Our May newsletter is out. With our complete lack of blog posts, this is a summary of what we've been up to and the stories behind the pictures we've been posting on our VanWoerdens in Tanzania facebook page (which so far is the best way to follow what we're up to, sorry about the blog, we'll get there one day).

Christmas greetings from Tanzania! We wish you and yours God's blessings during this Christmas season and in the New Year! [click to view/print full size]

For us it certainly does not 'feel' like Christmas. It feels a lot more like spring here in Tanzania. The rains have just started, farmers are busy preparing and planting their fields, and the landscape is turning green after months of no rain. There is no commercial Christmas atmosphere here in Tanzania, no decorations, no mad rush for Christmas shopping. But regardless of whether it feels like Christmas or Spring, we will take the opportunity to celebrate the amazing gift of God's grace through the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This quite and simple Christmas holiday reminds us of that day when Jesus was born in a stable without much fanfare except the shepherds and wise men paying their respects to this unlikely Saviour.

Our latest newsletter was also sent out today. You can read it here for the latest updates and prayer requests.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and God's blessing on the New Year ahead.

Our latest newsletter is out with an update on what we've been up to and the upcoming election in Tanzania. 

Please pray for Tanzania on election day this Sunday October 25 and the week following when the election results will be released as there is a real chance that the opposition may win this election in the first time in Tanzania's history.

We are looking forward to the rains when everything turns green and comes to life, when farmers will be working their fields and planting their crops.

We have received a very warm welcome to Tanzania and we are extremely grateful for the time that we've been given to focus on our family settling in to our new life in Tanzania. An unexpected camping trip in a most spectacular spot we would never have found on our own was a real treat. International school and language school starts next week...

our August newsletter

check out the entire newsletter

We'd love to hear from you!

Our contact info:

Andre and Alexandra VanWoerden
Emmanuel International Tanzania
PO Box 962 Iringa
Tanzania 

Andre mobile: +255 763 119 580
Alex mobile:   +255 753 067 789
skype: alexandre.vw
(but facebook messenger works better and uses less bandwidth) 

facebook.com/vanwoerden.tz 

Okay, so our blog got stuck on our departure for Tanzania... Sorry about that! It was a very long journey but we safely arrived in Iringa 3 days after we left and we've had time to settle into our new home over the past 2 weeks now.

We have received a very warm welcome here in Tanzania, thanks to our awesome EI Tanzania team! We're making new friends, learning how things work here, finding our way around town, getting used to driving on the opposite side of the road again, and struggling to get by with a few words of Swahili. But we're grateful to have this time to settle in and focus on our family, helping our girls feel at home before they start school at the international school in town.

We have been posting photos on our VanWoerdens in Tanzania facebook page. We're trying to do a photo a day to capture our life here in Iringa (again, sorry if you've been checking our blog for updates -- we will be posting here more regularly once we figure out our internet - and life ;)

We're on our way to Tanzania! After a stressful week of packing and goodbyes our journey to Tanzania is really happening! We are currently hanging out in Toronto, meeting with our mission's team from head office, sleeping in, and hanging out at the pool hotel before we continue on our way to Dar es Salaam via Amsterdam...

• 
  

f

• Tuesday morning leave from Vancouver
• Tuesday evening, dinner with EIC team in Toronto
• Wednesday morning, sleep in and swim
• Wednesday afternoon, fly out from Toronto
• Thursday morning, coffee with Andre's grandma at the airport in Amsterdam
• Thursday morning, fly out from Amsterdam
• Thursday night, arrive in Dar es Salaam
• Thursday night, spend the night in guest house
• Friday, 10-hour drive to our new home in Iringa

Thank you to our amazing family and support team for making this mission possible!!