BACK TO TZ (Pt. 2)

Hello everyone! So… we had some new prayer cards made, and so this will be the digital version we are sharing with you!

We want to first say THANK YOU for all of your prayers and support as we serve the Lord out here in East Africa, TZ! We are so thankful for all of you, and every little way our great and awesome God uses you to meet our needs and keep us going!

This blog post is titled, “Back to TZ (pt. 2), because today Jennifer is beginning her journey back to TZ from a month in North Carolina to rejoin myself (John), Sam, Katie, and Gracie! You can read about part 1 on last month’s blog when we were in the US back in March for our one month visit. Needless to say, we are very ready to have Mom back home!

This has been quite the journey for us since the Lord led us to adopt little Gracie. We literally had to fight for her through many letters, trips to the orphanage, trips to government offices over a 2 year period. Now that she finally has a home, and a family that loves her, we are still in the midst of a difficult process on her behalf. Although she is officially our child through adoption, has a Tanzania passport, and she is officially a Kinlaw, yet she still does not have US citizenship, nor permission to travel to the US because of the Visa ban placed on the country of Tanzania at the end of 2025. (Hence the two one-month trips we had to make).

Jennifer and Elaina arrived in Raleigh, North Carolina in mid/late April to our familiar welcoming committee; my sister (Elizabeth), Isaac, and the Samuel family! Praise the Lord for them all!

Jennifer had a whirlwind of a trip over the past 4 weeks, visiting her parents over Mother’s Day weekend, getting a few days with two of her sisters, and also speaking at a ladies missionary conference in Connecticut to name a few. She especially enjoyed the conference, the sweet fellowship there, and she said she felt right at home with the saints at Branford Bible chapel. She managed to do all of this, and much more, while keeping up her studies for her masters program in midwifery, which was no small feat!

The ladies there prepared these packets for each of the participants to take home as a reminder to pray for the ministry and building of Camp Nuru! This was such a blessing and encouragement to us to see God touching so many hearts to pray for this camp (which is located right in area densely populated with Muslims)

Isaac has officially graduated high school! We are so proud of him for all of his hard work over these years, and especially down the homestretch as he juggled his schoolwork with all of our traveling. Isaac had planned to enlist in the army or National Guard, but the Lord redirected him to take a scholarship at Emmaus University for a one year Bible degree! We are excited to see what the Lord will do in his life as he continues to seek and follow the Lord Jesus :)

Isaac and Elaina have both enjoyed their time back in the US, and especially back at our home assembly, North Ridge Bible Chapel. While Jennifer is leaving today from Raleigh to begin her journey back to Tanzania, Elaina will stay with Isaac and my sister (Elizabeth), through the summer. I, John, will come back to Raleigh, NC to take Isaac to Emmaus in August. Once Isaac is moved in and all set, Elaina and I will fly back together to Tanzania.

Meanwhile, back here in Tanzania, I have been taking care of these little ones for the last month! I’ve been on sort of a hybrid schedule, but still able to manage the Emmaus ministry with grading courses, contributing at the Kizenga Chapel, and doing some planning for Camp Nuru with Justin Wallace.

With the help of Sam and Katie, we’ve been spending most of our time this past month, feeding, clothing, bathing, and entertaining this little munchkin!

Let’s just say we are really looking forward to having Mom back home!

Grace has started a preschool nearby where she is learning a mixture of Swahili and English and spending the morning with lots of other Tanzanian kids. She just loves going to school!

We also took her out to Kizenga with us for the long, grueling day (for small kids) in the village church.

Gracie did great, although don’t let this picture fool you, as she sat still just long enough for me to take it!

In the picture above, while making her rounds, she came over and sat with Justin for a little while.

Overall, things have gone fairly well, except for Katie and Grace both getting malaria, several of us getting chest colds, and a few minor injuries. I’m very thankful that in a few days I will be able to return all of these kids alive, and in one piece, to their mother 😂. We look forward to seeing her on Thursday, and regrouping as a family for a few few days before we all return to Kigoma together.

In other news, Justin Wallace preached his first sermon in Swahili! He did a great job, and we were also encouraged that he was willing to step out on these challenging waters! Learning a second language is challenging, but preaching in a second language is quite another thing. Way to go, Justin!

Camp Nuru has a Facebook page now and we just added an email address also: Campnurutz@gmail.com

The dry season has officially arrived here in Kigoma, and that means that it will not rain until mid to late October! This period is called the dry season for obvious reasons, but it’s also the building season as this is the time of year to get your building projects done when there is no rain. Please pray for us as we plan various building projects for the camp this dry season.

That’s all for now! Again, we want to thank each of you for your interest, prayers, and support for us as we serve the Lord out here. You’re all such a blessing to us :)

I realize there are so many pictures of Grace in this blog (there are MANY), but she has been our big part of our ministry this past month. 😅

In place of our usual list of various requests:

We are continuing to pray that a door may open for Grace to be given a visitor visa or tourist visa to travel with us as a family to the US for a proper furlough. Both of us getting a one month visit after four years away was just not enough, and we are all very ready for a decent furlough. Grace won’t be eligible for citizenship until late December 2027, and even then there will be paperwork, approvals, which will take several months. Jennifer also has about six months of clinicals she will need to do in a US hospital in the year 2027, and we do not want to be split up for six months! This is a real challenge for us as a family, and a huge matter for prayer.

When we entered in to this path of obedience to the Lord, adopting Grace, we had no idea of the challenges that were ahead, but the Lord knew. We continue to keep our eyes on HIM and trust that HE will open a door for us in HIS time.

Please pray with us over this matter.

~ The Kinlaws