Poopsmith Team 2007

Since my last update we have been traveling a lot! From Nairobi we went to the coast and spent our first week at Turtle Bay at the AAMC (All African Missionary Conference) which was such a blessing! There were missionaries from all over Africa and a group from Portland (Milton Jones and others) and Ft. Worth who lead us in worship and encouraged us in so many ways! It was a time of relaxation and refreshment, and great encouragement being surrounded by such a great group of people. We also ran into our friends Jim and Nathan Beck, and Warner which was awesome!

After the AAMC we went just up the road to Malindi (where the Becks and the Talleys worked when they first came as missionaries just after Paul had finished his missionary journeys I think) and spent the week with some awesome people! We stayed at the Uzima (meaning “light”) Christian Training Center and enjoyed the blessing of the community there. Every night before bed we would all meet together and hold hands in a circle singing and praying. And the Giryama can really sing! It was such a blessing to be around people with such joyous faith! Our work while in Malindi consisted of digging a choo (pronounced “cho” not “chew”) which is an old school in-ground toilet. The pictures on flickr to the right show the exciting time we had! We worked for five days digging this thing. The first day we dug down about 7ft, next we put up an internal brick wall to serve as the foundation, next we dug down another 6ft. or so but ran into rock and had to stop, the next day we put a solid concrete platform over the top of the hole, and the last day we built a brick house around the toilet. It looks swell! It was pretty hard work, but a lot of fun!

We built the choo for a church that has not yet begun, but is in the vision of a widow woman named Margret. Margret is an awesome old woman who is an extremely hard worker and has a huge heart! She just finished building a new house (right next to her old one)  this summer with the help of James Reppart and the crew from York College. And now she wants to start a church that will meet in her old house. She is such a cool lady! She has really taken in and cared for a lot of the children in her community and she also reaches out to the Rastafarian culture in Malindi (which is not welcomed by most churches there). She told us she wants this church to be a place where her Rastafarian (Bob Marley-looking, Raggae-type, pot-smoking-type, beach culture) friends will come to Jesus! We really learned a lot from this woman and are so encouraged by her desire to embrace the socially (and sadly religiously) unaccepted people. Keep her and the others in Malindi in your prayers.

After Malindi we had an interesting journey down to Tanga, Tanzania where we stayed with Tim and Rebecca Talley and their two daughters Abigail and Debra. They were such a blessing and an encouragement to us! Such a hospitable family! We helped them put in a concrete floor at the new “learning center” on the church property in Tanga, but mostly just relaxed and fellowshiped with the Talleys. We also got to go Mangrove Mucking which, if you haven’t experienced, is impossible to describe. someday you must try. I had visited Tanga 3 years ago with the Allisons when I interned with them, and it was great to see the progress of the church there. Tanzania is very blessed to have people like the Talleys and the Bumpus’ (another couple living in Tanga), but Tanzania needs our prayers and we need more God-centered, missional people willing to serve here in Tanzania!

We are now in Dar es Salaam staying with Fielden and Janet Allison. We are now at the end of the summer phase of our trip, and Justin and Tiffany, and Justin Gibson are getting ready to fly back to the U.S. on the 7th. Pray for us as we part and as Josh and I prepare to head into Sudan.

A brief update on Sudan: James Reppart will not be joining us on our journey to Sudan. He just returned a few days ago from a trip with a group of men to Sudan and said it was very great and very hard. So we are excited to go, but asking you to join us in asking God for his guidance and grace.

Also, to your prayer list, I’ve somehow acquired some kind of infection in my hand (maybe a boil, but not confirmed yet), but its really is a pain. so pray for this to be taken care of quickly.

 blessings to all!