Come and visit!

For the first time this summer, rather than just seeing our interns off at the airport, we accompanied them to America! We have now arrived in Searcy, and are settling into our house at 608 Woodruff St. (The brick doubles just across from the new girls dorms). We'd love to have a visit from any of you at any time. You can recognize our house by the huge Togo flag flying under the tree in our front yard. We will be in Searcy until Saturday, July 22nd, and will be back for the beginning of school on August 13th. When we get our phone number we will post it on the blog.

We hope our home can be for you a place of refuge, a place where you can hang out with a real-life family when you need a break from dorm life or roommates. We'd also love to have babysitters from time to time! We are excited to hear about all of your adventures from this summer and to join with you in prayer for your futures. We are on the edge of our seats watching to see the great things God will do with each of you!

WOw, what a summer!

I can't even begin to explain all that this summer has meant to me, but it has truly been one of the best summers of my life. The relationships I have built can not be replaced nor can the experiences. God has been showing me so much and I'm so excited (if a bit scared and uncertain) about the future.
The TZ girls just finished our independent survey in Amsterdam. WOW! Such an amazing week. God was really guiding us and introducing us to some amazing people. We had the opportunity to see missions in an entirely different and unique context. Amsterdam is so hungry. The people there are desperately searching for something and they need to know Christ so badly. We had the opportunity to visit several existing ministries and talk with Christians (not much older than us) who are living and serving as missionaries in Amsterdam. I think sometimes we forget that the "Western World" is also a mission field, but this week God has opened my eyes to the overwhelming need in Western Europe and particularly the Netherlands.

The summer is almost gone and it feels like we've just arrived

Only one full day left for the TZ. interns here in Mwanza. This summer has flown by. It feels like I've just arrived, but that I've known these people forever. 24 hours from now we will have to say goodbye to this place and the families here and I honestly think it may be one of the hardest goodbyes for me ever. I miss home and I'm excited to be back at school, but I am so content here now. I have no idea where I will go after this year. I had hoped that this summer would answer that question for me, but it has really just raised more questions and opened even more possibilities. No matter where I end up, I am so thankful for the experiences I have had and the relationships I have built here.

Two big weekend

We have just completed two major experiences in our internship here in Tanzania: Bonding and Safari. Two drastically different experiences that both showed us to much. For me bonding was a time to face my fear, it's something that I've been struggling with a lot this year. It's the silly things that I shouldn't give a second thought to, but for some reason have been freaking me out like snakes and spiders and getting sick. (to name a few). At bonding I couldn't hide or runaway from the little fears or the big ones. There were definitly some freak out moments for me, but God got me through those things and gave me some great experiences to go with it. One of the highlights was making shadow puppets with our flashlights for like all the kids in the village. You never think that something that small will get that kind of response. It was also a time where I was shown things I hadn't thought about before. There are things that are so small or common place that we don't even think about them, but have huge significance in another culture and I learned that lesson the hard way. I had an ankle bracelet that I've worn for years and never really thought about it, but on bonding my host family noticed it and asked Calvin Groen when he picked us up, what it was because to them it was a protection againist witchcraft. I felt so horrible because it was something I had never even considered. Thankfully Calvin explained it was just for decoration and no one was upset, but needless to say I'm no longer wearing the anklet.
The second major event was Safari to the Serengeti. All I could think as we drove around was "Wow, what an awesome and creative God we serve!" The best part of safari was just being surrounding by the wonder of God's creation.
There is so so so much more to say, but I'm running out of time at the internet cafe so I have to cut it short.I hope all of you are having amazing experiences. You are in our prayers.
-Michelle

Wandeyla (spelled something like that)

Wandeyla (Good Afternoon in Sukuma),
It seems that updates from the TZ. interns will be few and far between due to power rationing and the fact that the phone lines in our part of Mwanza have recently stopped working. So the girls at least have to come into town to use the internet:). Hakuna Matata! Anyway, things are going pretty well here. We just finished up our focus on urban ministry. We didn't really get to do much as far as ministry is concerned because all of the missionaries working in the city are very new, but we got to learn a lot about the start up of a work. Our "Urban Challenges" have consisted of things like going to market and purchasing specific items, collecting as many greetings in different languages as we can get (there are a lot of different languages beyond English, Swahili, and Sukuma spoken here), and getting to town and back on our own (we've gotten pretty good at that one - we like to come to town on our days off).
This week we began our time with rural ministry with Calvin Groen. Yesterday we had the opportunity to join him as we visited a brand new preaching point with some of the leaders from other church plants in the south. The country here is beautiful and it was wonderful to be out beyond the city. Going out to the villages is a wonderful experience, but at times is frustrating for us because we don't understand what's going on. Please pray for us as we begin our study of Sukuma (we began this morning) and pray that we will not be frustrated by our lack of understanding when we are in the villages. One of the things that I am finding very different from my experiences last summer on internship is the fellowship that we are getting to share with the Christians here. Everywhere we go we are invited for a meal and while it is sometimes hard to eat, the hospitality and generousity that is shown by the people here is overwhelming. Another thing that all of us are really enjoying (and I am sure many of you are having similar experiences) is the joy of small children. I think the person who put the little screen on the back of the digital cameras, is a genius, because we are having the best time watching the reactions of the children when we show them a picture of themselves.
The missionaries here are wonderful and I am learning so much from them. Sometimes it is frustrating to just watch, but I know that this experience is helping me to shape me so much.
Please keep us in your prayers. This weekend we will be heading out to bonding and will be attending a sort of "Tent Revival" where various church choirs will be singing. We have been dubbed "The Choir from America" and will also be singing which may be a really hilarious event. I hope that all of you are having an amazing experience. God Bless.
-Michelle

Hey Everyone,
We have arrived safely and are having a great time here. It is so beautiful here and the people are wonderful. We got to spend a night out in one of the villages and had some really wonderful experiences. We also had our first village eating experience (Yes, the rumor is true we did in fact eat Goat Testicle.)
We are learning Swahili and all of us can at least do basic greetings and buy stuff in the market. We had an interesting adventure in the clothing market Friday when a guy tried to cheat Emily and we ended up in "market court". It was quite an experience having everyone yelling in Swahili and not having a clue what was going on.
Sorry we haven't posted sooner, but we have power rationing here so e-mail isn't as regular as we would like. We are praying for you all.
-Michelle

Exploring the Heights of Kabiyeland

Here is a picture of the Togo interns on a recent hike in the Kabiye mountains. We are really enjoying hosting them, and look forward to hearing news from the other intern groups!