We are within 50 days of flying out but that has not slowed us down much at all.   Things in January were as busy as ever and possibly muddier than ever.  This is normally the dry season but thus far, it has rained almost every day since November!   While the cows at the farm are appreciating the extra greenery, it is causing issues with planting and travel in different areas across East Africa.  Prayers for a break in the rain for a few weeks to get the seeds in the ground and then for it to rain again would be greatly appreciated!   The farm is doing well with the broiler project but much of the farm is very water logged.  On the positive side,  carrots, greens, onions and eggplant are still being harvested in mass quantity!  Praise God!

Phillip had a big traveling month visiting many of the congregations over an eight day trip across northern Tanzania with Daniel Gaines, Abby Gaines and others.  He has spent many months of our time here working to help coordinate efforts between the need for church buildings, Bibles, song books and chairs in different areas and support coming from the states.  It was an uplifting trip for him to get to see in person so many of the things that he has worked on via phone, email and texts.  He was humbled to be offered a cow and other gifts as thanks for his work in helping make these things possible.  (No, he didn’t accept the cow as luggage space was limited. 🙂 )  They were able to visit about fifteen congregations.  Three have had buildings built (or are having buildings built) through work between the local preachers, Phillip and Huntingdon church of Christ.  Bibles and songbooks have been purchased for several congregations thanks to supporters and chairs have also been made available.  We praise God for the work that has been accomplished and are humbled to have been used in these ways.

I have been working to help wrap up some of the work I have been doing with the women and see what may help things continue well when we are gone.  The children’s teachers at Kisongo asked me to teach a “Teacher Planning” lesson in two Saturdays to help them be able to teach the two children’s classes better.  Prayers that this will be effective are appreciated.  Due to the massive amount of rain, mud and our car having some issues,  I have not been able to make it to my Bible study but hope to resume those as soon as the car can make it.   I am also in the middle of lists, packing things, selling things, giving away things….so many things….to get ready to move continents again!

Since we have been home more than normal we have been able to finish up some school work, do a few crafts and teach some more cooking lessons.  It wasn’t what we had planned this month but it has been a blessing as everyone is on edge with the upcoming move.  We also got a surprise when we were invited to meet Jane Goodall at a friends museum!  We always enjoy our time at Cultural Heritage Museum and talking with the family who owns it so this was some added fun to our time here.

Kisongo’s building is nearly finished and the youth group is doing well.  Phillip has turned that all over to Rodrick and Shadrack and it is great to watch it keep going.  They meet every Saturday and do cleaning in or around the building and then have a Bible lesson.  They also have a lesson on Sunday.  The group size fluctuates greatly as boarding schools are common here and like it said, the mud/rain has been unreal.

We thank you all for your support and encouragement over our time here and are looking forward to what God has next.

In Him,
Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan
For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:

Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com
Or:
Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”)

This is going to be a November and December update.  I apologize for the delay, some months just run like that.  You’ll have to read to the end of the post to find out the BIG news!  😉

We rotated through several illnesses in November so the greatest achievement we can verbalize well is that it is ALL cleared up!  Thank you God!  Saying that, we were also insanely busy when we weren’t trying to decide who had what sickness.  haha!  November is a hot month here below the equator but this year it also came with quite a bit of rain.  Thankfully our windows finally stopped leaking in one room (we don’t know why but aren’t asking either), it has been avocado and mango season (YUM!) and with all the rain we have only been without running water ONE day in two months!  It’s the “little” things.  😉

In November Phillip worked with the farm to help smooth out some kinks in the budget, helped get the Kisongo church building moving again and dealt with funding between the states and here.  All of that may not sound like a lot but it does take up quite a bit of time.  Thankfully we have many great people to work with and things are coming along so well.  The youth class is being taught by Rodrick and Shadrack on Saturday and Sunday and we are so thankful for God’s blessing on this goal.  Phillip and Shadrack are still working on the curriculum to be used in either adult or youth classes and have the main outline laid out along with several of the lessons written.  They also hosted a futbol (soccer) day for the youth and had a HUGE turnout…along with a LOT of rain.  Fun was had by all but it was a little shorted than planned.   Phillip was also honored to be asked to speak at Temeki church of Christ in Dar Es Salam.  They were hosting a seminar on “Knowing That We are Growing As Christians” and asked Phillip to come give two lessons.  He always enjoys his time with the congregations there and was encouraged by those there.

While he was busy working on all of that, I have been able to get some of my Bible studies combined as there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do what I did last year.  Last year I was doing 3-5 Bible studies per week.  These take anywhere from 2-4 hours per day because of travel time, out roads, etc and while I loved studying Hebrews that much, the boys did not get much schooling done.  This time around I have been able to bring several of my studies together to help keep them going but also allow me to do school and be home more than I was last year.  Last year I took them all through Hebrews and this time we are going through James.  It has been truly helpful to me to study this much and I enjoy my time with all of the women I have been able to study with here.  I am forever in debt to Vivian and Cecilia for helping me by co-teaching/translating for all of these studies and more.

