Dear Family and
Friends,
Greetings in the love and grace of Jesus. Praise to Him above
all things. We glory in His power to save and His power to act in building His
church and organizations such as VSI and VST to accomplish His works through us
all.
This letter is perhaps long overdue, but since arriving in the
States we have been very busy with family and friends. With a big family
reunion under our belt, we are able to take a breath and get down to the
business of letting you know what is going on in our lives.
We want to thank you for supporting us in our service with
VSI/VST these past five years. They have been the highlight of our lives of
service to our King.
Some of you know that VST first took a risk on us, because
of their prior experiences with older and married people coming from Western
countries. We have thanked them for taking that risk and have always and only
served to support and encourage those around us.
We want all of our supporters know that we were not “burned out”
from the work at Idigima, but we did find ourselves “worn out.” Our bodies are
now 62 years old and not able to function as well as we would like, to keep up
with the activities of so many students and staff who are less than half our
age. We have also greatly missed the gatherings of our four children and seeing
our seven grandchildren, who are growing out of their young years without our
influence. Therefore, we have decided that this will be our last year of going
to Tanzania as volunteers for VST.
As many of you know, when we returned to America in 2010, we
sold our house, cars, and most of our earthly possessions in order to be free
of burdens and expenses. Our intention was to give our lives fully to the work
God had shown us in Tanzania. Now we are faced with the challenge of
re-entering American life.
Before we do that, we will be traveling to churches
and individual supporters to encourage them to continue in their support of
VSI/VST. Our most fervent prayer is that younger people (perhaps between 18 and
30) will be called to give a portion of their lives to foreign missions. It
truly is an adventure with God to submit yourself to Him for provision and
protection.
We encourage you to continue your support of VSI, as we believe
it to be one of the best mission endeavors we’ve ever seen. We plan to join the
volunteer group here in the States that ensures that all donated money goes to
the field, rather than being eaten up by administrative, promotional and
fund-raising expenses.
We love you all and will cherish the memories of our service
together. Now go and have an adventure of your own in the far flung harvest
fields of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Your servants of the Lord from Idigima,
Gary (Babu Philipo) and Joanne (Bibi Joanna) Grenell
