Nuru Center

 Nuru means light in Swahili. The Nuru Center supports people with disabilities, helping them learn and market crafts in Dar es Salaam. People with disabilities are often marginalized in Tanzania.

My kids got to visit the center on a field trip. They received a lesson in sign language, then the artisans taught them how to make paper beads and bookmarks made from cut banana leaves. It was a great experience for my kids, to show them that people with disabilities have much to give. They were impressed that people with disabilities should be treated well, as they are God's creation. Hopefully they will remember this day as some of them grow up to be leaders in Tanzania.

One of my students was especially endearing. He has learned English and Swahili in the past two years (after he came from Germany). He dove right into Sign Language, greeting and asking questions of his craft instructor!

Easter Messages Spoken Via the Zambezi Swing

During our Easter Break trip, two of my friends and I experienced 170 feet of gravity in the Zambezi Gorge. It was an exhilarating experience, which God used to remind me of a few things in HIS character. He used Kulu, the man who you will see helping me jump off the cliff in this video clip, to demonstrate these things. I pray I will remember and apply them as I finish my time at HOPAC and move into the next step.

1. Trust the speaker, who has earned the trust by what he has shown. His voice is sure, clear, strong, and under control.
2. Listen. Don’t dwell on it. Just obey. 3-2-1-step… then it’s exhilarating.
3. I think it would be harder to step if you had doubted and faltered the first time.
4. Yet He firmly and kindly assures and guides those who falter… lifts the chin, asks them to look in his eyes, and leads them through, nudges even.
5. He treats each one differently, as they need.
6. The first moments after the step are the scariest, and most exhilarating. Then it is joy. Joy to see the creation around you and to know you stepped.
7. But during those scary moments you can’t go back. You already stepped in faith. It is out of your hands and in the hands of what and who you have trusted. 

Mosi oa Tunya!!

Mosi oa Tunya is the original name for Victoria Falls. I got to take a train/bus trip with four friends to Livingstone, Zambia, right by the falls. God blessed us with so many lovely sights and fun surprises, like this bull elephant emerging from the water right by our vehicle! We got to try fried caterpillar, go on a bike safari, and jump 170 feet off the side of the gorge (on a "swing"). We celebrated Easter with the Word, communion, and singing, even dancing, on the shores of the Zambezi. Glorious. And now for the last term!

Finit!

About 10 pm last night, Emily and I put the last brushstrokes on the last two murals... And now they are finished! It was really fun, and I hope that God has more muraling planned for my future, but it's also really nice to be done! I've enjoyed working with the kids to design and execute these, and with Emily and all the people that helped us. Time for a Sabbath rest:)

Four Down, Two to Go!

1st Grade

3rd Grade

2nd Grade

4th Grade

These are the murals that my housemate Emily and I have been working on with a group of about 15 primary students. We started planning at the beginning of the year. We hope to finish the other two tomorrow! It's been lovely to lead the kids in this creation.

Aaa-Choo!

Would you believe it?; you can get a cold in a tropical climate zone. I am happily coming out of the fog of sinus congestion today, thanks to a bit of rest, tea, and time.
Yet what brought this on? Well, the night time temperature has dropped a degree or two below 80 degrees Fahrenheit lately. I went from sleeping with no sheet, to pulling up the fleece blanket a couple times last week. I think these drastic temperature shifts shook up my immune system.

Family Meal

Last weekend all my housemates were gone. I got invited over to the house of a couple along with a family of four, all whom I've known since my first day in Tanzania. The couple are long time SIL missionaries. They brought their children up in Papua New Guinea. There, Sunday dinner was always pretzels, because it's easy to make more dough for more friends to join. And, they're fun to create in all sorts of shapes, quick to bake, and yummy to dip in anything from cream cheese to jam. We joined in their tradition, making guitars, hearts, unicorns, spirals... and a gecko! It's fortifying to have family time, when I am far from my own. Sharing a meal and conversation with mixed age levels and people who know you pretty well is a welcome comfort.