Travel Days

On Thursday we had a brief meeting with Pastor Malyi in Moshi before boarding a shuttle for the 2 hour ride back to Arusha.  We met an Australian couple on the bus (one was English and the other German, but they were living in Australia) who were spending 6 months traveling through Africa before returning to Australia.  It was very interesting to hear the German’s perspective on the results of World War II on the German people and the state of the church in Germany.  They were both well traveled and very interesting people.  They had just climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and dissuaded Russ from ever trying it!

Once we arrived in Arusha we settled into our hotel and arranged for our travel to Nairobi for the following day.  Then we met with Pastor Jeremiah and his son Elisha in the late afternoon.  Plans were made for the conference in Kisii, which is in just over a week.  At our hotel we met with a man from Wisconsin who helps a Non-denominational organization in teaching pastors.  One of the pastors he was working with was with the ELCT (the large liberal Lutheran church body in East Africa).  I explained that we were not associated with them and pointed out some of the differences.  I gave him my card which has our www.lutheranmissions.com website on it.  I hope that he looks into it more.

On Friday Elisha picked us up early to take us back to the shuttle stage.  We boarded it and were off by 8:00am.  It has been so wonderful to have good roads now from Arusha to Nairobi.  After 6 years, they are almost completely finished.  They only have a little left right at the bordertown of Namanga - other than that, it is smooth sailing and almost cuts the time of that trip in half!   By 3:00pm we were at the airport and a little later we were picked up by Jemima and taken to her house which is only about 10 minutes away.  We had an enjoyable night visiting with her family and getting things packed and ready to go for our trip to Matunda.  One more traveling day still lay ahead, and we were going to have to leave early in the morning....

Saturday morning came too early.  We were up by 6:00, and finished packing and eating breakfast by 7:00am.  Jemima took us to the bus stage where we caught a shuttle to Kitale in western Kenya.  It was a hair-raising ride.  We saw one accident, and several other trucks turned over in the ditch on the side of the road.  The roads are so narrow and the buses and matatoos all go so fast and pass the trucks without regard for what is coming it seems....  We finally arrived safely in Matunda at around 2:30pm and took a taxi up to Anna Sagala’s home to see the family.  This was a bit exciting as well.  It was a 30 minute ride on muddy roads in a 1972 French Peugot car that was well worn (to be PC).  There was a plastic jug with fuel in it at my feet that had a tube going through the dash and into the engine cavity (aka "gas tank")... the window kept rolling itself down ("air conditioning")... and the wipers stopped working when we hit a big bump ("rainx test")... and three of the doors were missing their handles on either the inside or out (maybe it was a French police car???)...  It was quite the experience!

The view from our '72 French made "death trap"!

When we arrived, Anna greeted us with big hugs, and we were also met by her children Mary and Eric.  We were warmly greeted and enjoyed seeing them all.  Tomorrow morning we will be here for church at Mois Bridge and then Monday we are back on the road once more.  More about that later...  We thank the Lord for all the safe travel and for all your prayers!

In His service,

Nathanael

Schedule Changes... and Changes... and Changes....

It has been a week of unexpected schedule changes.  When I prepare for my trip to Africa I make detailed plans for my visit to be able to make the most use of my time here.  I schedule every day here as full as I possibly can (to the consternation of many of my traveling companions), but it I also come realizing that things can and do change.  Change has been the word to describe the past week.  Here is a summary:

On Tuesday we were up before the sun to make it to the bus station for our trip from Korogwe to Makanya.  Our driver picked us up and dropped us off at the bus station.  It was a three hour ride to Makanya and while our bus did not break down on the trip, I was concerned that it might rattle apart!  We arrived in Makanya and debarked the bus to find Pastor Mshana waiting there for us.  He invited us to his home where we visited about the recent visit of the Mission Helpers and the work that has been going on in Makanya.  Pastor Mshana’s area covers a great distance in between Tanga and Moshi, and is in a very barren land.  We were planning to visit the pastor of a congregation that was about 30 km away from Pastor Mshana’s home in Makanya, but transport needed to be found first.  It turned out that we were not able to visit since we were not able to find a working car, and because we needed to return to Moshi yet that evening to make plans for a seminar for the Moshi district in the morning.

