Happy New Year

Heri ya Krismasi (Happy New Year)
The year 2010 was a very busy year for us and we are so thankful for the strength and wisdom God gave us so that we could do His work for the Kingdom of God here in Tanzania.  I will give a quick summary of our Ministry activities for 2010:
Ministry trips (two or more days) - 19
Guests (at least one night's stay-groups count as one) - 15
Days with guests in our home (overnight) - 150
Days away from home for ministry (TIM) - 121
Tanzania Field Missions Meetings - 3
Tanzania Assemblies of God meetings - 6
National TAG conferences attended - 3
Planned meetings with local pastors/leaders - 9
*Numerous unscheduled and "drop-in" visits)
Seminars Taught: Joyce -1    Tim-5
Preaching services: Joyce-3    Tim-8
Albino Ministry-Visits to Schools: 19
Joyce: Mwanza Bible College Teaching- 3 terms (total of 54 days)
Five Week Evangelism outreach with outdoor meetings in five different locations.
As you can see it was a full year; we had successes for which we thank God and we had some failures and disappointments which we will learn from and keep working to move forward.  We thank each of you for your prayers and financial support; we appreciate your partnership.

Christmas 2011

Mwanza Bible College Faculty

The Christmas Season is drawing to an end and we have had wonderful opportunities to celebrate the birth of Jesus our Savior. 
We hosted a potluck fellowship with the Mwanza missionary community where we shared food, Christmas memories and customs from our families and countries, we sang Christmas songs, read the Christmas story and prayed together.
We had a Christmas party for the 32 Albino children at Jelly's School; we told them the Christmas story, sang songs, enjoyed Chistmas cookies and soda and each one received a Christmas package containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, candy, a pencil, a bar of soap and a small toy (rubber ball, matchbox car or jewelry). It was the first Christmas gift they had ever received and they were so excited they jumped for joy and clapped their hands.  How many American children would have been excited over those gifts?
We also had a dinner in our home for the faculty and their spouses from the Mwanza Bible College; these people have become dear friends through the years as we have worked together. 
We also had Christmas Sunday dinner with our very good friends, Seni and his wife and some of their children.  Seni and his family have been our closest friends here in Mwanza for many years and we enjoyed being part of their Christmas Day dinner.
We also had a traditional Christmas Dinner on Tuesday night, the 27th, with some of our close missionary friends here in Mwanza.
Lastly, we enjoyed a beautiful service at our church here in Mwanza; they even sang "O Come All Ye Faithful" in English and Swahili as well as "Silent Night" and "We wish you a Merry Christmas".  It was a great service. 

Christmas Party at Jelly's

Now it's time to take down the Christmas Tree and put away the decorations for another year. 

Thanksgiving Day

We were blessed this Thanksgiving to have a variety of guests join us for a very traditional American meal.  Missionaries Bob & Murriell McCulley from the new nation of South Sudan (Murriell is Tim's sister), Charles & Tahnya Porter and their 3 children-A/G missionaries from Dar Es Salaam Tanzania, Naomi Glock- AIC missionary who was born in Tanzania to missionary parents 72 years ago, Bill & Tammy Brouwer- Baptist missionaries and good friends, and Lisa Newland- young single Baptist missionary who rents our guest house and lets us be "pretend parents" from time to time.
What a wonderful day we had together; consuming lots of food and playing games and fellowshipping together for most of the day.
We all took the time to acknowledge God's blessings on our lives and express something that we were especially thankful for this year.

Dodoma Bible College Graduation



Three of MBC faculty received their Teacher Certification

This past weekend we attended the Dodoma Bible College Graduation with missionaries Bob & Murriell McCulley; Murriell is Tim's sister and she was the guest of honor and speaker for the graduation.  We drove for nine hours on Thursday to reach Dodoma from Mwanza and got there just in time to make it to the Banquet that evening.
Graduation was on Friday and graduations are lengthy affairs in Tanzania and this one was no different; we were on the platform under a large tent in the hot sun from 9:30am until 4:00pm.  There were 4 groups graduating for a total of 104 students; the one year English class, the Diploma level class, the B.A. class and the first graduation of Bible College teachers in the Teacher Certification program had 19 graduates.
We had four teachers from our Mwanza Bible College who received their Teacher Certificates; we are proud of our Bible College Staff.
By the time we had "lunch" at 4:30 we were finally able to head back to the hotel about 5:30.
We traveled the nine hours back to Mwanza on Saturday; it was a very full three days but it was rewarding to see the number of graduates and to visit with some of our national pastors that we don't have a chance to see very often.

