The Ocean in Dar Podcast

Ever wondered if New Years Resolutions were a waste of time? Listen in to your conversation.

 

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I used to not see things this way. Monday morning I check on my ESPN, my cowboys, who seem more interested in the girls than the games. and peaked to early I guess. Go Packers! Sort of, someone needs to feed the Patriots i guess. Why not the meat Packers. Anyway, there’s this article about some lady golf reporter making a comment about stopping Tiger Woods and lynching. The author of the article is black, African America. He wants Tiger to step up and use his clout as Tiger, the guy who transcends race, to get people to think about what they say before they say it, to take his place in history. (See the article here.)

Now, generally before, I discounted these guys. Why does it always have to revolve around race. But for some reason, this time it hit me different. My son is black, born Kenyan, I’m not. But all the sudden I projected myself 25 years into the future and I found myself desperately praying, on the border of tears, that Joshua wouldn’t have to live in a world where those comments hurt the core of his soul, where his skin would have to be as thick as Tigers. Where someone would be willing to pay the price.

Is it a reality that stupidity and unfortunate slips happen? In a world where we grow up with reinforced stereo types, yes it is. Lord, let our hearts be cleansed of this evil. But funny how my perspective changed now that my son is involved. Its personal. Very personal.

But is the solution Tiger Woods? I don’t think so. The Kenyan riots prove that hatred transcends color, that racism finds roots everywhere. But now that my son is involved, you better not use that kind of talk around me. its personal. The solution isn’t one voice, although history will reprimand Jordan and Tiger for not speaking, (though I think they should speak carefully, so as not to be placed into the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharton category of loud voices that no one but themselves heed anymore, my opinion only there). If relationships were formed on deep levels, interpersonal, adoptions, mixed marriages, multicultural families and churches, these things could be fought out in the context of love, not historical pains, and a difference could occur.

So Tiger, speak up. Let your voice be heard. So your daughter doesn’t have to live in a world where people’s opinions of her are formed because she’s the multiracial child of a sports superhero, but because of her value to humanity, and ultimately her value to the creator of the universe.

SOA: Stolen Mirror Repurchased

Replacing my rearview mirror on my truck turned into quite a saga. And reminded me once again of a timeless truth.

Since the mirror was stolen, I haven’t really had time to go wandering around downtown Dar Es Salaam to find a new one. Shopping for parts here in Africa isn’t as simple as going to Auto Zone or the local dump. Little stores with random wares populate certain areas of town, but beyond their basic inventory, no one knows what anyone else has.

Tuesday, I made the foray, taking along my daytime guard, Mohammed, to make sure I wasn’t getting robbed a second time. Our first stop we drew way too much attention, white guy, big 4 wheel drive, missing mirror. I suddenly had all sorts of friends! But only one place even admitted to having one for sale, at a ridiculous price.

Thursday, I sent Mohammed in town with money. He found the mirror right away.
“You see boss,” he tells me, “all the mirrors in the market are stolen. No one wants to admit to having stolen goods, but the store owners themselves have to buy the stolen ones, because you can’t get the originals.” So I paid $61.22 to purchase back a mirror.

We ourselves were stolen. From our father, from our maker, from our lover, our Lord. You can not sell your soul, contrary to what Hollywood believes. It is not yours to sell. It belongs to God, was stolen, (and given away through rebellion) but it was repurchased at a price much dearer than $61.22 .

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, I am thankful for the price paid in blood.

News and prayer
• The days of our internship are drawing near to an end. We expect to launch our church plant with small groups in January, followed by a larger public launch in a rented location after a few months. See the teaser trailer by clicking here.
• Our adoption paperwork has been sent to Ethiopia. Now it’s a waiting game. But the game is complicated. Click here if you want to know more.
• After 9 months in Tanzania, we need to communicate some things about our financial support base. We have had a significant difference between pledges and money coming in. It’s a serious matter for prayer. I’ve added more information here.
• Joshua has begun 3 days a week at preschool and is loving it. Mommy loves a few minutes extra sleep, and daddy loves the time uninterrupted in his office.
• Coming next month: A trip to the Livingstone Mountains! 8 hours hiking over a mountain to get to a previously unreached village that now has a church. I am tagging along with the guys who are going to dedicate the church. I’m on my bike 6 days a week, and even climbed most of a smaller mountain this week to prepare. Ah, my thighs are killing me! Pray for my knees to hold up.
• And your investment is paying off. I preached at the church where we are interning a couple weeks ago. (The first service is English, I will be sending a link out when its posted online for you to listen to.) At least two young people came and made first time commitments to Jesus. That made my week.
• Finally, I’m on FaceBook. If you are into social networking, look me up!

