Abject Poverty
Friday, April 27, 2007
An 80 year old father who struggles to raise his 11 year old daughter because his wife died. A 17 year old with polio who his parents abandoned. A boy who couldn't go to school because his family could not afford a uniform. Four children under the age of 6 who were home alone while their mother worked. The father abandoned the family.
These were four of the families that I visited yesterday. A reporter from Deutschewelle radio in Germany is here in Tanzania doing a story on different programs and their effectiveness in East Africa. I got to tag along as she interviewed the different parents and children, and my heart has never been so broken. From my overly wealthy perspective, I don't understand how people could survive in these conditions, but they do. Seeing poverty consuming people awakes the desire to help from deep within a person. But when you look around and see person upon person and house upon house and village upon village of nothing but unimaginable poverty, your heart just crumbles from the weight of it all. What is a person to do? A small handout helps for a day, but what about tomorrow? Is another person with a little cash going to be around again?
What am I supposed to do? What does God want me to do? Say a prayer as I leave? Matthew 25 begs to differ. But where do I even begin?
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| Tanzania |
Posted byMike Fennema posted 7:01 AM 2 comments
The First Batch of Tanzania Pictures!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Here you go everyone! Here is the first batch of pictures from Tanzania! Don't you worry, more will follow!
If you all out there wouldn't mind saying a little prayer for our group, we would appreciate it! We love you all!
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| Tanzania |
Posted byMike Fennema posted 1:28 PM 1 comments
Less than a week to go
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Well Steph and I are leaving for Tanzania in less than a week now. It's been kinda crazy round here the last couple of...well, the last couple of weeks to be honest. Ever since we got back from Colorado life has been busier than normal. Steph has been doing a ton of work for the trip that is coming up. She is basically doing all the administrative part of the trip on top of her current job. I guess in a sick and twisted way it is nice because it gives her something to do while I am studying. I seem to be studying so much lately that I feel like I am back in college with the wierd hours that I am keeping. I realized that I don't need a lot of sleep, but less than 6 hours is pushing it. I can do it once or even twice in a row, but then I need my beauty rest.
I wanted to give a big shout out to the people who have supported us for this trip. You are a blessing and an answer to prayer. The rest of you, don't worry, you are a huge blessing to us as well, and we love all of our family and friends!
With that said, here are somethings running through my brain this week:
I'm looking for a ministry opportunity to become involved in during this summer (and beyond if possible). Those of you who are warriors out there, please pray! If anyone has any great ideas, let me know!
The whole Don Imus thing this week has gotten me thinking about depravity and forgiveness. Where are we as Christians supposed to land?
It was proven today that room temperature Coke cools the quickest when placed in a cooler with ice and .... (drum roll please) rock salt! Who would have known? Drop it like it's...cold.
I've really enjoyed my devotions this week. How can one tell? Almost every line in my Bible has been underlined! It's great, but it makes devotions take longer. I've been reading the Psalms, and they have just been coming alive this week! It have been refreshed reading David pouring out his emotions in praise of our great God.
I did a bad thing this week. I made a friend that I haven't talked to in about four years look like an idiot. I guess he had it coming though. Helpful hint to all of you out there: if you talk to a friend you haven't talked to in four years, avoid the "So how's such and such girlfriend/boyfriend?" comment. The chance for backfire is just too high.
Ahh, so much more is going on, but I doubt anyone is still reading my ramblings. If I am not able to post before we go, we love you all! Please pray for us!
--Mike
Posted byMike Fennema posted 8:59 PM 3 comments
Pray for your pastors (and their wives)
Friday, April 6, 2007
A couple of meetings and an article that I read recently got me to think how much we all need to be in prayer for those who are ministering to us. I had the priviledge of meeting with two pastors for a while this week. One of them was Ande Johnson who is the pastor of RUF at UCF. Ande's a great guy and a new friend of mine who faces his share of challenges as a new RUF pastor. Later in the week, I met with the pastor of my church, Jeff Jakes. I've had the privilege of having Jeff not only for a pastor, but also for an older brother for the past three years or so.
Maybe it was just Holy Week, or maybe it is simply the life of ministry, but these meeting showed me that ministry is not easy and pulls a person in many directions at once. It showed me that these men really need our prayers. Not only them, but their wives and families too. I found an interesting article in Time the other day that show s just how much pastor's wives need prayer as well.
So when you are celebrating the resurrection of our Lord this weekend, don't forget to pray for your pastors!
Posted byMike Fennema posted 12:08 PM 2 comments
