The same God now as then

Today in the weekly video that goes with my bible study, it was asked of us if we truly realize that our God is the same God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph? Do we believe it? Do we act like it? Pray like it? Live like it? If we have the same God then we can do the same things through Christ that those men did. Wow! This isn't necesarily new information but to be reminded of His power in all of our lives is so humbling to me.

I recently read something that I decided I wanted to add to the most recent post. That was the post where I talked about how Abraham and Moses and other biblical heroes were average people just like you and I. The following quote comes straight out of the updated version of My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. "The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit."

This means that it can be any one of us as long as we are completely devoted. One of His endeavors may take place right where we live or work right now, or it may be across the world in a land of a diferent language. Either way, God can use any of us ordinary people, like Moses, Abraham, you or me, in any of His plans, at any time. Remain willing to be used and completely devoted to His will.

False Expectations Appearing Real

As I have mentioned, I have been involved in a Beth Moore bible study. I am currently working through her study called, "The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" with a group of women at our church. It involves 5 weekly lessons to do on my own and then getting together with the group to discuss it and watch about an hour long video by the author. We willl do this for 12 weeks. Unfortunately, due to my work schedule, I have been unable to make several of the group meetings but I have been able to get my hands on a copy of the video tape to watch here at home with Shannon.

One week a main topic of the study was fear and how we, today, make the people of the bible out to be some kind of spiritual super heroes. In actuality, all of the characters of the bible, except for Jesus, were just ordinary people like you and I. As I read my bible I see that God does not typically waste words. Why then did he say, "Don't fear!" over and over again to his people? My guess is that it was because the person he was talking to was...afraid. Does a superhero have fear? Not in my world. But an ordinary person, like you and I does have fear. I feel that in many ways, by assigning these people "superhero" status we are doing them a disservice. Somehow, thinking that Abraham was not battling his emotions as he held the dagger over his son Isaac, or that Moses simply said, "Behold, the bush burneth" when it spontaneously ignited in the middle of the desert doesn't seem real. I am thinking it more likely that Abraham fought his tears and that Moses jumped back and said, "Whoa!"... or something like that.

Anyway, these thoughts have helped Shannon and I as we deal with our fears of going to Tanzania. Fears of moving our family to an entirely diferent culture, fears of leaving extended family behind, fears of health and safety, fears of our inability to do something so big. Fears of wether or not our house will sell and if the funds will come in. We will definitely need God to continually remind us to "Do not be afraid." Fear is after all just False Expectations Appearing Real, isn't it? As Beth Moore said in one of her videos, "Those who God uses greatly, fear God more than they fear their fears."

We're still here!

I feel bad to have let our readers down lately. I really need to get back to writing here. As I said in my last post, I was seeing the answer to prayers but it was also causing some busyness. I have been working my mail route A LOT these past several weeks and evan was asked to carry on another route one day. We also have been ebaying some large items in an effort to turn them into cash. The children were sad to see their mini snowmobiles sold but we knew now was the time to sell them with it being the beginning of the season and because we may not be here this time next year. I have been praying for God to bless the items we sell so that they go for top dollar as we need to get rid of so much debt before we leave and the first snowmobile brought in only $100 less than we paid for it brand new several years ago. The second is on ebay now.

Last weekend End Time Glory Ministries had their Glory conference from Thursday evening through Saturday evening. What a great time that was! With all that happened there with great praise and worship, wonderful teachings and great personal ministry time, it went late each night and we got very little sleep all weekend. It was held in Willmar. We also had a guest stay with us and had a great time visiting with him. His name is Pastor Gilbert and he is a native of Kenya, on the northern border of Tanzania, but is currently living in Wisconsin. He shared with us some customs from East Africa and corrected us on some of our budding Swahili. On the Saturday of the conference the ministry had a partners dinner where we saw a video taken in Tanzania and Debra talked about the vision of the ministry in Mwanza. The video was fun to see and the people attending the dinner were excited about the ministry's plans.

