Almost Time!

Well, the time is drawing near for us to leave here. It is hard to believe that it has been over 3 months and all the work that has been accomplished. We thank the Lord for his blessings and for the fundis for their dedication to finishing a job well done. No major injuries or set backs during the whole time, praise the Lord! When we were short material, the Lord came through and we received what we needed before the fundis finished with what they had. We have three buildings close to completion – paint, windows and doors are all we need to complete the buildings and they will be ready for classes. The fundis are on the last room, as I write, where they are plastering the walls. We have the two heavy large doors that are going in the Mechanic/Carpentry shop due in possibly tomorrow and we are going to have the fundis install them. The work really looks good. Next year we will finish the dorm and house that we had started this year and more than likely start another dormitory and house hopefully they all will be completed before coming home next year. I am almost done with the financial books before I finish up here; then Janet says we will be leaving here earlier so that we can spend a few days at Kibidula to complete the books there and leave them with Irma for the accountant next year. I need to sit her down for a short time to go over it here. (Yeah, right). 

Yona and I have finished the lobby ceiling at the church. I have also installed some door knobs in the doors at our house. The water is just behind the house in the woods a distance and next year we will bring it on to the house and down to the school. There is so much stuff left to do on our house, but our concentration has been on the industrial school so that we can get our classes started for the new year. It looks like the carpentry class and possibly the sewing class will be able to be in their new facility come next year.

I am anxious to be home and yet there is a little sadness in leaving. But just a little, for the enthusiasm of going home overrides the sadness and also I know I will be coming back, Lord willing. My older sister has not been well and I will be going to her house in Georgia for Christmas till the middle of January then back to EVI where I will work until I come back here in May. If I don’t see you on this trip, maybe next time. I will try and continue writing on the blog or maybe I can try again and get Janet to write. 

That is all for now, signing off from Mago….

Deniece

Matema Beach

Today is Sunday, the 22nd, and we are at the beach on vacation at a Resort in Matema, Tanzania. We woke up to the sound of the waves on the beach and an 8 piece band playing down the beach. The sun was just coming up over the mountains when I stepped out on the porch; the morning promising to be warm and inviting.

Janet and I left Wednesday evening around 7:30 to go to Kibidula. We stopped around 11:00 at the Lutheran Guest house in Makambaka for a few hours shut eye and got up Thursday morning at 4:00 and drove the rest of the way which was about 1 hour 15 minutes away. Jason and his family were up and getting things ready to go. We stayed and had breakfast and then we loaded up and left. It was about 6 hour drive, all on black top accept for about the first 30 minutes and the last hour and a half. We traveled through some very lush and green mountainous area that grew just about anything that you can grow in the area and abundance of it – various types of mangos, bananas, avocados, jack fruit and other things that I wasn’t familiar with. We bought a few things to take with us and kept on our way. The area was so beautiful. Yes, I have taken some pictures for later. Upon arriving around 4:30 Thursday in Matema I was awe struck with the area at the resort. It was like some of the pictures you see of resort areas. We had reserved a beach house that was about 50 yards from the water’s edge; nothing between but sand and a few small trees. They even went swimming Thursday night – I just took in the sight and enjoyed the fresh air and the view. (They even have sit down flush toilets); no hot water, the water piped into the beach house and the faucet outside comes from the lake which appears to be around 92 degrees. I took my swim after my worship and before breakfast Friday morning at around 7:30. Couldn’t believe I was swimming at 7:30 in the morning on November 20. Upon coming back to the beach house after my swim, Janet told me of a “bed partner” I had during the night that was found this morning. In a jar on the table in the beach house was a scorpion found on the blanket at the foot of my bed. Now we don’t know if he was up there all night or climbed up the mosquito netting this morning; but in any case I was thankful for the Lord’s protection sparing me from the sting of the scorpion. The sun is hot and some of us have received a little sunburn, but sunscreen is preventing anymore. Some of the foods we have brought and fixed, some we have brought and are having the kitchen here fix, and some food we are having the kitchen fix altogether. We have plenty of fresh fruit. We are eating mangos, bananas, plums, pineapple, avocados, and oranges. We have had spaghetti, potatoes, raman noodles, peanut butter and honey, bread and did I mention plenty of fresh fruit. We are really enjoying the time to get away and relax. I have been lying around a lot, just relaxing; I did swim quite a bit on Friday and will probably swim some today. We have had little rain everyday but today. Did I say how beautiful it is here?

Monday morning at 7:00 I went swimming and had an enjoyable time until I got water in my left ear. Later in the morning we canoed over to an area where we saw some colorful fish in amongst some rocks. They were beautiful. Janet, Jason and Antonette went snorkeling and saw more. I decided to wade in the shallow and see what I can see. I still had a slight earache and didn’t want to get any more water in my ear; but I enjoyed it just the same. We got back to the beach house and packed up to leave. We got to Kibidula at around 8:30 Monday night and Janet and I left for home the next morning. We stopped and ordered the big doors for one of our buildings and did a little other shopping and continued on our way. We arrived home at about 4:30. We went right down to the school sight to see what has been done while we were gone. The Mechanic/Carpentry building was about done being plastered – looking real good. We ordered the big doors and they should arrive next week. The kitchen/cafeteria building is about completed today (Wednesday) and Janet is trying to finalize on some things that needs to get done before we head home in about 3 weeks. The fundis believe that they can finish the plastering on all buildings before we leave. The timing is going real well so that by time they get done we will be leaving probably within a week. Janet is moving extra material left over into an area that can be locked up while we are gone. She is quite pleased with the work that has been done and that is getting done. She is smiling quite a bit lately. Maybe the vacation did her some good too!

Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing most of you. I would say all, but I know I don’t know all and won’t see all, so I am saying most of you.  Can’t believe it is almost time to go. I am putting in small amounts of internet time on the computer so that I don’t have any left over when I leave. So I might do one more blog here and do more upon arriving home.

Goodbye for now from Mago…. AND HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Deniece

The Lord Came Through Again

I am sorry to all my avid readers that I haven’t written a blog lately. No real reason but I am going to give a couple . One is that I was waiting for Janet’s articles. I copied and tried to paste, come to find out she did it in Word 2007 and I have 2003 and could not convert the articles. So I asked her to cut and paste into an email and send it to me that way. Come to find out last night, she is having problems emailing and can’t do that either. So we will have to wait on that. Also it has been raining everyday and some days all day long. I charge my computer batteries but I Skype my sister who has been sick and use up all my battery for that. We used to have sunshine all day where I could charge my battery a couple times, but not much more. Yesterday was the first day in a month that it had not rained all day. It was beautiful, and I charged my battery twice. I am going to try and get me one of those extended batteries that last longer than one hour. Anyway that is my excuses for not writing, for whatever it is worth .

