The Ocean in Dar Podcast

First things first: After praying and consulting with the specialists at the Muscular Dystrophy at the U o Minn, we have decided to continue in missions, returning as soon as possible to our work in Tanzania. When Joshua’s condition changes, we will have to re-evaluate, but for the time being, we can continue.
Song of dreaming
I had a strange dream last night. No, this isn’t literary license, I actually dreamed this. I can’t remember where I was, or why I was there, but some company was launching. Their stock was worth pennies, nothing at all. No one knew if investors would jump in. I know I thought I didn’t have any money to invest at all. The stocks started out at something below a dollar. Within moments, it doubled, then doubled again. I kept telling myself I needed to invest, but remembering what things used to cost, I hesitated. In my dream, there was this kind of rolling meter, going up and up . The last I remember of my dream, the stock had reach $1300 a share.

I know nothing of these kinds of things. I wouldn’t know how to buy a stock if I found one I liked. I know this, if I had jumped in at the penny level, my investment would have born millions. However, if I had still jumped in at the $1000 level, in moments, I would have made $300 bucks.

I wonder if that’s me in Kingdom work. The cost used to be much less for such a great return that I’m no longer willing to invest in the best opportunity out there. Sure, it’s costly. The rewards are very real though. Don’t believe the fatalists, God’s kingdom is on the move, growing every day. I want to continue to give my life, no matter the cost. Even when the cost is higher.

News:
After the initial shock of learning that Joshua has MD, we are now in the process of learning about this condition, and as we wait for God to heal him, we are doing all we can. Stay connected with this process on Facebook, join “Joshua’s Joy”.

Its been a sick period in the Porter household. Alana has had ongoing ear infections, so she will get tubes in her ears on the 16th. Riley is having a study done on the 25th because of problems with swallowing. Appreciate your continued prayers for our family’s health.

We have decided to continue because at this point, there isn’t medical care that Joshua can get here. He will go on a steriod treatement that aims to delay the onset of the disease, and we will have to return to the US every year to check in with the MD clinic at the U of M. We expect this term to last 2-4 years, depending on his health.

MARCH MAYHEM: I love basketball, and the best Bball of the year is played in the NCAA tournament. Millions of guys and ladies fill in a bracket to try and determine the Road to (wherever). In concurrence with this event, and because of the special health considerations my family is having, we are trying to raise our entire budget during the month of March. The idea of simple. 64 people at $10-19 a month, 32 at $20-30, and so forth. What we are looking for is a “selection committee.” This committee will use their email list, twitter, and facebook status every day for the month of March to post links to 30 testimonies, one each day, of real lives that have been transformed in Tanzania.There will be a fund-raising appeal in this. Would you consider being part of this committee? If you would, write me and I’ll send further directions.

What’s happening in Tanzania? While we are here, Missionary Steve Kuert continues to pastor the churchplant in TZ. Numbers are about 140, lives are being touched, and 30-40 people are gathering at the weekly prayer meeting, its an exciting time. We want to be back by August.

Did you know: There are 2 places at least where it has been known to snow in Tanzania.

Its an exciting time to be involved in God’s work in Tanzania. Our partner church is planting 7500 church in the next 10 years, this year they started 20 church planting schools, and the aspire to win 2 million souls to Christ. Its a big vision, and we are happy to partner with such an amazing group of men and fellow missionaries.

Joshua's Joy

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If you dig around in the archives, you might find Joshua’s story. But here’s the nutshell. born at 3 ibs, he was abandoned at the hospital and taken to “Seeds in His Garden” to die. But he didn’t. He’s a fighter.

He joined Tahnya and our lives as a 3.5 month old, 8 pound bundle of joy. He continues to have one of the most charismatic personalities you’ll ever meet.

to be continued…

today wasn’t a good day. Joshua was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. Its a story but at this point, its not a good prognosis. There is no cure. We live our lives in the public arena and our only hope is a God who heals. Call me a fool, but I’d rather be a fool with hope than a genius without hope.

We’ve moved, again…
Transition is our one constant recently. We’ve moved from the missions apartment in Cold Spring to the Missions house in Apple Valley MN. Joshua is not in a new school, and like a faithful friend, Alana spends half her day waiting by the door for him to come home.

Honestly, I’m geared for change. I love it. But even for me, it gets old at times. And there is a longing in my heart for a place to call home. That home, I don’t think I’ve ever seen. It’s a longing Peter speaks of in his letter that recognizes we are “strangers and aliens.” Like Alana, I’m waiting for my Joshua (savior in Hebrew right?) to come home. Home is not a place, home is a person.

Trying to live in that reality.

News and Prayer
The website is back online. and more

Good news from our churchplant in Tanzania. Things are continuing to move ahead. We have one part time staff member committed for next year, people are continuing to experience new life in Christ, and its still growing.
We’ve started our itineration, traveling from Church to church telling people about how we are partnering with God to create a better future for Tanzania. Check out our schedule here.
Christmas was fun, we had the “Blue Christmas” with Tahnya’s parents and family in Springfield, Mo the 23d through the 25th. Then the 26, we drove to Cincinnati and the whole Porter clan got together. We rented an old farmhouse and all 17 of us stayed together for a few days. It was pure mayhem, with lots of kids, lots of fun, and only one trip to the emergency room.
Please note our new address: 5792 142nd st W, Apple Valley, MN 55124
Pray for Joshua. He is going in next week for some neurological testing t try and identify why he has some muscle weakness. Riley continues to send back lots of the milk he swallows, so appreciate the prayers there too. Tahnya has some carpel tunnel syndrome going on. So some small health things to pray for.
Finally, we’re doing something in march. Its called March Mayhem, the Road to Tanzania. Its a push to raise our entire budget in one month through filling out our “brackets.” It is a fundraising push, but if you’d like to know more, just drop me a line. If you are still reading, it means you’re one of our faithful supporters! Please be in prayer for this initiative. Itineration is stressful. Itineration with 3 little bitty kids is incredibly more so.

