Marliese returned from her sister-in-law’s funeral and mentioned the need for prayer for her brother who lost his wife, and for his two sons. None of these three are believers. Continue to pray as well for the two Yazidi families Gus helps with English and with whom he also reads from John’s Gospel in Arabic.
There is cheetah 🐆 around our college campus. He has caught some animals, so we need to be careful especially at night.
Now the Serengeti is our college 😄😄!
I'm trying to be careful, but there some bushes from school to my home.
Especially at night--like now!
Pastor Thomas came by and gave me his list of expenses for Justin. I reimbursed him from those who contributed. There are some expenses that his sister-in-law advanced, like another C.T Scan. I still have about 300.000/- which I will give to him. He is so thankful to everyone who prayed and contributed. Justin is doing fine and is studying. Pastor Thomas has 4 kids that are either in High school or in college/university.
Mahona [photo] is enjoying his teaching position. He has a total of 78 students and is swamped. He lives at the orphanage and helps out there in the evenings and when he is free.
Tabora, April 7, 2024 Psalm 30:2 “ Lord my God, I called to you for help,
And you healed me.”
A quick update on Pastor Thomas and his son Justin.
Yesterday, a very relieved pastor Thomas came to my home to give me an update.
He had travelled with Justin and another son to Musoma to get to a better hospital. This is a 12-hour trip by bus. They stayed with the sister of his deceased wife, who lives there with her family. Unfortunately, the internet was not available there, so I didn’t get any news until yesterday.
There was a specialist in that hospital and they did a C.T. scan. Nothing unusual was found. The specialist thought that the fall Justin had when he had passed out, might have caused this confusion for Justin who still couldn’t understand Swahili and spoke only English.
He was given some medicine and the doctor advised them to have him take it for 2 more days and see if there would be an improvement.
Pastor Locas had to come back to Tabora and leave their sons in Musoma as he didn’t get permission from the bishop to stay longer. While he was on the bus on his way back, his other son called him to say that Justin had woken up and had greeted him in Swahili! He seemed to be back to his normal self but had no idea how he got to Musoma. The rest of his memory was fine again.
Pastor Thomas also let me know that something like this had happened before while Justin was at school in Form 6. Justin was walking to his class when he became confused and also spoke only in English. This was about 2 years ago. They never found out the cause of this.
As there was no diagnosis, I advised Pastor Thomas to write this history down in case this happens again.
We prayed and thanked God for His wonderful love and the healing of Justin.
I gave the Pastor the bus fare and he will bring me the list of hospital costs , C.T. scan, etc.
Pastor Thomas and I want to thank each one who prayed for him and Justin and his family.
Also, a big thanks for the donations. There will be enough to refund all the costs!
This morning I went to the church and met up with Bishop Lusato. He told me that the son of Pastor Lucas Thomas is in the hospital. The pastor’s son had fallen and lost consciousness. He was taken to the hospital and had a brain scan done. So far no one knows what has caused this. He is very confused and cannot speak any Swahili…his first language. He only speaks English. His name is Justin. He started his first year in university.
Pastor Thomas lost his wife last year while I was in Canada. I had the family over for a dinner after I had returned from Holland. (I had put a picture of the dinner in my Dec. 2023 news letter)
Pastor Thomas is still struggling with the grief he has over losing his wife. Justin keeps asking about his mom. He said: Someone told him that she had died. He cannot recall this and keeps asking his dad about her. One can sense the grief and mixed feelings this man is suffering. Please pray for him and for the proper care for Justin.
The bishop and I went together to the hospital and found Justin very confused. He only speaks English and looks very confused when someone speaks Swahili with him. He doesn’t understand ! He doesn’t know how and why he is in the hospital.
A big problem is that with the meagre salaries’ pastors get, Pastor Thomas has not been able to buy medical insurance. Now that he is in the hospital he cannot get it or I would have paid for it. Justin will most likely be referred to a hospital in Dar es Salaam. Travel and hospital cost will be quite a bit.
I hope and pray that church members will step up and help out. I will do the best I can and besides praying also financially. God is able! Please join us in prayer for this family!
“ He is not here, he has risen!” Luke 24: 6
What a message to receive! The women went to the grave never expecting an angel to greet them with this message. The angel reminded the women that Jesus had predicted his death and resurrection. Mark: 8 31, Matthew 17:22 - 23, Luke 9:22.
In John16:16-22 Jesus also speaks of his death and resurrection in a different way. He tells his disciples that they won’t see him for a time. But that they will see him after a little while. Their will grieve but sorrow will turn into joy.
As Christians we feel the sorrow over the terrible ways our Savior gave His life for us. But Easter comes and we rejoice because: He lives!!
I wish everyone of you a very blessed Easter!