We have also been busy. The Mechanic/Carpentry shops are about done; doors needs to be installed, glass put in the windows, and the walls plastered. Cafeteria/Kitchen building also needs doors installed, glass in windows and walls plastered and it will be done. Of course, in both of these buildings, we need cabinets, benches/tables and shelves built, but the building themselves will be done. The 4-classroom building is going up; last of the bricks are being bought today. The ends of the building and the back of the building are up, the front of the building should be completed today and the walls dividing the classrooms are half way up and will be done this week also. Then all we have left in that building will be the doors, glass in windows and plastering the walls. The Lord is so good. We thought we would have to send the fundis home early for we did not have enough sand or bricks and the road is too bad for trucks to come down to the sight. The last truck got stuck and it took close to 5 hours just to get up the road. Then, Janet found some bricks she is hauling with her pick-up and about 6:30 the other night, 2 trucks of sand came and we unloaded it where we had some other sand sitting up on top of the property. We are expecting to more loads coming this week. It always amazes me how the Lord tests our faith in Him and He comes through when we need it most and just in time.

Sabbath evening, Nov 14 around 7:00, two of our Bible Workers – Delilah and Jamila, were on their way home and was passing on a trail next to our property. They came across a lady sitting on the ground, crying and saying she can’t get up. She said she was visiting her husband who was in jail. One of the girls stayed with her while the other came for help. After talking with Baraza, our translator he told me about it. Janet was busy with a carpenter who was measuring our windows so that he can make windows that will open and close. I went to her and told her. She got in her truck and went down to the end of the trail that the lady was sitting on. Upon arriving she looked at the ankle and it was quite swollen and she decided to take her to the hospital. The girl cried all the way there saying who is going to take care of her children while her husband was in jail (she has three children). Upon arriving at the hospital the doctor said they would x-ray the ankle in the morning. At the same time we had send a message to her family. Early the next morning the family came to find out more information and they thanked us very much and went on to the hospital to see the girl.

Well that’s it for now, signing off from Mago….

Deniece

Fire Again!

(Written on 10-30-09)
Tuesday morning started out like any other morning – and Janet and I were getting things ready for laying out two more buildings – a house and a dormitory. We were heading for the truck so we could go get material when one of our fundis, up on the roof of our mechanic classroom saw fire and told us about it. We decided to go have a look and ran into Baraza (our interpreter) who was coming to get us. He told us the other boys had already gone and that the fire was quite close. Janet went back to the job site and collected the fundis. Upon arriving we could see that in reality the fire was about a quarter mile away from our property; a lot closer than the other fire we fought a few weeks back. Anyway, while walking up we passed a young lady carrying a baby on her back; she just stood there looking guilty as we walked by – holding head down and just barely looking up at you. I wondered if she had anything to do with the fire. Come to find out she was burning her field when the high wind blew it out of control. Last year this area burned and the village people milled the good wood off of it. Upon doing this they left piles of slab wood just waiting to catch afire. That is exactly what happened. Well, we fought for about 2-3 hours and finally beat it. There were a total of about 50 people all working together for one cause – get the fire out. We had about 30 of our group there and the rest were village people. The Lord blessed and no one got hurt and no houses were damaged.

Janet and I was able to lay out the perimeter walls on our 4th and 5th buildings yesterday (Wednesday). Things are moving fast and we have a lot to do before coming home in December. The fundis are getting the first building ready for roofing sheets that should be coming next week. They will also start plastering some of the walls. They are currently living in a “canvas” garage that Janet had, but when it rains it comes in and gets them wet. Once the roof is on the first building and the walls are plastered, they will move into there to give them more room and also to be out of the elements. Rain has started early this year. Although, we don’t get it everyday, we do get rain that will soak you to the bone if you are out working in it (which I have ). The first step of our Gazebo is completed and it looks nice – we are hoping that the kids will be able to use it on Sabbath, but it still has to cure some more. We’ll see…..

Oh, Janet wanted me to ask for recipes. The foods that we eat are: potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, wheat flour, white flour, corn meal flour, beans, rice, spaghetti, and greens. They fix them, and they are good but it is the same ol’ same ol’, if you know what I mean. We get tired of it for one but also we want to hold cooking classes and would like to teach them various other ways to prepare these foods. Do not send the recipes here. Once we get back to the states I will put in another request and tell you where to send them. I repeat, do not send them now. I would greatly appreciate it and thanks for your help.

I had other things to write about but Janet told me she would write on the items and I could use it for a blog entry. WHOO! WHOO! But as of yet I have not received them and I am writing the rest of this blog on 11-2. I know it will come because it will be a couple articles for EVI’s Faith Venture magazine; so I should get it soon.

Jason, Bill and Eric are here from Kibidula until Thursday helping us. We received roofing sheets, One-Day-Church parts and have been busy putting these things up. I sure do wish I can send pictures with me blog. With Jason here I will ask him. I believe I may know how I can with out it taking all my time up. Anyway, things are really looking good down there. The 2” pipe is here also for our water system, but that is on hold until at least Jason and the others leave. We want to use them on the buildings as much as possible.

A side note. I have been invited to join Janet and her family to go to the lake (Matemba, I believe) on vacation for a few days before we come home. When, I am not sure, but I think it will be soon. I am looking forward to seeing a place that is new.

This is goodbye from Mago….

Deniece

Roofing Sheets Are Coming!

(Written Tuesday 10-27)
Janet called Jason last night to ask him some questions and we were told that the roofing sheets were done and that Ezekiel will be going to get them today sometime. Janet was excited that they were done a couple days earlier than expected. So this means, if all goes well, that they should be here this week or next at the latest. Our 2” pipe should be coming too. With the roofing sheets installed we can plaster the inside walls of our first building. Then all we will have left is windows and doors. And we should also have the material for the other two buildings so that the walls can go up on them. The fundis will be real busy once the roofing material arrives.

The floor did not get poured yesterday like anticipated on our third building, but it did today; it was really busy down at the sight. The cement mixer was going almost non-stop (unless they stopped to eat or fill tank up with gas) and we were all making sure they had all that they needed to complete the job. It was pretty neat to see how they get the job done, even though I have seen it three times now. I took some pictures of the progress and will have them available at a later time.

Yesterday we dug a ditch at the side of the house that our drain pipe will lay that comes from our septic tank. It is not quite done but when the ditch is it will be about 6 feet deep and 1 1/2 feet wide. We will have gravel, the pipe and more gravel and then the dirt on top of it. We have two men we have hired to make gravel. We have paid for the rocks on property next to ours and they go and using pick and shovel dig out the rocks and then with a hammer they break the rocks into gravel. They have quite a few piles that we will use at our construction site and where ever we need gravel and this is quite handy so we don’t have to pay to haul it to our place from some other town.