Ukerewe Island

At the end of October we spent five days on Ukerewe Island, the largest of a chain of 20 islands about 45 miles from Mwanza in Lake Victoria.  We took a 3 hour ferry ride across to Ukerewe and our missionary colleague, Melodie Joice, accompanied us.
We had a full schedule of ministry; Melodie and I conducted a Children's Workers Training seminar on Friday and Saturday and Tim taught a Missions seminar to the local TAG pastors on Saturday.  We had about 20 in attendance at the Children's Workers seminar representing about 14 churches; there are 27 churches on Ukerewe and 5 churches on the next largest island, Ukara. Some of the churches are branch churches connected to other churches on Ukerewe.
On Sunday, we all preached in different churches and God moved by his Spirit; several were delivered from demon possession. There is a strong presence of witchcraft on the island and many demon possessed people.   
Ten years ago there were only 5 churches on Ukerewe and today there are 27 with 5 branch churches on Ukara.  There is still much work to do; most of the other islands, though small, are inhabited mostly with small fishing villages.  Ukerewe is 205 sq. miles and since people walk everywhere we need to establish more churches.
The pastors need encouragement and training and are so very appreciative of any visitors that come to the island to help them in their efforts to spread the Gospel.

Tuesday is Jelly Day

Every Tuesday I visit a school called "Jelly's" to minister to and love on 32 Albino children that attend there and board there year round.  Sarah, our daughter, started visiting there 3 days a week this summer to do group therapy with the children.
Now that she has returned home, I go every Tuesday and tell them a Bible story, play, do crafts/activities, pray with them and be a caring person in their lives. 
This week we talked about the creation story and I emphasized that God saw everything he had made and proclaimed it good; when he created man he proclaimed it to be "very good".  I encouraged the children to remember that God made them as they are and that he proclaims over them that they are "very good".
They drew self portraits on papers with the verse from Genesis 1:31, "God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good". 
It was a great day with hugs for everyone before we left. 

When the sun is your Enemy

Saturday we visited the Buhangija school for the visually impaired which is home to about 150 Albino Children (PWA-People with Albinism).
For the very first time, we were granted permission to have a church service for them; we told a story, taught a memory verse, sang songs, played a game and introduced puppets who sang for the children.
It was a wonderful opportunity to share God's love with these precious forgotten children; however, the day was marred by the physical condition of the younger children.
Many of the younger children (age 6 and under) were badly burned from over exposure to the sun.  They had deep burns on their faces, heads, arms and hands and some on their feet.  Some of the burns and sores were badly infected and the skin had drawn up on their hands and arms so that some of them were unable to straighten their hands out completely. 
The normally playful group of younger children sat listlessly on a blanket during most of our visit.  It was one of the worst things I have ever seen; my heart has been burdened for them since then.
We have visited one of our local churches and asked if they would send a group of medical personnel from their church to the school and treat their burns and infection. 
We hope and pray that the medical team can go soon to visit the school.

Women's Scholarships

Mery, Agnes and Melania - Scholarship recipients

We want to thank the West Texas District Women's Ministries Dept. for providing scholarships for 3 of our ladies this year at the Mwanza Bible College.  Without their assistance, these women would not have been able to attend. 
These 3 women, Mery, Agnes and Melania,  are amazed that women in America would be willing to pay tuition fees for them when they have never met; but that's what the love of God does.  It makes people have generous hearts and a love for people they don't know and will probably never meet this side of heaven. 

Moving Rock

We are almost finished with a project that has taken over ten years to finish; within the next few days the fence around the Mwanza Bible College will be finished!  It will be a time for celebration!
There have been boundary disputes for years and through the years we have lost 1/3 of the original plot to squatters.
However, after weeks and months of going to various government offices and paying various fees, the boundary for the Mwanza Bible College has been officially documented, all fees and compensations paid and the boundary clearly marked.
The first job to building the fence was to dig a hole big enough to "cure"(soaking in water for several days) all of the cement posts that had to be made for the fence.  In many places this task would have been finished in a day.  At the Bible College it was a matter of a few weeks.  Mwanza is built on boulders and rocks that often are as big as a house.  Since we don't have access to equipment such as bull dozers and other equipment to break up large boulders, it is done the way that it's been done for generations here.
You build a fire on top of the boulder, let it burn and when the rock cools it will have cracks in it.  Then, with simple hand tools they begin the process of breaking the boulders into pieces that can be dug out of the ground and carried away.  It is not a job for the weak or faint hearted; for Tanzanian laborers it is work they are accustomed to doing.
These workers are partly students from the Bible College and from the local church.  The hole will be used for an outdoor baptismal tank for the Bible College Church now that it has served it's purpose for the fence building.

