(Photo: This is my bed with the mosquito netting hanging down!)
Our trip continues well and it is good to have the companionship, energy and insights from Gif and Simba in the traveling group. Today Colin and Ellen leave going to Indonesia where they will spend the week. It has really been good having them along this far on the trip.
The past few days have been spent in meetings discussing the work of the Chimala School of Preaching. We are evaluating the program’s viability and its graduates in their mission. We have been discussing how Gage’s program can be utilized to help the School of Preaching become independently funded and also utilize agriculture in its graduates to go into the villages preaching the gospel. For two days we have met with the teachers in the school and explained how this will help them to become self-funded. The teachers are very supportive of the work and eager to see things go forward. The Tanzania brethren are realistic in looking at the challenges of framing and the ups and downs that are absolute realities but they also see the reality of this program providing funds for the school and even how the abundance of foods can be utilized in the Church’s benevolence ministry.
Each morning begins early as we go to the devotional at the School of Preaching. It begins at 7:30 a.m. The room is filled full and the singing is amazing. I spoke on Monday. Gif will speak on Thursday and Simba on Friday.
Howell Ferguson is to become the new Stateside Coordinator for Chimala Missions beginning in January 2019. Sunday night he sent this report on the trip and I copy it below for you to read.
“Greetings! I pray all of you are doing well. I just wanted to give a brief report of our trip up to this point Sunday night the 16th. All our flights and connections went as planned – from Memphis, Minneapolis, Amsterdam, Dar-es-Salaam, Mbeya and finally a 2-hour road trip Chimala. Mary and I met John Kachelman, Adam and Andrew Gifford, and Colin and Helen McKee in Amsterdam and continued to travel with us for the rest of the trip. Adam and Andrew’s luggage did not arrive with us in Dar but finally came on Sunday. The American missionaries here at Chimala include Richard and Carol Rogers and Cheryl Bode. Once we arrived at Chimala it was so great to see so many of our friends at the Chimala Mission. Bill and Cyndi Stinson and Gage and Kelly Coldwater arrived at Chimala a few days before us. Saturday morning we took the group in two Land Cruisers up to the Ailsa mission where we constructed a mission house over two years ago. It looked great and gave Mary and me a very surreal feeling. Other than some outside painting and landscaping, everything was very much the same as we left it. The solar panel system was still working providing electric power for lights and other small applications. The eucalyptus and pine trees planted while we were constructing the house were growing well with some reaching over 12 feet in height.
“After lunch Saturday Cheryl gave the Dalraida group a tour of the hospital. Following the tour all of us met at the guest house and talked about the needs of the hospital and plans for the future farm project. