The Last Conference

This morning we wrapped up our final conference. Actually I was the guest speaker at a pastor's conference already scheduled, and instead of my usual church planting training, I taught a series on Ecclesiastes, which I recently taught at The Mill. We had a great time with the men and there were a lot of good questions.

Dar is hot this time of year, and the heat is accompanied by humidity which surrounds you like an electric blanket in a sauna. But we did manage to get a couple of games of squash while I was here. It was good to get some exercise since I haven't been running for nearly three weeks.


Almost everything is set to go for the journey home. It has been a fruitful trip, but I will be glad to be home. I miss The Mill and if you asked me right now, I wish I hadn't scheduled someone to preach on Sunday, but I know I will feel very differently by the time Sunday rolls around.


I may make one or two more posts when I get home depending on how I feel and what happens on the way home. Please pray for me as you have been. It has kept me healthy and productive.

For the Harvest,
Phil

Morogoro

Once I landed in Dar, Dave and Bonnie were there to greet me. We had some Cokes together(because there was no Dr. Pepper) and then I was off to Morogoro in the truck they let me borrow.

Morogoro is 2-3 hours from the coast of Tanzania and although the town isn't elevated that much, it sits next to some beautiful mountains which are rugged and seemed like they were carved out just yesterday.

The trip to Morogoro was a breeze because it is one of the few good highways in Tanzania. Once there, I checked into the Hotel Oasis, met David Masalu to talk about the conference the next day, and crashed. I was exhausted from the trip.


The next morning I got ready and met about 70 pastors on the top of the Roof Garden Hotel. (It was on a roof of a hotel, but we're still looking for the garden.) I shared with them for about two hours the vision for church planting and a ministry of multiplication. They asked questions and wanted to know when we could come back with a team. Please pray that God would give us wisdom to know whether to bring on here or to simply send trainers.

That night I had dinner with some veteran IMB missionaries Ralph and Vivian Boyle, who have served in Tanzania for 23 years. We laughed and shared stories and I learned a lot from their experiences. Pray for them and their ministry here in Morogoro.

The next morning I was up early to return to Dar for church services. More on that to come.

For the Harvest,
Phil

The Return Trip from Mugumu

I am a few days late on my blog so I am telling you of things that happened that much time ago. But I can’t miss telling and showing you this stuff because it interests me and therefore I think it might interest you too.

I had hoped the trip back from Mugumu would be easier than the trip there; and on the way back I purposed to take pictures of the mud holes. Well the trip wasn’t any quicker, and I didn’t get pictures of many of the mud holes, but I did get a couple of the big one. Mud holes are deceiving. Sometimes they look uncross able and turn out easy. Other times they look easy and then watch out . . .


I’ve heard of worse—water over the hood of the car and such (have you seen the pipe that goes up the side of the land rover from the hood? That’s so that the engine can get air when the car is submerged (!)). But on the way back we crossed swollen streams that I thought would have the potential to carry us away. I guess our Land Cruiser was better than I expected. (Though I wasn’t sure about our driver.) Some mud holes were easier for smaller vehicles, but large ones had a lot of trouble. Such was the case at this crossing. What the picture does not show was the ten or more other large trucks that were waiting to cross, had crossed, or stuck in the mud. I never saw this one get out although I’m sure they figured something out.


We took breaks on the journey as well and stopped again in Ikizu, where we were entertained by a group of school children just freed from their studies. It’s rare that foreigners go through this town, much less white ones so we were quite the attraction. Sheila made herself at home and tried to teach some of the kids English and Math. We’ll never know what affect she had on the students, but it was fun to watch!

Once we were back in Mwanza it was pizza for the night at the local pizzeria and then a good night’s rest before we were off to the airport. Two went to the ‘States; three spent a day in Nairobi and then off to the ‘States; and I was off to Dar to meet Dave and Bonnie Jones, who would let me borrow their truck for my trip to Morogoro. More on that later.

For the Harvest,
Phil

In the Hard Place

Mugumu means “hard place” in Swahili and it is appropriately named. The town is very poor and the farmers are at the mercy of the land and the weather, which is too wet this year. They live a hard life, yet the believers here love the Lord and are eager to learn.

We held a conference for about 125 pastors, mostly Mennonite. They seemed to enjoy it although they asked fewer questions than those in Mwanza. Perhaps because they are more reserved being from the countryside. Nevertheless, they showed their enthusiasm in the singing and in their comments after the sessions.


After the conference, the attendees went into the neighborhoods to do some evangelism. There were 162 professions of faith. Hallelujah!


One of the bright spots was meeting Samuel Ongong’a, pictured here between Paul Buhwahwa (left) and Michael Omega (right). Samuel went to a First Steps conference just like this one last October in Mwanza, then moved here and started a church which now runs about 25 members. We were excited to hear his testimony.

We call the conference “First Steps” because it lays out very simply how to start a church. The material is really easy to learn and remember and has been used to start thousands of churches around the world.

The way back to Mugumu was just as adventurous as the trip there. More on that in the next post.

For the Harvest,
Phil

Water of Life

On our way to Mugumu, we stopped by the town of Bunda where we caught up with Charles and Nancy Wiggins, independent Methodist missionaries who teach water hygiene and who have brought a very useful invention to Tanzania.

They call their mission “Maisha ya Maji” or loosely translated “living water” and what they are producing will bring fresh water to thousands of Tanzanians. It’s a filter that can be made with readily available and natural materials-a little copper tubing, concrete, gravel and sand. The cost for the filter runs about $50. U.S., which is far too expensive for most individual households in Tanzania, but very affordable for schools and orphanages and the like.


It stands about 3 ½ feet high, 1 foot square and the walls are 1 inch thick. Without the sand it weighs about 160 lbs. The filter is a completely natural process, using common washed sand that develops bacteria suitable for purifying the water. The bacteria comes from the water itself and develops enough after about 3 weeks to purify the water to 98% which is very drinkable for Tanzanians. Another few drops of bleach and the water is 100% clean.

It is so useful here because water-borne diseases are so common. One is being purchased for Fonelisco and will be delivered shortly.

Our stop in Bunda lasted an hour or so and then we were off to Mugumu. More on the conference next post.

For the Harvest,
Phil

The Trip to Mugumu

The drive to Mugumu was about 2 hours on a paved road, and another 5 hours off-road, and I do mean off road! Hopefully tomorrow I will share some pictures of some mud-holes.

But all in all the trip was an adventure. We saw a lot of villages along the way and the weather was good for most of it, but it did rain a little during the journey. Rainy season is like that. It rains every day, but usually no more than an hour. But when it rains, it creates big streams in the country-side that washes out roads and bridges. (See a previous post)


Our main rest stop in the middle of our off-road adventure was in a village called Ikizu, where we sat on the porch of the Urafiki guest house and shared cokes and stories. What a time!

When we arrived at the Giraffe Garden Hotel the fun was only beginning. Did I mention they had no air conditioning and no hot water? I know for you hard-core guys it might sound like a sissy complaint, but no air conditioning means you sleep under mosquito nets and they should be in good condition. Were ours in good condition? Hardly. I'll let you know if I get Malaria. Pray for me:-)

More fun when we took showers in the morning. But is was refreshing. I'll wait till next blog to tell you about the actual conference. Thanks again for your prayers.

For the Harvest,
Phil

Back to Mwanza

Lord willing, this blog will be replaced in the next few hours. I don't have pictures or time, but I wanted to post to say we are back from Mugumu and it was incredible. The conference was great and the travel was challenging at times.

Check back again for some pictures and a story or two from our trip.

I love you, Donna!

For the Harvest,
Phil