Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-getting there

Shannon and I will be sitting down together to write the next several posts. He will be telling stories from the trip while I type them. I hope you enjoy what he has to share. Shannon say he is sorry it took us so long to get to this but he has been busy and very tired since returning home.

We arrived at the Minneapolis airport and our biggest concern for the moment was that one of the team members passport was beginning to peel along the edge right where the picture was. The local passport authorities had told us she would never even get on the first plane and were concerned she would even try. They said that even if she got through Minneapolis she would never get through Amsterdam. In Minneapolis nobody said a word about her passport. It was a very long flight of about 10 hours. Collin and I were in the center of the plane and I was almost feeling clausterphobic. Finally we arrived in Amsterdam. We had a 4 hour layover there. I was surprised to discover that there was smoking everywhere and the gender signs to the bathrooms seemed to make no diference whatsoever on who one might find inside. I was inside a stall and heard several women and girls come in. At first I thought, "Oh man! Did I get in the wong one? " But I was nearly certain I hadn't. When I came out there was a woman janitor in there cleaning and a little girl changing her siblings diaper. There were the very telling symbols known as urinals hanging on the walls and sure enough, on the outside of the door as I stepped out there was a mens sign.

When it came time to board the plane to Africa I thought the security there was very lax. Not only was there no questions asked about Stephanie's passport but it seemed like we could have taken nearly anything on the plane there. Now it was time for another long flight of about the same length to Kilamanjaro International airport. The airport is located right near Mount Kilamanjaro in the northeast corner of Tanzania. It was a much more comfortable trip. I had an aisle seat and Collin slept most of the flight. We arrived at Kilamanjaro and stayed at the "hotel" right near the airport. The hotel consisted of small hut-like buildings. Each one had two rooms and each room had three twin sized beds. Unfortunately we arrived after dark into Tanzania so couldn't see much. We decided it was time to spread out in our beds and try to get some sleep as we knew we had more travel in the morning. I woke up ready to go at 5:05. Then I looked at my watch again and realized it was only 1:25. I had mixed up the hands. I didn't sleep much after that but I did some praying and the word "impartation" was stuck in my mind and the song, "Your Name" by Paul Baloche and Kathryn Scott. Here is the chorus:
"Your Name, is a strong mighty tower
Your Name, is a shelter like no other
Your Name, let the nations sing it louder
Cause nothing has the power to save but Your Name. "
The song ran through my mind over and over as I waited for the new day to begin.

So many stories to tell

There are so many things that the guys have shared with me that it is almost hard to know where to start. I also want Shannon to tell the stories direct to you but since he is a bad typist he will likely tell me as I type for some posts. This first story, I am going to share with you as he told it to me Tuesday evening. It's a good one!

Shannon has a CPAP machine that helps him to sleep at night as he has a condition called sleep apnea. Anyway, this machine is in a type of duffel bag that he has carried with him as he travels or is on the road for his job. He opened the bag and used the machine his first night in Tanzania while at the hotel near the Kilamanjaro airport. Then he used it again the next night in Mwanza. The third night they were in Tanzania, they had been through very tough travel conditions to arrive at Maisome Island in Lake Victoria. Then at their arrival they realized that the living conditions were also very dificult. There will be more about the travel and tripto the island to come. Anyway, about this time Shannon was wondering what he was doing there and feeling a bit down. As he got ready for bed, he opened up the bag carrying his machine and there, right on top of the machine, as if it had been purposely laid there, was a tri-folded letter from a friend that Shannon had recieved at a spiritual retreat 7 months ago! The letter reads as follows:

"Nothing is better for a man than...that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. Ecclesiastes 2:24

Since ascending to heaven, Christ no longer has a body on earth except ours. In other words, He has no hands, legs or feet on earth except for the members of His body, the church. Therefore, He sends US out to be HIs body to one another and to the world, and to go about doing good. Remember this: Right now Jesus has no body on earth but ours!

I thank God that we could share the same path this weekend."

Than it is signed by his friend. Shannon found that to be so incredibly encouraging at a time that he needed it so badly. How did that letter get there? And where was it the previous 7 months when that bag had been used and used? Not only did Shannon find it encouraging but he shared this with those he was travelling with and it also lifted me up as he told me. I hope you too can be encouraged as we were.

They're home!

