It's hard to believe this was our 5th week here in Tanzania....Time is flying by on our end!! It seems like yesterday I was writing week 4...This week has been fun! There is a couple that are here from Maine (Jeff and Kathy). Jeff and John have been working all week building fence posts and now they are at the land putting it all together. They are both hard workers and really want to get this project done quickly!! Kathy has been so much fun to hang out with. The girls love her and we have had fun adventuring!!
Saturday Morning we took a little adventure. Jill needed a ride to her land to talk to the men who were building her fence so we decided to all load up and go with her and John. So in the front seat of the truck was John (driving), Gaudencia, Presley, and Hope. In the back seat of the truck was Brooklyn, Noella, Acaicia, and Jillian....So where did the women sit...We decided we would take the peacful ride up to the property....We rode in the bed of pick-up!! We had a good time bouncing around and soaking up the WARM Tanzanian sun!! Its funny how here in Africa just running up the street can turn into a fun adventure. We just have to be willing to put a smile on our faces and have fun in everything we are doing!!
Last week we were asked to come help with a camp they were having on Saturday afternoon for Grade 7 at the school we have been working with. So we got a babysitter and went to the camp.They were having a prophetic camp for the kids. It was such a wonderful experience for the kids. They had stations set-up and the kids went through the stations in groups of two. There were three stations...A joy station where they had the kids tell the Leader lies the enemy had been telling them and they just laughed at the devil..Then they came to our station which was just prayer, anointing with oil, and prophetic words...after that they came to us they went to a prophetic art station!! It was so neat to see this group of missionaries really pour into the next generation!!! God really used us during our station. We really spoke into their destiny's and they were very encouraged!!
Well I know most of you saw on facebook, but John really made our valentines day special. He really proved to me that it doesn't matter where in the world you are you can have a wonderful celebration! He surprised me with roses and took me up the mountain to a hotel for dinner. Then we went by a cafe' and picked up a piece of chocolate cake!! We couldn't have had such a special evening without Jeff, Kathy, and Mama Nesma!! They so sweetly kept all four kids so we could go!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well God has been faithful to show us so many things during this season and we have been so blessed by his presence that has continually stregthend us over the last few weeks! We know he is going to continue to reveal many more things to us as we seek him during this amazing season of our lives!! We love all of you and are so thankful for you!!
P.S. Presley told me yesterday that she likes Africa better than home...I always knew she was going to be a missionary!! I can't wait to see what all God has in store for our kids!!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Week #4!!!!
Well we have officially been here almost a month and we are enjoying life on the mission field. We moved out into Mary and Peter's guest house this week which has been really nice for our family to have some alone time. Its been quite awhile since its just been the four of us and we are really liking it!! The girls love sharing a room again and John and I are enjoying not having any babies in our room keeping us up at night!! We are all sleeping peacefully and it is about time because we have needed rest!! It is extreemly hot right now in Tanzania. During the day it is reaching almost 100 degrees. I know to all of you Louisiana people that sounds like a normal summer, but just imagine on those hot days when we all go inside and get cooled off with our wonderful a/c...Well not here in Africa..The only a/c we get is in the car....So the weather seems much warmer here....The good thing is my girls are sleeping well because they are pooped by the end of the day...(well so are mommy and daddy).
This week was a really awesome week here. We went back to the school and did another couple of hours of prophetic time with the staff and God really moved...There were some major breakthroughs for some of the people we prayed for as well as the rest being VERY encouraged!!We are so thankful for the Lord using us!! John taught at the school three mornings this week and God really gave him so good words for the students...On Wednesday just a couple hours after John left the immigration officers showed up lookig for people who were teaching under Tourist Visas...Thankfully John was not there or they could have fined us or worse case deported us! God was faithful to protect us and we know his hand is on our family COMPLETELY!!!
John also has been steadly working on the playground and it is coming along..here in Africa things take MUCH longer than they do in the states, but he is working hard! This next week he will pull off of that project and work with Jeff ( A man from Maine) who is here and they will start putting the fence up around the girls home property.
We have met a really sweet girl here who is from California.... we totally trust her and she babysat for us once this week while we did ministry. We are going to ask her to watch are girls one night this week so we can celebrate Valentines Day!! I think we will go to the little cafe that has Coffee and sometimes they serve chocolate cake ( Yes, you heard me COFFEE and CHOCOLATE CAKE in Africa) ..It will be a nice get a way for me and my sweet man on that special day!!
We can't believe how fast this time has flown by!! We are excited about the rest of our trip and even more excited about what God has in store for us for the coming season!! We love you all!! God Bless!!!!!!!!!!
