Two Week Schedule

How would you like a rundown of our schedule the past two weeks? Ok, here we go!
Ron Swai arrived for Spiritual Emphasis week; we had two services each day and we had all the faculty and their spouses to our home at the end of that week on Friday. On Saturday, the 28th of February, Peter and two young men from the states arrived. We put all three of them in the second spare bedroom since Ron was still occupying the first one.
Sunday morning, Tim traveled with Peter, Garrett and Chris to visit one of the local churches that they had helped build. Sunday afternoon Ron left to return to Dar. On Monday morning, we went to chapel where Peter spoke and then they flew out on Monday afternoon. Monday was spent at the Bible College preparing for the big event the following day; all the leadership would be arriving and spending the day at the college. Leadership began to arrive by boat, bus, and plane on Monday and continued through to Tuesday morning. Tim was kept busy picking people up and taking them to hotels and getting them settled in. Thankfully, we have a wonderful staff at the Bible College who took care of most of the preparations going on there.
Tueday morning Tim picked up our General and Assistant Superintendents at the airport and we spent all day at the school in meetings. We had a dinner that evening with the students and leadership and also with our out-going Registrar to celebrate her 22 years of service with the Education Department.
We had a faculty meeting with the School Board and the leadership that same night that went until about 10:30. We arrived home with our two guests who were staying with us, our General Superintendent and the Assistant General Supt of the TAG. We were all exhausted but it had been a wonderful day!
We all went to bed around midnight and Tim and the others left to travel to Musoma at 5:00am on Wednesday morning. They spent the night there since it was a three hour trip one-way. They returned on Thursday evening around 7:30 and we had a late supper and went to bed.
The next morning, Friday, they again left at around 5:30am and traveled in the other direction to Shinyanga which is a 2 1/2 hour drive over rough dirt roads. They spent the day there and arrived back that evening in time for a leadership meeting here at one of the local churches.
The next morning, Saturday, there was a special meeting for the churches in the Mwanza area and a huge crowd showed up for the event. Immediately after the meeting, Tim took the leadership to the airport to fly back to Dar.
Wow, what a busy two weeks! Tim and I had two services to attend yesterday, Sunday. This morning Tim spoke in chapel at the Bible College since Monday is Principal's day and we took care of some business there that was urgent and had a couple of meetings as well.
When we arrived home this afternoon, I started some laundry, did some food preparation, and started to do some baking. I stood for a moment with my apron on and stared at the ingredients spread out before me.
I then took off my apron, put the few items I had gathered away, and left that job for tomorrow. I opted to do some computer work instead, for that I can sit!
Unfortunately, Tim will be busy until late this evening taking care of some pressing business for the college.
Sometimes I think we are getting too old for this; but, after a few good nights of sleep we will be ready to go again. Better busy than bored!
Blessings!

Spiritual Emphasis Week

This past week was Spiritual Emphasis week at the Mwanza Bible College; we invited the first principal of the school back to speak. Ron Swai is now our General Secretary for the TAG(Tanzania Assemblies of God) and is a good friend.

It was good to reminisce about the early days of the Bible College; we finished building it in 2001 and Ron was our first principal. In those early days we did not have electricity or water on top of Bwiru Hill where our college is situated on the very top overlooking Lake Victoria.

It wasn't too long before electricity came up the hill to our property although water was carried and then later pumped from further down the hill. Back in those days we had a lot of hopes and dreams for our Bible College; we started with about 30 students that first year.

We have been graduating about 30 students every year and we currently have 65 students enrolled and we have seven teachers, one visiting teacher and a principal plus other support staff.

God has been faithful to His promise to establish the Bible College and it was good to have Ron come and encourage us. Although we have a ways to go yet to have all the buildings and supplies that we need; we have come a long way since those early days.

During Spiritual Emphasis week we had chapel every morning with the student body and services in the evenings which were also attended by the members of the Bwiru Chrisitan Center which is located on our campus.

We were encouraged and challenged during the week; everyone benefited from the teaching, worship and prayer during this past week. Students spent hours in the chapel seeking for a closer relationship with God and a clear focus for their ministries.

The above picture is of our chapel/Bwiru Christian Center.

Blessings.

