Day 1 – Arrival Day

Arriving in Tanzania is always exciting to me and to the team. This is where reality hits. You are now in country and things are very different. Sure, they spoke a different language on Ethiopian Airlines but now you get to experience culture shock, traffic jams like you’ve never seen and motorcycles that have more people and product packed on them that I could put in my Honda Accord. The 2-3 hour drive to Mlandizi is full of excitement and we soak in the scenery and begin to get acclimated to the culture all over again.

This trip was no different. Eventfully we arrived at Michael and Monica’s home for supper, said hello to all of those who will be translating and hosting us for the next 8 days, then we headed off to our hotel to get a shower and some much needed rest.

Day 2 – Ministry Begins

This wast he first official day of ministry. We ministered to the kids at the Mount Zion preschool. We were so excited to see how the kids were progressing and how the school was growing. We spent the morning teaching them the old kids’ song, Jesus Loves Me, teaching them a Bible story about Jesus, and giving them their crayons and coloring sheets to help remember the story. To look into their eyes and think about how little hope they would have of hearing the good news of Jesus without the preschool, breaks my heart and makes me thankful that this vision God gave Michael and me 4 years ago is coming to pass. There were about 40 kids there and more were returning the next day following their break. I was extremely proud watching Lacy teach the kids and immerse herself into the ministry there.

After lunch it was off to an all girls’ school. We had been here several years before and remember it being a very interactive group. Our team sat as the girls sang a couple of songs for us. Then it was our team’s chance to sing. Of course, Sean and Lacy led beautifully as the rest of the team sang and danced to the music. The girls were so engaged and they loved it. The energy in the room was incredible. These girls were easy to preach to and they listened so intently as I preached about the living water. There must have been over 30 girls raise their hand for salvation at the close of the message.

That night we had the opportunity to worship with Pastor Pascal’s church. This has become an annual tradition and it is always a good experience. We watched them sing and dance and even got to see a lady drop her baby out of her baby carrier. Thank goodness the baby was fine, even though he fell onto a tile floor. Just about the time our group was heading up to sing the electricity went out. So, we ad-libbed by doing some testimonies. Once the power came back on our team sang and danced and had a wonderful time engaging with this energetic church. I preached and we prayed with some of the church members and called it a day.

Day 3 – Preschool and Village ministry

Once again we went and spent time with the children. We danced to American music, taught them the motions to a few songs, taught them another Bible story about the great catch of fish, and let them color another picture to remind them of the Bible story.

After lunch we walked through the village meeting parents and grandparent of those kids in the preschool. We saw one lady making a mat that will take her a couple of weeks to finish and then she will sell it for only $10. But she was proud of her work and rightly so. It was a work of art. We invited several villagers to the marriage seminar we were hosting later that day.

That evening, when we arrived at the seminar, Michael thought we might have 5 show up. Boy was he wrong. We started with about 15 and eventually there was standing room only as about 75 married people of all ages packed in the room to learn about having a better marriage. The trick for me was to answer their question and make my presentation without referencing the Bible or Jesus. The purpose was to lay another level to the relationships and to show our love for the people there and help them in an area where they are struggling. The most touching question of the day came from a young man who asked, “If you are in an arranged marriage and your wife does not love you, what can you do to get her to?” There were so many questions and I taught them about love and respect and an impromptu lesson on the 5 Love Languages. The women applauded as I shared with them men how important it was for them to show their wives how much they loved them on a daily basis. I have to admit, this was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Day 4 – Maasai Village

Going back to the village were we started a church 2 years ago was extremely special. As we walked through the bush to go to visit some of the church members and others, it was interesting to see how they lived back in the bush. We stopped by and met a young man who was not a Christian but allowed us to talk to him. I shared the gospel with him but he wasn’t ready to make the commitment but he assured me that he would come hear me preach later that day. We also went to the home of a church member and had her, and the others who were gathered there, sing and dance for us. Watching Maasai people dance does something in my spirit. They have such interesting moves and the tribal influence is rich.

Next, we gathered at the church for a time of teaching and question answering. This was so difficult and yet so exciting for me. They are so new to faith that the teaching has to be done with absolutely no assumption of Bible knowledge on their part. Then the questions begin. One guy asked me, “If a Maasai man gets married and he has 5 wives, what should he do about them? Or, if a Maasai woman gets married and she is one of the 5 wives, what should she do?”

That evening we were a part of another crusade there in the village. Different choirs from surrounding villages brought their CDs and they danced and lip-synced the songs. Their worship is far more about dancing than it is about singing pretty. We were blessed by the ministry of a 94-year-old lady and her two sons. They sang and danced around to the enjoyment of everyone watching. At some point ladies from the crowd would come and put money down her blouse as a love offering. Our group sang and we all admitted it felt like the ship had sailed and we missed the boat. I think the Maasai were more interested in watching than they were in participating.

