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Published: March 18th 2008
I started thinking back over the events of last week and how things have progressed on into this week so quickly.. with all that has been happening and going on around us, in such a short amount of time where do I even start? And how is it even possible for time to go by so quickly?
I guess where I left off and that was with the last blog covering the 1st worship service in Marangu Mwika, while the Oklahoma group was still here. There were over 15,000 tracks distributed in this area, around 300 studies held, and 35 in attendance for their first worship service. 17 locals, 1 interpreter, and 17 Americans. 4 new souls added to the kingdom, and so many exciting stories to share of each individual we came across that I cant even begin to think about which ones I would leave out if I tried. One study in particular with 2 older men lasted over 5 hours and we have studied with them several times since, with great questions being brought forth, genuine interest and the oldest of the two told me he had been searching for this truth to come for over forty
years! He brought another man with him to the first worship, and all three have sat and studied again with John on his trips back up the mountain and all three were in Worship again this week for the second worship service in this new and growing church!
We had Meshak, the young man baptized in Moshi, in worship with us still sporting his new Spiderman t-shirt that someone had left him from the last group here. The Sayre & Elk City group went with us to work with the nursery school & orphanage in Boma Ngombe after having done a week full of evangelism in Marangu Mwika. They lead the children in all day Bible Classes, taking turns teaching 4 different stories and singing songs in both places. The children loved it and were still talking about it and wearing their crafts as I arrived back there today to begin our week long children’s seminar there with our new group that has just arrived from Marble Falls, Texas. Greg & Kris Neill are here with 4 young adults, high school and college aged 3 guys: Nathan, Chad, & Clayton and one young lady named Rachel. Who all work
New lights on the Truck...
Thanks to the Whinery Family from Oklahoma... Brad is an elder there at Elk City.together with Greg at a Christian Camp in Texas. They are here for their spring break week to work specifically with the nursery school children, and hold a week long Bible School/VBS there. Greg is a long time Tanzania worker, but this is his first trip with his wife, Kris here by his side, and we have really enjoyed the time spent here together with them, building up that friendship even deeper.
Back on track… as I left off on the last blog… we took the Oklahoma group from here in Moshi to work with the nursery school, and orphanage.. and then the men went on ahead of us into Arusha to get the hotel rooms set up and the ladies and I made a pit stop by the Cradle of Love Orphanage to sit and hold the babies there, cuddling and loving on them as we had the time to spare. That and I just love being able to stop and be able to hold those little ones whenever possible and the ladies who work there, love when we are able to come and just help with the little ones. This time was one of those stops where
I have to tell the ladies, ok… no crying… but you’ll love this! We walked in to find over 30 babies all laying on their backs on the mats on the floor, and as you walk up its almost overwhelming… to think ok which one do I hold first… and as you pick one up into your arms your heart just melts and you feel their little arms wrap tightly around your neck and know that this is a good thing… the sweetness of that touch, the longing to be held.. just the need for one on one attention.. in their little smiles, makes it worth the entire day. Well pretty quickly you have the ones who are able to crawl headed your way and before you know it 2, 3, or 4 babies all snuggled in your lap.. it’s a little piece of heaven on earth! There’s not much we can do here in the way of teaching Bible lessons to these babies, rather just showing Biblical love through our actions. So that’s just what we do!
After leaving (which is very hard to do!) We headed on into Arusha, let everyone do some last minute shopping and
spend the night in the Arusha resort. We were going to let the new visitors see the ACSOP and drop off Maddie Hochdorf at her house as she had gone to eat with Emily… When the ladies and I got the van stuck in the mud and had to get out in the dark.. in our skirts, kick off the shoes and barefooted try to push it out of the mud… I had Callie Driving, and Emily and Maddie helping me push from behind (which I was proud of those two for hopping right out and getting knee deep in it with me in the first place) but we were unsuccessful in our attempt to do it alone and I had to call Brent to turn around and come back to help us… He, kelly, Brad, & Rick got out to push with us and all together with got it unstuck and up the hill. This all happened before heading on their safari out to see the Amazing African wildlife. Just another day in Africa!
It’s a life time experience that most people don’t want to miss out on if you’re in Africa, to go and see the
animals, since they tend to stay away from the larger cities you have to go find them. We went along with this group, so that Brent could spend another couple of days with his older brother Matt Richardson and our niece Nicole who were here for just a short while… and we wanted to enjoy the time together. So we went out to Tarangire National Park the first day and saw tons of elephants… everywhere we turned there were more elephants and the kids loved it! We had one walk up and sniff the truck to check us out… lots of little baby elephants running around playing in the mud and it was just a wonderful day! That night we drove out to the NgoroNgoro Crater and stayed out at the Wildlife lodge on the rim over looking the crater and woke up from our sleep to hear a cape buffalo eating grass just outside our bedroom window! That next morning we drove down into the crater and enjoy another viewing of the animals… we got closer to a Rhino that we had ever been before, two of them crossed the road right beside us where we were in the
truck… We saw a cheetah in the distance, lions in the distance, and zebra, wildebeast, and hippos all over the place! Got attacked by a few wild birds around lunch time, nothing really major in the way of throwing rocks at lions or anything, but all together another great day! Traveled back into Arusha, to take this bunch to the airport the following day on Thursday and return to Moshi to regroup and wash a few clothes.. and get ready to go at it again.
