http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/George-and-Joy/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from George and Joy en-us Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:14:15 +0000 Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:14:15 +0000 After two years of study writing memorizing and reading a group of men are about to go forth to preach the saving message of Christ Seven men have proved their determination by diligence in their studies. I must say that the hours invested in these men at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching has been challenging for them as well as their instructors. Even though instruction has been giving http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-454609.html Have you noticed that life is never boring in Tanzania But sometimes we really wouldn't mind a small portion of boring. Last week we decided to go to the ldquoMassai caferdquo and enjoy a bite of lunch out and give Joy a break. We enjoyed the time out but it came at a price. Jacob got food poisoning. Two days later his fever was hitting temperatures up to 104 degree Fahrenheit and his http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-442929.html Jacob and I are thankful for your many prayers on our behalf. Our time here in Malawi has come to an end. However there were a few tales which remain untold some of which I would like to share. Let me begin by saying that eating is what I have come to describe as one of my hobbies. It certainly helps if a missionary is adventurous in the food department. Some years ago while visiting and p http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-432414.html In 2006 the whole Jensen family made a trip to Malawi. Ed Crookshank had seen the great need to strengthen the many many struggling bush congregations which are scattered throughout the country away from the large city of Lilongwe. He conceived of the plan to choose four remote locations as teaching hubs. Each was accessible to a number of congregations. Since teachers would do the traveling http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Central/Lilongwe/blog-429224.html Greetings again from Malawi It has been such a blessing to have my oldest son Jacob with me on this trip. Since he has graduated from the Andrew Connally School of Preaching he is really developing his teaching ability.He and I are both teaching for the Mobil Bible School while we are here hope to give you another blog later detailing this work. But Jacob has been asked to do other teaching http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Central/Lilongwe/blog-428603.html Greetings from Malawi I want to share with our readers the wonderful news of one indigenous congregation. What do we mean by indigenous In the botanical realm we understand that a banana tree grows well in a tropical climate and can produce fruit. We thus speak of certain plants being indigenous to a particular region. In his fine booklet on ldquoPractical Principles of World Evangelismr http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Central/Lilongwe/blog-427543.html The last couple of weeks have been particularly busy. Earlier last week George and Jacob came down with bad colds. George was feeling very badly with many symptoms of malaria and I ended up driving him to the local hospital that night to be checked. The test was negative but the Dr. thought it would be better to give him the treatment just in case. The guys still werenrsquot feeling too http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-424685.html This past Sunday the 12th our family traveled to Babati to visit and worship with the Lord's people. We were up at 430 a.m. and left our house at 6 a.m. We picked up Ahimediwe who came along to translate and then we were on our way. Babati is 172 kilometers from Arusha 107 miles and the trip took about three hours. We got there at 9 a.m. and there was no one there yet. Some of us needed http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-418045.html First of all we'd like to wish all of you a Happy Independence Day In the midst of the troublesome times looming in America it is easy to focus on the negative however as Christians we can always be thankful for the country we live in and the freedoms that we enjoy. God has blessed each one of us in so many ways and it would be appropriate to give God thanks.We are finally past one of th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-415101.html One of the greatest joys that parents experience is the obedience of their children to the gospel. Tuesday evening our first offical campaign day we witnessed the new birth of Abigail Gee. It was a very touching moment to witness her father Jimmy Gee baptize her into Christ. Abigail is a very sweet young lady and we pray that the Lord will continue to bless her as she begins her new life http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-402729.html It's hard to believe that another one of our children is graduating. This time it's Luke's turn. It's a bit challenging for us to make this occasion a special event here in Africa since we are far away from family and friends. However we just happened to have some family friends here with us who came to work with the campaigns so it was good timing to celebrate Luke's graduation while they http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-401737.html Campaign time has been rapidly approaching and we have been working day and night trying to get better situated to function efficiently. One of our major housing issues has been our water situation. We have not had enough water pressure to make the hot water flow and have still been heating water on the stove if one wants hot water for bathing. One of the major projects over the past week http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-399741.html The last month or so has been quite hectic for our family. We realize that there haven't been many blog posts lately. We have been so busy just trying to keep our heads above water. Most of the month of March George spent going back and forth to Arusha in between all of his other work trying to get the house we are renting livable. Without actually living there it was very difficult to do http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-392139.html In Tanzania when people move from one home to another it is referred to as shifting. Over the past year the size of the mission team has decreased considerably. George has desired to increase his teaching responsibilities at the school of preaching and the distance from our present home has prevented that. After several months of prayerful deliberation and discussion we have decided to rel http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-382856.html Happy Birthday JacobWe hope this finds you all doing well. Our family has been spending today celebrating Jacob's 20th birthday. It's hard to believe that two of our children are already out of their teen years when it seems like only yesterday that our oldest became a teenager. Everyone made Jacob a card and then we took turns telling what each of us thought was special about Jacob. Every http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-371269.html The events of yesterday the 23rd are not likely to be erased from my mind anytime soon and today our whole family is offering up prayer after prayer of thanks that we are all back together again safe and with good health overall.Yesterday began with Dad Lindsey and I traveling to Arusha early in the morning. We girls were dropped off at the Geersquos house for a visit while Dad went to ACS http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-366669.html The church in Tanzania has grown tremendously over the past few years. Many congregations have been initially established but one of the greatest needs in the mission work here has been a plan for followup teaching to ground new Christians in the faith. One of the goals that George and Christopher Mwakabanje have for this year is to visit some of the outlying congregations in our general area http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-361431.html One of the great needs of many congregations is helping the youth develop a spiritual foundation. We have noticed a high falling away rate of young people once they are able to be more independent. This is largely due to the lack of diligence on the part of the parents. Children are often left behind to stay at home at times of worship so it is no small wonder that the children absorb this a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-360931.html The last couple of weeks have included a wide variety of activities. One of the highlights for some folks in our family is the opportunity to go hunting here. Hunting season runs from July to December and so George and the boys along with another missionary Cary Samford have fit in a couple of hunting excursions. Unlike most foreigners who have to pay big bucks to have the opportunity our http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-357637.html 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 pre http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-355366.html