I just wanted to post a quick note to let you know that Shannon and Collin arrived home safely this afternoon. They are healthy and happy but tired. Shannon does not return to work until Thursday and we are not sending Collin back to school until then as well. Tomorow is a catch up on sleep, unpack the bags and get rested day for them. We will post some stories of their travels soon. It was an amazing trip and there is a lot to tell.

The latest news from Tanzania

Thank you so much for your prayers over these past weeks. I am attaching the email from Rev. Debra that arrived this morning. It sounds like it has been an amazing time in Tanzania for the team to be a part of.

One of the things I have been praying very hard for is the salvation of members of the Masai tribe. When I was in Tanzania two years ago I was awed by these beautiful people. They are a nomadic tribe that raises cattle and move with the grass and water. These people are known to be very honorable and are highly respected by everyone but they are steeped in tribal religions. It seems a part of my prayer for that was answered. Please pray for Christianity to spread through their people.

Also, much of the reason for Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania was to confirm the calling that God has placed on us for Tanzania and to find land for the ministry. It looks like both of these have happened! Praise the Lord! It also looks like my family will be eating mangoes.

The kids and I will drive to the airport to pick them up tomorrow. Pray for their safe return.

Love,

Christine

-------Original Message-------

From: Debra Zimmer

Date: 09/25/06 06:03:51

Subject: I't been a great trip

Hello everyone,

Just a little report to let you all know that we are doing good. The guys

left this morning to fly back to the states while us girls are getting ready

for our minimum of 12 hour bus trip to Rwanda tomorrow morning. We leave

the hotel at 4am.

We have seen a wonderful harvest of over 960 people saved so far and 91

people receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Our meetings have been

powerful. I think the highlight has been the Pastor's conference - There

was such a move of the spirit the last day that every pastor except of 2

were either on their knees or face crying out to God to change them and

bring revival in their churches. We have so many different denominations and

non-denominational pastors. They said they had never experienced a

conference as powerful as that one. So many had called Pastor Richard and

told him. The second day of the conference I called out a man and a wife

and they were Assembly of God pastors - I prophecied over them about some

things that had been thru and was about to take place in their ministry -

they had been thru something so difficult and were asked to leave the church

for 18 months but then the headquarter said that they were wrong and could

not find evidence of what they were accused of. They laid on the floor and

cried and cried - and they said they would never never be the same - they

said they felt we were sent in by God to encourage them cuz they had felt

like quiting the ministry.

Our open air has been so exciting - we had many Maasi tribal men in their

tribal clothes come forward to get saved and also Muslum. Children's

ministry has been a big hit!!

So many healings - let me mention two - a woman had a tumor in her stomach

and she had went to the hospital and they said she needed surgery so she

needed to save money. She came to our crusade and was prayed for and her

tumor disappeared. Another woman was from far away...she had come to Mwanza

to get treatment on her feet because they were so painful...God healed her

instantly. She was so so happy and danced and danced. So many more

healings....deaf ears...eye sight restored...pain in eyes for

years....gallbladder....pain in body....and more.

We had a move of God in Pastor Richard's church yesterday - his church is a

new building that was built 3 times larger than the building he had 2 years

ago when I was here - it was packed out - we had many new believers from the

crusade come. Our ministry is going to give out bibles to everyone that

didn't have a bible - I think we will need 30 - 40 bibles.

We looked for land on Saturday for the orphanage and radio tower. We found

the perfect piece of land - it is about 30 acres and it has some beautiful

hills on it and some of it is flat with mango trees. Shannon was so excited

cuz it was out in the country - he said he is going home to prepare to come

to Tanzania with his family to oversee this part of our ministry. He was so

touched by the people and their love and the people are so excited that the

family is coming in to live. The land is out in the country but maybe

only a few miles to town.

Thanks again for all your prayers - God is moving in a great way in Tanzania

and you are all a part of it. I will leave part of my heart here....I

really do love this country deeply.

We will be in Rwanda on Monday and arrive into Mpls. at noon on Tuesday.

Blessings and love,

Debra

Truth, the whole truth and nothing but...

It is not often that when I put my foot in my mouth I am able to pull it out gracefully but this will be my attempt to do so. Please stick with me.