We were blessed to be able to celebrate so much in November and December!  We had Thanksgiving with some American friends, Phillip and I taught for a week at Youth Camp, Phillip taught the next week at Future Preacher Training Camp, ACSOP graduated twenty preachers and we celebrated with Rodrick at his wedding!  It was a busy and blessed two months!  We finished off 2019 and started 2020 having to leave TZ to get the boys permits renewed.  We were able to have a great holiday with some friends from another mission work and get the year off to a great start!

Now for the BIG NEWS!!

We have been praying to God and talking/working with many different people but we have finally gotten word that we will not be able to get the boys residence permits for Tanzania.  There are many different things that go into this but after a LOT of prayer and work by us and several others, we have decided to move back to the USA at the end of March.  There are a million emotions and thoughts that go into this decision but we have decided that this is where God is leading.

God has blessed us with being able to work through the goals that we felt would be the most helpful here plus some extras we didn’t know He had planned!   I’m going to list them out because with us leaving early it’s easy for us to feel like we haven’t done what God needed us to do.  This list is as much for us as it is for you to see how big God is in a much smaller timeframe than we expected.

• Phillip, Rodrick, Shadrack and others have been able to get the youth class at Kisongo stabilized and moving in a great direction.  Over TWENTY of the youth (ages 12-30) have been baptized over the last two years through this work!  They meet for a class on Saturdays and Sundays, are encouraging each other to stay strong even when their families aren’t faithful and helping them learn to study God’s word and do God will.
• Phillip and Agustine’s work with the farm’s raised bed crop rotation, enlarging the chicken broiler project and getting the budgeting under control have made a huge difference and things are looking really good there!
• I have been able to turn the Sunday morning women’s class over to the women of Kisongo and they are doing a great job!
• The Kisongo church building wasn’t something we thought we were going to be working with but thanks to God and so many people on different continents, we should have it completed before we flyout!
• The women I have been studying with have helped me come such a long way and I can see so many possitive changes in them!  I cannot begin to express how proud and thankful I am for each of them!
• There are a million other little things that I cannot begin to list, including changes and strengthening through God in us, but we are grateful for our time here and all that we have been able to be used to accomplish.

All of that to say, our lives are about to get a little…lot…crazier over the next few months as we try to finish out what we need to do with the work, sell things, pack things, say goodbye, etc.  We are asking for prayers for several different things from all of you.  These are things that are bigger than us, but not bigger than God.

Pray Request List:

• Peace…lots and lots of peace
• Wisdom…lots and lots of wisdom
• Grace…given, recieved, and felt.
• The Christians here as they get to take more ownership of things here.  They are fully capable, but change is difficult for everyone.
• A job in the USA- We are hoping to not go back into teaching for Phillip so if you have leads for jobs please message us!
• Micah and Nathan- While they did live in America, two years out of six and eight years is a lot of life lived outside of the USA.  They are excited and anxious about this move to a “new” country.  Prayers for them to have peace during a LOT of change.
• Whatever else you can think of because my brain is a little on overload right now and I am sure there is something big I’m forgetting.

We will be sending out an email to our monetary supporters asking that they keep sending support until June or Phillip gets a job.  Lord willing that will not take long but just to give ourselves a little time to get back into America.  We are currently planning to move back to the house in middle Georgia but are willing to relocate if God opens other doors.  Our fly out date for Tanzania is March 23.  We will take a few days break/cushion the changes in Europe before landing in Atlanta, GA on March 30th.

In Him,
Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan

For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:
Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com

Or:

Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”)

After a great break in the USA seeing friends and family, we arrived back in TZ to new banana trees in our yard and an amazing cake on our table.   Once again, we were reminded of how thankful we are for our friends here in TZ.  While in America we were able to see lots of friends and family, meet some people at congregations that we had only met via the internet and get some much needed time to rest and regroup.  We also had a great report on Nathan from his muscular dystrophy doctor but we did learn that his doctor will be retiring in the coming year or so.  Please be in prayer that we are able to find another great doctor to help us navigate this craziness.

 

 

The first weekend we were back in Tanzania was filled with the Tanzanian Leadership Conference (TLC) being hosted at ACSOP.  The theme this year was “All Christians are Leaders” and was attended by many Christians from all over east Africa.  After TLC finished up, Phillip drove Brad Whinery out to several congregations in the Usa River and Maji ya Chi areas.   This led to Phillip going back out to the Lerai congregation area several times to help with different Bible studies that led to a baptism into Christ!

 

 

Kisongo church has been busy over the last few months.  The Kisongo Christians have been teaching classes and working on local evangelism.  Every Sunday there are five classes that happen at Kisongo: two children’s classes (one for older kids and one for younger kids), a teen class, a new converts class, a women’s class and a men’s class.  While we were gone to America all of these were taught by Tanzanians and while we do plan to be available to help, we do not plan to take back over the classes.  Our goal over the last year has been to help them see that they don’t need us to do what God has told them to do.  We are proud of the people overcoming their fear of doing something new.  Fear is problem for everyone but fear isn’t from God.  Growing into a new work isn’t easy but it is what God calls to do.

