Tanzania Partnership

Pastor Naftal and Anjelina Ng'amillo This morning we received the sad news that Pastor Naftal's mother in law died this past week. He said that last Sunday she experienced "a headache, and her body lost energy." She was taken to the Iringa government hospital for care, where she died on Thursday, and the burial took place on Friday. Pastor Naftal said he thanks God that he and his wife were there in Iringa to take care of things. Please keep the family in your prayers.

Evangelist Alex Kidisangu holds a picture of his prayer partner During our visits to Tungamalenga, we exchange many gifts. Some are tangible, the gifts of resources and supplies and tokens of our affection, and others are intangible, the gifts of hospitality and understanding and the faithful witness to the power of God's love. Our Tanzanian partners have been especially generous in sharing their gift of prayer with us. From the start of our partnership, we were told of how representatives from each of twenty village congregations would gather at a central location once a month to pray for Shepherd of the Valley and for the ministry we do together. Some of these evangelists would walk or bike for hours to spend a day in prayer for us. When we visit our partners, our days are filled with prayers. At the start of any journey, even a ten minute drive to a neighboring village, we pause to pray for safety on the road and for the skill and attentiveness of our driver. At the end of...

university graduation day From the start of our partnership together, our friends in Tanzania have told us that educational scholarships are the greatest gift we can give them. In Tanzania, primary school education is provided relatively free of charge in most villages. Standards one through seven are roughly equivalent to our grades one through six. Secondary school, equivalent to our grades seven through twelve, is often only available regionally in the rural areas, via boarding schools, while urban areas have a day school option. Most of these secondary schools cost about $300 or more per year. That's a challenge for most families, whose income is often at the subsistence level in the rural areas. Per capita income in Tanzania overall is roughly $400, and that has almost doubled in the past ten years. When our partnership began, we were told that perhaps ten percent of the population attended secondary school, and that only ten percent of those graduates were able to attend col...

I had an email from Pastor Naftal this morning. Among other news, he mentioned that the Mapogoro Evangelist's roof had been repaired. He thanked us for all that we are doing to support this partnership and observed that the roof "somehow, it is very nice." The photo above is Jacob's house as it stood in January 2009. Jacob is the evangelist at the congregation of Mapogoro, a village just down the road from Tungamalenga. Mapogoro is one of the oldest village congregations in the parish, with a couple hundred members, and a church and home built 30 years ago. Look at that 30 year old roof. It had holes the size of softballs over the living room furniture, and when the rains come each year, no one's bed stays dry. The iron sheeting had come loose and was held in place by tree limbs and old tires. SOTV travelers have been shown this roof since our first visit in 2002, and it has always been on the congregation's wish list of projects we could help them complete. ...

shoes packed for the children at Huruma Orphanage Some seasons in our partnership are very public, like when we have guests and schedule gatherings and meetings and dinners, or when we celebrate our partnership in worship, or when we make announcements, temple talks, and staff informational tables in the narthex on Sunday mornings. This is not one of those public, eventful times, but there's still lots going on in our partnership this summer. We've ordered a motorcycle to be used by the pastors of Tungamalenga Parish, and we're about halfway through the three month wait for it to be delivered. We're collecting a very few, specifically chosen gifts to distribute among our partners when we visit in August. Often, we are able to take ten or more suitcases full of medical supplies, t-shirts, Bibles, school supplies and other practical gifts for our friends. Limits on luggage for this trip mean we're traveling light and having to choose wisely. We're limited to takin...