Blog Post Six
Here He Goes Goes Goes Goes On An Adventure!
If you don't have small kids currently, you might not recognize that song but it's from Cat in the Hat - look it up, it's cute :)
But really, Dan is headed to Tanzania on an adventure! He flies out in 6 days - thankful his dad is going with him for some camaraderie! We would have liked to go last year but covid.
The purpose of this trip is to visit Hilbert, Neema, and the kids - check in and continue to build relationships. Whatsapp has been wonderful for keeping in close contact, but you can only connect so much digitally. Dan will also be meeting with some of the leaders of Sinai Ministries, under whom our organization is registered.
We would love your prayer for the following:
- The traveling details would be smooth with covid tests, passport control, etc
- Dan has a schedule of things to do/people to see and we'd hope he'd be able to stick to that the best we can
- The Lord would be in each conversation and fill Hilbert, Neema, and the children's hearts with peace and reassurance that they are doing a great job and He is so proud of them
- For me and the kids! Remember when Dan climbed Kili?! This is like that but longer. Also in America and the kids are older, so I have hope it will go well :)
A little back story: when we lived in Tacoma, Dan played on the worship team at church with a dear friend who has been one of our biggest encouragers and has supported us through prayer, finances, and friendship for many years. Recently (within the last five years) she studied Social Enterprise, which is an emerging field of International Development focused on bottom-up, community-driven solutions to systemic issues of injustice and poverty. She specialized in international/global policy around orphaned and vulnerable children in order to understand how policy makers view children and subsequently make decisions on their behalf.
This friend, Julie, now serves with Global Child Advocates (GCA) and in her words: GCA is an international non-profit with a unique history and footprint. We used to run four children’s homes and were doing so in the best, most holistic way we knew we could. We came to a point where we became aware that we could actually serve these kids better by either reuniting them with their bio families or placing them in foster/adoptive families. By going through this transition ourselves, we are positioned to be able to help others as they seek to similarly shift how they serve kids. We are a team of about 40, mostly based in Thailand and Myanmar, all fiercely dedicated to serving and protecting vulnerable children and families. Ultimately, we are seeking to resolve the root causes behind orphanhood and human trafficking by strengthening the layers of protection around families and kids. https://globalchildadvocates.org/
All the while of her studying, graduating, finding this job we have been praying and wondering if God would ever lead us and allow us to work together for children. He may be leading us to do just that and we are filled with joy!
With love and gratitude,
Dan and Lindy
PS Another thing we are filled with joy about - stay tuned to see our updated Logo and Website! Coming at ya soon!