Phillip and Rodrick have been working over the last year to help improve the teen class. Shadrack is now helping with this work. They teach a weekly Saturday class, that is sometimes learning and sometimes just for fun, and a Sunday morning class. It has been great to see this grow so well. When boarding school is out there are as many as 40 teens in class! At least 14 of the teens have chosen to be baptized over the last year and they are working hard to grow in Him.

Phillip has also worked over the last year to design a four year curriculum that is useful here for teen and adult classes. He has now handed the curriculum outline over to Shadrack who has gotten that part translated and they will continue to write lessons for this resource. Lord willing, this will get put together into a usable resource for teen and adult classes. It is designed to take people through the Bible over four years and as Swahili resources are sparse, Lord willing this will help many people through the area. We are so thankful for Shadrack and Rodrick’s wiliness to work to help this work grow.

The women at Kisongo have started gathering money to take food to those who have lost loved ones in the month and I am trying to help them get organized to visit those who are struggling physically or spiritually.  We are encouraged by their desire to help others and pray that we are able to help them in this work.

 

While we were gone, Agustine and the farm workers were very busy and Ishmael did a good job keeping up the books.   While they are still ironing out some kinks in book keeping (as farms are always changing), it is going very well.  Our goal of having the farm on a budget is looking very realistic which is encouraging.  This past month they harvested 200 lbs of carrots, 200 lbs of onions, along with eggplant and greens (somewhat like collards and mustard greens).  All of this was given to the school to use now or freeze for future use.  The greenhouse was repaired so that it can keep growing tomatoes and peppers and the 3 month financial report was completed.  The report showed great numbers for the farm and its helpfulness to the school.  The broiler project is going very well and keeping the school well supplied with chicken.  There are still 35 bags of corn available for the school to use in making ugali (think thick grits) and makande (bean and hominy stew).  The raised bed rotation that Agustine created is working well and allowing for the school to have a more sufficient and consistent supply of vegetables year round.

 

As for things going on with the boys and around our house, we are getting back into the swing of life here and working to get some things moving again.  We are working to get caught up on some school work that we let slip before furlough…because life happens.  We also spent the weekends mourning with some and celebrating with others.  We went with many other local Christians one weekend to help bury Charles Hebreth’s brother near the Kenyan boarder.  Another weekend we got to help celebrate Vivian, Agustine’s oldest daughter, graduating form 4 (about the equivalent to USA 10th grade I think) and celebrate with Justini and Nema (Kisongo Christians) in renewing their wedding vows.  I helped (a little) decorate for the vow renewal and that is always in experience no matter where in the world you are.  🙂  In case you are wondering, men who help women decorate for a wedding on any continent have a special place in heaven.  😉  It is also the time of year that the jacaranda trees and African tulip trees bloom here.  Jacaranda trees bloom a beautiful purple and African tulip trees are a vibrant red.   I love how the trees are not anything to notice normally, but when they bloom they are something beautiful to behold.

Thank you all for your  prayers, love, encouragement and support.  We pray you each continue to grow and to help others grow along with you.

In Him,
Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan

For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:

Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com

Or:

Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”)

While many of you in America are sweltering in the heat and dreaming of ice cream, we are in the middle of winter and digging out our jackets!   It truly does get cold here (ok, in the 70’s during the day and upper 50’s at night, but I’m cold :).   Thankfully it only rained during the first campaign’s time here and dried up nicely for the next two campaigns.  I do apologize for getting behind in posting by completely skipping last month but if you want to read up on a wonderful campaign that Central church of Christ from Augusta, GA helped with at Kisongo go to Anna Maynard’s blog.

Campaigns have kept us running since the middle of May and there has been some wonderful growth in so many people here. We have had groups here Montgomery, Alabama; Augusta, GA and Hoover, Alabama. There has been an exciting youth day, well received marriage seminar and over 20 baptisms! Between these new converts and the more than 20 baptisms that have happened already this year thanks to the never ending work of the Kisongo Christians, Kisongo is growing! Not everything that has happened has been easy, but we have seen so many Christians here step up into roles that they were previously uncomfortable filling. God is moving in mighty ways and we are excited to see who is willing to follow Him through this transition time.

Changes are always difficult at different points and with the Maynards moving back to America soon and us leaving on a two month furlough, we ask for prayers for the Christians here to do what God is leading them to do with wisdom, courage and initiative.We were so proud for Kisongo and all of the work and money that they put in to planning their campaigns.  There are enough people at Kisongo to handle translating which is a HUGE deal!  Many Kisongo Christians, along with others who came to participate from surrounding congregations, have been out doing studies for two months now!  Many have taken time off from jobs, house work, etc to make this happen.  The congregation donated money to feed lunch to those involved from TZ and the USA and the women cooked TONS of food to keep everyone going.

