Reaching Out To Tanzania

We are off on a three week trip to Kenya and northern Tanzania. One of the stops on the trip will be the Loliondo area where Karen and I spent much of our time focusing on during our first year of minsitry. We are excited to meet with old friends and see what God is doing amongst the Maasai and Sonjo people. Please pray that God will give us safety as we travel. Pray that God will allow us to be an encouragement to those we come in contact with.

Every June our kids have a mid term break from school and that means it is adventure time! We love to travel as a family out of the city and into rural Africa, visiting and encouraging pastors and their families and experiencing village life.  The trips are always memory makers and are usually full of unexpected events.

At the crack of dawn we left Dar in a two car convoy, in the second car was the Kuykendall family (fellow team members with two kids).  Our first stop was for breakfast in Chalinze – hot, fresh chapattis (a thick, fried tortilla), chicken soup, chai and passion juice.

Along the way we drove through the Mikumi gamepark (where we saw giraffe and other animals) before we turned south and drove along the base of the Udzungwa mountains.  The scenery was beautiful; green mountains, streams flowing under numerous bridges, banana trees lining the road and the vast Kilombero plain on our left.  On the way we picked up the district missions director from the village of Kidatu.

About 6 pm we finally pulled into the small town of Mahenge.  Our last hour of driving took us up into a mountainous area and the evening was cool and foggy - very different from life on the coast.  The local TAG pastor had arranged for us to stay at the Tip Top Lodge, they even had hot water in buckets for our baths!  Each room came with a roll of toilet paper, half a bar of soap and a clean pair of used flipflops to use in the bathroom!   The kids were very excited to find the hotel had satellite TV with two channels on it. One of the channels was showing Sponge Bob – quite a contrast being in the middle of Africa watching Sponge Bob.

It was a long 12 hours of driving and we still weren’t done with the day - hospitality is an important part of Tanzanian culture and our pastor wanted to bless us with supper. So after bucket baths we drove over to the pastor’s house. While we waited for the food to be put on the table our 4 MKs taught the pastor’s kids how to play Pick up Sticks and a card game called War.  Supper was very good – beef stew, rice, spinach and bananas. We fell into bed about 9 pm pretty much worn out.

The next morning was Sunday.  After a quick breakfast, we drove an hour down a bumpy road to church. The countryside was filled with people walking along the road. Many of their faces lit up with delight as they saw our kids in the car waving to them. It was exciting to visit the church as it was one of our 200 strategic church plants. As we drove into the small village, we saw people carrying chairs on their heads. They were going to the church - sitting on benches wasn’t good enough for their guests (us) so they brought chairs from their homes.
The first hour of church was filled with singing and dancing, even Laurie Kuykendall and the kids joined in.  I passed on the dancing, as I have no rhythm! Roger Kuykendall preached his first sermon in Swahili. It was great to be there.

After church the pastor asked us to plant trees to commemorate our visit!  Even the kids each got to plant a tiny tree!  We plan to return in several years and check on our trees!  Then we had a light lunch (Lunch #1) consisting of chicken, chapattis, chai, sodas and roasted rice.  They gave us a basket of fresh chicken eggs to take with us on our return journey! We then drove back to Mahenge where we had a second lunch (Lunch #2)!  So we stuffed ourselves on more chicken and rice, beans and bananas!  Our kids drew a large crowd, and they began playing soccer together in a nearby field. It was quite a site – 4 white kids running around a field with 100 little Africans.

Monday was our day of rest and relaxation – we hiked up to the Sanje Falls in the Udzungwa Mountains!  We picked up our guide, Bariki, who lead us carrying his cell phone and a pen!!  We were carrying our camelbacks, snacks, swimsuits, binoculars (Karen) and camera (Scott).  The hike, the indigenous rainforest and the views were incredible. Scott and the girls went swimming in icy cold river at the base of a 540 foot waterfall!  Great memories!!

We returned to our guesthouse and sat on the balcony drinking Karen’s chai.   It had been a great weekend!  We love living in Tanzania and working with the church here is a privilege!

Thanks for traveling with us!

