The Sounds of Africa

During the cool breeze of the late afternoon we hear the sounds of birds chirping and the squawking of the Hornbills and Ibis, but in the evening the monkeys come out. They start their squelching, and the dogs bark, yelp and squeal all night as they fight. These are the sounds you usually hear.
In Africa you must always be in a state of preparedness. Just when you think you are getting adjusted to your surroundings feeling safe and secure something happens that makes you know you are in a battle and you need to be on guard at all times!
We live in an area about a mile off the main road where there are no street lights and the roads are all small and unpaved snaking in and out around the homes. The rules are WE DON’T GO WALKING AFTER DARK…
As many of you know we are now in the rainy season here in Tanzania. What we know now is just what happens during a rain. The rain comes down so hard and it is so loud you cannot even hear the person next to you speaking. For the past few nights bandits have come off Mt. Kilimanjaro and have plagued the area where we live.
Thursday evening the neighbor behind us had their car stolen out of there yard, thank God no one was injured. The other neighbors had a group of men posing as police officers force their way inside his house and steal all of the home furnishings including the mattresses, and all of the food, and his money. Our friend who is a missionary scheduled to return to the US to pastor in the mid west was also violated. A young man convinced his security guard he was there to meet with our friend. The guard let the man inside the gate and before our friend knew what was occurring, the man was at his front door. Our friend knew he was casing the house because the man kept trying to look through the windows into the house. He could have had a gun, but praise Jesus the situation was dealt with without incident. The main security guard finally arrived with his rifle and told the man “we will follow you home we will know where you live and if anything happens we will come after you!”
People are constantly casing homes to see what they can steal.  We do not have the security our friend has, but we believe there are angles all around us.
Jeffrey and Diane Stoinoff

The Rainy Season is Upon Us

It has been raining for nearly 3 weeks nonstop. The roads are impassable even to walk. We have been trapped inside our house since Friday.
Easter morning it rained so hard that a flash flood swept through our property flooding the inside of our home. Friday night two weeks ago we thought we were going to be washed away again. The water was at least 10″ deep rushing through our yard. We wonder what is this down pour of rain doing to other families in the country. How many villages are being buried in the mud?
We have food in our house. If worst comes to worst we could hire someone with a 4 wheel drive truck to come in here and get us or bring us food, because we are what natives call Wazungu which is white person. This means we are thought of higher than Tanzanians. And blessed to be “white”.
What hurts us is what is happening to the Tanzanians. They don’t have food stocked up. They have to leave there house to go through the mud to get food. They don’t even have proper shoes to walk in the mud.
The culture in this country is so different than in America. This is a peaceful and friendly country but at any time bandits can come through stealing anything they want and even raping and killing innocent people. Most Tanzanians don’t have fences around their property for security. We are blessed to have what we have. A lovely home that is secure with iron bars on the doors and windows. The outside door is iron with 2 dead bolts with pad locks and the inside doors are wood 2″ thick with 2 huge dead bolts. The property has a Boganvilia thorn bush fence 8’ high around the perimeter. Our guards have bows and arrows and machetes to protect us from bandits that immigrate in from Kenya and other bordering countries. We got an email from a missionary friend who lives not far from here. She walked outside to turn the generator on and let the puppies out of their cage, when she saw a man behind the bushes and before she could get back inside to secure the door he and two other men attacked her threw her on the ground, threatened to kill her, stole her car, computer, cell phone, money and she is not sure what else. Please pray for her as she is trying to get through this. She is trying to beef up her security so that this won’t happen again. You have to understand that in this country poverty and extortion is extreme where the average wage is less than $2.00 per day.
Also, here you have mosquitoes that bring death to thousands of people here in East Africa through Malaria, yellow fever and many other diseases and yes we could get sick and suffer and even die but we have the abilities to get to a doctor and get tested and get our medicine. We also have a God that has promised us that He will deliver us whether we are in America or in Africa. Some, Tanzanians cannot go to the doctor and get tested unless somebody reaches out to them and gives them a helping hand. Just the other day our taxi guy named Juma who is Muslim was able to come and pick us up even with the bad roads. We took him to breakfast and found out he had Malaria so we gave him the money to get tested. When we got home we gave him Tylenol for his headache and fever. We have been sowing seed since we have arrived in this country so I ask you to pray for Juma’s salvation. That’s why missionaries come to third world countries like Tanzania because the needs are so great. It is not an easy life but the rewards outweigh the cost for the kingdom of God. 
Living here, we see everyday how, we of us who have been  born in countries like America and Europe are truly blessed.  And even more blessed to be Born Again and blessed by our God Jesus Christ!!!!!  Please keep us in your prayers.  We cannot live in this country without them!  You are precious to us.
 
Love, Your Hands and Feet in Tanzania
Jeff and Diane

Green Mamba (Original Email 3/10/08)

Yesterday while at our team meeting we had our first encounter with the deadly Green Mamba snake. If bitten the venom can cause death in 30 seconds, so needless to say we were very cautious.
 
One of the single women on the compound saw it go into her bedroom and started screaming and ran over to where we were at.
 
The security guards alerted and killed it with a machete. Had she not seen this deadly creature no telling what could have happened in the middle of the night. With life in Africa you are always living on the edge, you always have to be aware of your surroundings.
 
We are constantly in prayer morning noon and night. The way we see God move is incredible. From providing food and shelter when you don’t have any to saving you by letting you see the snake. I believe His angles are encamped around us as we speak.
 
Before you go to bed say a prayer for us we could use it.
 
Jeff and Diane