Wanawake wa Kristo-WWK Day (Women of Christ)

Sunday was WWK Day in the TAG (Tanzania Assemblies of God). This day is set aside for the women of the church to conduct all of the services/events for that day. It is looked forward to and planned for all year.
This day can be counted on to go longer than the normal service time; after all, this particular group of people only get this one special day a year to express themselves freely in our churches. The women of Tanzania are the "work horses" of this country; as they are any many countries. Many of them have very difficult lives; they are sometimes beaten by their husbands and they have little recourse. For those who have Christian husbands, their lives are still difficult. They live much like the pioneer women of the early days of the United States; they carry water from a distance, they cook over open fires outside, they plant gardens for their food, they bear children in abundance and often lose some to sickness and disease. In this country they have few rights and privileges and although changes are coming slowly, they have little to rejoice about.
However, the Christian women I know here rejoice in the midst of their hardships and face life with great courage and determination. They have joy and hope that comes from their relationship with God which transcends their daily circumstances. These women know how to celebrate; they sing, dance, perform skits, wave flags, blow whistles and generally have a good time on their special day. WWK Day is a day set aside for them to celebrate as Christian Women and they take their time and savor every moment.
At the end of the service, they present generous gifts to the pastors and elders of the church. They celebrate on their special day; but, as is their custom, they also give generously to the leadership of the church. They believe that part of their purpose for being is to minister to the leaders in their church and they do so, even on THEIR day. They inspire me!
Be blessed.

Mountaintop Experience?

Sunday we were invited to preach at a church we had not yet visited; it was started after we left to return to the states by Pastor Paul Buhwahwa.

It was a different mountaintop experience than I've ever had before; let me tell you about it.

Since we had never been to the church before, we stopped at the pastor's home and picked up him and his family so that they could show us the way to the church.

We drove along over the very muddy, water-covered road and maneuvered our way to the base of a hill; the pastor instructed us to park our vehicle. I began to have an uneasy feeling that I should have worn "walking shoes" rather than "church shoes".

We proceeded to climb over the rocks and around the various houses until we arrived at the very top of the hill. The church sits on the top of the rocky hill and, in fact, the large rock at the top forms part of the floor of the church. I breathed a sigh of relief for having made the climb without injuring myself since I tend to be rather clumsy and accident prone.

As the service began, so did the rain. Within a few minutes there was a downpour in progress that sounded like a very loud drum as it beat upon the metal roof of the church. Soon, Tim and Pastor Paul had moved off the platform and were standing directly in front of the congregation yelling at the top of their lungs in an effort to be heard above the roar of the pounding rain on the metal roof.

The thunder began to to clap in harmony with the drumming on the roof and at the same time the wind began to blow with great gusto. The church has huge windows on all four sides of the rectangular shaped building which affords a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside. Unfortunately, those huge windows are just gaping holes at this point since the church has not yet collected the money needed for actual windows.

So, added to the noise, we now have wind-driven rain blowing across the church in a near horizontal pattern. The people, in good Tanzanian fashion, accept what they cannot change and make the most of a bad situation; they move to the opposite side of the room and huddle together to stay dry and warm as Tim and Pastor Paul (acting as interpreter) continue to yell as loud as possible in an effort to be heard above the "roar of nature".

Every few minutes the wind would change direction and thus the rain would pour in from a different direction causing everyone to shift again in an effort to stay moderately dry and warm.

To this scenario of rain, wind, shifting people and noise, add the valiant efforts of the board members to keep me and my belongings dry and you have the makings for a very funny "home video opportunity". It was one of those occasions when it would have been great to have a video camera to capture all of this chaos in order to view it later.

The rain continued long after the service was over and we continued to move and shift around the church waiting for it to end. The choir sang, people visited, and the children played; Tanzanians take things in stride and accept life as it comes.

Finally, the pastor suggests that it has let up sufficiently to "make a run for it". I immediately envision myself plummeting to my death at the base of the rain-soaked hill as we scramble over the rocks and through the mud. We kindly explained that I was physically incapable of "making a run for it" even over dry level terrain.

However, with a prayer and a firm determination to survive we started down the hill carefully; Tim in front of me leading the way.

We made it safely to the car, locked in the hubs and headed out in four-wheel drive through the water and mud. We arrived back at the pastor's home along with the ten people who crowded into our Land Cruiser without getting stuck in the mud.