Shannon and I are also trying to get some projects done before winter. We have a couple of sidewalks we need to pour and finish yet. There is still so much to do outside before the snow flies and sticks. We figure the house will likely be put on the market before the snow is gone in the spring which adds even more pressure. Then this winter, much of our free time will be spent working in the basement. We have many things we can do down there that won't cost us a lot of money due to the materials we already have. We also try to do at least 5-6 hours of Bible School each week.

We decided to renew our foster care license. It was due to expire on Dec 1st and we had talked about letting it go. We do not yet have a peace about that so we will renew and see what God has planned for that avenue of our lives. Just a couple of weeks ago we had received a call for a 14 month old girl with Down Syndrome and her 4 month old brother. I have always wanted to raise a child with Down Syndrome but both Shannon and I knew that these two little ones would have recquired much more from us than we felt we could give right now. Please pray for them, whoever they are. Although we couldn't parent them right now they are still in our hearts even though we never met them. I guess it is hard to explain the heart of a foster parent or someone that loves orphans as we do(unlesss your name is Barb-LOL).

I have several things that I have learned about in my recent study with Beth Moore and I will definitely need to dedicate a couple of posts to that. This particular study I am doing is called The Patriarchs and is about Abraham, Isaac and Joseph. It is a wonderful study and seems to fit our lives right now. The uncertainty of moving into "our promised land" and all of the fears that accompany those plans are being addressed in the study. More on that later.

God's Continuous Provision

Whew! I'm sorry I haven't been here for a few days. The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity around here. I, Christine have been working a lot. I also joined a Beth Moore bible study. If you are familiar with her studies they are pretty intense with a lot of homework. Then last Thursday I finally did something I have wanted to do for more than 14 years. I joined the chuch choir. Last weekend we had a choir "retreat" on both Saturday and Sunday where the music for the annual church Christmas musical was introduced to the choir and I was away at that all day both days.

As I stated, I have wanted to join the church choir for years. First, when we attended the small Baptist church where we got saved, then later at our current church. As a mom I find it hard to take time for myself and when my children were younger it was even more dificult. I always told myself that when my children got older I would join. Then we started having younger foster children and the time just never seemed right. I am pretty excited to be able to participate in the over 70 member choir and have had fun so far. I'm also looking forward to the musical. We will be putting on the play, "The Christmas Shoes." It is sure to be a tear jerker and will keep me very busy during the month of December when we will participate in 7 performances.

The title of my post is what I wish to write about now. While Shannon was away in Tanzania he took three weeks off from work. Unfortunately, he only receives one week of vacation per year. That meant his last paycheck pretty much didn't exist. The first paycheck of the month is what usually pays our mortgage. Long story short, we are in a financial bind. We have several items we are trying to turn into cash but the buyers just haven't come forward yet. About two weeeks ago I started praying for God to provide as He always does. Two days after I started praying I received a phone call from the mail carrier I substitute drive for. It was harvest time and he wanted me to work a Saturday through Saturday. Then just this weekend he extended it by two more days. As crazy as it makes my life with homeschooling and all of the other things going on, I could easily see the answer to prayer in the equation. As Shannon an I were talking the other night, it seems that everytime we get truly desperate financially, the mail route is often where God brings that money in. When Shannon had his back surgery and was unable to work for several months, the regular carrier had a serious car accident, providing me with a full-time job for a couple of months until he could return to work. Anyway, all this to say, that although the mortgage payment is late this month and we have had to use spare change to buy gas and millk, God is always faithful. We are eating out of our well stocked pantry and praising Him for always answering our prayers.

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-In Summary

Collin and I wish to thank you for your support. Wether it was financial or in prayer or both, it all played a big part in our travels. The trip was life-changing for both of us and the purposes for our journey were fulfilled. As you already know we had several goals in mind for our time in Tanzania.

