December 18, 2016
Now it is our THIRD Christmas in Tanzania. Quite a
difference from the COLD of North Dakota. Here we pray for a GREEN Christmas,
not a WHITE Christmas. It is fun to look at the snow atop Mount Kilimanjaro and
remember the white Christmases of North Dakota and shed clothes instead of put
them on.
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| What you do when you have time to be creative! |
We finish our academic year here before our Christmas break.
Many of our children head out to visit with relatives in their home villages.
This Christmas break we sent 43 children out. That leaves only 17 here at the
Village so what do these children do for two weeks while their friends are
gone? Many things!! In fact, some of our children ask to stay here to join in
the fun. Of course, we assure that they too will have fun in their villages.
We had two major events for the school children before they
headed on their lakizo (vacation). We had a musical and then awards ceremony.
The academics here are challenging and the children rose to the challenge. We
had several of our resident (orphans) students make all A’s for the entire
year!! What a blessing for children who were so poor that they certainly did
not have good nutrition before they arrived at Rafiki. The obstacles they have
overcome are truly a miracle.
What do we “missionaries” do for the Christmas season? It IS
a bit difficult to be away from family at this time of the year, however; this
is what God has called us to do. There is very little retail stimulation here
and for that we are grateful. We do spend some time trying to make the season a
bit brighter for our staff and the children left here at the village. We do
more games WITH the children and more movies.. even old movies are fun. We also
have some special meals which we can do with less children. We go to church and
celebrate Jesus.
And yes, we do make Christmas cookies with the children. The
children only get “sweets” once a month when they get a cupcake at the monthly
birthday party. So, sweets are indeed a treat! With our friends from North
Dakota, the Wetches, the whole family of five, we can do some really fun things
and special cooking. We also plan to have hamburgers one evening for dinner.
This will be a FIRST for most of the children. With chips (French fries) and
cole slaw I think I will need to partake also J.
On Christmas eve, we have a special service of “lessons and
carols” in the Banda (ouroutdoor covered play area)
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| Our 60 resident children in their Christmas clothes |
. We use glow sticks instead of candles and the children
sing carols. On Christmas day, the missionaries here… this year Peggy, Kent and
Elisabeth, and of course the Wetches, we fix all 3 meals for the children so
the staff can have a day with family. The menu this year is oatmeal muffins for
breakfast and rice pilau for lunch (we just have to warm that up J) and ginger chicken
for dinner with rice and vegetables. The children help with the dishes and we
just have some fun together. Kent and Peggy will go to church in town with the
Wetches and Elisabeth will attend across the street with the children.
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| 34 girls |
On the 26th six of our children have “Confirmation”
at the Lutheran church. This is a huge event and we will most likely have about
50 people for lunch after the confirmation. This will be a very long and busy
day but lots of fun. Then hopefully on the 27th we will get a time
to catch our breath as the Renner’s arrive from Malawi in the evening!
Construction continues on our RICE building for teachers’
training. The roof sheets began to go on this week and what a joy to anticipate
the completion in the not too distant future. The complex is huge and will
nicely house our training program. Please pray with us for quick accreditation
of the program.
We do wish you all the blessed Christmas as you celebrate
the birth of the true Savior of the world, Jesus.
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| Baglafecht Weaver |
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| 26 boys |
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| our small remaining group ready for Church |
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| New Christmas shirts |
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