Does God Exist?

Chances are that you believe in God. So why am I writing this? Certainly not to convince you, because you already believe there is a God (I hope). The truth is, many Christians today believe in God but don’t know exactly why they believe in God. It is incredibly important that a Christian be able to give a solid defense for his or her faith in God, and not just say ‘because the Bible says so’ (I Peter 3:15).This blog will explain why I believe, and know, God exists. Hopefully by the end of it you will too!!

1. Evil exists.
   Everyone agrees that there is evil in the world, right? One only has to look at tragedies like the Holocaust and 9/11 to know evil exists. If evil exists in the world, it stands to reason that absolute right exists as well. Since there is absolute right, there must be someone who enforces the natural laws of what’s good and what’s evil.
2. Everyone has morals.
   Every individual in the world is born with a basic sense of what’s right and what’s wrong. Everyone knows it’s wrong to cheat, lie, steal, murder, rape, and so on.
   Who put this inherent sense of right and wrong within us? Who but God?
3. There is a moral authority.
   Since everyone has morals, it stands to reason that there is someone to enforce those morals. Otherwise, what would be the point of those inherent morals?
   Thomas Warren stated, “If the conduct of a society, individual, or specified group can come under criticism, there is a God. If there is no God, then the behavior of anyone anywhere cannot be criticized.”
4. There is a design.
   The universe and the earth and every living creature has a design. It is clear in the organization of planets in systems, systems in galaxies and galaxies throughout the universe. It is clear in everything on earth from the food chain to the water cycle to the tilt of the earth in relation to the sun. It is clear in every study of every system and every cell in the human body there is a design. A design demands a designer. It could not have happened by accident.
   Evolutionists theorized that the smaller the organism they studied, the less information and the less organization the organism would have. They have found the exact opposite to be true. Carl Sagan says of the smallest single- celled organism, “There is enough information in the paramecium to fill one hundred million pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica.”

There are many more reasons why God exists, but these are the ones that convince me the most. Have they convinced you? What other evidences of God can you think of?

Bearing Fruit in Chimala

One of the main focuses of the Chimala Bible Institute is evangelism.

Every weekend, a group of students goes out to a different village with an established congregation for the purpose of evangelism. The students go from house to house encouraging people to come to the Saturday night gospel meeting. They also hold Bible studies and invite the villagers to the Sunday morning worship service.

In January, the students visited Sumbawanga and baptized a total of ten people. In Ilemi, three people were baptized. Two people were baptized in Welu and one person in Mbuyuni. A total of eighteen people were baptized from January 7th to January 30th.

In February, three people were baptized in Vwawa and three people in Matebete. One person was baptized in Uzinje and five people were baptized in Sumbawanga. A total of fourteen people were baptized from February 4th through February 20th.

A typical Wednesday evening is likewise evangelistic. This past Wednesday, for example, the short-course teacher, Brent Smith, Garry Hill, the CBI administrator, Atupikisye Mwakyasima, a woman student at CBI, and I went down the road to visit the Chosi A congregation. Lai, a CBI instructor, preached a sermon on the oneness of baptism while Atupikisye and I taught the children. Fifteen children were present and eager to listen. Atupikisye masterfully taught the creation account in Genesis 1, thoroughly engaging the young children in her lesson. It was her first time teaching a children’s class.

It is evident the students’ work in evangelism and their application of their studies at Chimala Bible Institute is very fruitful. Continue to remember us in your prayers as the preachers and teachers of the next generation are trained at the college.

A Week in My Life

It is amazing how much my life has changed. In the States, my life consisted of work, sleep, and church on Sundays. I always worked during the weekly church meeting or devotionals and literally gathered with the saints for a maximum of 3 hours a week. Of course, I continued my own personal studies throughout the week, but I really missed Wednesday night services and Tuesday night Bible studies at the Thompson’s or the Martin’s homes. Evangelism was something I worked into my routine- showing my Christian light at work or giving an encouraging word to a resident or coworker.

My life has drastically changed since then. Now my entire life, focus, and job is about God. Working on a mission has been every bit as liberating as I imagined it would.

Three times a week, I go to a different village to teach children about the Bible. I have never taught a children’s class in my life, and I enjoy it immensely. It is amazing how little focus the church here gives to children. After all, they are the future of God’s church. My goal is to eventually teach all the children in every village I visit the entire Bible. I’m having a lot of fun creating my lesson plans and trying to find inexpensive activities for the children to do. One Sunday, I was able to bring coloring sheets for a class of 33 children. They shared the crayons and had a wonderful time coloring- an activity many of them had probably never done.

During the week, my days are spent working at CBI (Chimala Bible Institute). At 7:30 every morning, every student and faculty member meets for chapel (actually everyone at the mission meets at their respective places of work for a chapel service). I thoroughly enjoy starting off every morning singing praises and praying to my Creator and listening to one of the students or teachers give a lesson.

After chapel, I work around the school. Sometimes I perform administrative tasks like creating schedules or typing letters for Garry. Sometimes I work on organizing the library. One of my tasks has also been to tutor the students in library research. Every Wednesday morning (Wednesday being Library Day), I meet with the English students and teach them about grammar, writing skills, and research. I enjoy passing on what I’ve learned from my past English teachers to the students.

When I’m not teaching children or working at CBI, I work in my home to prepare lessons, do my own personal devotions, or just relax by crocheting or playing on my computer (I will be forever grateful to my Mom for giving me this laptop!). I also enjoy walking around the mission, taking pictures, and observing God’s wonderful creation around me.

I am glad I have this opportunity to serve God here in Chimala. I am glad my life revolves around working for God’s kingdom. I hope and pray my work may be lifted up as a pleasing aroma to Him.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Mission trips are about sacrifice. Missionaries leave their families, their friends, most of their possessions, and they strike out to live in a foreign country for an extended period of time. Many times, the only friends they have in a foreign country is God and the Bible. It is a time of great spiritual growth for the missionary. It is a time of great sacrifice.

In John 12:1-8, Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with a pound of very costly perfume. Judas Iscariot objects to her actions. He reasons the perfume could have been sold to serve the poor. Jesus chastises Judas, saying, “Let her alone, in order that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me” (verse 8).

Mary sacrificed almost a year’s worth of wages to serve her Lord. Imagine taking almost $50,000 (the average American salary) and laying it all at the Lord’s feet. In her day, Mary had the opportunity to personally serve our Lord and Savior. Today, we have many other ways to serve God that require sacrifice. We can give to the church, to the poor, to missionaries, any cause that will advance the gospel of Christ.

But what do we do with the money God has blessed us with? Some Christians sacrifice generously to be able to give back to God. Honestly, though, many of us are like Judas Iscariot. John 12:6 says Judas was the treasurer among Jesus’ disciples and he used to steal from the money box. God has given us all a money box. Everything we earn goes into it. But we spend most of it on ourselves. We pilfer God’s blessings and throw a little back to the church to satisfy our conscience.

Do we really need new furniture? If we do, does it have to be that expensive? Is a big screen television or the latest electronic gadget necessary or do we just want it because it looks nice? Do we really need that gigantic nest egg for retirement? After all, we are “a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). We don’t even know if we will live past tomorrow! Is a cushioned retirement worth a lost soul?

Sacrifices don't have to be about material wealth. Are you in an ungodly marriage? Do you have the courage to give up your marriage for Christ? Do you tell others about Christ? Or do you only talk about Him when others bring Him up? Do you have the courage to stand up against abortion, against drugs, against peer pressure? Or do you sit back and watch it happen?

Jesus gave up everything for you. He had more wealth than any of us could dream of, but He chose to come down to this earth and sacrifice His blameless life for your sake. He who had never experienced so much as a paper cut allowed Himself to be beaten and nailed to that rugged old cross. In the end, He had no friends, none that would step forward and claim Him. It was the ultimate mission trip and He did it for you.

How much have you sacrificed for Christ today?

The Power of Water

In the States, they say the only sure things are death and taxes. Here in Tanzania, the only sure things are death and the electricity going out.

