MERRY CHRISTMAS

Greetings to all from the Hall family.
We are locked in the middle of the rainy season here in Zambia.
I, Lyle, just returned from a great time with the Maasai in Tanzania. I am now writing my journal on our blog so keep a look out for some new ‘stories’. Or come out for a visit, our house is always open. Merry Christmas.

Rachel, now 10 years old: “I love to sew, to rollerblade and I love my puppy Sasha. I am thankful that we are in Kabwe and have good friends here.”

Acacia is 7½: “I love to make Christmas decorations, I love the big rains and sometimes I wash my hair in the rain, and I am thankful that it is almost Christmas.”

Mikaela is almost 6: “I love to play freeze tag with my friends and to play in the rain. I love our big Christmas tree, and I’m thankful that daddy has made our house so nice.”

Naomi is 2. She loves to play outside and get muddy and is thankful when mommy and daddy take time to play.

Some Christmas reflections from Jette: We have been reading one chapter every day from the Gospel of Luke with the children . Luke has 24 chapters, which takes us all the way up to Christmas Eve. And it reminds us of the real reason Jesus was born, which was to live and die for us.
What a wonderful God! And what an incredible event it was; “The Messiah? Birthed in sheep manure??” This is a quote from a small book I have just read called “The Innkeeper’s Son“ by Ken Anderson. This was not at all how the Messiah was expected to come to earth. People were expecting him to come in glory and majesty, but he chose to come in poverty and humility. God’s gift of love to me, to you. Merry Christmas.

Brief update

Please pray for Lyle
Lyle left on a trip four days ago and he will be back on the 17th. He is in Tanzania where he was invited to speak at a conference for Masai Christians. We would appreciate your prayers for him during this time, for wisdom as he ministers to the people and for protection as he travels.

The rest of us are doing fine. We moved into our house just before December 1st, and both the girls and I are having fun decoration it for Christmas..

November Birthdays

Rachel turned 10 on the 3rd and Naomi was 2 on the 21st.

Hello everyone,
I (Jette) am wrapping up my two week visit to Denmark and flying back to Zambia this afternoon. I have been here with Naomi, while Lyle and the girls have been looking after one another back in Kabwe. I will be so happy to see them again.
I came here to surprise my mom for her birthday and it worked out perfectly! She had absolutely no idea that we were coming and both her and my dad were speechless when I walked in at the party last Wednesday, it was great!
It has been really nice to spend time with the family, to catch up with friends and to go shopping for Christmas presents for the girls. I even got to go to my high school reunion on Friday, that was fun.
Lyle has been busy working at our house and we plan to move in at the end of this month, can't wait to get into our own place! There are a few photos below, the outside photos are "before and after" we raised the walls on that side. Lyle's hands are doing much better, but he still doesn't have full strength - yet.
Also, here is a link for a bunch of pictures from the past year. http://hallfamilypictures2008.shutterfly.com/ I had put them all in chronological order, but alas, they came out all all shuffled... Hope you enjoy them anyway! Sorry, Think something is wrong here, will try to fix soon!
Got to go and finish packing my suitcase.
Till next time,
Love from Jette

Inside our house

Our house

Kidding?

Yes, we are kidding. Only Acacia's cast is for real!

No, we are NOT kidding. Mikaela broke her leg two weeks ago!!

More photos

Our new puppy, Sasha

Naomi loves spaghetti.

School uniforms

Girls in their school uniforms in front of one of the much-talked-about containers. The other picture is their P.E. uniforms for Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Lyle is Back!

I’ll tell you very briefly about Lyle, I know that many of you are anxious to hear more. He came back on the bus from Tanzania on Sunday morning at 4.30 a.m., 3 weeks to the day after he left. It is so great to have him back safely. Our two friends were finally released from prison, a bit skinnier, but otherwise unharmed.

Thank you all for praying for us during these tough times!

We’ll post more about his trip very soon.
From Jette

Lyle Continues in the Fight

Written by Lyle Tuesday Sept. 9th in Iringa

Hello everyone,
We are going on in this real life drama. There is so much to say. I still have two friends in prison and there is always delays. I was told that if I were not here fighting for them they could easily stay in for 6 months or even longer.

