Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

I have seen a lot on Facebook about if you don't like this Christmas son then something is wrong with you.  Well I don't get into all that negative speak but I have to say if you can look at these faces and not think about the song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" then we may be looking at different pictures. It is Christmas time and the last day of school, we gave out presents to the kids thanks to Zion United Methodist in North Carolina.  All the kids got a backpack (most of the Dora the Explorer this year), six exercise books, two pencils (courtesy of MUMC team), sharpener, erasers, ruler, toothpaste, toothbrush (courtesy of MUMC team), a coloring book, puzzle, bracelet, a couple scripture coins, crocheted washcloth, box of crayons, toy car, additional toy based on age.  Those moving up to Standard I got their own copy of the 100 Best Loved Bible Stories book we use for devotion time. I am going to put a bunch of pictures here (but st...

Sometimes my time here is the the absolute best thing I have ever gotten to do in my life.  This week definitely was that way.  I have been mentioning the Christmas shoebox alternative proposed by a church in the USA.  Well this was the week we gave the bags to the kids. The project started as an alternative to the Christmas shoeboxes filled in the USA and then distributed around the world.  Doug (head of B2BU Ministries, Inc) was concerned because the cost of shipping those boxes was rising every year and wanted to research an alternative.  He had me call in to discuss the potential of doing something specific with our school.  From the first phone call I was excited because this is something really fun in my opinion.  So Pastor Stephano and I went into town one day to start researching prices.  After a full day of looking around we had a pretty good plan to buy school bags and fill them up with gifts for the kids for around $10...