We spent the last two nights at Ruaha National Park. We enjoyed a relaxing time with Pastor Sagga and his wife, Witness. During the time at the park, we took several half day safari rides. We saw lots of animals, but our guides said the animal count was much lower than normal due to unusually heavy rains this year, which allows the animals to disperse to surrounding areas that are a considerable distance from the park’s rivers. We saw elephants, hippo, zebras, giraffes, impallas, lions, and many others.

A 10-person mission team from Christ Lutheran, Lake Elmo, accompanied us to Ruaha on a jam-packed bus, accompanied us on safaris, and returned with us on the bus a few hours ago (it is now 4:00 pm Wed. in Iringa). We have many, many rural roads that are much better than the 100 kilometer (65 mile) eroded dirt road that led to and from the park.

At evening meals, we enjoyed talking to Pastor Sagga about many cultural issues that he works with as a Christian pastor in a country with customs such as polygamy among in the Masai tribe, reliane on witch doctors to determine why a person died, etc. It has been very educational for us.

We are all healthy and enjoying our final couple days before departure from Dar es Salaam on Friday night. We look forward to rejoining you soon.

Posted on March 21st, 2007 by MissionTeam
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Wednesday, 03/14/07

We had breakfast at Mlandege guesthouse, and then loaded the bus with all the suitcases that contained gifts for Pommern. Pastor Sagga, his wife Witness, and a retired pastor Israel Keponda join us on the bus. Pastor Sagga will accompany us everywhere on our visit to Pommern, and Pastor Keponda will interpret for us. Pastor Sagga speaks very understandable English, but he is not as fluent as Pastor Keponda.

After shopping for last minute items in Iringa, at 9:45 am we started the 40-mile drive to Pommern. The roads were muddy at times, and at times we had to slow to almost a stop to navigate around deep holes, but our driver said the road condition was good because it had just been graded two days earlier. Along the way we passed a stand where local people were making an alcoholic beer from bamboo.

Although this area of Tanzania is more than a mile above sea level, we frequently see small fields of maize along the road. People are everywhere, walking along the road (or pushing a bicycle), or standing outside their red brick huts that dot the countryside. The village of Pommern is not much different from the surrounding countryside. The houses are more frequent and closer together, but are still surrounded by small maize fields. There are about a half dozen small stores scattered around the village. The village is crossed by a couple dirt roads and numerous walking paths. Small fields of corn that is 8-10 ft tall surround most of the houses in the village.

Arrival at Pommern

Muddy road leading to Pommern Church

The bumpy, rut-filled road was an adventure in itself as we finally headed for our partner congregation – Pommern or Pommerini, as the sign said as we drove into the village. It was the tiny objects blocking the road ahead that first caught our attention. They were people! A parade of people – coming out far from the church and giving us a welcome of a lifetime. Beating drums, dancing with ankle bells, sweeping the road in front of us with tree branches, and throwing flower petals, they led us to the brick church filled with people we have been praying for so long. But that wasn’t the end of the parade. We became the parade! As we entered the church, bright kangas were thrown on the concrete aisle. Women ran just ahead of us – laying the beautiful cloths from the layers tied to their waists. And as we walked up the aisle, fresh flower petals were tossed at our feet.

Welcome party on the road near Pommern Church

The welcome ceremony at the church lasted about an hour. Members of the Gethsemane mission team were seated at the front of the church. Pastor Esther provided a greeting from Gethsemane to Pommern, and the team members introduced themselves and provided a little background information about their role at Gethsemane, pausing after each phrase so Pastor Keponda could interpret. Three choirs from Pommern sang songs, in rounds and harmony, accompanied by dancing and drums but no other musical instruments. It was a tearful, very humble entry into a church filled with loving, grateful people who had also been praying for us and this day we would meet. “BWANA ASE FEWAY” – “PRAISE THE LORD.”

Arrival Celebration at Pommern Church

Visit to the Pommern Dispensary

After lunch and a rest period, we went off to visit the Dispensary (the Medical Clinic). This dispensary is not a separate business or government facility, but rather it is the fourth part of the Pommern parish that we support, the other parts being the church, school, and preaching points. Dr. Godlove and his staff of four took us on a tour which was incredibly kind since they work or are on call 24/7 and see approximately 60 people per day. Payment is required up front and family is responsible to bring and prepare all meals for the ill patient. The conditions are difficult to describe, the lighting is poor at best, and the examination table is a picnic table with a two inch piece of soiled foam. The equipment is outdated, broken, and rusty and sanitation is a challenge. Malaria is the number one disease being treated under these conditions. And with all this said, the staff was positive and joyful. God’s love is everywhere. We are so humbled.

