Tuesday, June 20

Jambo from Roika tented camp!  All is well here and we are all enjoying our safari watching for animals.  Our lodge this year is an unfenced tented camp so there are animals that can roam right through including elephant, pumba, did dik,well.....actually anything.  They are very strict about walking from your tent to the dining hall or main areas with a guard after dark.  In fact, you are given a whistle with your room key just to call a guard to walk with you.  It is very relaxing listening to the sounds of the Bush as you fall to sleep.  Last night we were all able to share our thoughts about what the Lord has done through this trip.  We were also blessed to hear from our cousin, Missionary Steve, the infamous "ring story."  It has kind of become a tradition for him to share with the group each year and is an excellent story about the faithfulness of God.  If you haven't heard it or are wondering what it is, then you have to sign up to come with us next year, Lord willing.

Tonight will be our last night together as a group and we will be taking communion to dedicate this trip to God.  Tomorrow we will head back to Arusha to pick up the luggage we left at our hotel and will head to the airport.  Our first flight leaves at 8 p.m.  This will probably be the last post for this trip.

It has been such a privilege to work with this group of TCA students and sponsors.  They have been so hard-working and loving with all of the kids at the disabled school.  Many new friendships were made and others strengthened.   It has been an honor to be able to serve the people here on behalf of so many of you, our supporters, and on behalf of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Our prayer continues to be that they did not see us as a group of Americans, but that they truly saw the love of the Lord being poured out on them.

Thank you so much for your prayers.  Please continue to pray for a safe journey home.

Sincerely,

Jenni Millet for the group

Sunday, June 18

Today was a fun day of worship at 3 different churches.  Several of our students gave their testimonies during the service and did a great job despite the large crowds and nerves.  We were all invited to have "chai" tea after our services with the pastors and church leaders.  We had a relaxing afternoon visiting a glass factory and village where they employ disabled people to make different handicrafts.  Tonight the hotel staff made an outdoor banquet for us complete with Tanzanian cake.  For those of you who don't know what that is, that is a roasted goat who is still looking at you.  This is a big honor here and was very good.

We leave tomorrow for Tarangire National Park where we will have some time to relax and debrief from all we have experienced in our short time here.  Thank you for your continued prayers for our group.

Sincerely,

Jenni Millet

Saturday, June 18

Today there were a few tears as it was our last real day to work at Huruma Orphanage and visit the Leganga School for Disabled.  At Huruma, we got to see the fence going up along the line of concrete posts they have installed.  The fundi was almost done tiling the kitchen and had installed the new sink and covers for the oven.  Their playground equipment had been repaired and we were able to help put new mattresses on most of the bunkbeds.  We painted a good majority of one building and contracted with the fundis to finish it.  Our amazing artists, Alexandra, Callie, Brielle, Zack, Ruby, and Caroline did a great job once again painting some Bible verses and designs on the buildings.  They made it look very cheerful and inspiring in the short amount of time they had today.  We were also able to purchase some new sheets, mosquito nets, and cups as well as give them a lot of the children's clothing and items that so many of you collected and donated.  We were happy to see a lot of this work accomplished while we were still here.  All of these things needed to take place before they can reopen and were just too costly for them to handle on their own.  So thank you thank you to all of you who donated to make this possible.   They are thrilled that they will be able to get the children back soon once all the work is finished and were so very grateful to God for sending the help.  They send their sincere greetings and thanks to our team of supporters back home.  They will be sending a monthly report to us to keep us apprised of how they are doing and will send pictures once the fence and gate are complete.

We had a very late lunch and then headed over for one last visit to the Leganga School for Disabled.  We had taken pictures of all the children and their parents and teachers earlier this week and printed them out and delivered them today.  They were so very happy to have to these.  Through your generosity, we were also to help a group of about 9 widows who were taking care of these disabled children with a monetary gift.  They were so very grateful and also send their thanks.  The fundis had almost completed tiling their kitchen and installed the new stoves and had done excellent work.  They had also already covered the latrine we had dug with a concrete lid and had almost finished building the two new bathrooms we funded, one with handicap-accessible features.   They had also nearly finished tiling the two existing bathrooms.  It really was amazing how much got done in one short week.  It was only because of God and His calling for so many of you to help us raise funds for all these things.

Tomorrow we are heading off to three different churches and an afternoon of rest.  Many of our students will be sharing their testimonies tomorrow at church so please pray for them as well as our men who will be preaching.  Monday morning we will leave for safari.  Thank you again for all of  the prayers and support.  It is always amazing to see first hand all that God can do to bless people.