On Friday morning I received an email newsletter from a ministry and I was immediately struck by what it was telling me. The general topic of the email was that we must be aware of ministers or those claming to be that are not speaking the truth. We must be wary of those religious leaders that are mixing the truth with deception. Once they start doing that it becomes hard to discern the diference between the two and we can easily be misled.

I reposted this in its entirity without researching it further...without discovering the truth for myself...by doing exactly what the newsletter had just warned me about-taking a religious leaders words as truth without comparing it to God's word and researching it myself.

I have a dear friend that is a wonderful Christian that called me on this Saturday evening. They say iron sharpens iron and she did so. She actually took the time to research the comments in the newslettter and discovered that there was some...uh, altering of words, stretching the truth, and false accusations made in the newsleter about a prominent Christian leader. She then commented about it through my blog. As soon as I received the comment I began researching it myself and immediately pulled the post off the blog. I am so glad I was able to do this. I spent several hours in research as well as time in prayer. I also spoke by phone with this friend to further clarify my thoughts. I am planning to email this ministry to tell them of my concerns that they are doing exactly what they are trying to warn about.

So...ultimately, I wish to apologize to anyone that read that post before it was removed. I also want to do exactly what I was trying to do through the original post and that is to warn you of false teachers. To remind you to have an ongoing relationship with Jesus and read your bible and be familiar with it so that you can recognize false teachings. My wish is to never hurt anyone or mislead them through this blog or anything else I may write or say and I certainly do not wish to be a part of spreading any falsehoods. Again, I apologize.

Rewritten and reposted on Sunday 9/24 10:23PM

"Only 5 more days"

I think it would be fair to say that the children and I here at home are ready for Shannon and Collin to be home. As each day passes we have two calenders that we cross the day off on and count the days that are left. And during each day as we talk about missing them we continue to remind each other of how many days are left. Even after this long alone in our bed, I still don't sleep well at night. I figured by this time exhaustion would set in from all of the lost sleep and I'd be able to crash through a whole night but I'm not. Each time I wake up, several times per night, I find myself adding 8 hours to my time and praying for the team based upon what I figure they are doing. While in Mwanza, pastoral teachings are in the mornings and the crusades are in the late afternoon and into the evening.

Often I hear of middle aged couples who end up divorced once thier nest is empty. They realize that they have lost touch with each other in the child raising years. I remember when I travelled to Tanzania two years ago. Before I left I thought that I would miss the children most of all. As a homeschooling mom, my days are totally wrapped up in the children. I take care of the schooling, the doctors appointments, the music lessons and activities. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how quickly and how much I missed Shannon. Sure, I missed the kids but my thoughts were mainly on him. I felt very reassured, that although we've come through many tough years in our marriage, our marriage is very strong. In fact, our marriage is strong not despite our troubled years, but because of them.

Although I miss the guys terribly, I am very excited to hear of the reports they will have, when they return, of salvations and healings in Mwanza. Please pray that the harvest of souls in Mwanza will be great.

Rev. Debra's email from Tanzania

Hello everyone,

We have just returned from the island last night and the group is doing very

good!!!

It has been a trip beyond trips and it is so unbelievable what we have

experienced....starting with Stephanie arriving into Tanzania without a

problem.....we were told by the passport office in Willmar that she would

never get out of Mpls. because of her passport picture that was coming apart

and they were very alarmed that we would even try. God is faithful, there

was no question asked the entire trip and we know she will get home the same

way... thru a miracle. Thanks for your prayers!!!!!

Our trip to the island was so exciting. We starting with a bus ride that

lasted about 6 hours - a public bus on very rough roads and no stops for

bathroom breaks. We were all pretty tired and aching when we arrived to the

port where we would be taking a boat 3 hours to Maisome Island and everyone

was in good spirits and still smiling and praising God - but when I saw the

boat that we were going to take, I could hardly believe my eyes....it was

NOT what I was expecting. I was expecting a ferry, but this was a very old

and small boat and to get in the boat you had to climb a tall ladder -

Everyone else did much better than me....I don't like heights - I climbed

the ladder 3 times before I could get the nerve to go to the top and swing

my foot into the boat - (I did it, but with alot of help of course from

others hanging on to me. It was unbelievable and we sat on wooden benches -

it was really exciting being we had never experience this before until I saw

the water coming into the bottom of the boat...we starting praying!!! God is

faithful. When we got to the island, we were welcomed by many who were

singing songs of praise as we got off the boat. We were taken to a little

quest house and were met with bats and rats in our rooms. We took authority

over these things and plead the blood and for the most part sleep well the

next 4 nights. Thank you Jesus for the Blood!!!!! Not one curse could touch

out group - we have received greater revelation of the blood.

