It’s been a short nine months with respect to Lillian’s growth and milestone achievements from weight gain and chubby thighs to rolling over and sitting up.  Yet it seems to have taken an eternity to officially be able to say she’s ours.  We no longer have to prove we are fit to be parents, get permission to travel out of state to visit Anna’s family or have multiple monthly visits in our home with caseworkers.  We can now just be a “normal” family.   While the adoption process has been cumbersome at times, it is through these past seven months God has been teaching us a tangible lesson: our children are not our own; they are His. 

Our first test of faith in trusting God with Lillian, and yet we know it is He who is trusting us with her, was choosing to follow the call he had given us back in the Fall of 2013, and still go to Tanzania in June.  God used YOU dear one to help confirm our call through your prayers and financial support.  Back in the Fall of 2013 we set out to raise half our funds for the trip and planned to pay the rest out of pocket.  The day we brought Lillian home EVERY. SINGLE. CENT. had been raised for BOTH trips.  With unexpected adoption fess ahead and the expenses of a new baby overnight, God provided and left us with no financial hesitation for moving forward with our plans.  All we had to do was TRUST Him with our hearts and daughter.  We knew God called us to Africa before Lillian was placed in our lives knowing she was coming; it was no surprise to Him!  She is His and we knew and trusted He would protect her as we headed to do His work in Tanzania. 

Stephen’s Experience:

I did not really know what to expect or how I would be used to minister to the people of Bukoba, Tanzania, but I knew I had been called to go.  Expectations are a funny thing; you control them so you think.  Control is another allusion we cling to.  I thought I was going to travel halfway around the planet to fill prescriptions written by Tanzania doctors for Tanzanians needing them.  Anxiety and worry were not an issue because my Lord and Savior told me to go.  From the first day traveling through Bukoba to the pharmacy, Director of Medical Services for the Kagera District of Tanzania and the two locations we were to hold clinics I saw just what I expected.  Anna had an issue with her passport that limited my time with her in Bukoba to just this first day.  I had looked forward to experiencing this mission with her but that was out of my control.  Before heading to the clinics each morning we met with the translators at a local church for that mornings worship and devotion.  Unadulterated worship and praise of God was the nature of each service.  Language didn’t matter because God is the God of all.  The mobile pharmacy was limited to the formulary available.  Several hundred Tanzanians received medical attention, vision services, physical therapy, prescriptions to help heal their physical bodies and saw the love of Christ portrayed by a group of missionaries from a land far, far away.  Nothing about my experience was how I expected.  Not even our last day in clinic was bound by my expectations.  The whole experience was out of control and unexpected.  My undergraduate degree is in Forestry and Wildlife which led me to my profession as a pharmacist through a convoluted series of events.  I expected to fill some prescriptions and come home; however, God had some other expectations for me.  A saying that I am familiar with and with which you can identify is, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.”  I think that sums up my first mission experience.  I was only a small part of God’s plan to reach the lost.  He told us in the gospels that “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few….”  I still can’t see the forest that is God’s plan of salvation for those He calls His own, but I am blessed beyond any words to have walked among and tended his trees.

Anna’s Experience:

The hardest part the day we left for Africa was actually handing Lillian over to my sister-in-law.  Once we were in the car on our way, God put a layer of protection around my heart almost immediately and allowed me to focus on the task set at hand: to bring His good news to the people of Bukoba.  Or so I thought.  Unfortunately after three days of travel we finally arrived in Bukoba and I realized my passport had been taken at the last airport in Mwanza.  Quickly my mission to Bukoba began to unravel before my eyes.  We called the airport immediately and the passport was nowhere to be found, and so after doing some research the next things needed was a police report in order to get a temporary passport from the American Embassy in Dar Es Salam.  The next morning as Stephen and the others headed out for their first day of clinics and ministry I headed to try and file the needed report.  Once we had this in hand it was determined due to weather I would make the five hour drive to Mwanza that day rather than wait for the 45 minute flight the next morning.  Thankfully I was able to see Stephen for five minutes before leaving Bukoba to touch base.  At this point as I entered the cab Satan began to peck at me saying “you left your four month old for this?”   That evening as I talked through my thoughts and feelings with Charlotte who traveled with me to Mwanza, I was determined Satan would not win and this trip was still going to bring God glory.  To make a long story short I was able to share my testimony with a few people while in Dar but most importantly God brought Richard and Karen Lee along with their children Christian and Rebecca into my life.

  They are Southern Baptist Missionaries serving in Dar and have been on the field in Tanzania for more than ten years.  We share and eerily similar infertility and adoption story and were able to have a sweet time of fellowship.  Most importantly I was able to learn about Karen’s ministry It Takes A CAKE (Cakes Advancing Kingdom Expansion).  When they served in the bush of Tanzania she developed a very simple cake recipe made with ingredients found almost anywhere and can be baked on a coal oven. 

While giving women a vocational skill, Karen is also taking the opportunity to share Christ with unbelievers and encourage believers to share Christ with their neighbors through the hospitality of sharing a cake.  The ministry is in the growing stages and while in Dar Karen and I were able to spend part of our time together discussing how the ministry can be used, grown and expand to be as effective in Kingdom Expansion as possible.  Since being home I have been able to help get a logo created for the ministry and brainstorm ways it can be used to continue to reach others not just in third world countries but in the states when the Lee’s are on furlough. 

At the beginning of August we got an email from e3 sharing the same trip we took to Bukoba would be going to Shinyanga, Tanzania on June 12-22, 2015 (this is where Anna lived the summer of 2006).  Immediately we knew Stephen would be going.  I (Anna) was hesitant to leave Lillian and had been trying to figure out if I could take a one and a half year old with me.  I also wanted so badly for our family to attend Pine Cove Family Camp next summer.    But for several weeks I could not get the trip off my mind and then God finally hit me square in the face:  It Just Takes a CAKE.  He took me away from my four month old and allowed me to lose my passport in order to meet Karen Lee so I could become a part of her ministry to help bring it’s concept to e3 Partners.  My mom had already volunteered to keep Lillian if we both went back to Africa and Lillian would not remember Pine Cove just yet anyway.  What was I thinking?  Karen and I are already emailing and planning and she is even hopeful to be able and come and help for part of the time we are there.  God is SO good and again showing us we do not always see immediately what He is doing but He is ALWAYS at work!

We covet your prayers as we now travel this exciting, new and sometimes scary journey of parenthood.  Pray we will follow Christ in all the decisions we make and we will always point Lillian towards the cross.  Would you also pray as we prepare for another journey to Tanzania.  The expenses will be a little more than last year totaling $7700 for the both of us.  We would love for you to partner with us financially by giving here at pure charity. We also plan to do several fundraisers over the next nine months and would love for you to keep an eye out for those. 

Ephesians 1:5 says, “God decided in advance t o adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.  This is what He wanted to do and it gave Him great pleasure.”  How amazing that God provided Christ as the way to salvation.  It is our hope and prayer that all who we meet on this trip will hear the good news and receive it so they too may be adopted into the family of God!