Happy New Year

OK, so lets back up a few weeks! This was Nan's "birthday" party with some of our Peace Corp Volunteers and Swedish students and Dutch doctors. On the left of Nan is Jonas Burstrom, one of the Swedish students, Nan, Harry England, Jayce Kaiser, and Maureen Pacheco all PCV. We enjoyed having them on Friday night for pizza. Many young people find their way to our door and it is such a blessings to us and we pray we are a blessing to them.

Tanzanian Christmas Tree

This is called a Flamboyant Tree or Flame Tree. There are many in Tanzania and they only begin to bloom at the very end of the dry season and then into the short rainy season. As you can see this tree is in full "bloom" they are just beautiful this time of year and always bloom in late November and early December. We have had good rains this past week, 3/4 of an inch on December 1st, 2 1/2 inches on the 8th and then on the 9th and 10th a little over 1 inch. We are very thankful for these rains and how God continues to bless us here. We are excited because we are expecting many visitors during the Christmas holidays, our PCV, two new Swedish students and a couple of missionary families.

Happy Thanksgiving

OK, so we are a little late! We have so much to be thankful for. Our health, safety in travel here in Tanzania, our many friends...

Here you can see the group who celebrated Thanksgiving with us, we had seven (7) Peace Corp Volunteers, two (2) Dutch doctors, and one (1) young lady from the UK. We had a great time with plenty of food, recreation and fellowship. We each shared what we were thankful for and Terry read Psalm 100. We never thought we would be so blessed with Wazungu (white people) when we came to Kondoa, but many continue to come through our doors, and really from all over the world.

We have two new Swedish students who are living in the Kondoa region for the next six (6) months and we are expecting two (2) new Dutch doctors in January. Please pray for us as we have opportunities to have these young adults in our home and the opportunities to share with them.

On Safari

In the Swahili dictionary the word safari means "a trip or a journey". In Webster's College Dictionary safari means "an expedition for hunting or exploration, especially in East Africa". We recently went on "safari" with our volunteers before they left Tanzania. We enjoyed the beautiful sights that God has created and the many animals that still live in the wild. We saw probably close to 200 elephants, zebra, wildebeest, cape buffalo, giraffe, lions, cheetah, hippos and all kinds of birds, it was a great three days.

Farmer's Expo

Here is Terry showing the biogas generator to the Regional Commissioner from the Singida (Sin-ghee-da) region. He came on Sunday, but came back today, Wednesday, to see it better and also to see the storage of grain and water purification. We are now half way through the week, the crowds have been fewer this year, but we expect many more on the week-end. Pr-y for continued opportunities to share J with those who come by. That they might have a better way of life here on earth, but also how to have eternal life. We have been able to give out many tracts already. Pr-y for stamina for the final four days. It is very dry and windy and we come home each evening feeling not only talked out but beat up by the wind.

Volunteers

This is Jim & Mattie Crouch from Springhill Baptist Church near Monroe Oklahoma. They will be coming the end of July to help us during the Farmer's Expo (August 1-8) in Dodoma and then to Kondoa to do different projects here. Please remember them as they prepare to leave Oklahoma on the 21st of July, with arrival in TZ on the 22nd. This should be a great time of sharing both in Kondoa and Dodoma. We will again be showing the biogas generator, grain storage and water purification at the Farmer's expo. Last year we were so overwhelmed with the numbers of people that came by that we just didn't have time to "visit" like we wanted to. Thanks so much for remembering us and the preparation for this important time.

Care for the Environment/Tunza Mazingira

Here Terry is demonstrating the biogas generator at a day for demonstrations in town. He was ask to go and thought it would be with a small group, but it turned out to be a very large gathering of people, who were showing different way to care for the environment, (mostly government agencies). It was a great opportunity and he handed out over 150 leaflets about the biogas. People were very interested in what he is doing. This was just another way to make ourselves know here in Kondoa town and to have more open doors for teaching.