Sew-Be-It in Moshi

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Life after the campaign seems to whirlwind down back into somewhat of a normal routine pretty quickly. You breath step forward and move on. There have been follow up studies going on all over the city and people continuing to bring in their completed correspondence lessons to move on to the next level of study. The next school quarter for the Bible Students is back in full swing. Brent will be teaching two different classes at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching in Kisongo on Mondays & Fridays he has Daniel and Ezekiel and then he is also teaching the first class for the ACSOP students on Marriage and Family so he will be quite busy this quarter.

The Rachels family has arrived here in TZ and are staying at the house here with us for their two weeks in country which we are thrilled about! Forrest and Teresa are from Tennessee and have three young daughters: Hannah (16), Slyvia (14) and Elizabeth (9) The kids are loving having the girls around to play with. Elizabeth is camping out in Emily's room and they are having a 2 week long slumber party! What more could two little girls want? They are already a part of the family!

We've taken the girls to the local mini mall.. haha!! ~ I say that loosely because they have lost some of their luggage on the way here with their clothes in it, so we had to go down to the local open air clothes market to barter for some conga wrap skirts and Tshirts for them to wear in the mean time. Teresa and I laughed because the girls went from wooden booth to wooden booth just like they were in the mall holding things up for each other and picking out clothes to match! Who would have ever thought that four preteen and teenage girls could have fun shopping in AFRICA??? but as I think about that, who would ever doubt that little girls could find somewhere to shop no matter where in the world they are! Brent, Forrest and Garrett all stood around patiently as all great men do waiting on their girls to get finished and holding the bags between shops with a smile asking where the men's store was! I smiled at the whole ordeal! Its a little like a huge Dig store or a large garage sale if you've ever been to one of those... Piles and piles of clothing all sorted out into categories, each dealer sells something specific, maybe socks, purses, jeans, t-shirts, shoes, skirts, dresses, congas, coats... (yes coats its their winter time here..) and its all used clothing that's been brought over to Africa from other countries but gets bundled up and brought to the local markets to re-sale it all!

Their first Saturday here Shasta and I had already set that date several months ago for the "Sew Be It" Quilting class to be held here in Moshi for the women here to learn to cut, piece, back and quilt their own unique designs. Our first project is going to be in making blankets for all the children at the Joy Foundation Orphanage in Boma Ngombe (70 total) there are around 30 little ones that we are going to make first and then get a more accurate count of larger ones that are needed for the older children as we go and deliver the small blankets) these are the orphans that had come the month before to all the children's classes during the campaign here in Moshi. We thought this would be a great initial starting off point for learning to do good for others by using our talents and our hands. Shasta brought the quilts and a great lesson from Proverbs 31 on using our hands as virtuous women and we were off with a bang! Teresa and the girls and I had sorted through lots of donated material the night before to have boxes ready to dump on the tables so that the ladies could choose their own color schemes and then we made little baggies which included: scissors, thread, pins, and needles for each lady that attended to be able to take home with her to begin sewing on her own. It was a great success and the smiles and pricked finger tips can attest to the fact that the Moshi women love to sit around and talk while happily working together on a good project! I love the heart of this congregation!

I thought you would enjoy the pictures and I could give you a heads up as well on the week we have ahead of us beginning tomorrow. We will be going out all week Monday through Friday to teach Bible classes at Hannah's Nursery School which is ran by the family of one of our young men from the congregation here named Timothy Massawe. He and his family with the help of the Rachels' family this last year have opened up a nursery school in Boma NGombe, just down the road from the orphanage we're working with there as well. After last years campaign Hannah Rachels went home and began raising funds to send to Timothy and his family to start off this new school, and she raised $500 to send over to help them get started... this is just the beginning of a great story that I will write out more in detail this coming week as we are there and taking pictures of the children.. But just imagine the good that can come from teaching our teenagers to begin doing good for others! Hannah is just 16, but here in Tanzania East Africa there is a nursery school in Boma Ngombe, that has close to 50 students enrolled, that is named after her for her kindness, encouragement, loving heart and generosity. We will be working all week with the Hannah Nursery School, and I will be visiting the Joy Foundation children while we ate there as well. We have several studies set up with the parents of the children from the school for afternoon evangelism as well.

Keep us in your prayers this week. Little Emily is a little on the sick side, but we've all been passing around a winter cold. We're going to take her in to the clinic in the morning as well. Know that we love you and miss you all! We're still working on raising funds for our furlough trip home and working on trying to set speaking dates to report on the work. Let us know if you would like for us to come and visit you and your congregation while we are home.

~In His Service & Love, Julie Richardson

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