My First Birthday in AFRICA!

Celebrating my birthday this year made me realize how God has blessed me with amazing people to live life with in Tanzania!  For the first time EVER my sister pulled off a surprise party for me and she did this not only once but twice AND catered to my every desire on my actual birthday.  It was quite different than the 23 birthdays before, but it was amazingly memorable and I am so thankful for the amazing time I had with everyone!

The festivities started early, which is why I was seriously SO SURPRISED!  (Also, I wasn't expecting anything special, but Megan LOVES birthdays so I probably should have guessed she was up to something).  On Saturday before Easter, we had some friends over for lunch and were just finishing up with our meal when Megan said we really needed to go over to the Limiero's house (our teammates) to take them the Resurrection Eggs we promised to take them so they could go through them with their kids.  I was less than thrilled since it seemed rude to run an errand when we had people at our house.  With some more prompting we left the house and were walking down to the Limiero's....our friends walked in ahead of us and Doretha greeted me at the door....it seriously took over 30 seconds for everything to register.....the balloons, no one in sight, then I saw the cake and right as I realized the candles were the outline of a 2 and 4 everyone jumped out and yelled surprise! Needless to say, I was quite surprised!

Megan organized an early party so that everyone could be there because Mike, Joann, Judy and Chelsea were going to be gone all week (on my actual birthday).  It was so absolutely wonderful because people took time out of their weekend, busy schedule in trying to pack and get ready to leave, and their Easter weekend to celebrate with me.  It was such a blessing to feel all of their love and it made me realize how truly thankful I am to be part of this Tanzanian team.  We played games, ate cake, and I received some great presents from everyone :)

Doretha and the cake she baked!

Limiero kids and me with the cake and presents

SO EXCITED that Megan got me all the ingredients for cherry cheesecake!

The next surprise happened the day before my birthday.  We had on our calendar to go and visit our amazing house helper, Mama Joshua, who makes life here so enjoyable and it possible for both Megan and I to take on lots of ministry responsibilities.  We simply adore her four children and we planned to go to her house and play with them that afternoon.  Little did I know that as I walked in the door I would find some great birthday cards, soda, juice, AND mandazi (awesome doughnut-type things)!!  Then we celebrated the Tanzanian way, complete with the birthday song, sipping our soda, taking pictures, and praying together.

Left to Right - Zenice, me, and Mama Joshua

Mama Joshua's kids - Ester, Shadrack, and Jordan

My actual birthday was great - I slept in, spent some great time with the Lord reading through Ephesians, listened to some worship songs as I made my birthday cake (thanks to Megan's mission in finding all the ingredients, I was able to make my favorite cherry cheesecake)!  Around 11am here I got two awesome phone call from my awesome brothers wishing me a happy birthday (thanks to planting, they were both awake at 3am to call me during daylight hours here)!  Jason was quick to point out that since I wasn't born until after 7pm CST, it wasn't actually my birthday yet - gotta love his logic :)

Then Megan and I went off to our favorite Chinese restaurant in town and enjoyed some great food.  The climax of the day was supposed to be watching Rio 2 at the movie theater!  It was our very first time to the theater, so we looked rather lost.  We found out the hard way that by "box office opens at 1pm" and "you cannot enter the theater until 10 minutes before your movie" that for the 2pm movie the box office really doesn't open until more like 1:50pm.  So then we get our tickets & popcorn, make our way to our seats (realize we are the only two in the theater) and then wait....and wait....and at about 2:10 I make a snide comment to Megan that even the movies don't start on time in Tanzania.  Then a worker comes in and says the movie won't play.

We discuss the issue with him for a while and ask if it can play in the other theater, which he says it can't.  He said we should just go to the other movie at 2:30pm.  It was rather difficult to explain that we didn't come to simply watch a movie, we came to watch that specific movie.  After about 10 minutes, we were standing in the manager's office, and he explained the dilemma that the projector is having a problem and it takes 3 hours to download it onto another machine, so we could try to come back another day after the projector is fixed.  He gave us complementary tickets and offered that since we were already here to go and watch the 2:30pm movie as well.  So that was a Tanzanian experience :)

At the movies with the BEST SISTER EVER!!

That night we had dinner and played games with the Limiero family, which was super fun, especially with the kiddos!  Overall, the experience was quite enjoyable, even with the minor movie issue.

Cherry Cheesecake for my actual birthday!

Our party pals - Reeghan & Andwynne

AND funny end to the story - we went to redeem those tickets on Sunday after church and as I am in the theater watching previews, Megan is talking with the manager about our tickets and we realize......the projector is STILL broken, so no Rio 2, but we made the most of it and watched the 2pm movie they were playing in its place :)

Gotta love Africa!!

Easter in Tanzania (lots of videos)!!

