Christmas Greetings!

(photo from 2009, their 1st Christmas in Tanzania)

Here is an audio presentation, a Christmas greeting in both Gary & Joanne's own voices.

To play back the audio recording, be sure to first turn on the speakers of your computer, and either scroll down the right side of the blog to reach the "Featured Audio Clip" or click on the "Audio Clips" tab across the top of the blog to open a new page that will eventually hold the archive of all the audio clips.

"Merry Christmas to one and all, from Gary & Joanne!"

John Williams, Your Hands & Feet blogmaster (for the Grenells)

Gary & Joanne's Third Year Video Report

The Grenell’s Third Year Video Report is now available to watch.

To play the video recording, be sure to first turn on the speakers of your computer, then either scroll down the right side of the blog to reach the "Featured Video Clip" or click on the "Video Clips" tab across the top of the blog to open a new page that has their video reports videos from all three years.

Special thanks to their son-in-law, Trevor, who produces these videos for them!

Enjoy!

John Williams, Your Hands & Feet blogmaster (for the Grenells)

Gifts As A Greeting

Dear supportive friends,

Students have been very happy to see us, asking about our greeting of the American people and your condition. We brought some T-shirts as gifts from some of you, which the kids are receiving very “warmly.”

The mornings and evenings are chilly, so additional layers are very helpful, especially when they are not full of holes, as is often the case. We try to give them to students who not only have good academic scores, but who are wearing rags under their uniforms.

Other appreciated gifts for the school(s) were the laptops, First-Aid supplies, soccer and volley balls, and general school office supplies.

We found a budding artist in the Form One class who was elated with the package of colored pencils and the opportunity to add color to his drawing of Jesus. His name is Nicko, and we’ve tentatively commissioned him to do some art work on “Thank You” cards. We’ll see what he comes up with.

In His grace,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

“What has God done in your life during your years at Idigima?” – Part III

The title of this blog post, What has God done in your life during your years at Idigima? – Part III, is the final follow-up to the previous blog post from this past July where responses from Form III and Form IV students on a weekly Bible Knowledge test to this same question were posted.

That blog post can be accessed thru the archives (scroll down on the right hand column) or click on the following link:

“What has God done in your life during your years at Idigima?”

Gary & Joanne were asked to respond to the very same question. Gary’s response to the same question was posted on September 14, 2012. You can review Gary’s response post by accessing the archives or by clicking on this link:

“What has God done in your life during your years at Idigima?” – Part II

Joanne’s response to this question follows.

(The above is a picture from their photo file that was selected and
submitted by the Grenells as an appropriate visual for this post)

The Lord has been teaching me many things about myself and what it means to really be humble.

For instance, it is culture to bring a gift, no matter how small (a bar of soap, a pen, a small bag of dry beans, or a small bag of salt, etc.) to the host/hostess of where you are going. Many students really appreciate our being here (all the way from America, leaving our family, etc.) to help them in their education and helping some meet their daily needs (food, rent money, encouraging words).

So, often, students will bring us gifts from their home villages. Sometimes they say the gift is from their parents or maybe it was a harvest time for that crop (peanuts, maize, Irish potatoes, rice, etc.) and they just wanted to bring something to us to make a pointed “Thank you.”

One of my “love languages” is acts of service. As many of you know, I seem to need to be doing something all the time and for someone else, to show my love. With this comes the “‘no need to say, “Thank you,” feeling. So, put me in this culture and poverty, where someone is bringing ME gifts that I know is quite a hardship and sacrifice for them, and I am greatly humbled!!

Your Hands & Feet in Tanzania,

Gary & Joanne

Greetings from Tanzania!

In London with Big Ben in the background.

Dear friends,

Our apologies for not communicating sooner; we’ve simply not had the opportunity.

We had a 10 hour layover in London, so I coaxed a very tired Joanne into taking the tube into town to see some tourist attractions . . . places you see in movies. We saw Buckingham Palace, Green Park, Westminster Abby, and the Parliament building, then jumped back on the tube and caught a short nap before boarding for our flight to Dar.

