What We've Been Doing

Do you ever have the feeling that regardless of how much work you do, you will never get caught up? For some reason, that's what it's been feeling like the last few weeks. There has been a lot of work happening, but we still feel behind. So, we just try to pace ourselves and do what we can, and when we face a new day, we start over!

Some of the highlights of the last couple of weeks:

Jacob preached at Moshi Sunday morning, December 7. Of course, we are proud of him and the spiritual growth we have witnessed in him. After services the men had a business meeting, and the women met as well. Part of the men's meeting included making a list of members who have not been attending faithfully, so that people would go visit them. The ladies discussed various activities, among which is a seminar for teen girls, which I will teach, on January 3.

George and I continue to have a Bible class each Tuesday morning with the Dr. and his wife, whom I mentioned in my last entry. Additionally, they've had a couple of adult children home visiting, and one of them, their son, has sat in on the last two classes. Interestingly, he lives in Kansas, but is home visiting his folks right now.

On Tuesday afternoons, George has been taking one of the young men of our congregation to translate for him, and they are following up on various contacts that have been made over the last year or so. This week they came in contact with a young woman who seemed very interested in a Bible study. She lives at a hostel, with a number of other young women, who are going to school. Right now many are on a school break, but George will go back in January and hopefully start a group study in this location.

Last week I finally got out my new sewing machine and worked on a small project. One of the other missionary families in Arusha, the Samfords, are expecting their third child, and so I made them a baby quilt. That was a fun project, and gave me an opportunity to become better acquainted with some of the capabilities of my new machine. It's going to be such a joy to use!

Last week the 3rd annual Future Preacher's Training Camp was help at the facilities of ACSOP. There were a good number of young men who attended. The activities included devotionals, classes on preparing and delivering lessons, as well as on song leading, etc. The young men spent time throughout the week working on a lesson. George taught a class to them on the 11th, on the topic of "A Preacher's Spiritual Life." Area congregations who had young men attend were encouraged to let the young men lead services the following Sunday. Since our family has not visited the Arusha congregation since last April, we decided to visit there Sunday morning, the 14th. We were encouraged to witness the young men handle the services, and they did a fine job.

On the 13th, the ladies met for their monthly Bible study. Mama Maxi, who is in the photo with the bulletin board, taught the class, and then we worked on the new bulletin board together. The ladies are getting better at coming up with ideas of their own. They usually pick some theme that relates to the Bible study we have that day.

A couple of nights ago we had a few extra creatures make their way in the house. First of all, a cricket made its way in. Now, that might not seem so unusual, except for the fact that it decided to crawl up Jacob's pants. That was interesting. Then, just a few minutes later, the kids noticed a HUGE spider that was crawling near Luke's chair. While the guys exclaimed over how gross it was and did nothing, Julia trapped it, put it out of our misery, and then kept it around for a little while so that we could look at it more closely.

George and the boys have taken a couple of days to get in one more hunt before the end of the year, when hunting season ends here. It's nice to have some good meat in the freezer, and since meat here is quite expensive, it does actually save us some money.

Today I've gotten a lot of house cleaning done, including taking down our mosquito netting, getting it washed, and then put back up, and some thorough house cleaning, which included some furniture rearranging (I'm famous for that )

Thank you for your love, prayers, and support. We appreciate you all.

Joy

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