Photo Blog

This blog entry is all photos. I hope you enjoy them.

Love Lydia

The three of us in front of the building.

Steve our handyman from No.Cal, Pastor Kioko and Lydia.

Rita and I receiving gifts from the Maasai.

Jodie and I enjoying a Coke in a Maasai hut.

In Maasai land with some sweet kids.

I am with Ben. I wrote a blog entry about Ben. He has since returned to Sudan and needs our prayers.

Christmas day with Pastor Mbasha and his family in our Christmas outfits.


At the well drilling site...Lydia, Pastor Mbasha, Eli, Janet, Melissa and Jodie.

The three of us at the entrance gate to the orphanage.

Drill Deeper

The ministry organization that I am a part of…Hidden With Christ Ministries…is involved with many projects here in Tanzania. One of these projects is digging wells in Maasai land. I have been involved with this current well project.

About four months ago Hidden With Christ Ministries hired a well digging company to go out to a village in Mto Wa Mbu (river of mosquitoes) to drill in the area the government’s water officials had studied and said was the best place to find water. After drilling they did not find water.

But that is not the end of the story…only the beginning. Rita, the president and founder of this ministry…a woman of great faith…prayed and asked others to pray. The drilling company said we could choose a different spot and hope to hit water…but would have to once again pay the whole cost of drilling in a new spot…no small fee. Rita called me and asked me to tell them to drill in the same spot but to drill deeper…the cost would be a lot less.

I called the company and spoke to the man in charge. He told me that it was not wise to throw money away like that…there was no water in that spot. He did not recommend drilling in a spot where water did not exist. I called Rita back and explained it all to her the way it was explained to me…I am leaving out a lot of the details he shared…his main point was not wasting time and money.

After spending time in prayer everyone agreed that drilling deeper was the right direction to take. Once again I called the drilling company and the man in charge tried to talk me out of it. I told him it was our money and that was what we wanted done…drill deeper. He said they would return to the drilling site within five working days. No one showed up. Months passed and the drilling company did not return. Rita came to Tanzania in February and stayed for a month. During this time she worked on getting the drilling company to go back to the drilling site to finish the job. The day Rita was scheduled to get on a plane to return to the U.S. the drilling company said they would being going out to the site. Since Rita’s plane didn’t leave until 9:30pm we decided to drive the three hours out to the drilling site. Rita, Steve (our handyman from N. Cal) and myself drove out there.

The drilling company said they would be at the site at 9:00am but they did not show up until 4:00pm. The site supervisor tried to talk Rita out of drilling. He practically begged her not to do this…Rita was settled…drill deeper. They had a lot of set-up work to do before they could begin the drilling process. We stayed until 5:30pm praying around the drilling site, but we had to leave in order to get Rita to the airport. We knew someone needed to stay at the site to see that the job got done…Steve volunteered. He had not planned on staying but he did…God bless him. That was Thursday. Steve was there Friday and Saturday too. The drilling had begun but it was a slow process. On Saturday we drove out to Mto Wa Mbu because I was speaking at a church conference. After the conference we went to the drilling site to pray. The workers said they would not be doing any drilling on Sunday. Steve really wanted to go back to Moshi and sleep in his own bed and get a change of clothes. We took him back with us.

Early Monday morning I picked up Steve and we drove to the drilling site. We arrived a little after 9am and the workers were already busy drilling. The site supervisor informed us that the job would be completed that day…I was glad because if it wasn’t then I would have had to stay the night. At 11am the water truck ran out of water. The workers informed us they would be returning in three hours to continue drilling.

Steve, Pastor Zablon and I decided to take a road trip. We drove to Kuratu…about an hour away. During our very scenic drive to Kuratu we saw baboon and elephants…so cool. We had lunch in Kuratu and drove back to the drilling site. To our surprise the workers had already returned and were drilling. Almost immediately we were aware that there was a change in the mood of the workers and the Maasai that were standing around. Pastor Zablon asked his brother what was going on. His brother told him right after the workers returned and went back to drilling something was different about the mud and water coming out, but the workers would not say anything. In fact the workers, who had been very friendly and chatty with everyone were now quiet and stayed very close to the drilling equipment. I asked Steve to go and ask them what was going on…they didn’t want to talk to him. Then Pastor Zablon went over to a couple of workers and gathered from their conversation that they had signs of having hit an underground river. Pastor Zablon began to celebrate. I told him that I wanted to hear the site supervisor tell me himself that they hit the river. We waited…and waited…and waited. Two hours later the site supervisor came to me. I asked him to tell me what was new. He told me, “We hit a river.” He showed me the rocks they pumped up…evidence of an underground river. Everyone jumped and cheered…including the workers. Words cannot tell you how much fun and how exciting that moment was.

