Baby Andrew

I was in California visiting family and friends for the month of June. During the time I was gone I kept in contact with everyone at the orphanage via email. They would tell me how things were going and what was new. I kept wondering when I would get an email about new children arriving. I never got an email like that.
When I left for California we had 13 children. When I returned to Tanzania we still had 13. Within a week and a half of my arrival our numbers went up to 20. Five of these new children are babies.

Three infants came within two days and none of them had names. I was given the honor of naming one of them. I love knowing the meaning of names. It was important to me the meaning of the name I picked. One of the first names that came to me was Andrew. I taught elementary school for 17 years in America and I have had lots of students. But one special young man always stands out to me...his name is Andrew. He was born in the Ukraine and was adopted and brought to the U.S. Andrew has a love for God and a sweet, caring spirit that inspires me. He has a confidence in who he is...a child of the Most High God. I named this little baby here in Tanzania after my former student Andrew...a treasure himself.

Andrew means brave...I love that. My African Andrew is so sweet...everyone calls him my baby. I love holding him and feeding him. He has a lot of hair and the cutest little face. I pray God's blessings over him. The Lord has good plans for his life.

Dodoma

I have not written a blog in such a long time. It was not my intention to let so much time go by without writing an entry...time just went by so fast.
In the last two months so many things have happened. I am not sure what to write about first. I think I will write about what comes to mind first when I think about the past two months...

During the second week of May I traveled with Pastor Mbasha and his wife Janet to Dodoma...a city 10 hours away from Moshi. We went there to teach a seminar to about 10 different pastors and their churches. We didn't actually go to the city of Dodoma...we were in the region of Dodoma about two hours from the city. We drove into the "interior" of Dodoma. It was not a village but a small city...a remote city. Many people there had never had contact with a white person. When word got out that there was a white woman teaching in the town...we were holding services in a rented building in the middle of town...hundreds of people came to the meetings to "see the white woman." It was amazing how many people showed up. It was wonderful to teach God's word and have people attend that might not normally come to church. They came and sat for the entire service. It blessed my heart as they sat and listened to the word of God. The seminar was wonderful. I met so many people and was blessed at every turn. There was a church choir that attended the seminar. They were a group of ten people and they rode their five bicycles for seven hours in order to attend the seminar. I was blessed as they got up and sang each evening at the beginning of the services. They are from a tribe called Wagogo. I was touched by their love for God and the way they sang together.
At the end of the week I told Pastor Mbasha I wanted to return to Dodoma again and go to the Wagogo village too. Pastor Mbasha was so happy when I told him that. He was thinking the same thing that I was thinking but he hadn't said anything to me about it.
I learned so much from my week in Dodoma. It was challenging in so many ways but it was also so rewarding. I was stretched and I grew. It was a highlight for me that I will remember for the rest of my life.