It is hard to believe that it has been over a month and a
half since I last posted an update.
I am truly sorry… life here in Tanzania has been very busy. A good busy. A busy that I praise God for because busy here means that
God has granted many opportunities to further His Kingdom! I feel like I blinked and the month of
April was gone! So much has
happened and is happening since my last update but I will try to be as thorough
as possible without making this too excruciatingly long to read.
At the end of March we had the opportunity to travel to Zanzibar, an island off
of the coast of Dar, for about a 5-day break. This was very much needed and very much appreciated. Since I had not been outside of Dar
since my arrival in January (the others went to Uganda and Morogoro, TZ back
in February), I was itching to have a break, do some exploring, and just
relax. This time away encompassed
all of those desires! We stayed in the historically famous, Stone Town and were able to do some exploring and tours, take a boat
to a smaller island to snorkel, enjoy all of the foods and shopping that the
island offers, and even have a little down time to be refreshed and restored by
the Lord. I really loved every
second we had in Zanzibar. There
is such a middle-eastern influence there because of being previously controlled
by Oman and because of the Arab slaved trade that took place there. But there is also a mysterious charm
about the island that I found to be very intriguing. The people were different from the people in Dar… there was
definitely an “island mentality” about them. I have never heard “hakunna matata” (Swahili for “no
worries” or “no problem”) so much since I last watched the Lion King. That seemed to be everyone’s favorite
phrase there. I am very grateful
for the time I was able to spend in Zanzibar for so many reasons but ashamedly
I must admit that one of my favorite things about my time there was staying in
a nice hotel that had air conditioner and consistent power and water. J
After 4 nights and 5 days
there I was spoiled!
Jamie and me on the beach at sunset
the famous Zanzibar doors
Fordani's --outdoor local market that offers fresh and local Zanzibarian food
Slave trade memorial
Chumbe Island
Wishing I had Rob with me here :)
Baby Collin- my friend that I visited often during my time in Zanzibar
Chumbe Island
Snorkeling in the coral reefs on Chumbe Island
At the end of March, two women that I have been pouring into
trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior! This was obviously HUGE! This was what I was brought here for! To share the gospel and make disciples
of the people God so graciously gives me relationships with here. In that moment with those two women
sitting on my couch in my apartment, every frustration, discouragement,
annoyance, and struggle I have experienced here went out the window, and I was
able to celebrate the adoption of two daughters into the family of God. Tears of joy were streaming down my
face so heavily that one of the women even asked, “why are you upset?” I explained to her that I now do not
have to dread saying goodbye to them in a couple of months but rather, I get to
anticipate spending eternity with them in Heaven praising our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ! What an
unexplainable feeling! I am still
so honored and humbled by the reality that God has allowed me to be a part of
what He is doing in these women’s hearts but also in the hearts of many more
people He has given me relationships with here. What a privilege that I pray I will never take for
granted!
Mwajuma and Anna
The Saturday before Easter Sunday, we had the opportunity to
visit Muhimbili Children’s Hospital in Dar.
We planned a little Easter party for the children and invited some of
the University students that we minister to and share life with here, to come
along with us. This was hands down
one of my favorite days I have had in Dar! We took print outs of “He has risen” Jesus coloring sheets,
crayons, snacks, juice, books and other goodies with us to celebrate our risen
Savior’s life. A couple of
guitars were even brought and we had a time of singing, clapping and praising
Jesus together! To see the smiles
on these children’s faces despite their cancerous conditions was one of the
most touching moments that I know I will cherish and remember forever. For those short hours, they were able
to forget that they had tubes that fed through their noses that allowed them to
actually “eat”, or a missing eye or limb, or had bandages that covered half of
their face due to infection, or the reality that they may not live to celebrate
another Easter….yet there was joy.
There was a deep joy that affected each one of us there in a way that we
needed to be affected. This was
one of my more sobering times in Dar.
It reminded me of the passage in John 9 when Jesus healed a man that was
born blind.
“As He passed by, He saw a blind man from birth.
And His disciples asked Him,
‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’
Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but
that
the works of God might be
displayed in him.”
John 9:1-3
That last statement explains it all. As we were on our way home, Miriam (a
good friend that God has given me here) asked me, “why would God allow those
children to suffer in that way?”
It was so good to be able to confidently answer her with Jesus’ own
words. “So that the works of God
might be displayed in them.” You
see, at any point God could so easily heal these children but for now He has
chosen not to. In His perfection,
He has chosen to instead display His glory through them. And boy did he do that for us on that
Saturday!
Sweet girl
So proud of their Jesus worksheet they colored
Children showing me the goodies we brought them
Carol teaching some of the children
LOVING their dolls Lindsey brought them
Sweet baby being bathed by his Mama
Ah :)
Celebrating Easter here in Tanzania was such a sweet
gift! Not only is it my favorite
holiday but I was able to celebrate our Savior’s life and resurrection with the
people that God had specifically called me to and in the place that God has
specifically brought me to. Nate
“brought the Word” at church that morning and then we had a huge Easter
lunch/dinner celebration with all of the University students that we have built
relationships with here. We
grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs and enjoyed potato salad, chips, baked
beans, brownies and even a cookie cake that Jamie (my good friend and
Journey-girl here) whipped up for us.