For the past few weeks, the electricity has been turning off anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours every evening. They call it a ‘rolling blackout’ (I’ve heard California has been having some recently as well). But for the past three days, the electricity has been going off anywhere from 30 minutes to seven hours. This morning when I woke up, the electricity was off so I took a cold shower. (Believe or not, this cold shower was not refreshing because the mornings are very cool). I opened all the curtains to let in the early morning light so I could see what I was doing.

Today we discovered the reason for the frequent shortage in electricity: there is not enough water to power the generators that produce electricity across the country. I have never been so affected by a shortage of water. In Colorado, we usually had restrictions on water usage in the summer, especially when it came to watering the lawns. But ‘water shortages’ in Colorado never prevented me from taking a hot shower, or reading a book, or working on my computer, or doing any other activity at night.

I consider myself a night owl. I will stay up half the night working on whatever project I want to finish. I took it for granted that I could do any activity I wanted because of electricity. The past three nights I have gone to bed early with a flashlight because the only activity I could really do was read a book. It’s not fun working on a puzzle with a flashlight. I can’t crochet holding a flashlight. And my laptop’s battery only lasts four hours so I can’t complete all my little projects. Last night, I couldn’t even read in my living room because all the bugs came flying at the only light around for miles. I have never so appreciated the preciousness of water.

In John chapter four, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman about the gift of God: living water. This water never runs out or dries up. It lasts forever. To the Samaritan woman, such a thing was desirable because she wouldn’t have to trek back and forth to the well everyday, hauling gallons of water. In fact, she would never thirst again! To me, living water is desirable because it can produce as much electricity as I need. I could have as many hot showers as I want, work on my puzzle as late into the night as I desire, crochet until my fingers fall off, and work on my laptop until my eyes burn out. Jesus’ living water is so powerful I wouldn’t even need to flip a switch or plug in my computer.

But Jesus’ living water is much better than anything electricity can do for me. Jesus’ living water provides everlasting life. In John 4:14, Jesus says, “but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” Jesus’ water is truly the fountain of youth! If one partakes of it, one will live forever, never growing old, and never witnessing the curse of spiritual death.

Eventually my laptop will die forever. My puzzle will crumble into oblivion. The pages in my books will fall out. My body will become so old and decrepit that no amount of showering, hot or cold, could revive it. But the living water I receive through Jesus Christ will allow my soul to live with Him in eternity. Nothing else above the earth, on it, or under it is that powerful.

Have you got the power today?

My First Week at the Chimala Mission in Tanzania

I have always been drawn to Africa as a mission field. This past year I was given the opportunity to visit the Chimala Mission just outside of Tanzania, East Africa. Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver was in the midst of negotiating with the New York Avenue church of Christ (the overseeing congregation of the Mission) about taking over the preaching school aspect of the Chimala Mission. The merger would take place in January 2011.

At the time of my visit I was volunteering in the hospital delivering babies. I stayed with Mary and Howell Ferguson, who work as the Stateside Coordinator for the BVBID extension schools in Chimala and the Ukraine. Howell was busy arranging the merger of the Chimala Bible College (Bear Valley’s extension school) and the Chimala School of Preaching (the original preaching school at the Mission). During his discussions, he brought up the need for a new secretary and a librarian. I turned around and said, “Well, I could do that!”

I moved to the Chimala Mission Saturday, January 15^th to contribute to the work of the new Chimala Bible Institute. The school began its first day on January 17^th. What a wonderful day that was! The faculty and students are fully excited about the improvements in both the academics and the welfare of the students that will be coming. It was also wonderful to see the two different schools, now the English and Swahili Departments, worshipping together in the first ever combined chapel.

At the end of my first week, however, I finally realized just how much responsibility I have taken on. I am not only the Librarian and Administrative Assistant to Garry Hill, but I have also been designated the Dean of Women. I will furthermore be teaching a Library Research class and tutoring some of the students in English. On top of all that, I am determined to finish my Bachelors in Biblical Studies this November. I think I can do it. Not only that, but I am determined to do it. I know God will give me the strength to help these 25 men and two women graduate so they can return to their hometowns and spread the gospel throughout the land.

