My Kids

I have a wonderful calling. Praise God. I’ll try not to brag, but I love my life, I love my “job,” I love my family. I have wonderful kids, you should meet them. I don’t love not seeing so many loved ones in the states, I don’t love many aspects of living in Tanzania and I don’t love not having In’n’Out, Wahoo’s, Chipotle, microwaveable food, or good old mom’s cooking, but I moved here for a reason and I love that.

Its easy to get bogged down in things and lose focus on the ‘why’ of all those menial things. I do them because I love my kids. I get headaches doing the books, I get frustrated with the ultra bureaucratic government and I miss so much of my Californian culture and all the bells and whistles it has, but you know what? Its all worth it. It is absolutely worth it.

Yesterday the Adventures in Missions short termers came to TOA one last time. Before they left, they pulled Lydia, Jodie and me aside just to say thank you, give us a gift and pray for us. One of them, Halley, talked about how out of all the places she’s been, Tanzania has been her favorite and that was TOA was a big reason for that. Lydia told them thank you for coming and seeing how amazing our kids are. She said we already know they’re amazing, so thanks for coming and seeing too. I was like, yeah, our kids are amazing. And yeah, they’re our kids, which means they’re my kids.

The Lord did something special for me and put a passion in me for these kids. And I thank Him so much for that. Its been almost two years since I first came to Tanzania and to Treasures of Africa. Do you know how many foreigners, especially Americans, have come through TOA during that time for short term trips, visits and the like? A lot. Like a lot a lot. Do you know how many went on to move here and/or work here? One.*1 Thank you, Jesus for Your favor. The kids have forgotten the majority of those people, but they know, like really know, their Baba Brandon, or Baba Bran, or Baba Bra, or Baba Ben, or my personal favorite, compliments of Maria, Baba Ben-ooo. (As common as Brandon is in the states, it kills the Tanzanian tongue.)

I first came on a team in 2008, not unlike these AIM short termers that just left. Everyone on that team fell in love to one degree or another with one child or another or several. I fell in love with Awadhi first and went on to fall in love with the others as well. Those friends are great and I still stay in contact with some of them, but they haven’t been back, for one reason or another. (Although I am looking forward to a couple of them coming back to Moshi soon). And that's totally fine, the Lord's been doing other things with them, but I couldn’t not come back. I had to be with my kids. I told Ryan before I left that I would be back the next year for a longer time. By God’s grace, that happened. And even more by God’s grace, He led His servant Rita to offer me a position at TOA and in the words of John Madden… BOOM! I see my kids everyday.

For several years now, I’ve worked with kids. When I was previously working for the city more than anywhere else, I called the kids at Victoria Elementary, where I worked Monday through Friday, “my kids.” But I also had “my kids” at Rock Harbor, “my kids” at Pacific Pointe, eventually “my kids” at The Garden and Precious Lambs and so on. Those kids were so great and I miss many of them. This is a whole new level though. I see these kids everyday. They call me “father.” I can pick them up and hug, kiss and cuddle and no parent is going to come in and file a lawsuit. Why? Because they are MY kids.

I love hearing Lydia, Eli and Jodie tell stories about the kids and praise God, I’ve begun to build up my own repertoire. Over dinner on Monday, I was able to tell a couple stories of the kids in the preschool and it was really nice to just have our guests attention as they were so into hearing about my kids. What dad doesn’t love to tell stories about his kids? In my natural mind, I think about how I just got here, I didn’t get to know the kids well from short term trips and I’ve missed most of their lives. I couldn’t possibly know them and what kind of dad is only “getting to know” his kids? But the truth is that my dad has known me for nearly 24 years and does he know me completely? No. He knows me, but he’s still getting to know me. That’s where I am with my 26 kids, I know them and I’m getting to know them. You want to know how well I know them?

I know that Lucy has the cutest dimples in the world and in spite of all the words she doesn’t know in English, she does know “dimples.” I know that Innocent will cross you up if you’re playing soccer against him. I know Moses will change the world. I know that Margaret has a unique and beautiful voice and I appreciate her leading in worship. I know that Tina has no shame in farting on me as she sits on my lap. I know that Jerry is cute, funny, sweet and when all else fails he picks up the “creepy kid” slack. I know that Maria emphasizes things in the cutest way. I know that Benny is a young man of integrity and is picking up guitar very fast. I know that Witness is shy at first, but as you get to know her she has an amazingly sweet spirit. I know that Maggie is in second grade and already needs deodorant. I know Sam is capable of messing up and doing something stupid, but has even more capacity to follow the Lord be used by Him. I know that Justina is the funniest kid that I’ve ever met and you will not cease laughing once she becomes comfortable with you. I know that when Zoe is scared or hurt, she’ll come and crawl up in my arms. I know that Antoni mumbles. I know that Doreen has a very caring and affectionate personality. I know that Diamond has the most delightful laugh and does it far more than the average child. And so on.

Yeah, and then there’s Awadhi. We’ll just say that I know him.

It may look different traditionally, but I’m a father. By God’s grace, I have kids. I keep pictures of them on my iPod (they don‘t all fit in my wallet). I talk about them when they’re not around. I write about them in blogs to people who’ve never met them. I pray for them. I hug them. I joke with them. I laugh with them. I died to a great life in California to be with them because I love them. Praise our Father for His kindness towards me. Thank you Lord.


*1 Warren and Christina were here for a year, but I don’t know if they came on a short term trip previously. Since Autumn, the Lord has kept them in the states for family reasons. Yay I get to be business manager!

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The Rundown: I always think of things to update people on throughout the week and when I sit down to write, I just say “the week is good, that’s all.” Alright, Brandon, think, give the people some meat. Hmm… oh yeah! I killed a lion on Wednesday! … no, I didn’t. I live in Africa and I’ve never killed a lion, I’m so not legit. Well, it is rain season. Yesterday as I was driving home, my piki got stuck in the mud. Luckily, I was close to my house and my guard Dao saw me so he came and helped me get it out. Last Friday, Lydia and Jodie got me tortillas and salsa from Arusha and I’ve been enjoying quesadillas the last week. Its so great! I put salami in them and I don’t know if that’s normal, but it’s the closest to Mexican food I get around here. The AIM team did leave and my first time being the long term missionary around the short term missionaries was a pleasant experience. I’ll miss them, especially because they were my age and that was really my first time hanging out with a group of people close to my age since I left Long Beach. They’re off to Asia. The next two weeks, all the kids will be out of school so I’ll be ultra busy doing extra English, computer, art and music on top of all the normal preschool, English and bookkeeping stuff. Pray for me and more importantly pray that we make the most of our precious time with the kids. I went to Pastor Mbasha’s church today and it was so good to be back there with baba and his congregation. I never cease to be amazed at the beauty of their worship there. When I was sharing greetings and testimony, I was able to speak in Swahili as well and they were pretty excited to hear a mzungu speaking their language. Also today, the new family moved into the new house, I had met the man, Herbert, last Sunday but now they’re all moving in. They seem very nice and I look forward to getting to know them. Alright, that’s it.