This too was one of my favorite times in Dar! Ochu (my bajaji driver) and his precious wife and son even
came! We had such a sweet sweet
time of enjoying food, fellowship, and laughter for hours together. This Easter Sunday was so special to
me… if I wasn’t going to be married to the love of my life and getting to share
next Easter with him as husband and wife, I’d say that this year would be hard
to top!
Ochu, his wife and precious son on Easter Sunday at the Easter celebration
Easter Sunday celebration
Carol, Khamphat, Joyce and Keziah
Delphine, Lydia and Sophie
Zoe and Lukkman
Not only have things been very busy here the past couple of
months but God has also been teaching me so much about myself and my total
depravity and Himself and His unconditional love. Every day that He gives me here He teaches me more about my
desperation to depend on Him for EVERYTHING. Not surprisingly, this too I have had to learn the hard way
at times and am continuing to learn daily. But praise God that He is a gracious and merciful God, “slow
to anger and abounding in steadfast love”
(Numbers 14:18). As most of
you know, after spending a month here I would have told you that I was called
here to minister to the children and female teachers of the primary school that
the Lord opened the doors to so early on.
This no doubt has been and is part of my ministry here but the past
month or so God has revealed to me how He would have me spend the rest of my
time here. This came as a big
surprise because I thought I had it all figured out. Something my very wise supervisor, Andy, asked me during his
visit to Dar back in March was, “Webber, I know you know what you want to be
doing here but have you ever asked God what HE wants you to do?” This became a question that I have
wrestled with ever since he left two months ago. The Holy Spirit really began to speak to me through Andy’s
words and direct my steps in where HE would have me invest in for my remaining
time here. This is where all of
the University female students come in.
Upon arriving to Dar back in
January, I immediately jumped into an all-girls Bible Study that was led by the
University girls themselves. Jamie
had been a part of it for a while and graciously invited me to join in. At first I thought this would just be a
once a week commitment but I would spend the majority of my time with the children
and teachers. God eventually
corrected me and as I asked Him where He would have me serve in my last couple
of months here, He so clearly showed me.
He was calling me to invest in these 10+ University girls. To make disciples of them and to “teach
them to observe all that God has commanded” (Matthew 28:20). All of these girls are saved and have had some sort of
background in Christianity. The
majority of them are from Uganda but are here in Dar for school and will most
likely return to Uganda after graduating.
Because they were believers and they loved Jesus and were meeting to study
His Word, I was under the impression that they didn’t need me and I should
invest elsewhere. What a false
perception! I think so often
because we have come to Africa to be missionaries (or other parts of the world
that have not necessarily been reached well with the gospel), we think that we
should only seek out people that have never heard of Jesus. This is where I feel like we have gone
wrong. Again, if we read the
entire “Great Commission” and really obey it then we will be seeking to
minister to and disciple EVERYONE that God decides to put in our path… saved or
unsaved. This is not just a tell
people about Jesus and then your job is done there. There is SO MUCH more to the rest of that command that Jesus
gave us in Matthew. We are to
“teach them to observe all that He has commanded.” So that is where I am now and that is what I have been
striving to do and will continue to do until I leave in 4 weeks. These girls love Jesus and want to obey
Jesus but they have not necessarily been taught how to do that. They are in dire need of a mentor or a
teacher. Someone to pour into and
disciple them in the ways of God.
These girls are all intelligent, and fluent in English, and leaders on
their campus and in their community.
God was so gracious to give me these girls to disciple and share life
with. They have so much potential
to impact their campus, communities here, and even impact their villages back
in Uganda when they return home for holidays and after graduation. Here I was trying to do it all on my own
all the while, God was pointing me to these girls and saying, “Here they
are! I have brought them to
you! Now teach them! Invest in them!” Oh, how we so often think we have it
all figured out and we fail to even ask God what we should do or where we should
be!
So
the past month or so I have really been trying to connect with these girls on a
deeper level, love them and teach them how to walk as disciples of Christ and
then how to make disciples. Right
now we are in the middle of a relationship series in our Bible Study. I was asked to teach on relationships
with the opposite sex a couple of weeks ago. It was not until then and meeting with these girls one on
one did I see their desperate need and eagerness to be really taught what God
calls us to as women in Christ.
This week I will be teaching on Biblical Womanhood. As you all know, our world and culture
has completely perverted this and we have left God and His Word. If you think about it, please pray for
my preparation, what I share with them, and for their hearts to be receptive to
what God has to teach them through me.
There is so much to discuss on this subject and God has given me such a
passion to share what He calls us to be as women – I just pray I will be a good
steward of His Word as I teach from it.
Below are some pictures of some of the girls – most from a poetry
recital that they put on. Please
lift them up as a group and individually (Khamphat, Carol, Keziah, Joy,
Delphine, Lydia, Heaven, Angela, Brenda, Miriam, Jane).
Carol and me at the Children's Hospital
Carol and me at the Poetry Recital
Cute girls getting ready to recite :)
Khamphat -- the M.C.
Keziah
Delphine
Brenda
Joy
Celebratory dinner for Miriam's Birthday
Thank you all for your continued encouragement, support and your commitment to pray for me and my time here. God has been so faithful and I know He will continue to be as we strive to glorify Him by making disciples of all nations! I love you and thank God for you.
