Camp Gideon - Estonia VIM Team June 30 09

Text message from co-leader Emily Lester, June 30th PM

"Team doing great. Men helped a bit with cement today. Everyone has bonded and its such a blessing. Young girls are adjusted and doing great. Katie Carter is an all-star! You can pass that along to her parents:)"

submitted by Mary Ann Smith

Tanzania Medical Team June 29 2009

The Tanzania team will be returning on their originally scheduled flight today at 5:50 pm. All team members were confirmed on that flight and are on their way - praise God! The flight is American airlines 4515. They will be most happy to see family and friends and get some well-deserved rest.
Mary Ann

Camp Gideon - Estonia VIM Team June 29 09

Text message from co-team leader Emily Lester at 6:30 am Tulsa time/2:30 pm Estonia time:
"Everyone is doing well at camp, playing sports and starting some construction tomorrow. It's warm..but very chilly at night. "
submitted by Mary Ann Smith

TZ Medical Team June 27 09

The team is on their way back to Dar es Salaam to prepare for their flight home early am Sunday TZ time. We won't know anything more about flights until they are on their way. I will update this as soon as Marilene gives me more info by text message. She is feeling better today and will be ready to tackle the airlines!
Mary Ann

Camp Gideon - Estonia VIM Team June 27 09

Report from Emily Lester, team leader, by text message, 8:30 am Saturday:
"All is well. Shopped in Old Town and the Viru Mall. Dinner tonight and gelato. The team is doing awesome. Everyone has the best attitude. Will try to send e-mail for blog from BMC (Baltic Mission Center) tomorrow.

Camp Gideon - Estonia VIM Team June 26 09

The team sent a text message at 9:30 am Tulsa time that they had landed in Tallinn and were waiting for luggage. All are well and excited. I will post future messages as soon as they are sent.
Mary Ann

Tanzania Medical Team June 26 2009

Cassie was unable to send a message for yesterday (Thursday) but have heard they had a great day at the Maasai village and saw lots of people. The local leaders were well organized so things went very smoothly.

There are some issues with their flights from London to Tulsa due to the problems when they left. The first group that left is being re-booked on several different flights and may arrive at very different times than families expect. I will let you know as soon as I know their arrival times in Tulsa. They may also call you from London to let you know directly. They all have an overnight in London on Sunday night so there is time to call and confirm.

Please continue to pray for the team and especially for Marilene who has had some intestinal problems.

Mary Ann

TZ Medical Team June 24 09

Tanzanian Medical Mission Blog: June 24, 2009
2-1/2 days down and over 500 served! To celebrate, our team was able to take part in a traditional Swahili/English church service. The students of the Junior Seminary joined in and lead us in song. Beautiful does not begin to describe the sound of the a capella voices singing hymns in their native tongue. The service was truly moving.

Yesterday was challenging, as we had to temporarily shut down the clinic in order to adjust for an unruly crowd. The people here are so desperate for medical care and can become frustrated by long lines and stressful conditions. With the help of the local staff and a little reorganizing, today’s clinic ran very smoothly and we were able to help a record amount of people.

Tomorrow we are all looking forward to moving to a new Masaai village, to meet new people and to share our talents, passions and hearts. As always are hope is that we will be able to help the Tanzanians physically and spiritually. Please pray that we succeed.Today’s Swahili Lesson: Mzuri - beautiful
Submitted by Cassie Reese.