#1-Evangelism-There were 962 salvations during the meetings and crusades that we were involved in. Collin and I were mainly involved in the children's ministry as well as going out into the crowds to speak one on one with the people. Many of those who received salvation were Muslims and there were several members of the Masai tribe. There were also many healings.

#2-to confirm the call of God on our lives for the people of Tanzania-As you already know, we are feeling that God is calling us to move to Tanzania to be involved in working with orphans and widows, as well as the development of a Christian radio station. I spent much of our trip grieving the losses our family will endure. This move is going to come at a great cost to our family as well as loved ones staying behind. I feel it would be so much easier to just walk away from this whole idea, but I also know that if this is where God wants us, we must obey or it will be even more costly. This isn't about us, but rather we need to remain in His will. I am confident now that God is wanting us to be involved with this particular ministry.

#3-to affect Collin's heart-The call we are feeling as a family has been a scary thing for all of us but especially for him. He was really struggling with the whole idea, understandably. We wanted him to see that Tanzania is not the end of the world but rather the other side of it. One day, while in Mwanza, he wrote in his journal, "We will leave in 2-3 days. I'm not completely sure I'm ready to go home. In fact, I'm not." I realize that 2+ weeks is nothing like living there but he has expressed to us that he is much less fearful and even a bit excited for the adventure to come and to go back to some of the friends he made there. He was also baptized in the spirit while we were there and received an encouraging prophecy over his life that he has "healing hands."

#4-to find and purchase land for the ministry-We found a 30+ acre plot of what seems to be perfect land. It lies in a valley surrounded by hills and has many mango trees. The main city of Mwanza lies just on the other side of the hills so it is remote without being too rural. The final purchase is still pending but it has been placed in the hands of a minister over there that the ministry is working with. The government has had favorable reactions to the ministry's vision. Please continue to pray as we wait on the finalization of that purchase.

I now feel it is time for us to begin our preparations to move. The ministry is wanting us over there by August of 2007 if possible. We will truly need God to do a major work for this to happen that quickly. We have our home to sell and everything in it, as well as our vehicles. We also need to raise the monthly support necesarry for us to be a part of this vision. We would very much apreciate if you would begin praying about how God can use you in this ministry. Wether it be that you join one of the many teams that will be travelling to Tanzania short-term to do contruction work or, later, support work or that you be involved in our monthly financial and/or prayer support team. Maybe you, or someone you know would be interested to come over longer-term at a later date to help with the hands-on of working in an orphanage. It is going to take many, many people for this ministry to be effective. Thanks again for your prayers. Keep them coming as we are just beginning.

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-a future in Mwanza

We spent a bit of our time in Mwanza doing a couple of things in preparation for the ministy's future in Mwanza. One afternoon we looked at several homes that were for rent. We looked at them to get an idea of what kind of housing is out there for our family when we arrive. The plan at this point is that our family will live in a rental until our living quarters are built on the ministry compound. I discovered that it will be a much diferent lifestyle than we are currently in. We will have running water but we will need to boil it to be able to drink it. As of now, the electricity in Mwanza is only on from 6PM to 6AM. The reason for this is because thier electricity is generated by hydropower. With the awful drought in East Africa right now, electricity is a precious commodity. This also means that most of our cooking will be done over an open fire. Nearly all homes in Mwanza have an outdoor kitchen even if they have an indoor one for this exact reason. When Christine was there two years ago they had electricity 24 hours per day so this is a situation that could change-for the better or the worse. Refrigeration is, of course, also an issue. No doubt our home will be much smaller than we are used to but overall I thought there were some nice homes available. Unfortunately, we discovered that the rent increased DRAMATICALLY when they found out it was white Americans looking. I know that we will find one that will work when we get there.

