Well, I have not been keeping up with this blog like I had hoped or planned. :) It makes me laugh now when I was so ambitious and said I wanted to try to blog every day for our first year here, and now I am feel accomplished if it is once a month!! Here are a couple of updates on what is going on in our lives over here in TZ.

The older three kids are on summer break for the next few weeks. They will be attending Hope International School again starting in the fall. Brian and I prayed a lot about doing home school next year, or sending them back to Hope, and feel so much peace about them going back to Hope. It was a step of faith for us, seeing as we have not raised any of the funds needed for them for school next year, but we are trusting God to provide all of our needs. The kids are so thrilled to be going back to Hope, and can't wait to see all of their friends and teachers again. Brian will be serving as the campus pastor again next year, and will also be serving on the school board. We are looking forward to an amazing year!

Having the kids home for summer break has been a big change of schedule for us. It is not like America here, where you have multiple options of things to do with your children. We have one playground here, and that is about it. I have never been more thankful for a creative husband, who is very gifted at thinking up new and creative games and such to keep the kids entertained. It is actually not even warm enough to go swimming here right now! We are so surprised at how cold it gets here during our "winter". When it is in the low 70's here, it is freezing for us! It is funny to us how acclimated we have become already! :)

One of our main ministries here is working with New Life Foundation. We go out there usually five days a week. On Tuesday and Thursdays Brian will work with the kids teaching them dramas that they will be performing on the streets, in the juvenile prison, at local churches, and things like that. On Wednesday Brian teaches on the Holy Spirit to grades 5th, 6th, and 7th. On Fridays we are out there bright and early at 7:30 so that Brian can lead chapel for all the students there, which is somewhere around 450 kids. On Saturdays we love to just go and play with them and work on building our relationships with the kids. They are some of the sweetest kids I have ever met in my life. They love our kids and spoil them. It was amazing to me when we were there one day last week, and I felt the Lord bring to my mind when I had {multiple times since being here} cried out to Him that I just wanted my kids to be loved on like they were at home. Looking around I realized that these kids are doing that to my kids. I know my kids feel so loved by them, and it just overwhelmed me in that moment, these kids that we are ministering to, are ministering to my heart each time we are with them.

This last Sunday, church was led by the youth. The kids did a great job presenting a drama, and sang some song with motions as well. The seventh graders performed the drama they had been working on so hard with Brian, and did a wonderful job! We were so proud of them!!

 

We are absolutely LOVING being in our new house! It is amazing to me to watch it become not just a house, but really our home. It is such a safe haven here. People ask us all the time how we are doing and how we are adjusting. I cannot believe we have been here five months now! Time has really flown by! The kids for the most part are really enjoying it here. On occasion they will really miss family at home, or get upset not understanding things, like why they can't just go to the store to get a baby doll they are really wanting. They are learning amazing life lessons though, and Brian and I honestly could not be any more proud of them. I {Mandee} am adjusting much better as well. I still miss home like crazy, and still struggle a lot with dying to my flesh here daily. I am relying on God to show me what it really looks like to "consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds" I am learning so much during this season of my life. It is honestly a pretty painful time of learning, but I love that as Christians we truly have hope through all things!! I have joy in knowing that I am being made stronger daily.

 

We cherish all of your kind emails, words of encouragement, and prayers for our family! If you would be interested in joining our monthly support team, please send me an email at mandeeloudermilk@yahoo.com

We are so thankful for all of our supporters, we literally could not be here without you. We are humbled month after month getting our reports, and seeing people sowing financially into our family and the work we are doing here. We love you all!!!