From Moshi to Arusha

Friday, September 16, 2011

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies--in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (1 Peter 4:10-11).

To fill the rest of our vacated schedule we decided to travel to Arusha to visit a few of the churches in Pastor Jeremiah’s area. Before we could leave Moshi though, I had to resolve the matter of a hall for the Pastoral Conference for next week. Still I had found nothing suitable for a reasonable price. Many places, when they see a white person, will increase the rates for residents because they believe they can get more from a white person. This would be called discrimination in the states, but here it is common. It helps when people find out we are pastors and are working with other pastors, but some people don’t care, they want to make an easy buck (or shilling). We find this on the buses, businesses and everywhere we go.

Because of this it has taken a long time to find an acceptable and affordable place for the conference. One young man who worked at the hotel we were staying at was w

illing to walk me around town to visit some other locations. Finally after three stops we found a hotel that was reasonable and offered affordable prices for accommodation, food and hall rental for our conference. I met with the manager and organized everything for the meeting. We also found a new hotel that offered a room that all three of us could stay in for a cheaper rate then what we have been paying for two rooms in our current hotel. We strive to be good stewards of the money that we have for the work of God’s kingdom here. The less we spend on our trip, the more we have to use for other purposes in the work of God’s kingdom. It was a great trip all around!

After booking the hotel for our return, I met up with Russ and Mike and we boarded a bus to Arusha, which is about an hour to the West of Moshi. Of course, it took longer than that, even though we were on a shuttle. It ended up taking two hours to get there and we arrived mid afternoon. We checked into our favorite hotel from last year, and found it much the same, except that they had raised their prices! Because of the power shortages they are running a generator through the needed times which has caused them to raise their rates on accommodation and food at the hotel. But it does have wireless internet, so that makes it much easier for us to check e-mail and post to our blogs. I even had the change to Skype my family back home and talk to them that way. It was really nice to see my wife and kids and talk to them all.

Mike and Russ stand in front of our hotel hidden in the metropolis of Arusha.

I have also made the difficult decision to cancel two visitations that I had scheduled in Uganda and Bungoma so that I can spend more time teaching at our two seminaries. We will be spending a whole week in Arusha, Tanzania (Sept. 26 - 30) and a whole week in Chotororo, Kenya (Oct. 3 -6). It is important that we spend this time with our seminaries in assisting with the instruction of our students. Here also we strive to be good stewards of our time and in teaching the men of our districts. We pray that the Lord will bless our teaching efforts.

So this will be our new schedule for the remainder of our time here. We will be here in Arusha through Sunday when we will return to Moshi before the Pastoral Conference.

Thanks again for your prayers on our work and travels. Mike is still a bit under the weather, but is beginning to feel better. Russ has been tired from the lack of electricity at night, but has been handling it well. I remain healthy, and thank the Lord for His blessings so far. Please continue to pray for us and for the pastors of this area that the Lord would bless their service to Him.

In the service of Christ,

Nathanael