Tanzania trip-May 2009-Post 2

Pictures will be added later

Tuesday May 19th
Today was a bit more laid back. Since we had all been to the property yesterday and the vision of End Time Glory Ministries was shared, now the EMI team could get busy. A couple of the members went back out to the property with two of Pastor Richard's nephews, Alex and Dominic, to begin topographical surveying of the property. That ended up being a three day job by the time they finished. Other team members spent the next several days designing buildings on paper, pricing construction materials in the city, checking building codes, doing water testing and drilling on the property and near it. While the EMI team worked, Wayne, Debra Shannon and I did get a chance to go with Pastor Richard and his wife Gertrude into the city. I personally wanted to go to check out some American grocery stores in town to see what kinds of things are available and for what price. The things that can be bought there look like they run about three times the cost of what they can be bought for back in the US. It is obvious to me that our eating habits will change dramatically once we move but that there are some things we will still buy as comfort foods for the times we need to get over a hump when we are missing "home." Unfortunately, I didn't see any Velveeta cheese anywhere, LOL. We also visited a market where I was able to buy some authentic African fabric. I paid about $1US per yard for gorgeous thick African prints. We also shopped at a couple of the clothing stores Gertrude likes to buy her dresses at. I was a bit bothered by the fact that when I saw a dress that would have fit Star in one of the shops, I had Pastor Richard ask about the price for me. Things are not marked over there. Everything is bargained for. It was a dress I would pay , maybe $15 at Target in the US. The shop owner told Pastor Richard the equivilent of $45US. Pastor Richard explained to me that it was because I was a "mzungu" and that Gertrude could probably get it much cheaper. Although I knew this happens over there, it still frustrates me that we are thought to be rich because we are white. In reality, we are very rich compared to the vast majority of the world but that does not mean we are all stupid or foolish in our spending. I am still very frugal and careful in how I spend my money. I guess this is a simple fact of the African culture I will need to get used to but honestly, can you imagine, if you walked into a Target and they charged white people $20 for something they would charge an African American $40? It just couldn't and wouldn't happen. I didn't buy the dress. Sigh...

Wednesday May 20th
Not a lot happened for Shannon and I today. I know that Wayne and Debra have been meeting off and on pretty much every day with different members of the EMI team. We have seen some preliminary drawings of the layout of the different facilities on the land as well as the building lay outs. It is very exciting to see this coming together. I the hotel, sometimes we have electricity but not always, the water has been on and off due to construction on the new portion of the hotel going on next door and the internet hasn't been working.

Since it has been very difficult to get online here at the hotel all week, Shannon and I did get to the internet cafe this afternoon. We were dropped off at the place in the van with Pastor Richard as our guide. He then took us inside and introduced us to his nephew Gideon who was working there. We spent a half an hour on the internet and paid the equivilent of .80US for the privilege. It was similar to slow dial up here in the US so we couldn't do much more than check our emails and quickly send one off. After we finished, Shannon and I walked the aproximately half mile back to the hotel by ourselves. There was no shortage of taxi drivers stopping to offer us a ride. I once read a book titled, White Man Walking. It was written by a missionary who traveled through the African Bush by foot. The African people he ministered to were always amazed to see him arrive on foot since , in most situations, white men don't walk. Shannon and I enjoyed the walk but got a lot of stares on the way.

We joined the Zimmer's at Pastor Richard and Gertrude's for coffee this evening. It was nice to see their two boys Ben(15) and Sharon(11) as well as their new baby daughter Darlene. Darlene is 7 months old and is the daughter to Gertrude's sister. Gertrude's sister, a single mom, has decided to allow Pastor Richard and Gertrude to adopt Darlene. It is obvious to all that Darlene is very loved and will be in capable hands with Pastor Richard, Gertrude and the boys. Darlene had never before seen a mzungu and so we were unable to hold her. We sat near her and allowed her to reach out to us but did not force anything. She will have many opportunities in the future to get used to our strange looks. We also saw several others of Pastor Richard's family who stopped by to say hello and it was great to renew friendships.

Thursday May 21st
Pastor Richard, Wayne, Shannon, myself and Megan from the EMI team went back out to the property today. We wanted to walk the land again and see how wet the lowlands are and whether they can be built on or not. While we were there we saw the surveyors and Dominic and Alex, still hard at work on their topographical mapping. We also had the opportunity to further discuss the adjoining property to purchase and to meet a woman who lives on a portion of it. She is willing to sell her small bit which would fall right in the middle of the land with some stipulations which were all reasonable as far as I was able to understand.

As we walked back through the village on our way back to the ferry, the school children were just getting out of school. We were followed by quite a few and we heard some English They asked us to take their pictures, they asked if we liked Barak Obama and others, just stood off to the side saying, "Ona(Look), Mzungu(white person)." I tried to greet the children with a wave of my hand or a Jambo(Hello) but we were in a hurry to meet the ferry so didn't take a lot of time.

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."

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-In Summary

Collin and I wish to thank you for your support. Wether it was financial or in prayer or both, it all played a big part in our travels. The trip was life-changing for both of us and the purposes for our journey were fulfilled. As you already know we had several goals in mind for our time in Tanzania.

#1-Evangelism-There were 962 salvations during the meetings and crusades that we were involved in. Collin and I were mainly involved in the children's ministry as well as going out into the crowds to speak one on one with the people. Many of those who received salvation were Muslims and there were several members of the Masai tribe. There were also many healings.