School of the Holy Spirit

At the end of August we traveled to Dodoma to attend the first national School of the Holy Spirit with speakers from America and Malawi; there were over 600 sectional and district leaders in attendance.
The week long conference focused on the fact that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is given to give us power to fulfill the Mission of God. 
The days were packed with teaching and meetings with a service every evening.  We, as the missionary body, were blessed to be a part of this conference.  We saw hundreds filled and refilled over the course of the week. 
We saw leaders coming forward to repent of sins and to receive fresh anointing on their lives and ministries. 
We believe that we will see positive results from these meetings in the weeks and months ahead.  God moved mightily among our leadership by His Holy Spirit.

Women's Ministry

The Women's Ministry Department (WWK) of the TAG have a manual for the individual groups in each church to follow; it basically instructs women how to be a blessing to their church, their pastor, their leadership, their families and their community.
The church at Kisesa was closed for awhile and has been reopened for about a year.  They have started up the WWK group in the church and are attempting to fulfull their goals to be a blessing. 
As part of their efforts, they contacted us and asked if they could visit us in our home and be a blessing to us. 
They arrived on Saturday about 11:00 and stayed for a couple of hours. We sang together, prayed together and spent time getting acquainted.  At the request of the pastor I spent a few minutes encouraging the women and commending them for their desire to be a blessing and for their valuable ministry within the church body.
Women have a very difficult life here and rarely receive any recognition or thanks for what they do.  I always to encourage them and show them my appreciation whenever I have the opportunity.
They brought Tim and I gifts; we each received a piece of material to have a garment made (very common gift here), two watermelons and a bag of oranges.
I had prepared some refreshments for them which they enjoyed; some of the food they were familiar with but I also introduced them to sweet & sour meatballs and banana bread. 
It was a nice visit and the first time for most of them to be in a "white person's" home. 

Babati Church Planting School

Tim has spent a total of about two weeks working on the Church Planting School in the Manyara region in the village of Babati. 
This school will train pastors specifically for the purpose of starting a church in an area where we don't yet have an established church; they will attend for four months before being sent out to plant a church.
Tim and his team put up the metal frame and the roof which is the most expensive and difficult part of the project and the district finishes the project by putting up the brick walls. 
It is one of the ways we partner with the Tanzania Assemblies of God on various projects.  The TAG is growing and maturing rapidly and we continue to adjust our relationship with them as they take the lead more and more in evangelizing their nation and training leaders and pastors.  We praise God for the way that the national church of Tanzania continues to mature and grow into a strong indigenous national church. 

Albino Outreach Ministry Video

Tim and I have been developing an outreach ministry to the Albino people of Tanzania; we have put together a short DVD (3 1/2 minutes) to help in our efforts to educate people about Albinism in Tanzania.  Our prayer is that God will speak to your heart about reaching out to these precious people.

Faith and Sarah

We are enjoying having our daughter, Sarah, with us; she is doing group therapy with a group of 32 Albino children at a nearby school.  The first few days the children were withdrawn, didn't make eye contact and barely spoke.
After only 3 weeks they are talking, sharing some of their feelings, laughing and interacting with Sarah. She is concentrating on self esteem issues, dealing with emotions and learning to talk about feelings rather than keeping them bottled up inside.  Even though she will only be with these children for two months, we believe she will make a difference in their lives and help them learn to cope with some of the many issues in their lives.
Faith is working at a nearby orphanage with several children who need physical therapy and who have learning disabilities.  The small boy she works with that has Cerebral Palsy, his name is Sita, has already showed improvement in the mobility of his arms and legs.  Faith is excited because he has finally received a special wheelchair that will be much more comfortable for him than the toddler stroller he has been using.
It is a joy to have these two young ladies with us and we will miss them when they leave later this summer; Faith leaves in about 10 days and Sarah leaves August 12. 

Sunday at Antioch Christian Church

Yesterday was a full but fairly typical Sunday here in Tanzania. We traveled with our two guests from SoMO District office, James McHaffie and Phillip Roop, to a nearby TAG church.  Pastor Gwalalika has been a friend of ours for many years and we visited his church the first time in 2000.
At that time, it was a small one room facility with reed walls and a grass thatched roof. 
Now, it is a large cement building with several rooms and a separate children's building with a membership of over 200. 
Pastor Roop preached both the 7:30am and the 10:30 am services.  In between we were given the customary "chai" (hot tea with milk and sugar) and chapatis. 
After the service we did the usual photo session and toured the facilities and listend to the future plans for church growth and expansion.
Finally, we traved to the pastor's home and were treated to a wonderful Tanzanian meal with a variety of food generally reserved for honored guests: rice, roasted potatoes, cooked cabbage, chapatis, stewed chicken, fried goat meat, tomatoes and cucumbers and Papaya.
We spent some time visiting with the pastor and his wife before leaving to return to Mwanza; we arrived home about 4:30 tired, well-fed, and blessed. 

