Just thinking...

I like this verse:

Psalm 138:8
The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
Your love, O Lord, endures for ever -
Do not abandon the works of your hands.

It's pretty typical of my own experience - the psalmist confidently asserts...
The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
goes on to express his trust in the Lord's wonderful character...
Your love, O Lord, endures for ever -
but are his emotions up to speed?
Do not abandon the works of your hands! (feeling a little unsecure there Davie?)

Thankfully He understands ... "as parents feel for their chuldren, the Lord feels for those who fear Him. He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we're made of mud" (Ps 103:14 - the Message)

More news about ATM's, Salvatore etc...

Forgive the lack of photos but we have to wait for another week until we get our camera back... but the other news is that our ATM money is being repaid in the next day or so! Apparently US citizens are being warned of ATM scams on Americans ... did they mistake my accent?
We had a great week catching up with a Maasai doctor and two of his friends from Oldonuyo Sambu, a village on the road to Nairobi. I always felt there was something special about the place every time we drove through it. This last trip I verbalized my thoughts to Judi, telling her I wished we knew someone there so that we could connect. All along I've known Dr Linus, who's a member of the Vineyard here, not knowing he worked up there.
Linus has also been a great help organising a host family for Salvatore, the young lad we've blogged about in the last few weeks. It looks like we have a good match ... three previous options didn't work out, hopefully this one will. Salvatore is up here in Arusha at present, with his other uncle Athman (our friend).
You'll hear some more about Linus in due course - he's a great guy doing a great work... remind me if I forget!

Great news!

We just received news that our 'lost' camera was found at Zac's school. We're still waiting on our money to be recovered from the Nairobi ATM debacle, but given promises received as a result of the paperwork and phone calls between Tz, Kenya and Australia, we should be ok!

Teaching moments

With skits, Q & A, songs, and stories..... the teaching gets done... Of course, David's theological bent and love for God's truth keeps us on solid ground and I tell stories from life that illustrates these truths - always a challenge to keep it relevant.
Not sure who learns the most in the end.... us or them!
It is fascinating to hear their stories and how their culture will apply truths.
An honour and privilege to be part of what God is doing here...

In between teaching sessions.. there was chai & kids....

Graduates from the Marriage Course

You can see that although we had talked together as a class about breaking out of the African tradition of men standing with men and women with women..... and having married couples being comfortable with not only standing together but appropriate affection - still the graduates felt a little awkward. :)

Prayer needed!

This week while in Nairobi..... we lost or had our camera stolen, withdrew money from an ATM which tripled the amount on our statement taking us into a negative balance and making it impossible to use..... without a receipt and we received a call from our immigration agent saying we were to be fined US$400....

We know that these obstacles are ways to grow our faith and character and trust God to work out all of these things for our good.

Meanwhile, we celebrated Zachary David's 13th birthday and had a wonderful Indian meal with his dorm parents and a couple of his fellow students. We visited local giraffe and ate Ethiopian food....

He is growing tall and it is alarming to see how he is gaining on his mother.

Meanwhile, exciting news for his birthday..... from Justine.... she will be coming home for a visit in July .... thanks to the wonderful generosity of a woman in her church who heard God tell her how important this trip and timing was for Justine...

Praise God!!!