#2-to confirm the call of God on our lives for the people of Tanzania-As you already know, we are feeling that God is calling us to move to Tanzania to be involved in working with orphans and widows, as well as the development of a Christian radio station. I spent much of our trip grieving the losses our family will endure. This move is going to come at a great cost to our family as well as loved ones staying behind. I feel it would be so much easier to just walk away from this whole idea, but I also know that if this is where God wants us, we must obey or it will be even more costly. This isn't about us, but rather we need to remain in His will. I am confident now that God is wanting us to be involved with this particular ministry.

#3-to affect Collin's heart-The call we are feeling as a family has been a scary thing for all of us but especially for him. He was really struggling with the whole idea, understandably. We wanted him to see that Tanzania is not the end of the world but rather the other side of it. One day, while in Mwanza, he wrote in his journal, "We will leave in 2-3 days. I'm not completely sure I'm ready to go home. In fact, I'm not." I realize that 2+ weeks is nothing like living there but he has expressed to us that he is much less fearful and even a bit excited for the adventure to come and to go back to some of the friends he made there. He was also baptized in the spirit while we were there and received an encouraging prophecy over his life that he has "healing hands."

#4-to find and purchase land for the ministry-We found a 30+ acre plot of what seems to be perfect land. It lies in a valley surrounded by hills and has many mango trees. The main city of Mwanza lies just on the other side of the hills so it is remote without being too rural. The final purchase is still pending but it has been placed in the hands of a minister over there that the ministry is working with. The government has had favorable reactions to the ministry's vision. Please continue to pray as we wait on the finalization of that purchase.

I now feel it is time for us to begin our preparations to move. The ministry is wanting us over there by August of 2007 if possible. We will truly need God to do a major work for this to happen that quickly. We have our home to sell and everything in it, as well as our vehicles. We also need to raise the monthly support necesarry for us to be a part of this vision. We would very much apreciate if you would begin praying about how God can use you in this ministry. Wether it be that you join one of the many teams that will be travelling to Tanzania short-term to do contruction work or, later, support work or that you be involved in our monthly financial and/or prayer support team. Maybe you, or someone you know would be interested to come over longer-term at a later date to help with the hands-on of working in an orphanage. It is going to take many, many people for this ministry to be effective. Thanks again for your prayers. Keep them coming as we are just beginning.

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-a future in Mwanza

We spent a bit of our time in Mwanza doing a couple of things in preparation for the ministy's future in Mwanza. One afternoon we looked at several homes that were for rent. We looked at them to get an idea of what kind of housing is out there for our family when we arrive. The plan at this point is that our family will live in a rental until our living quarters are built on the ministry compound. I discovered that it will be a much diferent lifestyle than we are currently in. We will have running water but we will need to boil it to be able to drink it. As of now, the electricity in Mwanza is only on from 6PM to 6AM. The reason for this is because thier electricity is generated by hydropower. With the awful drought in East Africa right now, electricity is a precious commodity. This also means that most of our cooking will be done over an open fire. Nearly all homes in Mwanza have an outdoor kitchen even if they have an indoor one for this exact reason. When Christine was there two years ago they had electricity 24 hours per day so this is a situation that could change-for the better or the worse. Refrigeration is, of course, also an issue. No doubt our home will be much smaller than we are used to but overall I thought there were some nice homes available. Unfortunately, we discovered that the rent increased DRAMATICALLY when they found out it was white Americans looking. I know that we will find one that will work when we get there.

We also took a day to go look at land that might work for the ministry compound. As I stated earlier, the land we originally had in mind was too near a military base. The government did not approve of foreigners being that close to the base, understandably. We drove on a winding bumpy road for several miles. We then parked and were led through a small village. As we left the village and crested a hill we knew this was it.
We stood on the hill looking out over a 30+ acre valley nestled amongst hills on all sides. Scattered here and there on the property were mango trees. Mango trees are beautiful as they are this big perfectly round crown of leaves on top of a straight trunk. Several of us on the team truly felt that this was the place that God had chosen as soon as we saw it. Although we had driven several miles to get to it, the city of Mwanza actually lies just on the other side of the hills on one end. We will be within walking distance of the city for those working with us or needing what the ministry has to offer. The ministy's long-term vision is for an orphanage, a small clinic, a radio station, a school and a church and anything else that God leads. There are no squatters living on the land currently although part of it was being farmed. In Tanzania the government owns the land. In order to buy it, we need to be working with a native Tanzanian who will legally own it. We need to pay off anyone currently using the land and then pay the government to survey it. With no one living on it that makes it much easier as we only need to work with those farming on it. Pastor Richard is right now working on getting this to happen for the ministry.(And yippee! Our first attempt at posting a picture worked! Stay tuned as we may try to go add some in earlier posts over the next few days.)

Overall the team was pleased with what we had found in regards to the future there. Wayne and Rev Debra believe that Tanzania will be the African home base of the ministry as they travel to the other Eastern Africa countries of Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and more. It is likely that Christine and I will do a lot of traveling with the ministry when they come over as well. We are looking forward to seeing and meeting more of the wonderful land and people of East Africa.

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-Ministry in Mwanza

The next day began 5 days of ministry in the city of Mwanza. Mwanza is the second largest city in Tanzania. It is located in the northwestern corner of the county on the southeastern shore of Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is the second-largest freshwater lake in the world behind Lake Superior in the northern midwestern United States. The population of the city is aproximately 1.2 million and of the region(similar to a county) is aproximately 2.9 million.

We had 3 days for a pastoral conference. The conference was very powerful and by the end of our time there all of the pastors were on their faces before God, humbled and begging for more of God in their ministries. Rev. Debra had a prophecy for each pastor there. What a great and wonderful time it was and each member of the team was touched as well.