Thursday, March 15
Visit to Pommern Secondary School

Today we were fortunate enough to visit the secondary school, around 4 pm after classes were over. Upon our arrival, students and staff were waiting to welcome us. We were escorted to the headmaster’s office for a time of formal greeting with him. As with all other formal visits, each person must make an entry in guest book.

We proceeded to the front steps of the school where we were introduced to the entire student body lined up in rows in front of us. The students welcomed us with songs and beautiful smiling faces. When this was finished we told them that we had gifts for them. They were very excited! As we opened suitcases and threw soccer balls to the crowd, they erupted with cheers and ENORMOUS smiles. Pastor Esther continued by showing them the gift of jump ropes–she even fired up the crowd by giving a short demonstration. The meeting with students concluded with a final song that brought Pastor Esther to tears.

We proceeded to the teacher’s lounge where we met the school staff. We offered them the gifts we had brought for them and enjoyed sodas and some pleasant conversation. Finally, the students that we sponsor were brought in to meet us and receive our gifts for them.

Gethsemane sponsors 32 students, but we were able to meet only 14 of them, because some are in upper grades that are out of session right now, and some are at three schools other than Pommern.The scholarship students offered us gifts of song, a letter they wrote for us to bring back to Gethsemane, and some baskets. Each student thanked us personally for our sponsorship. This was a wonderful blessing to us and to them. We are once again reminded of the gift we have been given to visit these students and to get to know them on a personal level. We live so far apart yet we share the same joy of God’s love for all of us. We took an individual picture of each scholarship student, and struggled to record the name that goes with each picture.

There are classrooms for each of the various “Forms” and the instructors will move from classroom to classroom. The majority of the classrooms hold somewhere between 40 and 60 students. This secondary school covers grades 6 – 12. They have a computer classroom that has a total of seventeen computers. The computers are all very old. Their library is a very small room with just a few old bookshelves. They have received all of the books from Books for Africa that we sent. However, all of the books are still in the boxes. They are in the process of building a new library, but they have had to stop because of financial problems. They need to help some of the students because many of their parents have very little to eat. Some families who cannot afford the tuition grow beans, fruits, and vegetables on land near the school, and provide the crop as their tuition payment. The students come from many areas, including some from Dar se Salaam which is 350 miles away.

As we concluded our visit to the school late in the day, a heavy rainstorm moved through the area. Rain on the metal roof made it difficult to hear. The meeting room was lit only by light coming through the windows, and the generator had not yet started, so the room became quite dark as the meeting progressed. Some of the gifts we gave included solar powered calculators, but it seemed to be too dark in the room to make the work. This area of the country, and even Iringa, does its work by daylight, and activities generally cease at dark. Electricity is not available to 99.99% of the homes. Here at Pommern, a generator provides electricity to the mission house were the team is staying but only from early evening to 10 pm. When the generator stops, no electric lights are visible in any direction. Homes use kerosene lamps, and cooking fires provide a little bit of illumination. Even in the pitch black night, people walk silently through the village.

Visit to Maternal / Child Clinic in a Nearby Village

Sue Angerer and Kathy White went with Dr. Godlove to a Tanzanian Government Maternal and Child Clinic. At this free clinic, the infants were weighed to assess nutrition and development. They were very briefly examined. Nutrition and Family planning counseling was done. The children were given vaccinations as appropriate. The pregnant women were also weighed and measured. They were given Tetanus Toxoid vaccinations to prevent infant tetanus – until the vaccine ran out. There are no safety devices to protect healthcare workers: no gloves, no shielded needles, no gowns, and no goggles. All record keeping is done by hand with paper and ink. Many of the mothers appeared to not be able to read the instructions that they were given to return with the baby. The clinic was clean but supplies were few. The doctor and nurse are shared between Pommern and the government dispensary where the clinic was held. There is no fee for services but the women walk many miles with an infant on their back and often one in tow. Sue and Kathy were pleased to be able to participate in this clinic.

Preaching Point Visits

Our schedules have been full. Today we visited five preaching points. These are small rural areas where people gather for worship led by an evangelist. All of the preaching points we visited today had a dedicated parish house that provided benches an altar for worship of about 40-50 people. Most buildings had no doors, windows without glass, and dirt floors.