Sabbath, I was going down to fill up my water bottle when I head the snap, crackle and pop of fire. I looked and saw flames taller than me and I ran back and got Baraza and we went to investigate. It looked like it was on our property but I wasn’t sure. Janet was resting and until we knew for sure I didn’t want to bother her. Well, when we got down to where the fire was, it was on the property next to ours. Baraza went down and talked with them to make sure it was totally under control. Later on we had nature video that we showed the people after Sabbath. Janet was on her way to church and heard another fire. This was a little farther up from the other, but sending Baraza up he investigated and found out that it was quite a ways from our property. Once you have been close to having fire near you, you seem to be more aware of them around you. It appears that we are the only ones with a forest on our property and we don’t want to lose them. We have fire breaks all around our property and Janet says next year we will make it twice as wide just to protect our property from everyone’s fires that they start each year at this time.

Well that is it for today, bye for now from Mago…

Deniece

A New Gazebo

Hello from Mago. It has been awhile since I have written. The last I wrote was that Janet cut open my hand and stitched it back up. Well, I took the stitches out the following Sunday, but it was still hurting quite bad. Janet and I both felt something may still be in there; so on Monday she took me to the hospital. We weren’t there long when she saw someone she knew and they talked and they got me in right a way to get an x-ray done on my hand. We needed to ask the right questions (which we didn’t) and we wouldn’t have needed the x-ray. Wood does not show up on x-ray, but we didn’t know that until after the x-ray was done. Anyway, that left minor surgery again. They scheduled me for surgery real quick. Janet had gone to town to find veggies and also to eat lunch. She was going to come back and check on me and if I still wasn’t done she would come back some time later to get me. Well, when she got back, I was in getting prepped for surgery. I had an infection in two spots but they found no splinter. So I have an incision of about 1 ½” long. The Dr gave me only 3 stitches because he wanted it to drain so no infection would develop. I took the stitches out this morning and praise the Lord no infection. They were going to give me antibiotics, but I declined and claimed the promises from the Lord about using natural remedies for healing. I took garlic for breakfast and lunch along with my Epicor; I also took 3 capsules of Echinacea at each of those meals. I claimed His promises every day for healing and the Lord is so good, He answered my prayers.

Back to work – we have started on our third building in just over a month; actually our 4th if you want to include the Gazebo; more on that a little later. We have our purlins up on our carpentry/mechanic classes waiting for our roofing (which will get finished at the manufacturing plant on Wednesday), we have our kitchen/cafeteria floor poured and waiting for more material on it, we are going to be pouring the floor tomorrow on our building that is housing our four classrooms; that building is 86 feet long. The classrooms and the kitchen buildings (as are the remaining of our buildings) are going to be built out of the “one-day-church” buildings that have been donated to us for this purpose. Janet and I will be laying out another building, probably a house either today or tomorrow. She also wants to lay out a site for her garage up here near the house.

The children’s department in Sabbath School has been meeting outside on either chairs they carry out or boards laid on top of bricks. Janet got the idea of making a Gazebo for the children to meet in. Janet and I laid out the floor plan and some of the fundis have gotten the floor poured. So they had the wall up on Friday and today are building the seat for the kids to sit on. I have pictures that I will show later. Next year upon returning we will be putting a thatch roof over it. It will even be nice during the week just to sit under and enjoy the weather when we are not working (when ever that is).

Work continues to keep us busy. We are still waiting for our 2” pipe to finish our water project. The ditch has been completely filled in as far as possible at this point and we have a lot of water coming from our dam. The roll of pipe should be coming with the roofing material which we are waiting to get done by Wednesday.

Good to read your comments, hope all is well with each one of you.

God bless and good bye for now from Mago….

Deniece

Ring of Fire

This month, October, is preparation month for the people to be able to plant next month. One of the ways they prepare their fields is to burn them. So October is burn month. October is also one of the windiest months of the year. Wind and fire do not go together, if you know what I mean. Anyway, Wednesday there was a “controlled” fire that got out of control up on the other side of the mountain from Mago. Janet and I drove to it and it was quite a distance from our property. By Friday it was on this side of the mountain and moving down. We kept an eye on it but did nothing else. Sabbath morning when the people went to church Janet told me to get walking shoes on, we were going for a walk. What started to be a walk to view where the fire was came very close to a disaster. We watched it as it moved into the valley close to the school. Janet and I knelt for prayer and put the fire into His hands. We watched as tall pine trees flared up in a huge flame. We could feel the heat although it was at least 100 yards away. It was so devastating to watch. We were standing in a field of tall dry grass and I told Janet if it comes into the field it will move fast and not to get down in the field too low. A little while later, I think she knelt and prayed again while I was down standing by a small tree. There were others standing around watching and talking with some people who had just came out of the forest that were fighting the fire. All of a sudden I see it hit the grass. I took off running up hill yelling to Janet that it had hit the grass. She repeated it as a question and I yelled yes as I kept running. Running up hill is very hard, but when you have fire chasing you, you need to run faster than you thought you ever could. We got to the group of people who were standing around talking and when they saw it, they started to run. I was scared, I don’t know about the rest of them. I ended up standing in a garden area that had been dug up and was taking pictures. Janet, in the mean time had gotten a blanket, got it wet and was trying to beat down the fire in the grassy field. She and some of the guys around there were trying to save a couple of houses that the fire was heading towards. Part of the time she was by herself fighting the fire and then some men and ladies came to help put out the fire. They got some of the fire and started another section of the field to burn itself up to the other fire so that it will burn itself out. It worked. The fire was out there, but raging other places. We came back home to get our fundis to help fight the fire. We were busy most of the day fighting fires. We were able to help save a few more homes and the people were very thankful. The last fire we fought was purposely started and the 2 men were caught and taken down to the authorities. The mindset of some people – they had lost their home and felt others should to.

Later that evening it started back up again and Janet and I both thought it would reach our property before morning. So we took turns staying up most of the night. It slowed down after 1:00 so that Janet slept on the sofa and I slept on my bed with my work clothes on. The Lord blessed and we were safe. She hired 2 men to go and put out the fires that seem to be threatening us so that we could sleep better the next night.

The fires kept raging on the other side of the mountain. It ended up at the top of the tall mountain like 2 arches. Then the arches joined together and ended up as a huge ring of fire about a mile wide. My camera could not pick it up but we had some visitors from Kibidula that took some pictures and I am hoping they will turn out.

It was exciting to say the least and we all gave up a prayer of thanks for our safety and the safety of the village people.

Today Janet had to do minor surgery on my hand. I thought and she thought that I had a huge splinter a little over 1” long in the palm of my left hand just below my fingers. She gave me a shot of Lanicane and froze the area. Then she probed and cut and couldn’t find anything. Still not 100% sure she stitched me up (3 stitches) and bandaged it up. We will watch it for a few days and see how it feels. Right now I am typing with my two middle fingers numb. They feel funny.