There were also 4 days of open-air crusades. These were held outdoors near Pastor Richard's church. Collin and I participated in the children's ministry doing puppets and skits. Each night there was a teaching given by Rev. Debra that included a skit. Then after that she would do an altar call and send members of the team out into the crowd to speak with people. There was a bar across the street from our meeting place and one of the team members went in there with her interpreter to bring people to the front. One night I, along with my interpreter Alex, were talking to a man that was hesitant to come forward. Alex was getting ready to move on when I told him to wait. I asked Alex to tell this man that this could possibly be the last time he would have someone ask him to do this. Also that he would be reminded of this night on judgement day. The man ended up going forward. By the end of the 4 days there were 522 new Christians in Mwanza and 21 people filled with the Holy Spirit. There were several healings. One was a woman that had a tumor on her stomache that we could literally see and feel. She had been told by the doctors she needed surgery and was in the process of saving money for that. She came forward for prayer and by the time she left we could literally see and feel that the tumor was completely gone.

We also spent a Sunday service in Pastor Richard's church. The building had been built since Christine's visit two years earlier. According to pictures that Christine and I have of his first church and this one, the new one is at least twice, maybe three times the size of his former building. The church was packed the day we were there. It was a good service and I miss their style of worship and their music already. In many ways, I can't wait to get back to Mwanza. The worship and the people are two very big reasons.

On another note, my bronchitis ended up being pneumonia but the antibiotics seem to be kicking it. I am feeling much better. Thank you for your prayers.

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-Back to Mwanza

As I said, we were waiting expectantly for the ferry to take us back to Mwanza. A great ride this would be, compared to the trip over. As the ferry docked and lowered it's gate for us to board, we were greeted by an entire deck full of longhorn cattle. In order to get to the upper deck of the ferry we had to climb up and over piles of pallets and bags of cargo. We thought this was supposed to be a simple 8 hour ferry ride back to the mainland but we stopped at island after island after island to add even more cargo to the already full boat. Collin was pretty sick by this time. He had a cold when we left home and it had moved into his sinuses. He slept most of the trip. As it got dark they turned the lights on and the bugs came out in swarms. They were ferocious. Finally, 12 hours after leaving the island we arrived into the port at Mwanza. We later discovered the reason that the trip took so long was because the ferry was so grossly overloaded he wanted to be sure they came in after dark to avoid paying the taxes. Anyway, at this point we all wanted off this ferry and back to our better accomodations at the hotel in Mwanza. In order for us to leave the ferry we had two choices-wait for an hour or two while they unloaded all of the cargo and cattle, or climb over all of it. We climbed, literally. We had thought getting on was an adventure but after stopping at all of the islands on the rest of the trip, our tiny "walkway" had now become more of a mountain. We climbed up, up and up over bags and bags of dried fish and who knows what else. It was about three feet wide on top of these bags and if you fell one way you would fall into the lake. If you fell the other way you landed amongst the longhorns. We all made it off the ferry with all of our stuff.

After a good nights rest in Mwanza we awoke for a day off. During our group devotional time Collin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues(Acts 1:8). Later, Pastor Richard took us to look at temporary housing for our family once we arrive there and until the compound is built. I discovered that even as nice as some of the housing was for there, it was still very primitive to what we are accustomed to. I also discovered that prices would go up when it was discovered that it would be Americans renting.

Next we went to an internet cafe where I was able to log on to instant messenger and discovered Christine waiting for me. She had known that this was the day we would likely be near computers and had been online and awake since 2AM. Funny thing is, I came on right at the time she normally gets up. She could have slept until 6:30 as normal. We instant messaged for about 45 minutes as I also tried to read the 10 daily emails she had sent since we had left. It was good to check in and I realized how much I missed her. We were supposed to look at land this day but the land we had been planning to look at we had discovered was too near a military installation for the government to allow us to be on as foreigners. It was decided we would look in 4 more days, on Saturday.

Please pray for me as I am currently fighting a case of bronchitis that we believe came from the same virus that gave Collin a sinus infection. I am finally on antibiotics today but still running a fever.

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-Maisome Island

After the long day of travel by a mechanically unstable bus and a leaky boat, the idea of a nice bed sounded pretty good. We approached the guest house by flashlight and were shown to our individual rooms. Yes, that's right, we each had our very own room, or so it seemed. My room consisted of a twin sized bed , with sheets. There was no pillow. The room was just big enough to fit the bed lengthwise and about two feet wider than the bed. It was very dark because it was an inside room with no windows. Even during the day I had to use a flashlight to find things in my luggage. We all went to bed and I slept fairly well until about 2AM when I woke up ready to go with nowhere to go. As I lay there I could hear heavy breathing under my floor. The floor was made up of boards with spaces between them. I lay there wondering what could be under there. Was it people? With all of the witchcraft on the island could it be something demonic? I tried shining my flashlight between the boards but couldn't see enough. As it began to get light outside and the light shone from underneath the building I could see that my heavy breathing friends were pigs. Other members of the team reported bats in thier rooms and one night Collin had a rat fall from the rafters in his room onto his bed right next to his head. He wrote in his journal that he "didn't sleep well the rest of the night."

It was immediately obvious that the village we were in was a fishing village as all of the island villages are. They would catch thousands of minnows and spread them on the ground to dry, then rake them up to send to market. The beach was covered with small wooden fishing boats. There is no electricity on the island except for when they use generators. Of course they didn't run those much due to the cost of fuel. Fuel over there costs around $7-8 per gallon. And we thought we were paying too much here in the U.S.

