Giving Thanks

Greetings to you and peace! We would like to take this opportunity to let you know how we are doing and to share a story that we hope will encourage each of you in your faith.

We have been enjoying some rather Autumn-like weather this month. The nights and mornings are quite chilly and we find ourselves layering on sweaters and sweatshirts. It is not the type of weather one typically thinks of as African (at least we were under the impression that Africa is always hot until we moved here)! Luckily, we did bring some warm clothes. We have also enjoyed using our fireplace. We are told that things will begin to warm up again in August.

We are all keeping quite busy and are enjoying our activities. The school year is winding down so there are many end-of-the-year activities to attend. Dan has had a rather stressful and busy month as he prepared for and attended the LMC management meetings. He also worked with the auditors to finalize the year 2001 financial reports. He finds the work very satisfying. One of the most encouraging aspects of his work is seeing how the partners within the Lutheran Mission Cooperation work together to plan, implement, and evaluate their work. Because the LMC is made up of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania and 14 European and North American mission societies and church bodies (one of which is the ELCA) one can easily imagine the challenges that could arise due to language barriers and cultural differences. However, the members are united in their commitment to strengthening the mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania.

Cathy's big challenge this month has been trying to recruit teachers and helpers for Vacation Bible School. Anyone who has ever been a VBS director knows this is always a challenge. It is particularly challenging in this community because so many people leave for the entire two month school holiday. Many of those who remain in Arusha have work or other commitments which prevent them from being able to help with VBS. As many of the children who attend VBS do not attend any church, this is one vehicle for evangelism which has proven to be highly effective. Cathy would very much appreciate your prayers. Please pray that more adults will volunteer to help. Also pray for the children who will attend our VBS which will be held the week of August 12-16.

Now for the story. There is a woman here, one of our neighbors, who has worked 40-50 hours a week as a housekeeper for many years. Besides her housekeeping job which pays $50 per month and caring for her family, she also tends her large garden which supplies much of her family's food. Even though there are 11 people living in her tiny mud and wood house who depend on her income to provide food, clothing, medicine, school supplies, etc., over the years she managed to buy enough cement blocks to build a sturdy house. The problem was that she did not have enough money for the sand, cement, wood, sheet metal, windows and door needed to actually build a house. The cement blocks were just piled up next to her falling down mud house. One day someone gave her the money to complete construction of her dream house (a simple cement house with a corrugated roof and a cement floor). Upon hearing this news, the woman burst into tears. When she was able to speak again she said that she had just returned from a mission trip to an area about 4 hours from Arusha the previous day. "The people there have absolutely nothing. They don't even have clothes," she said. She explained further that she had just been thanking God for all her blessings when this totally unexpected gift was given to her. "Its just too much," she said. "I will never be able to repay this."

We were struck by the neighbor's gratitude, and were reminded how much God has truly blessed our family. It reminded us that besides the things we normally think of when we give thanks, we are forever grateful of the debt that we will never be able to repay, that is our eternal salvation given to us through Jesus' death on the cross.

Your Servants in Christ,
Dan and Cathy Smith

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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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