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We will be regularly posting our latest news here. You can also visit our news archives which show our news by month.

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Here are our latest posts...

1 October 2008 

Jambo from Tanzania! This month has been a month of travelling with Jonathan going to Nairobi (in Kenya) and Rachel going with the national Bible translators to Dar es Salaam (the largest city in Tanzania and where our head-office is located). Jonathan then joined Rachel in Dar es Salaam for two weeks. 

Last month, was also the Islamic month of Ramadan. During this time, we have learned a lot about Islam and in the office for the last 40 days we have been working through a prayer guide to help us pray for Muslims around the world.  The prayer guide included the Rangi people, who Rachel is helping translate the Bible for so please continue to pray that revival would reach the Rangi people as it is estimated that over 90% of this people group are Muslims.

Rachel

My month started with a visit to Dar es Salaam to do some preliminary checking of the book of Mark. This went well, but we can see areas that we need to work harder on such as spelling. I enjoyed catching up with some friends in Dar Es Salaam, and getting to eat out at some new restaurants. I also enjoyed browsing the shops as we do not really have shops like you find in England and the United States in Dodoma. Once returning to Dodoma, the translators and I continued to work on the book of Mark. In addition to translating, we are working on a glossary to help readers with some key terms that we often understand easily having the whole Bible, but a new reader may not understand. In the glossary we explain people and places such as the temple, King David, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Mount of Olives. During this time, we have learned some fun facts. For instance, Mary Magdalene’s surname was not Magdalene rather she was from the place called Magdala. To prevent confusion we have translated it Mary of Magdalene. Also, I discovered that in the Swahili Bible the word for fig tree is actually translated cactus. Because of this,  fig tree parables in Mark do not make complete sense. Through discovering the issue about the cactus, we uncovered that the Rangi actually have fig trees and have a specific name for them! It is discoveries like this that make my job so fun! As so many of you have mentioned that you like my stories about everyday life in Tanzania, I have attached another one below. This story is about a graduation ceremony I attended recently, and the picture attached is of me and the happy graduate. 

Jonathan

My month started with a visit to Nairobi to meet with my former boss from Dallas to discuss an opportunity to support the accounting systems of Wycliffe/SIL in the whole Africa. I had a good meeting with her and she would like me to work 4-5 weeks per year to help around Africa with any problems that may arise with the accounting software and to provide technical support. I am really excited about this as I know that this role is much needed by Wycliffe and I love being able to share my finance and computing knowledge with people all over Africa.

After visiting Nairobi, I flew straight to Dar es Salaam so I could coordinate the internal audit which was organized by our head-office in Dallas. The audit was done by two guys from England and went well. I was very thankful that the audit went smoothly and that there were no major problems with the finances. Later in the month I also met with the Tanzanian tax authorities to discuss income tax liability for missionaries which is a huge issue within the missionary community at the moment. The meeting went well and my background in tax law was extremely helpful when discussing the Tanzanian tax legislation. The meeting reminded me that even in business and finance, the Tanzanian culture is very apparent and permeates all areas of life…I thought I had presented a strong case from the law to establish that we didn’t have to pay but the last comment by the tax officer was, ‘Let’s meet again to see if we can come to a settlement that is both beneficial for you and beneficial for us.’

For prayer

Please give thanks for:

-          The successful internal audit in Dar Es Salaam.

-          Safe travel to Dar Es Salaam and Nairobi and refreshing and beneficial work time.

-          Continued progress on checking the book of Mark

-          Rachel’s Swahili skills have really developed over the last few months.

Please pray for:

-          Checking through the book of Mark is a detailed process so pray that a thorough and efficient job is done by Rachel and the translators

-          Continued strength as we are adjusting to our jobs and to the Tanzanian culture

-          That we would continue to develop our Swahili skills

-          For the completion of the translation work on the book of Mark over the next few months

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Jonathan & Rachel

1 August 2008 

You know you are in Africa when you wake up on Sunday morning to find a church service is being held in your backyard! This is what we experienced on Sunday. The owner of our house had invited her entire church over to say goodbye to them because she is leaving in a few months. At the end of the service, Rachel found herself translating for the Tanzanians so that they could speak with the some visitors from England. It was really an exciting opportunity for her to see how far her Swahili has progressed over the last few months. 

We have now been in Dodoma for two months and gradually adjusting to life here. We are making good friends with both Tanzanians and other missionaries so we are pleased that there are other people around that we can be social with.

Jonathan

I am getting settled into my job and I am already doing lots of technical accounting work. I am responsible for the finances of the whole organization in Uganda and Tanzania as well as the local office which is a lot of work but is very fulfilling. One of my first jobs will be to prepare for an audit in September so I am learning a lot about the organization’s finances very quickly!

Rachel

I am beginning to bond well with the Rangi team and I am excited about how things are progressing with the translation. Last week I received my Rangi name from the translators. They named me ‘Mbeyu’ which means seed and is a name for well respected people. Also the seed represents the Word of God that is being planted in people’s hearts through the Rangi translation. Recently, I visited a translation project that is in a village several hours northwest of Dodoma (see attached picture). The Sandawe people live in this village and surrounding area and they speak one of the few click languages in Africa. We both plan to go again, and see more of the translation work that is happening in this area. I have written a story about one of my work experiences with the translators below which I hope will give you an insight into my work.

For prayer

Please give thanks for:

-          - We just returned from our annual conference which was very much a blessing for us. - When we left for home, we felt spiritually and physically refreshed and we felt more of a connection with our colleagues serving in Uganda and Tanzania. It was a great opportunity to catch up with friends from language school and to make new friends.

-          - Our pets have adjusted well to us, and we are bonding well with them.

