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

#8 of 10 Days of Prayer for Our Trip: Kind Hearts

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 

The topic of having "kind hearts" comes up lots in our home.  It is something that takes so much effort to do when it comes to family relationships that have a tendency to settle into not so kind responses.  I know in my own life that I respond or react many times without first thinking....I must consciously choose to be kind. (Anyone who knows me, knows that I am NOT as sweet as they come...."sweet" is not a word used often to describe me.....it is how God made me....dill pickles are really good!....He saved all the sweetness for when he made Aimee!)  And then you have the whole brotherly relationship...they are best friends....oh, wait, he has him in a head-lock...what?!?!...they are laughing now......now he made him cry.....oh, best buddies again....all that in 50.3 seconds.  Joshua and Jonathan are best friends (they don't really know that yet, but they are) and they spend so.much.time together....being homeschooled allows for that kind of time together.....they are so great with each other most of the time....that portion left once you take the most out can be pretty ugly......normal....BUT WE DON'T WANT NORMAL!  We are asking for extraordinary....only from Jesus who can fulfill that!      

 So this request of prayer comes from a need of ours to respond and react with yielding our natural habits and calling on Jesus to push through and shine kindness.  That verse in Ephesians is a statement of how we can embody Christ...through the yielding of self and letting the kindness, compassion and forgiveness only offered through Jesus Christ lead.  

Thank you so much for taking our petitions to the throne, of my King!  

Overwhelmed....in a great way!

Joshua told me today, "Tomorrow we will be able to say, 'Tomorrow we are leaving for Africa!'"  He is so excited!  Last night my dear sister and brother-in-law prayed over us....their prayer for God to work in our hearts to transform what is there, to plant new things, unveil what God wants...prayer for His angels to be with us.....so so so exciting!  And this morning our church family prayed for us, gave us gifts to travel with and dear sweet words of encouragement.

 My heart just worshiped Jesus with a different clarity this morning in service... "Our God saves!" ....and I just was so tender to the Truth and feeling God's presence in my every step....Colossians 3, which I have on my bathroom mirror for the last few months, was taught on and resurfaced in my heart to keep my focus on the things that are above....looking to Christ every step.

The faces of people who have lifted us up faithfully from their first hearing of our trip....their support in prayer, donating bottles, building block, money, words of encouragement....it just brought me to to tears!  It was overwhelming.  I am just so so so thankful for the love and support we have here.....and how this love here is overwhelming, yet my Jesus loves me abundantly more than that....

.....I.am.loved. and held.



Colossians 3:1-17  Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of Godis coming.[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew,circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free,but Christ is all, and is in all.

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility,gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

#7 of 10 Days of Prayer for Our Trip: Willingness to be out of our comfort zone

This prayer count-down is crazy fast!  In 3 days we take flight!??!?!?

Careful what you pray for, right? "Willingness to be out of our comfort zone..."  We have an idea of some things that may be expected of us....but not really.  Over the last few months, going to Africa has come up at soooo many meal times....usually when there is something not preferred served and there are whines and complains.....the, "Oh, yeah....just wait till you have to eat _____(usually a bug of some sort) in Africa..." in a light-hearted kind of way....(I secretly am looking forward to eating a bug....shhhh...don't tell).  But the lesson behind the comment is that we are not to offend just because something may be uncomfortable for us or out of our comfort zone.  We all have moments where our flesh cried, "Run!" in uncomfortable circumstances (I am not speaking of dangerous one....just things that we may not choose to normally do) but my prayer is that we will stay, learn, serve, grow, and be used and allow others to be used by God as well.

When the Jesus washed the feet of the disciples moments before he was betrayed, I am sure Jesus was not like, "Awe yeah....I get to clean these grown men's nasty stanky feet with my bare hands...woo-hoo!" but yet He set himself aside and served to be an example of how we should live.  Humbly setting ourselves aside.

John 13: 15-17 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Prayer from Our Homeschool friends

This morning at co-op, our group lifted our trip up to The Lord in prayer.  Some of these ladies have known for 2 years of our hope to someday go, while others I just met within the month.  I am so encouraged and overwhelmed by their love and support.  Prayer specifically for security in The One who always has our backs, constantly living in Christ's victory over the evil one, sanctification through Truth, unity of spirit, and glorification of God. Such a sweet memory. We are loved! 

#6 of 10 Days of Prayer for Our Trip: Unity

Unity.  Our little group of 4 here is tight.  Over the last 8-9 months, together we've dreamed, laughed, played, grown, laughed, cried, celebrated, laughed, prayed, encouraged, and laughed...often.  God has woven us together and given us the chance to live life together.  Pray that God will continue to grow our relationship with Him throughout the whole trip and as we unpack all He did once the traveling is done.  Pray that we are united with those in Tanzania...that we will work together in love and Spirit. It was so cool to me that when I shared Jonathan's idea with Steph, she tied together their work there with the Lego ministry idea...it just all fit together....like Lego blocks...with Christ as the cornerstone.... Pray for amazing opportunities of uniting are lived out.

Philippians 2:1-2 "Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind."

#5 of 10 Days of Prayer for Our Trip: Responsibility/Protection

So blogging everyday is something I accomplished once in my life and that was 6 years ago and life is a bit busier....not sure what I was thinking!  But I am trying!