We also took a day to go look at land that might work for the ministry compound. As I stated earlier, the land we originally had in mind was too near a military base. The government did not approve of foreigners being that close to the base, understandably. We drove on a winding bumpy road for several miles. We then parked and were led through a small village. As we left the village and crested a hill we knew this was it.
We stood on the hill looking out over a 30+ acre valley nestled amongst hills on all sides. Scattered here and there on the property were mango trees. Mango trees are beautiful as they are this big perfectly round crown of leaves on top of a straight trunk. Several of us on the team truly felt that this was the place that God had chosen as soon as we saw it. Although we had driven several miles to get to it, the city of Mwanza actually lies just on the other side of the hills on one end. We will be within walking distance of the city for those working with us or needing what the ministry has to offer. The ministy's long-term vision is for an orphanage, a small clinic, a radio station, a school and a church and anything else that God leads. There are no squatters living on the land currently although part of it was being farmed. In Tanzania the government owns the land. In order to buy it, we need to be working with a native Tanzanian who will legally own it. We need to pay off anyone currently using the land and then pay the government to survey it. With no one living on it that makes it much easier as we only need to work with those farming on it. Pastor Richard is right now working on getting this to happen for the ministry.(And yippee! Our first attempt at posting a picture worked! Stay tuned as we may try to go add some in earlier posts over the next few days.)

Overall the team was pleased with what we had found in regards to the future there. Wayne and Rev Debra believe that Tanzania will be the African home base of the ministry as they travel to the other Eastern Africa countries of Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and more. It is likely that Christine and I will do a lot of traveling with the ministry when they come over as well. We are looking forward to seeing and meeting more of the wonderful land and people of East Africa.

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-Ministry in Mwanza

The next day began 5 days of ministry in the city of Mwanza. Mwanza is the second largest city in Tanzania. It is located in the northwestern corner of the county on the southeastern shore of Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is the second-largest freshwater lake in the world behind Lake Superior in the northern midwestern United States. The population of the city is aproximately 1.2 million and of the region(similar to a county) is aproximately 2.9 million.

We had 3 days for a pastoral conference. The conference was very powerful and by the end of our time there all of the pastors were on their faces before God, humbled and begging for more of God in their ministries. Rev. Debra had a prophecy for each pastor there. What a great and wonderful time it was and each member of the team was touched as well.

There were also 4 days of open-air crusades. These were held outdoors near Pastor Richard's church. Collin and I participated in the children's ministry doing puppets and skits. Each night there was a teaching given by Rev. Debra that included a skit. Then after that she would do an altar call and send members of the team out into the crowd to speak with people. There was a bar across the street from our meeting place and one of the team members went in there with her interpreter to bring people to the front. One night I, along with my interpreter Alex, were talking to a man that was hesitant to come forward. Alex was getting ready to move on when I told him to wait. I asked Alex to tell this man that this could possibly be the last time he would have someone ask him to do this. Also that he would be reminded of this night on judgement day. The man ended up going forward. By the end of the 4 days there were 522 new Christians in Mwanza and 21 people filled with the Holy Spirit. There were several healings. One was a woman that had a tumor on her stomache that we could literally see and feel. She had been told by the doctors she needed surgery and was in the process of saving money for that. She came forward for prayer and by the time she left we could literally see and feel that the tumor was completely gone.

We also spent a Sunday service in Pastor Richard's church. The building had been built since Christine's visit two years earlier. According to pictures that Christine and I have of his first church and this one, the new one is at least twice, maybe three times the size of his former building. The church was packed the day we were there. It was a good service and I miss their style of worship and their music already. In many ways, I can't wait to get back to Mwanza. The worship and the people are two very big reasons.

On another note, my bronchitis ended up being pneumonia but the antibiotics seem to be kicking it. I am feeling much better. Thank you for your prayers.