Tanzania Medical Team June 22 2009

Tanzanian Medical Mission Blog: June 22, 20095 planes, 4 countries and several days later, the Tanzanian medical team has finally arrived in Morogoro! Thank you, God.Although our trip may have started out a bit bumpy, we’ve seemed to work the kinks out and our first day in the field was amazing – amazing, moving, exhausting, heart-breaking, inspirational. Because of delays in our travel schedule, we decided to begin our day extra early with a bus ride from Dar es Salam at 5:30 a.m. Two hours later we got our first glimpse of the Morogoro Junior Seminary – our home for the next 6 days. With time only to find our rooms, have breakfast and reload for the work-site, the entire team worked tirelessly and efficiently and were back on the road to our first work site by 10 a.m.The drive to Mkuyuni (the town where the African violet originated – who knew?) was beautiful! Mkuyuni is a small village in the middle of the Uluguru mountain range and home to members of the Kami and Massai tribes. Our make-shift hospital was the local open-air church and as we arrived on site, HUNDREDS were already there anxiously anticipating our arrival. Suddenly, the importance of this trip was staring us right in the eyes. This trip has the potential to change the lives of so many people – the Kami people, the Massai people, the evangelists and staff at the Junior Seminary and not the least of which - each member of our team and all of our family and friends praying for us at home.Several hours later – our team had visited with over 100 patients. Our doctors, dentist, ophthalmologist and many helpers spent time with all of these people – sharing their talents, their passions and hearts. Our greatest hope is that we have had and will continue to have an impact on the lives of these people both physically and spiritually.Please pray that we succeed. Thank you for being a part of our journey, our adventure, our mission.The Tanzanian Medical Mission TeamToday’s Swahili Lesson:Mambo sawa sawa – everything is getting better!

Lighthouse in Estonia, June 11, 2009

Hello from Anna Kay. I’m with Dave and Jan Meilner at the Lighthouse in Estonia where we are having a blast. We are having fun sewing leaves on the tree for the puppet show today. Yesterday was bowling with the kids. Dave and Jan did not bowl with us, but I had a blast with the kids. It has been so cold here. Today has been the only day really warm enough to wear only a light jacket. Tomorrow we leave for Parnu. Dave is doing all of the repairs to the Lighthouse that need to be done. There is a lot that he has to do. We have eaten all over Old Town and walked all around the town. Yesterday, after the Lighthouse, we went to the Radio Tower and the Song Festival grounds. Then we ate in an upside down boat restaurant right on the Baltic Sea. In His Name – Anna Kay

Ecuador Update, June 2, 2009

We have had a great trip so far and are getting lots of work done.

We arrived Saturday night around 11:00 PM and got to our Hostal at 1:00 AM! Sunday we got up at 5:00 to drive to a church service in Otavalo. The church was primarily with the Quichua which are the native people of the land. The service was very interesting and had lots of music. We then went to a local market where the Quichua sell blankets, clothing, hats, and other items that they make. Lots of neat stuff to buy for the folks back home! That night we had dinner at Tim and Dana´s house and held a brief orientation.

On Monday we starting painting a four story church using Ecuadorian scaffolding. Needless to say there is a slight difference in the US version of scaffolding... no worries though we are all safe!

Today we painted the church in the morning and in the afternoon went to a school to work with the children. There are 350 kids ranging from 5 to 12 years old! We did a puppet show, crafts in their classroom, fed them sandwiches and juice, then played futbol! Play time was as close to chaos as I have ever seen, but we did get things under control. The children crave adult affection and approval - seem like they have a pretty rough life. It was good to speak the word of God and share his love with them!

The next couple of days will include painting and more school. I believe on Thursday we get to take a half day as a break.

Keep praying for our safety and our health. Our bodies are tired and more suseptable to stuff.

Trey Bedford

From our VIM Team in Central Asia

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to send an update. We have had a very full week. We arrived in Baku with no problems and stayed in a nice hotel. We spent one day shopping and sightseeing at Baku. It was a wonderful time. Then, we then traveled six hours to Genja. It was not too bad. The road was ok. We did have to stop once at a "traditional" Azeri toilet. Yes, the smell was lovely!!

Then, we made it here to Genja. It rained the first couple of days. That was not too fun to walk around in, but it was not bad.

My straightener won't work...go figure!! Guess Chi's are not meant to be used here. We spent an afternoon at the psychiatric hospital making friendship bracelets with some of the women. Debbie and I each made one as well. We expressed to them that just like the bracelet has no end, neither does our friendship with them. One women went on and on about how she would hold that in her heart and it meant to much to her. I told her that it will forever be in my heart as well. And, oh will it. They are so lovely and give more to me then I feel I could ever give to them.

Matt lead the cooking classes at the Tech school with the kids. We made western hamburgers, pigs in a blanket, and fries. They were all a HUGE hit!!! The workers were even coming down to try the fries.

