King Jesus is With Us

Join us in our Advent reading this year. We're looking at God's promises to be with his people. Here's our Bible reading schedule...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1XCekGacO5fTjE2T0xwcktabHM/edit?usp=sharing

It's a work in progress, so please help us make improvements.

The Light of Hope

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; 

on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." 

--  Isaiah 9:2

We started our Advent celebration on Sunday. First, we needed some advent candles...so we designed our own.

We found glass jars and filled them with rock salt around a candle.

Then some simple ribbon added Christmas colors.

Finally we lit the first candle and enjoyed a fun meal of Jeannette's famous cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs and mango fruit salad.

Have a Blessed Advent!!

Thankful

This Thanksgiving we were thankful for...

feasting with wonderful friends...

relaxing and watching football with friends...

pumpkin pie...

our mini-turkey (in America we call it a chicken)...

sharing traditions with Tanzanian friends...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Mango Spiders

We have mango trees in our backyard!

We love to eat mangoes raw for breakfast or maybe for a treat after supper.
Jeannette made a yummy mango crisp and a yummy fruit salad (fresh pineapple, fresh banana, fresh mango) and a yogurt mango smoothie.

But watch out for the mango spiders!

They only come out when the mangoes ripen. The mango trees are filled with intricate web labyrinths. How many spiders can you count? (and just think about how many you can't see)

Here's a nice close-up shot.

Yes, they could carry our children away.......but the mangoes are really yummy!

Translating Jita Jonah (part 2)

Jita translators: Magoma and Magesa and Translation Advisor: Ben

This is step 2 in translating the book of Jonah into the Jita language...

TRANSLATION ADVISOR CHECKING

After the Jita translators adapt the text of Jonah from Swahili to Jita, I study the text and refer to my resources to make sure that the meaning of the Jita is consistent with the meaning of the original Hebrew. In my role as Translation Advisor I work with the translation team to make sure that the meaning of God's Word is communicated clearly, accurately, and naturally in Jita.

Here's a sample of the things we discussed...

In Jonah 1:3, the first draft sounded like the sailors were helping Jonah run away from God.  “Jonah paid his fare and got on the boat together with the sailors and they began their safari to go to Tarshish so that Jonah could run from God.”  We changed it to say, “Jonah paid his fare and got on the boat together with the sailors to go with them to Tarshish so that he could run from God.”

In Jonah 1:4, "the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea." The word "hurled" is repeated again in verse 5 when the sailors hurled the extra cargo into the sea. In verse 12 Jonah tells the sailors to hurl him into the sea and then in verse 15 the sailors actually hurled him into the sea. The first draft of Jita Jonah 1:4 sounded like "God brought very much wind." Not very colorful or vivid. I thought it would be cool to use the same word in every occurrence for emphasis. However, when I suggested this to the team, they said for God to hurl a storm onto the sea would make God sound like a malicious killer. Oops! Instead, we settled on a phrase like, "the LORD released an extremely fierce wind on the sea."

In Jonah 1:11, the sailors ask Jonah, "What should we do to you so that the sea will be calm?" In the first draft, the Jita did not include the little phrase "to you." Just two little letters were missing in Jita: [chikore] but it should have been [chikukore].

In chapter 2 we worked very hard to preserve the beautiful Hebrew parallelism.
Jonah 2:2,
{first draft}
"In my distress I prayed to the LORD,
and you answered me by helping me.
I cried to you, that you would help me,
and you saved me from Sheol."

{revision}
"In my distress I cried to the LORD,
and he answered me.
In Sheol I prayed to you LORD,
and you heard my prayer."

In Jonah 4:9, God asks Jonah if Jonah has a right to be angry about the plant. The first draft of the Jita said "I do well to be angry because I want to die." However, Jonah is not giving the reason for his anger, rather he is describing the intensity of his anger. Therefore, we changed it to say, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

And the list goes on, we spent a couple weeks pouring over every paragraph and every verse and every word and every letter. And we weren't only looking for theological/exegetical issues. We also found information that had been added unnecessarily, or removed accidentally. We found spelling errors and punctuation mistakes. We thought about the flow of the narrative as discourse. We looked at the tenses of verbs and the classes of nouns. Everyday we prayed that God would lead us and guide us to love his Word and communicate the meaning accurately, clearly and naturally.

