Around midday today, I took 5 sticks, an old pair of lounge pants, long sleeve shirt and a hat and created… Frank.  I asked our guard who was visiting at the time what we should name him, hence… FRANK!

So, today I took him a whole head of seeds and a plastic bag full of baby romaine sprouts for him to plant in his garden.  The gift hardly cost me a thing but should earn him a decent amount of income in the market especially since that is the place for ’specialty’ items.

A picture taken when the romaine lettuce seeds were just starting to come out.

corn on the cob + my backyard = stable emotional health

The only type of ‘corn’ available here is really maize.  That’s a totally different vegetable in my opinion.  So I had sweet corn seeds sent over from the States.  They were planted in November and the crop is now coming in.  Please pray for the endurance of my tastebuds!

Oh so beautiful!

Now, I want to show you my most recent feat of expertise: replacing the torsion bar bolts.  I had a friend bring a pair of new ones down from the UK for me because I heard they tend to snap when you go to adjust them if they’re old.  Why do they need adjusting?  Along with the 4 new shock absorbers also came new rear coil springs that lifted the rear end about two inches.  So, to give the car it’s proper balance back, I needed to raise the front end.  The quickest and simplest way to do so is to adjust the torsion bar bolt which will give the bar more torque and that will in turn cause the front end to settle at a higher ride height.

I did the driver side first.  The bolt came out pretty easily with all things considered.  It even looked not as old as the vehicle so I wonder if it has been replaced before.  The passenger side… another story.  After only about four revolutions of the bolt head, it started getting difficult to turn.  It got so difficult, I had to slide back and use my feet to push the wrench in order to get it to turn even a quarter revolution.  Then, I wasn’t even able to do that.  I called in reinforcements… my gardner.  He held onto the wrench and pulled as I pushed.  Finally, after about another full revolution the bolt snapped with a loud POW and just fell out.  Ahhh, relief.

The old bolts - driver side (top); passenger (bottom)

Now both new bolts are in and secure.  The front end is at the correct adjusted right height on the drivers side but tomorrow I have to turn the bolt just a little more to get the passenger side up about another half inch.  I like balance.  Might be my OCD talking there.

Let’s say there’s a country that doesn’t allow Christian missionaries to enter.  It may be due to another dominant religion’s hostility, government policy or a combination of reasons.  So, for someone like myself working with a mission organization, I’d have no access to the country.  Unless, I went in under other pretenses like obtaining a work visa that is associated with my specialty.  Me, myself and I would consider that lying.  I don’t agree with that deception in order to bring people the Good News.  I am a missionary.  I am supported by prayerful people giving to me financially as a missionary.

Do you consider getting an other pretense visa as deception/lying?  Is that how you’d see it?

That got me to comparing his philosophy with what I see at home in the USA.  Whether we agree with it or not, God instructs pastors in this way:

4:1 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 4:2 Preach the message, be ready whether it is convenient or not, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and instruction. 4:3 For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. 4:4 And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths. 4:5 You, however, be self-controlled in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelist’s work, fulfill your ministry. 4:6 For I am already being poured out as an offering, and the time for me to depart is at hand. 4:7 I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith! 4:8 Finally the crown of righteousness is reserved for me. The Lord, the righteous Judge, will award it to me in that day – and not to me only, but also to all who have set their affection on his appearing. ~NET Bible~

That is the pastor’s call… to preach the Word, not to conform to society or even the local culture.  Does each church need to do it the western way?  No.  But God does call every believer to worship in spirit and in truth.  Using anything to lure in people, to draw a crowd, to grow a congregation at the expense of the Good News is idolatry at it’s core.  To lift up a method above the glorification of Jesus may increase numbers, true.  But, at what cost?  Unfortunately, eternal condemnation under the wrath of a Mighty God for many.

I’ve heard it way too many times, even from way over here thousands of miles from home, said in our American congregations that we’re going to win this city for Jesus when THE real Jesus isn’t even preached but He has been replaced by feel good theology and psychological tips to a better life.  Seeing audio equipment as the necessity to grow Christ’s body is the same as ripping Bible verses out of context to support a self-help lecture (I intentionally didn’t call it a sermon) so the lost will feel comfortable coming to church.  The church isn’t for the lost or unbelievers.  It is for the body of Christ to be edified, discipled and taught to obey everything Christ has commanded us as those He has chosen to raise from the dead in order to restore the glory to His name we have so selfishly stolen.  It is then the church’s privilege to carry the saving knowledge to a lost and dying world.