We had a lovely lunch and visit with Pastor Paul and his family and afterwards made our way home. I determined that in the future I would ask in advance about the location of the church and dress accordingly in case I have another "mountaintop experience".

All in all, it was a good day and we survived to do it again!

Be blessed.

Container Arrival

At the end of December, our long -awaited container full of our personal goods as well as ministry items arrived. We filled it, sealed it, prayed over it, and sent it on it's way back in July.

We had hoped it would arrive before the holidays since we had included a few special food items for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

However, we are thankful it arrived safely and with very little damage to our belongings. It was a wonderful day of discovery; finding items we had been waiting for and not finding a few things that we thought we had packed but must have forgotten.

We want to thank all of our wonderful friends at Bedford Christian Center in Temperance, Michigan for the excellent packing job they did. And, all that Northern Quilted toilet paper that Gary donated to use for packing and cushioning did the job!

Plus, we were able to share the TP with other missionaries and they were thrilled to have real American toilet tissue! It's the little things in life that make a difference!

We have also been able to distribute tools that had been donated to us to a number of missionaries. We have already distributed puppets and other ministry items to various churches in the area. National churches and pastors as well as missionaries have benefited by the arrival of our container.

It is a wonderful feeling to be able to bless others with items that make their life and ministry easier and better.

Blessings.

Child's Play

I had just finished teaching at the Bible School and was waiting for my ride to come and take me home. Tim is out of town in Morogoro; he is meeting with the other Bible School principals and the national leadership as they endeavor to work on the school budgets for the next year.
As I sat in the shade near the front gate waiting, I glanced across the compound and saw the son of one of our resident Bible School teachers.
He is about 4 years old and he didn't see me watching him as he played. He had taken different size rocks and was playing his version of "good guys and bad guys". The rocks were his "action figures"; I was intrigued as I watched him playing under a bush for shade.
He looked just like any little boy in America playing outside by himself; except instead of expensive toys he was using rocks for his "action figures".
He was making all the typical play noises and using different voices for his characters. I am constantly amazed at the ingenuity and creativity of the people here in Tanzania; even the children know how to use the simple things around them to create something useful.
Almost every day there is a group of local boys who play their version of kick ball on the road in front of our gate. Their ball consists of plastic bags packed tightly into a ball shape and held together by string wrapped around the ball like a net.
The toys that these children fashion out of what we would consider useless items and trash bring just as much pleasure to them as the expensive toys our American children play with. The Tanzanian children have little time for play but when they do have the opportunity they take full advantage of it.
Be blessed today!

Busy in Mwanza

Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been two weeks since my last post. Time has gone so quickly; we spend a few hours each day, Monday through Friday, at the Bible School and Sundays we are at one of our churches ministering. Many churches now have an early English service and another service following that in Swahili. If you add Sunday school in with that and then the time it takes them to prepare a meal for us over a charcoal fire; it makes for a long day. However, we enjoy the opportunity to visit our TAG churches and to encourage the people as well as the pastor and his family.
We visited the church at Mkuyuni this past Sunday; our good friend, Charles Mkumbo is the pastor of this church. When we left Tanzania in 2001, they were meeting in a tiny little building not much bigger than an average living room in America. We took a picture of all the people standing outside that little building on our last visit there in 2001; we found that picture stored with our belongings when we arrived back in Mwanza.
Now they are in a new building that is much larger than the old building; again, they have outgrown this building and are needing to expand. God has blessed the efforts of this pastor and his family and they have even started a branch church a little distance from them. The branch church is growing rapidly and is no longer supported by it's mother church at Mkuyuni.
During the service this past Sunday we had eight people come forward for salvation; we rejoiced along with the people over these new converts; they will be discipled and will become a part of this growing body of believers.
Before we left, Pastor Mkumbo took us by the house of a young woman named Happy. I had prayed for Happy before we left in 2001; she was barren and her Muslim husband was going to take another wife or return her to her family if she did not have a child. It is very important in this culture to have children; women who are barren are looked down upon and carry a heavy burden of shame.
Pastor Mkumbo came out of the house holding the hands of two beautiful children; a girl and a boy. They were Happy's children; God heard our prayers and saw her tears; He blessed her with these two precious children.
Sunday was a good day!