Well we are pouring the footings to our second building today and we have Bill and his family here for a few days from Kibidula. Bill is building our rafters for our first building. Things are happening fast.

Well so long for now from Mago,

Deniece

Be Content in All Things

Well, today is Friday and Sabbath is drawing nigh and is promising a good Sabbath rest. We have been busy this week with the going up of our first building. The carpentry and mechanic building is waiting on rafters which Bill from Kibidula will be here on Sunday to work on those and Jason will be here a couple days later with the roofing. Right now they are digging the footers for our second building which will house our cafeteria, kitchen and wash area. When you drive into the area you see the first building. You would have to be here to experience the excitement of seeing a building where there used to be nothing.

Also, this week I went down and connect our 2” pipes together, altered the water to go towards the dam which was recently built and to fix the settling tank to receive and send out water both into our 2” pipe and also into the overflow so that extra water will continue to flow. I prayed prior to working on it so that there would be no issues. The Lord came through and success was gained. An abundance of water was coming out the end of our 2” pipe by the time I got to i 600 meters later. I gave out a yell that the neighbors probably wondered what was going on. But again, you would have to be there through all the digging, measuring, laying down of pipes, etc. It was exciting to say the least.

My cold is for the most part over; just a little cough now and then. One of our cooks has it (which she had it before I did and never really got over it) and is out of commission. I guess a lot from Kibidula has had it also. Glad to be feeling better

The Lord has taught me this week through my studies (children of Israel going through the wilderness in Numbers) and my work that we need to be content and not complain where He has us. And it is easy to abide when blessings are received like we have this week, but we also need to be aware of the good even if it is hard to find. Keep looking up and He will be there for each of us.

Bye for now from Mago….

Deniece

Epicor Just Wasn’t Enough

I have come down with a cold from all the dust I have inhaled while working in the ditches and other places. It isn’t too bad. Yesterday, Thursday, was the worst. I started coming down with it on Wednesday, didn’t sleep real well Wednesday night and was in bed most of the day on Thursday. Thursday night I slept better but I was still in and out of sleep. Today, Friday, I am feeling better yet still not quite over it. I have been taking Epicor faithfully. I think I missed one day early on when I first got here. Other than that, I have taken it every morning at breakfast. Janet took one of the fundis back home to Kibidula today. His wife is due to deliver if she hasn’t already. So now, Janet can pick up some of our plumbing items that Jason got in Dar. She will be coming back early Sunday morning. Janet told me that she would have taken me with if I didn’t have a cold; which I understood because I wouldn’t want to give this cold to her grandkids. They evidently just got over having a cold. Anyway, today and Sabbath will be extra days to get over this thing so that I will be ready to work again next week when she gets back.

The days here have been hot. I think, the way Janet talks, that we got into the low 80’s last Sunday and possibly Monday. She says this is the hottest time of the year and as we near the end of October and on into November the temperatures will be dropping some. Then the rains start in mid to late November and continue most of the time through April into May. This is why we will be leaving in mid December to come home. We will then leave in May to come back. I have been thinking about it and am looking forward to coming home, but I am also thinking about coming back and am anticipation the return trip. There is so much going on that will keep one busy for a long time.

Our cooks are adjusting to using our wood burning stove in our kitchen. Their outside kitchen was not available to be used because of the work being done on our septic. The gravel, sand and cement were mixed right by the entrance to their kitchen so they had to make other arrangements. They both say that they like the wood burning stove and we are teaching them how to use the controls on the side. We are also teaching them how to do dishes with two wash basins and hot water. We are also working with them to keep the kitchen nice and clean unlike where they used to cook and do dishes. It’s new for them, but I think they will like it once they have gotten used to it; especially once we get the cupboards and kitchen sink installed with running hot and cold water. I know I am looking forward to it.

I guess that is all for now. Bye from Mago….

Deniece

The Floor is Poured

Today was a big day for the industrial school. The floor was being poured. We didn’t get the pipe to work to assure the fundis of enough water to pour a 4” thick 23’x71’ floor so we had to haul water. We had some 40 gallon drums (5 of them I think) and some tubs along with some 5 gallon buckets. We went down to the river and I stood on some rocks in the river filling the 5 gallon buckets and handing them to one of our men who in turn handed it to another man up the hill a ways and he took it to Janet who was standing in the back of her truck emptying them into the 40 gallon drums. We did this 4-5 times yesterday and twice today. The work was being done this morning and so we started hauling water yesterday. The water was enough and they finished this afternoon; looks good – now tomorrow they start laying bricks.

Yesterday I went out to the springs with 3 of our regular fundis and buried most of the 2” pipe. So all we have left to bury is about 50 meters on the end closest to the house and about 30 – 50 feet on the other end. These ends have to be connected to another end of a pipe and we are waiting for pipe or connectors to be able to complete the task.

The septic tank has about 6 more layers of bricks to go up and then they will finish plastering inside and out and fill in dirt on the outside. We also have to install the intake and output pipes in the septic at that time. Then the task of making the lid will be the next job. We are keeping busy with the jobs we have going.

Since I have been here I am amazed at the different bird calls I hear. I would like to get a bird book for this area (if they have one) and try to identify some of them. I would almost bet that one night I heard a whip-o-will. I only heard it once, but it sure sounded like it. Stan and I used to lie in bed and listen to them on into the night when we lived in Tennessee. It sounded so peaceful. The Lord is so good to give us things like that to enjoy and that will direct us to Him. If you haven’t experienced it lately, listening to the sound of the bird calls, try it some time soon; if you are sitting/lying and see if it doesn’t direct you to Him. My prayer is that it will and will bring you peace.

That’s it for now… Bye from Mago…

Deniece

Busy, Busy, Busy

Thursday, Janet and I worked on the ditch which has our pipe that is going to bring water to our house. We still need one more roll of pipe to bring it to the house, but in the mean time we needed to get the pipe level. We will get air locks in the pipe and the water will not flow properly or not flow at all. Anyway, Janet used the transit and I had the measuring stick. About every 8-12 feet we would measure and I would either put dirt under the pipe or take some out. If you can picture this, (which I did get a picture of us both at the end of the day), but if you can picture – the ditch ranges from about 3’ deep to approximately 5’ deep. The width of the ditch is barely 8-10”. First, we measure; most of the time I have to shovel dirt into the ditch on top of the pipe. Then I stand in the ditch so that I can bend down to lift the 2” pipe up on top of the dirt. Remember that the ditch is barely 10” wide and I am bending sideways into the ditch. Most of the time I am standing on one foot the other is somewhere in the ditch behind me but some of the time I have to have both feet behind me because the ditch is so narrow. From my head to my feet I am in the ditch. I was so filthy at the end of the day that if I worked much longer you would think I was a native of Mago, Tanzania. Janet wasn’t too far behind me. She was in the ditch some, but it just didn’t work for her. We did this most of the day and my back was hurting when we got home. I had a catch in my right hip area that finally went away by Sabbath evening. A day of rest really helped. Janet thanked me for the work and I told her it was a dirty job but, someone had to do it. We both laughed.

