God's Plans

"For I know the plans I have for you,"declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."Jeremiah 29:11

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God." Isaiah 43:1B-3A

Dearest friends in Christ,

As we send our greetings on this beautiful June day, we realize that many of you have not heard from us in a long time. We have not sent greetings since December when we wished you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. Much has changed since then for us, and we also expect things have changed for many of you. In December we promised to write more and we have not lived up to that promise. Some of you wrote and asked if you were accidentally dropped from our email list. We send our humblest apologies and ask that you continue to bear with us and pray for us.

January through June - A Summary

LMC:

Our year has been a flurry of various activities both work-related and personal. The Lutheran Mission Cooperation (LMC, where Dan serves as the finance secretary) has been undergoing an evaluation process that is mandated by the constitution every six years. When an organization is a collection of members from America, Tanzania, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, one can expect that the opinions of how the cooperation can best serve its members vary slightly from one member to the next. There have been meetings in Tanzania and Germany with all members, where the future of LMC has been discussed. With God's guidance, the members now agree on the principles that will form a new structure that must be approved by the assembly that will meet in Dodoma this coming October. Throughout the meetings, the members expressed great appreciation for Dan's work for the last three years. While there was a request from the members for Dan to renew his contract for three more years, we reached the difficult decision as a family that we would only continue with LMC for one more year, until the end of June 2005. Dan will likely assume some greater responsibilities during the transition period to the new structure, and he hopes that he will have the opportunity to train and orient the person that will take over his responsibilities. We ask God to help and guide us as Dan attempts to fulfill the expectations of the LMC members in the next year, and that we prayerfully consider how and where He will call us to serve next.
We also are thankful that the mid-year LMC meetings were fruitful. The executive committee met once in February and again in June. The Advisory Group met in May and the Financial Review Group met in June. Dan was especially happy to have the 2003 books closed and audited, and to receive a good audit report. Through its members, LMC was able to contribute approximately 1.8 million dollars to the various projects and programs in the ELCT throughout the country. Dan's responsibilities include the management of LMC financial assets, approximately 2.9 million dollars, for the work of the church.

The Smith Family:

When people ask about the family, we cannot help but brag about the kids. The school year is nearly over, and Sarah is finishing 4th grade, Emily is finishing kindergarten, and Grace is finishingpre-school. We are so thankful for the education they are receiving at the international school. The students come from over 40 different countries and the staff is made up of professionals from many places in the world. The girls have all improved their swimming skills tremendously this year (although it is too cold for us to swim right now) and they enjoy a variety of extracurricular activities. Sarah started horseback riding this year and continues to take piano lessons. Emily has continued her violin lessons and has also enjoyed ballet classes together with Grace. Sarah went on a weeklong field trip with her class to study land use and we believe her class brought back a disproportionately large amount of the land back with them on their shoes, clothes, and bodies!
Cathy and Dan are both busy with school and church activities. Cathy teaches flute with two students weekly and Dan has had seven piano students this year! Cathy enjoyed serving once again as a confirmation teacher this year and six students were confirmed at Arusha Community Church. Cathy will have the responsibility of the lead teacher next year and continues to serve on the Christian Education Committee. Dan is on the church council and is serving as the treasurer for the second year in a row.

Special Prayers:

We have asked you to pray for those in areas suffering from drought. When drought affects a family's crop, they often do not have food to eat, and the long rains did not come this year in many parts of Tanzania. We have asked you to pray from those affected by HIV-AIDS. Currently, we have a staff member whose sister is dying of AIDS. We have asked you to pray for governmental and church leaders, so that real development can be done in Tanzania without the temptations of corruption. This time we would like you to add a very special 6-½ year old girl to your prayer list. Emily Smith (yes, our Emily) was diagnosed with diabetes at the beginning of June. We know that diabetes is something that can be managed, even in Tanzania. We are so thankful that we have been able to get her the medicine that she needs and that the means were provided so that she can see a specialist in July in America. We feel so fortunate to have access to resourcessuch as email and the Internet so that we can communicate with a specialist and research current information about diabetes. Please be assured that we are comfortable monitoring the situation both with local medical doctors, and contacts we have in America. Please keep Cathy and Emily (and the rest of the family) in your prayers as they prepare for a month-long visit to America to seek medical attention.

You may have wondered why we chose the texts quoted before our greetings. They have been helpful as we focus not on what we can do for Emily, but what God will provide through us, and through the prayers and skills of others. The texts have also been inspiring as we consider our calling to His service.

Peace in Christ,
Dan and Cathy Smith

PS - please note the change in our email address. You can now find us at smithfam91@yahoo.com The address ending in habari.co.tz is no longer valid.

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Dan, Cathy, Sarah, Emily and Grace Smith
PO BOX 15128
Arusha
Tanzania
http://www.goodshepherdkettering.com/pages/mission.html
smithfam91@yahoo.com
or
missionaries@goodshepherdkettering.com
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