My heart is lighter these days but my mind keeps me up many hours of the night. After coming here I've been trying to put together the full story. My Arab friend got into a serious argument with our Tanzanian friend responsible for our containers and my Arab friend was wanting to show John just who has power. So he set this thing up to come against John not realizing the effect that it would have on Shilingi and myself. I have spent time with this Arab friend and he is sorry for what happened and will now as of today try to help clear all this mess up. He has said that he will return all our money of $7,000 and possible more to help pay for all the expenses that this whole thing has given me. This whole thing will cost me close to 8,000 by the time it is all done. This is not what this money was intended for.

This is just a short report, there will be time say more after this whole things is finished. I am right now on my way to go to see John and Shilingi in prison and try to get John to humble himself by writing a simple letter of apologies to Mr. Arab. He will then have the charges dropped and we can all go home. But John has been resisting this man and wants to fight. This only destroys everything we have been working towards.

Continue to pray with all of us here, by the way the containers have been released and are on their way to Zambia.
Thank you,
Lyle

Friday Sept.12.
Update

The same evening after Lyle wrote this, our containers arrived here in Kabwe. I am so glad we have friends here who helped with all the logistics. We could not get a crane to lift the containers off the trucks, just a forklift which could lift only an empty container. It took us from 8 am till 8 pm Wednesday with about 14 guys helping to get everything unloaded and re-packed! But we praise God for the miracle of finally being able to open the containers that many of you helped us pack back in June and July of 2005, many people will be blessed by what you contributed. Another praise is that the 1995 van we ordered from Japan has arrived at port in Dar Es Salaam and should get here in a couple of weeks. It will be nice to have our own means of transportation...

Girls are doing fine in school, I think they are adjusting very well.

Heard from Lyle this morning that he is still in Iringa, waiting for our guys to be released and waiting for the money the man owes us. He hopes to leave by bus Saturday morning, which may get him here as soon as Sunday morning. Pray that he makes it!

Thank you all for your love and prayers.
Jette

Brief Update on Lyle

Dear friends,
A big THANK YOU to everyone who has kept us in prayer, especially these past 5 days.

It has been a week of emotional turmoil for our family, but the Lord has been good to us. All we can do is cling to him and rely on him to provide a solution. The girls have prayed faithfully for their daddy and were very happy to hear the news.

I just spoke to Lyle on the phone, and he gave me the wonderful news that case is closed, charges are dropped. There was a fine to pay, but that is minor compared to the prospects he was facing when he first got there. Praise the Lord !!!

Our two friends are still in prison, so pray that they will be released on Monday as we have been promised.

Pray also for the matter of our containers to go smooth and protection for Lyle as he travels back here to be with us again.

In His AMAZING love and grace,
Jette

Arrival in Zambia

Yesterday was exactly one month since Lyle’s motorbike accident. And it has been quite an eventful month; that is for sure! At the request of some of you, I will try to recap some of the events of these past weeks. I will begin with the happy ending (the current ending, that is) which is that neither Lyle nor the boy, Elia, will have any permanent damage, and there will be no court case – which for Africa is a big deal. God is so GOOD!!!
I am glad I can just sit and type this on the computer. I wouldn’t be able to tell anyone in person, because I have completely lost my voice due to a cold. It is funny how it affects the whole family, and it has been much quieter in our house. I don’t think I’m usually the one who makes all the noise, but whispering seems to be contagious. When I whisper to the kids, they automatically whisper back! Anyway, here we go:

