27 de Mayo

Happy Mother's Day to all the Bolivian "mama's". 

When I got back from classes this morning, Esther and Luke gave me a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers along with a BIG hug and a "kisso".

(Esther's mixing of the spanish word "beso" with "kiss")

 *grin*

May Update

Dear Praying Friends,

     This past month we had a few trips. For Easter weekend we took the bus to Dar es Salaam and enjoyed a relaxing time there as well as visiting the believers on Sunday morning. A week later, Luke made a day hike of climbing the mountains nearby along with other language school students. And last weekend the whole lot of us "white people" rented a small bus and made a day trip to the Mikumi National Park only an hour from here. The occasional trips have been a nice break from the intense grammar learning and classroom time I (Gina) have every day. 

       At this time, Luke and Esther are in Kigoma (western Tanzania) for a week to help his parents, Harry and Ruth, pack and organize for the move to their new place. While there Luke is getting some paperwork done regarding our resident permit and inquiring about a place for us to go once we're done at this language school. Also, the possibility of purchasing a vehicle has come up. This opportunity is such a praise; a vehicle is something we will need and we were kind of dreading the hassle of finding something suitable as well as in our price range. What we know so far is that the price is right, so that is a huge answer to prayer. Luke will look the vehicle over along with a mechanic while in Kigoma. 

    Our time at this language school is coming to a close in the next month. We have grown accustomed to the routine here and will miss the way they spoil us with such good meals. =) Esther continues to learn so much every day and feels comfortable with the people here. We need God's wisdom daily in training her. As children of God we ignore and disobey His simple commands as well, because we can. God is so patient and loving with His children and teaches us the same lessons over and over because He knows that we need to be reminded. 

Giraffes at Mikumi National Park

Impala

Prayer requests: 

- Luke and Esther's safe return from Kigoma 

- Wisdom with the possibility of a vehicle 

- Details to come together for our next step 

With much love in Christ, 

Gina, Luke and Esther Johnson

The 3 of us.

Mountain Hike

I (Luke) recently got the chance to climb the Uluguru mountains. Unfortunately Esther got sick the day before we left, so Gina had to stay behind and watch her. Here are some pictures of the hike.

   Here's what the trail looked like most of the time

A little church that we saw along the way

   They farm everywhere, even on the sides of steep mountains

Here's the old abandoned German vacation home called "Morning Side"

It was a pretty tough hike that took a little around 2 1/2 hours of fast walking to get to our destination. Our destination was an old abandoned vacation home built by German missionaries long ago. It was called "Morning Side". It had a beautiful view of the town of Morogoro and the greenery of the surrounding hills.

Strange Creatures

We have been intrigued by the many and various creatures we have encountered since our arrival. They range from primates, to reptiles, to insects and bugs. We have no idea what some of them even are. Take for instance this mean looking one:

Long "arms" on the front.

Then there are other ones like these guys. A spiky caterpillar that is about 8 inches long, and a bug that looks like a snowflake.

A plague of these caterpillars, they are everywhere!

You think it's a bit of cotton ball, and then it starts to crawl!

Then there are giant "double decker" millipedes. The longer one was about a foot long! We also found a balloon frog that filled itself with air when it got nervous. (Sorry, the picture is not very good.)

They are so big, yet harmless.

He just wanted to be left alone!

There are termites on almost all the trees here and they destroy any untreated wood on buildings too. Fortunately these lizards like to eat them and help keep the numbers down.

The bane of Africa!

Mealtime!

Can you find both lizards in this picture?

Plenty for everyone.

And other animals include a monkey that likes to hang around, big snails, and giant wood-boring bumblebees.

Vervet monkey.

Big snails.

Big bumble bee, everything is big!

April Update

Student and teacher practicing verb drills.

Hello dear praying friends. We hope you are all doing well and walking with the Lord daily.

Well the rains have returned. We had rain when we first arrived and then it stopped for about 3 weeks and now it is back. We have been getting heavy rains every day and it has cooled things off nicely.

Gina's studies continue to go well. They just finished their first course book which has 30 chapters. On Monday they will start the second and final book. So we are about halfway through our time already; time really has gone by quickly.

As for me, Luke, the Lord has been exposing areas of my life that need His continual grace and forgiveness. He has done this in a way that I did not expect, but I guess God often works that way. Although Esther has been a wonderful blessing and a source of much joy and laughter, she has also brought challenges to us, as I'm sure any parent would testify. Taking care of a toddler has proved to be tougher than I thought, and God has clearly shown me that I cannot do it without His help, wisdom, patience, grace and strength. The process is humbling, and yet needful, and I thank God for what He is teaching me and would continue to ask for your prayers.  

I have been asked to teach the book of Amos at the Moshi Bible School during their upcoming session (End of August to the end of November). My course will only last a little over a week but of course it will all be done in Swahili so I'm going to need a lot of extra preparation time, both in Bible and language study. 

I have also been continuing to work on an online mechanic's course and I need to complete it by a certain deadline which is coming up soon and I still have a lot to do. 

Here are a few prayer requests that you could keep in mind when you remember us in prayer.

- Our language learning 

- God's help in raising Esther 

- That God would help me (Luke) as I prepare to teach Amos at the Moshi Bible School in November

- That God would prepare the way for us after language study (Housing, transportation, and ministry-wise)

Thank you for your prayers.

In Christ,

                  Luke, Gina, and Esther Johnson

New Words

There are a few new words and phrases that Esther has learned since being here; we wanted to share some of them.

Asante is the Swahili word for "thank you" and she goes to the ladies in the kitchen after meals to thank them all.

