Friday.
I am back at the foot of Ketumbiene Mountain. The soft wisping of clouds move quickly across the sun rising illumination of the mountain. Its peak shrouded in the becoming of the day. Light and shadow in the interactive daFridayncing of the dawn, the clouds act as a floating frame mimicking the constancy of the movement of time.
Each visit brings new changes to New Hope. The movement of time is also marked by the building progress of this new growth. The steadfastness of the mountain splendour in contrast to the becoming of New Hope is a picture of a believing life: an ever evolving work rooted in the splendour of God’s never changing immutability.
It is shalom quality good to be back.
The Day
We have been granted a government permit to drill the well and so the drilling rig and crew have been mobilized. They are 200km away and it will be slow going on sketchy roads. We may expect them by Sunday.
The massive drilling apparatus creates a picture in my head of the Jawa sandcrawler of Star Wars as it lumbers across Tatooine or in this case, Tanzania.
I am full of my own thoughts and prayers and today have been blessed with the opportunity to toss them about. I spend the day at our guest house as my team attends to the innumerable details of God’s work here.
Lying on my bed, I listen to the approaching thunder until it, at last, arrives with the pelting, cleansing rain. I ponder a recurrent troubling dream that rumbles like the weather around my head and heart. The dream events are not true but the deep emotions they evoke are. I don’t much like them but I offer them up seeking the cleansing their pelting will provide.
A friend, I don’t know yet, is struggling mightily with persistent, debilitating pain and my thoughts lead me to her. I think of a poem I once wrote: The Chisel of Pain. I begin it with a quote:
“Help me to understand the nature and purpose of pain. If it is the chisel that crafts our character, chipping away until God is formed in us…then if I avoid pain, I also avoid the person the Father would have me be.” Ken Gire
(Gire. Ken: Intense Moments with the Savior pages 113-114)
I spend the rest of my time mulling over the problem of pain and how I might encourage my friend with the lessons God has given me.
Saturday.
A paraphrasing of Exodus 31:1-5
Then the Lord said to New Hope,
“I have chosen a woman
from the tribe of Ramsland
to do some special work for me.
Her name is Kelly, daughter of the Most High
I have filled her with the Spirit of God—
I have given her the skill and knowledge
to do all kinds of things.
She is a very good designer.
And she can make things.
She will cut and set beautiful jewels upon the land.
She can do all kinds of work.
I have also chosen Kayla to work with her.
Kayla is a daughter of the Most High
from the tribe of Hansen.
And I have given skills to all the other workers
so that they can make everything
that I have commanded.
Come Holy Spirit.
Craft Your Tabernacle of Hope on this hill
Bring Your Living Water to this dry and thirsty land.
We want You to be seen!
******
The foothills are alive with the music of dawn; whirring, clicking, bleating, whistling. There is a bird calling his mother, with high pitched urgency and rapid repetition, “Ma! Ma!” He says. Ma appears to answer with her own insistent piercing voice, “What? What?”. Neither noticing the reply of the other. I open my eyes to see if I have been transported back to my own living room and smile.
The beauty of the pillowy softness of the hidden mountain peaks with their dusting of gossamer strands of fluff on the hillsides below opens me. There is moisture in the air and freshness all around and within.
There are chirps and quirks and squeaky toy sounds that quiet as I approach Philip’s trees. Guava and Peach flourishing together. I see small Guava fruits emerging. We planted these trees on a past trip. I was given barely a stick of a peach tree. So pitifully frail, they gave me a hearty guava plant instead. I planted them both and today they make my heart glad.
Back at our homestead, we meet two of our three patients from clinic in July. They have come for followup treatment that is beyond the scope of our clinic. We have a darling in need of clubfoot surgery and one in need of hand surgery post burn. They will go to the Kafika House in Arusha where they will receive the comprehensive care they need pre-, during and post-surgery. This ministry will cover all the costs. A team of visiting surgeons will come this month. They are all miracle workers, really.
I took my very first Tanzanian patient to them in 2021 when they were known as the Plaster House. Their campus is nestled in the lush foothills of Mt. Meru and it was as lovely as the staff and care provided. I remember admiring an empty butterfly bench. It was empty because the patients fly away transformed by their journey here.
My darling today shares popcorn and cautious smiles with me and his sibling as we listen to the adults rangle on about details. He, his mom and younger sister will stay here tonight and start fresh in the am. We all gather around the dining room table for dinner, family style. It is a picture of God’s wedding feast and my heart is full with the possibilities that lie ahead for us all.
Kafika House:
https://www.google.com/url?opi=89978449&q=https://www.kafikahouse.org/&sa=U&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwjlg4SG_uWXAxWnoSsGHTwCLyQQFnoECCMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2rwzu6lcH8-cx0bdE1KT4s