Departure from Iringa
After the accident, we were able to postpone our move to Zambia 4 full days… Even so, the departure day ended up being no less than chaotic. Lyle went to the police station to let them know we were going and to tell them how they could get a hold of us if need arose. Well, they insisted on finding the boy and said the parents had to give permission for Lyle to leave. They went to his village for a futile search, since Elia was still in the hospital which is basically right next door to the police station! Eventually they found him and talked to his parents, who reluctantly allowed Lyle to travel. After writing up a letter back at the police station with the father, a witness and the police officer, Lyle jumped in a taxi and rushed to the bus stand.
Meanwhile “back at the ranch”, I was trying focus on the task at hand which was to get our things packed and the children ready to travel. Fortunately our dear friends came and helped get everything packed, otherwise I think I would have cracked at the seams from the stress and concern for Lyle. They brought us to the bus stand at 2 pm, where luckily, the bus was delayed. I have never been so glad to be delayed! When the bus did arrive, we tried to persuade them to wait a little bit longer, hoping that Lyle could make it there in time to travel with us. Our good friend Jameck Shilingi was traveling with us to help out with kids and luggage, since Lyle was incapacitated (of little use..) due to his injuries. Finally, at 3 o’clock the bus driver decided he could wait no longer, so we said our tearful good-byes to the Lloyd-Jones family and the bus drove out to the main road, where it was blocked by a crazy taxi driver who pulled in front of it. Out of the taxi came Lyle! So he made it.

Crossing over to Zambia
The 4 hour bus ride to Mbeya went fine, allowed us to kind of catch our breath. It was dark by the time we got to Mbeya, and we waited about half an hour on the side of the road before we were able to catch a taxi to the guest house we thought we had booked. Turned out there was no room at the inn, so by the time we found another place, got some food and put the kids to bed it was almost midnight. The train to Zambia was scheduled to leave the next day at noon. Well, another delay, so noon came and went without a train in sight; they said come back at 10 pm! We were kindly allowed to stay at the hotel to wait all day, then at 9.45 we clearly heard the train whistle several times. Not knowing if this might be a departure signal, we scrambled into the waiting taxi and hurried to the train station, and found the train just arriving! Phew! We eventually got our family settled into a 6 bunk compartment, with our friend in the very next compartment. The train departed around midnight and by 9 o’clock the next evening the train stopped at the final station. Our friends were there to pick us up along with all our bags and suitcases to bring us to our new home in Kabwe.

The very next day, a missions conference started at Pro Christo, our new place of work. It was a busy 4 days with 6 daily speakers plus workshops and missions presentations, but very rewarding to be part of it and to see the passion among these 5-700 people, mostly Africans, for reaching the world with the gospel. We did not see our kids much, they were busy making new friends in the children’s program at the conference. We were received with much love and care. These people have prayed a lot for us to be able to make it to Zambia.

Acacia’s arm and Lyle’s
A couple of days later, Acacia was rollerblading at some friends’ house. She fell and hurt her arm, which turned out to actually be broken, but just a small greenstick fracture, so her cast will come off in a couple of days. She was quite exited about getting a cast on just like Daddy’s!
Lyle’s healing is progressing but slowly it seems - at least to him it seems lengthy. That possibly has something to do with our house waiting to get worked on and the frustration he feels about not being able to do any work with either of his hands yet.

Life in Kabwe
We are renting a house from a missionary family who are on home leave. It is only two houses down from our house which is now in the process of being renovated. I think most of the tearing down is done, so the rebuilding can begin. Right now the office and master bedroom does not even have a roof because we need to make the walls higher. Luckily, it is still dry season here! We’ll make an effort to take some before-and-after pictures to show later.
We have signed Rachel, Acacia and Mikaela up to go to Jacaranda Trust School, which is located within walking distance from our house. It will of course all be in English, so we have made English school at home for a couple of hours a day just to get their minds prepared for the school term which starts in September. They will also have to get used to wearing uniforms, both for school and for sports classes! We’ll send pictures when the time comes. They like being here, but also miss their friends from Iringa. Even so, Mikaela recently said: “I never want to move back to Tanzania, just go there sometimes to visit my friends.”

Matters in Tanzania
While we have been trying to get settled in here in Kabwe, we have friends who are trying very hard to help us get things worked out back in Tanzania in regards to the accident and also concerning the relocation of our containers. For a while it seemed like the best thing was for Lyle to stay here, otherwise rumor had it he might be put in prison if he came back. Then we heard that if Lyle didn’t come back, then someone else might go to jail on his behalf until he showed up. It was very hard to know what would be the wisest thing to do. Just yesterday we got the news that the issue with Elia’s parents has been settled. We have tried to help them out with their medical expenses, bicycle repairs, etc. The other good news we got was that even the police file is now closed. As you can imagine, we are very relieved. All this could not have happened were it not for our dear friends in Iringa, to whom we are immensely grateful.