An evangelist is not an ordained pastor, however one trains them. Their love of the Lord shows in their service to their people and to us. There resources are limited and they serve very small gatherings of people. We were welcomed at Ifinga, Kihesa, Magereza, and Msinglea preaching points with singing and dancing by adults and children. Words cannot describe these experiences. The evangelists and staff were introduced to us. We in turn introduced ourselves to them. We gifted the evangelist of each area with a daily planner, a hymnal, and Bible written in Swahili and English languages. Their joy and love of the Lord is evident everywhere we go. The warm welcomes have been overwhelming. One preaching point was different from the rest. We were able to meet only the evangelist and staff since this is a local prison. The people have been amazingly gracious. Gifting us with refreshments of soda and treats at all areas. We are feeling much love for God and for us in this place.

At each preaching point, we were offered sodas and crackers. At Kihesa, we were also given a live chicken. One of the women church elders took the chicken on the bus, and we had a great time joking about our new passenger. Eventually she put the rooster in a red and white striped plastic bag, with its head sticking out the top, and we joked that it was in KFC bag. We have not been asked to pluck feathers, so our hosts and guides are taking care of the chicken. A meal that includes chicken is special to these people, and is too expensive for them to enjoy on a daily or even weekly basis. We have been served chicken many times, frequently boiled in a red tomato sauce with green peppers. The chicken pieces are often chewy and difficult to get the meat off the bones. But today we had excellent tender chicken, apparently deep fat fried, served to us at the prison preaching point.

The day concluded with a dinner at Pastor Sagga’s house. He and his wife serve us a meal of rice, beans, pork, chicken, cucumbers, lemons, and watermelon. In addition to the 11 team members, we were also joined by several church elders, our driver and conductor, our interpreter, and several elders and workers from the parish.

Friday, 03/16/07
Visits to Preaching Points Mbeya, Masege, and Ukumbi

Today we are scheduled to visit additional preaching points, and we have asked Pastor Sagga that we have time to spend at the school before the end of the day. We start out on the bus ride to the first preaching point, but the heavy rains we experienced the night before have made the roads very muddy. We travel only 5 minutes before we encounter a lumber truck that slid to the side of the road, sunk into the mud, and rolled on its side. The driver and local villagers are unloading the lumber so they can pull the truck back on its wheels.

A few minutes down the road, and we encounter another lumber truck that has sunk into the mud and is listing to one side. The driver is on his knees in the red mud, trying to jack up the side of the truck so he can put planks under the wheels and get going again. There is practically no space for our bus to pass him, so our driver Nicholas has us all get out of the bus and we walk in the mud past the stalled truck. Nicholas and Kulwa spend 15 minutes leveling the mud beside the truck. Then Nicholas inches the bus ahead and navigates around the truck and succeeds in passing it without slipping into the ditch. We all board the bus again, tracking in lots of red mud with us, and we are off again. After a few miles the road improves and we are moving steadily ahead. We encounter one more truck that is stuck in the mud in the middle of the road, but Nicholas drives the bus through the fields to bypass the truck. Surprising, the soil in the field is quite solid in spite of many inches of rain the day before.

After an hour and half of driving, we reach the first preaching point of the day, Mbeya. We had to take a roundabout route to reach Mbeya, but Pastor Sagga says it is only a one-hour walk from Pommern. This is a mission preaching point that has been established more recently. It is situated on a high ridge with beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. A small but enthusiastic crowd that sings for us and escorts us into their church greets us. The building is a small, primitive structure made with poles that are covered with mud or plaster. It looks beautiful to us, but they would like to build a better brick building. As with all the preaching points, the evangelist provides a short report in Swahili, which is translated into English, phrase by phrase, for us. Their outreach efforts include house visits and events at the church. They have about 30-40 members.

Pastor Sagga is the pastor for Pommern, as well as the District Pastor for perhaps 7-10 other parishes. Pommern has 10 preaching points, and the average parish has seven preaching points. Bicycles work OK for an evangelist who only needs to travel from the main church or the pastor’s office to the preaching point once per week or so, but it is clear to us that pastors and District Pastors need motorized transportation. Pastor Sagga indicates that pastors get physically worn out after a few years of travel to their preaching points. The former pastor of Pommern, Pastor Golden, had a motorcycle but he purchased it himself so he took it with him to his new parish and new District Pastor position. Pastor Sagga has no motorcycle and no other vehicle. Cars are not practical in this environment because of the poor road conditions; the only vehicles suitable for personal transportation are Land Rovers or similar 4-wheel drive vehicles. Pastors who have never had any type of motorcycle or other vehicle are unfamiliar with maintenance, the need to change oil, etc. so other parishes that have provided a motorcycle for their pastor have also arranged to have it serviced in Iringa.

