The Evangelist's Roof

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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. Yet, when we have asked our partners to prioritize their wish list, this roof has always been bumped out of consideration by more pressing community needs--a clinic ward, chapel construction, bikes, scholarships.

Through all these years, the congregation at Mapogoro has done what it could to prepare to replace the roof. Knowing the cost of roofing materials, congregants volunteered their labor to make bricks. The bricks could be sold to help raise funds for the roofing materials. But it wasn't enough.

Then the women of the parish made baskets and jewelry that they sent to Minnesota with visitors from SOTV. We sold those handcrafted items in Minnesota, at prices that would have been a dream in Tanzania. We sent the money back to the congregation.

And now, finally, the roof has been repaired. I can hardly wait to take some photos of what it looks like now. Asante sana (thank you) to all those who purchased baskets, and Bwana Yesu Asifiwe! (Praise the Lord!) for this partnership and the things God is accomplishing through our working together.

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