Containers
This is a never-ending-story all on its own, but we’ll spare you all the frustrating details. It has been far from easy to say the least, but the process of moving our containers, which we packed in Denmark and USA in 2005, now seems to be moving forward slowly.

Thanks for all your prayers, please don’t stop!

Love from Jette and the family

PS.
We do not have internet at the house so we are not able to check emails every day.

Lyle's accident, Twins and Simba Ulanga

Dear Friends,

Thank you for standing with us in prayer, we really need it right now.

This first part is Lyle’s own words and then I will continue where he left off…

I write to you not in the best condition. Yesterday afternoon I was on a short trip on my motorcycle. I was doing about 60 km/h or 40mph when a young boy started crossing the road with his bicycle. It all happened so fast, I tried to go to one side but went right into his bike. I was thrown off my bike, and onto the tarmac I went with a big impact. I got up quickly wanting to get myself and my motorbike off this busy road. There was a big truck not far away speeding toward us. I tried to lift my 250 Honda but was unable. A local guy ran to help get the bike off the road just before this truck came flying by. This truck driver either had no breaks or no respect! The boy had been knocked off to the side of the road already so he was out of danger. A bit confused I sat down to gather my thoughts while many locals by this time had gathered to see. After sometime I was taken to the police. Not in any shape to be there, I had to give a report and had to get a paper from the police before they would allow me to go to hospital. Jette had joined me at the police station, I was in the state of shock and the body was not doing good.

At this point, Jette is writing again. Our good friends, the Lloyd-Jones’, left the twins in good hands at home and came immediately to be with us at the hospital, which was a great comfort, and our girls were taken well care of at the Danish school. After two and a half hours wait the doctor came. An Italian doctor, orthopedic surgeon at that, so very qualified. It was worth the wait, he checked Lyle thoroughly including an ultrasound of his abdomen to check for any internal injuries. Thankfully there were none, but the x-rays showed that Lyle has a bad fracture of his right arm, a finger broken on his left hand, possibly a broken rib as well as an injury to his neck. And unsurprisingly he is quite scraped and bruised. Thankfully, he was wearing his helmet and a sturdy leather jacket. Otherwise there is no saying how bad it could have been. The young boy miraculously only hurt his right knee and is being treated at the hospital. Lyle’s arm was put in a temporary cast and he was allowed to come home and sleep. This morning we returned for Doctor Mario to set the fracture (under full anesthetics) and then we got a nice new room to ourselves at the hospital to recover in. We came home in time for supper and lots of hugs and questions from the girls. Lyle needs to wear a neck brace for two weeks, a finger splint for 3-4 weeks and the cast for 5 weeks, so he won’t be jogging or playing volleyball for a while…

I sit here writing, not in a state of shock, but in a state of gratitude for what might have happened but didn’t.

So thank God with us for his protection and for the help and love we have felt from all our friends, Africans and non-Africans alike.

Please pray for rapid recovery for Lyle and that our move to Zambia the end of this week can go ahead as planned. We will be taking the train for 24 to 30 hours to get to our new home in Kabwe.

TWINS

A big praise for Yohana and Benjamin. Both are doing fine, happy and healthy little boys. They have both more than doubled their weight since their arrival, AND they have both tested negative for HIV! God is so good!! We’ll try get new pictures of them on our website soon. Pray that God will continue to provide for all their needs, he has been doing it in amazing and unexpected ways until now.

Simba

Please continue to lift up Simba Ulanga in prayer. He is being taken back to court in the same case he was in prison for. We don’t know a lot of details, but God does, so stand with us in the gap for this man of God!

May the peace of God that passes all understanding remain in and with us all!

Much love from Jette and family

The Fight for Life #3

Greetings from the honored Milk Man.

Bwana Asifiwe is Swahili for Praise the Lord. And this is just what we ought to do for Benjamin and Yohana. Little Benja has been putting on weight. Both of them now weigh about 33% more than when they came to the Lloyd-Jones’ family. Jette mentioned that she was glad she doesn’t put on 33% extra weight in 4 weeks! I would have to agree with her…

Ben is still the smaller of the two but is really beginning to look like a baby now. You can no longer see his bones underneath his skin, his hair is shiny and his skin is a soft dark brown colour. He can even cry without too much effort now, whereas previously he was nearly unable to cry due to the lack of strength.