Broken Nets

There is a story in the New Testament in which Jesus comes upon Peter, James and John coming in after a long night of fishing; the boat was empty because they had caught no fish. Jesus told them to cast their net out one more time on the other side of the boat. As the obeyed, the net they were using began to tear because it was so full of fish!
We have been praying about the needs at the Mwanza Bible college; especially about the food situation. On Friday the faculty met to discuss the situation of how to provide meat for the students; they are supposed to have red meat twice a week and fish once a week; Tanzanians are not accustomed to having meat more often than that. Our food manager mentioned that they were supposed to have fish in a few days and the price of fish has gone up recently.
Sunday, God provided "manna" for the Bible college in the form of fish!!! Not just a few fish, but about 1,500 pounds of fish! You might say our nets were so full they were breaking. We filled the freezer at the college and still had over two thirds of the fish remaining. We called our friend, Seni, and in a short time we had taken the remaining fish to a local business that had walk-in freezers and for a small fee they allowed us to put all the rest of the fish in their freezers.
God met our needs like He does so often; abundantly more than we could ask or think! We have enough fish for our seventy students to eat three times a week for the full 10 weeks of this term!!! God is good!

Principal

Dear Friends,
This week we began our duties as interim principals of the Mwanza Bible College. Tim is actually in Arusha this week for leadership meetings so I am acting principal this week, am teaching a class, and am helping out in the registrar's office. So, it's been a busy week! Tim and I have no training to be the head of a Bible College; we finished building and opened this college during our first term and have done some teaching there, but this is a new challenge.
We have about 70 students enrolled so far; more may come next week. Every day there are decisions to be made that are normal for here but are never dealt with in America. For instance, this week one of our dilemmas was whether to buy one big cow or several goats to provide meat for the Bible College this term. Unfortunately, the Bible School truck is broken so we don't have transportation to bring the goats from the market outside of town back to the Bible School. So, we have been forced to buy meat for this week from the local meat market where costs are much higher. The students usually have meat three times a week which is normal for Tanzania.
We had to decide whether the money was available to buy chalk and erasers for each of the classrooms. We had to decide whether to allow students entry or not because most do not come with their full fees; we opt to allow them entry and pursue the remainder of the school fees during the term trusting along with them that God will provide. We dealt with boundary disputes with our neighbors this week and had to walk to town to have copies made because our copier is broken. Our printer is almost out of ink so we are trying to use the printer as little as possible until we have the funds to buy a new cartridge.
The students have been told in some of the classes that there are no student text books available because either there aren't any in English or we don't have the funds to purchase enough for everyone to have one so they must share.
There is never a boring day at the Mwanza Bible College; we are thankful for a dedicated staff and faculty that are willing to take one day at a time and trust God to provide for our needs. We take so many things for granted in America; here, nothing is taken for granted including water and electricity.
Have a blessed day!

Kisorya

In December, we were privileged to travel into the Mara Region to hold a seminar on Leadership for the pastors in that region. The Mara Region is about the size of the state of Rhode Island; there are only 15 TAG churches in that region. Only seven of them have their own plots and buildings; the TAG national office has declared this region a mission's district and has placed it under the national Mission's Department. We had twelve pastors who attended the two day seminar; they were so thrilled that we were willing to come and be with them. They were eager to learn and eager to have someone to voice their concerns and ideas to.

We had a wonderful time with these men and women; they are in difficult areas and are isolated from other TAG churches. There is an A/G church in Kisorya; they run about 50 adults. The inset is a picture of the church building and a picture of the pastor and his family.

Pray for the pastors and churches in the Mara Region; pray for the hundreds of thousands of people who have not heard that Jesus loves them.

Blessings.