In the end, we thought we produced a good draft of the book of Jonah....but then came the next step...

Stay tuned......

Translating Jita Jonah (part 1)

Jita translators: Neema, Magoma, Magesa and Translation Advisor: Ben

Now that we finished translating the book of Jonah into the Jita language, I thought I would show you the steps involved.  It should be simple, right?  Just 4 little chapters and 48 little verses....piece of cake, right?

Here's the first step in translating the book of Jonah into the Jita language:

DRAFTING

The three Jita translators (Magesa, Magoma and Neema) used a software program called Paratext to translate the book of Jonah from various Swahili versions into Jita (don't worry, you'll see in later steps that the Translation Advisor and Translation Consultant refer to the original Greek and Hebrew to ensure accuracy). Paratext was designed by the geniuses at SIL International and the United Bible Societies. (You guys are awesome!) Here's a screen shot of Paratext...

The translators look at the three major Swahili Bible versions and decide which way would be most natural in Jita. Then they make a back-translation, which means translating the Jita back into Swahili for the benefit of advisors (like me!) and consultants.

Translating the Bible from Swahili into Jita is not as simple as you might imagine. For example, the Jita language has three past tenses:

  Distant past is a long time ago until the day before yesterday
  Past is yesterday
  Near past is this morning

And Jita also uses a narrative "tense" when describing consecutive events in the past.

This is a challenge when translating Jonah 4:10, "The LORD said, 'You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.'"

How many days ago did the plant grow? How many days ago did the plant die? Which past tense should they use?

Jita also has various future tenses:
  the speaker has certainty that something will happen later today
  the speaker has some hesitation that something will happen later today
  the speaker has certainty that something will happen tomorrow
  the speaker has certainty that something will happen the day after tomorrow

This is a challenge in Jonah 2:9 during Jonah's prayer from the belly of the fish, "I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the LORD alone."

When does Jonah think he will get out of the fish? Does he have certainty about when he will get out? Which tense should be used?

Please pray for the Jita translators as they carefully translate God's Word into their heart language.


{HUGE DISCLAIMER!!!}
Step 1 of the translation process is ONLY possible after Jita translators have been hired, trained in computer skills, trained in using Paratext, and trained in translation principles. Also, the Linguistics Department must spend years analyzing the sounds and the grammar of the Jita language so that they can decide how to write the language. But before that, Language Survey teams determined that the Jita language is distinct enough from surrounding languages that it needs its own translation of the Bible. But before that, people with a heart for missions and a passion for the Bible were praying that God's Word would be accessible to the Jita people so that they can hear the good news of Jesus and enjoy eternal life in Jesus.

THANK YOU for praying!!!

Tomato Pyramids

How do they make these perfect little tomato pyramids?

Welcome to Tanzania!

Will you survive?

We saw this sign today as we were exploring the area around the Mara River...

"Airboat Safari?!?!"  COOL! Sounds risky and exciting and adventurous. Let's check it out...

Oops! Oh well.

I asked the owner if it would take a lot of time and money to get the boat running again and he said, "No, it's no problem, it works fine, just a little wiring to fix, it's ok."

Hmmmm...

Welcome to Tanzania.

the Unequal Exchange and our Richest Treasure

Here we are again, on this Happy Reformation Day, enjoying Martin Luther's insights on the gospel of grace...