My First Week

I have arrived safely in Ho, Volta Region, Ghana, West Africa. Thank you everyone for your prayers and support in my preparations for this trip! I am overwhelmed with the financial support and good wishes I have received. It is rather sad, I suppose, that I should be so amazed that God has come through for me. He has really opened doors for me on this trip and I pray that He will continue to do so.

I first contacted Mr. Buamah, who works for the Municipal Education Department in the Volta Region, about 4 or 5 weeks ago. He replied quickly, saying he had found a position for me and to arrive at the end of September. He did not give me any other details, which I found disconcerting. I emailed him several questions. When he replied with the answers, he informed me that I would be an English teacher at Sonrise School.

I was very excited, because I knew the family that had started and presently run the Sonrise Primary and Secondary Schools. Sammy and Joseph Dzamesi are members of the church of Christ. Sammy preaches for the church here in Ho. In fact, he has visited the Castle Rock church of Christ a couple times, so many of you have met him. Joseph, his son, lived in LA for ten years and graduated from Pepperdine University. The 2007 missions team worked closely with Sammy and Joseph. By the end of that trip, the two had become very dear to our hearts. I had spent time especially with Joseph when we took one of our team members to the hospital in Accra, and it was he I contacted to make my living arrangements.

I bought my plane ticket and thought everything was ready for my arrival on Wednesday, September 23rd. Five days before my departure, I received an email from Joseph. It seems there had been a terrible miscommunication. Apparently, Mr. Buamah had only contacted them one time to see if they had a position for me (just after my first email). Sammy had told him to have me send a letter and my resume directly to the school, because he did not particularly remember me from 2007. But I did not receive this directive, so I did not send anything to Sammy. Sonrise was therefore unprepared for my arrival and did not have a teaching position open for me. However, Joseph was very comforting. He wrote that they had prepared a place for me to stay and not to worry about anything. The Ghanaians would take care of me.

I arrived that Wednesday and after spending a night in Accra, drove up to Sonrise Secondary School, just outside Ho. There, Joseph showed me my rooms at the girls' dormitory. My accommodations are awesome! It is so much more than I expected! I have my own room, bathroom, kitchen, and sitting room. There is even electricity, running water, and a fridge! Best of all is the fan in the bedroom. That fan has saved me from many a hot, sleepless night. I spent the next few days catching up on sleep and getting to know the girls. Dorcas, who is a Form 3 (senior) student, has been especially helpful, along with Deborah (also Form 3) and Priscilla (Form 2).

The following Monday Joseph took me to the Primary School, which is about ten minutes from the secondary school. There I met Sammy and three of the school directors: Mr. Stanley, the English Master; Emmanuel, the French Master; and an elder from the Ho church of Christ. Sammy welcomed me most cordially. He told the others that they were unprepared for my sudden arrival, but that because I was a sister in Christ, they would welcome me with open arms and do whatever they could to help me. I wanted to cry! I thanked God above for my family in Christ, who would welcome me no matter the circumstances, and never turn me away. Sammy said this several times in the following days. He often stressed that we are of the same body and blood in Christ, and because of this, I am most welcome.

I was assigned as an assistant to Mr. Stanley, who teaches the Junior Secondary students (middle school). School runs from 8 am to 3 pm, and he has at least two classes per day. Last Thursday, I taught the second half of the Form 1 class while he attended a funeral, and led a discussion in the Form 3 class while he graded papers. I really enjoy Mr. Stanley. He is an excellent teacher and a great mentor. I know I will learn a lot from him.

Emmanuel is also a man I will learn a lot from. He is a member of the church and is in the process of starting a volunteer organization. Its main purpose will be to go out to the remote villages to preach the gospel. Apparently the only time they go out to these villages is in the early summer, when Ben Fulks' missionary team from Texas comes. Emmanuel sees the pressing need to continue this work year round. I am very excited and hope to contribute the knowledge I learned at Bear Valley to the formation and running of this group. My main concern is that this does not become a 'Missionary Society' and will remain under the eldership of the church. Please pray that God will guide Emmanuel and the church in the evangelism of remote villages.

I hope everyone is well back home. Please post any questions or comments you may have! I will continue to post more updates including more about my everyday life. I will also post some pictures soon!