord – Thank you!

Loving you
Edmond (for Dorothy & the kids)

URGENT PRAYERS FOR DOROTHY - Needed

2007-05-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

Friends,
I am in the Internet Cafe (do not have my laptop with me and do not have lots of addresses - so please help pass them message to brothers and sisters in Christ

PLEase pray for DOROTHY!

Her dad who has been sick for the past few days passed on to go be with the Lord today at around 1:30pm (EAT - East African Time) at the Kilimanjaro Medical Center Hospital.
He underwent a surgery to attend to his prostate about 4 days ago, and somehow he couldn't stop bleeding. This Afternoon they took him back for a second surgery - and unfortunately he didn't make it.
While we were at the hospital at the time Dorothy didn't see him today. We arrived here late on tuesday and yesterday she got to spend a day with him at the hospital. WHile he was in obvious pain he was of good spirit - talking and thanking GOd that Dorothy (who took his mother's name and so calls her "MOther" - it is an African thing - will explain next time) could come see him.
We had brought Rachel & David today to see him... unfortunately by the time we arrived at the hospital he was already in the surgery room.

We do have our cell phones on: Dorothy (I know she will appreciate hearing from you) +255 787 890 172 and mine +255 787 890 262

I will not be able to access our email account (or read this blog) in the next few days... but feel free to leave a message.

Loving you all
Edmond

Settling In...

2007-04-29T06:46:00.000-07:00

Well friends,
Today was our first Sunday here in Dar. We miss our VC already!!
In the context of things however, it was a good experience. It was refreshing to meet some of the people whop have been around since when we brought our first mission team to Tz in 2004.
The church has grown a lot, and with significantly more black Africans. One of the church leaders taught from the book of Ruth – and she did a very good job. After church Tim left for Pemba (an Island south of Zanzibar with close to a 100% Muslim) – where he has been nurturing some young local pastors. Literally 45 minutes later he called us that he had arrived (...of course he flew! – But I thought that was too quick)

As for us, we grabbed a quick lunch and hit the streets with Ingrid to go meet... – yet another house agent.
In fact we have spent the past three days trying to get started in what we expect to be a tough and a confusing process of settling here in Dar. There has been some progress...We now have our own phones (Yes we will be glad to receive your call: ). By the way, cell phones are literally the only way of staying connected around here. Too bad, both the set and the prepaid cards are very expensive. For our teammates who are looking forward to join us here – we suggest you try getting the unlocked sets while you are still in the US. I believe we saw some nice sets online (which ship primarily to US addresses). So we do have our own lines:
Dorothy’s number is +255 – 787-890-172 and, Edmond’s number is +255-787-890-262. Since all incoming calls are free... Feel free to call us if you find it convenient. But – truly do not expect for us to even try to call you from here:) – That is unless you join “Skype” and we talked that way – for free! (I hear IM also does the same so simply let us know your “Skype” or “IM “username and we will search for you.
We also managed to get our own post office box (P.O. Box 105946 Msasani, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania). Apparently it seems it is possible to also get a street address. While street address are literally useless when it comes to mail (they do not deliver general mail like they do in the US)– they are very valuable when it comes to receiving DHL, UPS or FEDEX packages, parcels etc (Yes... they can drop a package at the house – provided you also give them the recipient phone number so they can call for directions – if needed).
ON house hunting... we find this to be the hardest thing so far. It is simply raw pain!
We spent the last two days driving around with “dalali's” (agents) – who we have found to not only be confusing and unorganized – but also trying to win a buck or two (gas money) without delivering. We have visited about 6 houses so far – One of them we really liked. Nice location (literally across the road from Sinza area, behind the school for journalism, and Tumaini University (a small roman catholic school)... but it is a relatively old and, will need A LOT OF WORK for us to be able to move in. Unfortunately, landlords do not bother fixing the house – since “they have no plans to fix it – you the tenants will have to fix it to your own “test”. We think unless we figure out a way of either counting the $$ spent as a rent OR work towards an outright purchase... we doubt we will get through with the deal.
Our kids got accepted to Haven of Peace Academy (A school primarily for kids of missionaries – but with 60% of its roster filled with “middle class” Tanzanian kids. Tomorrow (Monday) we will be at school filling out forms and try to see if they can spend the next few weeks attending the school as they are getting themselves adjusted.

Well folks... please keep praying for us. The kids are struggling with the heat and the drastic change in their life styles – especially David who is starting to demand that he goes “back home”. We thought they were prepared – but so far it is not very good with David. Rachel is relatively better – she taking everything in stride, and sometime simply sits and watching us (not really sure what is going on in her little mind) but she has been of a great help with her brother.