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-Back to Mwanza

As I said, we were waiting expectantly for the ferry to take us back to Mwanza. A great ride this would be, compared to the trip over. As the ferry docked and lowered it's gate for us to board, we were greeted by an entire deck full of longhorn cattle. In order to get to the upper deck of the ferry we had to climb up and over piles of pallets and bags of cargo. We thought this was supposed to be a simple 8 hour ferry ride back to the mainland but we stopped at island after island after island to add even more cargo to the already full boat. Collin was pretty sick by this time. He had a cold when we left home and it had moved into his sinuses. He slept most of the trip. As it got dark they turned the lights on and the bugs came out in swarms. They were ferocious. Finally, 12 hours after leaving the island we arrived into the port at Mwanza. We later discovered the reason that the trip took so long was because the ferry was so grossly overloaded he wanted to be sure they came in after dark to avoid paying the taxes. Anyway, at this point we all wanted off this ferry and back to our better accomodations at the hotel in Mwanza. In order for us to leave the ferry we had two choices-wait for an hour or two while they unloaded all of the cargo and cattle, or climb over all of it. We climbed, literally. We had thought getting on was an adventure but after stopping at all of the islands on the rest of the trip, our tiny "walkway" had now become more of a mountain. We climbed up, up and up over bags and bags of dried fish and who knows what else. It was about three feet wide on top of these bags and if you fell one way you would fall into the lake. If you fell the other way you landed amongst the longhorns. We all made it off the ferry with all of our stuff.

After a good nights rest in Mwanza we awoke for a day off. During our group devotional time Collin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues(Acts 1:8). Later, Pastor Richard took us to look at temporary housing for our family once we arrive there and until the compound is built. I discovered that even as nice as some of the housing was for there, it was still very primitive to what we are accustomed to. I also discovered that prices would go up when it was discovered that it would be Americans renting.

Next we went to an internet cafe where I was able to log on to instant messenger and discovered Christine waiting for me. She had known that this was the day we would likely be near computers and had been online and awake since 2AM. Funny thing is, I came on right at the time she normally gets up. She could have slept until 6:30 as normal. We instant messaged for about 45 minutes as I also tried to read the 10 daily emails she had sent since we had left. It was good to check in and I realized how much I missed her. We were supposed to look at land this day but the land we had been planning to look at we had discovered was too near a military installation for the government to allow us to be on as foreigners. It was decided we would look in 4 more days, on Saturday.

Please pray for me as I am currently fighting a case of bronchitis that we believe came from the same virus that gave Collin a sinus infection. I am finally on antibiotics today but still running a fever.

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-Maisome Island

After the long day of travel by a mechanically unstable bus and a leaky boat, the idea of a nice bed sounded pretty good. We approached the guest house by flashlight and were shown to our individual rooms. Yes, that's right, we each had our very own room, or so it seemed. My room consisted of a twin sized bed , with sheets. There was no pillow. The room was just big enough to fit the bed lengthwise and about two feet wider than the bed. It was very dark because it was an inside room with no windows. Even during the day I had to use a flashlight to find things in my luggage. We all went to bed and I slept fairly well until about 2AM when I woke up ready to go with nowhere to go. As I lay there I could hear heavy breathing under my floor. The floor was made up of boards with spaces between them. I lay there wondering what could be under there. Was it people? With all of the witchcraft on the island could it be something demonic? I tried shining my flashlight between the boards but couldn't see enough. As it began to get light outside and the light shone from underneath the building I could see that my heavy breathing friends were pigs. Other members of the team reported bats in thier rooms and one night Collin had a rat fall from the rafters in his room onto his bed right next to his head. He wrote in his journal that he "didn't sleep well the rest of the night."

It was immediately obvious that the village we were in was a fishing village as all of the island villages are. They would catch thousands of minnows and spread them on the ground to dry, then rake them up to send to market. The beach was covered with small wooden fishing boats. There is no electricity on the island except for when they use generators. Of course they didn't run those much due to the cost of fuel. Fuel over there costs around $7-8 per gallon. And we thought we were paying too much here in the U.S.