Those who aren’t able to translate went out on studies too.  This is so important.  It means so many things!  Most importantly it means that they realize that EVERYONE can do this, not just those who know English.  God speaks Swahili too!  It means that Christians and non-Christians alike got to study more.  It means that the Kisongo Christians worked together to make this happen.  This congregation is growing and we are so proud for them!  Several of the women I have been studying with and the men Phillip has been working with were out there working hard and it truly did our hearts good!

 

Phillip has been working with the youth and the youth teacher over the past year and thanks to God several of them have been baptized and are working to grow!  This past week Kisongo had one of the largest groups at a Youth Camp help in Mwanza.  The youth had a great time, learn much and a few more were baptized into Christ!  We are so thankful and excited for these youth.  They are a wonderful group to see as the up and coming church.  This picture is of the entire Youth Camp group from all over Tanzania.

Since Anna and I are both getting ready to leave we decided that the only sane thing to do it a three day Children’s Seminar (VBS)!  Ok, so maybe it wasn’t sane, but we had a great time and the kids enjoyed it!  We had the women come last week and help get crafts ready, decorations painted, etc and they came in number!  We had over 30 women come help us.  During the week of the seminar we had some of the youth come translate, decorate, teach, manage coloring and were overall great!  We had around 100 kids come the first night, 150 the second and 120 the last night.  We covered the fiery furnace, the lions den and the big fish!   Not bad for carboard, fishing line, paint and construction paper!

Even with all of the campaigns, there has still been work going on at the farm.  The broiler project is doing very well and providing more than enough meat for the school.  The vegetables in the raised beds are also doing well and providing greatly for ACSOP.  Several of the raised beds have been cleaned and are ready for replanting now.  Mchicha (a type of leafy green plant that is eaten here) seeds are also being dried now to be used for replanting.  Sunflowers from the greenhouse were recently harvested for cooking oil production.  Sweet potatoes were also grown and are being harvested on the farm. Sadly, the corn and most beans did not survive the drought.  Farming is the same all over the world.  Sometimes it is great and sometimes it rips your heart out.  Thankfully there has been a balance of both this year.  God’s plans are bigger than ours!

 

Another exciting development is the new Kisongo building!  With the help of many from the congregation here and in the states, the new Kisongo building is moving along quickly!  The roof is on, iron bars for windows are in, doors are hung, electricity is run, water for the baptistry is plumbed, glass for the windows is coming, and the walls are starting to be plastered very soon!  We have been able to meet in there several times but will have to wait until the rest of the construction is done before we can go in there again.  Lord willing that will be VERY soon!

This picture was taken about a month ago:

And this picture was taken today:

While Central coC was here we were able to get a BIG family photo!

Since we know that many of you keep up with us just to keep up with our kids (you know who you are :), then I wanted to let all of you know that the boys rocked campaign season!  Was it all easy?  No. Were we all worn out?  Yes.  Were there some sketchy parenting/child-ing moments? Also, yes.  BUT, we made it through with the help of God, friends from here and America and maybe some coffee and chocolate.  🙂   The boys learned how to make chipati (a local flat bread), saved chameleons, went on Bible studies, helped shop at the market, and played in all weather

We will be leaving for furlough in the near future, I will not be updating this blog until we get back here in October.  We will be taking Nathan to doctor’s appointments, presenting the work to a few congregations and seeing family and friends stateside.   While we love this work, we are also looking forward to this time to rest and regroup.

Phillip will be presenting the work at Byron church of Christ in GA on August 4th and at Huntingdon church of Christ in TN on August 25th.  We also plan to be at Polishing the Pulpit in TN (not presenting anything, just being there) for the whole week.   We hope to see many of you at one of those places! 

We do what to thank each of you for all of the prayers, encouragement, donations and help.  This past year (how has it been a YEAR?!) has been one of the most challenging, encouraging, growth educing, tear jerking, joy filled and wonderful years and we look forward to taking a breather so that we can come back in October ready to go again!

In Him,

Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan

For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:

Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com

Or:

Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”)

 

Some days, really most days, we need to step back and wipe our wind shields.   It’s so easy to lose focus of our purpose but really the danger falls when we lose focus of God’s purpose.  We see the mud that’s been thrown in our faces and forget that the important thing to focus on isn’t what right in front of us.   The things in front of use are minor compared to the glory that is beyond.   This month has been a month of seeing clearly the glory beyond and then having to remember to stop and wipe our wind shield.  The choice is always ours.

I will start off with what everyone has seen on facebook in the last few days.  We are all fine and as far as I know, no people near us were injured in this crazy weather.  So…This month the broiler project was going very well and the layers were doing their jobs fairly well too.  We were into the rhythm of butchering broilers weekly with some going to the school and some to be sold.  I will let you read Anna Maynard’s report on the flash flood that has changed our chicken set up dramatically. (Click here)   It isn’t all bad and we are using this time to get the chicken barn better ready to do it’s job.  Farming is just like this some days, even in America.

