January 2014 Newsletter
Monkeys playing beside the roads, warm breezes wafting into open windows, brightly colored birds warbling and an exotic profusion of flowers everywhere in Tanzania stand in marked contrast to what so many of you are experiencing in the northern hemisphere’s blast of winter! We wish you could all be here to enjoy the peaceful contrast of summer.
Besides being refreshed by the lovely weather, we have felt even more renewal through the coming of Jo Jo Elliot, Harding grad (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and Vanderbilt RN straight from the CV Surgery ICU. Reviving us with her gentle ways, up-to-date knowledge and skills, and spiritual perspective, Jo Jo is fun to be around. She will be working at TCC for several months; how thankful we are that the Lord sent her to us!
TCC welcomes Jo Jo Elliott, RN, BSN to Monduli. For the next several months
she will serve as a staff nurse at the mission clinic.
In addition, along with Mary we are finding joy in “the Mighty One who has done great things for us” (Luke 1: 49). Just this morning Danny received the long-awaited and prayed-for news that the local government officials will provide our NGO, Tanzania Christian Services, a prime piece of property on which to build a Christian Secondary School in Monduli! Enjoying great road frontage, this piece of land also has electricity and water hook-ups nearby. Though we do not yet have the agreement in writing, the Monduli District Commissioner has given verbal approval and construction will begin as soon as documents are in hand. Our unending thanks go out to each of you who have earnestly prayed for God to bring this decision to fruition. What a mighty God we serve!
Other happy news is that there have been five people at Monduli Juu (upper Monduli) recently who have given their lives to Jesus and been baptized into Him. Koimere, the local evangelist, studied the Bible with most of them, but one, Janet, we had studied with for several months. Now the young Monduli Juu congregation is planning a February Outreach Day for women and girls 12 years old and up, to especially share Jesus with our non-Christian friends. Special thanks go to all the teens and women at Sylvan Hills Church of Christ, who made several hundred cloth sacks and stuffed many of them with small, useful gifts for these women. With additional items Jo Jo and we brought from the US, each woman or girl will receive a bag, pen, pencil, notepad, cold medicine, Swahili Bible bookmark, etc. The theme: God has given each of us “Treasure in our Sacks” (Gen. 43:23), through Jesus and salvation; we can return that treasure to Him with our lives.
This TCC patient dressed up to visit the doctor.
Lastly, you are in our hearts and prayers as we remember each of you, and especially Tom Carr, President of International Health Care Foundation, who this week lost his beloved wife Lisa to cancer. Sad we are but also thankful that we will see Lisa again!
Danny and Nancy Smelser
David Msaki, clinical officer