When I got up to preach there was a mass exodus of people. I felt like it was 11:55 at Charity. I was a bit distracted by this and was disappointed. I found out later that is was cow milking time at the same time I got up to preach so many had to leave to go take care of the chores.

Day 5- Sunday worship

We went back to the Maasai village for morning church service. This consisted of participating in their worship and dance and then I spoke and answered more questions. One young man asked me were he should begin reading them Bible to learn more about Jesus. I told him John and then someone else asked if that was the same John who wrote Revelation. The questions kept coming and I kept answering them. This was very enjoyable and I left feeling like we had made some headway in discipling these new believers.

After eating lunch there in the village we headed off to the watering hole for baptism. There were 16 new Christians who were to be baptized by me. I was so excited. As I walked into the water and looked back at the crowd gathered there to witness, I was almost taken with emotion. We were seeing the fruit of our labor as this church was doing what it was planted to do, reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. There were children, teenagers, and adults of different ages standing there waiting on their turn to show their faith in the form of baptism. One kid dove in and swam to me while others slowly and timidly walked to me. There was one middle aged lady who was obviously nervous. She could not grasp the concept of bending her knees so she could go under more easily. Instead she bent over and balled up. After a few moments of ineffectively trying to get her positioned right I just rolled her backward into the water and brought her back up to cheers and laughter. What an incredible experience.

That night was another crusade night. The crowd was much larger and the man we had spoken to the day before showed up. I was excited to present the Gospel to him once again. After some time of singing and dancing our team got up and sang. This went much better and the Maasai were more engaged. I got up to preach with time to spare before milking time. When I gave the invitation only a few women came forward and one man. Those men who were standing off to the side would not walk up to admit their need for Christ as long as women were standing there. This is a big cultural issue so we simply told them that they should talk to the pastor after the service was over. We found out later that many of them did exactly that.

Day 6 – Prayer for healing

On this day we went to breakfast at Adolph and Anna’s home. She prepared a large meal and asked up to pray for her sister named Charity. She had some back issues and lost the ability to stand and sit. She laid paralyzed on a mattress on the floor. After we ate we gathered around her and had prayer for healing. I was hoping for one of those moments where I would finish praying and she would get up and run around the room shouting, “I’m healed! I’m healed!” but that didn’t happen so we will continue to pray for Charity’s healing.

We made a quick stop by the local hospital to see Michael’s dad and mom. His mom had burt her leg on a motorcycle tailpipe a couple of weeks before and it was not healing properly. She kindly shows us the the spot on her leg where the hide was missing. This made Lacy nauseous and Angie walked her over to the car to sit down. I saw what was going on and went to check on her. She told me she was feeling light headed and couldn’t hear. When I walked around to sit with her in the car she passed completely out and dropped her water bottle. I quickly splashed some water on her face and she woke up. She thought she had taken a nap in the car. She gave me a good scare but she was fine.

After lunch we headed toward Morogoro where we would spend the night before driving to the Mikumi National Park. We stayed in a nice hotel for $20. We each had our own room and a nice hot shower. Something we hadn’t enjoyed since we had been in Tanzania. We went to dinner at a very nice hotel with an incredible view of the mountains surrounding this town.

Day 7 – Mikumi National Park

When traveling to another country for a mission trip it is aways good to finish the trip with an opportunity to soak in the beauty of the country. The Mikumi National Park is a display of God’s creativity. After loading up into our safari jeep we were off to see the animals. We quickly came upon a family of elephants. We saw lots of Impalas, Zebras in the distance, beautiful birds, crocodiles, hippopotamus, a couple of water buffalos, lots of giraffes, an African boa in a bush near the road, wart hogs, wildebeests, and we even saw a black mamba cross the road in front of us.

At lunch we parked next to a watering hole and watched 5 giraffes walk up, bend over and drink right there in front of us. This was so cool to see. As we were driving out of the park we saw some park rangers watching over a baby elephant who had been separated from his mother. We got to spend some time petting it and taking pictures. Pretty cool experience.

Day 8 – Sifa Threads and heading home

This is the day we were able to visit our friends at Sifa Threads. It was so cool to see how this ministry has grown. They have so many girls who are learning to sew, learning how to start a business, and being discipled along the way. We got to see the three girls our church sponsored last year.

Finally it was off to the market, seafood pizza with octopus on it, and then to the airport for the long trip home.

Thanks to everyone who prayed and donated toward this mission trip. It was huge success  and I know we will hear stories about it for eternity.