With love from Dar

We are in Dar

2007-04-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

* Sorry our email is still trying to adjust to Dar... Somehow all of our emails can receive emails... but sending seem to be a problem (it may have something to do with the upload speed).
Please note... our emails are still:
edmond&dorothy@tanzaniamissionteam.org
dlyatuu@tanzaniamissionteam.org or
edmond@tanzaniamissionteam.org
===

Friends,
This is Edmond & Dorothy - finally HERE in Dar!

We arrived safely on Tuesday night at around 10pm local time (3 pm Columbus time). Today is only our second day (not even started yet) and frankly we do not have much to write about Dar itself - except for the fact that, it is HOT! (It was 86 degrees when we arrived – and that was 10 p.m). Thank God it will soon start to cool down as we approach summer (Tanzania do not recognize our four seasons – but will continue to use it for clarity)

Regardless... We are all very excited to finally arrive where we will be our home for the next several years!

The trip went very smoothly (Praise the Lord)... the longest lay over – the actual sit down on an airport chair - was in Amsterdam for about 45 minutes! That was enough time for us to even go to the bathrooms and freshen up a little.

Our entire luggage arrived safely - and on time with us (this is not always the case; especially considering we change planes in Detroit and again in Amsterdam) - thank God every thing came in safely.
On arrival, it took us less than 20 minutes to find our luggage and clear ourselves through immigration and customs – again we experienced nothing but “welcome to Tanzania” smile – again we thought that was not normal (normally they will make you open up your suitcases and go through them. With 8 pieces + carry on – that would have cost us at least an hour or so).
Tim Briscoe (a pastor here in Dar) was at the airport to receive us, and while we had to add a Taxi to be able to carry all of our luggage... We were out of the airport and on our way in less than an hour from our arrival – Praise Jesus!

Dorothy and I rode with some of our luggage in a Taxi, while Tim rode with the kids.
We found the Taxi driver (Mr. Chawa) to be very friendly... In fact he started by asking us where were coming from and whether we were returning home or just visiting. We told him we were returning... and went ahead and asked him what can someone like us do to quickly fit and become a part of the community... He had a lot to say about that (he even shared his own story - once a “stow away”, lived in Spain & Greece for several years and how he struggled to fit in when he finally decided to come back and, and how he adjusted. He is now a businessperson here in town – with several ventures going at once (land lord, a little shop and a Taxi cab). He assured us that we will love Dar, and almost with the same breath warned us to take it slow and try as much as we can to forget our lives in America – and live cheap (He said life here is getting very expensive – but one can find a way of living cheap) In his words “the sooner you forget about your lives in America the better! You are now in "Bongo" where despite what may be perceived as abject poverty, people manage to live happily and, send their kids to school. He went on to tell how the country has changed since the new president came to office and that he was happy that violent crimes (which caused terror in most neighborhoods) have greatly been steamed.

In short friends... We enjoyed the presence of the Lord through out our way here. We know all these happened that way because you prayed for us. We are so very grateful for that.

Yesterday (our first full day here) was a little disjointed (jet lag); woke up around 4am... Sat (Edmond) down with Tim for about 3 hours trying to bring each other up to date, And later in the afternoon went out to get our phones and try to touch base with the school that Rachel & David will be attending.
We came back, got our dinner and went to bed very early, as we all felt so tired.

Today (Wednesday): We have several things that we will be trying to – at least start the ball rolling.
- We will start to look for a home immediately (actually started yesterday)
- Our kids got accepted at Haven of Peace Academy (HOPAC) for the next school year.
However they still have about 4 weeks more before this school year is over. We thought it may be advantageous for our kids to start attending now – so they can make get used to their new environment, make new friends – and spend their summer break building r/ship with their new friends & /or catching up with the school curriculum if needed. Ingrid (Tim’s wife) connected us with the 2 principals (Primary - for David and Jr High for Rachel) yesterday... they both thought that was a good idea – but they will have to see if there is any space for that. We will be meeting again on Monday morning when we will also be given a tour of the school, signing forms etc., etc., etc.

Well friends...
Before we left – we desired to be able to hug each one of you – for as long as it could be possible. Unfortunately our final 3 days in Columbus were too short and with a very full schedule of things that needed to get done before we left. We hope you will forgive us for that.
Otherwise we would like to again thank you (from the bottom of our hearts) for your prayers, your physical & financial support, and your volunteer work EVERY thing... We appreciate your love... And we will surely miss seeing you, talking to you face-to-face, hugs and all that we used to do when we were together in Columbus!
The best in all of this is the conviction that is in both you and us; that it is all worth it! And that, we will – together - share the joy of seeing the Kingdom of our father touching and changing so many lives here in Tanzania; as we continue to partner together in this new phase of our lives.

