In transit and Thankful

Today, I leave for the first leg of my journey to Tanzania. I am excited to be on my way back to Tanzania and to Hananasif Orphanage. I have been thinking about this day for the past two years. I am excited to see first hand all the progress that has been made at Hananasif since I was last there in 2008 and to see how the children and students have grown and progressed in their academics and fluency in English. I am also looking forward to laying the groundwork for some of the projects I will be working on throughout my year in Tanzania.

I will arrive in Tanzania on Saturday at night. I am traveling with another girl from my church in Gainesville, Christine, who will be staying at Hananasif until mid-August. We will be joined by another 10 people from our church on June 14. As a team we will be painting a dormitory, planting an acre of mango trees and looking to see how our church can best support Hananasif in the future. It will be fun for all of these friends of mine to meet people and children I have been telling them about over the past year or so.

I am excited for all that God is going to do in, through and around me in the next 3 and a half weeks. I am also incredibly thankful for all the love and support I have received as I have been planning and preparing for this journey.

This time of preparation and planning has been very encouraging and I have clearly seen God’s great goodness and faithfulness. I have continually seen how He provides for His children and how He has prepared the way for me. God has provided all of the financial support that I need and all of the money our team needs for this trip in June. There have been difficulties and lots of details to get in order, but through all the times of frustration and all difficulties, I have continually seen God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Thank you for you love, support and encouragement. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful community of people behind me. Please keep me in your prayers as I travel for the next 2 days. Over the next few weeks please pray that I would trust God along every step of this journey. Pray that I would be able to deepen relationships with the children and staff and that our team would be able to really love and encourage them.

I will try to post at least one update during this month in Tanzania.

Thank you again!

Ubarikiwe sana! Be blessed!