We were on the island at the invitation of Pastor Jams. Pastor James is a former witch doctor who came from a line of witch doctors. The stories he shared were incredible. Ultimately the most important thing of his testimony, in my opinion, is that even the bad guys know God's power. That witch doctors themselves admit to being unable to overcome the protection that surrounds a true Christian. I know Christine wrote a post about Pastor James on September 14th if you want to read more about him.

We spent the next 3 days doing pastoral teachings in the mornings and open-air crusades in the late afternoons. While we were on the island there were 440 salvations and 70 Christians filled with the Holy Spirit(Acts 1:8). There were also many healings-eyes, ears, and stomache pain.

Although we enjoyed our time ministering to the people of Maisome Island, I think it is fair to say that when we saw the ferry coming toward the island to pick us up, we were ready to go back to Mwanza. And, boy did that ferry look like a heavenly ride compared to the boat we had been on to get there but we didn't know yet what was to come with that either. Let's just say that we were all very surprised when the ferry let down its gate to let us on.

Shannon and Collin's trip-more travel

That morning once we were up and around, we travelled from Kilamanjaro airport to Mwanza on a mid-sized turbo prop plane. The flight was just over an hour. We enjoyed looking out the window to see some of the landscape. Like Christine, we saw the land change from brown and dusty to green as we arrived closer to Mwanza which is located on the shores of Lake Victoria. After a warm welcome at the airport we were taken to the Monarche Hotel. Shortly after our arrival we met as a team for devotions. It was during this time that Collin received a word over him that he would have healing hands and would be greatly used by God. Also, that he was there for one reason but that God had more in mind. That evening we went to Pastor Richard and Gertrude's home for supper then returned to the hotel.

Christine had warned me about the 5AM Muslim call to prayer. I was expecting to wake up to that but did not hear it. I guess our hotel had better walls and the sound of the ceiling fan covered it up. Some others of our team did hear it but they were on the other side of the hotel.

Off to the island we go. What an adventure! We were to be ready by 7:30AM. We ended up being late due to discussions with hotel staff about our luggage. The ferry should have been gone by the time we arrived but it was there and we just had time to get on. The bus we were to board was already on the ferry, ready to take us on the first leg of our journey. The bus had to have been at least 50 years old. It was pathetic. As we sat in our seats watching them clicking wires together to start this thing we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. Another bus in front of us ended up pulling us off the ferry and to get us started. Here we were on roads that weren't fit for even a bicycle. As bad as we thought the roads were when we started, they only got worse as we went further. We had to stop many times to add water to the radiator and the motor killed several times but we always had enough momentum to pop the clutch and get it started again. The total time on the bus was 6 hours of bumpy, dusty roads. Ugh.

Finally, already exhausted, we arrived at a tiny fishing village where a chartered boat ride had been arranged to take us to Maisome Island. Rev. Debra was shocked to see what arrived. Our boat was an old wooden fishing boat. It looked like something one imagines in biblical times. It had the rounded bottom and sides. It was maybe 40 feet long and 12 feet across. It had two outboard engines and they managed to keep at least one of them running...most of the time. To get on the boat we had to climb a ladder and go up and over the bow of the boat. There were no life jackets. We were joined by about a 50 member choir that Pastor James, from the island had invited along. Some members of the team became a bit nervous as they noticed water coming in at their feet. Out came the buckets and some passengers began bailing water out of the boat. They only had to do this once. We were coming towards an island and thought this must be it. Nope, we were just stopping for gas on a neighboring island. We continued on to arrive at Maisome Island about 3 hours after boarding the boat.

At the island we were greeted enthusiastically by a church choir. As we got off the boat they took our luggage and escorted us to the guest house. Unfortunately by this time it was quite dark so we were unable to see much. As we approached what would be our home for the next four nights we were truly unsuspecting of what was to come and who or what our sleeping companions would be. That is another story for yet another day.