Farewell Kenya, Hello Tanzania

Farewell Kenya, Hello Tanzania

[Note from Tim: Sorry for back-posting, this is a bit of a catch up for those that may not be keeping up to date on social media]

Hi Everybody,

I hope this message finds you well. Thank you for all the emails we have received encouraging us and assuring us of your prayer support. We are certainly keeping you in our prayers if you’ve been in touch with requests. It was wonderful to see the pictures from the baptisms and picnic in Rudloe on Sunday – we were praying for you – and we will be thinking of everyone from Church on the Green next Sunday when you start meeting at Crumpets Cafe! (As a side note… I love crumpets!) It’s great to hear your news so please email if you have time as we should have Internet in Tanzania.

Thank you for your prayers for James’s back – it has been much better this week. Thank you also to those who have been praying for my health. Some of you may know I had to make a trip to the clinic as I had a gut problem and needed a course of antibiotics. I completed the course today and feel MUCH better. What a blessing to have such a good clinic/hospital nearby right when I needed it! Please pray for continued good health.

Flat grassland in foreground, rising to rows of mountains disappearing in the distance
Views of the Rift Valley from the minibus.

We had some great teaching on disciple making this week focusing on Luke 10:1-20 in the Bible. Jesus sent out 72 followers to share the good news of the gospel to villages and towns he would be passing through and we studied the instructions he gave them to think about how best to share the good news in the contexts where we will be. I had never really thought about the bit where he advises them not to move from house to house but to find a ‘person of peace’ willing to invite them in and be open to the message and stay there to disciple them. We discussed how much more effective it is to develop deep relationships and share more of God’s word with one person / family so they come to truly believe and be confident in their faith, able to put it into practice in their life, rather than spread the word too thinly. In the Bible passage it says the disciples returned from their mission ‘full of joy’ at all they had seen God do. I’m excited to see what God will do whilst we’re in Tanzania!

Please pray that our journey will go smoothly, our luggage will miraculously not exceed the weight limit and we’ll have a great few days in Dar es Salaam getting to know the team we’ll be with and sorting out Tanzanian phone numbers and any other details. I will be acquiring culturally appropriate clothing for the village so I may look a little different in the photos for our next update!

Some highlights of this past week besides the great teaching we’ve continued to receive have been learning to make chapattis, eating at an amazing Ethiopian restaurant and visiting AIM’s ‘On Field Media’ office.

Banquet of colours and flavours in the Ethiopian restaurant we visited
An amazing Ethiopian restaurant

Right, I must go to sleep as we have an early start tomorrow but I just want to send our love to you all. We think of you and miss you. Thank you for your support. Please be praying for us, the people in our destination village and for our fellow team members on the Go Program as they make their way to their placements. We’ll keep in touch as well as we can.

Lots of love,

James and Esther xXx