25 May 2014
Dear friends and prayer partners
“Praise the Lord. I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures for ever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.” Psalm 111:1-4
Blessings in Jesus!
Thank you for your prayers for Henry, Darlene and I for our recent journey to Tanzania! Your prayers were very evident and are sincerely appreciated!
An adventure, an experience, challenging, preparation and blessings are all words that come to mind as I reflect on my recent two weeks in Tanzania.
By the grace of God Sekela and I are still here, we were nearly killed in a car accident with a truck heading directly for Sekela and I, Sekela was sitting in the front passenger’s seat and I was sitting on the left hand side in the rear of the car. Sekela is the current director of the orphan centre. As the truck was drawing closer rapidly I wondered whether it was time for the Lord to take us home, I had an amazing peace that passes all understanding and I knew then that many of you were praying for me. I thank God for your prayers and for His grace.
There were many blessings and I am so pleased that I went. The greatest blessing was and is definitely the children! To meet the children, spend time with them and start developing a relationship with them was extremely special. Each day as we visited the children, I found my love for them deepens. The children are so precious! Thank you for praying for them.
I had the privilege of celebrating my birthday with the children at a party to celebrate all their birthdays. The children had so much fun decorating Sekela’s lounge, playing ball, drawing, performing Cook Island dancing, watching Darlene and Henry with puppets and receiving gifts of soap, Vaseline and used clothing from my relatives and several friends. Thank you to family and friends who gave their own children or grandchildren’s clothing, it was lovely to see the children wear the clothes you gave.
Thank you to Gay for all the soft toys you donated, the children absolutely loved them!
A big thank you to Rebekah, Jesaiah,Taliah, Zacky, Dariah, Isaac, Abby, Samuel and Sophie from my church, who were very creative and wrote and decorated Scripture cards for my children in Tanzania. Also thank you too for Julie, Heather, Rachel, Becky and David for organising the children to create the Scripture cards.
What a blessing to be able to read the Scripture verse to each child in English, they then read the verse in Swahili and then each child was prayed for by either Darlene, Henry or I. My prayer continues be that His Word will resonate in their hearts and will become a reality in their lives.
On my last day, it was a blessing to discover that the children have already memorised the Scripture verse or verses they were given and to see a few of the children either reciting or reading their Scripture verses they were given specifically.
While we were there running water has now been installed, electricity is in the process of being installed, concrete has been laid and table and chairs are being built. It is a blessing to see a physical transformation take place, not only in practical ways but also in the countenance of the children. I thank God for His Holy Spirit and the impact He is having on the children. I thank God for all the sponsors and for you who are praying for the children, your prayers are making a difference.
Another blessing is the area where Henry and Darlene believe the orphanage will be built, it is absolutely beautiful! Please pray that God will open the doors and give favour so that the villagers will grant the land to us, once our NGO is registered.
The land is on the other side of the hill to the left of the 1st
The 3rd photo represents a harvest field, please pray for Daniel who came to faith after Darlene shared with him.
Regarding our application for our NGO, please pray for favour and that the letter required from the district officer in Dar es Salaam, will be granted as this is needed to accompany our application for registration of our NGO.
For this prayer letter I do not want to focus on some of the challenges I faced but I will write details in my next prayer letter. Even though I encountered challenges, I believe our recent adventure to Tanzania was fruitful in many ways and good preparation for me as I return to Tanzania long term. I thank God that He clearly showed me the reason why He has called me to Tanzania and it is for these precious children:
I am extremely grateful for your prayer and financial support and your partnership, which assists me in serving God in Tanzania.
With sincerest thanks
Yours in Jesus
Maara
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27