Earlier this month we were able to attend a long weekend missionary retreat in Kenya called InterMission.  It is hosted by former missionaries and it was a much needed time of rest.  We are very thankful for the people from the states who donated money to make this possible for all of us!  We met missionaries from all over east Africa and made great friendships.  The classes covered everything from Third Culture Kids, Furlough, RAFT (how to exit, for furlough or moving, well), burn out, etc.  They altered it for every age group to be able to understand and benefit from it.

The boys truly enjoyed their time there as the InterMission team focused on every member of the family with some great classes for everyone. We were given some books to help the kids put words to their life.  “It Will Be Ok: Trusting God Through Fear and Change” was a great one we got to borrow while there and “Swirly” was given to the boys as a gift.  At the end of the week the teachers wrote out a blessing for each of the kids in their class and it meant so much to both boys (and us).  Micah also got to be in his first play as the cup bearer in a play about Joseph.  He was very nervous but we were so proud as he overcame that fear and did a great job!  We were able to learn, discuss, relax, meet other missionaries and head back to Tanzania ready to keep going. 

Phillip has continued his work at the farm to help them keep track of expenses and Ishmael is doing a great job doing the book work on a daily basis.  We are now working to help the farm reevaluate some things after this flood to make the most of what we can do.  He is also doing Bible studies with some of the younger guys weekly and working to turn the Saturday and Sunday teen class over to one of the guys here.  We have to keep focused on working ourselves out of a job.  If anything we do is based on us and what we can do then it will not last.   If it is based on God and what He can do through the people here, then Lord willing it will keep going long after we are gone.

I have three separate weekly Bible studies going with different Christian women from Kisongo.  We are finishing up Hebrews in two of them and are about to start James.  Anna Maynard is teaching the Sunday morning women’s class until campaigns come as the Maynards are planning to move back to the states in July.

Campaigns should start coming May 11 with a smaller group and continue steadily through two more campaigns until the end of June.  Phillip will be helping do a seminar for the translators this coming Saturday to help everyone be ready for this busy season.  Prayers for everyone involved are greatly appreciated!

We thank you for being a part of this journey with us!

In Him,
Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan
For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:
Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com

Or:

Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”)

March was a month of waiting for something that never came on the farm but it was also a productive month for spiritual growth around Kisongo.  We got enough rain at the beginning of the month to get the corn and beans up and growing only to be followed by 4 weeks of nothing but heat and fall worms.  This is a problem for the ACSOP farm but a catastrophe for local farmers. On the positive side, we were able to get the broiler chicken program fully restarted this month.   Lord willing this will provide meat and some income for ACSOP and the farm.  Even though the fields aren’t growing like we hoped, we were able to see much growth in local Christians through some adversity.  It’s never fun to face trials but the growth has been a joy to witness in the Christians here.

Phillip and I have both continued our weekly Bible studies but in all honesty this month has been a month of “keepin on keepin on.”   We were constantly busy but it was much of the same work we did last month.   I know sometimes it’s easy to think that living in a foreign country is full of exotic experiences and dangerous situations and sometimes it is.  Sometimes though, it is just daily experiences that take longer than they would in America because of rough roads, piki pikis (motorcycle taxis known for their creative driving abilities), dala dalas (van taxis known for their insane driving abilites), difficult economic situations that lead to not being able to get the things we needed to get “quickly” and language barriers.  It’s just life with some extra time, dirt and coffee…not always in that order.  🙂

The boys are doing amazingly well.  We all have our good and bad days but we couldn’t ask for anything more with them.  They take on language barriers, electricity outages, water shortages and us being on the go often.   There are days that everything leads to tears and we take that has a good hint to take a break…sometimes the boys cry too.    Micah has lost his second tooth, Nathan finished one of his “school books” and they have gotten very good at catching bugs and cooking…hopefully not related activities.  Since Phillip and I will be busy during campaigns, we are trying to get through all of our school work before the middle of May…time will tell if we are successful.  For all who worry about the boys, our friend Angela comes and helps with the house and keeps the boys when needed.  She is a great blessing to our family and the boys love her.  SO have no fear, when I’m out and about, they are well cared for.

 

The boys are enjoying listening to audio books.  We are trying to limit screen time as we had fallen into a bad habit of too much staring at screens.  If you have any suggestions for chapter books, we would appreciate them!  They have listened to many Boxcar Children, Aesops Fables, some Magic Tree House, Sarah Plain and Tall, some Little House books, Caddie Woodlawn, etc. so any suggestions along those lines would be great!

 

Campaigns should begin coming in May and will continue until the middle of July so I promise things will get exciting around here soon!  We are continuing to pray for rain for all of Tanzania and would appreciate any prayers that you all could send.  Thank you for taking the time to catch up with us and please keep the work and the Christians here in your prayers.  If you have room on your prayer list, you can add us too!