I sent Rita a text page that said, “Call me when you get a chance.” It was about 4:30am in California. She called me immediately. That was a fun phone call. I gave the phone to Pastor Zablon so he could tell Rita…I think she understood him through the laughter, crying, jumping, dancing, rolling on the ground, and his limited English combined with an extreme accent. :)

I am so thankful to have been there…to see this miracle happen. To see God answer the prayers of His people and bring water where they said there was none. I love the way God does things. The Maasai know that God did this…they know it now.

God still answers prayer and does miracles…just ask the Maasai who will be drawing water from their new well soon.

This well project is going to be a HUGE blessing to people who have to walk very far to a watering hole that does not have clean water. We are now praying for the money to finish this project…the building of the well itself.

We are also praying for the money needed to drill a well on land that was donated to Pastor Mbasha by a Maasai elder. This Maasai elder is not a Christian but trusts Pastor Mbasha as a man who has a genuine heart of love for the people of that village. He gave Pastor Mbasha five acres to build a church. The government’s water officials have already been out to survey the land and their reports show there are good drilling places on Pastor Mbasha’s land.

This is such an exciting time. To see a basic need provided for people who have to walk miles in order to fill up their containers with dirty, contaminated water.

I love being here and watching these exciting things taking place.

Maasai Land Again

A few weeks ago when my pastors were here from Tustin, California we drove out to a church in Maasai land. Pastor Dave was going to baptize some Maasai that had become Christians. We drove two hours to the church and picked up the people to be baptized…and a few others…and drove another hour to the baptismal site. Maasai land is out in the middle of nowhere but we were further out there. As we were driving we suddenly came to a stop because a herd of camels were blocking our path. That was really an amazing sight. The path we were on was so narrow that the trees became thick and the people sitting in the back of the truck had to crouch down to avoid being hit by the branches.

When we finally arrived at the spot where Pastor Dave was going to baptize we could tell that a group of large animals had just been there. One of the Maasai pastors told us it was elephants…our baptismal spot was their watering hole. I didn’t see any elephants but I saw plenty of evidence that they had just been there. Walking down to the water I held Pastor Kioko’s hand…I was wearing sandals and a skirt and it was slippery. The baptism was wonderful to watch. Pastor Dave did the baptizing and there were four other pastors in the water with him praying for the people after he finished.

After Pastor Dave finished baptizing the people we took some pictures of everyone there. I got a really fun picture of Pastor Kioko and Pastor Zablon goofing around with their pants rolled up to their knees…Pastor Kioko wanted to delete the picture but I wouldn’t let him. Would he be upset if I posted it on my blog? :)

After the baptismal we drove an hour back to the church and had service. Pastor Dave spoke and we prayed for everyone…it was great. After the service the church members went outside and the church leaders served us a meal. Chicken, chipati and rice…yum. After eating we went outside. I saw a group of kids. They were watching me. Every time I tried to approach them they would run away. These kids had never had contact with white people…they were a little afraid. So I just looked at them and motioned to them. Finally after about fifteen minutes one girl came over to me. She was so shy but so happy. I put my arm around her and she giggled in her shy way…Rita took our picture. It was sweet. As we were getting ready to leave all the kids got the nerve to touch my hand. They were laughing and jumping up and down…they were brave enough to touch the hand of a white person…amazing.

Busy Busy Busy

It has been too long since I’ve written a blog. It is my intention to stay up-to-date with my blog writing, but the past month has been filled with so much that it caused me to set my blog writing aside for a short time. But I am determined to get back on track and remain faithful to writing once again.

I thought it would be good to write about some of the activities that have been going on this past month.