The barren (but beautiful) landscape surrounding Makanya

After eating lunch at the Mshana’s and greeting several of the pastors and elders from the congregations of the area, we caught another bus for the rest of our trip to Moshi.  It would have been nice to have spent more time here, but things were not seeming to work out...  If I only knew what was about to happen....

The Mshana family with Richard (left) and Russ (right)

When we arrived in Moshi, we arranged for our accommodations for the next three nights and then I went to arrange for a hall for the Moshi district seminary which was to take place in the morning.  This was a last minute arrangement set up because we had to shorten our trip to the Kajiado region in Kenya.  After making arrangements for a hall and space for our seminar I found out that our already reduced one day trip to Kajiado had to be cancelled because of an injury to the pastor’s daughter in that area.  Then I heard from our district leader in Moshi that pastors were not going to be able to make it for the seminar in Moshi in the morning either!  Since our schedule was now open for Thursday, we decided to try to reschedule the Moshi seminar for the that day, pushing it back one day to see if pastors could come that day.  It was quite a headache, and opened up our day on Wednesday.  If this would have been known hours earlier, we could have spent the day in Makanya, but it was too late for that now....

On Wednesday we worked to adjust our plans for the conference and the hall rental.  I spent most of the day working on preparations for the General Pastoral Conference by working on agenda, papers, and emails to attendees.  It needed to be done, so it ended up being a productive day after all.  But there was more change to come...

That night we found out that the people were not going to be able to make it for the seminar on Thursday either.  The notice was just not enough to make it happen.  This is the harvest season in the Moshi area, and many pastors are busy harvesting their own crops or assisting with the harvest of their members.  It was a disappointment, but there was nothing that we could do.  In light of this new information, we decided not to stay in Moshi for another day of sitting around.  Instead we made plans to continue on to Arusha where we would meet with Pastor Jeremiah before heading back to Nairobi.

It has been one schedule change after another the past few days.  And while these last minute changes and cancellations have been frustrating, we also remember that the Lord remains faithful and even brings blessing from seeming disaster!  Thanks be to God!

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

In Christ,

Nathanael

A Frightful Turn of Events

The last few days have been anything but what we expected.  It all began on Saturday night after arriving in Tanga.  I had been trying to reach Pastor Gondwe (who is our District leader in the Tanga region) but to no avail.  We were excited to meet with the pastors of the area and to see the work that is going on in this area.  I was finally able to reach him briefly to tell him that we had arrived.  We expected that he would arrive shortly at our hotel to meet with us and go over the schedule for the coming days.  When he did not arrive I tried calling him again, but he was again not available.  He did not arrive on Saturday night.  When he did not arrive on Sunday morning, I began to be concerned.  On Sunday afternoon we finally heard from him and found out that he had been in an automobile accident in the mountains and had been hospitalized with three others.  While he would be in the hospital for a few days, we thank the Lord that he did not sustain any more severe injuries!  We pray that the Lord will grant Pastor Gondwe a quick and full recovery so that he may continue the work that he is doing in this area.  We also thank the Lord for his dedication to the work of the ministry here!

Pastor Gondwe told us he would not be able to make it down to see us, but continued to make alternate arrangements for our time in the Tanga area.  The following morning we loaded onto another bus, heading back the way we had come just 18 hours earlier.  We planned to meet with a pastor in Korogwe, which is a small town right on the Tanga - Moshi road.  We had more trouble with this bus as well and spent almost 30 minutes dead stopped on the side of the very narrow highway.  With the speed that trucks and busses travel that road we were concerned that we might get hit... but the sent people ahead and behind to TRY and slow traffic down.  Once again a two hour bus ride became a three hour one....

Our broken down bus on the side of the road....

