Dear Cherished Interested,

We’ve been here for 4 nights and are now nearing the end of day 4. Power is intermittent and internet even more so. That is forcing us to rest into our altitude and time zone 10 hours ahead of WA.. sort of..

Here is a lodge in the foothills of Mount Meru on the hill above Tumaini University Makumira. It is not sustainable to stay here over the long run however I have finally learned with this, our most recent travel, that we needed family at each stop to recoup and recover.

So.. we were sitting at table downstairs our first morning eating breakfast. In tumbled a mom(US) and two girls(TZ).. they were having a girls day out.. I was wrong though.. as dad arrived(Kenya/UK) with three boys(TZ). They are a wonderful glorious mix of a family with all the children calm and comfortable but eagerly engaged with each other and then..

Hilda and I got swept into yet another family.

Day two we visited the Orphanage and education and child care facility about 5k up the hill above us that this family runs as part of an expanding non-profit. This was an almost too difficult climb for me at our elevation and second morning in Tanzania but thankfully they found and collected us by car for the final push up.

Their timing was perfect as I was nearing the end of my strength. They were all able to see a North American man with white hair willing to push himself that hard and that far, on his artificial knee and scarred lungs, and be vulnerable for the sake of coming to see them.

Good things are happening with local folks being in on all of it. More children have been safely gotten home to family than are currently in care. I was asked to preach to the littles by the head matron on sight and suspect I will at some point. God Help ME!

My phone was demanded from me on our second morning by our latest daughter, a Tanzanian woman the age of our sons, who has done amazingly in just a few short days and few dollars. My cellphone is now Tanzanian.

I have OK service up here at the lodge even without internet. I have excellent service down on the main road. If I have internet I have the ability to communicate with all kinds of folks with whom I do not share a common language and even some stateside.

This Tanzanian phone will force me to learn Swahili as that is the language the phone communicates to me in.

Day three and day four have been spent with Hilda evaluating Science labs at a private secondary school closed by the government after gun fire between the owner and the Principal. Closed about 5 years ago now several local nonprofits are working with local folks and authorities to see how they can re-establish the facilities to benefit the community.

The Primary School is in process of renovation for reopening. We fell into a need our first wakeful moments of daylight here and have made the time to help folks understand what is on site and what may be problematic with the facility and how to get around that.

It is a beautiful facility that nature and five years has hammered badly but the labs are large and well enough built to be worth time, effort, and investment. It has been a joy to be swept up, included, and be of benefit to folks, serving folks, who need Hilda, her experience, and even some of mine.

I may have my first meeting at Tumaini University Makumira, a few kilometers down the hill on Friday…

The powerful cords of your faith-filled praying have drug us into the company of those who need what we have to share and kept us busy from our first moments and that is what they are for. Your hard work on our behalf fills our hearts.

Thank you, Thank You, Thank You.. Prayers, your prayer, makes all the difference..

Vern W

May Life be as Music to your Heart - May Music be as Heart to your Life 

- May Heart be as Life to your Music -