In Him,
Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan
For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:
Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com
Or:
Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”)

 

 

 

Having my parents here was definitely a large part of what we loved about the beginning of February!  Beyond the fun of having some of our US family meet our TZ family, seeing the farm progressing and the Christians here growing was wonderfully rewarding.  The Maynards came back from furlough and brought with them her sister and brother in law who also helped things progress at the farm (and it was great to meet them too).

February was a busy month for farming here in Kisongo.   If you have enough water, you can farm year round in this part of Tanzania but water is not easily available out in this area so we use drip irrigation on the raised beds and for the green house.  For the larger fields we have to wait for the rains to come.   The rains are slowly heading this way and Lord willing we will have enough but not too much to cause flooding.  Dad got the fields tilled and ready to be planted and Agustine got them planted.  We were also able to harvest the two rows of carrots only to discover that the crop had been much more than we had anticipated!  75kg total!  Each row is enough for a month of meals at the school.  The farm workers also got another two rows planted so Lord willing we will have another round of carrots ready when those run out.  Much of that will depend on what the rains do.   We also cleaned out the green house and harvested 8 kg of green peppers and 45 kg of tomatoes to make way for sunflowers to help cut the cost of feed for the chickens.

Joe, Dad, Justin and others got the young banana trees split from the adult ones and have gotten the larger trees cleaned up to help encourage production.   All of the other trees are growing well in the orchard and more ditches have been dug to try to keep flooding from re-occurring.  The papaya are still producing well along with the greens and other vegetables in the raised bed.

 

Phillip has been holding a bi-weekly Bible study with some of the younger Christian men along with his weekly Saturday and Sunday teen class.   He was also invited to go to Dar es Salam to help teach at a Leadership Seminar over the last weekend in February.  This went very well and it was encouraging for him to see the church working and growing in other areas of Tanzania.  He was also able to visit the radio show that is hosted in Dar and broadcasted across much of TZ.

I have continued my two weekly Bible studies with Christian women and am hoping to add another one soon.  We are studying through Hebrews in both of those studies and I hope they have been learning as much as I have been learning.  I have also continued to teach the women’s class on Sunday mornings at Kisongo.   We are going over different subjects that are important to help them do personal evangelism but also to help them KNOW what they believe.  Thanks to my mom being here we actually have pictures of me teaching!  🙂

The boys have had a big month with my parents here, helping at the farm, making friends at Shanga (a local business that employs disabled locals), doing school and nature studies on the local wildlife.

 

Micah has decided that his new love is photography so I’ve promised him that I would include some of his pictures he took recently.

 

 

With a full month of farming and evangelism this month has flown by!   God has blessed so many things here, though not always in the way we would hope.  His ways are higher than our ways and His ways are always better.

Prayers for good rains and a productive harvest are appreciated.  Thank you for following along on this adventure!  We pray that you are all well!

In Him,
Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan
For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:
Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com
Or:
Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”

BUT we made it!  😉  This report will be a little shorter than normal as we were sick for two weeks on and off.  While this slowed us down as a family, the work here and the plants on the farm kept right on moving.  For this we are extremely thankful and praise God for that daily.  The concern and love we have been shown both here and from the states has been extremely encouraging to us.   Several of the Christians that we worship with came over to pray with us and for us and we have been contacted by many others checking on us.   God has truly blessed us with a wonderful Christian family around the world.   Thankfully we are healed up and back at it now!

 

Summer weather has finally come and with it plenty of heat and little rain.  January has been a time of maintaining what was done at the end of December and prepping to till and plant the large fields.   The carrots, peppers and tomatoes are doing SO well!   The carrots and this variety of tomatoes are new crops for the farm.  The carrots are growing long and straight, indicating that the soil is soft (not easy to do here) and has the right nutrients (also not easy to accomplish)!  I was able to teach the workers on the farm how to plant the carrots and they should be planting two more rows next week to start a rotation of carrots.  Lord willing, this will provide the school with a continual supply.  Carrots are in MANY of the recipes that are used here so this should help cut costs for the school.   The workers have also planted some of the onion seeds that we harvested a few months ago and they are growing well!   This means that we no longer have to buy onion seeds and so cutting some costs from the farm.  Farming will either teach you reliance on God and patience or it will drive you insane.   Some days it is a toss up as to which you have decided upon.  🙂

The orchard is doing very well!  Several papayas have been harvested for the school and there is already a large bunch of bananas on one of the trees.   The farm workers have gotten the trees cleaned up and there are many suckers (young banana trees) coming up beside the original ones.   This is a great sign for future crops!   I also showed the farm workers how to trim the moringa trees to increase leaf production.  The trees always look terrible just after trimming, but they are now putting on many new leaves and look great.  It’s a good analogy to God working in our lives….it seems like there is a Bible verse about that… Moringa trees are completely edible but the farm will only harvest the leaves and the seeds for the school to add to meals.  If you have time, you should check out this incredible plant!  It has some amazing stats for nutritional value!  There are many websites talking about it and you may want to use it yourself!  We use it daily.

