Vacation!!!

Steve often refers to 2007 as a "suicide year"--we started construction on the Truth Center just days after returning from the States, we hired a pastor part time, our church took on 2 Tanzanian missionaries to support, we started a school, we began several new ministries/outreaches at church, we had many guests including a group from our church in Ohio, and the list goes on. So needless to say, we were ready to get away from Katesh for a while!

The day after Easter, we left Katesh for 3 weeks. First we went to Moshi (at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro) for 5 days for a meeting with the other families in our mission. As always, it was a special time of fellowship and fun, along with encouraging messages by the men and sweet testimonies from the women.

After the meeting, we drove another 7 hours to Dar-es-Salaam, a city of several million people on the coast of Tanzania. We stayed with our dear friends, Dave and Bonnie Jones, and we enjoyed shopping and eating out at restaurants--two things we rarely get to do! We were also able to go to the American Embassy to get a new passport for Hannah.

From Dar, we took a 20 minute flight to the island of Zanzibar. This was by far the smallest plane that I (Natalie) have ever been on! I've never been on a plane where I could see out the front windshield, and where the pilot can talk to you over his shoulder. But it sure beat the horrific 3 hour boat ride! We spent one week at an amazing resort on the northeast side of the island. The only negative thing of our whole vacation was that it rained off and on for about 4 days--we weren't aware that this was monsoon season until we got there! But it really didn't keep us from having fun--we were wet anyway from swimming in the pool and ocean. Besides swimming, we played on the beach, took long walks, walked around historic "Stone Town" to do some shopping, took a small boat out to Prison Island to see the turtles, and just enjoyed spending time together as a family. It was so nice to have no distractions or specific things that we needed to accomplish. The kids enjoyed having our undivided attention, and we enjoyed giving it to them.

After Zanzibar, we spent a couple more days in Dar before driving back to Arusha to do our shopping and banking. On the way home, we stopped at Tarangire National Park for a short safari. Even though we live here, we never get tired of seeing the amazing wildlife that God has created. We had such a special time away, but there's no place like home!

Building People at the TRUTH Center

Building Families and Children through the Truth Learning Center.

As a child, I (Natalie) always looked forward to the beginning of a new school year. Meeting my teacher and my classmates, buying new supplies, anticipating all of the exciting things I would learn --these are some of my favorite memories. However, I never could have dreamed that I would find myself on this end of the school system--as a teacher and manager of the Truth Learning Center! God blessed all the months of preparation as we opened our school on January 7th. We now have 24 children, ranging in age from 3 to 7. I have 3 assistants, and the day goes by quickly as we have Bible class, English, Math, Social Studies, and several activity centers. Tears come to my eyes as I listen to the children quote their Bible verses in English, some of whom knew nothing about Jesus before coming to our school. Please pray that we are able to lead these children to Christ, as well as impact their homes for God's glory.

Each week we have a different theme for the school, such as "I am Special" or "I Can Be Healthy" or "Farmers Help Us." All of our activities and lessons, and even the Bible story for the week, reflect these themes. The children have learned so much, even difficult concepts, from recycling and conserving, to the food pyramid and oxygen. During activity center time, they rotate to different activity centers every 15 minutes to put together puzzles, make a craft, learn vocabulary words, or memorize a poem. Nearly everything we do at our school is a completely foreign concept here in Katesh, where at most preschools there are over 100 children crammed into a room with no chairs, no visuals, no hands-on learning. We are gaining a positive reputation in the community, and our hope and prayer is that it will draw people to the church.

Several people have asked how they can contribute to the needs for the school. I very much appreciate the offers, and have compiled a list of some specific things that we need. Please contact us if you would like a copy of the list.

Building Future Leaders

We are blessed to be working with a fellowship of independent Baptist missionaries and national pastors/missionaries here in Tanzania. Several times throughout the year we all get together for fellowship, teaching, and prayer. We were privileged in February to have this meeting at the TRUTH Center with Truth Baptist Church hosting the meeting. Our local church people did a great job preparing and serving meals to the missionaries and pastors.

Building the local church--It is one thing to lead people to Christ, and it is an entirely different thing to disciple them and bring them to maturity in Christ so that they can lead others to the Savior. We are thankful for the 7 Bible Institute students who are actively involved in our ministries on a weekly basis. We are preparing a series of teaching on spiritual gifts to help people identify how God can use them to serve in the local church. Please do pray for the members of our church, that they will truly know what it means to live in Christ.

TRUTH Center DVD--A new DVD documenting the construction and dedication of the Truth Center is now complete and available at no cost. Please contact us if you would like a copy of this DVD.

New Year 2008

TRUTH Baptist Church: The church continues to grow since moving to the TRUTH Center location. We have seen many new vistors and decisions for Christ recently. We open the TRUTH Center each weekend for games like volleyball, net-ball, soccer, and playground. We also have an indoor game room where the youth can enjoy board games, carpet ball, and other games. We use this game time for opportunities to witness to people who would not normally come. We have seen several start to attend our services and a few have trusted Christ as Savior as a result of this outreach time.

