The Big Picture

Easter Sunday 2018

Hello from Morogoro, Tanzania!

So much has happened here this past month, and so much to tell you about! 

A few Sundays ago there was a visiting speaker at church from the USA who gave a message entitled, "The Big Picture". His passage was Matthew 28:18-20, The Great Commission. The small picture would be a life focused on our needs, our hurts, our problems, basically a self-focused life. The Big Picture is the grand view of what God is doing in the world, focusing on Him, sensitive to the needs of others & trusting Him for our own needs as we join Him in the harvest fields all over the world.  

This message really spoke to me because although it was "The Big Picture" perspective that led us to the foreign field to serve the Lord, "the small picture" is a constant temptation for all of us. Even more so on the foreign field because life can feel harder without the daily comforts and friends & family nearby.  Common tasks such as a trip into town, washing and drying clothes, and even getting oil changed can require an enormous amount of time and hard work to accomplish. So easily the "The Big Picture" perspective can be exchanged for "the small picture" perspective. Sometimes we just need a reminder to look up!

The Uluguru Mountains are so beautiful and can be seen from anywhere in town, but only if you look up! May the Lord give each of us a fresh view of Him so we can see "The Big Picture"!

We spend the majority of our time in language learning. We are in class from 8:00am to 12noon, have language drills from 2:30-4:00pm & are often up late doing homework or working on vocabulary. There are a total of 60 lessons in the four month course, and we have just finished lesson 45! I like to call this the fourth quarter and hope to finish strong! We are able to read portions of the Scriptures now, even though we run into words we haven't learned yet or can't remember!

Here is an example of a familiar verse - John 14:6

In the afternoons and on the weekends we've had many opportunities to visit and learn more about the people of Tanzania. Here are some highlights from the month of April.

Jennifer and I had the opportunity to meet the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, Dr. Inmi Patterson, when she visited Morogoro in April. We enjoyed our visit with her, she was warm and very friendly. We were also reminded that we too are Ambassadors, but with assignment from a much higher Authority! 

(2 Corinthians 5:20)

Several weeks ago Katie pulled over this thermos at our afternoon tea break which was full of scalding water. Unfortunately the water poured out onto her stomach before I could reach her. She suffered severe burns on her stomach area and lost some skin also.  We are so grateful for the many who have been praying for her and us! The next day we took her to a local clinic where she was given antibiotics and burn cream to ward off infection. It was amazing to see how fast her burns healed.

Day 1 of her burn

This is day 7!

We thank the Lord that she healed so well and so fast! We are also so thankful for all of you who prayed for her and us through this difficult experience. She learned her lesson the hard way, and has not touched the "Maji" thermos since.  :)

We also purchased a vehicle in April! We had been praying about a good vehicle that would handle the rugged and often muddy roads of Tanzania before we left the U.S. While here in Morogoro we learned of this vehicle, 2002 Toyota Land Cruiser diesel, 5 speed manual, 4wd, that seats 9 people. A missionary from Australia was relocating and had not yet put it up for sale. We came along at the perfect time and everything could not have worked out any better. We thank the Lord again for answered prayer!

Since having the vehicle, we were able to visit again a grandmother whose 30 year old daughter recently passed away from HIV, leaving behind 2 young children (The baby in the picture above, and an invalid 2 yr old son.).  At the time of her death, the baby was 3 months old & weighed only 6 lbs!  Around that time, Jennifer & Ally were able to go with a local missionary lady who began providing infant formula for the young baby. It was so sad to see her tiny frame. Since being on formula for 2 months now, she is doing very well! At this 3rd visit it was so encouraging to see her chubby cheeks & healthy demeanor.

The girls enjoyed feeding the baby while the boys were wandering around outside meeting the neighbors. There were some boys outside that were playing with a ball they had made out of plastic bags. As we were talking with them, a man came out and invited us over to see his chickens. Little did we know he would end up giving us one! 

 

So we ended up riding home with a new member of the Kinlaw Clan! The kids had it named ("Lucas") before we even made it back to the school. :) It actually worked out well because we were visiting another friend the next day at his church and going to his house for lunch. Having no where to keep a chicken & not wanting to... eat it, we decided to pass it on to our friend. A chicken is a great gift in Tanzania, so "Lucas" was the gift that kept on giving!

 We were invited to a Seventh Day Adventist Church and to lunch by our good friend Steven. He is a bijaji driver in Morogoro who has been such a blessing to us. Whenever we needed to go anywhere or get back home, Steven was always available. He is a choir director at this church and we would often sing hymns on the way back to the school. He knows many of the tunes of the hymns we sang regularly back home. 

Whenever we would see Steven coming down the road to pick us up, I would say to the kids, "Look, Jesus is coming!" We were glad to discover that this church was sound in the Gospel and gave a clear message from the Word at "Sabbath School" and in the main sermon (which was translated for us).

We are thankful for our time spent with Steven and his beautiful family. 

This month was a busy one for us and we so appreciate your prayers and support as we seek to finish strong here at language school and be a blessing to others while we are here. We want to keep our focus on "The Big Picture" 

and keep "Looking up!" 

On Monday of this week, Jennifer & I slipped away for tea at a place in town while the kids were in school. Our waiter, after we placed our order, came up to us and introduced himself as Samuel. He said it was a "Christian name". We replied, "Oh, are you a Christian?" He answered, "Not yet, but I would like to be very soon." We had a good conversation with him about the Gospel, the cross, and salvation & were able to leave a Swahili gospel tract with him.  In our conversation we learned that a Christian who was visiting from Holland had also talked to him about the Lord & his need to be saved. It was so neat to see the Lord working in his life! I hope to talk with him again.

Pray for Samuel

There are many people out there like Samuel who want to know the truth. This is evidence that God is at work in the world drawing sinners to His Son, everywhere! When the Scripture says the fields are white and ready for harvest, that means that God IS at work in the hearts of the lost! 

  Lord help us to see "THE BIG PICTURE"! 

"Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the world."

1 Corinthians 15:58