Ok, so it’s not really a view from above. It’s a view from our balcony. I walked around our house and took some pictures from the balcony. I wanted to post them, but then reconsidered as a safety precaution. At the current time, we have a pretty small ‘area of familiarity’. It is the area that we are most familiar and comfortable with. There are some places within this area of familiarity that we are not as comfortable with, simply because we don’t have the language ability or cultural awareness needed to act appropriately in those areas. That naturally leads to fear and a desire to stay away from those areas. As we learn the language and explore the culture, our area of familiarity can expand and we learn to be much more comfortable in various areas.
We are at an interesting point in our ministry right now because we feel so limited, so small. We are only able to minister to a few that are very close to us; and even then it is only in how we are living. We aren’t able to communicate why we are here, or why we do certain things like provide them with food. We are hitting the language study very hard. We do 5 hours of focused study during the day and sometimes review stuff in the evenings after the kids go to bed. With three kids it is quite a challenge to get 5 hours of focused study in, but we thank God for what we’ve been able to do. Our ministry right now seems so limited. We live out the gospel and trust that one day God will provide an opportunity to fully discuss spiritual matters. We look to minister to those we are in contact with every day. First our family. Then our workers and friends. Then on a much smaller scale we try to minister to those closest to us in our community. I guess this is the ‘seed planting’ time. We pray that as the good Lord looks down on us, His view from above, we hope we are pleasing to Him. 2 Corinthians 5:9 says, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” That is our goal, we hope that we are pleasing Him as we live out the gospel at this time in our ministry.
- We are enjoying Tanzania and we are becoming friends with more people from the church and in the community. Living here does have its’ challenges, but there is nothing in the world we would rather be doing. God wants to do something big here, and we get to be a part of it. You get to be a part of it too. We couldn’t do it alone. Thank all of you for your prayers, support, fellowship, encouragement, and love.
The link below is our latest newsletter, it is from June. Just click the link and enjoy!
Ubarikiwe!
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