Tanzania Hope 101

Archive for July, 2010

Joshua made many “best friends” while in Africa.  Here are a few of his friends that he made one day at Lake Tanganyika.

Thank you for rejoicing with us as we celebrate Emma’s decision to publicly declare her faith as her own in Tanzania, Africa.

Isaiah 55:8-9

          “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

          I am late in blogging but I have always been one who needs a little extra time to process.  I have wrestled over the past three weeks to understand faith.  Six years ago I did a Bible Study called “Believing God” and I was set free by the truth that our righteousness does not come from works but from our faith in God.  We can be confident of this truth from reading the testimonies listed in Hebrews 11 and from Romans 4:7 which states “Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.”   Since that study, I have desired to increase my faith and experience more of God.  In many ways, it is for this very reason that I wanted to go Africa with my family.  In fact, looking back to one of my prior posts I wrote that God had impressed upon me that, “This trip is all about faith.”  This trip was indeed all about faith, but in ways I never would have imagined and it is still transforming both my mind and heart. 

          Flying to Africa, I was excited about all the opportunities we would have to trust and rely on God and experience His power and I sincerely felt that going to Africa was a big step of faith.  However, my perspective quickly changed soon after landing in Kigoma, Tanzania as I began to meet amazing men and women of faith who depended on God for literally everything.  They were so rich in faith because of the trials they faced every day while living in Africa.  Romans 5:3-4 says, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”  This “hope” is faith according to Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  It was in reconciling these truths that I began to feel very poor and lame.  It was not condemnation I felt, it was simply the reality of seeing my faith for what it truly was, tiny, maybe the size of a mustard seed. 

          I was particularly challenged, Tuesday, June 29 while teaching the kids at camp about Ephesians 6, the Armor of God, and what it means to have a Shield of Faith.  As part of the lesson that day, I taught the kids five statements of faith that I had learned in the Believing God Bible Study.  They were; 1)  God is Who He says He is 2) God can do what He says He can do 3) I am who God says I am 4) I can do all things through Christ and 5) God’s word is alive and living in me.  Saying these statements of faith in America felt so different than Africa.  For example, when I studied these statements of faith in America it took much less faith to believe that God is who He says He is in my circumstance because on my worst day I always had all my basic needs more than covered.  It was really tough for me to teach these statements that day because to be completely honestly at that moment I was not confident that I had enough faith to claim these promises for these children and the adversity they faced.

          I was humbled and I felt such conviction as I spoke God’s truth and examined my own faith and wondered how strong my faith would be if I lived under the same circumstances as these children.  How hard would it be to believe God’s promises if my family rejected me when I decided to follow Jesus or even beat me because of my faith?  What if I went days without eating?  Would I still believe God?  I kept thinking, “These kids need to teach me about what it means to have a shield of faith, they have faced true trials and hardships and are believing God everyday and seeing Him as faithful.”  Their faith amazed me and the faith of their youth leaders astounded me even more as we did ministry together over the weeks and I got to know them and love them.  They loved God with all their hearts, minds and soul and they lived completely for Christ.  They loved God’s word and were hungry to learn more about God at every chance they had.  High school age men would stop our husbands at gatherings and even on the side of the road on day to bring their lists of questions about scripture, desiring to talk for hours about God’s word and truth.  This is no exaggeration.  They were passionate about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ because it had changed their lives, gave them hope and their compassion for their people drove them to action everywhere they went. 

          It was through these experiences in Africa that I felt completely poor.   It is true that our family makes well over one-hundred times what these families make, yet they honestly were one-hundred times richer in faith than me. The verse from Matthew 19:23-24 kept ringing in my head, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  I began to understand this verse in ways that I never had before and I wept while wondering, “Can I have faith in America?”  Is it even possible to have faith when the abundance I have been given keeps me from developing dependence, intimacy and faith in God.  I felt spoiled, lame and unlovable but as I prayed God assured me that although my surroundings and perspective had changed His love for me had not.  He reminded me that He was growing my faith.  He is faithful and unchanging.  For he who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus, Philippians 1:6.

          Now, that I have been humbled and understand the true weak state of my faith, God and I are working on figuring out what it looks like for me to live by faith daily in America.  If I am serious about my faith I must be vigilant and put forth both effort and prayer to live differently and I must trust each adversity I am given to build my faith, rather than seek escape and comfort.  And until I am called home to meet Jesus face to face I will trust God’s love for me in all circumstances and claim the promise Jesus made to His disciples in Matthew 17:20, “He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

We are just about ready to begin our first long flight to Dubai.  Prayers are welcome.   As we have reflected over the last two days we have come up with a list of one liners that we have heard often.  We hope they make you smile and help you get a better taste of where we have been.