The Scripture, in many places, calls Christ our priest, bridegroom, love’s delight, etc., and us who believe in him, his bride. This is a fair, sweet, loving picture, which we always should have before our eyes. For, first, he has manifested his office of priesthood in this, that he has preached, made known, and revealed his Father’s will unto us. Secondly, he has also prayed, and will pray for us true Christians so long as the world endures. Thirdly, he has offered up his body for our sins upon the cross. He is our bridegroom, and we are his bride. What he, the loving Saviour Christ has - yea himself - is ours; for we are members of his body, of his flesh and bone, as St. Paul says. And again, what we have, the same is also his; but 
the exchange is exceeding unequal; for he has everlasting innocence, righteousness, life, and salvation, which he gives to be our own, while what we have is sin, death, damnation, and hell; these we give unto him, for he has taken our sins upon him, has delivered us from the power of the devil, and crushed his head, taken him prisoner, and cast him down to hell; so that now we may, with St. Paul, undauntedly say: “Death, where is thy sting?" 

When we have our sweet and loving Saviour Christ, we are rich and happy more than enough, and we are comforted in his promise, where he says, “I am daily with you to the world’s end.” This is 
our richest treasure.

Martin Luther, Table Talk CXCI and CCXXIV, translated by William Hazlitt, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/luther/tabletalk.v.i.html.

Fast food chicken

This was in Dar es Salaam. Here in Musoma, chickens are delivered on the back of a bicycle. It's Tanzania's version of KFC!

Titus times three

This week in the Mara Cluster Project we held a translation workshop for three languages: Simbiti, Kwaya and Zinza. Our goal was to translate the book of Titus. My friend Andre led the workshop and allowed me to watch and learn. Andre is from the Netherlands and he is a veteran Translation Advisor and new Translation Consultant.

Before the workshop, Andre and I did our exegetical study of Titus, looking especially for possible translation challenges. Our Tanzanian colleagues drafted the book of Titus into their heart languages from various Swahili Bible versions.

When we all met together, we walked through the entire book of Titus, verse by verse. Our aim was to translate God's Word clearly, accurately and naturally. It was fun to see the Tanzanian translators challenging each other and helping each other. For example, we were working on Titus 3:4, "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us." The Simbiti team found a great word for "kindness" but the Kwaya team struggled to find the right word. When the Simbiti translators shared their word and the meaning behind it, a light bulb came on for the Kwaya translator and he found a good word in his language. Another time the Simbiti team was struggling and the Kwaya translator provided some insight. That's one beauty of a workshop setting.

We spent a good deal of time discussing Paul's warning in Titus 1:10, "For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. Were these people believers or unbelievers? The answer influences the way we translate.

Finally, we even looked at conjunctions to make sure that the text flowed naturally. For example, consider the conjunction "but" in the following...Titus 3:3-4, "For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us." Is Paul contrasting time: once, we disobeyed God but now God saved us? Or is Paul contrasting topic: we disobeyed but God saved us? The answer influences the way we translate.

In the book of Titus, Paul gives Titus character qualities to look for when appointing elders in the church. {we had an interesting discussion about a "one-woman man" in a culture that still practices polygamy} This guidance will be a great benefit for churches here in Tanzania because in many churches here, people are given the role of elder simply because of their perceived status or because they donated lots of money to the church building. God's Word tells us how to be God's Church.

Praise the Lord! Now three more people groups will have the book of Titus in their heart language!

Daddy, why did the terrorists blow up Planet Yogurt?

The tragedy in Nairobi, Kenya hit very close to home for us. Nairobi is only a 12 hour drive away. On our trip to Nairobi in June we spent a good deal of time at the Westgate Shopping Center. We ate some pizza, did some shopping, bought some gifts, filled some prescriptions, and of course, enjoyed Planet Yogurt (the self-serve-frozen-yogurt-wonderland). It's a beautiful building and a nice place to relax. We loved it!

But then last month a group of terrorists took control of the building, captured hostages, opened fire, threw grenades, injured 175 people and murdered 61 civilians.

How do we explain this to our kids?

First, we had to preach truth to ourselves because Jeannette was feeling, "the safest I've felt in Africa was when we were at that Mall."

To combat a false sense of security and strengthen our trust in God we turn to

Isaiah 26:4 Trust in Yahweh forever, For in Yahweh, the LORD, is everlasting strength.

During supper one night, we explained the whole situation to our kids. Kara's first response was, "Why would those bad people want to blow up Planet Yogurt? I love Planet Yogurt. Are we ever going to be able to go there again?"