Our Second Visit to Pommern SchoolLate in the day we toured Pommern Secondary School. The secondary students take standardized national tests each year, and the Headmaster indicates that Pommern ranks in the top 1% of schools in student test scores. They are accomplishing this with minimal facilities and equipment. We visited late in the day, when no electricity was available, and the large, crowded classrooms were quite dark. Cement floors, dark blackboards, and windows on only one side result in very low light.Textbooks are shared among students. Typically, a student gets to “check out” a textbook for three days. Then they turn it in so other students can use the book. The library is a small dark room, so dark in fact that we are barely able to see the librarian standing across the room. The library seems to hold many various textbooks that have been donated over time. Some of the books are on shelves, but many books remain in large boxes scattered on the floor.This is a boarding school, with dormitories for the boys and girls. The dormitories are reminiscent of crowded army barracks. Dormitory rooms hold 12-24 students in bunk beds. In some dormitories, a twin-sized bunk bed serves four students, two in each bed.The kitchen facilities consist of two structures: an open shed where water is heated over a wood fire, and an enclosed building where corn meal/flour is added to the water in huge pots that hold 50 gallons or more (a lot like booya pots), that are heated over wood fires. They are making ugali, the staple food for the students. The students rarely get the rice, beans, or potatoes that we are served at all our meals. Two strong young men stir the ugali pot with canoe paddles. They do this for an hour, and then make a second pot to feed all the students. A separate small shed houses two milling machines, one to crack the corn kernels and a second milling machine to make flour (corn meal). Flour is everywhere, on the floor, machines, and on the wall. Conditions are not at all sanitary, but this is offset somewhat by the fact that the ugali is heated for an hour prior to serving.

We are unable to tour the computer lab, but we are told that the school uses notebook computers. They need to operate on battery power when electricity is not available. The computer lab teacher indicates that he teachers PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.

Evening Meal

Our evening meal is to be served at the house of one of the parish members. It is getting quite dark as we walk through cornfields from our guesthouse to the parish house. A widow named Maria with five children plus two orphans serve us a meal of rice, chicken, hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, and cooked cabbage. We are seated (about 18 of us) at a series of tables stretching the length of the living room. Kerosene lamps at each end of the connected tables provide the only light. Newspapers cover about one-half of the walls; most are in English but some are in Arabic. There are doorways at each end of the room, covered by curtains. We can see out a back door, where a group of people is gathered around a fire. Probably this is where they cooked our meal. This widow has opened her house to strangers, provided us with a much better meal than they normally eat, and she then gives us a gift basket.

Saturday, March 17
Planning Committee Meeting

Elders, evangelists, and other church members met with us in a “planning committee meeting” at the church. For the past three days, we have been hearing of the needs of individual preaching points. In this meeting, Pastor Sagga combines all of the preaching points and parish needs into a very comprehensive report, which he provides to us orally and in writing. It is clear from his report that outreach is an ongoing effort. They currently have 11 preaching points but are planning to add two more. On a typical Sunday, Pommern has 700-1000 people worshiping at the church and preaching points.

Some of the needs of the Pommern parish are the transportation for the pastor, construction of buildings at preaching points, education (continuation of scholarships we have been providing), office equipment, medicine for the dispensary, and development of projects that can generate income for the parish. Project ideas include the possible construction of a dormitory and Tumaini.

