Martin Dec 2017

“And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord’ ” (Luke 2:10-11).

Dear friends and family,

The Good News of the birth of our Savior Jesus came to the shepherds over 2000 years ago, but the message to go forth and spread this news is still for us today. Rafiki is raising children who can go forth and spread the news of Jesus to their families and friends. The teachers in Rafiki are also able to share the good news of Jesus. The RICE students, training to be Christian classical teachers, are also now able to spread the Good News. This is the season of the year where spreading the Good News comes easy; however, we are training workers, students, and resident children to be purposeful in sharing the Good News all the year.

We do hope that you and your families will have a wonderful, peace-filled holiday this year and that you will also be bold to share the real meaning of Christmas with all of them. We celebrate here in Africa a bit differently than we did in the U.S.A. I love our new way of simply focusing on the birth of our Savior without the commercialization screaming around us. We usually start our Christmas carols early so that the warm weather does not cause us to forget the season. I already hear lots of Christmas hymns coming from the children’s cottages in their evening devotions. I hear the children in the preschool classes practicing their Christmas songs. I even see some decorations beginning to go up on the bulletin boards in the classrooms and the dining hall. It is beginning “to look a lot like Christmas”, here in Tanzania.

Kent currently has thirty-two students in the teacher’s college at RICE. These students are studying Christian classical education including art and music. We are confident that most of these students will make wonderful teachers in the future. The learning curve in this program is steep but the students are enjoying the challenge. We have a wonderful carpenter here our Village who makes most of our furniture. He recently encouraged his daughter to join our teacher’s college as she really wants to be an excellent teacher. He shared that she, even when in secondary school, lined up the neighborhood children and provided “school” for them. After only a few months at the RICE Program, she told her father that she had never had better education and that she was being challenged academically for the first time! This is the kind of students we are looking and hoping for: student that have a passion to learn and love to teach!

Mr. Masuki and his daughter

We have had good “short rains” this year for the first time in many years and we are happy to see wonderful green all around us. Many mornings and evenings the mountain is veiled in snow. I love seeing the snow as it makes me think of our wonderful winters in North Dakota. We do send our love and Christmas greeting from the warmth of Tanzania to the warmth of each of your homes during this wonderful season of the year. May God richly bless you for investing in us as we serve the people of Tanzania and train them to spread the Good News. We are so grateful for your prayer and financial support of us here as you are indeed partners with us in spreading the Good News.

Music class

Please pray that God will call a new Headmaster to our school and a new Music and Art Dean at the RICE Program as our current ones, Pat Schulz and Elisabeth Hokanson, return to the U.S.A. We will sorely miss them.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.