Pulling At My Heart Strings

This is my grandson, Zachary Clint. He smiles most of the time, but also has a very serious manner about himself, especially when he is focused on a task. Just like all our kids and grandchildren, I miss him terribly.

I first saw the little boy in the picture below last year. He was presenting a gift to an Omega team who had been working at the Safina Street Network Center. He didn't say a word, but was determined to do the task which he had been assigned. So many things about him reminded me of our little Zachary Clint. His age (6), size, intensity, and smile. My heart was immediately drawn to him.

Until recently, he had not spoken at all. He is one of 4 children of a blind woman who begs on the streets of Dodoma. They all live in a one-room, mud-brick, structure of which the back wall collapsed during this year's rainy season. Thankfully, through Safina support, Ed and 2 of the older street kids are re-building that wall.
February brought the opening of the Safina pre-school class and guess who is a student? What a difference it has made in this precious one's life. He got a uniform, underwear, new flip-flops, an exercise book, and a good "scrubbing down" a couple of times a week.

He's talking now and even participates in the older boys choir when they practice their choreographed steps and songs. He openly greets Ed and me when we show up at the center and calls us "Babu" and "Bibi" (grandfather & grandmother).

He's no longer "pulling at my heart strings", but is playing a full-blown tune.

And his name is.....

ZACHARIA

NOTE TO SELF....

Don't send Ed to the paint store..............unattended.

VICTORY LIFE TEAM-GETS SOME PRESS

The OMEGA team from Victory Life Church in Lubbock is due to arrive next week. We have been cleaning house, changing sheets, cooking, getting building materials are on site, making arrangements for meals in the village, and probably some other things I didn't think about. As excited as we are for the team to get here, it cannot compare with the excitement that is building in the village of Nghon'hona, where the team will be completing the building of a church, witnessing in the community, with culmination of a 3 night CRUSADE.
Recently Pastor Erasto Mwambeje asked for a photo of the team so he could make a poster announcing the team's arrival and the nights of "CRUSADE".
We picked up the finished product yesterday.


On Sunday and Monday before the team's arrival, we have been recruited to transport a gentleman around the community, armed with a loud speaker, bearing a "Come One...Come All" announcement.
Stay tuned for more updates as the team arrives and gets to work.
This is gonna be good!!!!!

Proclaimer--Faith Comes by Hearing

Before we left the states in January, Barry Cowart, from Muleshoe, contacted us and said he wanted us to take a look at something and see if it is something we wanted to bring back to Tanzania. It was a Proclaimer, developed by Faith Comes By Hearing(http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/) , an MP3 player loaded only with the New Testament...........in Kiswahili. It is a dramatized version and not just reading and can be charged by electricity, a solar panel, or by winding it up. Well, of course, we thought it would be a great tool, but the hardest part was deciding where to place the 3 units.

The first unit, we gave to the Safina Street Network, which ministers to street children. They place it in their eating area and play it while the kids are eating their daily meal.


Earlier last year, we had the privilege of replacing a pump at the Buigiri Blind Rehabilitation Center for Adults. The pastor gathered everyone together, with Unit #2 in hand, and they listened, spellbound, to the Proclaimer, amazed at "the talking Book".

Unit #3 is multi-purpose. We have placed it in the work area and turned it on while working on pump repairs. Our houselady, Emmi, excitedly turns it on each day (and I might say loudly) for the listening pleasure of herself and the watchman, thrilled that our home is being filled with the Word of God. She takes it to her home on the weekends and said the radios blaring in the surrounding homes are silenced as everyone near can hear the Word PROCLAIMED.

Thank you Barry Cowart for connecting us with "Faith Comes by Hearing"

"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17 NKJV)

EASTER--Resurrected !!!!

Yes, I am a little delayed on my posts, so I wanted to go back to Easter and share what a great time we had celebrating.
Of course, we all went to church, but then the Americans, here in Dodoma, all decided to get togethter for an old fashioned "pot-luck" dinner.
We enjoy sharing meals with one another, and it's usually something simple, like beans and rice, or beans and rice, or beans and rice. Oh, and beans and rice..............we love beans and rice.
This time we went all out and made all kinds of special stuff: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, jello with bananas (just like my grandmother's), mac & cheese...it was a feast.
There were 22 of us in all.
What a blessing each and everyone of these precious friends are to us here in Dodoma.


We just installed mosquito netting on the back veranda, so the tables and chairs were lined up and we served away.

"They worshipped together;....met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity---all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people." (Acts 2:46-47 NLT)

Getting Ready-Victory Life Baptist Church

Well, it's just a few short weeks and we will be welcoming OMEGA's first team for 2010. Victory Life Baptist Church (Lubbock) is bringing a group of 13 to work at Beroya Church. They will be erecting walls on the church and doing evangelism in the community, as well as partnering with the team from Book of Hope.

Pastor Erasto is calling the work they will be doing: "Building & Proclaiming"
There are lots of preparations to make prior to a team's arrival.

#1 IS PRAYER
But there are lots of other things.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Beroya Church at Nghon'ona measuring and making estimates for the building materials needed for the project.

The church members started early with the construction of a "choo" (outdoor toilet facilities). Bear in mind....there will be more to it than just this hole.

The children in the area are aware something exciting is going on as they gathered to practice some songs.

I haven't been very faithful with my blogging recently, but check back in.
The team will arrive June 2, so stayed tuned to see what they will be doing in Tanzania.