Every road traveled holds the potential for unexpected adventure and offers a new perspective on life. It is one of the reasons I love to travel to new places. My recent trip to Mafia was no exception. Mafia is an island off the coast of Tanzania that is 97% Islamic. For the last 15 years we have had one struggling church on the island. Things are now beginning to change. In the last two years we have been able to start three new churches. Last week I had the privilege of visiting our new church plants.

We left our hotel on the shores of the Indian Ocean early in the morning with our guide, Pastor Mosha.  Our first stop was the village of Utende. In order to most effectively reach this community, we have started a nursery school. Currently we have 40 children enrolled in the school, most of them from a Muslim background. Our pastor, Kisinga, faces strong resistance. Once he walked out of the church to the sound of a large crowd and a demagogue using a microphone. The speaker was attempting to inspire the people to beat Pastor Kisinga and to drive him out of town. Fortunately God supernaturally protected Kisinga and he continues to live Christ in the community.

From Utende we climbed into an old pick-up and began the painful journey up the road to Malimbani. The pastor of our church in Malimbani is in Bible school but there was a small crowd of believers lined up waiting to greet us. Several of them had been Christ followers since our church first opened its doors in 1994. After a brief but joyous time of greeting we took off again bouncing down the road.

We hadn’t driven far when we came across an old man digging in his garden. When he saw pastor Mosha he broke into a huge toothless smile and shook each of our hands with a exuberant “Bwana Asifiwe”, which means “Praise the Lord”. Not wanting us to pass by without leaving us with a blessing he ran into his garden and dug up some fresh cassava to give us.

As we continued to bounce along the road we drove up to 4 Muslim ladies dressed from head to toe in black hijabs. They waved us down and asked for a lift. There is no regular public transportation in Mafia and our pastor often slows down to pick up people who are in need. Who knows when giving someone a ride will become an opportunity to share Christ.

So we turned off towards our last stop, Kungwi. We hadn’t driven far down the road when an older lady came running towards the car. As we slowed down she explained that they had a sick lady. It turns out the sick lady was pregnant and was looking for a ride to the clinic. She was already in labor and couldn’t walk to the car so one of our passengers, a deacon in our church jumped out and swooped her into his arms and carried her to the car. We quickly vacated the back seat so she could ride in comfort with her lady friends and we took off again down the road. I was now riding, standing up in the back of the pick-up.  When we got to the clinic the doors were locked and no one was around. As the people began to look for the doctor I looked through the back window and watched as the lady tensed up. A local midwife quickly ran to the right side of the car and opened the door just in time to catch the baby as she burst into the world. The whole event took place before my very eyes. It was unbelievable to watch new life come into the world in the back seat of the pick up not even 2 feet away from me. In a way it is representative of what we are trying to do in Mafia: to bring new life in an area of darkness.

Once the excitement died down we drove onto our church and met with Pastor Chamsa. He and his family have gone through tremendous persecution and yet remain resolute in their calling. Not only does persecution come through the community but sometimes it seems as nature itself is against them. Once of Chamsa’s kids was bitten by a snake and miraculously saved from death. Chamsa was bit by an extremely poisonous spider and lost his mind for a couple of days. Yet through it all he smiles and assures me that indeed Christ has called him to Mafia. All of these are merely signs that God is about to do something.

It was an incredible trip and my life will never be the same. From watching a Muslim lady give birth in the back of a pick up to meeting heroes of the faith who bring Life at great personal cost to those in darkness. I know that the road to Utende has helped me see the world in a whole new perspective. Thanks for praying and partnering with us.

This Thursday I have a guest coming out from the States and we are doing a long trip to visit some of our tarafa areas. We are starting out on Friday going to the island of Mafia. The island has a high concentration of Muslims (over 90%) and we have three Tanzanian missionaries working on the island. From there we head off to Kagera in the north west part of the country. We will be visiting several tarafa including some near the border with Rwanda where there are still thousands of refugees. From there we fly to Arusha and then back home.

Please pray that we will have safety as we travel.

Please pray that we will be an encouragement to our pastors.

Please pray for Karen and the girls while I am gone.