Youth Camp: In December we were able to take a group of youth to participate in youth camp with other independent Baptist churches. The campers enjoyed the games and fellowship with other youth, but most importantly made many spiritual decisions during the services. Many campers were able to memorize the entire Sermon on the Mount during camp.

New Missionary: The Truth Baptist Church was able to begin to support its second missionary in December. Daniel Lekunga, from the Maasai tribe, is living with and reaching his own people in the bush of Tanzania. It was an encouragement to our church people to see a fellow Tanzanian with a burden to reach his own people. Please pray for Daniel and his family as they minister and also for our church to have a vision for local missions.

Holiday Services: We had a busy December with special services on Christmas and New Years Eve. On Christmas we were able to have a baby dedication and fellowship with a church-wide meal afterwards. On New Years Eve we had a midnight service with 120 in attendance. 54 people stayed for an "overnighter" until the morning. We had a great time fellowshipping and playing games. It was a great way to end 2007 and start 2008.

Missionary Perk: One of the many "perks" of being a missionary in this part of Tanzania is being able to enjoy hunting. Because of being so busy this year I was only able to go hunting once. Nate Wolf and I, along with another missionary friend, enjoyed a day of hunting where we shot 4 gazelle and 1 wildebeast.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Tanzania! We had a really lovely holiday as we reflected on our Savior's birth over 2,000 years ago. Needless to say, it was a different celebration than the one we had in America last year, but still good. On Christmas Eve, we went over to the Wolfs' house for food and fellowship, and enjoyed celebrating Hayden's first Christmas with them. When we got home, we let the kids each open one gift, and they loved that! Then we got up early this morning to finish opening the rest. Hannah's favorite gift was a doll from her grandparents, and Caleb's favorite gift was a Spider-man back pack. We hurried over to church for a special service. The children's choir sang the Swahili version of Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and after the service, there was a delicious meal of rice and beans, which all 120 of us enjoyed thoroughly. When we got home this afternoon, we relaxed and played with our gifts, and talked to family on Skype. Tomorrow we are going to Babati for 2 days for a Christmas party with 3 other missionary families, and also Steve will be going hunting for the first and last time this season. He is really hoping to come home with a warthog--that would make a great New Year's Dinner!

Happy 5th Birthday, Hannah!

Considering our location, we tend to group holidays/celebrations together so that out-of-town guests can kill ALOT of birds with one stone! So, the day after Hannah's K-4 graduation, we had her 5th birthday party. Usually we have some sort of theme, but Hannah, wanting to be sensitive to the fact that there would be BOYS at her party, decided to avoid anything "girly" and just have a costume party--even the adults had to dress up! This led to one of my more embarrassing moments in Tanzania as I tried to explain to a local seamstress how to make a Larry-Boy costume for Caleb. Anyway, Hannah was Genevieve, Caleb was his favorite superhero, Moriah was a princess, Shawn was a policeman, Jamison was a firefighter, Hayden was a dinosaur, Steve was a fisherman, Nate was a tourist, Heather was an Indian, and I (for lack of planning) stuffed a pillow in my shirt and was a pregnant woman. Hannah's favorite gift was a slip-and-slide, so after a big serving of yummy ice cream cake, we all headed outside to watch the fun.

Hannah's K-4 Graduation

The day after Thanksgiving, we had a special little "K-4 Graduation" for Hannah at home with the Myers and Wolfs. (Can you tell we don't get out much?) She shared with everyone some of the most interesting things that she had learned about this year, quoted some Bible verses, and read part of a small book for us. Steve prayed for her, that God would help her to continue to love learning her entire life, and that she would bring glory to Him while obeying His plan for her life. We celebrated with punch and cookies, which Hannah made by herself. We are very proud of our daughter!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It happens every year--someone in America asks us, "So, are you having a special Thanksgiving service at church?" This year, it was my mom, so I can't groan too loudly! Ok, my American friends, Thanksgiving is only celebrated by AMERICANS. No, we do not have a special service at church, and nor are turkeys readily available. I did manage to buy one imported from Kenya at the bargain price of around $4 a pound. It was a 22-pounder, so you can do the math. Anyway, we really did have a special celebration with our AMERICAN friends. The Myers came with their 4 kids from Babati, the Wolf family joined us, and 4 Peace Corps Volunteers in our district came over as well. The kids did a short-but-sweet program where they quoted Psalm 100 and sang "We Gather Together", and before the delicious meal we went around the table, sharing about the blessings we've experienced in the past year. We had already decorated the house for Christmas the previous Tuesday, so we enjoyed listening to Christmas music, and after playing football and basketball outside for a few hours, we watched the movie "Elf" while eating turkey and bacon sandwiches.