Matt and I saw the experiment as a success! We think it might be something to look into in the future for a restaurant.

Our other team member Debbie lead some tap dancing classing at the Tech school. I think we were all a little nervous about how they would receive this. They loved it and came back a second day to dance some more. It was wonderful!

Bill has seemed to love the English classes most with the tech students. He did have one young girl ask him if he loved G and then later if he loved J s. It is neat to see how G can shine through when we least expect it.

We found out that our last week here N&L will be gone to Baku for five days. This means Matt and I will be left to man the house and do all our own shopping and getting around town. Should be interesting.

Matt and I will also be preparing the food twice a week for the weakest patients at the psychiatric hospital on our own. Flora who normally does this will be away on vacation, so we were asked to fill in for her. Both of these should be great opportunities for us.

We had dinner last night in an Azeri home. It was so wonderful! We had summer dolma. Basically, it is tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers stuffed with lamb and other stuff. It is Matt's favorite Azeri meal. It was just so great to get to know this family and enjoy an evening talking like old friends.

I have been feeling under the weather the last day or so. I spent the whole day in bed today; feeling like I am just drained of all I have. In being sick today, I was also very homesick.

Matt is being strong for me, when I am down. This is nice.

So, we miss you all. Please please email us. We can check in on a regular basis and would love to hear from our family and friends. Email is free, texting is not. :)

Here are some things to pr for.

That I will feel better. That the baby will be healthy and continue to grow well while I am here and in times I am sick.

That Matt and I will pick up on the language. (we have already been trying and have a few things)

That we would trust G in all the situations that we do not feel confident in.

That we would have couple time to be able to share with each other what we are thinking and experiencing.

Love you all!!!

Matt and Jennie

Galveston Construction April 23-24, 2009

Final Day
We have come to the end of the week with no injuries. Thanks for your prayers for safety. Yesterday was more sanding and mudding. Bruce Gumtow and Marold Lohrenz worked on putting a ceiling in the converted garage. Jeff Polk has guided us on mudding the drywall in. Team co-leader Mike Mastraccio has managed us well on work assignments. Steve Zenthoefer our other leader has kept us focused on daily devotions and using the new VIM books "Called" and Challenged". Dr Rex Smith out traveling "Arborist" has continued to remove dead trees from the yard. So many have been killed on the island from too much salt water.

We attended a Galveston Disaster Recovery worship service last night. We worshiped with VIM teams from several states. It seems we are all doing similiar reconstruction work on homes. The Texas Conference staff for disaster recovery was also present and thanked all the teams. The asked we return and tell the story of the great need in Galveston for more workers. They also updated us that the Asbury Deaf Ministry VIM team that worked earlier this year that the family would be moving back in soon.

We will complete our time of work on Bea's home today and be driving back to Oklahoma on Saturday. Thanks for your prayers.

Survivor Galveston Island-Day 3
We had tribal council and voted last night. It was a tie so no one was voted off the island! We are getting tired but all torches remained lite. There are some we would like to send to "Exile Island". The homeowner that is currently living with her son Gilbert north of Galveston came by yesterday. Her name is Bea and she serves with the Salvation Army. She is a widow and is 80. She expressed her gratitude to the Asbury team and prayed for us. This home had 6 feet of water inside after Ike.

The work continued yesterday with more mudding and drywall work. Rex, Linda and Steve worked on clearing the yard of downed trees. There will be more sanding and drywall work today as this older home is being rebuilt from the inside. Lisa and Angela have a contest to see how much mud they can apply to their clothes as well as walls.

We went and walked the beach after dinner last night. That is something you can't always do on a VIM trip. We are staying safe. We will attend a Ike Recovery worship service tonight. Thanks for your prayers and "Tree Mail". Your Asbury Galveston team.