We were on the island at the invitation of Pastor Jams. Pastor James is a former witch doctor who came from a line of witch doctors. The stories he shared were incredible. Ultimately the most important thing of his testimony, in my opinion, is that even the bad guys know God's power. That witch doctors themselves admit to being unable to overcome the protection that surrounds a true Christian. I know Christine wrote a post about Pastor James on September 14th if you want to read more about him.

We spent the next 3 days doing pastoral teachings in the mornings and open-air crusades in the late afternoons. While we were on the island there were 440 salvations and 70 Christians filled with the Holy Spirit(Acts 1:8). There were also many healings-eyes, ears, and stomache pain.

Although we enjoyed our time ministering to the people of Maisome Island, I think it is fair to say that when we saw the ferry coming toward the island to pick us up, we were ready to go back to Mwanza. And, boy did that ferry look like a heavenly ride compared to the boat we had been on to get there but we didn't know yet what was to come with that either. Let's just say that we were all very surprised when the ferry let down its gate to let us on.

Shannon and Collin's trip-more travel

That morning once we were up and around, we travelled from Kilamanjaro airport to Mwanza on a mid-sized turbo prop plane. The flight was just over an hour. We enjoyed looking out the window to see some of the landscape. Like Christine, we saw the land change from brown and dusty to green as we arrived closer to Mwanza which is located on the shores of Lake Victoria. After a warm welcome at the airport we were taken to the Monarche Hotel. Shortly after our arrival we met as a team for devotions. It was during this time that Collin received a word over him that he would have healing hands and would be greatly used by God. Also, that he was there for one reason but that God had more in mind. That evening we went to Pastor Richard and Gertrude's home for supper then returned to the hotel.

Christine had warned me about the 5AM Muslim call to prayer. I was expecting to wake up to that but did not hear it. I guess our hotel had better walls and the sound of the ceiling fan covered it up. Some others of our team did hear it but they were on the other side of the hotel.

Off to the island we go. What an adventure! We were to be ready by 7:30AM. We ended up being late due to discussions with hotel staff about our luggage. The ferry should have been gone by the time we arrived but it was there and we just had time to get on. The bus we were to board was already on the ferry, ready to take us on the first leg of our journey. The bus had to have been at least 50 years old. It was pathetic. As we sat in our seats watching them clicking wires together to start this thing we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. Another bus in front of us ended up pulling us off the ferry and to get us started. Here we were on roads that weren't fit for even a bicycle. As bad as we thought the roads were when we started, they only got worse as we went further. We had to stop many times to add water to the radiator and the motor killed several times but we always had enough momentum to pop the clutch and get it started again. The total time on the bus was 6 hours of bumpy, dusty roads. Ugh.

Finally, already exhausted, we arrived at a tiny fishing village where a chartered boat ride had been arranged to take us to Maisome Island. Rev. Debra was shocked to see what arrived. Our boat was an old wooden fishing boat. It looked like something one imagines in biblical times. It had the rounded bottom and sides. It was maybe 40 feet long and 12 feet across. It had two outboard engines and they managed to keep at least one of them running...most of the time. To get on the boat we had to climb a ladder and go up and over the bow of the boat. There were no life jackets. We were joined by about a 50 member choir that Pastor James, from the island had invited along. Some members of the team became a bit nervous as they noticed water coming in at their feet. Out came the buckets and some passengers began bailing water out of the boat. They only had to do this once. We were coming towards an island and thought this must be it. Nope, we were just stopping for gas on a neighboring island. We continued on to arrive at Maisome Island about 3 hours after boarding the boat.

At the island we were greeted enthusiastically by a church choir. As we got off the boat they took our luggage and escorted us to the guest house. Unfortunately by this time it was quite dark so we were unable to see much. As we approached what would be our home for the next four nights we were truly unsuspecting of what was to come and who or what our sleeping companions would be. That is another story for yet another day.

Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania-getting there

Shannon and I will be sitting down together to write the next several posts. He will be telling stories from the trip while I type them. I hope you enjoy what he has to share. Shannon say he is sorry it took us so long to get to this but he has been busy and very tired since returning home.

We arrived at the Minneapolis airport and our biggest concern for the moment was that one of the team members passport was beginning to peel along the edge right where the picture was. The local passport authorities had told us she would never even get on the first plane and were concerned she would even try. They said that even if she got through Minneapolis she would never get through Amsterdam. In Minneapolis nobody said a word about her passport. It was a very long flight of about 10 hours. Collin and I were in the center of the plane and I was almost feeling clausterphobic. Finally we arrived in Amsterdam. We had a 4 hour layover there. I was surprised to discover that there was smoking everywhere and the gender signs to the bathrooms seemed to make no diference whatsoever on who one might find inside. I was inside a stall and heard several women and girls come in. At first I thought, "Oh man! Did I get in the wong one? " But I was nearly certain I hadn't. When I came out there was a woman janitor in there cleaning and a little girl changing her siblings diaper. There were the very telling symbols known as urinals hanging on the walls and sure enough, on the outside of the door as I stepped out there was a mens sign.

When it came time to board the plane to Africa I thought the security there was very lax. Not only was there no questions asked about Stephanie's passport but it seemed like we could have taken nearly anything on the plane there. Now it was time for another long flight of about the same length to Kilamanjaro International airport. The airport is located right near Mount Kilamanjaro in the northeast corner of Tanzania. It was a much more comfortable trip. I had an aisle seat and Collin slept most of the flight. We arrived at Kilamanjaro and stayed at the "hotel" right near the airport. The hotel consisted of small hut-like buildings. Each one had two rooms and each room had three twin sized beds. Unfortunately we arrived after dark into Tanzania so couldn't see much. We decided it was time to spread out in our beds and try to get some sleep as we knew we had more travel in the morning. I woke up ready to go at 5:05. Then I looked at my watch again and realized it was only 1:25. I had mixed up the hands. I didn't sleep much after that but I did some praying and the word "impartation" was stuck in my mind and the song, "Your Name" by Paul Baloche and Kathryn Scott. Here is the chorus:
"Your Name, is a strong mighty tower
Your Name, is a shelter like no other
Your Name, let the nations sing it louder
Cause nothing has the power to save but Your Name. "
The song ran through my mind over and over as I waited for the new day to begin.