The next day, Friday, this new group arrived from marble Falls, Texas to hold a week long Children’s Seminar in Boma Ngombe. Well… Saturday morning we head up to Kibosho where we had a great Bible study with a husband and wife and children in their home, while Brent drove into Arusha to pick up a few things and some little friends of Emily’s to come over and spend the night for her Birthday. She turned 11 on the 15th. On the way from stopping by the Brown’s new house and headed out to Kisongo to get the girls, the rains began to pour and Shasta sent Brent on a new short cut… (not
her fault by any means!) but long story short, Brent ended up sliding off the angled road into the ditch, with a 30 foot ravine just underneath the truck… with the wheels hung up on a patch of grass… No one will ever take this route again in the rains… Brent had to call Anthony to come in his truck.. and try to pull it out… with a few more slips and a tightened rope they realized it wasn’t going to be a one truck job, and called Sean to come in his truck to tie and anchor down the other end as well… and they both had to pull together to rescue the truck from the depths below… a little tired and a lot muddy… about 6 hours late Brent returned to moshi to Join up with us at Dinner time… Chalk it up a long bad week.. I don’t know..but Brent accidentally ran over another one of the puppies in the driveway that evening as well. So we are down to 3 puppies now… Poor Emily yesterday as we were driving to the airport to meet up with the Browns and let the Arusha girls go back with
them… accidentally got her camera stepped on in her purse and the screen got cracked….All this…. Keeps coming and coming… and we figure we must be doing something really right for the ol devil to be working this hard on us… but we’re still working with a smile and know it’s got to get better soon!
ON to the good news of why the devil’s working so hard…
Sunday morning we had 92 present for worship in Moshi, and one of our visitors was a man by the name of Godbless, who had been handed a track and talked to up in Marangu Mwika the week before and that just made it all worth while. In town that day I ran into one of the men I had studied with last week up the mountain and he said he was rushing home and would meet us there, because he couldn’t wait for the 2nd meeting of the Lord’s church in his village. His name is MaRiki, one of the older men who is asking the great questions. Then as we left moshi and headed up to Marangu the drive there, just sooths your soul… the peace that passes
all understanding just wiped all the bad away and I knew that it was going to be a glorious day! There were 34 present for the 2nd gathering of the Lord’s church and the Church of Christ is getting grounded in the village of Marangu Mwika in a great and mighty way! Sitting out under the trees, singing songs of praise and hearing the gospel being taught to open ears! Does something amazing for your heart! Then today… Monday morning.. (its evening now) but we started out early and headed into Boma Ngombe to begin working with the children there.
It was wonderful! Sweet little Jackie ( our little one with Downs syndrome) was at the door first thing grabbing everyone of the guests and welcoming them in with a huge hug and smile from ear to ear… They have been excited about this week for months now, looking forward to the guest teachers coming in. We started the day in prayer, worked hard at school work, learned some new English words, studied the Bible and closed the day in prayer and song as well. The teenagers/young adults are a huge hit… and Greg and Kris are doing an
amazing job working with the standard one class! The children are doing great and loving singing the new songs and hearing the Bible stories, that this group has brought over to teach. I floated from class to class to make sure everyone had what they needed and saw the smiles speaking a thousand words in every room! Then we went over to the Joy Foundation orphanage which is also in Boma Ngombe to take the kids some clothes and teach the story of David and Goliath there… the guys acted it all out while Greg taught the lesson and Brent interpreted it into Swahili for the children. They loved it and sang songs over and over again… we only started to pack up and leave when the sprinkled began to fall… and we headed for home just in case the rains wanted to come our way again…
Tonight we all went together to the grocery store the paint store to buy paint and rollers and after working with the kids at the nursery school and orphanage tomorrow we will be painting the classrooms and office at the nursery school. Then we came back to the house where Kris and
I worked together at making dinner for the group… everyone else seemed to crash and take a little nap in the living room… I guess they didn’t realize how exhausting working with little ones all day can be! But we will get up and do it all again tomorrow! And the Lord will continue to bless the efforts being put forth for His sake!
I will try not to go so long between updates again when so much is going on… Because I hate having to leave out all the little wonderful details that would do such a better job at painting the whole amazing picture! Hope you have a blessed week where ever you are!
We will be holding the Children's Seminar again tomorrow and painting the Nursery school classrooms in the afternoon.
May the Lord Bless you and Use you in His time and in His way!
Love in Christ,
Julie Richardson
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