Well this will be my last blog from Africa this year. I am sitting in my room in the house I am staying in at Kibidula. Janet left this morning from the airport and is now on her way to London. I will be doing the same next week at this time.
All went well in Mago. We put up 7 structures above ground and 4 below: 2 staff houses, 2 dormitories with bathhouses and a separate bathroom facility near the school. The three bathhouses and one of the staff house had a septic tank built (with bricks and plaster) underground to hold "stuff". These structures kept us busy all year. Starting in January we will be housing some of our students in the dormitories and we have water to all the bathrooms. We have families living in both staff houses built and have water to their places. Now the water is only a tap outside to the house. One of the families, the Baumans, almost has water inside. Fred is still working on it. The other place, and of course Janet's house, has water outside but not inside. Next year we hope to complete it.
Janet has said that the building will slow down next year. I think this is so she can get her house completed and also concentrate on the academic structure of the school. I don't know how many we will have when school starts in January, but we have room for at least 20 in each dorm. We have a cook lined up already and some teachers. Beverly, lady from Canada, is on tour now viewing Tanzania but will be back in Mago first part of January to teach some more English. Baraza (our translator) will continue with her class when she leaves the last part of January.
I am finishing the financial books while here at Kibidula. I am praising the Lord for He is so good. I do not have to take a 13 hour bus from Kibidula to Dar Salaam. There is a family going Dar at the same time to pick up family members the evening before my flight. So they have offered to take me down. It is so much more comfortable in an individual vehicle than in a public vehicle, if you know what I mean.
About the last month at Mago we lost internet service. I think it came back, but you had to walk up the hill and I wasn't up to it. With all the work, rain and stress to get things done I have come down with a "cold". I did not get a diagnosis, but a nurse called a doctor friend in Dar and she said to give me an antibiotic which is good for bronchitis and pneumonia. Even I felt that I may have one of these; but was too busy to do any major treatments that it has hung such a long time. Anita, the nurse here at Kibidula, gave me fever bath last night. Before the bath she had boiled some water and put some eucalyptus oil in it and had me inhale it for about 15 minutes. After the bath she brought me home, plastered me with vicks and gave me ginger and licorice root tea, cut up two onions as a "room freshener" and gave me the antibiotic and said get some sleep. She had prayer with me and then left. I slept better than I have for days; hardly any coughing. This morning is a different story, but I am feeling better. I don't know exactly which of the items did it, but to me now, it doesn't matter.
Anyway, all is well; I am almost done with the books. Irma, who is helping me, had something important to do immediately so she has told me to take a day or two to get better and then we will finalize on the books. This sounded good to me when she told me yesterday, that I took a nap. I will be leaving on Sunday with the family to Dar and so until then I am not doing much of anything. I am able to do some reading. The following is a quote on Dan. 1:17 found in 4BC 1167 - 17. God's Blessing No Substitute for Effort.--When the four Hebrew youth were receiving an education for the king's court in Babylon, they did not feel that the blessing of the Lord was a substitute for the taxing effort required of them. They were diligent in study; for they discerned that through the grace of God their destiny depended upon their own will and action. They were to bring all their ability to the work; and by close, severe taxation of their powers, they were to make the most of their opportunities for study and labor. While these youth were working out their own salvation, God was working in them to will and to do of His good pleasure. Here are revealed the conditions of success. To make God's grace our own, we must act our part. The Lord does not propose to perform for us either the willing or the doing. His grace is given to work in us to will and to do, but never as a substitute for our effort. Our souls are to be aroused to cooperate. The Holy Spirit works in us, that we may work out our own salvation. This is the practical lesson the Holy Spirit is striving to teach us (YI Aug. 20, 1903). {4BC 1167.6} May we all learn from the Holy Spirit what is necessary for success.
Signing off now from Mago (Kibidula)…..
Deniece
PS – Will write more when I get back to the states. Maybe even have some pictures I can post.
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