Pray for me that I can be a righteous blessing to Him, pointing to Christ and not to the riches He has given me in being from the States.

Pray for this pastor and all of us in the Body that our sole focus is to see the Son of God lifted up and glorified no matter the cost of congregation size or even life.

Over the past year we have seen the book of Genesis published in Zinza, the Gospel of Mark published in Vwanji and Rangi, and the Pastoral Epistles published in Burunge and Lugungu (with the book of James). Translation and checking has been completed for the book of Galatians in Aringa, Lubwisi, Lugungu, Lugwere and Lunyole; 1st & 2nd Corinthians in Lugungu;  the book of Romans in Aringa, Lugwere and Lunyole; 1st, 2nd & 3rd John in Aringa; and the book of Revelation in Burunge and Lugungu.  The Christmas story from Luke 1 and 2 has been published in nine Mara languages (Ikizu-Sizaki, Ikoma-Nata-Isenye, Jita, Kabwa, Kwaya, Ngoreme, Suba-Simbiti, Zanaki and Zinza) and portions of the Gospel of Mark published in Temi. The Gospel of Mark will be published shortly in Kinga and Malila.  Our consultants have checked over 12,000 verses in the past year!

Audio recordings of portions of Genesis have been produced in Sandawe. Also recordings of Ruth and Jonah in Nyakyusa, Vwanji and Malila; Mark in Vwanji; Genesis stories in Swahili; and Zinza, Sukuma and Swahili music tapes have been produced. A weekly radio program will be starting shortly in Mbeya using mother tongue Scripture which has potential to reach the whole Mbeya-Iringa cluster language area.

There have been over 40 new literacy and Scripture Use publications over the past year, including a Swahili translation of the D.C. Cook Genesis stories. More than 700 people have attended various literacy classes where they have learnt to read and write their own language for the first time. There have also been training courses for literacy teachers and local artists, as well as Scripture Use training for pastors and others. There have been a variety of Scripture Use events such as listening to megavoice recordings, attending Bible studies using mother-tongue Scriptures, and AIDS seminars using the Kande story.

Underpinning our translation, literacy and SU work, has been the ongoing linguistic and sociolinguistic research to develop good orthographies and to research where we might next work. Over the past year we have seen 8 languages achieve trial orthography status.

We continue to invest in partnership with churches, other Bible agencies and like-minded organisations. We estimate we have over 50 strategic partners/partner organisations and a church leader advocate for most of the languages we are working in. Over the past year the Uganda team have started up a Multilingual Education Network forum bringing together various organisations interested in MLE including UNESCO, Mango Tree, the National Curriculum Development Centre, Makerere University and others.

A number of you have presented papers at various academic conferences and many of you have been involved in capacity building through training others.

You have all been very busy! We have many reasons to celebrate and to thank God.

We are grateful to God for the team he has brought together in Tanzania and Uganda and for the part each of you has played over the year in language or support work. We also thank God for the financial resources He has provided that have enabled the work to move forward. We continue to depend on Him to provide for all our needs as we move into a new year of opportunity.

At this time of Christmas we remember the Child, born in a stable, who came to fulfil the promise and is the “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.” (Isaiah 9: 6 – 7)

Basically, our goal is to get God’s Word out there… literally.  So, the focus of every program will be for people to hear Scripture in their heart language, their mother tongue. Wrapped around those audio segments will be announcements, songs, advertisements, intro and outro.

We’ll record six programs at a time so we won’t be in the studio every single week.  I call these our cycles.  Our first cycle will be the dates of Jan 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 and Feb 7.  During that span, we’ll play the Gospel of Mark in the Vwanji language.  I’m excited that for our very first broadcast will give the Vwanji people to hear the actual words of Jesus in their own language.

For your perusal, I’m posting what will be our very first 30-minute program scheduled to be aired on January 3 @ 6:30pm local time, 10:30am Eastern.  Some of you may be in Sunday school or worship service so that would be a perfect opportunity to pray for this great new venture.

That’s the cue sheet above so you can have an idea of what your hearing.

I was sleeping well going into my final two days before Christmas break, but definitely not looking forward to the mid-term exams standing between me and my temporary freedom.  Thursday morning… aahhhhh. Two more to go. If you would’ve asked me, I would have said my junior year in high school was carrying along as planned.  Learning more French.  Polishing up my high school transcript with CP, Honors and AP courses.  I think I even had a girlfriend.  Or had had one… I can’t remember.  The phone woke me up that morning shortly before 6am.  I heard my mom answer it across the hall in her bedroom.  Her door opened.  Then, mine opened.  “Your brother’s on the phone for you, Jonathan,” my mom told me.  Hmmm.  That’s odd. He, my 10-years-older brother, doesn’t usually call me and especially doesn’t do so at six in the morning.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jon boy.”

“Hey, Charles.  What’s up?”

“I’ve got some news to tell you….. Dad passed away this morning.”

WHAT?!

“….”

“You there, Jonathan?”

“Yeah.”

“His heart must’ve failed him. [Our stepmother] found him really early this morning still sitting in the living room chair after staying up reading last night.”

“Oh.”

“Well.  I’ll call you later on with details about what’s going on and we’ll go from there, okay?”

“Sure.”

“I love you, Jonathan.”

“I love you, too, Charles.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

There it was.  32 months after the brother between Charles and me was killed in a car wreck, my dad had taken his step into eternity, too.  What a blow.  I don’t think I even remember that Christmas or New Year.  I went down hill from there.  Three months of home bound schooling because I just didn’t want to go any where.  Life stunk.  Gosh, who was going to be next???

Seventeen years ago, Thursday, December 17, 1992, I was sixteen years old, aging way too quickly.  I still deal with the wounds from that combination death punch from the early 90’s.  The Enemy still tries to use this date to knock me down but to that I recall one of my favorite verses in the Bible.  Romans 8:18. For I do not consider the sufferings of this present time worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. That promise backed by the Creator who sent His Son and traded my condemnation for His righteousness is the reason I can, and do, celebrate this time of the year.  God became a man.  A Father sent a Son.  I love and extremely miss my dad but the anticipation of God’s glory that will be revealed in me when I step into eternity… well…

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory. Romans 5:1-2

That’s why I rejoice this Christmas season… and in every other season of life.  Glory.  His.

Another interesting moth we found on our back doorstep.

This is a great (very short) article with a downloadable .pdf with advice for recording drama-styled Scripture.  Even though you may not be doing this time of work, it gives you a glimpse of the kinds of things we need to consider as we go into the studio to record mother tongue materials.

About 2 weeks ago, we went to pick up our friends’ kitten to cat-sit for them while they traveled to Uganda.  It began raining on our way out of the neighborhood so much to our surprise, we discovered the construction people had just graded the main road leading out.  All was well in picking up the kitten and returning to the neighborhood… until the short, steep climb.  Fifteen yards from the top of the first section climbing up, the back wheels lost traction.  Okay.  So, I thought I’d just back down to the valley and take a different route that wasn’t just graded.  The mud was so soft, once I began backing up, it steered us straight into the ditch.  We didn’t stop until we got to the bottom.  I noticed in the rearview mirror some Tanzanians standing in a safe spot next to the road, getting what I’m sure was an entertaining sight.  Well, it was those same Tanzanians who were knee deep in mud all around the car just after we finally stopped.  As a matter of fact, it was well under a minute, maybe even thirty seconds, when they were already to our aid.  This totally amazed us.  Pouring rain.  Gushing run-offs.  Asher-deep (almost) mud and they still jumped right in to help us out.

An instant sharing of others burdens seems to be a given for the people here.  Our getting stuck wasn’t the first example of seeing this kind of action.  This is one characteristic of the lives around us for which I am definitely thankful.

(P.S. the car was SO stuck that even that many TZians couldn’t get us out.  I finally got in touch with a good friend of ours with a beast of a Land Rover with differential lock and everything.  He pulled us out AND all the way up the hill!)

Just for fun, I HAD to put this image here…

The rainy season has fueled our plants to start showing off how God made them.

The full moon coming up over Mbeya from the east.

I’ve had a problem in trying to change notifications in the Skype Preferences pane (I’m using OS X, by the way).  But, every time I clicked on the red flag (Notifications), Skype would freeze for up to a minute, then crash.  BOO!

With some help through the Skype forums, I have fixed my problem with a small deletion.  Apparently the text to speech feature, the voice of Alex to be exact, caused the problem.  Being a dedicated non-text to speech user, I had no problem ridding of my new enemy. I went to the following location and deleted the Alex.SpeechVoice folder.

Main HD > System > Library > Speech > Voices

If you happen to stumble upon this post and have pulled out numerous hairs, I hope this helps more than Rogaine.