Thank you for your prayers - we have felt them as we battled many things

including witchcraft in the spirit, but we seen victory and the fruit was

so great. We were the first white people to preach on the island and it was

such a priviledge. The conference was packed out with people standing

around the church everyday because there was no room in the church. The

church was so hungry and so excited that we had come. We have heard reports

that many many said that they will never be the same. The pastor of the

church is under our ministry - His name is Pastor James and he is an

ex-witchdoctor that is so totally sold out to God. His church has grown to

about 250 from 30 people when I met him 4 years ago at the first conference

that I did with a team. We had a divine appointmnet on that island and we

are definitely going back next year.

The open- air meetings have been powerful on the island. There were over

400 people saved. The exciting thing is when the power of God was so strong

at the conference and the Sunday church service that people walked up front

without an invititation. Revival fires are truly burning on this island - I

love to go where no one else goes - What a priviledge it was, yes!! the

living conditions for us while on the island was such a little price in

comparison to the souls that were saved and so many healings, such as eye

sight being restored and deaf ears being opened and so much more. This

island will trully never be the same!!!

We took a 12 hour ferry ride going home - It was really easy in comparison

to the way we went to the island. The only hard part was the way we left

the ferry. Because we didn't want to wait until they unloaded the ferry

from the cargo that was on it, which would of taken another hour, we had to

walk on top of bags of fish that were stacked up more than 2 stories high. I

couldn't look down, my legs were shaking - Lake Victoria was on the

immediate left and cows were down below on the immediate right with the

largest horns I have ever seen. God's grace is sufficient - we have seen

that He is faithful and when we do what we never thought we could do, we can

do it because we trust Him and look into his face.

The team is wonderful - there has been unity from day one and each one is

being changed and touched and being used in ways they never believed

possible.

Thank you so much for all your prayers.....we couldn't do it without you!!!

Prayer is so necessary. You are part of all that God does while we are here

in Tanzania and Rwanda.

Continue to pray, we are looking for land tomorrow for the orphanage, radio

station, etc. We also start the Pastor's conference in Mwanza tomorrow

which will go thru Friday and we will be starting the open-air in Mwanza

Thursday thru Sunday.

Love, Debra

News from Tanzania

Well, after being awake most of the night and leaving the computer online in hopes of hearing from Shannon, this morning, just as I would normally get up, he logged into instant messenger. We had about 45 minutes andchatted the whole time. He is a one finger typist so his comments were very short but here is what I have found out.

Collin left here with a cold. It ended up turning into a sinus infection and he is on medication and getting better. They are going to look at land, now as I type this, at two diferent locations. The living conditions at the island were very dificult and the travel tough as well but now that they are back in Mwanza it is much better. Collin has recieved the baptism of the Holy Spirit! Refer to Acts 1:8. There have been many salvations and healings at the island and ministry in Mwanza begins tomorrow. He was so excited to hear my news about the well drilling rig being in Tanzania. He could hardly wait to share it with Rev. Debra and Pastor Richard.

I most likely will not hear from them again now until we pick them up at the airport next Tuesday. Only Shannon, Collin and Mike are returning next week while the rest of the team continues on for a weeek to go to Rwanda.

Rev. Debra emailed and I got quite a bit more info from that to share. I will put that in a seperate post. Please keep praying.

Anxiously waiting

As I am writing this Rev. Debra, Shannon, Collin and the others should be waking to the sound of the Muslim call to prayer. Several times each day the call is issued over huge speakers that broadcast across the larger cities of which Mwanza is one. I recall that during my stay there I used the call each morning to pray to my own God, the only true God and for the people that were answering that call. I hope and pray that when we eventually arrive in Mwanza full-time we can play a part in showing many people, including muslims, the way to Christ.

Today, in Mwanza, Rev Debra, Shannon, Collin and Pastor Richard are meeting with government officials to look at land and discuss our vision. Please pray for favor. Also, today is the day they will be looking at rental housing for us while we wait for the mission housing to be built. I am also hopeful that I will receive an email from either Shannon or Rev. Debra or both. Hopefully by the time I post tomorrow I will have some news from them to share.

