Brinds Christmas message for Ebe from Ebenezer Church on Vimeo.
Wednesday 25 December 2013
Wednesday 4 December 2013
Rejoice!
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| hand washing sink in our dining room |
So many things tempt us to be frustrated and for those of you who have lived and worked in Africa or in a cross cultural, developing world situation, we do not need to list the daily and constant challenges as we are sure you can bring many to mind with ease!
This week we are faced with daily power cuts at the most inconvenient times, a flooded bathroom again after umpteen visits from the plumber, cockroaches scurrying in the kitchen, scorpion in the sink and a bat flying in the lounge just after the house has been fumigated, another miscommunication which means our plans have to change, yet again. Those are just the challenges within our gates.... the list could go on....
As I drive the kids to their schools
we run through the verses we have learnt together and I hear 2 year old Hannah
pipe up “Our attitude should be like that of Christ Jesus, Philippians 2:5” and
Isaac says “Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say
REJOICE!” I can’t help but smile and be thankful and remember again that God is
good all the time and in everything and in every situation we can praise God
for his goodness and know that as we cooperate with Him, He brings good out of
the work of the ‘thief, who comes only to steal, kill and destroy’. (John
10:10)
Well, that was written weeks ago but I didn't get around to posting it. Since then we continue to have a flooded bathroom several times a week, we are having daily power cuts, sometimes multiple, sometimes up to 12 hours at a time (which results in floods in the kitchen as all the ice at the back of the fridge melts), we have been on an extensive mouse hunt and now appear to have eliminated the vermin once again, the kids are still reminding me of life giving truths each morning, and last week I bumped into another scorpion, this time already dead, at Hannah's preschool.
There are many more frustrating little (and not so little) challenges with living here in Mwanza but now we know that our time in Tanzania is coming to an end we are seeing these annoyances through different eyes, many of these things we will smile at for years to come and remember them with a laugh and even a fondness which we could not have imagined whilst in the midst of trying to solve, circumnavigate, ignore, or otherwise deal with the never ending list of problems that leave our teeth clenching muscles aching and over used!
Well, that was written weeks ago but I didn't get around to posting it. Since then we continue to have a flooded bathroom several times a week, we are having daily power cuts, sometimes multiple, sometimes up to 12 hours at a time (which results in floods in the kitchen as all the ice at the back of the fridge melts), we have been on an extensive mouse hunt and now appear to have eliminated the vermin once again, the kids are still reminding me of life giving truths each morning, and last week I bumped into another scorpion, this time already dead, at Hannah's preschool.
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| Did you know.... scorpions have blue blood?! They have haemocyanin (blue) instead of haemoglobin (red like us) |
There are many more frustrating little (and not so little) challenges with living here in Mwanza but now we know that our time in Tanzania is coming to an end we are seeing these annoyances through different eyes, many of these things we will smile at for years to come and remember them with a laugh and even a fondness which we could not have imagined whilst in the midst of trying to solve, circumnavigate, ignore, or otherwise deal with the never ending list of problems that leave our teeth clenching muscles aching and over used!
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