Tanzania! DML

By -

We stood on the roof of the Cate Hotel in Morogoro, Tanzania, in awe of the Uluguru Mountains and centuries old Baobob trees with trunks large enough to carve a house out of. We praised and thanked God for bringing us to Tanzania, East Africa! We met new people, cultures and shared a love for making disciples in the Lord Jesus Christ! We were there for our Discipling Marketplace Leaders Global summit! 

This was our first time gathering with the rest of the DML team from around the world. We spent the week together sharing how the Holy Spirit is working with us to make disciples in the marketplace. We celebrated our diverse countries, and tribes. We sang in so many different languages to praise our living God! We ended the week with a trip to the Mikumi National park, admiring God’s great creation observing elephants and lions! A beautiful reminder, to love what God has left for us. 

We also shared our challenges and laments at our summit. The hardships of living in a fallen world. Six years of civil war in Cameroon, kidnappings in Nigeria, terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso, prolonged drought in Tanzania and Kenya. The economic hardship of inflation felt globally. Corruption in our governments, and schools that lack the resources needed to educate. These are constant hardship that affect our lives in all areas. During our morning devotionals, we were given time to pray and ask the Holy Spirit for His spirit of wisdom and revelation based on our theme found in Ephesians 1:17 –23. Jari and I left Tanzania with new eyes, new ears, and hearts full of the love we received from our Discipling Markeptlace Leaders family. Our God is good! Halleluiah!

DML Implementing Partners
    We flew back to Grand Rapids, Michigan after our summit. We were greeted by snow and cold wind, a sharp contrast to Tanzania! We arrived in time to spend Thanksgiving with our families, after two years apart due to the pandemic. As we met with friends we can feel many here in Michigan are still recovering from the pandemic. There seems to be a spirit of confusion, which causes us to give into fear. Covid was a hard shaking of the Church worldwide. The shaking amplified cultural battles in society which cause division. We must stay focused on Jesus Christ. The Word of God is cross cultural. The Bible knows no borders. In our teachings in Nicaragua we know this is true. The cultural myths concerning money in Nicaragua are the same in the United States, and on the African continent! These myths are a problem of sin in how we administer the resources we have been given.

    How de we remain focused on Jesus Christ? In DML we call on Christians to remember and act out their roles as priests. Everywhere a Christian goes he or she has the capacity to proclaim the excellencies of God! This applies to our daily work. We live out our faith by demonstration. 

    For whom do we do this priestly work? For Jesus Christ, to honor and glorify His name so that everyone will know Him.
    
    To whom do we do this priestly work? To our neighbors, our coworkers, and even the animals and plants in our care! We make disciples of those we serve by obeying the great commandments of Jesus Christ. As a priest burns incense to fill a church with a pleasing aroma, we do our work as worship unto God. 
Jari and Rachel

Perhaps you have heard of the expression work as worship, perhaps not. When we talk about our work as being worship to God what does that mean?

    Work as worship is happiness and joy, a celebration in our work! It is an attitude towards God and working. I know it is not always easy to celebrate our work. Being far away form loved ones the last six years has shown Jari and I that we need God’s presence in our daily lives, especially in our work! We display God’s love with our attitudes. Like the priests who burn incense for a pleasing aroma, we ask what fragrance are we spreading with our attitudes? Aromas of the world around us, or the sweet fragrances of Jesus Christ?

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. -2 Corinthians 2:14

December is when we begin to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We let the world know a savior was born to us, a gift from God born in a humble place. Who later died on a cross for our sakes, so we can be reunited with God our Father. If you believe this like we do, than be the sweet aroma of Jesus Christ in everyplace. Making disciple in work, government, business, and schools! I pray we can celebrate God with our attitudes in December and also in the coming year! It was lovely to see you after being apart for so long. Our God is Good!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Location: Morogoro, Tanzania

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Erica changed my perspective

By -
Image
There is a change in our method of working with businesses in Nicaragua than when we first arrived in 2016. It is easier to explain this difference with a story! Five years ago I started working with the Association of Christian Entrepreneurs of Nicaragua, (AECNIC). An association started out of the Nehemiah Center. You can read about this association in older blog posts. (I don't know why the pictures do not show up anymore, blogger website problem?) I spent a lot of time mentoring the business owners who made up the board of directors for the association. Hours were spent helping these individuals get a stronger accounting system and flow process in their businesses. I loved working with all of them. Their positive attitudes and faith was, and still is, inspiring today.  In 2018, Nicaragua went through its political crisis. During those months many businesses were hurting and barely surviving. I met with Erica* to see how she was coping with the crisis we were all living through....
Read more

Project Mature Bean! Part 2, We Harvested!

By -
Image
Jari and I arrived back home in Jinotega late December, just before Christmas time. We took a few days to rest and recover from our travels and a small cold that traveling brings. We couldn't wait to go and see the field of beans now that it was almost harvest time. Up to this point, we only saw the field in pictures, but now it was time to be present and see the beans flow in the wind! The plants did not disappoint us in person. They were healthy, bushy with big leaves and plenty of bean pods maturing to a nice deep reddish color. Some of the plants leaves had started to turn yellow as they were reaching maturity and dying off, putting the last of their nutrients into the beans. Darwin had done a great job caring for the plants and now he was preparing for the harvest, but when would they be ready?  The answer was, wait. A test of patience. In the first week of January we saw large portions of the bean field dying off. Since this was Darwin's first time planting beans he wasn...
Read more

FINCA AVODAH

By -
Image
Our ministry is based on a simple but profound concept, work as worship! The Hebrew word AVODAH,( עבדה ) means service. It carries two other meanings, work and worship.   In the Old Testament this word was used when the nation of Israel was called to serve God, and worship him. It is also the same word used to describe work! We can say this word, Avodah, is spiritual service. (Exodus 23:25) This concept is expressed again by the Apostle Paul in Colossians 3:23. When we “work” as unto the Lord it is an act of spiritual service and is also worship.    Whether we are giving a workshop in the Jinotega Chamber of Commerce, or in a farmer’s field of beans, the concept of Avodah is what we live out and teach. It is in this field of beans where we have the most potential to reach our region of Nicaragua with the Gospel! We are now purchasing a small farm to invite farmers to experience avodah with their own senses. We have certified red bean seed, sorghum and hybrid corn availa...
Read more