We arrived “home” at about 11:00 pm on Thursday, September 6th. A dinner was waiting, prepared by the lady teachers. By midnight we’d found the bed sheets and organized paths through the luggage.

The highlights of the trip were the bus again being boarded by immigration officials and our shipping bins not being loaded on the same bus with us on our trip to Mbeya.

The officials asked if we had our papers, but did not demand to see them, and the luggage arrived safely on Saturday.

After spending most of the first day in bed, we took a walk around campus and found our cat, Callie, living in a storage room.

She was obviously pregnant and happy to see us, following us back home and scarcely leaving our sides since. She delivered three kittens on Friday, the 14th.




We hit the ground running here at Idigima, as the quarterly exams were scheduled to begin on the 17th, and the typist had shifted to a new location. Our arrival brought a sigh of relief to the Academic Dean and Headmaster. To add to the abnormal “normal” of African life, the generator was broken until the 18th. The Headmaster borrowed a small gas generator to charge the computers for typing the exams, which we were able to complete in just a couple of days.

Joanne got back into the classroom right away, reviewing and preparing her Pre-Form students for their exam in English. Gary had a few opportunities to enter some of his classes and review what would be on their exams.

On the home front, it is the time of year when snakes like to find warm places... One evening we had just finished washing dishes and entered the “great” room to find Callie squared off with a snake that matched the cement floor color so well that Joanne couldn’t see it right away. Note: there are no lights in this room. Joanne held the flashlight while Gary dispatched it with the panga (machete). In the picture, we’re checking it for fangs; it appeared to be non-poisonous, but better safe than sorry. Next on the agenda was to search the house for possible companions . . .

Gary was the first to use the First-Aid supplies. He was going to market on the “back” of a transport pick-up truck, standing on the fender and holding onto a bar at tailgate height. Almost to the village, they hit a bump that jolted a passenger sitting against the tailgate into Gary’s head, knocking his glasses off onto the road. Instinctively, he jumped off to retrieve them, but didn’t hit the ground running as planned. Instead, he hit the ground rolling, with scuffs on his hands, shoulder, elbow and knee. Some TLC, salve and Band-Aids from Joanne had him up and running again by evening.

Thanks to all who contributed to our increase of protein resource.

We were able to bring some bagged tuna, salmon and protein drink mix this year.






Also, a very big “THANK YOU” for the support we received while stateside: housing, transportation, tech support, and fantastic fellowship and encouragement. Although we love you very much, we are feeling quite at home here.

Your servants in the Lord,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

“What has God done in your life during your years at Idigima?” – Part II

Gary and Joanne returned to Tanzania in early September for a fourth year of service with VSI. They will again be assigned to Idigima Secondary School.

The title of this blog posting, "What has God done in your life during your years at Idigima? – Part II", was the natural follow-up to the previous blog posting where responses from Form III and Form IV students on a weekly Bible Knowledge test to this same question were posted.

The following is Gary’s response. Joanne is still working on her response and will be posted at a later time.

“Without a doubt, the Lord has taught me dependency. Obviously, in a foreign country, the culture and language puts a person in a vulnerable position, and the intense poverty that we witness demands wisdom for response. Life is uncertain and precarious, filled with conditions that could threaten safety and well-being. At every aspect of life in the rural setting of a developing country, there is one degree of dependency or another. Beyond the physical, however, is the spiritual and emotional. We are dealing with spiritual offenses unlike most American settings; that requires a walk with the Lord down unfamiliar and uncertain paths. What I very much enjoy in the growing dependency upon God is peace in all situations. That peace makes for contentment while living in Africa. All of this results in a greater dependency on the Word of God, realizing more and more the depths of its truth and council for all aspects of life."

Your Hands & Feet in Tanzania,

Gary & Joanne

“What has God done in your life during your years at Idigima?”

The title of this blog, What has God done in your life during your years at Idigima?, was the bonus question asked of Form III and Form IV students on a weekly Bible Knowledge test. These students have been at Idigima Secondary School for four or five years. Nearly all responses included comments about God blessing them with few health problems, protection while traveling on the roads and the ability to perform well academically.

