Rhett and Megan O'Briant, Living Well Team in MOROGORO

When travelling on a short-term mission trip, the people on the team can make an enormous amount of difference in the outcome and enjoyment. Rhett and Megan O’Briant accompanied us two years ago to Zambia. We appreciated their teaching skills and support overall to the mission effort. On this trip, we expanded their teaching role and the Africans loved them. Even though they are younger than most of those who attended, they were well received because of their openness and candor about their own marriage. Their willingness to do whatever was needed, from operating the video camera to carrying luggage through airports, endeared them to us forever.

Rhett and Megan at the Bethel Church with Nickson Kallinga, the pastor

Rhett and Megan use a visual aid, two large hearts and smaller hearts for each particpant. They are using the hearts to demonstrate what happens to our hearts when damaging patterns of communcation exist in our marriages.

They end with showing how God can heal those hearts through forgiveness.

From the O’Briant’s: “The participants came with an unmatched desire to learn and leave with a commitment not only to improve their marriages, but also to create marriage ministries within their churches. God’s hand was in each detail along the way.”

MOROGORO Conference - Group Photo

Group Picture of Family Enrichment Conference
Presented in partnership between Living Well and ALARM

Photo includes Anna Kiwovele (left end, second row) and Justin Kiwovele (left end, front row), country directors for ALARM; Ed and Donna Edwards, Megan and Rhett O'Briant, Living Well team

MOROGORO 2010 NEWS

It is just like I have been born again, because I can see that I was sinning against my wife.

Justin Kiwovele, ALARM Tanzania

Many pastors in Morogoro conveyed this message after our conference in Morogoro. Our host, Justin Kiwovele, the ALARM Tanzania country director told us, “Many people came, flocking to me. Telling me about Ed and Donna coming to that place [Morogoro]. ‘It is just like I have been born again, because I can see that I was sinning against my wife.’ This is the problem with our African culture. They have adapted from our culture that man is superior and that the wife is just a servant. Now, when they come to be told of God’s model of marriage, it’s just like a new thing. That’s where the husbands see that they have been doing wrong to their wives. And feeling like that they should be born again.”

That statement is why we keep going back to Africa. Thank you for your prayers and support! You were there with us - your prayers, God’s spirit speaking through us, and your support.

We never know what God has for us when we go to east Africa, but it is always more than we could ask or imagine. We had a room full of people, every chair taken. We had people who sat attentively, took notes, asked questions, and made comments through the whole week. We had pastors who had never had any teaching on marriage and a few that had studied it more extensively. One pastor had studied in the U.S. and still marveled at what God taught him. Again and again, they conveyed their belief in the teachings because of the evidence of the truth in God’s Word.

New for us at this conference were several pastors from the Maasai tribe. You may recognize them as the tall, thin Africans that herd cattle and wear bright red and blue cloth wrapped around them. They often have a large beaded necklace. The Maasai men have large holes in their earlobes, which are put there from a young age. We had several pastors in our group who wore American style clothing but also had large holes in their earlobes, illustrating the dichotomy of their lives. The Maasai are strongly patriarchal, so the marriage teachings, which elevate women to a position right after their relationship with God, bring a new level of understanding to their roles as a pastor, husband, and father. Many Maasai are coming to Christ and some are becoming pastors in their villages. However, some continue their cultural traditions including the traditional dress, which was described to us as being “practically naked.” The pastors were eager to see the truth of what God teaches about marriage and the role of ministry compared to their family priorities.

We convey the results from our trip, not to commend ourselves, but to exalt Christ who works through us.

Donna brought back an intestinal, African bug with her, but is fully recovered now. Otherwise, the team did well overall with the trip and the logistics went well as we travelled. We cannot begin to thank Rhett and Megan O’Briant enough for all that they added to the teaching and the team.

Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. Our love in Christ,

Donna and Ed Edwards

P.S. Praise God for His blessings during our conference.

Living Well in Morogoro, June, 2010

After flying 10,000 miles from Oklahoma City to Dar es Salaam, another 4 hour bus ride brought us from sea level to the base of the Uluguru Mountains. The picture above shows our team with our Tanzanian hosts, Justin and Anna Kiwovele of ALARM - we just arrived and are out to find our rooms.

