July Update from Kay: #AdventuresinArusha

Back door view of our new little  round house

              Hi!!  Hope this finds you and your family doing well!  Wanted to share a quick update about the last 2 months and our prayer requests about MY FIRST BIG MINISTRY OPPORTUNITY this week!  First, thanks so much to everyone who has been giving to my ministry!  I am in AWE of God’s provision and how He is using YOU here through your donations!  We pray that God blesses you and your family for giving to His work to spread the Gospel and disciple believers, especially kids and youth! And to encourage and equip Tanzanians to prioritize the next generation NOW!  To God be all the glory!! 

                Veronica (my Tanzanian ‘daughter’ and now ‘ministry assistant’!) and I are doing well and mostly settled in the new house in Arusha!  I know that it has only been 2 months since I left—and only one in this new house but it seems much longer-in a good way!  I flew into Arusha from the USA and spent two weeks looking for houses; I didn’t think it would take that long and was quite stressed, but God provided the right one.  I only had two weeks to tie up things in Mwanza, pack up, say ‘goodbyes’ and move!  It was a whirlwind but if it had been any longer it would have been more difficult!  Moving was even more stressful since the movers were awful liars and did a horrible job.  Unfortunately, it was one of my worst Tanzanian experiences and we are so thankful it’s over! Lessons learned…Can’t imagine what it would have been like if everyone HADN’T been praying!  Yikes!  THANK YOU!! 

Front door view--master bedroom porch upstairs

A bit of the garden with one of our neighbors' houses

                And it was SO worth it since we love the new house!  In all my missionary career, I have never lived on a compound with other missionary families, in a COMMUNITY, except for language school (2003).  But now that is exactly what God has provided and He knew how much we needed it, especially in a new city! We are staying on The Joshua Foundation’s compound.  They are a team of over twenty singles, couples and families from New Zealand, Australia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and even one American.  They have welcomed us into their community to potlucks and tea-times, weekly Sunday evening worship time and more.            We are really enjoying getting to know them and their families. Some of what they do/have:  Christian schools, teachers training college, Bible school for pastors, agriculture projects and more.  They do ministry in the community and in outer villages plus host volunteers and teams.  They are currently having their first mission team attending ministry school.   For more about them and what the compound looks like, you can check them out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tjftanzania/   or go to their website at www.joshuaonline.org.

Open floor plan kitchen/dining room view from living room.

Living room--we love all the windows!

                This last month, we have been busy settling into the house, learning the town and getting to know our neighbors here!  We have also been attending the local Baptist church and getting to know the pastor and his family.   This week the WORK begins!  I will be speaking/teaching/mobilizing in this new ministry position for the first time, officially this week! So please pray for Vero and me, as we will be traveling to Dodoma (about an 8-hour drive) to attend the annual Tanzania Baptist Women’s Meeting from July 19-22^nd.  In Tanzania, the children’s ministries are all under the umbrella of Women’s Ministry and the ladies are responsible for teaching the kids.  Like in the states, the Women’s ministries are a big deal, but since the children’s ministry doesn’t have its own budget, it’s not prioritized--even though there are more children in the churches than women and men combined!  Even youth ministry has its own budget and annual meeting, but it was held the week we moved so we didn’t make it this year. 

                At the meeting, I will share my ministry testimony and vision of God’s priority of discipling children, like I did last year to the pastors and leaders at the 2016 TZ national convention.  We will do some research to find out IF they have children’s programs and if so, WHAT they are doing, WHICH materials/models they are using, HOW I may be able to help, etc.  I’m sure their ministries will range from “structured Sunday Schools with written materials” to “oral Bible stories but no Bible” to “nothing yet.” 

                 So, this will be an important time to meet and encourage those working hard to disciple children.  I may even get the chance to catch up with some old friends from years past!  So, we appreciate your prayers for the following:

·         **Traveling mercies (if you Google Arusha to Dodoma it says 7 ½ hours, so hopefully we can make it in 8!). That’s a long drive for truck and driver!  Pray for ladies riding buses from even farther away than us.  Traveling days are Wednesday, 7/19 and Saturday 7/22 and Thursday and Friday are the two full days of teaching, meetings, etc.

·        ** Good health and rest for everyone, especially the teachers (like me) and leaders organizing everything.

·         **Productive opportunities of connecting with, teaching and encouraging the ladies in their ministries

·        ** For me, good Swahili to communicate! God to open eyes, ears and hearts and to empower the ladies and leaders to prioritize discipling children!

Mt. Meru is so beautiful and a we love getting to see it every day!

 Thanks so much for your prayers! Please keep up with me on Facebook and on my page at Transform Tanzania  for updates from this week of ministry adventures!  When we get back I will share in detail about the trip and more about our #AdventuresinArusha!!! 

God bless you!  Kay and Veronica and the very happy kitties, Bebe and Doi