Tanzania Partnership

Volunteers are setting up the Shepherd's Sale, Shepherd of the Valley's annual garage sale.  It's a huge sale, filling nearly every room in the building except the sanctuary!  What's the link between the sale and Tungamalenga Partnership?  All the proceeds from bike sales will then purchase bikes for evangelists in our partner congregation.  The bikes enable Tungamalenga church workers to travel from village to village to minister to their congregants.  Last year sales enabled us to purchase six Tanzanian bikes at about $100 each! Evangelists Shakura and George are thrilled to have a new, roadworthy bike. The Shepherd's Sale supports Tungamalenga Partnership in another way, too.  Each year organizers ask us whether there are items we can use as gifts, and the workers are kind enough to collect those items prior to the sale.  Because of this generous opportunity, we have collected hundreds of SOTV t-shirts that are given to ...

How do bikes sold at the SOTV Garage Sale aid evangelism in Tanzania? Easy. All the funds raised from the garage sale bikes are used to purchase bikes in Tanzania. When SOTV members visit our partners in Tungamalenga, we make a stop at the bike store in Iringa first. We purchase bikes specially equipped with lights, extra tire tubes and maintenance equipment. The bikes are loaded on top of our bus for the four hour drive to Tungamalenga. Then they are given to evangelists like George and Shakuru, enabling them to more efficiently get from home to church, visit the sick, and do the work of pastoral ministry in their villages. Since our partnership began ten years ago, we've given about 25 bikes. Most of those were purchased with funds raised at the SOTV Garage Sale. Thanks to all who have donated their bikes and all who have purchased the garage sale bikes!

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. ...