Post-Christmas Thoughts

It was our first Christmas Day in thirty years of marriage that we have spent alone; it was our first Christmas without our two daughters with us as well.
All of this considered, it was a good Christmas day for us. If you are a Christian living in Tanzania then you spend part of Christmas Day in church; celebrating the "reason for the season" as the old saying goes. We went to the Bible College church and heard a sermon taken from the famous passage from Luke 2 that tells about the birth of Jesus. It's my own personal favorite passage for the Christmas story.
After the service we returned to our quiet home and prepared a facsimile of the traditional Christmas dinner; a small ham (which we paid about $50 for since we refused to pay almost $100 for a turkey), dressing (thanks to the generous gift of sage from another missionary but missing celery which is not available here), mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh green beans, cucumbers and onions in vinegar(a dish usually eaten in the summer in our family but available year-round here) and a pecan pie (made with pecans sent out in November and local "golden syrup" - not bad).
After we ate and cleaned up the dishes we called our two daughters who are spending Christmas together in Missouri; we used Skype and were able to talk to them and see them at the same time. What a great joy that was for all of us! While we were all "together" on Skype, Tim read the Christmas story from Luke 2; this has been our family tradition since we were married and the girls always knew this happened right before we opened presents.
The girls showed us, via Skype webcam, the gifts they had gotten for each other and we spent a little time talking and laughing together.
I was unable to talk to my family at the Christmas dinner gathering due to some complications, but we talked to the girls again later and they told us what a great day it was.
Thus, our Christmas Day ended; it was a little different for us but we were so happy to be able to see and talk to both of our daughters and rejoice together in the birth of the Saviour.
Merry Christmas!

Answered Prayers

Every day we pray for our two daughters, Jenn and Sarah; it's often the only way we have to help them when problems arise. It can be frustrating at times to be half way around the world from your children. We are learning the true meaning of trusting God to take care of them.

Recently, both of our daughters were in situations that made it difficult for us to be so far away.

Sarah went out one morning very early to go to church; she was performing in the handbell choir that morning. She had driven a short distance when she realized that she had a flat tire; it was actually split and beyond repair. She called a friend to pick her up and take her on to church. Once at church, her best friend's father took her keys and told her not to worry, he went and bought two new tires and put them on for her and filled her car up with gas as well. He would not allow her to repay them; what a blessing!

This month our oldest daughter, Jenn, had her car totaled when another person ran a stop sign and plowed into her front left side. The above picture was taken of her car after the accident. Jenn was not seriously hurt, but was bruised and sore from the seatbelt and from the air bag deploying. We thank God for protecting her. It was difficult to not be able to be there to help her with all of the post-accident business; insurance, police reports, finding a new car, etc.

We praise God for his faithfulness to our children; He is taking care of them and teaching us to trust Him with their care at the same time. It's not an easy lesson to learn; we continue to work on it.

Be blessed today as you rest in His care.

Our First Tanzanian Wedding

Earlier this month, we were asked to be honored guests at the wedding of the son of our very good friend, Seni. We have known Seni and his family since our arrival in Africa in 1997; our families have been friends and we have spent time in each other's homes and shared many meals together.

It was a joy and a privilege to be a part of Alex and Aminatha's wedding; our STL vehicle was decorated for the occasion. We were asked to be the transport for Alexx and his bride for the entire day. It was the longest wedding we have ever been involved in including our own!

We went to a designated location at 9:00 on Sunday morning to have our car decorated. By 11:00 we were at the church; the wedding service took place after the third service around noon.

We ate a late lunch at the groom's home with 60-70 other people and slipped the bride and groom away to rest for awhile. Next came the picture taking which lasted until about 6:00pm.

There was a huge reception at the New Mwanza Hotel immediately after the pictures that lasted until about 10:30. We witnessed many Tanzanian customs as well as a number of tribal customs. There was much gift giving and speeches by both sides of the family and the bride and groom gave out gifts as well.

The day ended at about midnight when we arrived home after whisking the tired bride and groom away to a secret location known only to the groom's parents.

Even though it was a long day; we enjoyed it immensely and learned new things about the people in Tanzania and their customs.

By the way, one of the customs that is very different from ours in America; the groom's family pays for everything.

Woman's work is never done...

There's an old saying that goes, "a man may work from sun to sun but a woman's work is never done".

This is even more true in developing nations like Tanzania. Although inside the larger cities electricity and running water are available, in the villages and small towns very few homes/churches have water or electricity.

Women cook over open fires outside with wood or charcoal, there are no refrigerators or modern conveniences and water is usually carried from somewhere. Recently, Tim traveled to a small village about 2 hours from Mwanza. He took this picture of a lady grinding grain on stones to make flour for her family.

