Testimony of a Volunteer

Hey there everyone! Thank you all SO VERY MUCH for supporting me with your prayers and financially on this mission trip to Tanzania! I felt like all of you were with me each step of the way which was really cool! I ended up raising all my support which was a big deal for me as that was part of my confirmation from the Lord that He wanted me to do this. My kids did GREAT with my parents and Brandon (who were awesome to take 2 weeks to care for our kids!)! Anna had been pretty upset the week before I left and I felt like not going there for a moment. I prayed with her the night before we were to leave and she woke the next day completely excited about the trip and was content and happy the whole time I was gone. Once when I called from Tanzania, her first comment was to ask in a very excited voice, 'Mommy! Did you tell anyone Jesus loves them yet???" That brought tears to my eyes and thankfulness to my heart.
The trip...incredible! God was in EVERY detail! It could not have been more perfect, travel was great (long, but great), no illnesses or accidents, wonderful unity on the team (LOVED my team!!), all vehicles worked great, the Maasai were incredibly receptive to the gospel and to us, the missionaries we worked with, Dan and Pam Johnson, were great leaders and were blessed by us being there, and even my contact lenses that ALWAYS give me grief didn't bother me ONCE in dust-storm- laden Tanzania!! God just cracks me up! He's always good, but it's so cool to see Him do the crazy-good things, y'know? We were all blessed. 

At a crater that we stopped at to see, nearby was a group of women and children who would sort of camp out under a tree to catch tourists to sell them their jewelry they make. We shared the Bible storycloth with them and the matriarch was enthralled with the stories. Once when a car came by, instead of them leaving the stories to go sell (which is their livelihood), she said they would stay to listen and that God would bless them. She asked to have Jesus in her life as well as many others in that group. It was a beautiful start to our "storying".

The story cloth story-telling was a great success! We would approach a boma (family dwelling) and introduce ourselves. We'd ask them if they'd like to hear the story of "our God" and they were all about it! They were not only willing, but excited to hear it. The Maasai have a lot of Old Testament aspects of their culture (patriarchal, herdsman, sacrifice goats to God on a mountain, some historians believe they are a lost tribe of Israel) so the stories were very relevant to them. One woman even said when we got to the part about Jesus coming as the Savior of the world, "THIS is the part we've been waiting for! THIS is what we've been missing!" It was so rewarding to actually be sharing the gospel with people who WANTED to hear it!

This is already a long note, and I could go on and on about the children (who I had a blast with), the wild animals (zebra out the whazoo, giraffe, wildebeest, lions ,etc), the landscape (felt like I'd been dropped into the Old Testament!), and the incredibly beautiful and warm Maasai people (I didn't want to leave. Almost called Brandon to pack up the kids and come on out to me! Seriously!). This was an amazing time in my life, a dream come true for me, and I thank you all for being a huge part of that. Continue to pray for me as I'd love to make working with the Maasai a regular thing, maybe once a year or every couple of years. My heart wants that, but I want God's will above all.
Thanks again!! You've been a blessing to me and our family!!
Brenda French :)