End Time Glory Ministries meets Engineering Ministries International-Tanzania trip 2009-Post 1

More pictures will be added to this post later. I'm having some camera problems. Check back.
Friday May 15th and Saturday May 16th
Shannon and I got each of the 5 children off to their places for the day. Only Molly and Evan will be together most of the next 12 days while the others stay with friends or the best places for them. My(Christine's) stomach was a bit upset. I thought it was because we were both leaving all of the kids for so long but found out later it was due to the anti-malarial drugs we are on. We arrived at Wayne and Debra's to load our luggage into Bill and Nancy Allen's spacious conversion van. We would come to appreciate that spaciousness even more on the trip home after being in tight planes for days. The Allen's are an incredible blessing to
End Time Glory Ministries. They have servant hearts and are always looking for a way to help. They took the day off of their jobs to bring the 4 of us to the airport.

At the airport we went through security. That's always fun as we remove shoes and wait while Shannon's CPAP machine is inspected quite carefully. Over the next week and a half we would find the experience repeated many times. Next, Wayne, Debra, Shannon and I decided to have our last meal of American food before boarding our plane. The guys chose Burger King while Debra and I each had a philly sandwich.

The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was an uneventful 9 hours. Even though I had brought several books along on the trip, I found myself watching movies on the individual screen. Evan though I knew the children would be disappointed, I took the time to watch the animated film Escape to Madagascar 2. It was funny.

In Amsterdam we had several hours before our next flight. We laid down on some lounge chairs they have in certain areas of the airport and brushed our teeth. After boarding our plane in Amsterdam we spent two hours sitting on the tarmac while an engine that wouldn't start up was fixed or replaced. It was beginning to get a bit warm and stuffy by the time this was completed and we hoped the fix was a good one since we were to be at 31,000 feet and 600 MPH.

8 hours later we arrived at Kilimanjaro Airport. Located near Mount Kilimanjaro, the airport is quite a bit different than we had previously been in. Unfortunately, arrival there was after dark. We got through customs, gathered our luggage and proceeded to a van that would take us 2 km to our hotel for the night.

Arrival at the KIA Lodge was interesting. We arrived with a group of about 10 others who were going to be going on a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in the morning. The lodge is made up of beautiful gardens with two room huts scattered throughout the property. The footpaths leading to the huts take one through the beautiful gardens. Arriving after dark we couldn't see what was awaiting us in the morning as we were led by the hired Masaai men who escorted us to our homes for the night.
(We have now moved 8 hours ahead on the clock due to the time change.)

Sunday May 17th
The next morning we woke up to the strange sounds of the native bird population. We ate breakfast then returned to the airport for our flight to Mwanza. After only one hour in the air we arrived at the Mwanza airport to be greeted by Pastor Richard Nzwalla and his wife Gertrude. Both Shannon and I felt happy to be there as we have such a love for the area. As I wrote in our first email home, Shannon and I are truly amazed at the love God has given us for the people and culture of Tanzania. For us to both feel it so strongly truly seems to be a God thing.

We arrived at the Monarch Hotel, happy to be at what would be our home for the next 9 days. Wayne, Debra, Shannon and I had supper and right as we were finishing the Engineering Ministries International team arrived. There were 8 of them and they were exhausted after a 16 hour drive over very rough roads from Uganda. We said quick greetings to them and made plans to meet them officially in the morning.

Monday May 18th
This morning after breakfast Wayne, Debra, Shannon and I met with the EMI team where we did formal introductions of all 12 of us then Debra shared the vision that End Time Glory has for the property. An orphanage made up of home like settings rather than institutional, medical clinic, church, school, bible school Christian radio station...the vision is big but God is bigger. Then we all traveled by ferry to the property. This was a process as we waited for vehicles to load, then people packed in between them with no seating on this trip though the other ferry has some seating. It is 30 minutes across the channel of Lake Victoria over to the village of Kamanga. Then 15 of us piled into an 8 passenger 4 wheel drive vehicle to go to the property. The first couple hundred feet on the main road was good but then we turned off onto what looked like no more than a rutted foot path. The driver got hung up on big rocks just trying to enter the path and it wasn't better from there. The ruts in the road ran between the tires and were often several feet deep. In places the van leaned dangerously to one side or the other and there was some nervous laughter emitted from some of the passengers. It was determined after this trip to the property that future trips would be made on foot.