Please also keep me in your prayers. I am missing my guys pretty bad and ready to have them home. As I look at the calendar and realize we are already halfway through this separation, I then realize that we are only halfway through.

Connections

I never cease to be amazed by God's ways. Shannon and I have been praying for many things over these past few months. One thing is for connections. We are asking God to put people in our lives that will work with us in any way to accomplish His purpose in Tanzania. There have been several instances just this week that I want to share about.

First, last Sunday evening, as we broke up into our new small groups at our church and began visiting with others, Shannon was talking with the leader. Jeff and his wife actually have lived across the street from my parents for several years and began attending our church about a year ago. In our large church and with our busy lives we have never really connected much. Anyway, during their conversation last week about Shannon's then pending trip, Jeff shared that he knows someone that has a well-drilling rig in Africa. He said he'd try to find out where they were located. Well, tonight as I returned to our group, Jeff came to tell me excitedly that the well-drilling rig is in Tanzania! The man owning it has already drilled several wells for the president of Tanzania. He travels there twice per year to do more drilling. Jeff plans to get even more information to us soon.

Second, on Monday, on the trip home from dropping off the team at the airport, I stopped at a restraunt with my two children that are homeschooled to have lunch. In talking with our server she told us that she knits scarves for orphanages around the world. She agreed with me that we probably wouldn't need a lot of those on the equator but shared that she has a friend in the Minneapolis area that knits teddy bears for orphanages. We exchanged information in hopes that we can connect again once things are set up.

Lastly, tonight while Jeff and I were talking about the well drilling, another member of our small group asked what we were talking about. Jim is another person in our church we didn't have an earlier connection with. He shared that he previously worked as an engineer and his career was to consult on the best placement of high-output wells. He said that with the help of an infrared picture he would be able to tell the best place to drill a well.

There are many more examples similar to these I could share that have occurred over these past months. I believe that as long as Shannon and I continue to step out in faith and pray for these connections, God will continue to answer. Please join us in praying for all of the pieces of this puzzle to continue to fall into place.

The team should be waking up as I write this. Today is the day they will travel by an 8 hour boat ride from the island back to Mwanza. Pray for their safe travel and rest once they arrive at their hotel. I am hoping to hear something from them by email on either Monday or Tuesday.

Learning New Things

Over the past few months nearly everything I do, I do with thoughts of Africa in my head. When I see something I want to buy I think, "Do I need this?" If the answer is yes I buy it, but if the answer is no, then I think, "is this something I would take wih me to Tanzania?" If the answer is yes then I may buy it but if the answer is no I realize that it will be just another item to get rid of before we move so I leave it on the store shelf. Last week the kids and I went on a field trip to see honey bees and how the bee keeper collects honey. As I watched the demonstration I wondered, "is this something we could do in Tanzania? What a great treat this would be for the orphans and we could even sell some at the market." Today as I canned my first batch of applesauce and apple butter ever, from the first batch of apples the trees we planted several years ago produced, I wondered if I would do this in Tanzania. Our family loves applesauce and it would be wonderful to be able to continue to have it over there. By the way, I got 9 quarts and 3 pints of apple sauce and 4 pints of apple butter out of our two tiny little trees.

I think one of my biggest concerns about moving is finding ways to feed my family over there. Although I do make many things from scratch even those meals are made with preprocessed ingredients. My chicken here is processed and frozen. I have never had to pluck a chicken here. My beef can be bought by certain cuts here. Over there, you ask for beef and they go cut a chunk of beef straight off the cow hanging in the corner.

I will be fortunate to have the help of Pastor Richard's wife, Gertrude, as well as some women from his church to help me learn the new ways needed to live over there. Fortunately, I love to be learning something new all of the time. This is part of the reason I read so much as well as one of the many reasons we homeschool our children. I realize more and more all of the time what a good thing that will be once we move to Tanzania.

Today, the team should still be on Maisome Island. Sunday morning they will be splitting up to attend churches there on the island as well as doing a crusade in the evening. I am very much looking forward to church here tomorrow. I love our church family and love even more the praise and worship time together.

