Shame on me.....

I just reread my updated last post....my stomach turned.

This trip is not about me.  This trip is not about us.  This rain and flooding has next to nothing to do with me.  It hardly touches my life.  My physical world is barely different than two days ago.

These past two days, I saw homes and businesses and shacks filled with flood water.  I saw children playing in trash filled mud puddles.  I saw roads and bridges crumbled under water.  Garbage lined where water stood yesterday.  I saw the locations of where neighborhood trash dumps are....in the middle of their main areas.  I saw leg less men begging for money.  A handless man knocked in my window.  I saw farm animals and children sharing a small muddied yard.  I saw women hanging freshly rained on cloth in their clothes line hung from gated holes in their cinder blocked walls.  I saw red mud hut homes with women and children doing their daily task on top of rain destruction. Mosquitos and disease are breeding as I type....from my comfortable couch with mosquito netted beds and running water.

I saw all this from my car seat behind a locked door and a rolled up window headed for the beach to figure out the new plan of this trip.

My mind cannot make these worlds mesh.

So many have lost everything.  Their homes are gone.  Their businesses gone.  Some family gone.  I am disappointed that my chance at a safari is gone???!!?!?  What?!!?!

Shame on me.

Sure, my heart and mind are razzled by what my eyes have seen abd i will forever remember. But the unfair truth is that I will board plane and return to life with a story and some souvenirs on the outside....while people here have to start life over.  Or beg for money.  Or sell themselves and their services to eat....rice.

 Pray for THEM!  Pray for them to see Love in some way.  Pray for them to find true Peace.
Pray that before they leave this cursed sinful world, they will know the Lover of their Soul....Jesus!


(I hope you get this......I pray you will forgive my selfishness and know that I understand this is not about me.....)

Change of Plans....

So our plans have changed....So we started out to Morogoro this morning and got well into our trip when we came to a spot in the road that was closed to traffic due to the fact that it was crumbling and a river rose all around it.  It was "passable" (tell that to the trucks that were flipped into it) but people had been stuck there for a few days.....on our trip back we counted over 500 semis lined up for 7 miles.  With more rain coming the road may not exist for our trip home and we would be stuck.....Thankful we are where we are and have people who want us to be safe....we are well taken care of by our hosts but mostly our God.  Dar es Salaam is "like an island" in that the roads leading to the other parts of the country may be out due to flooding......but at least it is where we are and it is where the airport is!  No safari....I thought Jonathan was going to be upset about not being able to go on safari but the first thing he said was , " Who knows what God is protecting us from?!?!?"  This area hasn't experienced much rain in 47 years!  so....Staying in Dar Es Salaam and making plans with area orphanages and other opportunities closer to home. Pray for those who have been effected by the rain.  Seeking what God wants for us.....Today was a reminder to always include "if The Lord wills" in our plans!

After-school English Class

Today was so great!  When you plan a trip, sometimes you form ideas in your head of how things should go....when asked to go to the secondary school to have the children practice English, I had a fun picture in my mind of how things should go.... God multiplied the reality.... There were over 100 children (many of who skipped their Muslim call to mosque to speak with these white Americans....lol). And they were so excited and enthusiastic and cute.... They thought my last name was funny we think because the -er sound does not exist in Swahili.....and the young boy who repeated my name back to us tried his best!  We took turns drawing pictures on the board and then picked eager students to tell in English what it was.....although it was overwhelming at first to have  100 children greet us loudly with an african accent in unison, "how are you?" we got used to the way it was organized and the boys did great!  The school children were friendly with the boys and put their arms around them after class.  Funny thing....a teacher was walking around with a switch and told us it was her "pointer" much of the time....but the rest of the time?!?!we aren't in Kansas anymore!lol!

The court yard of the poor government school with open aired barred classrooms we were in was overlooked by a 3 story private school built just feet away....they literally looked down on these children....it was very tough to see.

Looking back on today, Jonathan said, "Those kids loved us."  They did...and we loved them too!
It was just a great thing to be a part of today.

Hopeful Itinerary of trip and details of time here

We are safe in Tanzania!  We are seven hours later so our day is full already!  We gave our host family and friends some gifts yesterday...they were overwhelmingly thankful.  Simple things like US $3-4 jars of peanut butter cost $20+ here so they were grateful  to receive some things like that.  We delivered two wedding dresses we brought over to our host family's house helper Rehema.  She was speechless.... And then when she dis speak it was from a heart of overwhelming gratefulness.  Not only will she be able to be married in sheer elegance, but she will begin a business of renting out the gowns as a source of extra income.....here, wedding dresses are very expensive to buy and so they are rented for 100-200$ which is a significant amount.