Phillip has continued with his teen class on Saturday and Sunday morning.  He is hoping to turn it over to some of the men who have been helping him so that he can help them maintain it and take ownership of this essential work.   Phillip was also able to start a new Bible study with several of the young adult men this month.  They meet two to three times per week with the topic “The Life of Christ”.   This has been encouraging to Phillip and the men seem to be enjoying it and learning from it.  Phillip has also been put on a rotation with the other local preachers to go to different congregations and preach on different topics.  Phillip’s topic is “Importance of Worship” and he has been pared with E. Kashumba.   Their first congregation to visit is Kioga and we will be going there this coming Sunday.  Prayers for wisdom and receptive hearts for this chain of seminars.

Phillip was also able to go see and help with the raised bed gardening classes that Kashumba does all over Tanzania.   This one was at a local school and the students worked hard getting the beds finished before it poured down rain.   The goal is not only to help the school provide vegetables for the students, but to also to teach the students a better and more effective way of farming.

I have been maintaining the Bible studies that I have been doing for some time now.  We are going over the book of Hebrews in both of them.  I am fairly certain that I am growing as much as the ladies I am studying with.   Ladies class at Kisongo is going extremely well.  At first I had them choose topics to cover each week.   This was very helpful to me because I had to go back and restudy many of these topics but also because I was able to learn more about the women here.   Right now we are going over verses to help them do Bible studies with their neighbors.

 

The boys are enjoying having my parents here and are continuing in school very well.   Their Swahili is getting better and they will probably know more than Phillip or I before this is over!   Both boys have discovered a love for coloring the “adult type coloring books” and we were blessed with many friends from the states sending us gifts that are greatly appreciated (coloring books included)!

We thank each of you for your love, support and encouragement.   Without God this would be impossible and without each of you this would be difficult.  God bless each of you!

In Him,
Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan
For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:

Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com
Or:
Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”)

December- February is summer here in Tanzania.   This usually also means that it is the dry season but this year has been an oddity with several intense rains resulting in green grass, tons of weeds at the farm and cooler temperatures.  Though not the “Christmas weather” we are used to in the northern hemisphere, it has been a great month for work at the farm and work with two youth camps along with our normal work.

Two weeks in December were filled with Future Preacher Training Camp (FPTC) and Youth Christian Camp (YCC) hosted at Andrew Connally School of Preaching.  FPTC was attended by 70+ young men from several countries and taught by many excellent teachers.   The theme this year was “Yakobo: Imani na Matendo” (James: Faith and Works).   Phillip was asked to teach several of the classes for this week.   Many of the young men who attended FPTC also stayed for YCC the next week.

YCC was attended by 170+ young men and women from different countries.  The theme for this week was “Miwani Ya Kiroho” (Spiritual Glasses) and Phillip and I both had the honor of teaching.   Phillip co-taught the 13-15 year old boys class and I taught the 18-21 year old girls class.  John Rice and Burt Fuller came in from the states to help coordinate/teach and we enjoyed getting to meet them.

Micah, Nathan and I enjoyed the opportunity to help serve meals to the students several times a day.  During YCC Micah also chose to be baptized.  He has been asking questions for quite some time and after many long talks he decided this was the time.  He and 31 other young people put on Christ in baptism over the course of the two weeks.  Each of those baptized were given Swahili Bibles to help them grow in their new walk.  These weeks were both exhausting and encouraging.  So many people are involved in making things like this happen with us only playing a small part and it was wonderful to see it come together.

The farm has been changing quickly this month.  After the rains stopped, many days were required to weed the raised beds that were staying and clear/re-build the beds that needed to be restarted.  We are trying to help the farm and the school work together to cut food costs for the school.  If you have ever tried to coordinate garden produce and menu you can begin to appreciate how complicated this can be but on a larger scale.   Agustine, the farm manager, was finally able to get 200 broiler chicks just this week after not being able to refill this need for some time.  The mchaichai (lemongrass) has grown beyond anyone’s expectations and is now being sold to local people.    Eggpants, carrots, onions, peppers, greens, okra and tomatoes are now growing well and will Lord willing be able to help the school cut costs soon.  The orchard is maturing well also with some papaya getting close to being ripe.

Though most of our month was filled with camps and farming in December, we also kept up our local encouragement studies, were able to attend the areawide singing at Arusha church and do two Saturdays for the youth at Kisongo.  The studies seem to be helping the people we are studying with grow closer to God and our church family but we know that they are helping us.  Phillip is planning to start a larger Bible study soon with several of the Christian men who live around us.  I will continue my weekly studies Lord willing.  The singing at Arusha was well attended and very encouraging.   The panoramic picture below shows those who attended the singing and the full car picture is from our ride over and back.  I was also able to get pictures of some of the girls who attend our youth days and some of the women that I get to study with.