One of my very favorite Easter traditions for our family is a huge Easter egg hunt, and by huge I mean massive! It started when we were young and our Dad would wake up early Sunday morning and hide the eggs outside in our yard. We’d drive off to church with our eyes glued to the windows trying to spot the pastel eggs so as to have the upper hand in the hunt when we returned. The tradition has grown over the years and now our two older brothers, Jason & Jaron, hide over 400 eggs in the yard for all of the grand kids to find! Well, I’m grateful to say the tradition is continuing… now all the way to Tanzania!

Stuffed eggs ready to be hidden.

The package arrived, just in time!

In preparation for our Easter party we asked our Mom (who you already read is the bomb dot com at packages) to send over the plastic eggs and maybe some things to put inside. The day before our party, a teammate did a final check at the Post Office and sure enough the package arrived!! We spent the morning stuffing 180 eggs with Starburst, Tootsie Rolls, Balloons, and Double Bubble – the best gum ever that loses its taste after about 3 minutes – and then hiding them all around our center! It was a blast watching all the kids run and find the eggs! Watch a video of them here! (Michelle is speaking some mad Swahili, too!!)

The parents weren't afraid to get in the mix as well!

Did you know that if you hit the ends of two hardboiled eggs together only one will break? Me neither, until we played “Crack the Egg” where everyone pairs off and hits eggs until there is only one person left. We had one girl with a very special egg who won both rounds! That egg won’t crack! Check out the video here!

Then, the parents did an egg race… men vs. women! Michelle and I only took a few opportunities to try to slow the men down!! Another great video here!

Finally, and this was when we realized they weren't afraid at all, we paired up husbands and wives for an egg toss… with regular eggs! I’ll never forget how competitive they were and the shock on their faces when the egg finally broke. It was priceless watching two husbands get splattered at the same time! Check out the last video here!

A few years ago Michelle and I began a new tradition with our nieces and nephews that we learned about after becoming Christians… Resurrection Eggs. Making our own dozen of Resurrection Eggs, we helped tell the story of Jesus and what Easter is all about to our Tanzanian brothers and sisters that day. We walked through the story of that Passover, remember how Jesus was betrayed, beaten, hung on a cross, and died to pay the ransom for our sins. But, there is hope in the 12^th egg. It’s empty. Jesus rose from the grave, conquered death, and promised to return again! Now this is the reason we celebrate.

HAPPY EASTER!

Megan

Oh, and one more thing… just like at home when we couldn't find all the eggs hidden in the yard, we are still missing 6 here. I wonder who will discover one with the mower and shower the ground with pastel?!?  

God is Being Glorified Through Our Tanzanian Church Planters

Here is a fantastic article CMF wrote about our Tanzanian church planters, Solomon and Sarah Kipi!

http://cmfi.org/church-planters-persevere-see-results-in-hostile-tanzania-region

Church planters persevere, see results in hostile Tanzania region

MARCH 28TH, 2014

Tanzanian church planters Solomon and Sarah Kipi have endured loneliness, persecution and tribal warfare in their efforts to establish a church in a hostile region along the coast of their country, but they are finally beginning to see fruit from their ministry.

“On Christmas, they had 251 people come to hear the Gospel under a tree,” said CMF missionaryGary Woods. “And several weeks ago, 50 people from all three tribes received Jesus as Lord and Savior.”

The work has not been easy. The Kipi family moved to the area two years ago to minister among the Parakuyui, Sakuma and Wagogo tribes in the middle of tribal unrest that has seen up to 70 people killed, according to Gary Woods. There are no churches in the area and the local belief systems have made people opposed to the gospel. Additionally, tensions have been high because of the fighting between herders and farmers.

As Tanzanian missionaries Megan and Michelle Moss recently reported in their newsletter, however, “Satan attempted to thwart their plans and discourage them, but nothing would cause them to give up, not even trouble in building a house and being outsiders in a new community, Sarah being severely burned after being sold gasoline instead of kerosene (for cooking), and (tribal) killings in their community.”

“New people in that area are looked at as outsiders, not guests or visitors,” added Michelle Moss. “They must take a long time to get to know people, especially the village leaders, and establish relationships built on trust and friendship. But while this is a very difficult and time-consuming process, it is actually a fantastic tool in presenting the gospel.”

While there is still conflict between those fighting in the area, Solomon and Sarah have become well-respected by the village leaders.

“When some of the men trying to cause trouble locked Sarah in her house and threatened her while Solomon was out of town, the village leaders sought them out and told them to never do such a thing again,” said Michelle. “This is just one example of their being accepted by the leaders. So after the ongoing storm for the last two years, the Lord is using Solomon and Sarah in amazing ways to further His Kingdom!

Here's a video about Solomon & Sarah! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtDLsxTRt48

Our Mom is the Bomb Dot Com!!!

We've realized we brag on our mom to about everyone in person, but we seriously need to give her kudos on here as well!  Since we left the U.S. we have seen her servant heart blossom like no other!  Seriously, this woman was made to be a missionary mom - so here's where we we give you a sneak peak into how she has spoiled us rotten, loved us unconditionally, and given us such encouragement to persevere!