Sincerely,

Jenni Millet

Friday, June 16

We started off today working at Huruma Orphanage.  We finished up painting the outside of the building we are working on and have started prepping the inside for paint.  The fence at Huruma is making great progress and we hold out hope that God will pave a path to continued improvement so that the children who once found shelter there will once again have a safe place to call home.  The highlight of our day however, was at our last day of VBS where we found the opportunity to share the gospel both through the planned skits and through the spontaneous call from God to share the word of Christ with several individual children.  This was not only impactful for the kids, but for the students as well.  While sharing with these precious children, it was evident that their passion for Jesus was true and showed no sign of hesitation.  It is amazing and wonderful how God works through us in such sudden and unexpected ways.
Much love,
Caroline Millet and Brooke Henegar

Thursday, June 15

Today has been another long but productive day.  We started out by going with our good frien Felix Mwetha to the weekly morning prayer meeting of some of the regional church leaders.  Jon and Candace Redden shared very powerful testimonies and we were thankful to spend some time with their group for morning devotional service.  We then headed over to the Huruma Orphanage.  We were thrilled to see several fundis there already putting in the posts for the fencing and doing some of the hard work we cannot do by ourselves.  Our group focused on painting the outside of the building and finished a good portion of it today.

While they were working, Debbie Wolcott (Jon's cousin who has been a missionary in Africa for 30+ years) and I had the privilege of visiting with the Director (Godriver) and hearing her story of how she came to open the Orphanage.  Debbie went through the list of reasons as to why they had been shut down, item by item, and helped her develop a business plan for the future.  She felt called by God through a dream in 1999 to come to God and to bring a purple cloth to Him to carry the children He wanted her to care for.  She did not understand the dream because her children were already grown and she had no idea what children He meant.  She had the same dream 7 nights in a row.  By the way, this is not uncommon in Africa for God to speak to individuals through dreams.  After having this same dream over and over, she spoke with her pastor about it and explained she had no idea what children she was supposed to be caring for.  Within that week church members brought 2 different orphan girls that they knew of to her and she took them into her home.  In the next few months, as people hea d she was taking in children with nowhere else to go, she found herself with 16 children.  In 2002, an American donor gave her $4500 to buy a piece of property so she could build a proper home.  When she found a piece of government land to buy, the government decided they wanted to keep that particular small plot of land because of location and gave her a property much larger ( around 7 acres) for the price of the smaller plot.

Another group from the Netherlands learned about her through a church and paid to build the first building on her property.  An entirely different group from the Netherlands came a few years later to build the second building.

As I mentioned yesterday, most of the items she needs in order to reopen are very simple to fix.  She needs a posted code of Conduct for her staff, signs designating which bathrooms are for children and which are for staff, another sink in the bathrooms, and fencing.  One building needs to be painted inside and out.  She needs to hire official workers to be a chef and caregiver. ( Her current main caregiver is not properly trained and needs to attend a year long course.)  Many of these things we can help with while our group is here. Some of the things she had already accomplished without our help.

Please continue to pray for this Orphanage and the children who call it home who want to return.  We felt called to help here, but wanted to be sure we made wise decisions and had enough accountability before we invested our time and resources here.  We do still feel this is what the Lord is calling us to, so we are happy to help and excited to see what the future holds.

After spending the morning at the Orphanage, we had a late lunch and headed to the church for our third day of VBS. We estimated over 150 in attendance, since we had that many copies of our craft and ran out.  Candace Redden has done a fabulous job getting the kids engaged in learning about God and our students have been fabulous with the skits, songs, games and crafts. Tomorrow will be our last day of VBS so pray that the Lord will use this ministry to teach these kids about His love and salvation.

I've been trying to post pictures but am running behind because it takes so long for them to load. Thank you so much for partnering with us in this ministry!

Sincerely,

Jenni Millet

Wednesday June 14

Today our group started out with a devotion from Cousin Steve about having freedom in Christ.  We went back to the Leganga School for Disabled and Callie and Alexandra did a beautiful mural on the kitchen we have redone with Psalms 139:14 on it.  The disabled children were on break today so we gathered some of the regular ed. students and Candace Redden and some of the kids went through one of the VBS daily programs with all the music and stories and they loved it.  They did that for two different groups while others finished putting a footer around the latrine hole.  Brielle and Zach went through all of the photos we took of the disabled kids and their parents yesterday and picked out the best ones of each child to print.  Those of you who ever take or edit photos know what a tedious job that is so we were grateful for them.  We are going to print them all out while we are here and give them to them before we leave.  Our host Felix and I (Jenni) got to plant 2 banana plants they had bought in honor of our group as a small memorial.  We were told to come back next year and eat some bananas.