Yohana is now just over 2 kilos and Ben is just under 2 kilos. Both of them have settled into a relaxed routine which is good for them and for the Lloyd-Jones family. For three days now Ben has not gone into shock, where his eyes roll back and he stops breathing; and this alone has brought the stress level down immensely.

Photo: Yohana with Lyle, Benjamin with Jette

The doctor came by and said they are no longer in critical condition although they are still not strong enough to fight off infections or diseases that might come, so there could still be problems if this were to happen. Let us continue to pray.

The mother of the twins came some days ago to see her sons at the Lloyd-Jones home. She herself is not well and unable to care for the boys at this time, but she showed obvious emotions of gratitude that they are still alive, even though she wasn’t able to say much.

But is the story now over for these two boys? A good question. Now that they have been rescued from the hands of death, there are still hard questions to ask. Where do they go after they are fit and healthy in the months to come? Back to an unstable mom with a broken health and house, to an orphanage (many of which are in desperate conditions), should they be adopted out, if so to whom? These are life questions that need to be answered on their behalf. Who makes these decisions? Is it the white man, the unstable mom, the “corrupt” government? We have kept these two boys from the angel of death, but who is now going to be their angel of life? We have taken care of the need but now reality comes ever so quickly. Who is willing to sponsor these boys for the next eighteen years? Is it me, is it you? But for the moment there is no immediate need for them to move from the Lloyd-Jones family, where they are happy, content and under medical care. A big thanks again to the Lloyd-Jones family.

The more I ponder these questions the more I begin to understand the African view of life and death. Death may not be understood here but it is accepted. We westerners somehow understand it but don’t accept it. We do everything to prevent it, at all costs and measures. Here it happens to all and there is not much that can be done about it even if though the desire is there, so it is allowed to happen and with a few days of sorrow and grief they let it go and move on, few questions asked if any. If they don’t move on they themselves will be become a victim.

Photo: Yohana on the left, Benjamin on the right

Something that burdens my heart is that we have saved two boys this month but we have lost a thousand. Just last week another desperate baby, an orphaned girl in the same conditions of Yohana and Benjamin, died in the house next door to our friend’s home. Where were we for her? Where were we for the other thousand that died this month? Aren’t they just as important and don’t they have the right to live just like Ben and Yohana? My hearts-cry question is “Why can’t we save them all or at least most of them, where are we going wrong?”

Yes, we will save the few we can, but my heart continues to go out to the others. What can we do to save them all? Is it just too big, too many, not enough people and resources? What about the 274 billion dollars in aid that has come in over the past 40 years? “The Economist” magazine. July 2^nd-8^th 2005.

How does one change a world-view? The West has tried with billions of dollars but it all seems to no avail. We try to solve a spiritual issue with a physical one. We continue to do so and in the long run this will fail, as we have seen for generations not only in Africa but around the world. Only a Jesus Christ spiritual transformation will keep the future Benjamins and Yohanas alive. As a Christians do we just say it is sin and brush it off under our conscience or is there something that actually can be done?

Who carries an apostolic vision that can “save” them all, or have we become too institutionalized in our Christianity? We say that God can change nations but who is willing to take that risk? Even for those who do take the risk, everything has become so full of bureaucracy that we can’t really do it anyway.

Africa is a beautiful place with wonderful people but at the same time are things here in Africa getting better but worse? The infrastructure has come a long ways and many kids have the chance to go to school but according to another report in the “The Economist”, life expectancy is now lower than it was 50 years ago, despite the billions of dollars thrown into this continent. Has foreign aid hurt more than really helped, has it only created dependency? These are hot questions right now in politics surrounding Africa. It all looks good on TV back home but here in actual life the real truth is revealed. The rich get richer and the Benjamins and Yohanas die. Maybe I as the honored milk man write this report in a bit of frustration… When I see another little one die, where were we for her? And just last night we had yet another 4 week baby boy in our home coming out of a similar situation as the twins. So we do what we can, we save the ones we can and we let the hundreds go, a hard pill to swallow.