Among the most frequent responses were also thanksgivings for peace and unity in relationships at home, in the village and at school, which is very important in this culture. Many also gave thanks for God’s daily provision of their needs and the needs of their families. “Give us this day our daily bread” is often times a request out of real desperation.

Anyway, we thought you’d like to hear a few of the more unique responses the students gave. Keep in mind that these are mostly 17 to 21 year old young adults who’ve chosen to move away from home and fend for themselves in order to receive an education. Their simple and dependent faith is a blessing to us.

(Unedited so that you can experience their command of English.)

• “God maintains my life.”

• “...to find the life in every day!”

• “When I’m suffering, He always help me, and then give a glory to continue to study.”

• “He has helped me to be against the evils.”

• “God has been giving me a confidence and power when I pray.”

• “God is the better way; don’t do other things. God is the first in life; God is better all the time.”

• “He defends me all the time.”

• “He can help about thinking when I cooperate with Him.”

• “God gives escape from problems.”

• “I pray and God all the time and every day helps me in my life.”

• “God helps me to stay here, because other people they died.” (...talking about fellow students...)

• “God has delivered (saved) me from death against the witches and evil spirits. He delivers me from temptation through fighting with those enemies who want to trap my spirit and body.”

• “He has comforted me during sorrow through reading Bible and getting advice from wise people.”

• “God is present day and night; God is life to me. God listens to my problems.”

• “The world it can (be) difficult if you don’t (have) God.” (Parenthetical added for clarity.)

• “God helps me to speak to various people without any segregation.”

• “God helps me to know myself.”

• “God helps me in everything about the life...so I work and dance with God – I love God all the time.”

• “No one like Jesus Christ – the man of action. Jesus came to die because of evils of the people, especially myself.”

• “God protects me from every bad thing that wants to destroy me.”

• “God helped me to buy a Bible for more knowing and encouragement.”

• “I was in trouble with parents; I was not able to continue schooling, but God helps me through VST.”

• “When I desire girls having a sexual friendship, God’s power saves me.”

• “God’s my powerful mountain, my life today I live and am not dead.”

• “God has made me happy in my life. God has taught me to have forgiveness to others.”

• “God changed my behaviour compared to when I do not know Him.”

• “God tells me good information during chapel time.”

• “God has led me how to live and to detect the sin/evil.”

• “God was helped me to talk in front of the majority.” (Majority refers to a large group or student body.)

• “God helps Mr. Philipo to teach Bible and to make Bible Club.” (See? Even in Africa the students want to make points with the teacher!)

Your Hands & Feet in Tanzania,

Gary & Joanne

"Final" doesn't mean final . . .

Ever since our return to the States toward the end of June we have been receiving puzzled and confused comments from family, friends, and supporters after our last blog update, "Final Week Update", was posted. Apparently, some misinterpreted that to mean we were not returning this fall for a fourth year! It was meant to only refer to the final week of our third year - the final week before we returned for our summer break.

After we return to the States, as it has been for the past three years, Village Schools requires us to spend a week or two in prayer and reflection as to whether we feel the Lord is calling us to return for another tour. If we are so led, we then submit our "Applications to Return" to the Tanzanian leaders. The national leaders decide whether they want volunteers to return, and they also determine where the teachers should serve, because needs change all the time, especially now that there are 22 schools open and enrolling students.

Though we pretty much knew already, we did as we were required. We prayed & reflected upon the Lord's calling for us. And, we felt led to continue serving with the Lord in Tanzania. We submitted our applications and waited. The next day Steve Vinton wrote,

"Well it wasn't a hard decision at all for everyone to say not only should you come back, but that you should definitely go to Idigima! So enjoy sharing with everyone there in America and I'll tell them (VSI support staff) to work on your tickets out of Chicago to arrive in Dar with the rest of the gang (new mission teachers going in). Just remember, training for them starts from the time they land in Dar, so be helpful and friendly and all of that so that they like you, BUT do tell them, 'Ah, you know you guys are just going to have to learn it all yourselves just like we did!!!'