So many stories to tell

There are so many things that the guys have shared with me that it is almost hard to know where to start. I also want Shannon to tell the stories direct to you but since he is a bad typist he will likely tell me as I type for some posts. This first story, I am going to share with you as he told it to me Tuesday evening. It's a good one!

Shannon has a CPAP machine that helps him to sleep at night as he has a condition called sleep apnea. Anyway, this machine is in a type of duffel bag that he has carried with him as he travels or is on the road for his job. He opened the bag and used the machine his first night in Tanzania while at the hotel near the Kilamanjaro airport. Then he used it again the next night in Mwanza. The third night they were in Tanzania, they had been through very tough travel conditions to arrive at Maisome Island in Lake Victoria. Then at their arrival they realized that the living conditions were also very dificult. There will be more about the travel and tripto the island to come. Anyway, about this time Shannon was wondering what he was doing there and feeling a bit down. As he got ready for bed, he opened up the bag carrying his machine and there, right on top of the machine, as if it had been purposely laid there, was a tri-folded letter from a friend that Shannon had recieved at a spiritual retreat 7 months ago! The letter reads as follows:

"Nothing is better for a man than...that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. Ecclesiastes 2:24

Since ascending to heaven, Christ no longer has a body on earth except ours. In other words, He has no hands, legs or feet on earth except for the members of His body, the church. Therefore, He sends US out to be HIs body to one another and to the world, and to go about doing good. Remember this: Right now Jesus has no body on earth but ours!

I thank God that we could share the same path this weekend."

Than it is signed by his friend. Shannon found that to be so incredibly encouraging at a time that he needed it so badly. How did that letter get there? And where was it the previous 7 months when that bag had been used and used? Not only did Shannon find it encouraging but he shared this with those he was travelling with and it also lifted me up as he told me. I hope you too can be encouraged as we were.

They're home!

I just wanted to post a quick note to let you know that Shannon and Collin arrived home safely this afternoon. They are healthy and happy but tired. Shannon does not return to work until Thursday and we are not sending Collin back to school until then as well. Tomorow is a catch up on sleep, unpack the bags and get rested day for them. We will post some stories of their travels soon. It was an amazing trip and there is a lot to tell.

The latest news from Tanzania

Thank you so much for your prayers over these past weeks. I am attaching the email from Rev. Debra that arrived this morning. It sounds like it has been an amazing time in Tanzania for the team to be a part of.

One of the things I have been praying very hard for is the salvation of members of the Masai tribe. When I was in Tanzania two years ago I was awed by these beautiful people. They are a nomadic tribe that raises cattle and move with the grass and water. These people are known to be very honorable and are highly respected by everyone but they are steeped in tribal religions. It seems a part of my prayer for that was answered. Please pray for Christianity to spread through their people.

Also, much of the reason for Shannon and Collin's trip to Tanzania was to confirm the calling that God has placed on us for Tanzania and to find land for the ministry. It looks like both of these have happened! Praise the Lord! It also looks like my family will be eating mangoes.

The kids and I will drive to the airport to pick them up tomorrow. Pray for their safe return.

Love,

Christine

-------Original Message-------

From: Debra Zimmer

Date: 09/25/06 06:03:51

Subject: I't been a great trip

Hello everyone,

Just a little report to let you all know that we are doing good. The guys

left this morning to fly back to the states while us girls are getting ready

for our minimum of 12 hour bus trip to Rwanda tomorrow morning. We leave

the hotel at 4am.

We have seen a wonderful harvest of over 960 people saved so far and 91

people receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Our meetings have been

powerful. I think the highlight has been the Pastor's conference - There

was such a move of the spirit the last day that every pastor except of 2

were either on their knees or face crying out to God to change them and

bring revival in their churches. We have so many different denominations and

non-denominational pastors. They said they had never experienced a

conference as powerful as that one. So many had called Pastor Richard and

told him. The second day of the conference I called out a man and a wife

and they were Assembly of God pastors - I prophecied over them about some

things that had been thru and was about to take place in their ministry -

they had been thru something so difficult and were asked to leave the church

for 18 months but then the headquarter said that they were wrong and could

not find evidence of what they were accused of. They laid on the floor and

cried and cried - and they said they would never never be the same - they

said they felt we were sent in by God to encourage them cuz they had felt

like quiting the ministry.

Our open air has been so exciting - we had many Maasi tribal men in their

tribal clothes come forward to get saved and also Muslum. Children's

ministry has been a big hit!!

So many healings - let me mention two - a woman had a tumor in her stomach

and she had went to the hospital and they said she needed surgery so she

needed to save money. She came to our crusade and was prayed for and her

tumor disappeared. Another woman was from far away...she had come to Mwanza

to get treatment on her feet because they were so painful...God healed her

instantly. She was so so happy and danced and danced. So many more

healings....deaf ears...eye sight restored...pain in eyes for

years....gallbladder....pain in body....and more.

We had a move of God in Pastor Richard's church yesterday - his church is a

new building that was built 3 times larger than the building he had 2 years

ago when I was here - it was packed out - we had many new believers from the

crusade come. Our ministry is going to give out bibles to everyone that

didn't have a bible - I think we will need 30 - 40 bibles.

