Latest:
The team is safely home after 9 days on the road.
Our team is safely back at home thanks
to God's good grace.
We experienced His guiding and keeping
hand all the way there and back and had the assurance of many brethren's prayer support,
thank you.
The journey to Tanzania took us six days
from Kwasizabantu to Arusha in the north of the country. We sometimes slept in our tents
and at other times in small rural type 'hotels' due to very cold unusual weather. We were
well received on arrival and were hosted by Pastor Yonah Sumary who also invited us and
arranged the program. The day after arrival we travelled south into the Maasai Steppe
which is a dry grassland area. We stayed with a pastor who works amongst the Maasai. We
had services in the day which were mainly attended by converted Maasai and predominantly
women and children. Maasai men are very proud and do not easily turn from their traditions
to Christ. When we showed films at night however, many men also came to the services.
After most services invitations were made and many people responded. Even amongst
Christians and pastors we found a great hunger after something deeper. They pleaded with
us to come back soon and to spend much longer in that region. There are no foreign
missionaries left in the area and the Maasai do not listen to their own because they say '
What can you teach us, you grew up with us and are one of us so we can't listen to you'
Our return journey took us nine days due
to a 2000km detour on bad roads. But God had a purpose, while driving through southern
Tanzania from east to west we saw misery and darkness which is depressing. For hundreds of
kilometers we saw no sign of Christianity whatsoever, only Folk Islam, poverty and
hopelessness.
Tanzania is a beautiful country with
very friendly people and we were not once troubled by police or anybody else. The moral
standards of the country are also higher than most that we have seen. Women dress
decently, abortion and homosexuality are punishable offences by law and drunkeness we
seldom saw.
There are still tribes in Tanzania that
have never heard the Gospel and the need is great. Pray for the Christians there to be a
light and to stand for the Lord.
(22 August): The team
sent an SMS that they arrived at a river in Mozambique, taking a different way back to
South African, only to discover that the ferry operates once a week, on Tuesdays. They
have had to embark on a 2000km detour! Thank you for praying for them and their safety.
(20 August) After the blessed
time in Tanzania ("a remarkable response") the team set out this morning for
Mozambique as it travels back to the mission.
recent (17 August): Two
services were held in Arusha today and a Christian film shown in an evening meeting.
Co-workers report (by cellphone) that the services have been very well attended.
recent (16 August): The team
finally arrived in Arusha on Monday the 11th after their six day trip through Botswana and
Zambia. All went well except that they were delayed for about seven hours at the Zambian
border. From the 11th to the 14th they were staying in a small town outside Arusha,
Nakonde. Here they had services with the real Masai tribe and they say the meetings went
very well. On the 15th they moved to Arusha. The team says that the meetings are
blessed and there are many people responding to the message.
16 August: A team of 5
men left on 6/8/2003 to Arusha,Tanzania. The journey takes approx 6 days and we plan Lord
willing to get there on Monday 11th. The services will continue until the following Monday
after which we will leave Arusha to Dar es Salaam and then to Mocimboa da Praia in
Northern Mozambique where we will conduct services for approx 3 days. The last part will
be at Muapula mission in Niassa Province of Mozambique for approx 3 days and then we will
return home through Mozambique.