The 22 acres of property that is currently owned by End Time Glory Ministries was more beautiful than we could have imagined. It was previously farmed but is currently mostly covered in tall grasses. There are two hills on the property, one which Debra has dubbed Glory Mountain. These hills make designing tricky but will end up making great dividers for the different portions of the ministry. The purchase of another 12 acres adjoining the land is already in process. From the top of Glory Mountain can be had the most incredible view of the southern shores of Lake Victoria.
After a couple of hours walking the property and visualizing it, we all made our way back to the ferry. On the ferry Pastor Richard pointed out the property as we could see it from there. Some enjoyed the view, some rested and some just visited. We returned to the hotel to order lunch/supper then met upstairs with the EMI team to further discuss ministry issues. This was the opportunity where the EMI team threw out questions of Wayne and Debra about how they wanted things built, what types of facilities and helped to decide how to put together the seperate building phases. As we discussed toilets versus squatty potties Pastor Richard joined us. We all laughed as Brad, the EMI team leader expressed his happiness that Pastor Richard was joining us as we were "just a bunch of Mzungus(white people) trying to decide what Tanzanians would want."

Holy Ambition by Chip Ingram

This morning as I was doing my mail route a program came on the local Christian radio station called Living On The Edge. Chip Ingram is the preacher and today's message was a good one, especially for me, right now, as Shannon and I prepare to leave for Tanzania in a couple of days.

The message was titled Holy Ambition. Although I didn't hear all of it I want to share with you a few things I heard him say that caught my attention.

God has created, in each one of us a hunger for a particular ministry. What that means is inside of each of us is a magnet that draws us to a particular need. For one it may be Chinese orphans, for another it may be teen moms, for another it may be African Civil War refugees and for yet another it may be the starving people of Haiti. Chip said that most likely, as we listened to his message a particular thing came to mind. It is often something that makes our heart beat a little faster and the butterflies in our stomach increase. You might have that vision as you read this.

For Shannon and I, our hearts beat faster for the orphans and widows of Tanzania. The thought of hungry, homeless children, with no adults to hug them to sleep at night breaks my heart. Widows, mainly due to AIDs who have young children but can't afford food for them because they can't get a job because the children are too young to be alone. Or widows who do choose to go to work, knowing that leaving the 5 year old home to raise his two younger siblings is better than watching her children starve to death.

When I look back, I remember, even as a young child, being drawn to these people as I would watch television infomercials of young malnourished Ethiopian children with flies on their faces while an unseen announcer tried to convince me to send in my money to help. I wanted to help too, but found the idea impossible with a $3 or $4 per week allowance. It seemed like the cost of monthly sponsorship was always just out of my reach to do alone. By the time I was a teen and had some money, I was going through the selfish stage of thinking my money was better spent on the newest record album rather than a starving face I'd never see again.

Now...well, now I've grown up. In my middle age I have finally found my focus. It is such an amazing thing. Shannon has described it to others as follows. He says he used to just go through the day to day of life, kind of wondering why he was here and what he was supposed to be doing. You know, that feeling of, is this all there is? Don't get me wrong, life was good, we were Christians, but something was just... missing. After Shannon and I separately, but at about the same time, finally realized our calling, it all just made sense to him. Life seemed to be more worth living. He had a purpose.

Chip Ingram did say, that when you realize your vision, your calling, it may not mean you are supposed to sell everything and move to another nation. It may not mean you are to quit your job to go work at a local Crisis Pregnancy Center but it may mean that you are to pray, that you are to financially support others who are doing the work, or that you are to do some volunteering.

What makes your heart beat a little faster? What makes you get butterflies? What are you thinking about right now as you read this? Pursue that dream. It is God who placed it within you. Turn it into a Holy Ambition.

To listen to the full broadcast of Chip Ingram's message go to the Living on the Edge website and click on listen online. You are wanting to listen to the Holy Ambition broadcasts.

Happy Mother's Day

We want to wish all of the moms out there a happy day.
And don't forget to visit or phone your Mom as well.