University (resident fees would go to Pommern) and cultivation of crops to generate income.Pastor Esther briefly explained our process for looking at their needs, which includes spending time on this visit to better understand their situation, followed by discussion with the Gethsemane congregation and council, and further consultation with Pommern. We have been very careful not to make any commitments at this time. They understand that we are at the beginning point in discussing their needs, but they are extremely grateful for the help Gethsemane has provided to date, including scholarships, metal for a preaching point roof, etc. (Various items have been purchased with the $1000 / year that Gethsemane has provided to Pommern as our partnership commitment to the Iringa Diocese.) The Diocese head office stated unequivocally that 100% of the amount that Gethsemane designates goes to the Pommern parish. Overhead, such as expenses the head office incurs in arranging and managing trips like this one, are covered by a $100 fee which each of the mission team members is donating to the head office. At the conclusion of the planning committee meeting, we gave gifts to the three evangelists associated with preaching points that we did not visit. The Pommern parish evangelists and elders then overwhelmed us with gifts of baskets and kangas for individual members of the mission team, for Pastor Dant, for Pastor White, and for Gethsemane as a whole. It was very humbling to receive such generous gifts from people who have so little. As the meeting concluded, the elders and evangelists escorted us back to our guesthouse with songs and dancing. It was such a noisy affair that a couple dozen kids gathered to see what all the excitement was about. A certain associate pastor was seen joining in the dancing.Sunday, March 18We attended both Sunday services at Pommern church. At the 8:30 am start time for the first service, hardly anyone was in the church, but over the next half hour more and more people streamed in until the church was almost full. Pastor Esther presented the sermon, with phrase-by-phrase translation by Pastor Keponda. We present gifts to the evangelist for Pommern parish, who preaches when Pastor Sagga is at one of the preaching points or at a different parish in the District. We present the Pommern Parish with the St. Johns Bible that was signed by Gethsemane members. The day’s activities conclude with a dinner. We have an uneventful trip back to Iringa over some muddy roads, and we have arrived safely in Iringa at 6:00 PM.

Next

We travel to Ruaha National Park tomorrow, where we will stay two nights before returning to Iringa.

Posted on March 18th, 2007 by MissionTeam
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Monday, March 12
Head Office Visit

At 9:00 am, we met with Bishop Mdegella at the Head Office for the Iringa Diocese. He shared with us his early vision for the growth of the Diocese, including the focus on education. He said there are two things that you should give a peasant: the Bible and an education. Education has been a major focus on Diocese activities as well as partnership work.

The Iringa area has had plentiful rains and is now getting very good crops. However, the bishop explained that the Iringa diocese is so large and varied in geography, that good weather in one area is often accompanied by drought in another area.

The Diocese has been successful and growing in a variety of ways: church membership growing rapidly, to about 80,000 Lutherans today, with about 63 parishes and about 6-8 preaching points per parish. About 320 of the preaching points have buildings with roofs where worship can be held. Much of this growth has been helped by strong partnership activities.

We asked what the major problem was that was facing the Diocese, and he said that it is establishing a sustainable economic system that works in the villages and rural areas, and that has multiple levels that allow every parish family to participate. A department leader at the head office is charged with developing the programs, which are in the preliminary stages. A pilot program has been launched related to helping families who lose the father to AIDs, and there are also discussions about micro financing of small business ventures. The financing amount may be 10,000 TZ shillings, which is about $40, loaned for a period of 3 months. We are not talking about launching large businesses here. But a $40 loan is like a loan of 6 weeks earnings for a family.

Another major problem is the infrastructure (roads, electricity, etc.). The farmers are only able to sell their product locally to poor people who can’t afford to pay a reasonable amount for the crop. Much of the crop spoils and gets fed to pigs because it goes unsold, even at very low prices. We have been eating at our guest house or at small family restaurants where we have very nice meals, with about 6 dishes served family style, that cost us $2.50-$4.00. Guest house accommodations cost about $12 per person per night. Our accommodations in Iringa are very comfortable with hot water in the shows, flush toilets, clean rooms, and mosquito nets over the beds.

Visit to Tumaini University

Pastor Gary Langness gave us a tour of the university. It is a very impressive place, both in terms of new buildings and nice facilities, and due to the fact that it now has a reputation as one of the top two universities in TZ. A Lutheran University is the “Harvard” or “Yale” of this country. Graduates get good jobs. We look forward to future presidents and Supreme Court justices of TZ coming from the ranks of graduates.

A highlight of our visit was a meeting with the man, Immanuel Mwachamja, who heads the construction company that has built the fine buildings at the University and at the Ilula Health Center. He is an inspiration to all of us in following the Christian principles in both his personal life and business life. He is an elder in his Lutheran parish, and he rises at 5 am to visit friends in the hospital. In his construction company, both men and women are laborers. He uses women for the finish work on his brick buildings, because he believes the women are more attentive to details. We also saw women throwing bricks up to a 15 ft scaffold. If any of Mr. Mwachamja’s workers dies, he takes care of their family. He pays good wages, treats his workers well, as is loved throughout the community. Gary Langness says that when he dies, there will be no place that can hold the funeral, because tens of thousands of people will want to come.

