Martin Nov 2019

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Psalm 100:4).

Changes of seasons are all around us, and I have always loved Fall the most. We did get to experience a bit of fall weather during our recent visit to North Dakota. In October, we represented Rafiki at the annual STEER Missions conference on our trip back to the United States.

Our table at the STEER conference

Actually, the early mornings and evenings were even getting a bit cooler in Florida. However, we were happy to return to our Fall in Tanzania. Usually we find Fall ushering in the hot weather with sunny days and not too hot nights, but this year, the weather has decided to trick us a bit, and we are having lots and lots of rain. The mountain is indeed a sight when it emerges from its heavy cloud cover. The nights are filled with the sound of rain on the roof. I do love rain and will take it however it comes. It does bring much mud here, but no one complains as they know that it is necessary for the crops to grow.

After the rain, a reminder of God’s promise

The mountain is always a welcomed sight

The children are busy getting ready for their national exams in fourth grade, seventh grade and ninth grade. Our eighth and ninth grade students continue to study at a government school, but they are determined to do well on their national tests. The scores are in for fourth and seventh grades and they all did very well. Ninth grade exams are at the end of November and we will likely not get results until well into January.

We continue to pray for registration for our secondary school and the teacher training college. In the meantime at the teacher training college, we are looking for certified teachers who would like to improve their skills, giving them a much better opportunity for jobs. We plan to begin this new program in January and are presently continuing to train the few we have in the current program. We are excited about this new opportunity of helping teachers find good jobs.

Because of our current rain, all is green around us. Looking back at pictures of previous years, all was quite brown. Our children are doing a great job in their gardens, and we have enjoyed lots of fresh produce at a very fair price from them. The kitchen is serving an abundance of fresh vegetables.

As we think of the Fall, we think of the season of Thanksgiving. We are thankful for so many things. We are thankful for all our donors who give financially to support our working in this beautiful country. We are thankful for our health. We are thankful for good work in our retirement years. We are thankful for sixty healthy, growing children at our Village. We are thankful for safety on the roads as we travel. We are thankful for our team here at the Rafiki Village Tanzania. We are thankful for good food and a good variety of foods. We are thankful for volunteers who come from three weeks to three months to help out at the Village. We are thankful for our missionary team here in Tanzania.

Most of all, we are thankful that God has placed us here in this work for now. May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving and enjoy thanking our heavenly father for all He blesses us with in our lives.

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