Two days ago, Daddy did this to Josiah’s hair:
With the express purpose of doing this to him:
Can you tell what team we are rooting for???
Category: Other Page 131 of 181
I’m going to post here what I sent out to our Prayer Team:
It was the camp we weren’t sure would even happen.
Our BIG problems:
First, there was the problem of a team. We need at least 10 adults to run this camp. Three churches who wanted to send teams were forced to cancel. By April, we were left with no one except for us, our friend and co-worker Kathy who co-leads this camp with us, and 2 other young women. Wasn’t going to work.
Next, there was the problem of students. No one was signing up. Our Youth Camp is really popular—this was our fifth year. But every time we talked to students about this summer, we always heard, “I’ll be out of the country.” Over and over again.
Then, as you know, Gil came down with malaria the night before camp started. What in the world did God want to do?
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. (Is. 55:8)
God’s Solutions:
The First Problem: About 8 weeks before camp, we got an email from a Danish missionary HOPAC family. “We have a team of 6 Bible college students coming this summer for 7 weeks. One of their ministry weeks got cancelled. Do you have anything they could do?”
They were available the week we needed. Four guys, two girls: exactly as we needed. We were still a little nervous; we had never met these young people and weren’t even sure if they were fluent in English! But oh, how they far exceeded our expectations! They were enthusiastic, energetic, hard-working and willing to do whatever we needed! Though most had never before been in an English environment, all could freely converse in English (ah, the difference between European and American schools!). They threw themselves into the camp and totally loved our students.
The Second Problem: It was indeed our smallest camp yet. We only had 25 students, 15 of them being from HOPAC. And though we would have loved for there to be more, this camp had a much more “family” feel to it—students were far less into their cliques (as teenagers often are), and more willing to reach out and get to know new friends. Everyone had a great time and no one seemed to notice that there were less people (except that it meant less waiting in the dinner line!).
The Third Problem: Despite so many of your prayers, God had something else in mind, and we didn’t make it there on Sunday. On Monday, it became apparent that his recovery had not happened yet. (Malaria often goes in cycles; you can feel pretty good one day and horrible the next). So, on Monday afternoon, I headed off to camp with the kids but without Gil. Once he was discharged from the clinic, he was picked up by some very gracious and hospitable friends/co-workers who took him to their home for the next couple of days. Gil was finally able to join us out at camp on Wednesday, in time to create the annual slide show and spend some good time with students.
Of course, Gil missing half of camp wasn’t really how we wanted things to turn out. But we praise God that everything went smoothly anyway, that it was a wonderful, memorable week, the students heard great teaching, and many excellent discussions and conversations took place. We absolutely could see God’s hand on it the whole time, and it was evident that He was in charge and would do as He pleased!
My cooking class
It looks cute.
It involves cornrows.
And I did it myself.
I know it won’t win any awards. But if you only knew how often during the last four years I have felt like a horrible mama for not being able to do my own daughter’s hair, you would celebrate this occasion with me as well.
You could say that Daddy had a “pretty good” time in South Africa.
And Josiah scored his own goals! Go Josiah! Yay for saving money on diapers!
It really is only about 10-15 miles to downtown from our house, and thus everywhere we need to go. But bad roads, lots of traffic, non-working stop lights, and various other adventures mean that we spend a lot of time in the car when we go out. On a recent loooong trip home with lots of traffic, I documented the journey in pictures. So here we go: A Dar es Salaam driving slice of life.
This is a fun part of the driving experience: Numerous vendors that sell stuff to you while you are in traffic or at a stop light. This guy is selling cashews.
This guy is selling tangerines. Other common items for sale: gum, hankies, phone cards, toys, pillows, hangers, large maps of Tanzania, coat racks, mosquito zappers, and fire extinguishers.
However, this was the very first time we had ever seen someone sell guinea pigs to people in cars at a stop light. It was this picture that got me started on my picture-taking spree that day. However, as unique as this was, just a couple days later I saw something even more amazing: a guy trying to sell a small fish tank, filled with water and fish, balanced on his head! When you realize that these guys have just a few minutes (or less) to make their sale, it’s pretty crazy to think that someone would buy a fish tank that way. I would love to know if he sold it!
During rush hour, traffic police (center in white) often take over guiding the intersections. This was important to learn when we first came to Tanzania, because when this happens, they don’t turn off the traffic light. So that means that when you come to an intersection, you have to first look for an officer before you look at the traffic light…or else have disastrous consequences! (i.e. The traffic light could be green but if the officer says to stop, you’d better stop!)
One of many taxi stands. Taxis are always white.
These kind of carts join the cars on the road. The traffic was bad that day, so this guy passed us quite a few times as we inched up the road.
One of hundreds of cell phone service billboards
Piles of trash left behind by flooding water.
Potholes left behind by flooding water.
Our kids point out these bikes to us every time we pass them. Hmmm…wonder why???
You can see on the far right that this is a rain gutter…filled to the brim.
In the past couple of years, Dar es Salaam roads have become infested with these little buggers. They are a form of taxi, electrically run, and can go about as fast as a golf cart. It’s a pain to get stuck behind one, they are hard to see, and do all kinds of dangerous things like drive on the sidewalk. Ack! Can you tell they drive me crazy? (Pun intended)
The “dolla-dolla”–classic form of Dar es Salaam public transportation. They also drive on the sidewalks, but at least they are easier to see.
You can’t really tell from this picture, but this part of the road was completely washed out by the rain, causing traffic jams for miles. Thankfully, they have now begun to repair it! Oh happy day!
People often say that the things that are hardest about life in Dar are the heat, the electricity, and the roads. I think we would agree.