Tanzania Hope 101 One Liners

“I want to be black like the Africa people!” –Joshua

“What were you thinking?!?!” –Neil

“When was the last time you showered?” – Kelly

“I want to see my Nana and Papa!” –Emma

“Do you want to die?!” –Safari Man

“Use your brain!” –Neil

“I just want to go home to see Samson!” –Anabelle

“Get out of the dirt!” –Everyone

“Did you wash your hands?” –Everyone

“This is the worst day ever!” –Colby

“This is the best day ever!” –Colby 20 minutes later

“Asante sana squashed banana” –Kids

“What?  I wasn’t doing anything.” – Colby

“How much longer?” –Kids

“I want to take a shower with… Faith, Emma, Mr. Young.” –Anabelle

“Did anyone throw up last night?” – Parents

(Regarding his coffee of choice)“I’m a straight black man.” – Eric

“It’s Africa Time.” – Everyone

“Chillax, bro!” –Faith

“This is freaky!” –Emma

“Are we almost there?” –Kids

“Two words: Dream on. Three Words: Suck it up.” –Neil, and later Anabelle

“What are we doing? I thought…” –Everyone but Connie

“Are you kidding me?” –Parents

“Watoto!!!!” –Connie

“So did you sleep last night?” –Everyone to Neil

“Anabelle, Anabelle! You’re really cool, but your toots kinda smell.” –Faith

“Are you going to barf?” –Parents

“No bell peppers, not even a little.”- Neil

“How’s your tummy?”

“I’m tired.” –EVERYONE

“I’m hungry—Can I have a snack?” –Kids (Joshua)

“Are we going to die?” –Everyone

“I don’t like that!” –Anabelle

“I need a bandaid!” –Anabelle

“Where’s your water bottle?”

“Pfft…” –Neil

Are you kidding me?!   – Eric

You can do 10- 2…  – Coni to Eric

“I want a refund on my work permit.” – Bill

“Destitute?  I like to toot.” – Joshua

“I don’t want to go to the freaky place.” – Anabelle

“Instead of making a brick house, I made a capuccino.” -Eric

Here we are in our last couple of days in the Kigoma region.  I think we have all learned a lot about ourselves, kids, and our perceptions of American culture, Tanzanian culture, and God’s culture.  I am discovering that there is a difference – a major difference. 

Obviously, by no means are the first two perfect, however, they are very different.  I’m not going to try and describe the differences between American and Tanzanian culture (the list would turn into a book!).  But I do want to talk about what I have learned about God’s culture. 

The things that I have learned about God’s culture are only things that God has taught me.  One of the things I have learned (and will continuously be learning is) how important it is to put the Gospel before myself. Last Friday was “evangelism day”.  We were going to a small village close to Kigoma that the Kneppers have been working on for a couple of years, and it is 90% Muslim. They have been building relationships and forming partnerships with the community. They have created a pre-school there, a sewing center/school, and a baking center. 

Well, on this day we had been preparing to go door-to-door to share the good news. Connie Knepper has been leading a woman’s Bible study on Wednesday afternoons, and so she invited all of the women (probably around 40) to come on Friday to go door-to-door.  So not only were the wazungu (white people) going door to door but the nationals who live in the village went as well. 

We went in the morning to pray and discuss along with the nationals what evangelism looks like and effective ways
to go about doing it.  When we first got there I thought in my mind that there would be more men to evangelize, but initially there weren’t.  I didn’t feel that it made sense to witness to a lot of women.  Then Colby (Anabelle wasn’t with us) was hungry and then I justified in my mind that I wasn’t needed, so I took Colby home after being there for 3 hours.  When we got home I just didn’t feel right about it.  Then Connie came home said, “Wow, there sure is a lot of men out there.”  Well that was difficult to swallow, especially when she wanted to know if “there was anyone that wanted to go BACK to the village.”  I still didn’t feel good about staying home so at the very last minute (literally as she was driving away) I jumped in the car. 

When we got to the village I was paired with a translator that has only been speaking English for 3 months.  We had been given a Bible to give to a man that had asked for it earlier in the day from someone else.  So we stopped at his house and we gave him a Bible.  He and two other men were building some furniture and we gave him a Bible and asked if he had any questions.  We answered some of their questions and then there was this young man and woman (brother and sister) that had been sitting off to the side listening to our conversation.  We asked them if they had any questions and they wanted to know what we were talking about.  So I asked if they had heard of who Jesus was and they hadn’t.  I then shared the Gospel with them and asked them if they had any questions.  They did and so we talked about them. 
They said they wanted to know more and were interested but were fearful of their father – who was Muslim.  They said they would be hated and kicked out of their family if they made such a choice.  Then they told me that I could talk to their father and convince him about our faith and he was in the back of their house.

After looking at my translator and swallowing hard I said that I would.  We went back there and I met their father.  He was this gentle older man and who was in his Muslim garb, but was very friendly.  I explained to him what I was doing and I asked him if I could share who Jesus the Christ was.  He was very opened to it and after discussing it with him for a while I asked if he was ready – and he said YES!!!! Bwana Asifiwe!!!! Praise the Lord!!!  Then this gentle old man took off his Muslim hat placed it on the ground and then wrote his name in the dirt.  He then crossed his name out, looked at me and told me that he needed a new name.  Then 3 of his Muslim daughters who were not listening because they were off to the side doing work came over and asked if they could hear about Jesus.  Then they received Jesus, as well.  A son and another daughter heard the message but rejected it. 

Later on we walked down the road and two more woman heard about what we had done and wanted to know about Jesus.  They received the Lord as well and they are all now in God’s hands. God did not have to use me, but for some reason he decided to use me.  I don’t know why.  This happened on Friday and it has taken me several days to process  this event.  I am just so thankful that I had an opportunity to experience God’s grace up close and personal.  I could have stayed home on Friday, but I would have missed out on this story.  Instead I was part of this family’s salvation story. 

Thank you Lord  for teaching me about the importance of your Gospel.  Thank you, God. 
By the way this older man is now named Timothy.  Pray for Timothy.  
In His Grace,
Eric