To combat fear, we turn to

Isaiah 41:10  Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

That night before bed, Luke prayed, "Dear God, help me to think about the light and not the darkness, help me to think about you, not about shooting."

To guard our thinking we turn to

Philippians 4:7  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Ellie said, "I hope the people who died were trusting in Jesus because then they wouldn't have to be afraid when they died because they would go to be with Jesus."

To kindle our hope we turn to

Revelation 21:1+3  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."

Therefore death, tragedy, terrorism, eternity, sovereignty, and hope became normal topics of conversation in our house. So, in the end, we thank God for the chance to teach our kids (and remind ourselves!) of the beauty and power of God's Word.

Fresh tikitimaji

Today is Watermelon Day at the market!!  In Swahili, watermelon is tikitimaji.  It's fun to say....and fun to eat.

We're thankful for the fresh fruit in the market: bananas, watermelon, mangoes, pineapple, papaya, apples, passion fruit, oranges, limes.

We won't tell you about the extensive cleaning process we go through before we can eat the fruit. Let's save that for another post...

the Word is ALIVE in Tanzania

Just a little reminder of why we're here. Why did we leave home and family and friends?  Why did we move to Tanzania?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1.1)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1.14)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4.12) 

Here's a little video to celebrate the power and beauty of God's Word in a language that touches the heart... {these photos were all taken near our home in the Mara region of Tanzania, some show Bible Dedication celebrations where people received portions of the Word in their heart language for the first time}




(If you want the High Resolution version for download or big screen click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDncGGKWDLY )

let's begin some major road construction this afternoon

 

It started out like an ordinary Sunday afternoon.  I (Ben) drove into town to go to the market.  When I returned, I discovered the little cow path to our house was under major renovation.

 

 

As I waited for the road grater to pass, I wondered, "Why begin major road construction on a Sunday afternoon at 5:15pm?  And why not warn residents ahead of time?"

 

 On my third try I was able to build enough momentum to plow through the giant dirt mound.

 

We're thankful that after this is all over, our road should be nice and smooth. 

 

 



see the hippos, call the soldiers

It was 2:00 a.m. We were sleeping uncomfortably in the heat, under our mosquito net. Suddenly, the cell phone buzzed. It was our night guard. He whispered (in Swahili), "did you hear the hippos?  They're coming closer." Half-asleep I mumbled, "What?! What are you talking about?" He replied, "We have to call the government. They will send the soldiers to shoot the hippos and kill them." Still sleeping, I muttered, "What?!" Then the night guard asked me a fun question, "Do you have the phone number of the soldiers?" Well, surprisingly, at 2 a.m. I didn't have the government's phone number handy. Should I call the President and tell him we hear hippos somewhere nearby???

The next morning, all we saw was some huge poop on the beach outside our back gate. Jeannette had a faint memory of a strange sound like a deep bass drum underwater. Since then, we've learned that hippos really do pose a significant threat. Just don't get in their way! Maybe next time I should call the soldiers :)


Curiously Tanzanian...

Lake Flies Aftermath

You've seen pictures and videos of lake flies swarming and invading...
(check here:  http://gerthfamilytanzania.blogspot.com/2013/04/behold-mighty-swarm-of-lake-flies.html )

But this is the aftermath of lake flies....



...and everything stinks like dead fish!

Welcome to Musoma!

Mama's Lettuce

We planted lettuce!!!  We're not sure what species of lettuce it is but we sure are thankful. Lettuce is a rare food in the market.  We made salads of lettuce, tomato, hard-boiled eggs and avocado which acted like a dressing.  It was really tasty!!!

Driving 120 in Kenya!

Here's a video of our journey through Kenya.  Quite exciting!  It's still difficult driving on the "wrong" side of the road and measuring speed in kilometers and buying diesel in liters and paying with shillings.  I think the most exciting part was the camels.  So cool!




We decided NOT to document the massive vomitting which resulted from car sickness.  Jeannette was the Hero-Mom who caught all the puke in buckets.  She's awesome.