We looked for land on Saturday for the orphanage and radio tower. We found

the perfect piece of land - it is about 30 acres and it has some beautiful

hills on it and some of it is flat with mango trees. Shannon was so excited

cuz it was out in the country - he said he is going home to prepare to come

to Tanzania with his family to oversee this part of our ministry. He was so

touched by the people and their love and the people are so excited that the

family is coming in to live. The land is out in the country but maybe

only a few miles to town.

Thanks again for all your prayers - God is moving in a great way in Tanzania

and you are all a part of it. I will leave part of my heart here....I

really do love this country deeply.

We will be in Rwanda on Monday and arrive into Mpls. at noon on Tuesday.

Blessings and love,

Debra

"Only 5 more days"

I think it would be fair to say that the children and I here at home are ready for Shannon and Collin to be home. As each day passes we have two calenders that we cross the day off on and count the days that are left. And during each day as we talk about missing them we continue to remind each other of how many days are left. Even after this long alone in our bed, I still don't sleep well at night. I figured by this time exhaustion would set in from all of the lost sleep and I'd be able to crash through a whole night but I'm not. Each time I wake up, several times per night, I find myself adding 8 hours to my time and praying for the team based upon what I figure they are doing. While in Mwanza, pastoral teachings are in the mornings and the crusades are in the late afternoon and into the evening.

Often I hear of middle aged couples who end up divorced once thier nest is empty. They realize that they have lost touch with each other in the child raising years. I remember when I travelled to Tanzania two years ago. Before I left I thought that I would miss the children most of all. As a homeschooling mom, my days are totally wrapped up in the children. I take care of the schooling, the doctors appointments, the music lessons and activities. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how quickly and how much I missed Shannon. Sure, I missed the kids but my thoughts were mainly on him. I felt very reassured, that although we've come through many tough years in our marriage, our marriage is very strong. In fact, our marriage is strong not despite our troubled years, but because of them.

Although I miss the guys terribly, I am very excited to hear of the reports they will have, when they return, of salvations and healings in Mwanza. Please pray that the harvest of souls in Mwanza will be great.

Rev. Debra's email from Tanzania

Hello everyone,

We have just returned from the island last night and the group is doing very

good!!!

It has been a trip beyond trips and it is so unbelievable what we have

experienced....starting with Stephanie arriving into Tanzania without a

problem.....we were told by the passport office in Willmar that she would

never get out of Mpls. because of her passport picture that was coming apart

and they were very alarmed that we would even try. God is faithful, there

was no question asked the entire trip and we know she will get home the same

way... thru a miracle. Thanks for your prayers!!!!!

Our trip to the island was so exciting. We starting with a bus ride that

lasted about 6 hours - a public bus on very rough roads and no stops for

bathroom breaks. We were all pretty tired and aching when we arrived to the

port where we would be taking a boat 3 hours to Maisome Island and everyone

was in good spirits and still smiling and praising God - but when I saw the

boat that we were going to take, I could hardly believe my eyes....it was

NOT what I was expecting. I was expecting a ferry, but this was a very old

and small boat and to get in the boat you had to climb a tall ladder -

Everyone else did much better than me....I don't like heights - I climbed

the ladder 3 times before I could get the nerve to go to the top and swing

my foot into the boat - (I did it, but with alot of help of course from

others hanging on to me. It was unbelievable and we sat on wooden benches -

it was really exciting being we had never experience this before until I saw

the water coming into the bottom of the boat...we starting praying!!! God is

faithful. When we got to the island, we were welcomed by many who were

singing songs of praise as we got off the boat. We were taken to a little

quest house and were met with bats and rats in our rooms. We took authority

over these things and plead the blood and for the most part sleep well the

next 4 nights. Thank you Jesus for the Blood!!!!! Not one curse could touch

out group - we have received greater revelation of the blood.

Thank you for your prayers - we have felt them as we battled many things

including witchcraft in the spirit, but we seen victory and the fruit was

so great. We were the first white people to preach on the island and it was

such a priviledge. The conference was packed out with people standing

around the church everyday because there was no room in the church. The

church was so hungry and so excited that we had come. We have heard reports

that many many said that they will never be the same. The pastor of the

church is under our ministry - His name is Pastor James and he is an

ex-witchdoctor that is so totally sold out to God. His church has grown to

about 250 from 30 people when I met him 4 years ago at the first conference

that I did with a team. We had a divine appointmnet on that island and we

are definitely going back next year.

The open- air meetings have been powerful on the island. There were over

400 people saved. The exciting thing is when the power of God was so strong

at the conference and the Sunday church service that people walked up front

without an invititation. Revival fires are truly burning on this island - I

love to go where no one else goes - What a priviledge it was, yes!! the

living conditions for us while on the island was such a little price in

comparison to the souls that were saved and so many healings, such as eye

sight being restored and deaf ears being opened and so much more. This

island will trully never be the same!!!

We took a 12 hour ferry ride going home - It was really easy in comparison

to the way we went to the island. The only hard part was the way we left

the ferry. Because we didn't want to wait until they unloaded the ferry

from the cargo that was on it, which would of taken another hour, we had to

walk on top of bags of fish that were stacked up more than 2 stories high. I

couldn't look down, my legs were shaking - Lake Victoria was on the

immediate left and cows were down below on the immediate right with the

largest horns I have ever seen. God's grace is sufficient - we have seen

that He is faithful and when we do what we never thought we could do, we can

do it because we trust Him and look into his face.

The team is wonderful - there has been unity from day one and each one is

being changed and touched and being used in ways they never believed

possible.