Jon, George, and Steve and Debbie Wolcott spent the morning back at the Huruma Orphanage assessing what needs they had that we could meet.  We are happy to report that we have the resources we need to fix their problems and get them reopened for their kids.  Tomorrow we are taking the entire group over there to start working.  We will be putting a perimeter fence around about 3 acres of their property, along with a gate for security.  We will be painting the building inside and out.  And their other need was to put sinks in their bathroom areas.  All of the things they were closed down for were fairly easily fixable, they just didn't have the resources to do them all.  Here in Tanzania, the orphanages are apparently not given money from the government for the care of the kids, so they rely on private donations and funds.  It seems as though God knew what they would need so we are stepping out in faith that this is what the Lord wants us to do.  We will not be able to finish all the work ourselves while we are here, but have hired fundis (workmen) to finish it out.  We are hoping to see the gate and fence installed before we leave, as well as the sinks, and will paint as much as we are able.  We would, of course, love to see the children come back while we are here, but will probably not be able to see that due to our limited time here.  We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with them in the future and seeing improvements each time that we come.

Tomorrow afternoon, we will be doing Day 3 of our VBS program at the church.  Thank you for your prayers.  Brielle was able to lead a young lady to Christ today while at VBS and that makes the entire trip worthwhile.  Please continue to pray that the Lord will use our team while we are here.

Thank you so much!

Sincerely,

Jenni Millet

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Hello from Africa!  We headed back to the disabled children’s school this morning.  It rained last night and was sprinkling when we arrived so the children were inside.  We brought color pages and crayons so they would have something to do while stuck inside.  You would have thought we brought them a treasure, that’s how happy they were.  Half of us played with the children and half of us finished adding the second coat of paint to the kitchen.  Tomorrow, we will add a Bible verse to it.  At the end of our time at the disabled school, we had a ceremony and dedicated 6 wheelchairs to the children that were unable to walk. One parent always carried her child strapped to her.  You could see the joy now that she could push her child instead of having to carry him everywhere.  We also gave them some of the donations of school supplies, wipes, soap, medicines and other great things.  They were so appreciative of the gifts.  Some of the parents made beautiful gifts for Jon and Jenni.  It was very touching ceremony.  God is so good.

After we left the disabled children’s school, we headed over to perform our very 1^st day of Vacation Bible School.  We had about 50 children show up.  We are hoping and praying that they bring some friends tomorrow.  The theme was that each of them was made by God and that each of them was built for a purpose.  Our Bible Verse was: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalms 139:14  We sang great songs, made crafts, and played fun games.  It went very smoothly and the children enjoyed it.  The TCA kids did an amazing job! 

Please pray for Jon, Steve, Felix, and George as they have another meeting scheduled with the government and the head of the orphanage.  Please pray specifically for wisdom and discernment as they are making some difficult decisions regarding this orphanage.  Please also pray that our VBS continues to go well and that others will come to know Christ through us.  Thank you so much for your prayers and support!  Candace Redden

Monday June 12

Today was a long and productive work day.  We spent the entire day at the Leganga Disabled School. We have now finished digging a 10 foot hole for a new latrine and have almost finished painting the entire kitchen area.  We were able to give walkers to 2 of the boys who desperately needed them.  The parents were thrilled at the simple gesture.  It was amazing to see how these parents brought their disabled children to school however they could.  Some came on motorcycle taxis, strapped to their parents with blankets, some being literally carried by parents on foot.  One boy's dad had turned a stool upside down and mounted it on the back of his bicycle using it as a type of child seat.  It's amazing to see how joyful they are despite such difficulties.   We will be going back tomorrow morning for the last day finishing up all our work projects and having a last meeting with the parents.   Hopefully, we will get to see the new stoves installed before we leave.  We have also been told they want Jon and I to plant a banana tree they bought in memory of our teams help as a token of thanks.

Tomorrow afternoon we will be doing our first day of VBS and are hoping for a good turnout.  Please pray that it will run smoothly and that the kids will learn the good news of Jesus clearly.

We are still waiting on direction regarding the Huruma Orphanage where we have planned to work.  As you know, we found out as soon as we got here that it had been shut down due to many needs the owner was unable to meet.  Jon and Steve went with our guides George and Felix to talk to some city officials today and had a great meeting.  We found out a lot of helpful information through this meeting.  The owner of the Orphanage was there for the meeting and has already accomplished much of the necessary changes they were written up and closed down for.  We are praying for discernment and clarity as to what our involvement should be.  We had already committed to helping them before the shut down, but we also want to be wise and discerning with the resources we have been entrusted with.