We had the juxtapose of mountains with palm trees - a scene unknown to Southerners.

Our team stayed at the Morogoro Hotel, our best accomodations of all of our trips to Africa. We had a beautiful setting, large bathroom, hot water, big bed, and air conditioner (when the electricity was working).

We always bring big bags that roll, but the Africans prefer putting them on their heads!

We loved the abundance of flora on the grounds of the hotel.

In Nairobi

We are now in Nairobi.

Our follow up meeting in Dar es Salaam went well. We had several people from Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam there (people who had been to our conference and workshops last year). We were so excited to see them again. We were very encouraged to hear their testimonies of what God has done since last year.

Our only woman pastor from last year said that she had 3 woman she had counseled on marriage (since learning from us last year) who had reconciled their marriages. One woman had now been separated 10 years from her husband and they were not united again. The other couples she had counseled had similar stories. Some pastors shared about doing sermons and seminars on marriage since last year. They had also performed some premarital counseling. Soon after they started marriage ministry, other pastors have invited them to speak to their churches about marriage. We told the that they are now "marriage missionaries."

We taught a brief session to them about the first wedding and the last wedding in the Bible, and about the marriage covenant, the old covenant, and the New Covenant - what we call a "higher view" of marriage. One pastor told me that it was the first time he realized that marriage is a picture of Christ and the church.

Rhett and Megan spoke about how marriage ministry had impacted their marriage. We told the groups that Rhett and Megan were our visual aids for marriage ministry.

We are now taking a few days of vacation before we start the long flight home on Sunday night.

Sunday worshipping in Dar es Salaam

We had quite a day today. It is about 6:00 pm here right now. We left at 9:00 this morning to go to a church where our translator is the pastor. We went by taxi and it took about an hour to get there. Last year there was nothing but a piece of land and some bamboo poles where the church is. They were meeting in a school. They now have a roof and some partial walls. This approach is quite common for churches here. Then they will pour a concrete floor when they get enough money.

It was a little windy so we felt right at home. Except there were palm trees blowing in the wind.

They had about an hour of singing after we arrived. The kids did special songs and dancing for us. Then we had time to speak.

Ed and I spoke some about why we are in Tanzania and the ministry we had in Morogoro. We also shared about our marriage and children, our Living Well ministry, and the ministry at church. Megan and Rhett shared about their background and how our marriage ministry has strengthened their marriage.

Ed preached and taught on forgiveness. This lesson is always very meaningful to the people here. One African man in ministry here told us that they are very relational people but they don't communication well. They aren't good at resolving conflict. He affirmed that teaching on marriage ministry is needed very much here.

Then the pastor spoke some more. We finished about 1:00, then we went to the pastors home, by the church and had lunch. The congregation had their lunch outside. After lunch we went back into the church and talked with the adults of the church about their marriages and our testimonies of our marriages.

They were asking for materials, which we have already given to their pastor. Their hunger to learn more about Biblical marriage is growning. They were also requesting us to return to their church for a couple of days to teach if we return to Tanzania. We always enjoy the dialogue with them. The same problems and questions are raised everywhere we go. It is encouraging to know that we have Biblical answers for them. We left there around 5:00 and got back here about 5:30 minutes ago. It was a long day but very enjoyable.

We are all maintaining our health. We rest well most of the time.

Tomorrow we have a long day in a follow-up meeting with the some of the churches we met last year. Fortunately, we will be meeting at the center here where we are staying. We are anxious to see them and hear from them.

We appreciate your continued prayers for us.

Great Week in Morogoro

We had a great week in Morogoro! The pastors and their wives there were so excited about what we taught them.

We try to use a lot of visual aids as we teach. Rhett and Megan have very creative ideas for the visual aids for their lessons (high five for all of the school teachers out there). One woman said that after we leave that they may not remember all that we taught but they will remember the visual illustrations and principles from them.

One of the more experienced pastors, who also speaks English, came to speak to us at lunch one day. He said that he had been to a lot of seminars there on discipleship, leadership, the Holy Spirit, and others but our teaching was rare. They all expressed how much the families of Tanzania need this message. As with all of our conferences over here, they pleaded with us to return.