Thank you so much for all your prayers.....we couldn't do it without you!!!

Prayer is so necessary. You are part of all that God does while we are here

in Tanzania and Rwanda.

Continue to pray, we are looking for land tomorrow for the orphanage, radio

station, etc. We also start the Pastor's conference in Mwanza tomorrow

which will go thru Friday and we will be starting the open-air in Mwanza

Thursday thru Sunday.

Love, Debra

News from Tanzania

Well, after being awake most of the night and leaving the computer online in hopes of hearing from Shannon, this morning, just as I would normally get up, he logged into instant messenger. We had about 45 minutes andchatted the whole time. He is a one finger typist so his comments were very short but here is what I have found out.

Collin left here with a cold. It ended up turning into a sinus infection and he is on medication and getting better. They are going to look at land, now as I type this, at two diferent locations. The living conditions at the island were very dificult and the travel tough as well but now that they are back in Mwanza it is much better. Collin has recieved the baptism of the Holy Spirit! Refer to Acts 1:8. There have been many salvations and healings at the island and ministry in Mwanza begins tomorrow. He was so excited to hear my news about the well drilling rig being in Tanzania. He could hardly wait to share it with Rev. Debra and Pastor Richard.

I most likely will not hear from them again now until we pick them up at the airport next Tuesday. Only Shannon, Collin and Mike are returning next week while the rest of the team continues on for a weeek to go to Rwanda.

Rev. Debra emailed and I got quite a bit more info from that to share. I will put that in a seperate post. Please keep praying.

Anxiously waiting

As I am writing this Rev. Debra, Shannon, Collin and the others should be waking to the sound of the Muslim call to prayer. Several times each day the call is issued over huge speakers that broadcast across the larger cities of which Mwanza is one. I recall that during my stay there I used the call each morning to pray to my own God, the only true God and for the people that were answering that call. I hope and pray that when we eventually arrive in Mwanza full-time we can play a part in showing many people, including muslims, the way to Christ.

Today, in Mwanza, Rev Debra, Shannon, Collin and Pastor Richard are meeting with government officials to look at land and discuss our vision. Please pray for favor. Also, today is the day they will be looking at rental housing for us while we wait for the mission housing to be built. I am also hopeful that I will receive an email from either Shannon or Rev. Debra or both. Hopefully by the time I post tomorrow I will have some news from them to share.

Please also keep me in your prayers. I am missing my guys pretty bad and ready to have them home. As I look at the calendar and realize we are already halfway through this separation, I then realize that we are only halfway through.

Connections

I never cease to be amazed by God's ways. Shannon and I have been praying for many things over these past few months. One thing is for connections. We are asking God to put people in our lives that will work with us in any way to accomplish His purpose in Tanzania. There have been several instances just this week that I want to share about.

First, last Sunday evening, as we broke up into our new small groups at our church and began visiting with others, Shannon was talking with the leader. Jeff and his wife actually have lived across the street from my parents for several years and began attending our church about a year ago. In our large church and with our busy lives we have never really connected much. Anyway, during their conversation last week about Shannon's then pending trip, Jeff shared that he knows someone that has a well-drilling rig in Africa. He said he'd try to find out where they were located. Well, tonight as I returned to our group, Jeff came to tell me excitedly that the well-drilling rig is in Tanzania! The man owning it has already drilled several wells for the president of Tanzania. He travels there twice per year to do more drilling. Jeff plans to get even more information to us soon.

Second, on Monday, on the trip home from dropping off the team at the airport, I stopped at a restraunt with my two children that are homeschooled to have lunch. In talking with our server she told us that she knits scarves for orphanages around the world. She agreed with me that we probably wouldn't need a lot of those on the equator but shared that she has a friend in the Minneapolis area that knits teddy bears for orphanages. We exchanged information in hopes that we can connect again once things are set up.

Lastly, tonight while Jeff and I were talking about the well drilling, another member of our small group asked what we were talking about. Jim is another person in our church we didn't have an earlier connection with. He shared that he previously worked as an engineer and his career was to consult on the best placement of high-output wells. He said that with the help of an infrared picture he would be able to tell the best place to drill a well.

There are many more examples similar to these I could share that have occurred over these past months. I believe that as long as Shannon and I continue to step out in faith and pray for these connections, God will continue to answer. Please join us in praying for all of the pieces of this puzzle to continue to fall into place.

The team should be waking up as I write this. Today is the day they will travel by an 8 hour boat ride from the island back to Mwanza. Pray for their safe travel and rest once they arrive at their hotel. I am hoping to hear something from them by email on either Monday or Tuesday.

Learning New Things

Over the past few months nearly everything I do, I do with thoughts of Africa in my head. When I see something I want to buy I think, "Do I need this?" If the answer is yes I buy it, but if the answer is no, then I think, "is this something I would take wih me to Tanzania?" If the answer is yes then I may buy it but if the answer is no I realize that it will be just another item to get rid of before we move so I leave it on the store shelf. Last week the kids and I went on a field trip to see honey bees and how the bee keeper collects honey. As I watched the demonstration I wondered, "is this something we could do in Tanzania? What a great treat this would be for the orphans and we could even sell some at the market." Today as I canned my first batch of applesauce and apple butter ever, from the first batch of apples the trees we planted several years ago produced, I wondered if I would do this in Tanzania. Our family loves applesauce and it would be wonderful to be able to continue to have it over there. By the way, I got 9 quarts and 3 pints of apple sauce and 4 pints of apple butter out of our two tiny little trees.

