Apples to Papayas

We love picking apples in the fall.  It's one of our traditions.  This year we picked honeycrisp and golden supreme and fuji.  The kids don't understand the part about not eating the core.  We also cook anything with pumpkin.  {except curry pumpkin soup, don't try that!}

In Tanzania, the main agricultural products are coffee, tea, cashews, cloves, corn, tapioca, and bananas.  In Musoma, where we will live, people grow papaya and catch fish in Lake Victoria.  Sounds like lots of good food.  But we will certainly miss all our dear blueberry farmers and apple orchards here in Michigan.

YAHWEH

In the Hebrew Old Testament, the name of God was set apart as holy.  The best English attempt is Yahweh, translated as LORD in our Bibles.

Psalm 97:12
  Be glad in the LORD, you righteous ones, and give thanks to His holy name.

Isaiah 47:4
  Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel.

Ezekiel 39:7
  So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

Revelation 15:4
  Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations shall come and worship before You.

We can worship God by name because he has adopted us as his children.  We can talk to God by name because he has purchased us for himself.  We can stand before God and speak his name with joy because Jesus has forgiven us.

Millions of people in Tanzania do not worship the one, true and living God, Yahweh. 

Pray for President Kikwete

"I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.  All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD, when they hear the words of Your mouth.  Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD."  --  Psalm 138:2-5

Pray for the President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete.  He is a Muslim.  Pray that he would hear the Word of God, repent of his sins, turn to Jesus in faith, sing praise to the one true God, and live his life for the glory of God.

Death is the enemy

Yesterday a good man died.  He was an elderly man in our church who loved the gospel, loved the Bible, and loved the church.  He was humble and gentle and he loved my kids.  He was 82 years old and had been married for 64 years.

Death is the enemy.  This isn't the way it's supposed to be.

In Tanzania, Africa the average life expectancy is 52 years.  7 children out of every 100 die at birth.  Many young children die of malaria.  Millions of Tanzanians are infected with HIV/AIDS.

Death is the enemy.  This isn't the way it's supposed to be.

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  Death has been swallowed up in victory," I Corinthians 15:57,25-26,54.

We consider it a joy to go and share the good news of hope and victory in Jesus with the people of Tanzania.

Hello, Goodbye

This week we announced to our church that we will be officially stepping down from the pastorate at the end of this year.  One of our precious elderly widows summed it up best, "I don't know whether to smile or cry... I don't want you to go, but I want you to follow the Lord."  Exactly.

Please pray for our family during this transition.