Galveston Construction April 22, 2009

We have now completed two days of work on the Hurricane Ike damaged home. We are one of seven VIM teams currently working on the island. Your Asbury team has completed sheetrock (not Chinese!) on the garage and almost completed the ceiling. When you are working on restoring an older home it is always with challenges. Linda , Lisa, and Angela have been covered with dust as they have sanded walls from mudding. We hope the homeowner will be in her home by the end of May. Wesley Parsonage is our home this week. It was also damaged, but had been repaired for teams to live in. Chef Rex Smith is feeding us well as always. Just saw the sunrise over the ocean so we have another beautiful day to work. Thanks for your prayers as no injuries, just sore muscles. Steve Zenthoefer's mother from Texas City came and brought us fresh baked cookies yesterday.
Rob

Tanzania Water Well Update, Day 7, February 19, 2009

Today was a hard hot day. We drove to the SE corner of our focus area to a village called Dete. The purpose of this journey was to decide on possible locations for a water well. Dete is only about 22 miles as the crow flies from the Lutheran Junior Seminary (where we stay) but it was a 2.5 hour drive over road that several times tested the abilities of our 4-wheel drive vehicle. By the time we got there I had a significant headache.

We hiked around the area and found 3 possible drilling locations. Based on the depth to water in nearby watering holes, two of the locations might yield water at a fairly shallow depth. The third (located by the church) would have to be drilled deeper. All in all, I'm optimistic about being able to bring clean water to the village. God is good.

At one of the watering holes, a Bari Baig livestock herder had built pens immediately next to the water supply. Less than sanitary... The pens were made out of tall sapling trees that were basket woven around tree posts that had been driven into the ground. It was very interesting.

There are many Bari Baig in the Dete area. Because they raise livestock, they are quite wealthy (like their more famous counterparts the Massai). Unfortunately, they are most known in the area for their drinking, which I saw first-hand. A sad prayer concern. According to Pastor Herb Hafermann, very few Bari Baig have been saved. They continue in their animist ways and are not open to hearing about the gospel.

Upon arriving home, I had a 2-hour meeting with Bishop Jacob Mameo, Robert Spitaleri, and Grant Miller. (Asbury has teamed with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania to do our work.) The meeting went exceedingly well. I am very confident that our work here is making a big impact on the Kami people and that there is complete unity between our two groups. Praise be to God.
Mark Dalton

Tanzania Water Well Update, Day 6, February 18, 2009

Habari from Ed, John, Grant, and myself. Today we traveled to two villages to find places to drill water wells. The first village we went to was Mazizi. (Whenever I talk about going to a village, what I never mention is the condition of the roads. In short, the roads to all villages are nothing more than a poor 4-wheel drive trail. Assume that all roads are really bad.). Mazizi has been a challenging village for us to find a sustainable source of good water. The first well we drilled there was great... until the well collapsed. The second well yielded water that is a little too salty. We found a spot today that we think will yield good water. Pray that it be so.

We were reminded of the physical reason we are doing this when an elderly woman showed up at the local watering hole. A bucket of putrid chocolate colored water was filled and Pastor Leonard Mwimbe helped her to hoist it onto her head. We then walked with her 0.9 miles, up hill, back to Mazizi. A 5-gallon bucket of water weighs 40-pounds... Leonard estimated her age at 70. Think about it.

We next went to Maseyu where Pastor Mwimbe's wife Catherine served us a full lunch of rice, chicken, and gravy. After lunch we hiked around looking for a good spot for a well. The spot we settled on is in a low spot in a farm field near the hole that they currently use for a water supply. It doesn't look any better than the one at Mazizi.

We are praying that the two well locations chosen today will alleviate some of the suffering of the people here.

Tomorrow Ed and John will leave us for 2-days to go to an animal park. Please pray travel mercies for their journey and that communing with the animals will only heighten their appreciation for the creativity of our Creator. The rest of the contingent is going to make a very long journey to a very remote village called Dete where we will decide on one or several preliminary locations for a well. Please pray that God will see us safely there and back, and that He will grant us wisdom and vision to pick a good spot for a well. Bwana Asifiwe (Praise God)!
Mark Dalton

Tanzania Water Well Update, Day 5, February 17, 2009

Today we went to a village called New Land for a church service. Before the service started, we went to check on the water well that Asbury drilled in 2004. The well is still producing good water and looks to be in very good condition.