We found out that one of the things they were written up for was that the kids, as of May 2016, had not had a regular checkup from a doctor.  However, as some of you know, last year in June we took the entire group to the local hospital for full checkups.  The officials were unaware of this and were happy to check that off the list.  They informed us that they want the Orphanage to reopen since there are too few centers already and their main goal is to fix the problems and reopen it.  We were also told that if they meet all of the remaining requirements, they could file to have the kids brought back in as little as 2 or 3 days.  We are just beginning our relationship with the director of the Orphanage so we are guarded in trusting that she will meet all of the requirements, but we are also very aware that we may be the very help she has needed.  So please pray for guidance for us.  We must weigh the risks of trusting this Director with resources with our desired outcome of helping these children and ultimately showing them the love of Christ.  We will make every effort to be discerning and put safeguards and accountability in place.  We will keep you updated with decisions.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers!

Sincerely,

Jenni Millet for the group

Sunday, June 11

This may be short because the wifi has been off and on (mostly off) almost all day here.  Today we had an early morning 7 a.m. worship service at the Arusha Town Church that is hosting us.   We came back for breakfast and then headed out to see a local Snake Farm (clearly this was not my idea) and had an afternoon to relax.  Several of our group rode a camel or held a snake.  I chose to sit this one out for obvious reasons.  (Snakes). We then went to the local market where some of the church members have small shops and were able to find some souvenirs.  This evening we have been practicing for our VBS program, which will start Tuesday afternoon at the church.  Please pray that we would have many in attendance that need to hear the gospel.  The pastor made a point to tell the congregation this morning that they thought our program was excellent for the kids last year and that the teaching was great and  to make sure they invited any kids who don't normally come, so we are anticipating good attendance.

Tomorrow morning we will head back to Leganga School for Disabled to paint the kitchen area and continue digging a giant hole for a latrine, although yesterday they discovered a large rock at the bottom of the hole so we may have to use some physics and engineering skills on this one.  Jon and a few others will be meeting with some officials in town regarding the orphanage to determine how to proceed.  Please pray for clarity and wisdom to know where to focus our resources.  Everyone is doing well and enjoying working with the wonderful people here.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers

Jenni Millet for the group

Saturday, June 10

We started out today with a devotional from Ty Westfall reminding us to be bold in sharing the Gospel and a testimony from one of the hotel staff.  We headed back to the Leganga School for Disabled where we are digging a giant hole for a new latrine, which is currently deeper than Noah with his cowboy hat.  We are also cleaning and painting their cooking area, replacing their old, disintegrating stoves with new ones.  We spent a good portion of today scraping chipped paint and washing soot off of the walls so that we can paint them on Monday.  Of course, the highlight is always playing with the kids and getting to know them.  We learned that we are not that great at double Dutch jump rope but that Noah is a big hit playing the saxophone and Candace Redden is a child whisperer and full of great game ideas and activities!

We are still trying to get more information about the Huruma Orphanage, where we were hoping to work most of our time here.  Monday, a few of us will go talk with some officials to find out what exactly happened that they were shut down.  Tomorrow we will be going to the early early service at church (7 a.m.) and then taking a small break in the afternoon to visit the market.  The hotel where we are staying is very nice, quiet, clean, safe, and has good food so we are all doing well.  Thank you for your continued prayers!  This group of students is amazing!  They are hard working, inclusive, fun, and very kind.  Thank you for sharing them with us!

Sincerely, 

Jenni Millet 

Friday, June 9

This morning we visited the Leganga Disabled School right outside the city. We were immediately welcomed with big hugs and handshakes from every kid along with an enthusiastic "Jambo!" which means hello in Swahili. We played around with the kids for awhile, swinging them, dancing with them, or just holding them. Later we put on a puppet show depicting a crippled lamb at the birth of Jesus. 

In the afternoon we returned to the Huruma Children's Trust. Unbeknownst to us, the orphanage was shut down in March by the government. We found out on our arrival what happened. Right now, we are trying to figure out where the kids are, and what to do with the money and time we had designated for that orphanage. 

For the people who went on the trip last year, going back to Huruma was a emotional event. We had expected a grand reunion with kids that we had built a close relationship the year before, and finding the area practically abandoned was heartbreaking. We are happy to know that the children are probably in a better place, but we miss them dearly. 

Please pray for wisdom and discernment on how to use our new resources and for us to spread the love of Christ to Leganga as we return tomorrow. God bless! 

Love, Alexandra Mills for the group

Thursday June 8, 2017

We finally arrived safely with all our luggage after 2 days of travel and were once again welcomed by the church choir at the airport.  Now we are getting settled in at our hotel.  We are all trying to force ourselves to stay awake until tonight so we will be on the right schedule.  We have visited the School for Disabled where we will be working and will be heading to the market soon.  I will try to write more later.  Thanks for the prayers for safe travels.

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