Habari za leo to everyone! We are back! We wanted to give a final update of our time spent here in the Rufiji and at Baker & Sons Safari camp. Time here has been full of God’s work which has blessed us abundantly, and we are overjoyed to share these experiences with all of you!
There has been much that has happened following our last blog post. We have had a very hard time finding the words to describe all that has passed. With that said, we thought maybe a good place to start is with some highlights since we last wrote.
One thing that we feel so blessed to have been a part of, is the time we spent getting to know the St. Aubin family. The St. Aubin’s are a family from Calvary Baptist Church in Oshawa. Joey and his young adult kids were here to help sponsor and host a Rufiji wide soccer tournament that involved four teams from three different villages. Football, as it is properly known by here, is a national past time and everybody from the surrounding villages wants to be a part of the local teams in some way. In fact, we have observed that if there is a soccer tournament, people from all surrounding areas gather to watch the big game, even if that means walking many miles or piling on a crowded bus to arrive. Distinguishing the players of different teams in a match was often difficult as many players wore mismatched shirts, shorts, and socks, in fact, players would even play without shoes. In general, good soccer balls here in Tanzania are a commodity. You will often see homemade soccer balls, an accumulation of plastic garbage bags, rags, rubber, and string. Graciously, the St. Aubin family was able to bless four of the surrounding villages with soccer pumps and soccer balls and they brought with them soccer jerseys for all four teams, donated by EastARM investors and some of Joey’s friends. Mloka in particular was very excited and thankful for the contribution from Baker & Sons Safari Company and the St. Aubin family. This contribution of kindness, and support was the first from any safari company around the area.
The next big highlight was when our church family from Calvary Baptist church arrived at the camp. This was a huge blessing to Ben and I. Little did the young adults know that just three days prior we were talking about beginning to feel a little home sick. God knew and orchestrated a sort of “relief effort” from those feelings. Not only that but, I (Raluca) was in desperate need of eye contacts that the team was able to deliver upon their arrival. In the previous two weeks my eyes had become extremely irritated from all the dust, smoke and dry heat. I was unable to wear my monthly contacts and was forced to wear my glasses which had not been my current prescription for years. God knew this would happen too and he had taken care of the details.
The Calvary team was not only a blessing to Ben & I but more importantly they were an integral part of blessing the people of Mloka. The majority of the week was spent building the pastors house here in the village. All team members had a part to play, whether it was preparing for lunch at the work site, helping to build the house, or playing and spending time with the village kids around the worksite. At times, at least for myself (Raluca), it was easy to feel like if I was not a part of the construction portion of the work, then I was not a part of the “bigger project” that God planned. However, the Lord was quick to remind me that the body of Christ is made up many different parts and that each part brings a different gift to the body. One is not necessarily “better” than the other rather they all benefit the body in some way. After this changed perspective, I began to notice (more than I had before) that the work site was filled with children from the village who were in desperate need of Christs’ love, and care. While the construction was taking place I (Raluca), along with many members of the team spent many mornings and afternoons, playing, and pouring our time and love into the children’s lives. We (Ben & I) began to feel convicted with our time in those moments to give as much of ourselves and Christs’ love while we were still present with the children of the village. However, we knew that even when we left, the Lord would continue to make his love known.
“ Just as a body, though one, has many parts, all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-14
The last but certainly not the least of the highlights was our graduation ceremonies that we held for our students. During the ceremony, we both felt so bitter sweet. Sad because we knew that our time in Mloka and with our students, and now friends was quickly coming to an end. Also, sweet because we had seen how much our students (both adult & children) had grown in their knowledge of the English language. We saw people who could barely greet us in English the first day of class who could now speak in the present tense, past tense, and future tense and whose vocabularies had greatly expanded. It was very encouraging for Ben & I to see the growth in our students. The first month of our teaching seemed slow in progress and it was easy for us to feel inadequate at times. The Lord blessed us with showing us the fruits of the labor which we know sometimes is not always seen right away or ever! We feel very grateful for this blessing in our lives. A part of this blessing was seeing our translator (& former student of the Rufiji Lighthouse) receive a scholarship from Baker & Sons to go school to become a safari guide, a dream he never thought would come to realization.
We are encouraged to know that the Lord will continue to watch over the people of Mloka, and His light will continue to shine as His kingdom advances. We know you will continue with us to pray and intercede for the people of Mloka. We have faith that and knowledge that God’s work and words never return to Him void.
We thank all of our supporters and family, for the love, prayer, and encouragement that we received while in Tanzania. We look forward to spending more time with all of you and sharing the many more blessings, and lessons that we experienced from God while away!
Until then…. Mungu akubariki!