This week was a really awesome week here. We went back to the school and did another couple of hours of prophetic time with the staff and God really moved...There were some major breakthroughs for some of the people we prayed for as well as the rest being VERY encouraged!!We are so thankful for the Lord using us!! John taught at the school three mornings this week and God really gave him so good words for the students...On Wednesday just a couple hours after John left the immigration officers showed up lookig for people who were teaching under Tourist Visas...Thankfully John was not there or they could have fined us or worse case deported us! God was faithful to protect us and we know his hand is on our family COMPLETELY!!!
John also has been steadly working on the playground and it is coming along..here in Africa things take MUCH longer than they do in the states, but he is working hard! This next week he will pull off of that project and work with Jeff ( A man from Maine) who is here and they will start putting the fence up around the girls home property.
We have met a really sweet girl here who is from California.... we totally trust her and she babysat for us once this week while we did ministry. We are going to ask her to watch are girls one night this week so we can celebrate Valentines Day!! I think we will go to the little cafe that has Coffee and sometimes they serve chocolate cake ( Yes, you heard me COFFEE and CHOCOLATE CAKE in Africa) ..It will be a nice get a way for me and my sweet man on that special day!!
We can't believe how fast this time has flown by!! We are excited about the rest of our trip and even more excited about what God has in store for us for the coming season!! We love you all!! God Bless!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Week Three!!!
This week has been awesome!! Saturday morning we did a "treasure hunt" with a few missionaries that are here as well as some secondary students from a school here in Moshi. For those of you who don't know what a treasure hunt is, it is where you get with a group people and you pray and ask the Lord to show you either a person, place, color of clothing, a problem they may have,or maybe all of the above and then you go to that place and "hunt" for that person and when you find them get to minister to them. John, the girls, and I took two students from the school and we got a few things from the Lord and loaded up and went to town. ( The others broke into different groups as well) The main story I have to tell is one of the students who were with us prayed and the Lord showed her a man begging in front of the bus stop. So we drove by the bus stop and she spotted him. So we parked the truck all got out and went up to him. She told him that God had shown him to her and that we came to pray for him. He was sitting on the ground missing a foot, all of his fingers, and had leprosy. When she got done talking to him we asked her what he said. He told her that his family had gone to witch doctor and told her that they needed money so they gave him up for money. He went on to tell them he had all these curses on him. I asked the girl what his name was and she said "Nelson" . We immediately felt a connection in our spirit...John's grandpa who has just died..his name is John Nelson!! While the girl was first talking to the man John had felt in his spirit that he had a curse on him and somebody had been with a witch doctor. So when she told us all of this we just started praying for him. When we were done praying for him he said he believed in Jesus and loved him. We told him we would continue to come pray for him until God completely healed him. John has gone by several times this week and prayed for him. We are believing for him to be completely healed before we leave!!!!
Sunday John preached in an African church here. Missionary friends of ours, Jill and Lewis started this church a while back. It is growing every week. John had a great word from the Lord for the people. They were all blessed by him. It was great experience for our girls as well to see church in a different culture. No nursery or a/c. Just a dirt floor with a tarp like material around it to make it look somewhat indoors. It didn't matter to us. Church was still amazing!! People still love the Lord and seek his face no matter what their church looks like. It is a great lesson for all of us from time to time! The Lord just wants us to seek his face and he will send his glory wherever we are!!
On Monday John got back to work on the playground. They got all the post concreted in the ground as well as finished up securing the property. I am so proud of my husband. He never ceases to amaze me. He designed the playground and is building this thing from the ground up. He didn't go to Sam's and order the pre-built swing set. This thing is going to be amazing. He designed it to have a stage in the middle of two sections of the playground. Since the main purpose that Jilll (our missionary friend) had when she got this vision was to have this playground in order to have outreaches, this stage will be awesome. They will be able to have puppet shows and whatever else they might want to use it for. It is going to be wonderful when it is all finished. I wish you all knew how hard he is working to get this done. It is almost 100 degrees everyday here and the property has NO shade!! Pray for his strength and hydration during this time!!
