The future!!

After the month long mission trip to Tanzania ~ it is more clear that our projects have taken shape and that we have been shown the exact place to work!! This was my 4th trip to Tanzania ~ it was meaningful in so many different ways! Along with the fact that my prayer has continually been to help the "least of the least" it was simply on God's timing that it all happened! From the moment Karen and I landed... there was no doubt, "he" had the plan. We were quickly moved to our friends on Mt. Meru in the Shishtoni Parish region...whereby we met the orphaned children whom we could share our love and hope with. We were able to give them simple school supplies, games, books and even did a partnership book for the children at our local parish right here in Wisconsin. We worshipped with them at one of the preaching points and watched 10 babies get baptized. What a miracle this day was! After church we attended the auction whereby we were able to purchase the goat (and donate to a newly widowed lady who could not even feed one crumb to her 4 children) she now had a female goat to help her in her pain! We purchased 2 chickens also which were donated to 2 widowed women who had no hope for a future. It was in these moments that we knew God was leading us to serve the "least, last and perhaps lost" in this world. We spent a wonderful day with the compassion school children and shared a wonderful meal with Pastor Joseph and his wife. Upon our departure, we came through a village where a group of people gathered every Sunday to do a sort of "microfinance" program within themselves. Pastor Joseph asked if we wanted to meet them? Both Karen and I had talked about helping people in this sort of manner. As we stepped out of the car, we were greeted by the leader of this group. He explained that they would meet weekly, pool their money and share with each other as their needs became apparent. Some would use the money for health related problems, others would use to pay for education, some would use to feed their families but ALL of them would do whatever they could to "pay back" their debt. As he explained the "cash box" was empty and nobody had means to repay their debt. The group was uncomfortable, they were sad and knew they had to find a way to pay back what they had borrowed? But how could one do this? The crops were not plentiful, they lacked education and jobs were scarce? I could tell by the looks on their faces, they simply had no hope!

Karen and I decided that our Non-profit organization stood to help this group. Our NGO/Non-profit is called Simple Hope because we take simple methods and bring people hope. We donated about $40.00 to this group to give them a stepping stone. With this they were going to find a way to get themselves into a positive cash flow position!! We know we will hear about this group as we move forward, but they talked about possibly purchasing a donkey and a wagon or an ox and a cart. When their crops came in they could haul them to the market which was a long way from their homes. This would take care of carrying their crops on their heads and over their shoulders and would make life a lot easier for them! Being able to sell their crops would help the group as a whole as well as themselves individually! Our prayer with them before we left was to know that many were praying for them and even in the darkest days, God remains with them and will never abandon them!

The days and weeks ahead were always proof that God remained with us in all we did.

I will post more as I am able in the week ahead.

Blessings and peace ~

Simple Hope has an orphanage!

We have adopted a wonderful orphanage here in Arusha. The name is Matonyok Parents Trust (which means Put effort) The owner Ndemno and his wife Emmy, have worked very hard in their lifetime. They are wonderful Christian people who decided that they could help children who were orphaned and or otherwise Street Children. They have a humble home and have made it into a place where their love flows abundantly. The first time we visited Matonyok, we knew this was the place Simple Hope was needed. They have no other NGO's working with them and the local Tanzania churches share the very little they have and that provides a few tshillings a day and that is all!!

There are 30 children currently in the home being served by Ndemno and his wife. They have 4 bedrooms and all 30 children share these rooms! Ndemno and his wife sleep among the children. Ndemno's mother (105 yrs old) also stays there and sleeps in one of the four rooms. Yes, sleeping has a whole new meaning when there are 5-7 children per bed!

They are happy in the midst of their struggles. They have God in their heart and sing and dance his praises everyday.

Simple Hope will begin projects with this orphanage. We will be able to bring groups of mission minded people to help this center when they come to visit Tanzania.

We spent time distributing vitamins, school supplies, t-shirts, bible books and played a myriad of games with the children. As we were leaving for the day, they sang a beautiful song of Thanks and praise. All the children then said a prayer for Simple Hope as we were departing.

God has a very special plan and the grooming process to get to this center has been awesome! We feel prepared now to focus our energies on these children.

Will post photo's and more information as I am able.

We begin our travel around Tanzania tomorrow. It is so wonderful and special to have Libby and Christina here with us!!

Blessings and peace,