• In late January Jodie left for a visit to California to see her sisters…Melissa had already been in California since late November for health reasons…that left me here alone. I should say that left me alone at night…except if you want to count the night guards outside. I found myself doing many jobs during the day that would normally be split between the three of us. By the time evening rolled around I was so thankful for a comfortable bed to sleep in. I didn’t even think about being here alone…I was too wiped out. But this was a good tired. I liked the work. I really enjoyed everything I was doing.
• Last October a guy from Shingletown in Northern California came to work at our orphanage for three weeks. His name is Steve. After being here three weeks he went back home but asked if he could return and work at the orphanage for a year. After praying about it the three of us all agreed he should come back. Knowing that Steve would be coming back and would need to a place to stay I began a search to find Steve a home. Looking for a place for an American to live in Africa is more challenging than you might think. During my “free time” I would look at places for Steve…happy to report he is here and has a place to stay.
• On occasion I have made mention in my blogs about the insects and bugs here at the orphanage. I have a greater appreciation for them when they are outside and not making themselves comfortable living inside our orphanage building. On one particular day I was in my office looking for something. I had my wall clock on top of my file cabinet…it had not yet been hung on the wall. I moved the wall clock to look at something underneath it and about a hundred black ants came out running. The black ants here are about triple the size of the red ants in California…they are HUGE. After taking the clock outside and spraying it to kill the ants it was discovered that they had made a comfortable home inside of it. Within an hour of discovering the ants we found a termite farm behind one of the wardrobes. Combine these two incidents with the regular insect sightings we have indoors, I decided it was time to have the building fumigated. We made preparations for two days to fumigate the building. Steve, our American handyman took on the job himself. I had to get a room for the night at the hostel close by. After fumigating we had to put everything that had been moved back into place and do a lot of cleaning. It was a big job but I can tell you that I have noticed a difference.
• I spoke at Eli’s church in early December. His pastor is very sweet and the people were great. After I spoke Eli told me his pastor wanted me to come back and teach a three-day seminar. Thinking that Pastor Dave and Rita were not going to be in Tanzania until the middle of February and Melissa would be back by early February I agreed to do the seminar. When the time came to do the seminar, Melissa was still in California and Pastor Dave and Rita were arriving on day two of the seminar I was teaching. It all worked out for me to teach the seminar and pick up Pastor Dave and Rita at the airport and to spend time with them…it just made for a busy time…Melissa arrived four days after Pastor Dave and Rita did.
• After my pastors arrived they began a conference in Mirerai…about an hour and a half away in Maasai land. On the same evening Melissa returned to Tanzania Pastor Eric Lehman, his father and a bishop from Kenya arrived to speak on Thursday and Friday at the conference. It was so much fun picking up all these people at the airport. After the conference was over Pastor Dave, Pastor Eric, his father and the bishop left. Then a team from Tracy, California arrived here. This was a group of six people. They came to check out the orphanage as a potential mission’s project for their church. They also came to put up the curtains for the orphanage…over 40 windows! They worked hard all week. The curtains are beautiful…so beautiful. They did a superb job. The curtains make the orphanage look like a home.
• After the team from Tracy left Melissa and I began doing interviews for potential care-workers, teachers, cooks, and domestic workers. We have approval from the welfare dept to take in children and Melissa and Rita have visited places where there are orphans that need a home. Now we just need to hire our staff…so we have been interviewing…a lot. It has been good and we are excited about the staff that we will have. Interviewing is a time-consuming job and on one day we interviewed seven people in a row…long day.
• Jake arrived on Wednesday. Pastor Kioko and Rita drove the van to DarEsSaalam…about eight hours away…they picked up Jake and the ten brand new computers and all the equipment needed to set up a computer lab in my classroom. The computers were donated by a man in Florida and he sent Jake, one of his employees to set it all up. Jake worked hard for four days to get everything ready…he did a great job. It all looks great in my classroom. I spent a lot of time in there with Jake and Pastor Kioko…Pastor Kioko was Jake’s assistant in setting everything up…I was trying to learn as much as I could. Jake spent one evening explaining things to us and I spent one morning just asking a lot of questions. I am so blessed by the generosity of this man who donated all of the computers, equipment, software, projector, and for sending Jake to set it all up. Thank you.
• Jodie returned to Tanzania on March 2^nd. She was supposed to be here on March 1^st but she missed her plane on one of her stops…due to the plane she was on being late…that put her twelve hours later to arrive in Tanzania…she had to take a different flight and add on two more extra stops besides the ones she was already going to make. She was wiped out when we picked her up, but she was happy to be home and we were so excited to see her.

I have described a small portion of the busyness in the past month or so. I like it. I love that there is so much to do. I appreciate so much all the people who have come to help. We are moving forward and the children are coming so soon. This is really an exciting time.