Finally we were able to visit the congregation just outside of Korogwe and encourage them with the Word.  This congregation worshiped between two mud built buildings with a tarp spread from one to the other for shade.  Plastic chairs were set up in the small area for seating those who would be able to come for a Monday service.  

The "church" building where we visited and preached.

Russ offered a children’s message and I gave the sermon.  They invited us for lunch and afterwards took us to see the place where their former church had stood.  It had been built of mud bricks and had been destroyed by a severe rainstorm.  We also went to see a piece of property outside of the village that the church has bought from the government and on which they would like to build a church and an orphanage/school. 

Pastror Paschal stands where the church building once stood.

From there we returned to Korogwe and spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with Pastor Paschal, our driver/translator, and another man from the village.  I began by asking Pastor Paschal about his background and ministry and it developed into another unexpected opportunity!  Our translator was Anglican and the other man was “Full Gospel” and neither were familiar with true Biblical Lutheranism.  As we talked the became very inquisitive and began asking many questions about our work and had a very interesting discussion.  Both were interested in learning more!

Our translator, Pastor Paschal, me, The Army Man, and The Navy Man (Russ) after our discussion in Korogwe.

Tomorrow we will catch another bus (hopefully a working one) to Makanya where we will visit another pastor and discuss the work that is being done in that area.  The Lord’s mercies are new every morning, for us and all His creation.

Please keep Pastor Gondwe in your prayers that the Lord would grant him a safe and speedy recovery from his accident and that he might continue to be about the Lord’s work in this area!

In His service,

Pastor Mayhew

Teaching in Arusha

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all dedicated to teaching the men at the Arusha seminary.  This is a temporary seminary that was set up when the Himo seminary was shut down in 2009 and has been functioning for the last three years.  Each year that I have come since then I have taught at the temporary seminary here in Arusha and also at the temporary seminary in Chotororo, Kenya.  It is our prayer that, Lord willing, we will be able to move these students to the permanent seminary in Himo again once the court case has been resolved.  The temporary seminary functions differently from a permanent seminary as well.  The student come to Pastor Jeremiah’s church for one week a month for classes.  They are fed and housed on the property or nearby and have classes in Pastor Jeremiah’s church.  It is a challenge to get things done in such a short period of time, but it is the best that we can do at this time.

The "dormitory" in Arusha can be seen in the background.  

The hired cooks can be seen cleaning up after one of our meals.

On the other side of things, it is a joy to spend time with these men during these days.  You can see that they have a drive to learn more by the way they take notes and the probing questions that they ask.  During the past three days Russ and I covered a variety of topics from the catechism: Law and Gospel; The Ten Commandments; What is a Sacrament; The Apostles’ Creed; and a few other “Odds ‘n’ ends.”

Two students take diligent notes during one of the presentations.

One man is in "western" clothes while the other wears traditional Masaai clothing.

We ate lunch with the men and learned about the things that were going on in their areas and discussed different aspects of culture and Christianity during the breaks.  Each day we averaged about 5 hours of classes in order to get in as much as we could while we are here.

Saturday was a travel day.  Russ and I packed up in the morning and at 8:00am Jeremiah arrived to take us to the bus station.  We were off to Tanga to meet with Pastor Gondwe and visit his district along the coast of the Indian Ocean.  The bus was scheduled to leave Arusha at 9:00am and arrive in Tanga at 4:00pm.  Seven long hours on a big bus turned into 9 when the fuel pump on the bus started to act up about an hour and a half from our destination!  Four times the bus stopped and the conductors had to put on their mechanics hat to get us on the road again.  Russ and I marveled - bus drivers and conductors in the US wouldn’t be able to do that!

Tanga looms ahead of us.  While this area is more hot and humid (and mosquito infested) than the other areas of Tanzania where we work, there are exciting things going on here, and we look forward to getting involved in it over the coming days.

We thank you for your continuing prayers for us and for the Lord’s work here among the people of East Africa!