Cobra vs. Night Guard

Tonight at 11:45pm we were sitting in our bed and we heard the dogs barking about something....usually no big deal.  But then we heard, "WHACK!  WHACK!" outside.  I ran to the window and saw my guard's flashlight scanning the ground. Suddenly my phone rang.  It was my guard.  In rapid, excited Swahili he said, "There's a big, big, snake...I killed it."

I ran outside to find this.....

a 5 foot (at least)  forest cobra...still twitching.  The guard told me the dogs spotted it first.  They were growling at it and trying to snap at it.  The guard, knowing that the cobra could easily take down my dogs, put the dogs in their kennel.  Then, after finding the perfect stick, the guard attacked the cobra and killed it.  Nice work!!!!  THIS is why we have guard dogs and night guards. 

Thank you, God, for keeping us safe.  Please protect our children as they play outside everyday.

Year One

One year ago today we packed our life onto an airplane and said goodbye to friends, family, churches, and normal life as we knew it.

Remember our first stop in Dar es Salaam for orientation?  We lived here...

Remember 4 months of Swahili study in Iringa?  We lived here...

Remember moving to Musoma?  Now we live here...

Thank you for all the ways you have prayed for us and encouraged us and supported us over the past year.  We appreciate you!!!!!

And when you come visit us, these faces will greet you at the gate...

Mantis and his imaginary friend

Mr. Praying Mantis sat in this one spot on our window for three days.  It looks like he's talking to his reflection.

Then, after three days without moving, he was gone...probably eaten by a bird.

Why does the floor move?

Yes, this actually happened.  I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and I discovered this...

 

These are TERMITES!!!!  During the first big rains they flee their underground homes and seek shelter in the warmth and light.  They shed their wings, reproduce, and die.  That's it.

Cool, colorful crawler

Check out this backyard creature...

Watch and listen to the kids' reactions.



Jenna called it a "callapidder."

Our favorite line: "Uh-oh! It's coming toward me!!!"

Take a ride in the "living saloon"

Yep, that's right.  The Gerths have a car!!!  Well, actually it's a van...or rather, a bus.

We thank God for how he provided this car for us.  Now we can drive to church, work, school, town and many other places.  And thank you to all of our supporters who gave sacrificially so that we could buy this car.  We appreciate you!  We hope to bless others the way we have been blessed.

And yes, it really does say "Living Saloon."  The car was imported from Japan so maybe saloon means something different in the Japanese automobile industry?

The make and model of our van is the same as the local public transportation here in Musoma.  They call it a daladala.  Maybe we should decorate our van the way Tanzanians decorate their daladalas...

and if you arrive safely at your destination, you usually want to say...

Bible time with Kara

We're so thankful that our beautiful Kara is loving the gospel and hiding God's Word in her heart.

Diaper bag hearts

Kara: "This dirty diaper bag is like our hearts: pretty on the outside but stinky and dirty on the inside.  Through Jesus, God can clean us from the stinkiness and make our hearts beautiful on the inside.  Jesus washes our hearts with his blood so we are clean from the dirtiness of sin."

King Saul

Kara: "This picture is about Saul and David.  David and his men were running away from Saul and they hid in this cave.  Then Saul and his men came along to that same cave.  Saul had to go to the bathroom so he went inside the cave.  While Saul was going to the bathroom, David came up and cut a little piece of Saul's robe.

Why was Saul going to the bathroom in the cave?  Why couldn't he just go back to his house?  Well, they probably just had holes in the ground like here in Tanzania so that would be the same as the cave."

Here's a worksheet from Kara's Bible curriculum

And finally, this is Kara's screenplay adapted from the Book of Jonah...

we love our Mama of the house

Here's a tiny tribute to our favorite "Mama of the house" as they say here in Tanzania...

Thank you for making curtains!

Thank you for buying our food!

Thanks for the fun birthday treats!



Thank you for cooking healthy meals!

Thank you for homeschooling us!

Thanks for washing our clothes!

You throw the best parties!

Thank you for teaching us and showing us how to study the Bible!

We love you. We appreciate all your hard work. Thanks for showing us how much God loves us.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!