SEE YOU SOON AGAIN AND KARIBU SANA.

Love, Steve (and Susan and the rest of the gang)!"

Our return date is tentatively set for August 31st - give or take a day or two.

In the meantime, we plan to spend the summer visiting family & friends, attending reunions, and sharing with our supporters our experiences & work in Tanzania. If you wish for us to speak to your church, small group, or family, please let us know by sending us an e-mail to: garjo77@gmail.com.

Your Hands & Feet in Tanzania,

Gary & Joanne

Final Week Update

Well, time flies when you're having fun . . .

Seems like we just got here, but then we think back over the year and so much has happened.

This last week will be a blur, I'm sure. The days fly by during test week, monitoring the exam rooms all day and by night grading papers/exams, completing sewing projects for students, and preparing to close the house up for 10 weeks.



In addition to the routine of the day and night, students are coming to the house to give us their personal well-wishes in our travel.






Some too, are coming to work in appreciation for services we've given, either helping them with school fees, providing food, or sewing/mending their uniforms.

















Joanne's garden and flower beds are providing work projects. They are hauling water for the carrots we'll never enjoy eating (they'll be harvested and eaten by students and staff while we are gone), harvesting the shell beans that we will live on this next year, repairing the garden fence, and filling the flower beds out front with stones. Anywhere there is not a plant, the chickens come in and dig a hole for dusting. Without the stones, they'd dig up the plant's roots in the process.


Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support!!! The construction of the 20th classroom and laboratory building is taking place as I type this. The students are hauling timbers to the newest 12 classrooms for the installation of ceiling boards. Cement is in the storeroom for the new classroom flooring and chalkboards.

On the spiritual side, Bible Club is a big draw, with over 30 students attending the last meeting...and they are excited about the study of the subjects they chose: Christian character and church unity. In the process of this study, we've learned that Idigima is different than other TZ secondary schools in that our chapel services combine all students. Other schools (government and private that have chapel), allow the students to worship in small groups of their given denomination. One of our Bible Club students passed me a note telling me that he intends to visit other schools to talk with students and headmasters about bringing unity to the Body of Christ. Pray for this effort! Spirit oppression has been minimal of late, of which we are very thankful . . . and we know it is because of our partnering prayer warriors in the States! Thank you!!!

See you soon, Lord willing, for face-to-face fellowship. Be in prayer for our 5-day journey. We'll leave the campus on Tuesday, bus to Dar on Wednesday, fly to London on Friday, and fly to Chicago on Saturday (23rd).

Christian love and hugs to all,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

Shopping

Here is another audio presentation, a narrative in Gary's own voice, telling a story about shopping.

To play back the audio recording, be sure to first turn on the speakers of your computer, and either scroll down the right side of the blog to reach the "Featured Audio Clip" or click on the "Audio Presentations" tab across the top of the blog to open a new page that will eventually hold the archive of all the audio clips.

Enjoy!

John Williams, Your Hands & Feet blogmaster (for the Grenells)

Flutter, Ouch, & Slither

Form Two WINS!!!

Again this year, a competition was held between Forms to see who would get recognition as the best athletes. Forms One and Two had benches twice as deep as Forms Three and Four, so it was not surprising to see the underclassmen matched up in the finals. The first match ended in a tie of two goals each, and we thought there would be a shoot-out to see who would claim the title, but the sun had set.

Because of some contentions about recalled plays and fouls, they decided to have a rematch instead. We were wondering if this was going to be a fair match,

because the Form Two goalie had visited our house after the first game with pain in his side . . . possible cracked rib. However, Form Two showed their stuff convincingly in the rematch, winning three to zero!

In time for the festivities was and the Regional competition was the latest of Joanne’s sewing accomplishments, an Idigima school flag. It was well-received . . .

and quickly claimed by the Headmaster to hang in his office when not in use at sports events.





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Needed: First Aid supplies

It has fallen to Joanne over the years to tend to the cuts, bruises, and various other ills that befall our students and staff. We’d been thinking they weren’t so frequent during this tour, but in the last couple of months it has picked up, reminding us that our NEEDS LIST this year must include more Band-Aids (large 1 ¾ x 4 and medium), peroxide, cotton balls, Q-tips, medical tape and medium Ace-Wraps.

