Christmas Newsletter 2005

Today is the first day of December and most of you are probably already surrounded by various reminders that Christmas is near. Not so here in Kigoma. Except that the red flowers on the flame trees are blooming more and more each day and will continue to increase during this month. We have made a rope with 25 knots on it for the girls, and each day until Christmas they will untie a knot and receive a small surprise and each day we will read a chapter from the gospel of Luke as our Advent calendar. We look forward to spending Christmas here with Jette’s parents who live in Dar es Salaam.

Highlights
There is a Danish hymn; I cannot count them all, the signs of God’s goodness that I have received. I saw them fall as dew drops, before my wondering eyes. This very accurately expresses how we feel when we look back on this past year. God has been so good and faithful to us, through the good as well as the hard times.

It is definitely a highlight that we have now finally arrived in Kigoma and are in a house with a great view of Lake Tanganyika. A view that daily reminds us why we are here. There are many people out there along this lake who have yet to hear the good news that “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9)

Birthdays are always a highlight and this year we have celebrated in Florida, Montana, Denmark and here in Kigoma. Lyle cut a corner and Rachel is now a big 7 year-old. The girls are doing great, making new friends, picking up some Swahili every day and enjoy having a real home, as do we.

Life and Death
We just had a man at our door. He came to see us about a week ago received some help so he could take his wife to the hospital. Well, today he came to let us know that she had passed away and to thank us for helping him. A thing like that sure puts our own little problems into perspective. They have a little 4-year-old who is now left without a mother. Before leaving, he prayed a prayer of blessing on our family and of thanks for his wife and her life. Amazing, such inner strength God gives him at a time like this! But it is true; there is a bigger picture, a God who is always there for us.

Uzima
It has taken time getting set up as it always does here in Africa. Many important decisions to make every day about things in Uzima as we move forward. So many hurting people here in Kigoma that at times it can be overwhelming. We are planning a 260-mile prayer walk on a big portion of Lake Tanganyika visiting the villages on the way, introducing ourselves and doing a lot of research. This trip will be hard and long, about 25-30 days. But it will set a good stage for Uzima for the future. Lyle and a few others will take the journey and it will be on foot since there are no roads. Please keep this in prayer as we prepare to go in February. I encourage you to also step outside and take a walk, praying for your own communities.

Thank you, for praying for and with us throughout this year. Thank you for standing with us and dreaming with us to bring God’s heart for life, health and wholeness to people in need.
Have a Wonderful Christmas and a Blessed New Year.
Rachel, Miriam Acacia, Mikaela, Jette & Lyle Hall

Earthquake Update - We are fine

On Monday afternoon Dec 5th and earthquake hit Lake Tanganyika. The epicentre was approximately 80 miles south of Kigoma, but the effects were felt all over East Africa and as far as Angola to the Southwest. We first heard the rumble an then felt the shaking. Everything was moving, windows were rattling, a few things fell off the bookshelf. When it seemed to be getting more intense instead of letting up, we decided it might be safer to be outdoors, so we grabbed Mikaela out of her nap and ran outside. Even after we couldn’t feel the tremors anymore, we could see our hedge still shaking for several minutes. But we are all fine, we haven’t heard of great damage or casualties in our region, praise the Lord for that. Thank you to all who pray for our safety, God hears your prayers.

Rachel was very excited to experience a real earthquake, especially since we had just studied about the earth in school three days earlier, in particular we had studied earthquakes and tsunamis, so I couldn’t have given her a better hands-on lesson!!

We Have Arrived

Kigoma. Our new home. Our new neighbors. Our new life.We have finally arrived and yet we are just beginning.

As we approached Kigoma last Monday, we stopped the car (check out the picture to see the car) on a hill that overlooks part of the city and thanked God for his faithfulness in getting us this far, in our physical as well as our spiritual journey. We are excited to see what God has in store for us and thrilled to be part of what He wants to do in Kigoma and beyond.

It was great to be received by our colleagues in Kigoma, Gabriel who is a Tanzanian and Harold and Coni in their new house. They had located a couple of houses that are for rent and we have just decided on one of those houses. (see the photo) There is a wonderful lake view, the house is secure, spacious and the big yard outside provides plenty of room for the girls to play. It needs some “tender love and care” so we probably won’t be able to move in for another two weeks. We have been busy today scraping paint off the floors and sweeping the walls and ceilings; not necessarily hard work - but in 104 degree heat (40°C) it was a bit draining. In themeantime, we are staying at a bible school’s guesthouse in town, where the girls are meeting some local kids.

What’s more, a couple of days ago I (Lyle) met with a landowner who has property for sale on the lake. It will be exciting to see what this may lead to.

Please Pray:
Please pray for us during the negotiations. We have no money to put down at the moment, but we have come this far so there is no reason to panic now. We are in no doubt that God will continue to be faithful. The rains are soon on their way and the ground is thirsty. It has not seen rain for many months. Everything will be green and lush again. The roads, however, will become a challenge, but for some reason I like this kind of stuff!!!

Please continue to pray for the safety of the two containers that are soon to be shipped out and for favor with the customs authorities when they arrive in the country. The containers that took the long grueling trip on the train have arrived safely, and some people from the UN brought a truck to take them to the house free of charge!! Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. Our new information has been placed on our website: www.lylejettehall.org, (A friend has offered to take care of the website starting next month which is wonderful news for us.)

God bless you all.
Love from Rachel, Miriam Acacia, Mikaela, Lyle and Jette