Thanks for taking this Journey with us!

You can view my calendar at:
http://ical.me.com/theoceanindar_tz/Work

You can subscribe to my calendar at:
webcal://ical.me.com/theoceanindar_tz/Work.ics

so its been a while. The site went down, and then last night we finally went back online, but …. lost about 6 months worth of updates. Sorry. Its time to get rolling again.
If its been a while since you’ve heard from me, here’s how to stay connected
651 269 9911
Charles.porter@agmd.org
The Monthly Email Newsletter
www.charlesandtahnya.net
Facebook: username Life Cartographer
Twitter: Lifecartography
pictures: picasaweb.google.com/charlesandtahnya

So for those few who clicked on the blog, here’s the full update

Pastor Geofry Luguisha pastors a great church in Kiruma Valley called, KVCC, or Kiruma Valley Christian Center. His brother attends my church and  we made a connection that way. His church is running about 1300 but they have a great heart to do more. So we made connection and they flew me up. At first, as it always it, there was the checking out phase. They didn’t really know me, I didn’t know them.

the first night, the building was pretty full.  I taught from Acts chapter 17 about Paul teaching in the synagogues and how these were not the most outsider friendly places. So too with our churches. Then we looked at the marketplace, a place where Christians are honestly mostly seen as beggars and radicals. In my opinion, we need to bring added value to the marketplace.

The next morning, I started teaching a couple young men some graphic design and video work. That night we again looked at acts 17, this time at “their place” and how Paul used current language and cultural stories to express clearly his uncompromising message.

friday morning I got to speak at the Mwanza bible school. In one year, it has grown from 60 something students to over 120. The TAG is shifting their emphasis away from extention schools to church planting schools, followed by a time of actual church planting, then a final year of bible school after the church is already planted. Anyway, it was fun.

Got picked up, had a nice lunch. Think I ate fish every meal up in Mwanza, its on the shores of lake victoria and has wonderful talipia and Nile Perch. Spent the afternoon doing more media training, followed by a teaching session for all the leaders of the church. I really love doing that.

Sat was perhaps my most challenging day. Music here has a certain style, but quality can be at time terrible. So I have to walk the fine line of not pushing my style, but still teaching how to properly approach music. I started with a teaching I do called “The Lucifer Syndrome”

Monthly Newsletter August 12, 2009

We are booking services and meetings for October, and still looking for a car.
Did you know our churchplant has some youtube videos? username: theoceanindar . Find me on facebook, username life.cartographer (there are a million Charles Porter’s. Go figure)

Song of the payment

How much would you pay for your soul? Or the souls of your loved ones? Its a question that I’ve pondered over the last few weeks. Reason being, last month, 4 members of a team from our church plant payed with their health.

Mid-July, my fellow missionary Roger Kuykendall and myself has a week to spare and some extra workers on our hands, so we took a small team of youth and adults into the village of Mkoko. Only a short 2 hour drive from where I live, its a two millinium time warp. 10 miles off the main highway, its a village stuck in prehistory. Mud huts with thatch roofs are the norm. Its a healthy farming village with no Christian witness at all. The villagers, with the exception of 1 secret Christ follower we found, all would consider themselves nominal muslims. 50 scant years ago, they still buried their chiefs upright in a chair, with a young girl holding him in place as she was buried alive.

18 of us camped for 5 days, taught English in the local school and played soccer in the afternoons. At night, I preached to my young people, with the message translated into Swahili. We couldn’t preach to the village, but neither could we help it if 50-100 people crowded around every night to hear what we were saying! The last night, dozens of people got to hear the message of the cross clearly proclaimed. We sensed the presence of Jesus. None of us will ever forget that experience. Even though we are still a young churchplant in africa, we’ve decided that if it takes 10 years, Mkoko will have a church started there.

The cost, what’s the cost you ask? Within 10 days, 4 of our team members, including myself, came down with malaria. Malaria sounds bad, and it is. Without medication, malaria kills more people than any other disease in Africa. With the medication, I still spent two days flat on my back, feeling like I had arthritis in every muscle and joint in my body, nausea, and a pounding headache. I haven’t been that miserable in years. And you know what? It was worth it. Every ache and pain, every fever and headache. It was a small price to pay.

Prayer and Praise

Yesterday was 6 weeks till we leave on furlough! yikes. Pray for us as so many details fall into place. Pray for favor. This isn’t a good time to be fund raising in the american psyche, and our budget has taken a big hit. Add to that the challenge of not being able to itinerate the first 3 months because of the birth of the baby and needing to be back here next August and we need a miracle!

Pray about transportation. We’ll need a vehicle capable of handling 3 car seats since Joshua is growing like a weed but remains sub-40 Ibs. With the number of miles I’ll be putting on, we need reliable transportation.

Pray for the date August 28. That day we will be holding a 1 day symposium on Urban church planting initiatives. This is a passion of mine, to see Africa’s next generation reached, and its an exciting time to pass along that vision to local partners.

Pray that we could quickly fill our schedule with contacts and services. Pray that God would allow us the meet what I call “the gatekeepers,” men and women who will take our cause as theirs.

Thanks again for making it possible for us to be here!