Sunday and Monday I spent filling in the ditch under the pipe in between the dirt piles that we had made. This was also a hard and dirty job. It was hot during the midday and so I quit on Sunday until late afternoon and then worked until sundown. Monday morning she sent 3 of her workers out to help me. I was very thankful for the help. Surprisingly, my back bothered me some on Sunday and I was expecting it to hurt on Monday when I went back out to shovel, but it wasn’t too bad. I praised the Lord!

Some of the fundis are framing for the 8” concrete “starter” for our bricks for the school and that doesn’t take all 11 of them; so one of the fundis is building a brick sofa/loveseat in our house. It sounds crazy but it really looks nice. I have pictures and will have them in my presentation for you to see. Another group is working on our septic tank. They are building it with bricks and then putting a plastering on both sides of the brick to seal it. So there is a lot of stuff going on. Oh, also we had 3 of the fundis build our dam out at the springs and it is done. All we are waiting on to get water to the house area is one more roll of pipe which Jason got today from Dar and we should be getting it sometime this week (hopefully).

With all of this going on, this blog was late getting written let alone getting posted. I am writing this Monday night after I went to bed. Hopefully I can post it tomorrow.

Hope all is well where you are… Bye for now from Mago…

Deniece

Am I Lonely?

Lonely – as described in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (I don’t have Webster’s Dictionary, which I prefer) describes lonely as “being unhappy because you have no friends or people to talk to. That does not describe me because Janet is here and we talk sometimes, Baraza who is our translator – I talk with him sometimes and his wife, Mariam, also speaks a little English. So in that manner I am not “lonely”. I am lonely when I think of my friends and family that I would talk to regularly and I miss them and that is when I get “lonely”. I think reminiscing is good for the soul if you don’t let it control you, and maybe it sounded like I have been. My apologies for any misunderstanding, yes I am lonely for my friends and family, but I don’t think I am “lonely” to the point of despair. I have been here only one month and I am sure that in time I will adjust. When I was at Andrews, I remember seeing a sign that had a picture of someone by themselves and it said something along the line of - I may be lonely, but I am never alone; meaning that Jesus was always there. This is how I feel. I have been talking more and more with Him because I am by myself a lot. In this manner, this is a good thing.

Enough of that “philosophy” and on with other news; construction has started on our school and I am getting pictures but I can’t include them in the blogs. I will be putting together a power point presentation using them to show to when I come home. Anyway, the ditches for the footers are pretty well dug and now the rest of the ground is being leveled. Once the footers are poured and the bricks are starting to be laid, I was told that these guys are good and that the building will go up fast. We need to get water to them, so Janet has just left to go get some “inexpensive” piping to tie into our current water system that we drink to get water to the construction site. We have to go to Dar to pay and get the better kind and we just don’t have time now, so we are doing something temporary until we can.

With campmeeting going on, either Baraza or Janet fixes breakfast and I have been getting lunch. There are only four of us eating so that isn’t too bad. Supper is generally leftovers or Baraza will fix something for him and Disma. Janet and I generally do not eat supper.

Some of you who have my gmail account please email me. I have recently set up Outlook and the contacts did not carry over. So I need to reset them up. Thank you. Also, please do not send pictures, that just slows down the system and also takes a lot of megabytes to download which turns into money lost with my system over here, just text please.

Bye for now from Mago…

Deniece

Fundi’s Are Arriving

Today is Monday, September 21, and I have been in Tanzania for 1 month and 2 days. Come the 24th, Thursday, I will have been here in Mago for 1 month. It really has not been as bad as I had thought it would be. The Lord has given me strength each and every day and He has been with me this month also. When I am by myself (which is quite a bit) I find myself talking out loud to Him. I was doing that the other day going to the springs and a donkey sounded off just as I walked past him. He was loose in the brush and I didn’t see him. I knew it wasn’t the Lord answering me, but it did startle me and I didn’t know what it was at first.

We are starting at digging the footers on our Industrial School. The laborers (fundis) are starting to arrive yesterday from Kibidula. Some are coming by bus and others arrived with Janet. She went down there Sabbath so that on Sunday she can pick up some things for the project and load up with as many men as she can from there. They will be digging the footers and also laying the bricks. It should go up quite fast. They will also put in our septic tank and our sofa (made from bricks and then we will put cushions on them).

We laid out the 2” pipe in our ditch on Friday, but we ended up short about 100 meters. We are trying to locate some so we can finish the job. So far we haven’t found any we can get a hold of. We can order from Dar but it will take longer than we want to get it. We may have to anyway. When we get that pipe we will bring water to the house and also pipe it down to the construction site for their water needs during construction.

We are waiting on a quote from a guy who came the other day that is going to do the plumbing in the house. We want water here by the time he is ready to start so that when he is done we will have indoor plumbing. We have a 9 foot deep hole ready for septic tank construction also. So there are a lot of different things going on.

Janet has been meeting with our Bible Workers every morning at 7:00 to get a run down on what they are doing. There are several bible studies going on and lots of visitations. Today begins campmeeting in this area and some of the Bible Workers have gone to it. Two of the men have stayed for they are translators for us and with the new workers coming we needed at least one of them. They both decided to stay. Both our cook and the house boy (who cooks also) have left so we are trying to find another cook. We may be doing our own cooking, which will be alright if I can cook on the stove in the kitchen in the house instead of over a fire in the outside kitchen. We’ll have to see.

Bye for now from Mago…

Deniece

God Is So Good

Since I have been here I feel that my health has improved. I do a lot of walking. Sometimes walking up the hill my heart rate gets up around 150 but the recovery rate is good. The exercise strengthens my heart so that most of the time my resting heart rate is in the 60’s. I enjoy the weather here. I think I have worn a long sleeve shirt only 2-3 times and that was early morning when we had a frost over night. While working it does get hot although it really isn’t – it is probably in the 70’s. I remember talking with a friend of mine back at EVI and remember saying that if the Lord was sending me I would be happy here. I have heard that happiness is a mind set. I can choose to be happy in the worst situation; or I can choose to be miserable in the best situation. So in that case, yes I am happy although I do sorely miss my friends and family.