I think one of my biggest concerns about moving is finding ways to feed my family over there. Although I do make many things from scratch even those meals are made with preprocessed ingredients. My chicken here is processed and frozen. I have never had to pluck a chicken here. My beef can be bought by certain cuts here. Over there, you ask for beef and they go cut a chunk of beef straight off the cow hanging in the corner.

I will be fortunate to have the help of Pastor Richard's wife, Gertrude, as well as some women from his church to help me learn the new ways needed to live over there. Fortunately, I love to be learning something new all of the time. This is part of the reason I read so much as well as one of the many reasons we homeschool our children. I realize more and more all of the time what a good thing that will be once we move to Tanzania.

Today, the team should still be on Maisome Island. Sunday morning they will be splitting up to attend churches there on the island as well as doing a crusade in the evening. I am very much looking forward to church here tomorrow. I love our church family and love even more the praise and worship time together.

Pastor James-the former witch doctor

Today, Thursday, Collin and Shannon and the team should have arrived on Maisome Island in Lake Victoria. Maisome Island is a mid sized strip of land. I believe it is about 10 miles long and 2 miles wide. It has no electricity or vehicles, no cell phones or regular phones. In fact, as I write this they should be sleeping their first night there in preparation for the next 4 days of ministry and teaching. With them on the island, now seems like a great time to share with you the story of Pastor James that I mentioned in my blog about 2 months ago.

I met Pastor James when I was in Tanzania two years ago but Rev. Debra met him prior to that as he had come to her pastoral conferences in previous years. While we were there in 2004, Rev. Debra invited him for an evening to share his testimony with us as he was a former witch doctor. We wanted to know more. As he does not speak English, we needed Pastor Richard to translate for us and he very willlingly did. Pastor James grew up in a family of witch doctors. His grandfather and father both trained him in thier ways and he lived as a witch doctor until he became saved. After becoming saved, he went to bible school and became a minister and has a large Christian congregation on the island now.

One story he shared was about a time he and several others were planning to steal a man's goat. This man was very rich there on the island and had a fenced in home with a gate. Because they knew he was rich the planned to steal his goat, figuring he didn't need it anyway. Pastor James and these two others "did their magic" as he said which involved the casting of spells and using diferent items to pray curses on the individual. They went to the home after dark and as the first of the group entered the gate a bright dot of light came and literally pushed the lead man backwards and spun very very fast over his face. The man inched through the gate on his back with this light spinning over his face. Once his feet had cleared the entrance, Pastor James saw the light zoom into place over the roof of the home after making the sign of the cross over it. Pastor James said they were very afraid but went to their home and did "stronger magic" before returning the next night. The next night Pastor James took the lead as it was known among the men that he had stronger powers than the others. As they approached, he said they looked for the light and it was still there over the house as it had been when they left the night before. As Pastor James entered through the gate the exact same thing happened to him as had happened to the man the night before. He too slunk out of there on his back. The next day, he and the two others went to a witch doctor that was the most knowledgable and powerful of all they knew. When he heard the story and they asked what they could do he asked which house this had happened at. He responded that the family living there were Christians and that none of their magic could possibly overcome the power of this man's God.

What I find puzzling is why, witch doctors, even though they often are aware of our God's higher authority, still remain in their ways. I guess it is similar to non Christians. So many of them are aware of God, they can see what He can do, but they don't want to be held accountable, to live by an authority higher than thier own.

In 2004, while in a remote village, we were witness to the salvation of an 80 something year old man. He had been a witch doctor all of his life and walked for 10 hours to come to hear what we had to share with him after his grandson, a minister, asked him to come.

Please be in prayer for the team as there is much witchcraft and scorcery on the island. Our God is bigger than all of that but we still need to stand as spiritual defenders of those reaching out to the lost that are being used by satan.

A Missed Opportunity?

Last night as I restlessly dozed off and on, missing Shannon beside me and thinking of my guys up in the airplane for so long, I prayed off and on through the night. Several times I fell asleep praying and woke up, eager to pray some more. Then today, through the mail, I received a gift of some audio tape teachings and a book on prayer from a dear friend of ours from back when we were brand new Christians. James is someone who had great patience with us as he met with us each Saturday evening back in the early 90's to do bible study, then would watch us go home and continue on in our sinful ways. Of course, we still sin but much less often than we did then. James moved out of state a few years back and we have kept in touch. When he heard about our upcoming move he was truly excited. In fact, he is travelling to Uganda(just across Lake Victoria from Tanzania) on a missions trip for a couple of weeks in October.

I listened to the tape he sent about prayer this morning. There were many great teachings in the tape but the one that has stuck with me the most was about several men who missed an amazing opportunity. Jesus asked 3 of his disciples, Peter, James and John, to go with him to pray in the garden on the night of his betrayal. Instead these men selfishly said no and fell asleep. It grieves my heart terribly to remember that my Jesus, on the worst night of his life, and after asking others to join him in prayer, was refused that. I immediately wondered to myself what I would have done. Would I have slept too?

I have always thought that it was Ok for me to fall asleep praying. At least I am praying until then, I've argued, but maybe I need to think again. How would I feel if someone sat with me visiting and they fell asleep? Do I truly realize what a gift prayer time is and do I treat it that way? Do I realize how much more effective my life for Jesus is when I pray? I have some self examination to do on this subject. Although I do pray at other times throughout the day, sometimes long and sometimes short, I need to make my prayer time a bigger priority in my life.

Shannon and Collin should be in Tanzania now. Their clock is 8 hours ahead of ours. Tomorrow, Wednesday, they will first step foot in, and see our future hometown of Mwanza. On Thursday they will travel to the island. Continue praying for safe travels and good rest when they can get it.