Ear aches are common, and we usually find that they are packed with dust, oil and soap.

Bikes and motorcycles are the cause of most injuries we’ve seen of late. One of the teachers was on a transport motorcycle that spilled; he was blessed to come out of it with only a sore leg and a scraped forearm.

The more serious injuries have been to passengers on bicycles coming down the rocky mountain road. This boy came to the door with a couple of friends, his white school shirt soaked in blood. Gary did laundry while Joanne cleaned and bandaged his head.

Most recently, we felt like a trauma unit when a half dozen boys brought three of their friends, one being carried. Two boys on a bike had collided with a pedestrian student on their way to school. The bike passenger was sent head-first into the road and bit through his upper lip, breaking some teeth.

Showing signs of head trauma, we sent him to the hospital/dispensary in Iyula-A via motorcycle.

All of the boys had multiple scrapes and gouges on their hands, knees, shins, arms and shoulders.






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EEEEEEK!!! A SNAKE!!!

Just when you start to let down your guard, another one of these things shows up on campus and stirs things up! With a student body that is roughly two girls to every boy, you can imagine the stir this thing raised when it came slithering through campus during evening study time.

The security guard dispatched it quickly…and then brought it to our house to see if we wanted to eat it. (You may recall that at the end of our first tour, teachers brought a big, fat cobra to us, which eight of us enjoyed as an evening snack. The girl teachers would have nothing to do with it, but the boy teachers who participated started calling themselves the “brothers of the cobra.”)

We did not eat this one, but the skin would have been impressive on display, had the guard not done such a thorough job of beating it to death. The nationals are in agreement with the slogan, “the only good snake is a dead snake.” Pity, as many are harmless and would help with the rat population, but so many are poisonous that they’d rather not take the time to distinguish between friend and foe.

Your Hands & Feet in Tanzania,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

Rats

Here is another audio presentation, a narrative in Gary's own voice, telling a story about rats.

To play back the audio recording, be sure to first turn on the speakers of your computer, and either scroll down the right side of the blog to reach the "Featured Audio Clip" or click on the "Audio Presentations" tab across the top of the blog to open a new page that will eventually hold the archive of all the audio clips.

Enjoy!

John Williams, Your Hands & Feet blogmaster (for the Grenells)

Gifts from Ichesa

Dear Brothers, Sisters and Friends in Christ,

Well, three weeks from today, Lord willing, I will be back in this same Mbeya Internet café to report our soon departure on a 13 hour bus ride to Dar-es-Salaam. We leave here (Mbeya) at 6:30 AM on June 20th, stay in Dar until the morning of the 22nd, and fly out of London about noon on the 23rd.

We want you to be in prayer for our travel, especially the first couple of hours by truck over the dirt roads, and maybe especially for the bus ride, which only makes two stops for a bush toilet visit and 15 minutes to grab a lunch-to-go from open-air vendors.

Be in prayer also for our strength in the next three weeks to get all the loose ends tied up; typing 44 Terminal Exams, scoring over 800 exams, packing up the house in storage bins, and saying a thousand “Good-buys.”

That last item has been occupying the afternoons lately, as we visit “one last time” the ghettos of our students.

Pictures speak a thousand words . . . can you imagine your 14-18 year old son or daughter moving away from home to attend high school?

He/she would be living in a small room (maybe 7x7) with his/her clothes hanging from a rope stretched between nails (often eaten by rats),

sleeping on a grass mat, cooking on a charcoal stove once or twice a day . . .

and eating the same meal every day . . . ugali by itself, or with boiled beans or greens, and perhaps some fruit, if it is in season and they have a few cents available for that luxury.

Oh, and they do it with laughs and smiles and warm welcome for you to share their lives.





Now, consider the joys we have in serving these hard-working and desperate-to-succeed students! Most of the VSI schools have much better living conditions available for their teachers, so please pray about God’s call on your life to join us. We need more teachers. Steve talks in his updates about the number of missionary teachers that have come, but the vast majority spend only a few months in the country.

