Mission Tanzania Post-Trip Photos and Reflection
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It’s a rainy morning in August and I’m just beginning to understand how profoundly the last few weeks have changed my perspective. I have a new appreciation for the many blessings in my life (even the rain that’s falling this morning). Last night our Mission Tanzania team arrived home to Minneapolis into the waiting arms of our families. We were tired from our travels, but also refreshed from our tangible experiences of God’s presence in our partner parish in Ifuwa, Tanzania. It’s an incredible experience to travel to the other side of the earth by plane and more than twelve additional hours by van, up mountainous dirt roads to a tiny village where 200 people have gathered to welcome us with songs and dancing. The connection that Lord of Life made with the Ifuwa parish began several years ago and is marked by ongoing personal relationships between our congregations – we were all greeted like old friends and asked about the well-being of previous Mission Tanzania team members. |
We had several objectives for this year’s journey centered on needs that the Ifuwa parish leaders had presented as a part of their development plan for the parish including the seven preaching points supported by the pastor and the surrounding villages and schools.
One of the most basic needs that Lord of Life has supported is the accessibility of clean water for the villages. Our team visited several wells with hand pumps that we have helped fund – one of these wells, in the village of Ifuwa, was new since last year’s mission trip. As we watched children pump water into pails that they would carry home to their families, several of the community leaders spoke emotionally about the impact the well has had on this village where previously people walked several kilometers to a small stream for water. We were so glad to share news at the preaching point in Kidilo that our congregation has made funding available for a well in their village, too (we expect work to begin in October).
Secondly, many members and friends of Lord of Life helped this year with our Tanzania Textbook Fund. Through these donations, over $3000 was raised to purchase textbooks for schools around the Ifuwa parish. Prior to heading out to the villages, we stopped at a book store in the city of Iringa and, working off a Tanzanian standardized education list that the schools had provided to us, purchased enough sets of books, covering every grade and all subjects, that when we visited three primary schools and three secondary schools we were able to present them each with several full textbook sets along with other supplies and soccer balls – speaking of soccer balls, over 80 of them were donated to this mission and they were much like Jesus’ loaves and fish… It seemed that our supply was nearly bottomless and they were really appreciated by the many children we met. We left several behind at each of our school and preaching point stops.
Lastly, as we visited the schools, we were so happy to meet nearly all of the fifty-three children that Lord of Life “godparents” sponsor. They were very excited when we presented them with goodie bags that their sponsors sent for them. The importance of these sponsorships was reinforced to us in the villages where a number of parents came forward and thanked us profoundly for enabling their children to attend school.
We ended our time in the village area with a gathering that included the pastor and evangelists from the preaching points. They shared their hopes for the coming year and we prayed together that we would find ways to support their work. We thank God for bringing us together, for the support that we could offer each other and for opening each of our hearts to see His love in new ways. Amani kwa wewe. Peace be with you.