Pastor James-the former witch doctor

Today, Thursday, Collin and Shannon and the team should have arrived on Maisome Island in Lake Victoria. Maisome Island is a mid sized strip of land. I believe it is about 10 miles long and 2 miles wide. It has no electricity or vehicles, no cell phones or regular phones. In fact, as I write this they should be sleeping their first night there in preparation for the next 4 days of ministry and teaching. With them on the island, now seems like a great time to share with you the story of Pastor James that I mentioned in my blog about 2 months ago.

I met Pastor James when I was in Tanzania two years ago but Rev. Debra met him prior to that as he had come to her pastoral conferences in previous years. While we were there in 2004, Rev. Debra invited him for an evening to share his testimony with us as he was a former witch doctor. We wanted to know more. As he does not speak English, we needed Pastor Richard to translate for us and he very willlingly did. Pastor James grew up in a family of witch doctors. His grandfather and father both trained him in thier ways and he lived as a witch doctor until he became saved. After becoming saved, he went to bible school and became a minister and has a large Christian congregation on the island now.

One story he shared was about a time he and several others were planning to steal a man's goat. This man was very rich there on the island and had a fenced in home with a gate. Because they knew he was rich the planned to steal his goat, figuring he didn't need it anyway. Pastor James and these two others "did their magic" as he said which involved the casting of spells and using diferent items to pray curses on the individual. They went to the home after dark and as the first of the group entered the gate a bright dot of light came and literally pushed the lead man backwards and spun very very fast over his face. The man inched through the gate on his back with this light spinning over his face. Once his feet had cleared the entrance, Pastor James saw the light zoom into place over the roof of the home after making the sign of the cross over it. Pastor James said they were very afraid but went to their home and did "stronger magic" before returning the next night. The next night Pastor James took the lead as it was known among the men that he had stronger powers than the others. As they approached, he said they looked for the light and it was still there over the house as it had been when they left the night before. As Pastor James entered through the gate the exact same thing happened to him as had happened to the man the night before. He too slunk out of there on his back. The next day, he and the two others went to a witch doctor that was the most knowledgable and powerful of all they knew. When he heard the story and they asked what they could do he asked which house this had happened at. He responded that the family living there were Christians and that none of their magic could possibly overcome the power of this man's God.

What I find puzzling is why, witch doctors, even though they often are aware of our God's higher authority, still remain in their ways. I guess it is similar to non Christians. So many of them are aware of God, they can see what He can do, but they don't want to be held accountable, to live by an authority higher than thier own.

In 2004, while in a remote village, we were witness to the salvation of an 80 something year old man. He had been a witch doctor all of his life and walked for 10 hours to come to hear what we had to share with him after his grandson, a minister, asked him to come.

Please be in prayer for the team as there is much witchcraft and scorcery on the island. Our God is bigger than all of that but we still need to stand as spiritual defenders of those reaching out to the lost that are being used by satan.

A Missed Opportunity?

Last night as I restlessly dozed off and on, missing Shannon beside me and thinking of my guys up in the airplane for so long, I prayed off and on through the night. Several times I fell asleep praying and woke up, eager to pray some more. Then today, through the mail, I received a gift of some audio tape teachings and a book on prayer from a dear friend of ours from back when we were brand new Christians. James is someone who had great patience with us as he met with us each Saturday evening back in the early 90's to do bible study, then would watch us go home and continue on in our sinful ways. Of course, we still sin but much less often than we did then. James moved out of state a few years back and we have kept in touch. When he heard about our upcoming move he was truly excited. In fact, he is travelling to Uganda(just across Lake Victoria from Tanzania) on a missions trip for a couple of weeks in October.

I listened to the tape he sent about prayer this morning. There were many great teachings in the tape but the one that has stuck with me the most was about several men who missed an amazing opportunity. Jesus asked 3 of his disciples, Peter, James and John, to go with him to pray in the garden on the night of his betrayal. Instead these men selfishly said no and fell asleep. It grieves my heart terribly to remember that my Jesus, on the worst night of his life, and after asking others to join him in prayer, was refused that. I immediately wondered to myself what I would have done. Would I have slept too?

I have always thought that it was Ok for me to fall asleep praying. At least I am praying until then, I've argued, but maybe I need to think again. How would I feel if someone sat with me visiting and they fell asleep? Do I truly realize what a gift prayer time is and do I treat it that way? Do I realize how much more effective my life for Jesus is when I pray? I have some self examination to do on this subject. Although I do pray at other times throughout the day, sometimes long and sometimes short, I need to make my prayer time a bigger priority in my life.