The people here are so appreciative of the teaching that we bring and the Bibles we give them and the notebook of lessons. Thanks to all of you who help us come here!

The funds we raise also pay for them to come stay at the place where we have the conference, a "hotel." They are there for a week without their children (except the infants) and having someone else cook. They told us it was like being on a honeymoon. Thanks for providing this opportunity to people who could never afford to do that on their own.

In Morogoro, Tanzania

We made it safely to Tanzania on Friday morning. We were very tired but were able to rest all day on Friday and Saturday. We traveled by bus to Morogoro on Sunday. The ride was a 3 hour ride that turned into 4 hours. We were very glad to get there!

Morogoro is at the base of a small mountain range. What a sight to see palm trees with the mountains in the background. But it is warm and humid here like it is in Dar es Salaam. It gets a little cooler at night. We do have air conditioning here .... if the power is on.

We are all well and rested most of the time.

The conference started on Monday morning. We have at least 80 here, the number we were expecting. The group is very attentive and asking lots of questions. We spent a lot of time discussing Adam and Eve!

We hope to put some pictures up soon.

Prayer Requests for Mission trip - MOROGORO, Tanzania 2010

• Pray for all members of our team: Ed and Donna Edwards, Rhett and Megan O'Briant, Justin and Anna Kiwovele (ALARM Tanzania country directors)
• Good health for all; logistics to go well - safety in travel, luggage to make it with us.
• Lord will provide needed funds for mission trip and for our ongoing ministry in OKC.
• That we will honor Our Lord in all that we say and do; that we will communicate well.
• Lord will draw pastors and wives in the Morogoro area of Tanzania to the conference; He would protect their time.
• Lord will speak to each heart about their own marriage and bring change in their lives; that they will be faithful to each other, sexually pure physically and in their minds.
• Lord will give them hope and help them to remain faithful to Him and what He wants.
• Each pastor and wife will model Christ and the Church in their marriage and will teach many people God’s design for oneness in marriage.
• Lord will bring the pastors and church leaders (from last year) to our follow-up workshop in Dar es Salaam. That we will be able to encourage, teach, and train them in their marriage ministries.
• The Lord will protect the marriages/minds of the people to whom we minister in OKC.
• A quick adjustment to time changes and restored strength after we get home.

MOROGORO Tanzania 2010 Mission Trip

LIVING WELL Monthly Letter, April, 2010

Spring-like weather lured us into thinking about warm and pleasant days. But when Spring officially arrived, winter howled back to remind us of an unbelievable year. Hopefully, we have ended our relationship with the 2010 winter season.

Spring signals time to plan for our summer mission to Africa. We are returning to Tanzania. We will teach in a new location, Morogoro. We will also meet with pastors and wives whom we taught last year in Dar es Salaam. Joining us on the Living Well team this year are Megan and Rhett O’Briant who taught with us in Zambia two years ago. June 9-21 are the dates of our 6th trip to east Africa.

We felt compelled to return to the same country as last year. After teaching and training there for a month, we built a closer bond with the people than ever before. Our desire is to teach a new group of pastors/wives in Morogoro and to bring additional training and encouragement to those we taught last year. Tanzania stays heavy on our hearts for many reasons but at the forefront is their spiritual battle with the dominate Muslim faith. They risk their security and faith to plant churches in predominately Muslim neighborhoods. 

Our mission is to teach pastors/wives in the area of Biblical marriage/family and train them in building marriage ministries in their churches. 

Why do we teach/train instead of evangelizing, digging wells, or doing a medical mission? All of these kind of missions and others are noble and have merit. But we have found that:

• Africa has been highly evangelized now and the Christian church is established in all east African countries. “World wide Christianity has become increasingly African....There are now more practicing Christians in Africa than on any other continent, and by the second decade of the new millennium, Africa will overtake Europe as the continent with the greatest number of people who identify themselves as Christians, whether or not they practice their faith.” (Neil Lettinga, PhD) We believe that it is up to the Africans to reach their own people; our role now is to train them.
• Clean, accessible drinking water is one of the foremost physical needs of Africans. Clean water will satisfy one of their physical needs, but will not meet their spiritual and eternal needs. We know that people with abundant supplies of water can still live decadent, empty lives. As Jesus said “but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
  
• Physical diseases and disabilities abound in Africa; they have great needs for treatment. However, their treatment is temporary. They will still have the same difficulties next year.