I also want to thank each of you for your prayers and support! I am always amazed as how the Lord has provided for me and my kids, (Some young adults by now),for so many years! We never lack anything and we do not take this for granted!
Here is a quick update on everyone:
Mahona is very busy with teaching part-time at the Secondary school and is enjoying this very much. In Tabora are many deaf and blind people. There is a school for deaf and blind children. In his secondary school there are some deaf students and he is thrilled that he is now learning sign language. He was to stop working at the orphanage but he is still working there as the managers ae in Ireland. The husband has heart problems and needs a pace maker. As they are short staffed Mahona is continuing helping out.
Margreth continues to hold the fort and is doing well. So is little Euphoria.
Mfaume has passed his exams and is now into his final semester! I pray that he will succeed and finish well and will be able to get a permanent job. He sends me Christian messages at times. Pray that these will speak to him and have him turn his life over to Christ.
Ngassa has had some struggles over the past month. He has been doing well at repairing office machines but he ran into a nasty customer who cheated him out of his money and had Ngassa locked up by lying to a fake cop. Anyhow, a pastor friend helped him resolve the issue. I did have to send extra money to pay for a fine.
He is doing OK for now, but he gets very few jobs for now. I hope he will do a diploma course so he can get a permanent job with a company. I am not sure he will do this but I leave it up to him. I have set some boundaries to let him know that I will give him some time to either become independent or do the course. During his studies I will pay for his studies but is he chooses to be independent and follow his own way the support will stop after 3 months. If he chooses the course I will pay for this and after he finishes I will help him for another 3 months.
Jacky has her hands full with preparing for her Form 4 exam. Naomi and I are taking care of Daniel, who is very active and getting into some mischief. We better start looking for him when things become quiet! 😊 There is a bit of concern regarding Daniel as he has episodes about once a month or every 2 months of waking up during the night screaming. His body is then ridged, his legs stretched straight. He screams and cries but doesn’t seem to see us. His eyes turned upwards. Sometimes it lasts for 10 minutes but sometimes longer. Jacky will take him to a specialist next week.
Kiri is doing field in Morogoro for her animal health studies. For her last exams she received A’s! She calls daily and is quite happy.
Baraka is doing better now that he can be home for the weekends and gets proper meals. His marks are improving and he is more serious about his studies.
Faraja came home on Thursday. He walked into the house with a huge smile on his face at 10 am…He was put on the bus in Kahama around 5 am. Soon after coming home, he had something to eat and went to bed. His marks are good. He got division 2 which is OK, but for entering university he should get division 1.
The Bible school is going well. But we do not have enough students to help pay the cost of running the school and paying the teachers. I am happy that most of the students are improving I their studies. I promised the ones whit marks above 60 that they will get a soda. Sodas are special as most cannot afford a soda. This seemed to motivate them and their marks started to go up. Now, several of the students get marks above 70, 80 and one gets above 90 %! They have gone home for the Easter break. When they get back I hope to motivate them without the help of a soda!
I myself am doing OK. In February we had a lovely women’s retreat in Dar with the women from AIM. We had a relaxed retreat with worship, Bible teaching, sharing, having fun, enjoying the beach, the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore and swimming in the pool.
I returned to Dar after another week as I started to feel pressure on my right eye. I went to the international eye clinic where I got a nice surprise: One of the orphans, we had sponsored in the HIV/AIDs program is the accountant there and she recognized me. She reminded me of who she was and expressed her love and gratitude for helping her. Her name is Mwangaza (shed light)
My eye pressure was OK but I have some other indications that show that I may get Glaucoma…this is not sure and I have to go back in about 6 months. However, I am not worried as I was told this about 9 years ago and my eye sight is not bad, except for my optic nerve. There are days that I see double or triple. It comes and goes. I don’t drive when it gets that way.
These are the latest from Tabora. Thanks again for all care!
I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying longer days and warmer temperatures. Here in the Lower Mainland warmer temperatures have been slow in coming, but the gardens and birdlife are behaving like we’ve turned a
corner into spring...
Last Wednesday I was hit walking across the bike lane, and ended up with a broken wrist (right)-- only! Slowed down considerably, but grateful (didn't break my glasses, head or hip-- all more than possible).
I've been swamped... I wish it weren't so. There are so many hurting people-- our culture is crazy. Fortunately many are finding their way to Christ-- or rather, He's drawing many out of the darkness and into His loving Light, truth and goodness!
They will not leave Mexico tomorrow as scheduled.
“Our latest plan is to wait until the way is clear. Everyone told us to wait. We called people who are inside the country. Many, many people have had their resident permission cancelled. Was difficult to make this decision.”
Please click below for our recent McCordic Musings newsletter.