It brings a lot of meaning to the phrase, "cooking from scratch". For most Tanzanian women there is no such thing as "Hamburger Helper" or "packaged foods". Women and children spend a good part of their day looking for wood, carrying water, and fixing food "from scratch" over an open fire.

Think about it next time you open a can or box to prepare some food or take some meat from the freezer that is ready for cooking. Or, maybe, as you go through a drive-thru restaurant for a "quick" meal.

Blessings!

Rough Ride

You can take for granted some of the simple blessings in life; such as nice paved roads on which to drive.

Here in Tanzania, although many of the major roads are beginning to be paved, most secondary roads are still unpaved. A lot of these unpaved roads are almost impassable during the rainy season and many require four-wheel drive vehicles.

We are thankful for our STL vehicle; it allows us to go many places that we would not be able to get to without it.

We have been doing some exploratory trips in the Mwanza area recently in an effort to determine areas which have no TAG church; in fact, they don't have any churches at all.

Recently, our Area Director, Greg Beggs, came for a few days to visit. We traveled north of Mwanza on dirt roads and found a number of good sized villages with no churches. These are areas we will focus on in the future for church planting efforts.

We also traveled up the hill to visit our Mwanza Bible School campus; Greg took this picture of our Land Cruiser on the road up to the Bible school. It is a steep incline and requires that we use our four-wheel drive to make it to the top.

I'm sure you will agree that we definitely need to have a better road to make access to our Bible school easier for students and visitors alike.

Be blessed today - enjoy your smooth roads!

Thanksgiving Day

Some things can be taken for granted; consider Thanksgiving Day. In America, it is a given that certain foods are eaten with a little variation according to personal tastes and family traditions. But, it is a day to get together as a family and eat a lot of food and, hopefully, take time to be thankful for the blessings we have. In Tanzania it is not recognized since it is an exclusively American holiday.

I spent my first Thanksgiving alone; it was a unique experience but it was a good day.

Tim was in Dar Es Salaam working on getting our residence permit so we can legally be in Tanzania; that is a full 16 hour drive away so he could not be home.

I went to the ladies Bible study as I normally do on Thursdays. Afterwards, one of the single missionary ladies invited me to go to the local vegetarian pizza place for lunch. We had a nice lunch, did a little shopping for groceries and shared a taxi to take us home. For supper, I fixed some fried chicken, mashed potatoes and cut up some raw veggies.

Thursday evening I put in a CD of some old well-known hymns and sang along for awhile. I read my Bible, concentrating on portions that had to do with thanksgiving. I prayed for awhile, first giving thanks for my blessings and then asking God to bless my family, our supporters, etc.

I watched a beautiful sunset over Lake Victoria from my patio and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

A special blessing came when Tim texted me that he had received our residence permit on that very day; a week earlier than they had told him. He would be home on the weekend; what a nice blessing that was on Thanksgiving Day.

It's important to remember among all the tradition of this American holiday; that it is really a day of celebration and giving thanks for our many blessings.

Be blessed and be thankful!

The Difference between "our" and "the".

It's amazing what a difference one small word can make; it struck me sometime back. Wherever we travel, whether to the Bible School here in Mwanza, to various meetings, or to one of the many churches in our area, I have noticed something when they introduce us.
They never say "the missionary", but they always say "our missionary". That may not sound like much of a difference but it is actually very significant.
It means that we belong here, that they consider us as part of themselves. It means that they have accepted us and consider us to be family. It is very humbling, they often clap and cheer when we are introduced.
They know that we chose to come here and came against all the odds that were against us. They know that we want to be here in this part of the country and that we have no desire to be anywhere else.
There are other missionaries in Tanzania besides us; but on this side of the country, we are the only ones who are referred to as "our missionaries".
It's good to feel wanted and loved; especially by "our" Bible school, churches and pastors.
Be blessed today!

TAG Leadership visits Mwanza

On November 13th and 14th, we were privileged to host the new Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG) leadership here in Mwanza. These three men are currently traveling to each of the districts and installing the new leadership. In addition, they are announcing the new 10 year plan for the TAG. They have spent much time in prayer and fasting as well as consulting a large number of individuals and groups prior to drawing this new plan. We believe they have been guided and directed by the Spirit of God.