We are not trying to say these missions are not good or needed but we believe that God has called us to a different work, one which will equip the African church to thrive and reach their culture. The African pastors that we train do not have the opportunity for a formal education. We partner with an African ministry, Africa Leadership and Reconciliation Ministry (ALARM) who is permanently located in the area and have an ongoing relationship with the pastors and training in different aspects of ministry.

Why do we train on marriage and family? Why not discipleship, the spiritual disciplines, etc.? Our experience and expertise is in marriage ministry, having worked in that area over 20 years. We have found a great disconnect between an African pastor’s role in ministry and his role in the family. His family is usually treated as unimportant compared to his ministry in the church. We believe that a truly transformed life will be most evident to the culture in their family life. That factor is why God said that marriage is a picture of Christ and the church.

Thank you for your love, support, and prayers.
Our love in Christ,
Donna and Ed Edwards

Rhett and Megan O'Briant, Oklahoma City, teaching conference with Living Well

Rhett and Megan O'Briant teach a session on resolving conflict. Rhett is demonstrating how unresolved conflict "blows the top off" the marriage. He put an antacid with some water in a film canister and let it blow the top off. Everyone got the point!

LIVING WELL Presents Study Bibles to Zambians

Living Well and Conference Group in Masaiti, Zambia

We had a wonderful group of pastors and wives and other church leaders at our Family Enrichment Conference in Masaiti, Zambia.

Zambia Team, Prayer Requests, and Itinerary

TEAM:Ed, Donna, & Jacquelyn Edwards; Rhett, Megan (the wife), & Megan (the sister) O’Briant; Dannie & Diane Clarida

Mission: Travel to Zambia to teach a pastor’s & wives conference on marriage/ family, to speak to high school students on purity, & to speak to men’s group on purity

Prayer Requests:
Good health for all; logistics to go well.

Safety in travel and in Africa
That we will honor Our Lord in all that we say and do.

Lord will draw pastors and wives in Copperbelt area of Zambia to the conference, to draw men to breakfast on Guarding Your Heart/Sexual Purity.

Lord will speak to each heart about their own marriage and bring change in their lives; that they will be faithful to each other, sexually pure physically and in their minds.

Lord will give them hope, help to remain faithful to Him and what He wants.

Each pastor and wife will model Christ and the Church in their marriage.

Each pastor/wife will teach many people God’s design for oneness in marriage.

Jacque & Megan will speak to many high school students, that they will inspire the students to remain pure until marriage and to have a closer walk with the Lord.

A quick adjustment to time changes and restored strength after we get home.

ITINERARY
Thurs, May 29, 11:00 am (OK time) Leave for Nairobi

Friday, May 30, 7:10 pm (11:10 am Friday, OK) Arrive Nairobi, sleep

Sat, May 31, 8:30 am (12:30 am OK) fly to Ndola, Zambia, arrive 2:45 pm (7:45 am OK) travel by car to Luanshya, will stay at guest house

Sun, June 1 attend local church, meet with pastor, organize for the week

Mon-Friday, June 2-6, 8am-5pm daily, conference site Masaita, app. 25 miles each way to conference site

Teach conference, (1am-10am OK time); Evenings for Q&A, discussion (Donna/Ed’s 35th wedding anniv., 6/2; Megan's birthday 6/4)

Saturday, June 7, drive back to Ndola, then fly to Nairobi, 9:30am (2:30 am OK), arrive 4:25 pm (8:25 am OK)

Sun-Tues, June 8-10 Relax and rest

Wed, June 11, 10:15 pm (2:15 pm OK) depart Nairobi for home

Thursday, June 12, 8:29 pm ARRIVE OKLAHOMA CITY!
(30 hours!)