Even with all of the excitement this month we were able to find some time for relaxing (and school).   Our tree is a metal frame wrapped in banana leaves to look like a baobab tree with lights shaped like pineapples bc….Africa.  We truly enjoyed our Christmas here but yes, we did miss the states.   We baked gingerbread cookies and other yummy foods and enjoyed our day.   Our rabbits also FINALLY had babies!  Four babies have survived but no, they have not been named.

 

We appreciate all of you prayers, encouragement and support and we hope you all had a wonderful month!

In Him,

Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan

For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:
Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com
Or:
Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”

November was a month full of highs and lows in our part of the world.  We started off the month sadly having to send our guest, Olivia Barnes, back to the states since her time here was over.  She was a great asset to the work here and to our family.  Andrew Connally School of Preaching also had graduation at the end of November.  We miss the students and are praying for those who have just graduated but look forward to seeing the returning students in February.

Phillip is working daily with the farm at Andrew Connally.  Several months ago he  developed the book-keeping protocol for farm expenses and has since turned most of the pencil work over to the farm secretary, Ishmael.  Phillip will continue to help track the different expenses since that changes weekly/monthly.   He has also been working to problem solve various crop issues because, in all honesty, that is what 75% of farming involves.   One of our biggest challenges has been the tomato crop.   While there was a good crop of roma type tomatoes growing in five raised beds at the farm, they were starting to be affected by blossom end rot.  In the states we would use Epsom salts to fix the problem quickly but if that is available here, we have not been able to find the Swahili word for it!   We were able to get powdered calcium that is given to the layer hens and have mixed it with water to pour on each plant.  Phillip has spent two days over the last two weeks helping get the calcium put out and the workers at the farm successfully harvested several gallons of perfect tomatoes today!  Praise God, we were able to help correct a crop problem relatively easily!   We have also been working with the farm workers to get the green house functioning for peppers and tomatoes.  That work is starting to see some fruits for our labors which has been very encouraging.

 

Phillip also does Bible studies weekly, teaches the teen class at Kisongo on Sundays, preaches when needed and attends the preacher meetings that are held one Saturday a month to try to keep up with what is happening at the congregations around the Arusha area.   Almost every Saturday afternoon our family is at the Kisongo church building helping coordinate youth classes.  In Tanzania, “Youth” is anyone between the ages of 13-22 or maybe 18-36?  It seems to depend on who you ask, but we have been using the former age grouping.  Phillip is leading a young men’s class on developing church leadership while I teach the young women about women of the Bible.  Any local congregations are welcome to attend every week but we are trying to make the last Saturday of the month a special event and this last week several youth from the Arusha church of Christ joined us for a Bible Bowl.  The youth all did well and great fun was had by all!   In case you were wondering, Team Simba won but no, we didn’t name them.  It is the name of a popular soccer team here.  🙂

 

 

This past month has given me many opportunities to use my plant knowledge to help the farm and for that I am humbled and grateful.  Horticulture is my happy place so it has been a win/win for all of us.  We have been able to get purple onions harvested for the school, onions seeds harvested for next planting, carrots (a new crop for the farm) planted (and growing!), tomato plants strung up in the green house and two cats found to keeps rats out of the corn that was harvested earlier this year.   We have also had some cute help as we have been working (see picture below).

 

I have also been doing weekly encouragement studies with some of our neighbors and teaching the women’s class at the Kisongo church of Christ.  We have been going over topics of their choosing which has been both challenging and encouraging.   I am not good at getting pictures of things I am doing but I did get a few pictures of some of the classes at Kisongo this past Sunday.  They have a men’s class, women’s class, teen’s class, pre-teen class and children’s class.

Around our home we have been doing school with the boys, gardening and getting ready for the holidays!   The boys are doing well in their studies considering who their teacher is (that would be me ;).  We have learned that lettuce, greens of every kind and many other vegetables do wonderfully here.  While zucchini does very well here, yellow squash does not fall into that “successful” category.   Live and learn.  We are still waiting on our rabbits to multiply like…rabbits, but are hoping that happens soon.  We were  blessed to host Thanksgiving for several families this year but since turkey costs upwards of $100 USD minimum, it was chicken and guinea all around!  We have also gotten our tree decorated and the boys have been excitedly making Christmas presents and putting them in our stockings…I will let you all know how many bottle caps we each get since that is one of the boys favorite treasures here.

 

 

The boys also thought everyone should see what has become the normal traffic on our road.  Herds of livestock, HUGE dump trucks taking dirt to the new by-pass around Arusha and a water truck behind it that waters the road at least once a day to keep the dirt kicked up by the dump trucks from coating all of the businesses and homes along the way.

We thank you all for your love and support of our work here and we pray that you are all having a wonderful holiday season!

In Him,

Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan

For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:
Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com
Or:
Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”