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”