Mr. Mwachamja and Pastor Gary Langness leading our tour of visit to Tumanini University

Shopping for Pommern/Gethsemane Gifts

The mission team women have accepted the challenge of shopping for unique TZ items to bring back to Gethsemane for further mission fundraising, and to help Gethsemane learn more about life in TZ. Imagine seven of us in an area 6×8 bartering for wood carvings. We all survived and think we did well with the help of Pastor Gary Langness who comes every year to help out Don and Eunice Fultz. The shop owner, Adam, was smiles ear to ear. We improved his bottom line. We then went on to visit the Nema Center which is a work shop for handicapped and deaf people, the only one of its kind in Iringa. They eagerly invited us to tour the facility. We observed workers making paper from products like elephant dung and banana peel, weaving rugs and placemats. What beautiful work. There is such pride in their work. Most of these people were not employable before this craft center was established by the Anglican Church.

We went to the bank today to withdraw funds we had wired to the Iringa Diocese bank account. We were 53rd in a line served by 2 slow bank tellers. Our driver called Eunice Fultz, and within 45 minutes she and Dennis (from the Head Office) come to assist us. The Diocese does a lot of business with the bank and Dennis knows all the people who work there, so he was able to take our withdrawal and exchange request and move to a special customer service area. We stayed in line in case Dennis was unable to work his magic. After 1 1/2 hours in the bank, we had moved up to 23rd in line, but it didn’t matter because Dennis was able to get the funds we needed.

Two of the mission team guys took the bus ride down one of the worst roads in town to go to the Danish book shop. On many side streets in Iringa, the bus driver weaves from side to side to avoid holes, or ditches caused by running water. We don’t say that he weaves “curb to curb” because the side streets are dirt, with no curbs or sidewalks. When we arrived at the book shop, Nicholas and Kuwla (our bus driver and our conductor) came in and were very excited while looking at the bibles. So we thought it would be a great idea to purchase one for each of them as a gift. Later we saw Kuwla reading his Bible intently as rode in the bus. We also picked up bibles and hymnals for the 11 evangelists at Pommern. We picked smaller soft covered bibles in Swahili/English, in two columns on the same page. We decided that they would be easier for the evangelist to carry on their bicycle. We were amazed at the low prices that we paid!

Orphanage in Iringa

We visited Huruma (which means sympathy) the orphanage run by the Iringa diocese. There are 29 orphans at this time between the ages of 5-18. We were welcomed with song. How can we ever verbalize the experience? The orphanage is managed by Mama Chilewa, and her love of Christ shines in the lives of these children.

Tuesday, March 13
Ilula Health Center

Our visit to Ilula began with breakfast at Riverside Camp. The road to Ilula is narrow and well-used. It is the only paved road from Iringa to Dar es Salaam. Our arrival at Ilula was a joy-filled reunion for Kathy. Dr. Alfred Mwakebela (Dr. Alfred for short), greeted us along with old friends Dr. Sagga, Dr. Senga and Lucas the anesthetist. Kathy and Sue had planned a longer visit to Ilula but were unable to stay several days at Ilula as orginally planned.

The entire group toured the clinic facilities with Dr. Alfred, including visits to operating rooms, recovery rooms, exam rooms and other facilities. The Ilula Health Center has gotten a Clinton Foundation Grant for HIV/AIDS testing and counseling. The Clinton Foundation has funded the construction of a new clinic for HIV/AIDS counseling and new laboratory facilities. There is a newly constructed inpatient ward. The centerpiece of Ilula is the new surgery building which was dedicated by the Bishop of the Iringa Diocese in January of 2006 during Kathy’s last visit. The facilities and wonderful, modern and a gift of life to the people of Ilula and the surrounding area. We also toured the new guesthouse that will allow visiting medical personnel to stay at Ilula and exchange ideas with the professionals at Ilula. There is excitement about the Health Center becoming a government hospital. This will bring additional funds to Ilula Lutheran Health Center.

Next

We will buy lots of additional water today for our trip to Pommern that begins at 8 am tomorrow. It isn’t very many miles away, but will take 2 hours on the bus. We have already spent quite a bit of time with Pastor Saga from Pommern, and now we are looking forward to meeting the rest of the ministry team, congregation, and school at Pommern. We are leaving the Internet facilities of Iringa and will not be able to post to the blog until at least Monday, March 19. Everyone is healthy and excited to continue with our trip. Thank you all for your prayers and support! We would like to load more pictures to the blog, but uploads are difficult from this slow Internet cafe.