A huge thanks from all of us here for all of your prayers. We are all convinced that it has truly been the prayers of all you saints who have prayed for these twins that has made a difference. Together we have defeated the spirit of death. Prayer does work as we have all witnessed. If there are those that you have been praying for and there seems to be no breakthrough, persevere, don’t fall in the gap and stay strong. In faith get on your knees one more time and then again one more time, followed by another. It is he that perseveres till the end that shall be saved.

In closing I am supposed to tell this to someone: If you are in a desert, walk through your desert with your head high, let God make the way out. Don’t try to run from it, there are some deserts you must cross alone in trust. Make the desert your sacred place.

We will send another report in the weeks to come. Your comments are welcome.

God bless you all.

Four Blonds and a Monkey Too

Looking Ahead: Zambia, here we come!

Phone calls and Emails

In January, while still unsure of our future direction, we received a phone call from Zambia from a missionary we did not know. He said he had heard of Uzima and asked me to come visit them. Since I have learned that sometimes one needs to go and try each door and not just sit and wait for one to open; off to Zambia I went to check this new opportunity.

The morning I left we received an email from a friend in Denmark who, while praying had been given a vision for us. He did not have any idea what it meant; nor did we when we first read it. However; after returning home I re-read this email and amazingly, this was exactly what had I met in Zambia; even down to the very words they used in the invitation for us to come and work with them!

Also, we had previously received an email from a friend in the USA who was praying for us and sensed that none of the different options we had at the time seemed right. He felt there would be something completely new and unexpected coming to us. - And here it was!

Pro Christo Global Mission

After returning home, talking and praying with the family we made the decision that we would move to Zambia to work with this mission. They are called Pro Christo Global Mission. Their main focus is to train and develop Africans themselves to be full time missionaries. This is something I have wanted to do all along. Pro Christo already has African missionaries in 10 African nations; eight families are actually on Lake Tanganyika.

They suggested that move to their main headquarters in Kabwe, Zambia. My main job description will be to work with their missionaries on Lake Tanganyika (the south end of the lake borders Zambia) and try to get a medical vessel going to support the work that is already begun on the lake. Sounds familiar? This is what we went to do in Kigoma…

They have also asked that I teach at their Missionary Training College as well as travel to the surrounding nations to teach and visit their missionaries to encourage them; which is something every missionary needs.

As I met several different mission groups in Kabwe; I noticed a remarkable sense of unity among them. Never have I seen it before to such an extent. They share ideas, ministries, money, vehicles, staff, even the pulpit. After meeting the leaders of these mission groups I noticed another extraordinary thing: they were all missionary kids just like Jette and I both are! I felt very much at home within minutes of being with them.

We Finally Bought Our Own House!!

I got a call shortly after returning home from one of these missionaries, “Houses very rarely come up for sale here in Kabwe and usually they are very expensive, but one has just come up for sale across the street from us. Hurry, other people have already made an offer.” We went to Google Earth and located the house, gathered the girls to pray, talked a bit and then I sent a text on the phone to say that we would buy the house. Sometimes things move fast, - even in Africa! So we now own our first house ever, for 35 thousand usd, and we are very excited. I took another trip to Zambia a few weeks ago to see the house and it does need some work but it is a nice place. 4 bed rooms, 3 bath rooms etc. It will require about 7 thousand to redo the electric and plumbing work as well as adding a dining room and rebuild the kitchen. A few years ago we were blessed with a 30 thousand dollar check for a house. Praise The Lord! So we need to add some to make it all happen. We will also sell our car here and purchase another in Zambia.

On The Road Again…

So, we will be on the road again but we sense this is a move that will be really good for the family. One of the top Zambian schools is located in Kabwe only five minutes walk from our house. Mostly local kids but a handful of white kids go there as well so we will try this option for our girls and see how it works out.

This move is a new country, new currency, new people, new mission, and new language although English is widely spoken. We will miss Tanzania; we have loved it here, and I have learned a good deal of Swahili. Jette has been here 17 years, I have been here for 7, Naomi was born here, lots of friends here etc. But we move on and follow the Lord’s calling.