Men's Conference

Tim left Mwanza to travel to Dodoma last Sunday for the second National Men's Conference for the Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG). 
The guest speakers this year were Rev. James McHaffie (SoMO Missions Dir) and Pastor Phillip Roop from Cape Girardeau MO. 
There were about 400 men in attendance and the Lord moved in a great way during the teaching, preaching and prayer times. 
Men's hearts were challenged and the Holy Spirit ministered to many. 
Tim and our two guests arrived home from Dodoma yesterday afternoon tired but happy. We have the privilege of hosting James and Phil in our home for a few days before they travel back to the states.

Little things can make your day

As missionaries, we adjust to doing without certain things that we enjoy but that are not available in the country in which we live and minister.
There are times when teams are coming out that they graciously offer to bring those special comfort items or food items that you crave occasionally but have learned to do without them.
Then, there are those rare and special occasions when in your travels you find some of those things.  Two weeks ago we had to travel to Kenya; while meandering through the produce area at a large grocery store we discovered cantaloupes and strawberries!  Cantaloupes are Joyce's favorite fruit and strawberries are Tim's favorite fruit.  We ate cantaloupes and strawberries every day for the 3 days we were there.  What a treat! 
We have attempted to grow various vegetables and fruits but some of them just don't grow here in Mwanza for different reasons. After several disappointing experiences we finally gave up on cantaloupes and strawberries in Mwanza. 
Then, Tim went to the main market downtown in search of lettuce which has become very scarce.  When he returned with a head of lettuce he also brought ears of sweet corn!!!  Amazing!  He bought 30 ears of sweet corn and we put them in the freezer to pull out when the craving hit us. 
Yes, sometimes those little things remind you that God loves you and he has many littles ways of showing that love; sometimes it is in the form of cantaloupe, strawberries, lettuce and sweet corn.   

Sarah has arrived

Sarah, our youngest daughter, just graduated with her Master's in Counseling.  She arrived here in Mwanza on June the 10th and will be staying with us for two months.
While she is here, she will be doing counseling at Jelly's Primary and Secondary School; they have 30 Albino children who have just recently arrived there from a nearby government school for the visually impaired.  These 30 children received scholarships to attend the boarding school but it is an overwhelming change for them. 
They are part of a large school of over 300 people and because of their Albinism they stand out from the rest of the students; they are insecure and frightened.  Hopefully, by doing group counseling with them 3 days a week, Sarah will be able to help them develop self esteem and confidence. 
We look forward to the day when they are able to look us in the eye and smile without the look of fear in their eyes they have now. 

Babati

Tim has left, again, to travel to Babati in the Manyara District; it's about an 8 hour drive from here. He will be overseeing the laying of the foundation of the Church Planting School for that region.  Tim is the only missionary on this field who has had experience in putting up buildings; he is working on training a couple of the other missionaries how to put in the foundations.
 The Tanzania Assemblies of God, as part of their Decade of Harvest plans, will be building a Church Planting School in every district (over 20 districts) plus building some secondary schools as well over the next 2 or 3 years. The government secondary schools do not provide quality education and the private schools are expensive and are either Muslim or Catholic.
The TAG wants our pastors and members to have quality Christian schools to send their childre to so they can receive quality education that will also help prepare them for entrance into colleges and universities.  It's a big vision but the TAG leadership are men of vision and faith.

Kigoma

We made a trip to Kigoma for a week; it was partly to get some R & R but also to visit some of our pastors and churches in our most western district. 
We visited Bishop Mulenda's church for Sunday services and earlier in the week visited two churches.  One those we visited was a small church with thatch roof and walls made from reeds with a dirt floor.  We saw the small sign for the church and followed a small dirt track that ended in front of the church.  The pastor was not there but several of the church people lived in the house next to the church. 
They sent a boy for the pastor and he soon arrived; he is a young man who has gone through one of our church planting schools and is now putting those things he learned into practice with this new church.
We stayed for a few minutes and visited with him and some of his members; they were so encouraged that we found them and stopped in to see them. 
Even though the church is a few months old, he has over 20 church members and over 20 children attending the church.