The plan is aggressive and brings many changes. Our two districts, the Lake District and the Western District which make up the western third of the country, have each been divided into three districts. Our two former districts are now six smaller districts; and new leadership has been installed in each new district. The exception is the Mara region which is the vast area between here and the Kenyan border. This region has only 13 established TAG churches and thus it has been placed under the Mission Department of the TAG; it will receive assistance from the national church to help with church planting and evangelism efforts. We will be involved with these efforts in the Mara District since we are the resident missionaries in this part of the country.

The key words in the new ten year plan are excellence, accountability, and integrity for all levels of leadership from the national office down to each individual pastor and church official. There will be an aggressive effort made to train all of our pastors and to grow the TAG from 200,000 adherents to 2,000,000 adherents in ten years. We will radically increase our evangelism and church planting efforts and our efforts to adequately train and prepare our current pastors as well as new pastors.

The plan definitely will usher in a "new day" for the TAG and will require that we all, the national church, the local church and the missionary body to work together as one team to see the Church grow in Tanzania.

May God help us and the Holy Spirit guide us! We live in difficult times but we also live in a time of great opportunity for the spreading of the Gospel.

Women's Conference + 1 Witch

The Lake District Women's Conference was held this week at the Mwanza Bible College; women began to arrive on Monday and the conference was on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was one of several speakers scheduled for the conference. This is one of the few times a Christian woman in Tanzania can leave her heavy responsibilities of keeping a home, working a garden and raising the children to do something special for themselves. Many of them come with heavy burdens; some are childless and their husbands can take another wife or even return them to their families if they don't have children. Some of them have unsaved husbands who beat them and mistreat them and they have few options; by law, the children belong to the father if the mother wants to leave.

Many women here have a hard life; most have to haul water to the homes, work gardens, cook over charcoal fires and take care of children in often primitive conditions. They don't always have access to medical care for themselves or their families.

So, they come to this yearly event to be encouraged, strengthened, and to get a short break from their many responsibilities. Things are getting better for women here but very slowly and often there is little change in the rural areas.

We had over 150 who registered with additional visitors and some visiting pastors; plus we had one witch. She came alone from Sengerema which is a two hour drive away. Her vocation was discovered when she came forward for prayer with a group of ladies and when hands were laid on her in prayer she fell, writhing and twisting, to the floor.

I learned her story later after she was taken away by a group of ladies for more prayer and counseling. She was sent here from Sengerema to place a spell on the women so that they would not be able to receive any of the teaching during the conference. She was also supposed to stay for the minister's conference immediately following on Thursday and Friday and place the same spell on them.

She refused salvation even though women prayed and talked with her all day and treated her lovingly and compassionately. Finally, after she had tried to take another woman's baby, she was escorted off the Bible School property and told if she tried to enter again they would have to call the police.

While she was on the premises the Principal's adult son was attacked by a local drunk outside the Bible School gate with a knife. He escaped but with a deep knife gash across his upper arm and had to be taken to the hospital for stitches and treatment.

Witchcraft is on the rise on this side of the country; but God's people here know how to pray and they are not afraid to confront the powers of darkness. They do so on a regular basis and treat it as a normal occurence.

The women's conference was a success; women were strengthened in the Word of God and encouraged. About 20-25 women received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. They were given Godly council by the women at the conference and returned to their homes to continue their daily lives; hopefully, equipped to continue in the faith and to persevere in difficult situations.

Graduation

Saturday was graduation day at the Mwanza Bible College; we were so excited to witness our first graduation there. We finished building the college and it opened in January 2001; we were here for the dedication in June 2001 and then we left to return to the states for our furlough.

We stayed in the states for seven years due to various health issues and have finally been able to return to Mwanza.

A total of 30 students graduated; 28 men and 2 women. There was much celebrating and rejoicing and we were so happy to be here and be able to take part in the activities of the day. It was a long day but Tanzanians love to celebrate and they are never in a hurry. They have so many difficulties in their lives that when an opportunity arises to celebrate, they savor the experience and take their time.

After the graduation, lunch was served and we continued to fellowship and enjoy the day. I had two pastors come up to me who started in that first class in January 2001and were part of the first graduating class from the Mwanza Bible college; both were in the class I taught on "Missions" that semester right before we left Tanzania. It was a joy to meet them again with their wives.