Waiting for Arya

This second adoption has not gone like the first. We found Joshua, had him in our home a week later, and figured out the rest as we went along. Not so this time.

We contracted with Love Basket Int. who are significantly cheaper than other groups we looked at, to help process the adoption. They had never worked with someone living overseas before. There were concerns about immigration, etc. Then we found out that the way the Ethiopian social system works is that organizations that give a lot of money are given a priority of those who give little towards the orphanages. So at this point, our paperwork is in Ethiopia, but there is a family waiting ahead of us who have been waiting for months. So we wait and trust that in God’s time, our Arya Patricia Joy will come home soon. Joshua prays every night for A-wee-ah, who lives in E-pee-O-pee-Uh.

Finances

To operate as a missionary requires more than a basic salary. We need operating expenses, we help ongoing projects, etc. Anyway, we came with our full amount pledged. Since the first day, we have been running short about $700 a month from people who have pledged and then not followed through. Last month alone, we were $2000 short on our pledges. For the year, we are $7-8 thousand off the mark. That would pay rent on a facility, help us purchase equipment, support ministries, lots of things.

Let me be clear though, our personal salary is not being cut. We are on a guaranteed base salary. It is the work money at this point that is not coming in. We had reserves from our time in the states, but we need to start purchasing some things for the church plant and that reserve could be gone soon. Please pray with us.

PERSONALLY: We are trying to figure out how to finance this adoption. Our agency has a 5K reimbursement policy on adoptions, but we need to advance the money. In terms of what will be needed, with travel to Ethiopia, stay there, and one of us needs to come back to the states at least once with baby Arya, we need to put together about 12-13K, with the reimbursement still coming. So please pray for us, pray for faith for a financial miracle. Many people have already given towards this adoption, and up until now we had not incurred any debt.

1. The search is finally over. We finally found a house! and oh, what a house. It was once of the nicest places I saw, when I drove up, I thought “there’s no way!” Yet in the final negotiations, this was the only owner who would understand our situation and negotiate to the price we could afford. There are still several hurdles in getting our container over and onto the property, as well as the other details of setting up house and all the little things that make a house become a home.
2. Our car is still in customs. We are being told now that the government’s budget will have to pass before it is released. Who knows when that will happen, maybe this month though.
3. The paperwork for our next adoption has reached another step. We are expecting that it will be another couple months yet though before we get a referral and can travel to get our daughter in Ethiopia.
4. I preached this past Sunday at the church were I am doing my cultural intership for six months. Several people made first time commitments to follow the Savior! Others saw their lives changed. It was a wonderful moment to be part of!
5. On Aug 2nd, Tahnya and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage. On Aug 13th, Joshua will celebrate 4 years of life. I am truly blessed.
6. Our new address is PO box 2292, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. For letters, and packages (Tahnya loves cards, hint, hint). Please don’t send financial gifts there though.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/6/28/1218821/summer07MH.mpg for download
http://picasaweb.google.com/charlesandtahnya/Summer07Newsletter
for easy viewing.

I’m feeling positively domestic these days. I’ve acquired a feline, a canine, and a house. The cat, well, it’s my wife’s domain. Sebastian, however, is an outside dog. A six month old Border Collie, his problem is that he keeps trying to herd me where ever I go, I guess going back to his ancestral roots as a Scottish sheepdog.

Some days ago, I was running late and hadn’t fed the dog yet, much less played with him. I grabbed a doggie treat on my way out to bribe passage. He was having nothing of it. The milk bone fell to the ground, untouched, until I had given him some attention. Oh how I wish I had the single devotion of a Border Collie, to go into the presence of God, to ignore my wants and needs until I had simply been with Him for a while.

For download
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/30/1127340/Portersummerpressversion.pdf

It’s taken 10 years of marriage to get to this point. Well, not quite, but short 2 months, who’s counting? Many battles have been fought, much sleep lost. But today, we finally crossed over a bridge. We successfully navigated the waters of Tahnya cutting my hair without me ending up looking like a pealed onion, and my wife still talking to me afterwards. Seems silly doesn’t, to take 10 years to sort out a little thing like that?

But isn’t that the point? Sometimes it takes a decade or more to get little things to straight. Being a fervent follower of Christ doesn’t exempt us from the maturing process. Au contraire! True disciples no longer have an excuse for continuing in our immaturity, in our pettiness, in our jealousies and anger. If it takes a lifetime, believers are on a mission from God, a mission of transformation so that the reflection of Jesus in them would shine so bright, people would be draw to the source of the reflection.

And along the way, Tahnya can cut my hair without WWIII erupting.