Please continue to stay in touch...
You will be trying to maintain our blog space at: www.edmondanddorothy.blogspot.com Please make a point to visit frequently and drop us a line or two (it is not fun to blog if no one puts a comment or whatever is in your heart for us:).

Thanking you
Lyatuus’ In Dar

Putting up final touches

2007-04-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well!

First thing first… thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! … By the way, of recent we have noticed the fact that we have learned to say “Thank you” more than anything else… not that we are so nice and all… (I mean it is nice to say thank you... just that I feel some of us needs more growth in that area than others)
...I was saying... our "Thank you"s are truly a response of what we are experiencing. When another person does so much more than you can every imagine or ask... "Thank you" is a natural response.
Folks, with everything that is going on, and everything that demands our attention – it is impossible to think we are doing all these things out of our own power! On several occasions we have sat in our otherwise very cold garage (our "packing central") – and wonder in awe on what the Lord is doing.
So… again THANK YOU for everything that you do to support and facilitate our smooth deployment.

Where are we now?
- Well, thank God our house is (now officially) rented for two years with an option for purchase. As we had mentioned earlier… we really did not know anything on lease-to-own kind of deals. Thank God for the church…our dear sister – CB (not sure whether she would like for us to publish her full name here), saw that we get a fare deal out of it. We will still have to add some $$ to the rent to cover for our mortgage obligations (including insurances & taxes) but it surely beat the other option of loosing so much money in trying to sell out rightly.
- Since we now have to leave all of our appliances in the house… we spent most of Saturday and yesterday (Monday) looking for a refrigerator & a range. Considering the fact that we had already made shipping arrangement for those things, coupled with the reality that appliances are way cheaper here than in Dar, we thought it was worth the hassle.
- Albert (Romeo) moved out this past weekend.
Being our first born and all... I can simply tell you… despite the fact that we expected for this day to finally arrive... it was not fun! Not to his siblings (Rachel & David), not to me and surely not to his mother. It happened as if in a dream... weird, and to be very frank with you – It was kind of scary to see our "baby" trying to fly on his own wings! As a father I could easily pretend I am not really afraid (you know men...), his on the other hand couldn't fake it. I made a mistake of trying to joke around (expecting to lighten the mood…) didn't work well. The short of it Albert left to go live with a group of very nice kids - very solid in the Lord.
He however came back yesterday to pick his computer... he stayed for dinner and way beyond (????). He went to school today - and again he is back here again - still trying to fix his computer (???) – what do you think? Do you think he is having a difficult time leaving, saving a buck or two on meal? Already missing "Mom's food" or all of the above? Yes the computer thing is real... tried to upgrade storage in his old one and somehow messed up the jumpers and stuff. But mhhh (??) and, what should I do? - Should I chase him?

The truth though… we like it… we still want him around and I think we both find it hard to let it go... we will surely miss his charm a lot!

What else?
This weekend will be our last here in Columbus (for while); our congregation will be praying for us and officially send us out. If you can please participate wherever you are by lifting us in prayers.
We will then make a quick trip to Phoenix before coming back for a “true” departure for Tanzania on Monday April 23rd

Loving you
Edmond

Praise report on our house

2007-03-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

After being discouraged with the house market situation (“buyers” market), we finally decided to simply take lots of pictures – upload them on the “Flickr” site and put up an ad on the “craigslists”.

Well… we think we finally got a young couple that would like to lease-to-own the place. We are yet to sign the required contract – which will most likely be effective as of June 1st, - but so far things seem very promising. Also we are very unfamiliar with “lease-to-own” contracts; but one of our sisters in Christ has volunteered to help us with the process.

Dorothy and I would like to sincerely thank you for your prayers on this issue – which was surely one of those “linebackers” staring down on us.

Would you mind to continue praying that the Lord continue to work on this thing to the end?

Also please continue to pray as we finalize various things including our shipping arrangement.

Karibu / Welcome to our blogsite

2007-03-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

Friend,
“KARIBU sana” (You are warmly welcomed) to our blog.

Well, As we start this blog, we are approximately 5 weeks out from our journey to Tanzania. It is difficult to comprehend the reality that we are already deep into the month of March and that soon our planned departure date (April 17, 2007) will be upon us.

As the days begin to fly by even more quickly, we go through various emotions and sometimes we feel sad about moving 8000 miles away.
Overall though, we feel privileged to be called to participate in what the Lord is already doing in Tanzania. Our great encouragement is the knowledge that you are with us in this.

We intend to work hard in trying to keep you in the "loop" of what is happening in our lives. We thought, this site may provide an avenue through which we can share and update you of our lives in Tanzania. Please feel free to not only comment on the postings, but also to drop us a line every and then.

Karibu sana.

Edmond & Dorothy