In Christ,

Nathanael

A Profitable Couple of Days

On Tuesday we went to court in Moshi to testify in the court case regarding our seminary building in Himo, Tanzania.  The seminary has not been operating since 2009 when a split occurred in the Tanzanian church body with which we were in fellowship.  Since that time the ownership of the building has been being contested in court.  This was the first time that representatives of the CLC have had the opportunity to present testimony for our ownership of the building and desire for the seminary to continue training pastors.  While this has been a long and difficult time for many members in this area and for the congregation in Himo, which has been in the middle of the struggle, it has also strengthened the resolve of these members to stand firm on the Word of God in the face of such problems.  May the Lord continue to give them strength during these final days!

After the hearing we sat down and visited with some of the pastors and members of this area who have been effected by this case to encourage them.  In the afternoon Russ went out to Himo with Pastor Makundi to visit some of the members there while I made preparations for our trip to Arusha and our teaching at the seminary for the following day.

 Pastor Makundi with a family from the Himo congregation.

On Wednesday we were up at 5:20am to catch a shuttle from Moshi to Arusha which was scheduled to leave at 6:30am.  We speed walked the mile from our hotel to the station with our luggage in tow.  It was nice to have deserted streets for our trek.  It was still dark, but prayers had already begun at the Hindu temple we passed on the way.  In that early morning hour the spiritual darkness of their worship was all too fitting and sad.  Right next to the Hindu temple was a Muslim Mosque which would soon begin amplifying their own call to prayer, and one which is just as empty.  May the true God lead those who are in darkness into the glorious light of His salvation through Jesus!

We arrived in Arusha and settled into our hotel in plenty of time before Pastor Jeremiah arrived to pick us up and take us to the seminary.  The seminary is hosted in Pastor Jeremiah’s church in an area just outside of Arusha.  It is a beautiful area with rich soil and many crops.  We began at 10:00am and went until 4:00pm with a break for lunch in the middle.

Russ teaches on the Law and Gospel with Pastor Lengutai translating.

I have gotten to know the students who are there fairly well over the past few years, and they always seem eager to learn and ready to ask questions.  We have two more days of teaching with them this week before we head to Tanga this weekend.  May the Lord bless our time together in the study of His precious Word of Truth!

In Christ,

Nathanael

Pray for the Lord’s Blessing

It has been a very busy couple of days.  On Saturday Russ and I took a bus from Nairobi across the Kenya/Tanzania border to Arusha.  The roads have sure improved!  What used to take 8 horrible hours just four years ago can now be traversed in a much smoother 5 hours (still a far cry from the three and a half hours advertised on the shuttle companies website though).  We settled into our hostel and met with Pastor Jeremiah about our plans for Sunday.  For those who might be wondering, a hostel is slightly different from a hotel in that the rooms do not have their own bathrooms.  The bathrooms are shared by all the people on a given floor.  While we did get a good price, we were disappointed to find out that the hostel did not have running water the night we were there!

Pastor Lengutai (left) with a young boy, myself and Pastor Jeremiah outside his church in Usa River.

On Sunday morning we were picked up by Pastor Jeremiah and taken to his church in Usa River for services there.  It is a small congregation, but it was a real joy to hear the children who were there sing to their Savior!  One young boy even shared a hymnal with Russ and showed him where they were in the liturgy of the service.

After the service we were invited to Pastor Jeremiah’s home for lunch and then he offered to drive us to Moshi which is about an hour and a half east of Arusha.  We arrived there in the evening and checked into another hostel we have stayed at many times before.  It was very busy there (this is the high season for tourism) and we were wondering if we might not be able to get a room.  They did have a room and things began to quiet down in the evening.  Pastor Malyi arrived later that night to meet with us and discuss our schedule for the coming days.

This morning (Monday) we ate breakfast and met up with Pastor Malyi again.  Tomorrow I have been asked to come to court to represent the CLC in the court case for our seminary building in Himo, Tanzania.  This case has been going on for three years now, since the LCEA tried to sell it without our knowledge or permission.  We were caught up on what had been going on in the case and prepared for the hearing.  We will be going to court tomorrow morning at 9:00am (2:00am EST), so please keep this in your prayers today.  May the Lord’s will be done!