When I pray I pray for patience. In answer to my prayer the Lord brings situations and trials to test my patience. I have been tested and tried everyday and yes I fail some, but mostly at the end of the day I can see times where the Lord had strengthened me at the right time and the victory was mine. I still have a long way to go for trials still come, but I have prayed for the Lord to change me to make me ready for heaven; I feel He is working on me still and praise Him for it. The victories bring happiness to me also.

I believe that the Lord brought me here and I can see myself staying here longer as long as the Lord is keeping me here. If I didn’t have contact with family and friends it probably would be harder. Also knowing I have friends praying for me helps. I know that as long as the Lord is with me there is nothing too hard to stand.

My co-worker, Janet, is actually my boss and she is doing what she does best. She gets things done that needs to get done in her way. She is good at what she does and accomplishes a lot.

have a variety of work that she gives me to do and I enjoy the variety. I like keeping busy and there is plenty of that here. But….

I am beginning to befriend the village kids. In one of my blogs I mentioned something about 5 girls that sat with me while I worked on the computer. Well we decided I would teach them English and they would teach me Swahili. Ever since then, I believe they have told most of the kids in the village. When a group of kids see me, they call out my name and wave. If I am close enough they point at something and ask what it is in English. These aren’t even the girls I originally talked with. This is exciting for this is how Jesus worked. He befriended the people, healed their bodies and souls. When I work with the kids, yes I feel like a missionary. I feel like I am accomplishing something and it is coming naturally, not something that is planned and I have to make appointments and the like. It just happens any time of day. I know the other work I do is important and needs to be done; somebody has to do it and I do enjoy it; but, when I work with the people I really enjoy it, especially when I don’t plan it and it just happens. Please pray that my Swahili will steadily improve. I have started reading a condensed book about the Swahili language and I am praying that it will happen soon.

I hope this puts peoples mind at ease. Love and miss everyone. I could be happier if some of you were here.

Good bye for now from Mago…
Deniece

Completed But The Lids

Hello to everyone. Today is Monday the 14th and Janet has gone to direct our guest to our location. Steve Grabner, his mother and two other women will arrive this afternoon for a two day stay here. They will be looking over our operations here. On Wednesday they will arrive back at Riverside for their board meeting. We hope their stay here is uneventful and yet full of events.

We completed yesterday our water containment system at the beginning of our spring. We completed at least all but the lids. It was a little rough going yesterday. I built the boxes so that the boxes can be taken apart easy after the cement dries. Well they were put together a little too easy and they started coming apart while putting the cement in. We nailed put to no avail. We ended up bracing it on all sides with boards going up against the embankment and then other smaller boards going perpendicular to them, hammering down until they are tight. When we left last night it was still intact. Prayer is now what we are using to keep it together. This was a learning experience for me. This was the first time I had built a form for cement like this one. When I saw it coming apart, all I could do was pray hard. God is so good! We were able to get it done by a prayer.

We will be using the water at our house and also at the industrial school at least for the construction right now. We now have to string out the pipe line from the containment system to here and onward to the school. We need the connectors and more pipe which Janet will be ordering soon if not already.

There is so much needed to get done that one just has to do what they can. Our house needs painting, door knobs put on doors. All the doors squeak terribly. Kitchen cupboards built and bathroom, kitchen and laundry room set up. We did have someone here who is to give us a price on doing the plumbing which needs to be done. So things are slowly getting started.

The church ceiling still needs completed, but I needed to work on something else first. In time it will get done.

Don’t know when this will get posted, today hopefully, if not by Wednesday for sure. Love every one and miss you too.

Goodbye from Mago….

Deniece

What Do We Eat?

This question has been asked a number of times. Well, here is the answer:

Yes, I do eat rice and beans, but not every meal. Sometimes I eat beans with potatoes or with spaghetti. Sometimes we have a “gravy” sauce with TVP in it to put over our potatoes, rice or spaghetti – which ever is being served. Sometimes the rice has potatoes in it, sometimes it don’t. We have spaghetti with chopped onions and chopped Roma tomatoes in it. Mariam, our cook, bakes bread most every night so that we can have bread for breakfast. We put honey or jam on the bread. Sometimes we have avocados to put on our bread. We have cabbage to eat. She cooks the cabbage with tomatoes and onions in it, which is very good. We also eat the cabbage raw, which also is very good. This morning we had conde; which is something like our hominy with beans mixed in it and had some bread to go with it. Sometimes we have potatoes cooked in a kettle, sometimes boiled, sometimes baked. As far as fruit goes, right now we eat bananas and sometimes oranges. Right now there is not a lot of fruit in season.

I don’t eat supper right now for two reasons. One - is that they eat later than what I would like and, two - sometimes it is too heavy of a meal. I am planning to buy some popcorn and make some of that at night. Right now on some nights I just make me a cup of hot carob drink around 6:30-7:00 to drink while I am reading a book before I go to bed. Sounds cozy, huh? Janet has made some biscuits a couple of times for breakfast and I am thinking that the next time she does, I may make some gravy.

So there is variety in our meals and I am satisfied with what I am eating. Yes, there are some things that I miss, but the Lord is good and has supplied my needs when it comes to the variety of food I eat.

Love and miss each one of you and hope is well at your side of the world.

Until next time…

Deniece

The Work Begins

Janet arrived back today from Kibidula with her son, Jason. We went down to the site where our industrial school will be built. Jason, his co-worker Eric, Janet and I laid out the first building with stakes and string. We will probably start digging the footers as soon as Janet gets back. It is happening! She just left to take Jason and Eric home. They should arrive at Kibidula somewhere around 11:00 tonight.

While working on my computer, to get internet I go up the hill and sit on a section of a tree lying down next to a stump. I use the stump as my table. This set up lies near the path that the students take to go home from elementary school. Well, yesterday 5 girls stopped by and watched me work. In “talking” with them (me English them Swahili) we decided I would teach them English and they will teach me Swahili. I got their names and they mine. Well, they saw me coming from the bathroom and called to me. I went over to the path and talked with them. I remembered their names, Praise the Lord, and they even remembered mine. We went through some items such as house, machete, and bucket – them learning English and me Swahili. Am I learning, well, some but it sure is slow going. We also went through the face features such as eye, ear, nose and mouth and a few other items. We will probably have to go through them every day for a while. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I have a older mind that is getting older by the day and has slowed down substantially.

Anyway, things are still going on to keep us busy.

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will tell you about the food we eat here. Some have wondered before I left and my sisters have inquired on Skype.

Until tomorrow…

Deniece

Hello again from Mago,

I know I had said I would post a blog every night; and I know that I had said I would email. Well, I did not know the whole picture over here regarding internet. If you can imagine living in a remote area on a mountain in Tanzania, Africa, a 3rd world country, you will understand that we don’t have cable, we don’t have high speed (like I thought with satellite), nor do we have a land line. We have a “gadget” that we load a cell phone card on and it gets converted to megabytes. It is considered dial up. Anyway, to make a long story short – access is not as easy as anticipated. I even have to walk a distance of about a football field up a hill to get good access.