She's learned to say Hodi when she wants to go into some other student's room, it's the Swahili version of "knock, knock".

Shikamo is what you say to someone older than yourself. So as a greeting she says shikamo to everyone. In response to that you say marahaba, but of course she doesn't say that since she doesn't get a shikamo from anyone. Bummer of being the youngest. =)

Uji is what she eats for breakfast every morning and she loves it. It's a corn porridge/gruel.

'Mosquito net' is firmly placed into her vocabulary due to the daily use of them.

Jongoo is the word for millipedes, and we're in "jongoo city" here with all the rain we've had. They are completely harmless and she knows to be very careful to not step on them since they'll mush pretty badly and then leave an awful smell on your shoe.

Jongoo (millipede)

At "tea time" she likes to guess at what we might have for a snack. "Maybeeee peanuts, maybeeee popcorn, maybeeee cookies....".

Tummy hurting is cue for, "get me to the potty, quick".

Then get caaandy is what she says when we explain that she must tell us when she needs to go potty. We aren't even done explaining when she interrupts us with: then get caaandy!

In the mornings Luke teaches Esther some Bible verses and she knows the exact time of this and so she'll run to get the Bible and exclaim: "do verses".

Whenever we put her down for a nap or for the night she always wants us to pray; especially when there's thunder outside: "pray mommy."

And finally, she's learned to say "I constimpated". She's been constipated since arriving in Africa, and when it's not that it's just the opposite, which she knows only as 'being sick'. =)

Rice for lunch and dinner

Meals in the dinning hall.

Today's lunch: cassava stew (not pictured), beef, beans, rice, and fresh pineapple for dessert.

When it's time for lunch or dinner we get ready by washing our hands, and then make our way to the dinning hall at a toddler's pace. I (Gina) sometimes ask Esther to guess what will be the food for that meal. She has quickly learned that if she answers "rice" she is correct 100% of the time!

We have been here over a month now and I thought I'd be tired of eating rice twice daily, but surprisingly that has not been the case. Of course now and then we get chips (fries) or noodles, but there is always rice as well in those cases. It just isn't a meal unless you have rice. And there is always a sauce available to put on the rice, a person here rarely eats plain rice, so the different sauces give it a variety. 

The good thing is that when you're sick (and yes, its "when", not "if"), there will always be an option to eat plain rice if that's all you can stomach at the time.

A little more than a week ago some students asked Mr. Chuma (the school director) if the cooks could please serve us ugali (thick, dough-like mush made of maize and water) that is commonly eaten by the people of Tanzania. He promised that we'd get it the following monday. Monday came and went and there was no sign of ugali. So Mr. Chuma got some guff for not keeping his promise. That same afternoon we saw him talking to the cook and had her hear from us personally that yes, we certainly wanted ugali for lunch. She was shocked and perhaps a little embarrassed by our request. Come to find out, the teachers eat ugali every day for lunch, just like we, the students, eat rice every day. We get served the rice as a privilege.

So that Tuesday, to our pleasure, we had ugali for lunch, of course rice was faithfully there as an alternate option.

ELCT Language School

Uluguru Mts.

The ELCT Language school is run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania. It is a school that teaches Swahili, which is the national language spoken here in Tanzania. There is also a Seminary and a Jr. High and High School on the property. The School is about 20 minutes from the town of Morogoro which is located about 3 hours inland (West) from the coast (Dar Es Salaam). The town is situated at the base of the Uluguru Moutains (See picture). Gina is enrolled in the long course (4 months). It runs from beginning of February to the beginning of June. Our Room and Board includes a modest but comfortable place to stay (2 small bedrooms, a small sitting area, and a bathroom (toilet and shower). It also includes 3 meals a day and 2 tea-breaks. So fortunately for Gina and Esther, I (Luke) don't have to do the cooking! We are thankful to God for this school and this time to concentrate on Language studies.

Rainy Season and Malaria

A good, hard rain.

Well, it is rainy season here in Tanzania and with that comes an increase in malaria. I (Luke) already got it once and 4 other students have had it as well (2 are currently recovering). This is also an area known for having a lot of malaria so pray that we don't get it. However Esther likes the rain because she gets to put on her raincoat and use her umbrella and splash in the puddles!

The Language School Routine

Well we've been here at Language School for over a month now and are settling into the routine of things. Breakfast is at 7 AM. Then Gina goes to classes from 8 to 12 in the morning. We get to see her at 10 AM for a "tea-break". After lunch we usually try and take a nap but Esther is pretty good at preventing that. At 2:30 PM Gina goes back for more language drills until 4 PM at which time we have another tea break. 

While Mommy is gone Esther and I stay "home". I read her books and we memorize and review our Bible verses. After that Esther plays on her own while I try and get some reading and studying done. Esther is quite "normal" for a 2 year old so naturally, quite a bit of my day is taken up with disciplining and instructing her and teaching her "common sense". (I have found common sense to be quite uncommon in children). I don't know why she can't just behave like an adult (just kidding). Esther loves going to the farm to see the cows and pigs. Esther is for the most part "potty trained" although occasionally there are some accidents. She usually needs a nap in the morning and one in the afternoon, otherwise she gets really grumpy. It is sometimes difficult for me (Luke) to be the "mom" at home so I would appreciate your prayers for me concerning that. 

When Mommy is done with school for the day we try and go for a walk either before or after supper. By 6:45 PM it is almost completely dark so we go back to our room. We usually check email and then have devotions (singing, reading and praying) before putting Esther to bed. Then Gina reviews her notes and does her homework before going to bed.