Posted on March 13th, 2007 by MissionTeam
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What can we say to share this journey? God brought eleven unique people together to see what God made in Tanzania. We started out in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport at 3:20 pm Thursday March 8, 2007. The first leg of the trip was to fly to Amsterdam; this would take about eight hours of airtime travel, and cover over 4,184 miles. We also had seven time zone changes and three movies. We arrived ten minutes early and settled in to wait for the next flight. Our departure from Amsterdam was delayed for six hours and twenty minutes due to technical problems with the aircraft. On the flight to Dar es Salaam we met a doctor from Germany who started and supports a school in Arusha. She has traveled to Tanzania six times since 2001 and brought her children as well. The flight attendants and other travelers showed great interest in our mission to Tanzania.

The final part of the trip was another 4,288 miles to Kilimanjaro and on to Dar es Salaam. We were all getting very excited to start our mission trip. At 4:30 AM, we finally landed at Dar es Salaam. There were many people from Minnesota to greet us on our arrival including Pastor Don Fultz and his wife Eunice. We met Nicholas and Kulma our drivers and tour guides for this trip. We loaded all 23 bags onto the bus. Dar es Salaam came to life even though it was another hour before sunrise. Kulma informed us that the streets are busy with people because some may have a two-hour commute to work on this Saturday. The highway is in pretty good shape. It is a two-lane blacktop road. We saw many people, bicycles and buses along the road. It is hard to explain how much stuff they can put on a bicycle. Often we saw men on bicycles carrying four bags of charcoal on a bicycle for sale in the city. Many ladies carried things on their heads with out using their hands as they walked around. The road we were on went through a Mikimu game park. We saw baboons, impalas, wildebeests, elephants, zebras, giraffes, many different birds. They were all right off the side of the road! We stopped for brunch around 10:00 am at an open-air restaurant and we had a lovely meal. Driving in Tanzania can be exciting due to the potholes (just like Minnesota) and the many trucks on the road. Occasionally we would yell “Angalie!!” (which means be careful!) at the driver. We saw three breakdowns. We found out that to let others know there is a vehicle on the road, they put tree branches in the road. We arrived at Iringa at three pm and went directly to our guesthouse. Gary Langness, a retired pastor from St. Paul, showed us the great accommodations we would be staying in while at Iringa. The rooms are beautiful and we are truly fortunate to have individual beds, a regular bathroom, showers in every room and regular toilet paper. Who could ask for anything more? We stopped to get bottled water and whom should we meet but Pastor Goldon and the Bishop of Iringa District. They also welcomed us to Iringa.

We are all well but very tired, not having slept or showered in several days. We are looking forward to worshipping with the people of Iringa at the church next door. Services are at seven am and nine am. We opted for the nine O’clock, the contemporary service, no doubt. We miss our family and friends in Minnesota but have met many new friends here on the other side of the world.

Pastor Esther and kids from Mlandege Lutheran Church, with Pastor Esther from Gethsemane

We attended the nine O’clock service here in Iringa. People who did not speak English very well came up to us after the service welcomed us to their church. We were surprised to be welcomed, surprised to be asked to introduce ourselves and very surprised to be asked to sing to the congregation! We were happy that several men sat among us and translated key parts of the service, shared their own Bibles and hymnals and helped us appreciate the sermon. One of the Bibles we used was from Trinity in Stillwater. The service included a healing session with a woman coming forward to have prayers and laying on of hands. The choir sang beautifully in four-part harmony. At the time for the offering, one of the young men translating said’ “ It is time for the sacrifices”, giving us a different understanding of the offering. We observed that those who did not have money brought vegetables and fruits that were auctioned off after the service, the proceeds going into the offering. What a realization that the same Gospel text is being read all over the world in many languages. We are privileged to be a part of the world community of believers.

Mission Team in front of Mlandege Lutheran church at Iringa

Posted on March 11th, 2007 by MissionTeam
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This is a picture of Iringa, a city of about 120,000 that is 312 miles inland and one mile uphill from the capital city of Dar es Salaam. Like Denver, the elevation of Iringa is approximately one mile above sea level. The mission team will arrive in Iringa on March 10.

Posted on March 4th, 2007 by MissionTeam
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