I have been talking with my sisters on Skype at night (that is my time) and that is about it. I can’t get email yet with out it costing a lot. I am trying to set up Outlook, but I am getting an error message and can’t figure out the problem. Hopefully I will find out soon. Steven Grabner and family and friends will be arriving and I have hopes that he might be able to assist in the matter.

Janet is out getting the lumber for an industrial school project today (Friday) and she already has brick, gravel, and sand. She was going to get the cement last week and she did get some, but she only got 20 bags and this is for our septic tank. She needs to order something like 200 plus bags for the school project. She has laid the plans out on paper and we should probably start digging for the footers this next week.

Yona (one of the Bible Workers) and I have been putting up the tongue and groove ceiling in the church foyer. We have about a foot left in the foyer to do plus the hallway and pastors study before completion. Pictures will come. Right now the conference pastor is using our church for meetings with all the Bible Workers in this district/area and so our work has come to a stand still until next week.

Today is the 7th and Janet has gone to Kibidula for a few days. I got water from the ditch to do laundry and also to water gardens. Such a blessing, water that is. Tomorrow we continue with the ceilings at the church.

More later,

Deniece

Hello from Mago, Tanzania!

Sorry for the delay, this is what I wrote 1 ½ weeks ago. Also, no pictures until I get Outlook working.

After leaving Denver we landed in London and had about a 6 hour lay over Wednesday the 19th. We were met by Bill and Irma at Dar es Salem early Thursday morning. We then traveled about 10-12 hours by Land Cruiser to Kibidula where we were warmly welcomed by Janet’s son Jason, his wife Antonette and their two daughters Trulisa and Emily. Their third daughter, Shilo, was sleeping. We spent the weekend and left after breakfast on Monday for our last leg of our journey.

We finally made it through the final leg of our trip and arrived on Monday evening, I think somewhere around 5-6:00. We received a warm welcome from Baraza, Mariam, their sons Abraham and Isaiah. We had a good nights rest and then all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning we were running all over lining up deliveries of sand, gravel, lumber, brick and cement. In fact right now (Wednesday afternoon) Janet has left to go to order cement and have it delivered tomorrow. Soon we will be starting our industrial school. We will get pictures as we begin the project.

Another project we are working on is getting water to the house. The ditch is being dug a good 600 meters from the spring to our house. They hopefully will be done very soon. They have a short distance from behind the church and then continue to the back of our house. I am not sure, but I think also when the water gets to the house we will also get our septic tank made for our indoor plumbing. To be honest, I don’t mind walking out to the bathroom/outhouse nor do I mind bathing and washing my hair with water in a basin, I enjoy camping; but it is the convenience of having everything close at hand in the house that I miss, if you understand what I mean. J

Anyway, we are doing well, just keeping busy. Today, Wednesday after lunch, is the first time I actually have done any accounting work or blog entries. This blog was typed the Wednesday, August 26, after arrival here and it is getting posted on September 4.

Most of you might remember Desima, the young man who has epilepsy that keeps falling into the fire. Well, we saw him two different mornings sleeping on the side of the rode. This morning Janet stopped and inquired about him and we out that he keeps running away from his step mom and also his grandfather and uncle. We brought him home and he evidently has had another seizure and fell into the fire again and has his left knee and left shoulder burnt real bad. Janet cleaned the wounds and they gave him a bath and clean clothes. He will stay with us for a while.

There is so much to write but I don’t want to write a book right now, so I will write more hopefully tomorrow.

Bye for now.
Deniece

Home at Last

Well, Janet made it home. I tried to get her to do the next entry into this blog, but we were so busy between her arrival and ASI that we didn't get to it; down at ASI the internet was not as readily available so it didn't get done there either. Her and Frank are now in Spokane and so I have decided to do the entry.

Tuesday (less than a week) we will be leaving for Africa. We knew before hand, but down at ASI we were told again that we have a container of 1 Day Churches coming to our mission. That is 30 buildings that we will be putting up for various usages. Hopefully we will have more on it later when I can get Janet to write on it.

It is hard to believe that we will be leaving in less than a week. We are pretty much packed, which is a good thing, because they will have to drive from Spokane to EVI leaving Sunday afternoon and get here by Tuesday afternoon so that we can load and get to the airport in time.

Once we get settled over there I am planning to do daily postings. Some short and some may be longer, but hopefully it will be daily. It also depends on the internet over there. Anyway, more later.

Deniece

Showers of Blessings

Hello to all.

I am back from my vacation and the Lord truly blessed and confirmed to me that I am to go to Africa. I received showers of blessings while in Georgia and Tennessee. The Lord truly blessed with a donation of a little over $1,300.00 and one of the churches I went to has approved to sponsor me $100.00 per month. That is two churches now sponsoring me and a couple others are still considering. I am so overwhelmed with thankfullness from the Lord revealing His will to me.

While in Tennessee I stayed with my cousin, Lori. I was also able to see 2 other cousins - Linda and Judy. I got a picture of Lori, her husband Jeff, son - Cameron and daughter - Sarah. They live in the Sequache Valley between Pikeville and Dunlap, Tennessee. The mountains there is so beautiful to see. Pictures do not do justice. The longer I stay in Colorado, though, the more I am enjoying the mountains here.

Janet will be here on the 29th - one week from tonight. Word has come that, her son Jason is going to build a landing strip in Mago where Janet is. This way he can come and visit in less time.

The August 18 will be here sooner than we think. When Janet gets here on the 29th of July we will have 7 days before ASI. Coming back from ASI they (Frank and Janet) will drop me off and hi-tale it to Spokane where Frank will speak. His last meeting is on the 16th and we fly out on the 18th. Real tight schedule.

I am going to try and get Janet to write the blog next week. Well, we'll see anyway.

Bye for now,

Deniece

God is so good!

Well, I left Eden Valley on July 8 as planned. I almost missed my flight; I forgot to print out my boarding pass from the computer. Anyway, I did make it and I arrived in Atlanta a half hour early – thanks to the jet stream. My mom and my sister picked me up and we have had a grand time. I arrived on my sister’s birthday and will be leaving on my mom’s (July 16). I told them both that this was my birthday gift to each of them. We all laughed. Pictured is my sister, my brother-in-law, my mom and myself. I will be going to Tennessee on the 16th to see some friends and relatives. I will also be putting on some presentations there also hoping for some sponsorship. I be coming back to EVI on the 21st.

Frank sent me an email with Janet’s and my itinerary for our leave back to Africa. Janet will be here on the 29th (I was originally told the 28th, but that is when she leaves there). We will then leave on the 18th of August. She will be here only 3 weeks and then we will be returning. We have a convention to go to during those 3 weeks. Will we get everything done that we need to get done? By God’s grace we will.

