March Update

Dear praying friends and family,

We enjoyed the visit from William Rea and visiting a few of the churches this last month. Easter Sunday was a full day of celebration (i.e. choirs singing, a skit performance, and lots of food) with the believers at Nkungwe.
Our annual meeting with fellow CMMLers made for 2 delightful days of fellowship and more food.
Praise the Lord we have our renewed visas in hand after a long process. We also have renewed driver's licenses and Luke has the added "motorbike". Our Honda 250 was put to the test on it's first village visit a couple days ago. It's a blessing to have this cheaper mode of transport and we hope to make many more runs with it to the surrounding villages.
As a family, our 2 girls (ages 6 and 2) keep us busy and laughing. Gina is feeling big, but that's normal for her at this stage of pregnancy. =)

Blessings in Christ,
Luke, Gina, Esther and Emily

Projects, projects, and more projects.

Whether it's "baking up a storm" in the kitchen, or just trying to keep up with our daily food intake,

Baking Valentine goodies ...

we think of ways to make better use the resources we have.

Making a compost bin to then have fertilizer for our garden ...

Picking guavas from a tree turns into a project so we can quickly use the ripe fruit.

Enjoying God's provision from a tree in our yard ...

Luke has wanted a motorbike for the past 2 years and it's finally coming true. However, he has to build a little shelter for it first.

Making a covering for the new motorbike ...

The girls' closet was misusing space with the pipes going all the way across. So, with some paper and pencil we sketched what we thought would be a better use of space. Gave our drawings to a local carpenter and he delivered the new dresser and bookshelf 4 weeks later. Luke cut the pipes and the drawing became a reality.

New dresser for the girls ...

And then there's some projects which take a full 9 months to complete. Been working on this one for a while, but the end is in sight!

One more month to go!

I love projects and love seeing them finished!

Just a typical Sunday ...

All three of my kids. =)

Luke leading the sunday service at the Kigoma chapel.

Fellowship with other missionaries

At the fancy hotel in town.

Enjoying cooler weather at the end of the day over Lake Tanganyika.

The 5 of us.

The CMML-TZ group that met this year.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday we drove to the nearby village of Nkungwe. Luke and I were accompanied by Peter, his wife Naomi and their 2 little ones, and David, and our own daughter Emily. Esther stayed behind. Luke, Peter and David all spoke a message. There was the typical Sunday morning service, but a little longer with choirs singing more than their allotted 2 songs. Shortly after this service we gathered around the table for Breaking of Bread. After this, we just sat and waited for things to get ready for the afternoon service. It rained a slow yet heavy drizzle most of the day. The youth were in charge of the afternoon service and many came to see the drama performance they had prepared. After another message and more singing the meeting came to a close. The ladies ushered in the food and sodas and we barely made a dent in our food. As quickly as we could, we said our good-byes and drove slowly back on the wet and slick roads. It was past 8 pm when we finally made it home to our comfortable beds. =)

Luke speaking at the morning service.

Waiting for the afternoon service to begin.

Emily enjoying our undivided attention.

Dismas' wife showing off her growing twin girls (whom we had seen as newborns here).

FOOD! One mountain size plate per person.