Today was a full day for many of us here in Moshi. After several weeks of planning, today was the Ladies Seminar in Moshi. Our theme was "How Can I Serve?" Tablets and pens were provided for each lady, so that they could take notes. I taught three lessons on the various stages of a woman's life and how we as women can use our abilities to serve others. The men volunteered to prepare lunch, so that none of the ladies would need to be concerned with food preparation. George was a real cut up, since he brought his own knife [View Full Entry]

---

---

I know it's been a little while since I've written an update for our blog. Since the beginning of the year, it seems like one day blends into the next, with a little sleep in between. Here are just a few of the things we have been doing the last few weeks. January 19: Some of the ladies of the congregation came to our house for their monthly get-together. I taught a lesson on the responsibility we have to use our talents, and then we worked on our quilting projects. We almost have them finished, and hopefully we we will be [View Full Entry]

---

---

Life has certainly brought some unexpected events over the last couple of weeks. As soon as we received news of the death of George’s mother, he was able to arrange a flight out of Tanzania the same evening. The funeral was January 5. George has enjoyed visiting with his sister and two brothers, in spite of the circumstances. It has been good for them to have this time together. A couple of days after George left, I received a private message on our travel blog from a distressed mother, whose son, as well as five other young people, were in Kenya. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello Everyone, We want to let you all know that we received a phone call early this morning from George's brother, letting us know that George's mom died on the afternoon of the 1st, in California. We are comforted to know that she was a faithful Christian, and she was proud of the work we are doing. She was 75 years old. We are trying to mentally process the news, as well as see what arrangements can be made for George to travel asap. Please remember us in prayer at this difficult time. With Love, Joy [View Full Entry]

---

---

Just in time, our oven is working once more. It's been in constant use over the past several days, due to having a number of guests. Sunday we brought nine children, ages 8-12, to our home for the afternoon. These are children that have been in Joy's Sunday Bible class. That meant a lot of cooking on Saturday. We served beef stew, rice, bananas, banana chips, homemade bread, and a little later they enjoyed some cookies. The children seemed like they had a very fun time. A few weeks ago George has started having a Bible Drill for the children who [View Full Entry]

---

---

Friday, December 7th, I arose early and after a quick bite of breakfast, picked up John Hall. The TZ2000 team men were to meet near the Kilimanjaro airport to discuss the curriculum of ACSOP for the new year. Before arriving at our rendezvous location, a police officer,standing by the stand of the road, motioned for me to pull over. You see - at each little village along the main roads at each little village along the main roads, there will be from two to five police officials standing all day by the side of road. These "public servants" are free to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Last week many preparations were underway, in anticipation for the two graduations that would take place over the weekend. On Friday, there was the graduation at the Kilimanjaro Bible School, in Moshi. On Saturday, there was the graduation at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching, in Kisongo (near Arusha). Here is an overview of our week: Sunday: After morning worship, the ladies met together to plan for the food and decorations for the KBS graduation. After conferring with one another, Julia and I decided that we could volunteer to do the cake. We decided that would [View Full Entry]

---

---

Last week was full of activity for our family. We planned to take a few days of vacation when Julia and Jacob had a break from school, and spend time together as a family. We decided to go to Peponi, which is on the eastern border of Tanzania, on the coast of the Indian Ocean. It was a wonderful time of rest and relaxation for our family. Here is an overview of the week: Sunday: Due to the death of Josephat's and Timothy's father the previous Thursday, a number of the members of our congregation decided to go to the village [View Full Entry]

---

---

This has been a very busy week for the Jensen family. I will back up and begin with last weekend, and bring you up-to-date with the happenings of the week. Nov.9: Friday everyone was home, so we celebrated Luke's birthday early, which was actually Nov. 13. We enjoyed a nice meal, complete with chocolate cupcakes (cooked in our bbq grill, compliments of Julia) and homemade ice cream. Nov. 10,11: Saturday and Sunday George presented a series of lessons at Machame on the Family. We have mentioned Machame in a previous post. It is a new congregation, with only a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today was another one of those humbling days here in Tanzania. Humbling, because we see the power of the gospel as it impacts the lives of people. Humbling, because while we realize we are tools in the hand of a loving Creator, we are aware of our smallness in His overall eternal plan of redemption. Allow me to share with you some of the events of this Lord’s Day morning, which stirred these emotions. Quite some time ago, I had made a promise to one of the students I was teaching at Kilimanjaro Bible School. I agreed to visit the congregation [View Full Entry]

---

---