Just received news from Frank who had talked with Janet; she had some good news. There were some men grading the road from a long way off and Janet asked if they could continue onto her property. For 350.00 of US funds they continued all the way to the new construction sight. God is so good! She also has all the gravel needed for the new Industrial School, which is the next building going up, and most of the sand. More sand will be coming when needed until project is completed. Currently, she is in Dar Salaam working on her new By Laws for her ministry over there.

I went to church Sabbath with some of my friends and we met at Callaway Gardens in west central Georgia. While setting up, there was a young lady feeding turtles with what appeared to be her two daughters. They asked if they would be in our way if they were quiet. My friends said no, we were just having church. Well, when church started, we started singing – I saw that she was singing with us even though her back was to us. I was silently praying for her, hoping she would gain an experience with the Lord by listing. After singing, the pastor asked for prayer requests and I raised my hand. I asked for prayer for the Lord’s guidance with me going to Africa and for financial support. This young lady was impressed after prayer to give a donation for the cause. I was so taken back that this person who don’t even know me, nor I her, would give a donation. I could understand if she were a “sister” but she did not appear to be one. I was just praising the Lord that he could and would use anyone to help. I put on a PowerPoint presentation and the people truly desired to help. I received some donations and promise of more coming. God is so good. I will be giving another presentation this afternoon where I used to work before coming to EVI. I will also be going to a prayer meeting tonight to put on another presentation.

Bye for now, Deniece

Almost Here!

Reality hit me yesterday when Frank called Janet and talked with her. She has asked him to get our tickets for our return to Africa. I thought we would be leaving in early part of September, but she wants to return the third week of August. She doesn't even want to come home because she has so much work to do. But she will be here on the 29th anyway. "Butterflies" started acting up in my stomach, to think that the time is almost here.

She hasn't been able to check her email at home for quite some time. She had a visitor yesterday, David Roeske, whom she was going to get to look at her comptuter to see why she can't get email and to see if he can fix it.

She just comleted a Youth For Christ Seminar and had 9 students graduated. She is excited over the results. July 15 will be the next seminar.

There are 18 students currently in her carpentery class.

She also says that she is needing the whole gang from Washington back again. Sounds like she is ready to do some more construction.

Tomorrow I will be leaving for Georgia-Tennessee. I will be meeting with various different churches in the area re: support for me in Africa. I will be busy. I will also be able to see my mother who is visiting with the sister that I will be staying with. I will be gone for 2 weeks.

We had a double rainbow the other day so I had to get a picture of it. Below you will see it in two pictures.

You can see the second in the first picture here, but you could see it in both areas live.

So long, until next week.

Anticipation

Good morning to all. Anticipation is such a hard thing to go through when what you are anticipating is just around the corner, but yet not close enough to say you are there. I will be leaving next week for Georgia; will be back on the 21st. Janet will be here on the 28th. We will be going to ASI on the 5th of August and returning on the 10th. At that time we will be working toward our trip to Africa. It sounds real busy, but the anticipation is building up so that I am anxious for it to be here.

I have been keeping myself busy by training the new accountant in, planting raspberry canes (1100-1200) in about 3 hours and still needing to plant the rest of 10,000 plants. Pictured in the forfront is one of our ag. students Tejan, then Adner and then Frank. I have also been helping with putting up hay. So far in our first cuttings we have put up over 1,000 bails of hay from two fields and the largest field is yet to come. I enjoy physical labor and it also keeps me busy and occupies my mind on other things and not just leaving here.

Not a lot of news from Janet in Africa. She did text message Frank asking for a recipe for Angie's Hot Biscuits. We don't know if she needs the recipe NOW or for later on. Anyway, it has been a week since she sent the message and we still have not gotten the recipe. Angie, if you can get the recipe, send it to your father's email, thanks.

Unsolicited Gift

Things are never static (quiet) with our African project even in America.

Just lately, ASI announced that they have awarded Janet an undisclosed amount of money. Then Harold Lance, who is in charge of Missions, Inc, paid Frank a personal call. Frank said that he knew at once that something different was up. It turns out that there is a special donor in the bushes who has offered ASI an extra $100,000.00, announcing that he would like $25,000.00 of the $100,000.00 to go to Janet and her project. The only stipulation being that she write a letter to ASI telling them what she intends to do with the money. Frank contacted Janet by text message at around 3:00 pm here which was about midnight there. When the message came into Janet's phone it woke her up and she called Frank. They had just a minute to talk and Frank told her again and she said something like this: "I have only built 2 of the 7 buildings that I need to build. I have plenty of needs for more money for the rest of the buildings." So Frank has already written the letter to ASI and they in turn asked for pictures of the 2 buildings that were done. One of the buildings is a church and the other is Janet's house. The one pictured here is Janet's house. He sent them pictures while the buildings were under construction. The buildings have now been completed, but we do not have pictures yet of their completion.

We praise the Lord that even when we aren't asking directly - He shows us that He wants the project to continue going forward by sending money unsolicited.

Now, as for me, I am anticipating my service to Africa. I have recently sent a letter out to my 6 siblings and to some of my friends asking them if they would present the letter to their churches to see if the churches would be willing to sponsor me through out my stay in Africa. Monies have come in from people here on campus already. The church here at EVI has voted to sponsor me for two years at $100.00 per month. The Lord is so good and has been showing me open doors like this sponsorship all along the way.

I will be leaving for two weeks in July to go back to Georgia and Tennessee to present to some churches the letter also. My plans, Lord willing, is to try and get sponsorship enough for me to come home once a year for a few months before returning back to Africa. When here in the States during that time I would like to be able to present to the churches, that will be sponsoring me, a Power Point presentation of our work in Africa while I was there.

Hello, this is the first, hopefully of many posts to this blog.

The time is drawing nearer when Janet will be home from Tanzania. She is right now trying to get my work visa. I have faxed her all that she has requested and am waiting to hear if she needs anything else. She will arrive on the 28th of July. We will be going to ASI Convention on August 5-10. Then the last weeks in August will be filled with purchasing things, packing, and getting things ready for our return to Tanzania.

This will be my first time to Africa. I am looking forward to the experience of not just working with Janet, but also of working with the people over there. I am also excited and looking forward to the adventure of living in Africa and working for the Lord in a country far removed from everyday conveniences that we experience here.

The Lord is blessing and I have started to receive funds for my trip. I still need more, and am trusting that He will bring to me just what I need; trusting Him daily for His guidance and direction.

I am hoping that I will be able to post an entry every week to two weeks on the blog while I am still here in the US, but will be doing a daily blog entry while I am at Mago, Tanzania.

Deniece