Last Lessons #70 - BUMBULI

“You make known to me the path of life, in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  Psalm 16:11

The Lord graciously takes us to places where he can teach us the most important lessons of our lives.  In the 1960s when we lived in Bumbuli, Tanzania, I learned many things.  I learned how to:

• Cook on a wood stove
• Make bread and mayonnaise and marshmallows
• Cook and can the wild game meat for which we hunted
• Buy fresh eggs at my door by putting them in water to make sure they did not float
• Strain out debris from fresh milk and boil it so we could drink it
• Manage servants who chopped wood, did laundry, and cooked for us
• Teach English to medical assistants at the hospital
• Take care of three bright and active daughters

Furthermore, I learned to know Africans.  I learned how gentle they were, how hard working, and how loyal they were.  I learned to love them as friends and as brothers and sisters in Christ.  Some of them are the best friends I have even to this day.  You can read about a few of them in HUMBLE HEROES available from Rafiki (www.rafikifoundation.org)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”  Matthew 5:6

The most important lesson God taught me at Bumbuli was that he would be with me and he was all I needed.  There were times during our four years in Bumbuli when I was very lonely and felt spiritually starved.  Bob spent much time traveling to remote clinics to see patients who couldn’t come to the hospital and he travelled to America and Europe to raise money to replace Bumbuli’s mud brick hospital with one made of real burned bricks.  And, by the way, he was successful in accomplishing that.  But he was gone so much of the time, and I missed him terribly.  I was lonely especially because for the first two years there was only one American family on our station.  After that, there were none.  But mostly I was spiritually starved.  The church services were all in Swahili and, of course, we had no TV, no radio, no computers.  We didn’t even have books because the box we had shipped containing our books and household goods was soaked on the ship and the contents completely ruined.  But true to his word, God didn’t leave me because I had brought one book in my hand luggage – my Bible.

One time during our four years in Bumbuli the Lutherans sent out a pastor to give a conference to the missionaries in the area.  It lasted for four days and although I was in charge of seeing that food was served to all the participants, I soaked up the teaching.  I think I cried the whole time because I was starving for the Word of God, and finally I was being fed.

What did I learn in a more profound way?  That God is with me and he is enough.  That he speaks to me through his Word – the Bible. 

But what I learned was that it wasn’t just my needs that mattered.  My goal in being a missionary was to help others know God and so God showed me the needs in stark reality.  The only way to know God is through the Bible.  There were so few Bibles in Tanzania, even in Swahili, and no Bible studies that I knew about.  I had no idea how to help the situation.  How could I as a missionary wife and a mother of three do anything useful in Africa?  All I knew was that I wanted to know God and help others know him, even if I felt helpless.  I guess that is where God wanted me to be – helplessly dependent on him. 

After four years in Bumbuli, we returned home for furlough before going back to Africa for another term.  I have learned many lessons along the way but now these many years later, my goal is still to know God and help others know him. 

I hope you take time to think through the lessons God has taught you.  Maybe you could write them down for your children and grandchildren to read.