Shannon and Collin should be in Tanzania now. Their clock is 8 hours ahead of ours. Tomorrow, Wednesday, they will first step foot in, and see our future hometown of Mwanza. On Thursday they will travel to the island. Continue praying for safe travels and good rest when they can get it.

They are on their way

Today Shannon and Collin flew out with Rev. Debra and the rest of the team for Tanzania. They will fly 9 hours to Amsterdam, then have a 3 hour layover. Then they will fly in another plane 10 hours to Kilamanjaro. They will stay overnight there, then a 2 hour puddle jumper plane will get them to Mwanza. After just one day of rest in Mwanza they will travel for a full day to get to Maisome Island located on Lake Victoria. There they will spend 5 days with no electricity ministering to the people of the island. Then they will return by an 8 hour boat ride back to Mwanza. Rev. Debra, Pastor Richard(of Mwanza), Shannon and Collin have one day with the government authorities there to spend looking at land for the ministry and interim housing for our family while the construction takes place.

Right now, we need prayer for several things. First and most immediate is for safe and comfortable travel for the team. We also need favor with the government officials. I am aware of a ministry that was given 50 acres of land by the government of Ethiopia, to build on. That same ministry really struggled to get their land in Tanzania though. We are needing to get the right land at a great price. Please pray that the authorities can catch a glimpse of our vision and see what a good thing it will be for Mwanza. Also, for finances. We received many financial gifts towards this trip but much of the cost did end up on a credit card. We have a car we are wanting to sell that would help with that. We had a buyer lined up, then turned down another . The first ended up backing out and the second found a diferent car. Please pray for a buyer for that car to come through.

I will try to keep posting here with their itinerary and anything I hear from them by email. I am not expecting to hear much, if anything, from them until next Tuesday.

Relevant sermons

It seems that for several months now, nearly every sermon at church, has felt like it was written specifically for us. Obviously, Pastor Keith hopes to have something in every sermon that everyone in the service can relate to, but honestly, there are times where it just doesn't seem like I can connect, but not lately. It's becoming funny to us that every week we end up elbowing each other about something that is said from the pulpit.

This past Sunday the sermon was titled, "Split-Second Eternity." The main idea was this-do I take the risk to do something new and possibly change the outcome and eternity or do I hold back and miss the opportunity? Sadly, I have to say that most of the time, no, I don't take the risk. For example, am I afraid to bring up salvation and Jesus to someone I don't know is already a Christian? Am I looking for those opportunities to share Christ with the lost in my everyday world? On the streets of town, in the grocery store? Now, Pastor Keith is not referring to standing on a street corner preaching Jesus but rather taking the chance when someone I know gives me an opening. You know, that split second where you know you could easily fit Christ into the conversation...but don't?

Join me in trying to find new ways to take the risk and share Jesus with someone who needs Him but doesn't yet know Him, and possibly change eternity.

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

New Beginnings

There is something about the first day of school that feels so good. Getting back into our routines and schedules, picking up and writing in new workbooks, beginning a new subject of study in history, signing up for music lessons...it just feels refreshing to be back to school. This morning I sent one to the public high school special ed program in 12th grade, another to a large K-9 Christian school in 8th grade and yet another in 2nd grade at a small K-6 Christian school while two, a 3rd grader and a 5th grader, stayed home with me. I miss the ones that are gone but am enjoying the quieter times with the other two as well. I've always wanted to homeschool all of my children but we take it a year at a time, choosing the environment each fall that we feel will be the best for each child. The two homeschooled children have an exciting new development. Instead of continuing piano lessons they will be learing something new. One will be playing the flute and the other will learn the saxophone.

On another note, Shannon and Collin are nearly ready to leave. It is only 6 days away. We have begun gathering the things they will need to take which has included the purchase of a few more pairs of nice slacks and button shirts. We tend to be a jeans and t-shirt type of family so only had enough of the nicer stuff for church once per week. We have been praying for the people in Tanzania to be receptive to what they have to share. We are also praying for God to provide the land that he wants the ministry to be located on. We are praying for the location He wants at a great price and support of the government for all that we do.

Please pray for us as we finalize the preparations for their trip and also for the people of Tanzania.