It’s not the most rewarding of seasons … when you have to go down to go up, there’s little to show for the effort. Like seasons in farming, the preparation of ploughing and weeding are essential, but at the end of the day you just end up sore and dirty - with no visible sign of fruit. Thankfully one gets to know the pattern of nature, working with it and learning what must be done during the course of the seasons. As a farmer, we do all WE can and then we have to leave the rest to God.
It’s always fun going out to the villages – doing seminars etc … but the challenge is to empower, not just encourage; educate, not just inform. That takes longer – that takes patience and God-given vision, with no guaranteed short-term results.
Church-wise we are literally in low-season. The school holidays are upon us, with our families heading overseas, missionaries on furlough and our business folk gearing up for the tourist safari influx, meaning extended absences from Arusha.
At the same time, we are building our new church home – in one sense bad timing because of reduced income but what we are left with is our local base, the growing element of English-speaking Africans that are giving time, energy and what they can give financially, and God’s giving the increase.
It’s always fun going out to the villages – doing seminars etc … but the challenge is to empower, not just encourage; educate, not just inform. That takes longer – that takes patience and God-given vision, with no guaranteed short-term results.
Church-wise we are literally in low-season. The school holidays are upon us, with our families heading overseas, missionaries on furlough and our business folk gearing up for the tourist safari influx, meaning extended absences from Arusha.
At the same time, we are building our new church home – in one sense bad timing because of reduced income but what we are left with is our local base, the growing element of English-speaking Africans that are giving time, energy and what they can give financially, and God’s giving the increase.
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