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God's Plan

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Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.   Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. Colossians 3: 23-24 The countdown app on my phone shows 37 days until we move to the US, and I’d be lying if I said that my head isn’t filled with dreams of our new life in Texas.   I think in some ways I’ve always been the kind of person who struggles to stay present in the present.  I’ve always looked forward to the next adventure, season, or new beginning.  But I think especially since having cancer and going through chemo and radiation – a time when my life seemed to be totally consumed by sickness, when days would pass where I was physically unable to get out of bed and all I could do was be present in the present – and the present was so awful – I think since then I’ve been even more inclined to make changes.  I’ve been more in tune with t...
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Mama Lightness Update

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What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.  What a privilege it is carry everything to God in prayer. Life is looking a lot different for Mama Lightness since my last blog post. Within minutes of posting, I started receiving Venmo donations for Lightness and her family.  $30, $50, $100, even a $500 donation was sent.  We were once again overwhelmed at the way that God works through the hearts of His people to make a difference in the world.   But once we had the resources, it wasn’t a simple matter of giving Mama Lightness the money.  We had to sit and discuss and decide the best way to use these funds to really help her and her family.  The more we talked with Mama Lightness, the clearer the picture of her situation became.  The father of her children had left them, coming around only on occasion and offering little to no support.  He had sold all of their belongings to get money, leaving them with not even a bedsheet....
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Lightness

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The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34: 18           We are getting back in the swing of things here after our two week midterm break.  The seventh graders sat for their National Examinations at the beginning of the second week and then packed their belongings and left KEMPS for the last time as students.  The tension they visibly showed the previous week was replaced with contagious joy and relief as they came by my house to say their goodbyes.  Their absence signaled the start of the end of the school year, and it hit me just how little time here we have left.             The same day the seventh graders left campus, Joseph mother and his little cousin Getruda arrived from Mwanza.  Knowing that her baby boy would soon be leaving the country, she wanted to spend a week with us while we had a break from work.  I knew that the routine Joseph a...
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A Day at the Beach

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He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18: 2-4 Today is the first day of our two-week midterm break.  There is something so exciting and motivating knowing that the next two weeks are totally free- free of alarms or schedules or meetings, but also free to take long morning walks, free to watch a movie in the middle of the day or stay up late finishing the last chapters of a book I can’t put down.  It’s also exciting because on the 1st of September, it started to rain.  Our short rainy season has brought with it cooler, cloudy, fall-like days, that make you want to curl up with a blanket and light a cinnamon candle.  I’m pretty much in heaven.   But heaven looked a lot different for my fifth grade cla...
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Graduation

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Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 We had quite the weekend here at KEMPS and we are all feeling the effects of it this Monday.   Saturday was the graduation celebration for our seventh grade students.  In Tanzania, the students have their graduation ceremony before they take their final exams and actually finish school.  They do this so that in the days leading up to their exams they can give all of their effort and concentration to their studies, rather than anticipating their special day.   Preparations for the ceremony started over a month ago, and each grade level began practicing songs or dances for their part of the event.  Invitations were sent to all the parents of the graduates and to special honored guests from the community and from the Lutheran church.  By this time last week, you could feel the excitement buzzing around ...
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My Kind of People

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For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 Have you ever met someone, and at some point in the process of getting to know them you think to yourself, “this is my kind of person”?  And it’s the best feeling because whatever it is that causes you to feel that- whether it be personal values or beliefs, or a common denominator between the two of you- once you know that they’re your kind of people, you can relax.  The awkward small talk and fear of saying the wrong thing fades and you can just be yourself.  And it’s so exciting because making those kinds of friends is rare.  That happened for me a year and a half ago when I met Tom and Lori.   Tom and Lori are business partners who started a consulting company 21 years ago to, as they told my fifth and sixth grade classes last week, “help organizations help people”.  Their work has taken them to over 30 countr...
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At Last

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The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14 Hello again!  What a crazy month and a half it’s been since I last wrote a blog post!  Shortly after my last post, Joseph and I travelled from Bukoba to Dar es Salaam to prepare for my flight to Texas.  KLM airlines requires a negative COVID test result taken no more than 72 hours before travel, and since the quickest testing facilities are in Dar es Salaam, we arrived there three days before my flight and headed straight to the most highly recommended hospital.  I was able to get my test without any trouble, and the results were emailed to me less than 24 hours later (those of you who know anything about African time know that this was a small miracle). Having some free time in Dar also gave us a chance to take care of Joseph’s medical checkup that was required for him to receive his visa.   The US Embassy in Dar es Salaam requires all immigrant visa applicants to have a medical examinati...
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