-          - We are starting to make good friendships in Dodoma.

Please pray for:

-         - Our biggest prayer request is for finding a church to attend. None of the options we have are ideal so please continue to pray that God will lead us to where he would like us to attend.

-          - Continued strength as we are adjusting to our jobs and to the Tanzanian culture.

-          - That we would continue to develop our Swahili skills.

-          - For the completion of the translation work on the book of Mark over the next few months.

May 1, 2008 

Dear Friends,

We are sitting in our room at language school right now enjoying a bag of chips/crisps. It is amazing how good they taste! My sister Sarah and her husband sent us a huge bag, and would you believe that most of them survived the trip! We are progressing through language school and are now over half way through. Although we are both struggling with vocabulary memorization, our comprehension and understanding of the language is progressing well. A recent assignment we had was to prepare a 30 minute presentation entirely in Swahili. Rachel did a cooking show, and did all of her research for the project in the kitchen with the Tanzanian staff there. They never quite understood that she was going to “pretend” to cook during the presentation. Several times the chef asked her when he needed to by the chicken for her to cook. Jonathan taught a game called “Countdown”, which is a TV show in the UK. Both presentations went well, however, since Rachel talked so fast her presentation only lasted for 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes! Another exciting progression of our language study is that we have begun looking at Bible passages. We have looked at little Bible stories book, and have also used our new Swahili Bibles to read the book of Ruth in Swahili. Rachel had a little déjà vu as she just did a translation of Ruth from Hebrew to English in her studies before leaving Dallas.

Thank you to all who have sent us encouraging e-mails over the last few weeks. It is easy to get bogged down with studies, and an encouraging word always brightens our day! Although we are still struggling with occasional tummy bugs, overall our health has improved from the first few weeks here. We have also had some good conversations about God with some of the people visiting the campsite and had opportunities to share the gospel with them.

Here are a couple of stories about our adventures so far in Tanzania…

Recently, we had a lecture from two people from the Masaai tribe which is in Tanzania and Kenya. The Massai people are often tall, thin and like jumping as part of their cultural dancing. We saw a demonstration of one of their dances (see video page). Then, one very strange scene happened which proves the extent of globalization worldwide. You should picture this Masaai warrior dressed in all the traditional clothing (which is basically just a blanket wrapped around his body and his weapons which include a stick, a club and a knife). All of a sudden, we hear a cell/mobile phone ringing, and he reaches into his blanket and pulls it out and starts talking on it!! It was so hilarious, if only we had been quicker and got a picture of it! He’s telling us all about their traditions and keeping their traditions and then his phone rings!

Also, if you remember the hippo that we told you about that lives in the river next to our campsite, we almost got to see him a couple of weeks ago. I’ve written a little dialogue at the bottom of this e-mail of what happened (in Swahili and English), thinking it might bring a smile to your face.

Please give thanks for: 

- We are progressing well with our language learning and we are able to comprehend some basic conversations now

- That our teachers were not seriously harmed in their recent car accident

- That we have formed a good relationship with the couple we are sharing a banda (cabin) with

Please would you pray for:

- We would be able to remember more vocabulary

- Our witness to non-Christians visiting the campsite

- We would remain strong in mind, body, and spirit as we continue with our studies

- Our relationships would not be strained living in such close proximity with others

- We would keep focused on our goal of bringing the Bible to Bibleless people groups

Thank you for your prayers and encouragements.

With every blessing

Jonathan & Rachel

March 1, 2008 

We hope you enjoyed our first newsletter from Tanzania last month. We have arrived at language school in Iringa and have been studying Swahili for 3 weeks now. Classes are going well, and we are divided up into classes with about 5 people in each class. We are now able to construct basic sentences, and have been trying to practice on our trips to town. At one of the first classes, Rachel told the class “I like to eat a wife”. What she meant to say is “I like to eat bread”! Part of learning a new language is being able to laugh at all the silly mistakes we make! We still have 13 weeks of Swahili lessons left, so we are looking forward to becoming even more proficient in the language.

On our journey to Iringa we drove through a national park. As we were driving, we saw giraffe, elephants, gazelle, and zebra! The language school is held on a campsite with tents and some wooden cabins. We were fortunate to be put in a nice little cabin (called a banda) so we have a little more room to move around. We have attached pictures of the view from our banda and of the dining banda where we eat our meals. On Wednesdays we host a mid-week service in our banda so we try to squeeze 15 people into one small room. It’s cozy and gives real meaning to the phrase ‘close fellowship’! There are a lot of creatures on the campsite including dogs, snakes, guinea fowl, a hippo (although we haven’t seen him yet!), and a lot of geckos including one that lives in our cabin. We decided that since it appears he is here to stay and he does a great job eating mosquitoes, we would name him so we call him Bartholomew (we call him Bart for short).

We are very thankful for the support and encouragement we have felt from you all. We have had many e-mails of encouragement. For those interested in sending us letters or packages, we have put some helpful guidelines on how to do this on our website here.  We have also made some suggestions on the sort things you can send. We are also hoping to post some pictures on our  website soon.

Please give thanks for: 

- Safe travels to language school as this was our first road trip in Tanzania

- That we have both just recovered from bouts of illness and are now almost fully fit again

- That we are enjoying our studies and made good friendships with our colleagues

Please would you pray for:

- That we would remain be healthy so that we don’t miss any classes

- That our spiritual lives would continue to be strong

- That our relationships with our colleagues would continue to strengthen and that our team will remain unified

- That we would grasp the language quickly and remember what we have studied

We appreciate you all, and would love to hear how you are doing!

January 20, 2008 

Arrived in Tanzania!!