We also checked on the bee hives. Asbury's missionary, Robert Spitaleri, helped introduce a newer style hive that allows for more honey production. New Land is currently the only village where bee keeping is being done. It was wonderful to see that there were hives there labeled for other nearby congregations.

Following the church service, we were treated to a wonderful lunch. We ate so much that we didn't eat any dinner.

In the afternoon, I had a meeting with Pastor Hafermann to go over our 2009 budget and discuss finances and future projects.

Everyone here is healthy. Blessings to all.
Mark Dalton

Tanzania Water Well Update, Day 4, February 16, 2009

Today was an errand and meeting day for us. The team went into Morogoro to exchange some money, visit a well pump supplier, and have Grant Miller’s old SUV checked out by a mechanic before going into the bush the next few days (New Land tomorrow, Mazizi on Wednesday, Dete on Thursday, and Lubaya on Saturday). Please pray for safe travel.

This afternoon we met with two of the Pastors here at the seminary (Paulo & Mike). After good conversation, we ended the meeting by praying together, lifting up their concern for their students and teachers here at the seminary.

I finished the day with a business meeting with Pastor Hafermann to make sure that all of the ministry bases are covered financially.

The highlight of my day arrived as a surprise. My dear friend Pastor Raymond Dunia was able to travel from his remote village to see me. The reunion was wonderful!
Blessings, Mark Dalton

Tanzania Water Well Update Day 3, February 15, 2009

Today we travelled to the village of Gezaulole for worship service. We first went to the village of Maseyu to pick up Pastor Leonard Mwimbe. While there, Leonard’s wife Catherine served us tea and “doughnuts”.

Upon arriving at Gezaulole, we first went to the water well site where the surface pumping mechanism was recently stolen. The well at Gezaulole was the first one drilled by Asbury, and is very productive. It is speculated that someone stole the pump to sell it for scrap iron. We are evaluating what can be done to prevent theft in the future. The situation is sad as the women now have to walk downhill almost 2 miles in order to fetch 5 gallons of polluted water to carry on their heads for the uphill walk back to the village. A prayer concern.

The worship service lasted about 2 hours. Leonard (Asbury sponsored him through seminary) did a great job. The sermon was on the sower (Matthew 13). After worship, there was a small auction which brought in extra funds for the coffers.

When we dropped Leonard off at Maseyu, Catherine had a veritable banquet ready for us. It was really good: rice, chicken, beans, oranges, bananas, potatoes, and papaya. All washed down with good old Coca Cola. That’s all for now.
Blessings, Mark Dalton

Tanzania Water Well Update (Day 1 & 2) Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009

Ed Lusk, Grant Miller, John Simmons and I all arrived safely to Tanzania without incident. Thanks to all for your prayers.

As you know, one purpose of our trip is to improve our water well evangelism. To this end, one of our tasks was to evaluate a new water well drilling contractor. Today we were able to visit the site of a water well that is being drilled for another Christian group. The well is being drilled by a company called Majitech (maji is Swahili for water). We stayed for about an hour, observing and talking to the drilling rig operator (driller). We were quite impressed with both the equipment and the driller. We were also reminded that “this is Africa” when the well construction operation had to be shut down because the PVC well casing had not been delivered (it was supposed to be there last Monday…). We hope to meet the owner of this company before we leave here. Please pray diligently that we are able to find a long-term solution to the water well drilling problem as the need is very great.

After lunch, we drove from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro. It took us almost 4 hours to make the 100 mile drive. The drive was slow due to the traffic being very heavy. I got to make the drive with Bishop Jacob Mameo and a missionary who works for him, Barbara Robertson. Our time together was very rewarding.

Tomorrow we’re going to go to the Massai cattle auction which is always very interesting. Thanks for your continued prayers.

In His grip, Mark

Day 2
This morning was spent planning the rest of our days here.

In the late morning we went to the Massai cattle auction which is about a 30 minute drive north of Morogoro. This was my third time to go. I had a good time watching the expressions on the faces of Ed Lusk and John Simmons who had never experienced anything like it. Somehow being in the middle of hundreds of Massai warriors and their cattle all in one place just never loses its awe factor.

Tomorrow we will worship at Gezelole.

Mark