In the afternoon we met with another Pastor from Kenya in order to make plans for my visitation in the coming weeks.  He is working among the Masai across the border in Kenya, and we had planned to spend almost a week with him and teaching at the seminary he is running there.  But the Somali’s are living among the Masai people and wreaking havoc among foreigners who are encouraged not to travel into remote areas.  So instead of spending a week there, we will only spend one day there working with the pastors and students in that area.  We will spend extra time with other pastors in this area and in Kenya with our extra time.

May the Lord be with His people here in East Africa and give them the strength and the zeal to proclaim His salvation faithfully!

Thank you all for your prayers during this first leg of our visitation!

In Christ,

Nathanael

2012 East Africa Visitation Begins

August 3, 2012

I feel like I have been in a whirlwind the last few days.  On Wednesday night I flew out of Atlanta for the start of my month-long East Africa visitation.  This year I traveled to Nairobi with an 10 hour layover in London.  I have to be honest.... The layover gave me my first opportunity to see any of this year's Olympics, and I was able to watch it just outside the very city where it was taking place!  Thursday night I boarded another 777 for my second overnight flight in as many days, this time to Nairobi.  I arrived safely at 6:00am local time (Eastern Time + 7 hours).  Russ had a rougher time of it.  He flew through Amsterdam, but had a 17 hour layover.  He arrived in Nairobi safely this evening at 8pm.  Jemima was ready and eager to pick me up from the airport, feed me, give me a place to clean up (even though she just hosted the members of the CLC Mission Helper Team three days earlier!) and even set me up with a driver to get some needed errands done while I waited for Russ to arrive.  I was able to pick up Swahili Catechisms, Swahili Book of Concords, and some other Swahili materials in preparation for the teaching I will be doing in the coming weeks.  I also booked two tickets for Russ and myself from Nairobi to Arusha for tomorrow morning.  It was a wearing day driving all over Nairobi on only 5 hours of bad sleep in over 48 hours, but it was good to get it done and out of the way.  Tomorrow we begin in earnest.  Our tentative schedule is copied below, but is subject to change as circumstances dictate....  Please remember the work here in your prayers over the coming weeks.  May the Lord's will be done and His Kingdom come!

In His service,

Nathanael


Tentative Itinerary for Africa Trip 2012


Fri. - Aug. 3 Nathanael arrives in Nairobi (6:30 am arrival on the 3rd)
Russ arrives at 8:15pm
Sat. - Aug. 4 Travel to Arusha
Sun. - Aug 5 Church in Arusha / Travel to Moshi
Mon. - Aug 6 Moshi
Tues. - Aug 7 Moshi
Wed. - Aug 8 Arusha seminary
Thur. - Aug 9 Arusha seminary
Fri. - Aug 10 Arusha seminary
Sat. - Aug 11 Travel to Tanga
Sun. - Aug 12 Tanga
Mon. - Aug 13 Tanga
Tues. - Aug 14 Travel to Kajaido
Wed. - Aug 15 Kajiado seminary
Thur. - Aug 16 Kajiado seminary
Fri. - Aug 17 Kajiado seminary
Sat. - Aug 18 Kajiado seminary
Sun. - Aug 19 Kajiado (travel to Nairobi)
Mon. - Aug 20 Travel to Kisii
Tues. - Aug 21 Chotororo seminary
Wed. - Aug 22 Chotororo seminary
Thur. - Aug 23 Chotororo seminary (Russ travels to Nairobi)
Fri. - Aug 24 Chotororo seminary (Russ leaves for US - 8:15 am)
Sat. - Aug 25 Chotororo seminary
Sun. - Aug 26 Church in Kisii area / prep for Pastoral Conference
Mon. - Aug 27 General Pastoral Conference begins in Kisii
Tues. - Aug 28 General Pastoral Conference continues
Wed. - Aug 29 Travel to Nairobi / Leave Nairobi to US (11:45pm departure)
Thur. - Aug 30 Arrive in Atlanta (7:10pm arrival)