1) When we left she drove 5 hours over to the airport, only got 3 hours of sleep then got us up for our early departure (and she looked stunning the whole time)!  Little did we know that during the night she managed to slip 4 cards into our carry-on and luggage.  We found two on the plane and cried like babies, and then again once we were in our new home in Tanzania as we unpacked our belongings.  She encouraged us with Scripture and love - it was perfect.

2) Then came our very first day in town and we went to the post office with our teammate only to discover a letter from our mom!!  She sent it the day we left and enclosed a packet of Ranch Dressing mix (Megan's favorite) and some taco seasoning - it was fantastic!  Once we told her it made it through, there was no stopping her, the cards and seasoning packets just kept on coming!

3)  She constantly checks-in with us and offers help in even some of the most ridiculous ways - for example: our team leader was coming back to TZ from furlough in the U.S. for a few weeks and she literally offered to pay for him to bring a bag full of extra stuff just in case we wanted anything (to which we replied we had only been in country for two months....so probably not).

4)  Then came the month of December which takes the cake for being Best Mom Ever!  Mary Moss sent us a card for every day of the month!  Only two didn't make it through, which means we had 29 cards stuffed full with awesome goodies she sent our way + all the awesome notes she wrote inside.  Icing on the cake - she tried sending the first package (which was discouraged previously because our team has had terrible trouble getting packages from the post office) AND IT ARRIVED, perfectly intact, the weekend before Christmas!!

Gifts she managed to stuff in the letters - bookmarks, stickers with Scripture,
and crosses with verses to give others here with words of encouragement

AND OUR FAVORITE - spice packets & Orbit gum

Bookmarks, cards with verses AND Fannie Mae Fudge she makes every year!

Our month of December :)

I love you...and I'm not lion!

And our favorite card

After a month of fantastic gifts, she continues to shower us with her love & cereal :)

So as a tribute to the BEST MOM EVER...we want to say thank you and brag on how our mom is the bomb dot com!!!

Maasai Widows Farming God's Way Training

DAY 1

Clearing land for the plot without turning over the soil -
cutting the weeds in a way that takes less effort and is better
for their crops then using the cut weeds for God's Blanket,
which prevents soil erosion, rapid evaporation, and water runoff

Cutting foilage for God's Blanket to cover the field

Using the jembe hoe to cut the plants as well

Gathering manure from the corrals

Our manure-gathering crew

Our oldest widow is one of the fastest and hardest working in the bunch!

Learning that termites are a blessing from God, not a burden -
we can use termite mounds if there are no other means of fertilizer

Working together to transport the termite fertilizer

Building the rope so we can accurately measure 60cm between each hole for corn
(this was the first time for the women to use pliers - fingers got pinched only 2x)

Talking about what they learned at the end of the day

DAY 2

Our instructor, Joshua Moose, did a fantastic job of teaching the women the
Biblical, Technology, and Management aspects of Farming God's Way.
This meant lots of time in the classroom, but the women soaked in the knowledge!

The women were always worshipping and praying together - at every break,
instead of sitting around talking, these women were singing to the Lord
and praying powerfully for Him to break the yoke of poverty in this land
THEIR FAITH INSPIRES ME!

 DAY 3

Josh used awesome visuals to show the differences between ways of farming

This is the runoff from a field without God's blanket

Now the same amount of water rains on a field with God's Blanket

Now look at the difference in the amount of water and soil runoff

Neema chooses the FGW field that keeps the soil and moisture where it should be!

Now here he puts soil from a plowed field in the left water and we watched it disintegrate

This is soil in God's creation that has not been plowed - it held together and
had lots of bubbles showing great soil structure

Through these experiments, the women were so excited to see that FGW really works!

Ending the training on the third day, we gathered together to pray over the land,
each grabbing a handful of the soil, we prayed for His forgiveness and healing
on our plot of land, each woman's land, and the land of Tanzania

DAY 4

Last day of the training, we prepared our demo plot - 6 rows of corn 3 rows of beans
for a proper rotation - each woman had practice preparing the field to high standards

Row 1 is done!

Then we move the rope 75cm between each row

Hands working together!

The ground was hard - but taking turns and working together, we weren't discouraged

Everyone worked hard

And everyone worked together!

Our last row of corn!

Using the rope gives us straight rows and consistency
to plant in the same place every year so we don't waste
Precision Planting at its finest!

Maasai & FGW

Women dedicated to God and reaping all He has for them!

After all the holes are dug, we add 1TBS of woodash to help with acidity in the soil

Then we add the fertilizer (either livestock manure or termite mound soil)
1/2KG per corn hole or every 60cm for bean furrow - and we use what we have,
and every woman uses a cooking oil that comes in a 1/2KG container so we
used those to give them a proper visual - the only thing that the women
don't already have to do FGW is a rope and seed for the first year!

After the woodash and fertilizer are in the holes, we cover
with 5cm left for corn and 3cm left for beans...then we wait
for RAIN to plant the seeds!

We finish by putting God's blanket over every area
except over the holes until after we plant!

Our demo plot!

And our youngest attendee :)