Responsibility & Protection

As God's babies, we have the responsibility of representing Him.  HUGE responsibility! But it is such a privilege to do so....let us not forget that!  Responsibility is defined as: the state of having a duty to deal with something, one is required to do as part of a job, role, a moral obligation to behave correctly toward or in respect of. We have been given a great many gifts and we are doing our best to determine how to deliver them responsibly.  We have a job to do and we must do it well, correctly, with respect of the givers as well as The Giver of all things. We must also act responsibly in our normal day to do....sometimes not the top priority of boys (or women!) between the ages of .... well, any age really!!!  Psalm 23 compares us well- The Lord is Our Shepherd and we can be dumb sheep sometimes!  But He is still Lord.   When the sign says don't enter, we shall not enter.... When people warn not to go into certain areas, we shall not go there.....if it says wash before you eat, we shall wash before we eat.....etc.

So in my mommy-ing days, I have realized that regardless of acting responsibly, accidents happen.  ALL of my boy's stitches and staples put into their bodies to put it back together, happened under regular circumstances- nothing out of the ordinary that you would think, "oh, he's gong to end up in the ER"....flukes.  We would just like prayer that those flukes would be far off- if we trip, we get a scrape rather than a gash requiring treatment, if we get bit by a mosquito, we get a bump and not malaria, if we eat some something with harmful bacteria on it, our bodies fight it off without us knowing...etc.

And IF the undesirable happens, that we will rest in the Truth that God is traveling the road with us and He can be praised every step of the way...because He is good all the time.

Psalm 23

"A psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever."

They really ARE excited!

A while back, there were some times that I wondered if the boys are really into this trip.  There were times of dead air and then others where they have shown me some glimmer of excitement.  As time winds down, I see it more and more and more and I can't help but get more and more excited....as if that is possible.  We sit and talk about things we are going to do and we get excited.  We sit and look at pictures of faces we will see in person in a few short days and we get excited.

This thought of an Africa trip is becoming a reality....and they are really excited about it.....and I can see it in them....which is exciting!


These two older boys love their hair....that is a way of expression and choice for themselves.... they are known as "the boys with the hair"....but they were excited for the change and were so cool about it and mature in knowing that it would be best to cut it for various reasons....they really ARE excited about this trip!

Joshua before

(with Jeremiah)

Jonathan before

The Excited Boys with the Results!  

 

Day #3 & Day #4 prayer for our Trip: Patience & Good Attitudes

So Tuesdays are a busy day for us in that we get the entire day with our "head of household" so I don't get on the computer at night.....so thanks for your "patience" in getting you the info on how to pray.  I am going to bundle Day 3 & 4 together even though yesterday was supposed to be patience and today good attitudes...they bundle well.

***As we travel, please continue to cover us in prayer in these areas and however the Spirit leads you to pray!***

Patience & Good Attitudes

I am praying for patience that shows love and produces growth.  Not "just tolerance" but true patience with compassion and love and understanding.  I am also not trying to sound like I am borrowing trouble...I am just trying to prepare and protect.

This one, the list can go on and on....please pray for the obvious patience in everyone's hearts.  Long trip. Time zone change/jet lag.  Lots of travel time.  Many countries.  Many people.  Different cultures (that is enough for a half-hour of prayer right there!)

There is an American version of this trip....it's the other half of the Fahmer Family here in America!  Jason (my husband) will be juggling his job as well as the younger two boys with mostly women so willing to help who he loves and is thankful for....but they are not his wife who he gives great favor (I am a blessed and loved woman :)).  Pray for patience and understanding for everyone here.  I cannot help but feel a sense of guilt (self imposed...no one but my mommy-self has put it on me) BUT God always puts my heart at rest and reminds me of all the amazing ways He has provided for this trip spiritually and physically.

...we.are.so.excited to get to Africa, and although we leave our literal homes at around 11:00am the 8th, we do not land in Dar es Salaam until about 3:00pm the NEXT day, April 9th (10:00pm their time). there are so many people we will meet and talk to on our way....people who we need approval from in order to get to the next step.  At any step, we can have a problem and it all may depend on what is going on in that person's life that day....and how they perceive us.  Pray for us to show love and patience and have favor from the Lord.  Pray for these people to have patience with us as we try our very best to obey rules and regulations and if faced with any set backs, we satisfy the requests given with patience and understanding that they have a job to do and a life beyond it as well.  Patience for our relationships once we are in Tanzania.  We are so ignorant to so many things there....not intentionally....we just have no idea....we can read all our guide books and try and understand, but we just have to go and live and experience.  Pray for all people to be patient and loving as we try to fit into a mold that we are not made to fit.  Pray for this mama (who lacks patience on a normal day in Lockport, NY), to have love and patience from the Lord to help shepherd the hearts of those involved to see growth and goodness from the Lord, as opposed to a frustrated, tired, whack-job (not that she has ever been seen before:))  Pray that the 4 of us have patience with each other as we have never had more than a few hours as just us 4!...they have always been really great hours but we are headed for about 300 hours together.

One.
          Step.
                    At.
                             A.
                                    Time.




Proverbs 19:11 A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense.

Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

James 1:19 Why, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath...