Life in Germany

Well, we are now in Germany. It has taken a while to get an update off as the two computers that I have access to use Linex and Mac operating systems and of course are in German. So not only do I not know the operating systems, but I can't even read the menues. This means that while I can take pictures, I can't shrink them, or move them to where I want them. Needless to say, it took awhile to get to this point.

I thought that for my first article on Germany I would show you the house that we stay in. Heiko and Ulli are friends of ours that we have known for many years. Their friendship with Almi goes back to

her baptism while in the church youth group. They own a two bedroom apartment in downtown Kirchheim-Teck. Heiko works for a bank managing the computer network and Ulli is a telephone sales person for a local company. They are activily involved in the church as the kids really love them. They also own a talking parrot named Goldi who we are teaching to whistle at girls... Those crazy missionaries.

The weather has not been very nice as we have had snow and rain for the first four days that we were here. Yesterday cleared up a bit and reached into the 50's and we loved it. God has blessed us with wonderful friends and a pretty place to stay while we wait for the good weather to finally come. Be sure to check out the rest of the album by following the link on the right. We hope to also post some pictures of Almi's parents and a local cathedral that was built in 1220 AD.

The Life Lived Under the Authority of Truth

As I was thinking of our life today, Valentines Days and our last Saturday in the Mara, I read over a blog that David Blackney writes for our mission (http://mastersmission.blogspot.com/2007/11/if-missions-was-only-witnessing.html) and thought how accurate it is. What a life we live.

Today started for me at five thirty and I was working on the truck by 7 AM. Yesterday, we found two crossed wires that had caused the computer to shut off the truck. With the engine finally running we had lots of jobs that needed to be done from setting the timing to bleeding brakes, clutch, and power steering systems and doing an alignment on the steering system. Of course that is not the only work for the day. I have four guys working at the hospital building on a sign with stones that I had cut in Nov. We also had a dinner date at 1 o'clock with a local family that want to say thanks for all the things we have done and to visit a little. After the dinner I ended up at a meeting of some local elders for an hour as we talked about President Obama and the government of Kenya. The government here is involved in, according to the Elders, at least six major scandals, from selling the harvested corn to India, which leaves Kenya hungry, to land grabs and corruption. As we talked I was able to share about how important righteousness is in any society. Without God we are left with our own personal welfare being our God and this is what happens. Many of them agreed with me. I then took Tanya and some tools and fixed the village well one more time. We were surrounded by 40 kids and adults and spent an hour and a half working and talking with them. (I learned that Tanya in Maasai is the words "I refuse!" LOL) I invited them to church and hope to see many of them in Sunday School or Church tomorrow. On the way home we had another opportunity to stop and talk with some different Elders about the Sekenani water situation. Again we discussed the needs of the community and the importance of righteousness. Again I was able to invite many of them to church. After I post this I will work on the message for tomorrows service. With many new faces hopefully coming, I want to tell them about the Truth of God. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life...)

With this as a back drop, I want you to read over the Blog from David Blackney. Our life is so much more than giving hand outs or sitting under a tree teaching. It is the living of a life as an example in front of an unbelieving world. It is the continual pointing to the one who has all the answers and has given us his plan for us to live and to know him. As we point to Him and His truth, people will be drawn or repelled. We are privileged to be serving Him and to know the Truth that truly sets us free.

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"If missions was only witnessing or only doing benevolences, we wouldn't need The Master's Mission.

But if missions is establishing and strengthening churches that can accurately and persuasively present Christ, churches that can also reproduce themselves, churches that can train their members to love their neighbors, then preparation like that offered by TMM becomes essential for those embarking on such a mission.

Whether it is doctrinal fidelity or technical ability in building construction, the best preparation is not always accomplished in a strict academic setting. Most of us learn more efficiently through observation and imitation. In changing a tire or sharing the message of salvation, reading a 'how to' manual and actually doing it are two different things. Thus Paul told Timothy, "the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things" (Phil. 4:9). This ongoing practice, especially when supervised by an experienced coach who by his words and modeling can help you improve, is what moves us towards excellence. These kind of teachers, practitioners themselves, represent instructors who are the opposite of those derided by the adage: 'those who can't, teach.' Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to 'excel still more' by continuing to advance in the ideal they had caught from him and the apostolic team in behaving in ways that please God (Thes. 4:1, Berkeley Version of NT).

The church must excel in both the proclamation of the Great Commission and the practice of the Great Commandment. To do so, they must have these kinds of instructors. Truth is more often caught than formally taught. We would never neglect formal teaching times, but recognize that today's leaders have neglected the informal disciplining opportunities of sharing life experiences and what should be mature responses to those events with those who are young in the faith or who are being apprenticed for leadership in the church. The Scripture emphasizes both kinds of learning. We have neglected the second. The challenge in missions is not only to find the "Timothy's" who can entrust to faithful men what they have learned from their "Paul's", but it is first in finding the adequate "Paul's" to begin the process. Hence the comprehensive requirements given for qualified church leaders. The help needed determines the skills the helper must have.

Where do churches (in America or on the mission field) need help?

In the same areas where everyone needs help: Marriage, child rearing, finances, dealing with sin and temptation, business ethics, knowing and doing God's will in their setting.

Where do churches (in America or on the mission field) need help?

Finding leaders who can address these issues from the perspective of God's Word, instructors who refuse to cloud or compromise the truth with their opinions. Churches need proper instruction and models to follow in maintaining the purity of truth and devotion to Christ, in rightly responding to the endless needs of their neighbors, and for zeal in application and performance in all these areas of life that please God."

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Thank you all who support and allow us the privilege of working full time for the Master, modeling his way and life. We are blessed to know Him and to be able to share about him. Pray that more Maasai will find Christ and the answers to their lives.

Rain in the Mara

I don't have much time as the internet goes down every time it rains, and the clouds are here and the rain is coming. Here are a couple of pictures to look at. The first set is a before and after picture. The mornings are foggy which is very unusual. The school is only 400 to 500 yards away.









This is a rainbow over Shayne's new house. The evening are pretty as the storms come. We also have enjoyed the water. The ground is green again. I talked to one of the Maasai yesterday and he told me "This is the month to sleep now. There is plenty of grass." Before the rains they were hiking 2 - 3 hours to find grass. Now they let the cows outside the boma and go back to sleep. :)

Life In the Mara

The last few days have been very hectic. We are getting the truck put back together, trying to get the welding done that needs to be done, and getting ready to go home all at the same time. There just is not enough time in the day. The good news is that everything is moving along. Yesterday we were able to confirm our round trip tickets for America. It is fairly difficult for us to get good fairs as we need to pass through Germany both coming and going. This adds two legs to our normal trip and can get expensive fast. Normally we have used Swiss Air and have gotten away with a three week layover in Zurich Switzerland. When we tried that this time, we were shocked to get prices that were almost 3,000 dollars a person. With no hope of getting that flight, we changed to British air ways and two 20 hour plus flights that would have allowed us to get a round trip ticket for $2,400. As Christmas came and went we continued bargaining with Swiss Air and others. We told them our ticket costs and asked them to match it. Yesterday we got a confirmed ticket with direct flights of no more than 10 hours each for $2,000 each. We are thankful for that.

The truck rebuild is also coming along at a decent pace. We lifted the cab yesterday and are starting the patching on that today. We hope to have it done by the end of today so that when the parts arrive from America this evening, we can start on the engine. As soon as the engine is set in the frame, we can bolt up the transmission and transfer case and then set the cab on. I need the cab to hold the wiring harness and computer so that we can start the engine. My goal is to see the engine running by the end of Sunday. I honestly do not know if I can reach my goal, but it would be great to see it. Josh is also getting some time to help me on different projects. I have him taking off the old engine mounts in the picture below. He was one happy boy.

Along with all this, life continues on. We continue to have morning devotions every morning with the workers as well as Sunday services which have been very well attended. I have been down three times to talk with David and help adjust his medications. Tanya has also been pressed into service to help with taking some of the sick ladies to the health center. We have one girl who was in our Sunday school class 10 years ago who has a badly infected foot. I have never seen a foot so swollen. Tanya is taking her for a series of shots to try to get the infection under control. It is a blessing to have a daughter who you can rely on. The rain is also continuing here in the Mara and that as well is a blessing. Thank you all for your prayers.

It's looking like a Truck again.

After a couple of weeks working on the frame, welding on braces, we have hit the big push to put it together. I am still waiting on a new cam shaft and bearings to arrive, but I hope to have them in hand on Wednesday night. Kevin, a friend of ours, is going to carry a new cam shaft over in his luggage. I hope to have Michael Pesi pick it up from Kijabe on Wednesday morning. If everything goes super fast, we might get started on it Wednesday night. If it proceeds at a Kenyan pace, we will get the cam shaft about 7:00 Wednesday and start on the engine, Thursday at 8:00. Please pray that it goes back together without any hitches. It is really nice to look at the new frame and to see things going on for the last time. It is amazing what a coat of paint, two axles, and some steering brackets can do. The locals were ready to pronounce the truck dead, and now they are thinking that it is almost ready to drive... LOL I guess it has a lot to do with how much experience you have on rebuilding a truck.

The other big blessing is that the rains have returned to the Mara. We have not had as much rain in Sekenani as the rest of the Mara has had, but it is coming. Friday night the rain continued throughout the night until morning. On Saturday I noticed that our pump went for almost two hours without running out of water. God is good. One of the beautiful sights I saw this week was on Friday night. I was outside talking with Michael at 8:00 PM. The sky was cloud covered and the sun had set almost an hour earlier. On the far western horizon I watched a lightning storm. As the lightning would flash it was filtered by the clouds and the light of the sun that was still hitting the upper atmosphere on the western horizon. Each time the lightning flashed, we were treated to vivid red and purple flashes, with clouds outlined in bold relief. We stood and watched for five minutes and as the colors faded out and the lightning return to it's normal white color. We truly live in a beautiful place. God is so good to us. The picture on the left shows the fog that we are seeing some mornings.

Truck Rebuild Reaches the Bottom

I thought that I would pass along a quick brief on how things are going on the truck rebuild. It is hard to even know where to start in describing the work that has been done. We have the engine apart and are now waiting on some parts. The cam shaft is beyond the point of reusing so one is on order. Thankfully we have a friend who is walking it over with his luggage on the 28th when he returns to Kenya. We have fixed the rear axle and painted the frame and braces. The A-arms and springs all have new bushings and the final coat of black paint was applied today. Tomorrow we are going to start putting the axles on the new frame and seeing how far we can get. I should have more pictures and news by the week end so I will keep this short. If you are at all interested in engines and what has happened to our engine, check the links to the truck pictures. It has a lot of detailed shots of the work with explanations of what you are looking at. I also updated the old link that shows the broken frame and sheet metal. Keep us in your prayers as we put this together as it is critical to have a reliable vehicle if you want to live here in Kenya. I can't even imagine how much better this truck will be. It should be back to 80% of new. I reserve 20% as there are problems in the engine that I can't fix in Kenya. Even with these problems, we will have a much better running engine. The picture on the left shows the problem that caused us to pull the engine and also destroyed the cam shaft. The metal pieces are called lifter and are supposed to have perfectly round rollers on the end. You can see how worn they are. One is even cracked and missing a section. This was what was causing the clicking noise that I was looking for.

Some Things of My Life

The sun was beating down on us unmercifully and the air had a dry dusty smell to it. All around us was short scrub brush, parched with the need of rain. The ground was rock, dust, and brown grass. Warm wind was blowing my hair but brought no relief. I could hear birds and crickets but even they sounded hot….. It may seem like a grim picture but I was loving it!

I was walking with Eunice, my friend, going to see where she lived. We were joking and having a good time. I have wanted to see where she lived for some time so I jumped at the chance when it came. Here in Masai Mara, going to a friend’s house doesn’t happen all that much.

To be honest, I don’t have that many good friends among the locals. The biggest reason is that none of them stay here very long. Most of the girls are ‘traditional’ and get married at thirteen. After which they go and live wherever their husband is from; very rarely is he from around here. The rest are ‘nontraditional’ and go to boarding school. This obviously means they are here only for a few weeks a year. Don’t get me wrong! I do have a couple good friends here and many elsewhere.

Some of my friends are in the US, who I write to. Others are MKs from our mission that also live in Kenya. I see them when we travel either to get supplies in Nairobi and meet or when we visit other mission stations. One thing I have found is that true friends are hard to find and because of that friendship is precious. I am sure that is true everywhere though, not just on the mission field. What is different here is the language and cultural barriers like early marriage. This makes it really hard to find a good Maasai friend.

Another hard thing about the mission field is what we call the ‘fish bowl’ effect. We are the fish! The people are always watching what we are doing. As you can imagine, we don’t really blend in very well with our pale tans and blond hair! Often people will pretend to be our best friend as long as they think they can get something from us. They will tell me what they imagine that I want to hear. Their idea of white people is the tourists who come here and have a seemingly unending amount of money. They are hoping that as my friend they will get help. That’s our life in the fish bowl though.

One of the best things about living here is the fact that our family is really close. We do everything together, from school to meals, to the ministry. Also, we have done a lot of fun things together! On our travels we have been to see castles in Germany, the Grand Canyon in America, and have gone on a balloon ride over the Masai Mara. In Kenya we have seen rain forests, deserts, grasslands, rolling hills and rocky mountains. We have watched lions eat their kill and vast herds of wildebeests running by. This is some pretty amazing stuff for a kid to do!

Pets are also something unique here. Among MK’s pets are chameleons, squirrels, praying mantises, dikdiks (a small deer), hedgehogs, house cats (not the big kind with large appetites although we do know of one cheetah that is a pet), tortoises, and dogs. That’s quite the variety!

MK life may have a lot of hardships with always sticking out and never belonging to one place, but I wouldn’t trade it with anyone. Seeing God work in the lives of people my own included, seeing amazing parts of His creation, and having such wonderful memories with my family is really awesome. How blessed I am!

-Tanya-