News and Prayer
Last Sunday was a big day for us. I preached my first Swahili sermon, completed our language school courses, and moved to Dar es Salaam, our home for the foreseeable future. Everyday, we will be working on the remaining big items that are outstanding prayer requests, namely 1. a house to rent at a price we can afford, this is proving difficult. We have found several places, but none about which we have both had peace.
2. our vehicle to clear customs, for the official who needs to sign off on the tax exemption to do so, and
3. to complete our next adoption of our little girl from Ethiopia. The paperwork is basically done. We have to arrange some financing, and are waiting for the dossier to be sent to Ethiopia.
Pray also for health. We’re all doing ok, just sniffles from the cool 70 and 80 degree temperatures! And I have been struggling with just feeling sick, nothing specific, just not feeling healthy.
Newsletters galore: www.charlesandtahnya.net
Podcast: Our spring podcast is up and running on our website. You can get it through itunes, listen online, or download it straight from the site. (what is a podcast?) Try scrolling down the page a bit to find it.
Summer print newsletter: a high quality, print ready pdf is available for download, our summer 2007 . http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/30/1127340/Portersummerpressversion.pdf

We have been made aware of an orphan needing immediate adoption. He is a 2 ½ year old ½ Tanzanian, ½ arab toddler. He is now too old for the baby home where he has been and is in desperate need of an adoptive family. If you know someone who might be interested, please let us know. We can’t because of our already initiated adoption in Ethiopia.

Finally, thanks for all who make it possible for us to live here in Tanzania and be part of fulfilling God’s Great Commission.

For download
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/30/1127340/Portersummerpressversion.pdf

I was scrambling to find something to write you about this month. Until this morning, when I was once again reminded of why Jesus still needs to be proclaimed here in Tanzania. I was driving around trying to find a suitable house to rent when we came upon a crowd right near Barbeque Village. If you’ve ever been to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, you’ve heard of the wonderful food at Barbeque Village. Taking a left, I drove through a throng of gawkers. My guides surmised that they had found a large snake and were killing it. How I wish it had been merely a snake that they killed. You see, mob justice is still swift and cruel. Passing that way a few short minutes later, we passed the bloodied corpse of a young man, laying stoned to death on the road. In the shadow of a church and a mosque. He was presumably a thief, caught in the act with no Savior to write in the sand for him. I had heard of such things happening in Africa, but I had never seen it with my own eyes. The Mob. Judge, Jury, and Executioner, Jack Bauer style. In the movies, it’s made to be cool. In real life, a young man lying dead in a pool of blood on a dusty road is as far from justice as can be. To punish a thief, a group of people became murderers. There were a hundred people looking on, but no police anywhere nearby. I’m processing this experience by writing to you. My mind has been heavy, my heart disturbed, tears lightly swimming behind my eyelids asking to come out. What if that kid had been my son? No one really deserves what they deserve, you know what I mean? Really, we do, but Grace is available, forgiveness readily given, life understood. But much work remains to be done. ‘Till both worship Jesus. The thief, and the stone throwing, self-righteous murderer. Swahili is a beautiful Bantu African language. However, anytime you want to change the meaning of what you are saying, you add something into the middle of the word. See if you can follow. I’ve added parenthesis that don’t exist normally so you can see the changes. The words are sounded out phonetically. Ninaambia,- I am telling, Nina(mw)ambia- I am telling him, Ni(li)(vyo)(mw)ambia- the way in which I told him, anyway, you get the idea. To increase the meaning, you add things into the word. It gets really complicated really quickly, but there is also a beauty to the phonetic quality of the language. How glad I am that we serve the everlasting Word that never changes! Life around us may change but Jesus is entirely reliable at any moment. Conversely, there are times that The Word Made Flesh needs to increase our ability to communicate things to the surrounding environment. Sometimes he needs to add things into our lives though, so that we can better communicate His truth. Things like patience, or kindness perhaps. Tough to remember where they go and how to use them. But so worthwhile. News This month of language school has been interrupted twice by long breaks. The week after Easter we traveled to Mombasa, Kenya for a week of meetings with other missionaries in the area. This week, we have been down in Dar Es Salaam house hunting. As of the writing of this, we have not yet had success. Please pray. Language school has entered a whole new level of difficultly in terms of grammar and nuances of language learning. After this stage of language learning, we will pass into a cultural learning stage by serving at an established local church until the end of the year. At this point, the whole family is more or less healthy, for which we thank God and appreciate your prayers. Our car still has not cleared so we are still waiting on that. But in the mean time, we are thankful for the used STL vehicle that we have. Check out the pictures on our website of 4-wheeling just to get off the side street onto a main highway.