Last week we were asked to come back to the school John had taught at to do some prophetic time with the staff of the school. We went today and spent 3 hours praying and prophesying over 15 different people. God really showed up. He used both of us mightily and we are so humbled that he chose us!! When we left today we had joy in our hearts and knew that this is why we have come!! We will go back next Tuesday and finish up with the staff of the primary school and then we have at least 35 more people they would like us to pray and prophecy over. We will spread it out over the next few weeks. We also met a Pastor while we were there and got to pray for him as well. He asked as to please come to his church while we are here. We are so excited to see God opening these doors for us here. God is moving through us and we are so thankful and humbled that he has sent us...We just want to remind everyone that has supported us in any way that these are your rewards as well!! We are so thankful for all of you and ask for your continued prayers through this wonderful season of our lives!! We have so many stories that we can't wait to share with you when we get home!! Love you and miss you all!!!!!
Sunday John preached in an African church here. Missionary friends of ours, Jill and Lewis started this church a while back. It is growing every week. John had a great word from the Lord for the people. They were all blessed by him. It was great experience for our girls as well to see church in a different culture. No nursery or a/c. Just a dirt floor with a tarp like material around it to make it look somewhat indoors. It didn't matter to us. Church was still amazing!! People still love the Lord and seek his face no matter what their church looks like. It is a great lesson for all of us from time to time! The Lord just wants us to seek his face and he will send his glory wherever we are!!
On Monday John got back to work on the playground. They got all the post concreted in the ground as well as finished up securing the property. I am so proud of my husband. He never ceases to amaze me. He designed the playground and is building this thing from the ground up. He didn't go to Sam's and order the pre-built swing set. This thing is going to be amazing. He designed it to have a stage in the middle of two sections of the playground. Since the main purpose that Jilll (our missionary friend) had when she got this vision was to have this playground in order to have outreaches, this stage will be awesome. They will be able to have puppet shows and whatever else they might want to use it for. It is going to be wonderful when it is all finished. I wish you all knew how hard he is working to get this done. It is almost 100 degrees everyday here and the property has NO shade!! Pray for his strength and hydration during this time!!
Last week we were asked to come back to the school John had taught at to do some prophetic time with the staff of the school. We went today and spent 3 hours praying and prophesying over 15 different people. God really showed up. He used both of us mightily and we are so humbled that he chose us!! When we left today we had joy in our hearts and knew that this is why we have come!! We will go back next Tuesday and finish up with the staff of the primary school and then we have at least 35 more people they would like us to pray and prophecy over. We will spread it out over the next few weeks. We also met a Pastor while we were there and got to pray for him as well. He asked as to please come to his church while we are here. We are so excited to see God opening these doors for us here. God is moving through us and we are so thankful and humbled that he has sent us...We just want to remind everyone that has supported us in any way that these are your rewards as well!! We are so thankful for all of you and ask for your continued prayers through this wonderful season of our lives!! We have so many stories that we can't wait to share with you when we get home!! Love you and miss you all!!!!!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Week Two!!
Wow is all I can say about this week!! We have had a tough several days. At three o'clock in the morning (our time ) Monday John received a phone call from home telling him that his grandfather had been taken to the hospital with stomach pain and while he was there he had some kind of potassium poisoning from medicine that they had given him and was in CCU. We got updates over the next couple days...some were good and some bad. Then while we were eating dinner Wednesday night we got a phone call telling us he had passed away. This has been very tough on John. We know we are in the will of God so that gives us great peace, but there were many moments that John was going to try to come home to see him. When we found out that he had died we both realized that there was probably no way he could make it home in time for the funeral. We are just trusting in the Lord through this time and we know that his grace is sufficient!! Please keep John and his family in your prayers...This was very unexpected and his grandpa will be greatly missed!!!
God has done great miracles for our Brooklyn this week, but both the girls have been under attack with their health. The first thing that happened was that Friday night Brooklyn started throwing up...It lasted for hours..The poor thing was so weak and couldn't even hold water down. John and I had been praying for her and all of sudden I started calling forth angels. A few moments later I opened my eyes and looked at Brooklyn and she was reaching out ( I believe for an angel ). She started humming and all of sudden she said momma and daddy then peacfully went to sleep....Our baby was healed!!!!!!!!!! She ate and drank all day on Saturday with out any problems. Then Saturday Presley started complaining of her ear hurting. We prayed over her all day Saturday and Sunday and the pain never went away. I went to a pharmacy here and bought her a antibiotic and after a few days now she is feeling much better. On Tuesday night Brooklyn started running fever...she ran fever all night and all day the next day...We took her to a clinic here and they did blood work and said she had a bacteria infection...We got her on an antibiotic and took her home. That night she started running 103 fever...John and I started praying and within 25 minutes her fever was 98.6...She hasn't ran any fever since, but she is still on the antibiotic....On top of all of this she is getting 5 teeth right now...Just be praying for PERFECT HEALTH for all of us and also for rest..We have still have not slept through the night one night since we have been here!!