We had a day of bonding with our beautiful host family,  being educated on the people of Tanzania, the travel, the language, the lifestyle....and climate!...it is very hot and humid!  

 We had a day at the Indian Ocean which was beautiful, and God used our host family there to love a lonely, sweet, Scottish businessman....who they plan to invite over and love on.  We organized all the Legos and blocks today...... Thousands and thousands were donated.  The boys were able to show how to build and play with them to some friends and neighbors.  

Our hopeful itinerary:

Friday, we plan on going to a secondary school to allow the children to speak to us in English.... They are very excited to use their English on real Americans.  

Saturday we help prep church for Sunday service.

Sunday we meet with the church, help with children's ministry here.  Then we head to Indian Ocean for evening at the beach meeting people Steph teaches exercise to.  I believe we will also meet a group of women Steph disciples and helps teach sewing and business skills.  

Monday we travel to Morogoro 3 hours inland to meet old friends of our host family, and spend time with children at the orphanage.  Everyone keeps saying how the children are going to love the building blocks!  We will also go on Safari at the national park.  There thru Thursday.  

Friday wrapping up our trip with a day visit to a local island.  Saturday pm we travel home to return just before noon on Easter into Toronto.  

Please pray as we see God love the people here in such beautiful specific ways He provided for them.   It shows us just how much he loves His children.  

Please, pray for illness to be far off.... Especially in Morogoro where our host family had been ill the most...We have been bit by mosquitoes but we are praying our meds fight any possible malaria.  Please pray for safe travel to and from Morogoro...my heart is a bit uneasy about the travel to and from but I am trusting in our Lord for great favor and protection.  Pray for Jason and the younger Fahmer boys....Jeremiah has a cold which can be tough, and Job has had a difficult time when talking to me or seeing me on Skype....he misses his mama....who misses them all. 

We are able to communicate via Facebook, email, Skype, our blog www.2014tanzania.blospot.com, phone.... So long as technology does not fail us!  We had no electricity for a bit today, had dropped calls and such, but we wifi around it and have wifi access to update frequently which is nice and fun.  

Thank you for all your loving support and prayer!  

Now off to bed again... Can't get this time change jet lag thing down...

In Christ,

Karen

Photos on Facebook

We have a Facebook page called Lego Missions in Tanzania.  We find it easier to post quick updates and photos there as we travel.   We will do our best here on blogger but if you have Facebook, check our page for more details possibly.

We are in Tanzania!!! And had a great first day!

We arrived safely after 28 hours of travel.... Everyone but Karen slept pretty good last night. .. We were able to shower our fabulous host family with gifts from America, .... and we gave the wedding dresses to our hosts house helper .... Such a love filled moment...aimee gave joseph some medical books which he spent every moment he could diving into them!  Then we headed to the Indian Ocean for some playing swimming and dining.  After, we unpacked all the building blocks.... Sooooo many!.... So much fun!  Our hosts guards son came over to build and played with the boys and loved it!   It was a great day of seeing God use these things on earth and turning them into a story of caring and love.... Thank you for sending the love, everyone!  Plan for tomorrow is going to Shantells school to help children practice their English!  Hope to talk to you then!  

#9 & #10 of 10 Days of Prayer for Our Trip: Safety & Trust in God

So safety is kind of a repeat....but I tend to repeat myself all the time, so why stop now.  Our petition for wisdom and responsibility, if fulfilled and we yield to it, paves the way to safety.  But pray again for it just for this mama....and her man and all the grandmamas and aunties and.....the many others who think we are nuts!  LOL!  I love it!

Trust in God

He is so trustworthy.  He has had the reigns of this trip the entire time and has steered it right to where we are.  He has been easy to follow thus far....(my husband and mother may have a different story!).  It has been so exciting and the pieces fit together so nicely.  But if they start to become more difficult to place, what will I do?  What will we do? I pray we remember that our circumstances do not change our God!  we look at the alters we have built along the way to remind us of how His hand is guiding us.  I am a changed princess of His because of just the planning of this trip...can't wait until we actually take the trip.....and see the entire journey.  The gifts He gave us to spoil us and make us so giddy and grateful....things He didn't have to do, yet He did....so we would enjoy Him more....(He is most satisfied when we are most satisfied in Him).  He has never and will never leave us.  He has shown His hand in every aspect of this trip and He still has the reigns.  I trust Him.  I know His love for me outweighs any other love I am shown.....and that is lots.

Place your trust in the Lord; rely on Him completely;
never depend upon your own ideas and inventions.
Give Him the credit for everything you accomplish,
and He will smooth out and straighten the road that lies ahead.

Proverbs 3:5-6