Happy New Year!

2012!  Can you believe it?!  I was reminded just how crazy the time difference from the States it is!  Amy and I made it to mid-night but soon went to bed.  We realized that when we woke up we could then celebrate it again with those of you in the States!  It has been quite a year and I look forward more days ahead worshiping my Creator.

This week has been one of packing, resting, and making sure all is set-up to flow without me for the next five months.  It is time.  My language journey is here.  I am very excited but with any transitions to the unknown there is an element of nervousness.  I know with all of my heart that this is my next ministry step.  I need to be better equipped to think, talk, and understand Swahili.  I am grateful for those of you who specifically funded this "key" to ministry here in Tanzania.  There is great power found in a native tongue that unlocks barriers when sharing the truth.  It is time.

Ron, Jane Ann, Amy and myself will leave Tuesday the 3rd of January.  It will take us two days to head up north east to Lake Victoria.  The school is not far from the great Lake of East Africa outside of Musoma.  I am grateful these teammates are kind enough to make the journey with me and help me get settled there.  Orientation is on Saturday and then classes begin on Monday.  There are 18 in my class and then we are broken up into groups less than five.  I look forward to meeting new people and exploring a new area!  We have lecture, culture classes, and language labs that make up everyday of the week from 8:30am - 3:30pm.  This will be a taxing on the mind but I hope to learn a great deal.  I will be able to come home for a break the first week of March.  Then, return back to school till the 12th of May.  Yes, leaving my home and Milo May seems a long way away right now.  But, I know it will go fast.  I know Milo will be happier here with Janet, Julius, and Amy laying in the sun and making sure the guards behave!  However, usually when I have to break away and step into new territory he is right there with me.  These are steps that I will make alone even without Milo.  It will be very hard to not be in my home and own space for this long but again I know this is important.  I am excited and grateful for the opportunity.

2012 will bring new sites, new learning, and more ways to worship a God who wants His name known among the nations.  So, once again I take faithful steps to an unknown but hold the hand of the God who comforts.

Prayer Points~

• Pray that this time of Language Learning is a time filled with great study and the meeting of new friends.  
• Pray for our travel there!  We get to cross the Serengeti!
• Pray for health and safety while at school for these five months
• Pray for my heart that has difficulty leaving my home again
• May 2012 be a year of obedience and that more may know here in TZ!
• Today my sister Christie and brother-in-law Zach begin an exciting journey joining the ranks of being on the front lines as missionaries in another foreign field~ Haiti.  As they also make those steps to an exciting unknown journey pray as they leave today.  There are no words that explain the pit that forms in the stomach and throat as you say goodbye.  Yet, the joy as your heart leaps to explore the desire of your heart "the call" by God to make a difference in a land that so needs to know Him.  I am proud and with an empathic heart I pray for them today!  Pray as they set out in a new year in a new land to live and work.  Pray for our families and friends.  Those little faces are the hardest to leave.