Annually, only 9-12 English teachers come from outside Tanzania. With 22 schools open and a dozen or more in the works…do the math. The Lord needs laborers in His harvest fields.

Oh, great news . . . work is moving forward on the three new schools in the Mbeya Region. There is a meeting today for the work permit for the Ichesa Secondary School. I was there at Easter and reported that they were still enthusiastic. Right now . . . they are bouncing off the walls with excitement that things are moving forward!!! We had a visit from a couple of men just last week, pictured at the top of this update with their gifts to us of wild honey, bananas, peanuts and sponge gourds.

Lord willing, we will see you soon, face to face.

Love and hugs,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

Planes

Here is another audio presentation, a narrative in Gary's own voice, telling a story about airplanes from the perspective of a student.

To play back the audio recording, be sure to first turn on the speakers of your computer, and either scroll down the right side of the blog to reach the "Featured Audio Clip" or click on the "Audio Presentations" tab across the top of the blog to open a new page that will eventually hold the archive of all the audio clips.

Enjoy!

John Williams, Your Hands & Feet blogmaster (for the Grenells)

Visitors to Idigima

Dear Supportive Friends,

Live expectantly in your relationship with Jesus. When you do, interruptions will shift from being inconveniences to exciting opportunities and blessings.

When we first joined Village Schools, Steve Vinton sent us Plans A and B, and then told us what would actually happen would likely be Plan C, D, or beyond. We sort of thought he was joking, but now we recognize it to be so true that we hardly acknowledge initial plans. Western mindset of orderliness, dependable timetables, and schedules are out the window.

We at Idigima Secondary School were blessed recently with a visit from Steve Vinton. It was to be an over-night stay, but due to a broken car, it ended up being nearly a week! We didn’t see too much of Steve (we had a couple of chat sessions to catch up on each other’s plans and activities); he met with the students briefly and spent day and night working with our Registrar on financial reports. The blessings came from those traveling with Steve.

Jean Marie is from Rwanda, a country that borders Tanzania in the northwest. He’d been visiting with Steve via email for some time while enrolled in Bible college in South Africa. The concept of Village Schools International struck a cord in this man’s heart, and he traveled from Rwanda to Mbeya to meet Steve and see the work first-hand at Idigima. Interestingly, there isn’t a reliable highway running along the west border of Tanzania; Jean traveled to the Mbeya Region in the southwest via Arusha in the northeast.

During the days he spent at Idigima, Jean Marie spoke in the weekly chapel service and spent some time in our home discussing everything from family to international church conditions.

His conclusions about the state of the church in Africa were very similar to the conditions we have experienced locally. Jean Marie has a heart burden for the poor in the remote villages of his country.

As we find here, many are uneducated and mis-educated about the Bible. We gave him the books Radical and Radical Together and one of Tozer’s books to chew on during his long journey home and future.

Rwanda is transitioning from the French language to English, as well as learning Swahili to trade more with Tanzania. Steve was concerned about Jean Marie’s limited Swahili, so arranged for an escort from Arusha to accompany him in the bus travel. Benson Mariki was unaware of VSI/VST, but had a break in his schedule, so responded to the request made by a mutual acquaintance in the area. Benson is the managing director of an NGO, The Green Living Planet, teaching organic farming techniques to villagers, including the Masaai tribe. He had some interesting stories about his work with this tribe that is retaining their historical/traditional dress and occupation as herdsmen. Benson shared in some of the classes about projects that could be incorporated to beautify and enhance the environment at Idigima. You can see more about his work at his website: greenlivingplanet.org

It has been exciting and refreshing to see the reaction of students to our visitors. In subsequent days, students coming to our home have mentioned different things shared by Steve, Jean Marie, and Benson. Imagine how they must feel to have people from such varied locations and experiences come to THEIR school to share with them in their educational development. Most of these students have never been out of their region, let alone another country. You can almost see their physical stature straighten as they grow in their awareness of life beyond the village . . . and life beyond this life.

God’s blessings and grace to all,

Gary and Joanne