The Family

Acacia just celebrated her 7th birthday. She had a bunch of friends over for a party and had a wonderful day. Her favorite present were a watch, a bracelet and some pretty clothes. Rachel is doing really well in school, and especially loves her Tuesdays with horseback riding in the afternoon. Mikaela enjoys her pre-school, but also wants to know how to read like her sisters. Naomi runs around and seems to learn new words every day. Her favorite time of day is late afternoon when our guard takes her to fetch milk from a nearby family who has cows.

Jette is still teaching at the Danish School and will be working right up till the end of June; she is very busy with that. This coming week they have a big workshop, putting together a musical production for the 18 children at the school aged 7 to 14.

I, Lyle, have been doing a lot of traveling and teaching in YWAM lately as well as overseeing a couple of building projects here in Iringa.

Simba Ulanga

Also greetings again from Simba Ulanga. I happened to meet him at a bus stop in Dar Es Salaam a few weeks ago. We shared a taxi, he had just been on the road for 9 weeks and several local pastors were thrown in prison this time. I took him home, said hello to his family, left him with some money and off I went to my own destination.

Thank you all so much for your love, support and prayers.

We do need you for all of those things.

God Bless you!

The Fight for Life #2

The Fight for Life Continues #2

Written May 8th 2008

Yohana here. It is my turn to write. My brother Benjamin, he is too weak to let you know how we are doing. It has been a real struggle for Benja these last days. There seems to be a continual fight between life and death over his body. At times you can see this very fight take place as you look into his face. Death is more real than life. Our new mom is the best, she continues to give us everything, she never sleeps it seems. My brother often sleeps on her chest to receive life from her warmth and heart beat.

This last Sunday it looked like death was winning the fight over Benja but my new dad sent out texts to others by phone to pray for life. Dad said that as they prayed together as a family and spoke the word life over Benja that you could see life come back into his face.

Our doctor friend Claire comes to see us every few days and she says that I am doing very good considering the circumstances, she even said that I have put on weight 200 grams, yippee! But Benjamin is struggling to put on weight but he has not lost any so this she said is a good sign.

I have a new big brother and three new sisters, their home schooling has been a bit out of schedule since my brother and I showed up. But mom says they are learning more than school could teach them since they are working with us. They all take shifts throughout the day and night. My tall dad is my real hero; he keeps it all going somehow. Thank you for your prayers and I ask that you continue; death’s spirit still lingers around our room, we do not have the energy to say no to it, all we have is you and others who will stand in the gap for us.

Greetings once again from the author. As I continue to take milk over to the boys twice a day at times I sense the pressure on the Lloyd-Jones family. I try to not just bring the milk but also to bring a smile and a spark of joy to the family. Their long days and nights are not easy and when death seems to have the upper hand at times of course the stress and emotional levels are at their highest.

There have been a few families and individuals that have gathered around these twins to give a hand in what way they can. Jette is still giving milk a few times a day as I have become the honored milk man.

Here in Tanzania, statistically, infant mortality is 70.46 per 1000 live births, this is how many will die before 1 year of age. In the US it is 6.3 per 1000. Malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and AIDS are common causes of death. These complexities come from deep within cultural ideas, worldviews, values systems, and also the real fact that most people live on less than a dollar a day. They simply can’t afford medicine or hospital, so people just hope for the best. This for many is their only answer. Death is just accepted here, it is quite common place among families. The deceptions that are in their world-views have left its curse and scars on the whole society.

As a missionary, it is very difficult not only to understand the world-view here, but then how does one have a long lasting positive influence on this culture? How does one change a world-view? Truly it is only by “all” of Jesus, not just salvation.

Please continue to stand with us all in prayer for Benjamin and Yohana and also for the missionaries who are serving the African people.

Lyle

The Fight for Life #1

The Fight for Life – Is it Easier Just to Die? #1

Written May 2nd 2008

My name is Benjamin. I have a twin brother and his name is Yohana or John in English. Those are our new names, traditionally we are just called Kulwa and Doto meaning First and Second for the first six months. Real names are not given for fear that one or both of us will not live. We were born just about 5 weeks ago. Our mother is quite sick and she has not been able to feed us or take care of us. Our father died in July last year so he is not around either.

