“KARAO”,  Re-Visited;          Courage given after a year:

Our minds and hearts were as heavy as we re-visit “Karao”, a gateway to Maasailand in Tanzania, after a year-long absence. We were not able to continue due to external circumstances.    

At the same time, we were light hearted; as we repented with sackcloth and ashes for our indecisions and cowardice. And we had nothing more to lose or to be afraid of. Thus, God gave us courage and we are dealing directly with God.  What human considerations will come in the way of His business?

“My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”(Job 42:5, 6 NIV)

“Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.”(Dan 9:3 NKJV)

I thank to my co-worker Kim, Minha, herself a nurse, to accompany me with basic medicines, and also to Pastor Parmanyeri, himself a Maasai, Director of Personal Ministry of South Kenya Conference.

At below, I introduce what Minha (grain offering) has written her impression;

“When first arrived in Tanzania to meet Maasai tribes, Tanzania looks like a wide desert. Lands were dry, thus dusty; trees had thorns instead of leaves. Who will imagine Africa would be cold, but this place was really cold at night. But as we met Maasai, soon their pure and clean minds as I felt even in short period of time, made me to forget these dry desert conditions.

Perhaps because of cold and dry weather, many people complained pains in head and chest with cold symptoms. They were wearing only very thin clothes; most of them looked mal-nutrition patients. Maybe that’s why they get sick easy. There were so many sick people and our medicine was not sufficient. What we can treat for them was very limited.

Although what we did for them was very small, we have been praying to God our Healer to make them comfortable even one day, today.

On our way back, I regretted whatever I had I should have given them; this thought made me very heavy laden. Now, however, I thank God for using me today for His work, though I can do little.

(Note: During April-August each year, Tanzania ocean winds blow to westward to “Karao” direction, and this wind becomes very cold while passing highest mountain “Kilimanjaro” then ruthlessly passes through ”Karao”.)

What if they do not welcome us, was a temporary worry.

They remembered emergency food while starving under worst famine in Tanzania in 2009. Though it was not much, they were expressing their hearts.

School children still had footballs (One Korean deaconess in LA had donated earlier), used clothes we delivered them last year were helpful to endure cold weather, they say.

One disappointment was one-meal-a- day program for school children had stopped;  number of children increased from 84 to 108 in the meantime. We instantly took action to re-start this program with the help of SDA church volunteers. If children do not get a meal at school, there is no guarantee if they will eat at home. We generally understand Maasai eat one meal a day.

Minha, who fell in love with these people of simple and true heart, and I agreed we will come back by November and stay for about a week;  We wanted to see if our re-started program will now work . Although we made mistakes and did not have courage to continue His mission work, meeting with pure and simple people of Maasai made us happy, and this happiness is a special privilege for missionaries because God always rewards.

There are many beautiful mountains in Tanzania; ”Mt.Kilimanjaro” (5,895m-tallest in Africa) and “Mt.Meru” (4,565m) beside clean city of Arusha, always shy of her face.  But “Mt.Longido” (2,629m) looks tallest and most majestic because there is nothing high around vast semi-desert; she is a widow waiting for her husband (missionaries) to return, a perfect navigator for Karao. (You can never miss to make a turn).   Why?  As soon as you cross “Namanga” border from Kenya to Tanzania, the only thing you see in your front is nothing but Mt.Longido…she was still waiting for her husband.

Now we are beginning, again!   We were not able to come here over a year. Now we are dealing directly with God. We are not afraid of any stumbling blocks because we know God will protect us and He will be with us. Did He leave Joshua and 2.5 million Hebrews alone to cross the river of Jordan after He ordered them?

Now, we are beginning again!  Our indecisive, bad decision and cowardice, God has forgiven when we repented with sack cloth and ashes, God tells us to GO!   Missionaries just follow.

We now kneel down to pray to thank God for giving us another chance for Maasai mission in Tanzania. There will be NO turning back, so help me God. Amen.

Maha Mission

 

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