On a good note!!! John has been very busy this week. He taught three days this week to the leaders and teachers at an African school here. They have asked him to come back next week and teach to the secondary students. They have also asked us to give prophetic words to the staff and teachers on Thursday of next week. He will also be Preaching at an African church here on Sunday. Keep us in your prayers this week as we pour out to the people of Tanzania!!
We love and miss you all!! Pictures to come in the next couple of days on Facebook!!!
God has done great miracles for our Brooklyn this week, but both the girls have been under attack with their health. The first thing that happened was that Friday night Brooklyn started throwing up...It lasted for hours..The poor thing was so weak and couldn't even hold water down. John and I had been praying for her and all of sudden I started calling forth angels. A few moments later I opened my eyes and looked at Brooklyn and she was reaching out ( I believe for an angel ). She started humming and all of sudden she said momma and daddy then peacfully went to sleep....Our baby was healed!!!!!!!!!! She ate and drank all day on Saturday with out any problems. Then Saturday Presley started complaining of her ear hurting. We prayed over her all day Saturday and Sunday and the pain never went away. I went to a pharmacy here and bought her a antibiotic and after a few days now she is feeling much better. On Tuesday night Brooklyn started running fever...she ran fever all night and all day the next day...We took her to a clinic here and they did blood work and said she had a bacteria infection...We got her on an antibiotic and took her home. That night she started running 103 fever...John and I started praying and within 25 minutes her fever was 98.6...She hasn't ran any fever since, but she is still on the antibiotic....On top of all of this she is getting 5 teeth right now...Just be praying for PERFECT HEALTH for all of us and also for rest..We have still have not slept through the night one night since we have been here!!
On a good note!!! John has been very busy this week. He taught three days this week to the leaders and teachers at an African school here. They have asked him to come back next week and teach to the secondary students. They have also asked us to give prophetic words to the staff and teachers on Thursday of next week. He will also be Preaching at an African church here on Sunday. Keep us in your prayers this week as we pour out to the people of Tanzania!!
We love and miss you all!! Pictures to come in the next couple of days on Facebook!!!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Week One of our African Adventure!!
We had such a great travel experience on our way to Africa. God was so faithful every step of the way. We had favor with our bags, our seats on the plane, our Visas...Just about everything we came across we were so blessed to have such a supernatural peace.We landed in Kilimanjaro on Tuesday at 2:50 PM and then the real journey began. Peter (the missionary that we are staying with) picked us and all of our bags (six bags, three carry-on bags, two car seats, and a stroller) up and brought us to our NEW HOME for the next 3 months. As soon as we walked in the door we were so welcomed by everyone. We enjoyed our first meal in Africa...MAC N CHEESE!! My girls loved Mrs. Mary from that point on!! We took the first two days to get unpacked and start getting settled in..It takes a long time to get eight bags unpacked. :) Also trying to get all of us over jet leg has been difficult, but I am believing that in the next couple days our bodies will be on African time!!
Today we met with another missionary that lives here in Moshi and we all went to look at the new property for the Emmanuel Center (the boys home here). We also drove to Njoro Village where the new playground will be built. John will start on that in the next couple days. This playground will be a major point of outreach for the missionaries that are here and also will be a place they will be able to show the Jesus film. This area is a very poor village and has a lot of prostitution and witchcraft so I am sure that there will be many opportunities to minister throughout the time it is being built. Tonight we will go to a local pastor's house to have worship..Very excited to see what all God has in store for our entire family while we are here! Thank you all for your prayers during our traveling process! It is such a blessing to know that we have such wonderful family and friends lifting us up in the spirit as we are here.
We will try to update maybe once a week, but we will just see what all takes place! Love you all!!!!!!!!
Today we met with another missionary that lives here in Moshi and we all went to look at the new property for the Emmanuel Center (the boys home here). We also drove to Njoro Village where the new playground will be built. John will start on that in the next couple days. This playground will be a major point of outreach for the missionaries that are here and also will be a place they will be able to show the Jesus film. This area is a very poor village and has a lot of prostitution and witchcraft so I am sure that there will be many opportunities to minister throughout the time it is being built. Tonight we will go to a local pastor's house to have worship..Very excited to see what all God has in store for our entire family while we are here! Thank you all for your prayers during our traveling process! It is such a blessing to know that we have such wonderful family and friends lifting us up in the spirit as we are here.
We will try to update maybe once a week, but we will just see what all takes place! Love you all!!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)