Mother has no family here; we were born in a house that has basically completely collapsed. The day we were born we were left on the mud floor wrapped in rags for the first hours until morning because mother had no energy to help us or feed us and no one was there to help. My mother only has one arm, not sure how she lost it. Not only that; she only has one breast so she is unable to feed us both anyway.

Mother basically had to choose between my brother and I, she choose my brother because he seemed more likely to survive so he was always given first milk. Even at that, there was not enough for my brother so I rarely got any.

I remember the cold nights; we did not have enough clothes or blankets to keep us warm. I do not know how we are even alive. I have slipped in and out of death so many times it is hard to count. My eyes continually have this white film over them and they seem to roll back and close even when I try to keep them open.

Neither my brother nor I have much energy, so even to cry is difficult. How and why I keep holding on to life I do not know, it must be supernatural. Our hands look as though they are already 80 years old. Nothing but skin hanging loosely over our bones.

When we were only a month old some missionaries came to our collapsed house to see us. They talked about us and what they should do with us. The missionary lady is a nurse and she was quite concerned and something had to be done right now or death was sure to take us both that very night. In the end it was decided because our mother was not able to take care of us that they would take us to their house. The road was terrible and we were covered in blankets and even the heat was turned on to keep our frail 1.5 kilo (2lb) bodies warm.

Through a lot of stress and the fear of death lingering in the car we did arrive to their home. The spirit of death was everywhere that night and tried several times to take us both.

So we now have white parents, dad is really tall. They already have 4 kids and they are from New Zealand, whatever that means.

I learned a new word today, malnourished. A lady doctor said that we were both malnourished, but especially me, we’re like 6 levels below the death point of malnutrition. The doctor could not understand how we were even alive, a true miracle it must be.

Now we are all wrapped up in blankets to keep our body heat in, lights are turned on around our bed to keep heat around us. Our bodies have no heat, very little blood flow and we can hardly move. We are now fed every two hours and it seems to take an hour just to eat, which for me means to drink two or three teaspoons of milk, I hardly know how to swallow anymore. My body does not know what to do with real milk.

I could hear the doctor say that my brother Yohana is doing a lot better since he came here but for me Benjamin there is still a lot of concern that I will even live another day.

I also heard that even if things all go well it would take at least 6 months before we could be normal in weight.

There is another lady that comes from time to time; she gives us her milk twice a day, which she generally gives to her own baby Naomi. The doctor said I am the one who needs to get that milk. I hear my tall dad often say that “I am not out of the woods yet”. Not sure what that means but I wish that this feeling of death would leave me be. So many times a day I want to just let death have its way but something keeps me alive, it is not me - it must be those who are praying.

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Greetings, dear friends,

Even at this very moment as you read; Benjamin and also Yohana are on the verge of death. Together a group of people have rallied around these twins to fight for their very lives. A big thanks to the Lloyd-Jones family for their hours of day and night dedicated to these boys.

I have been taking milk over a couple times a day and hearing their report. There is not much that I can do physically but there is one thing that I can do and this is why I write this letter to you my readers, I ask that you become an intercessor for these twins.

Intercession is standing on behalf of another person(s) in prayer, standing in the gap. In this particular situation it is standing between life and death for these boys. It is very hard to communicate the emotions and the pressure of death surrounding these twins. I would ask that you and/or family intercede for these two boys.

The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in You and this is where we get our authority over death itself. You do not have to pray long but pray with boldness and faith, speaking life into these boys. We all know that the prayer of a righteous man avails much. Who will stand as an intercessor for these twins?

Thinking through this today how many thousands of babies through out the world that do not have an intercessor? The thousands of babies born on the heaps of garbage pits of the world, A hard question to ask but I ask myself sometimes if it is not better that they die, rather than growing up in utmost poverty, sickness and a life of hell. I have seen it all in different parts of the world. It is not possible to describe in words what conditions people live in.

It is very common in these parts of the world that the stronger one of a set of twins is chosen to live. How does a mother come to this decision? Also in these parts, one of the twins and even both of them are considered a curse and left to die in the fields just moments after birth. How deception has stolen life itself from millions.

Please stand with us now in intercession on behalf of Benjamin and Yohana. I will let you know of their condition in some days.

a few pictures from last year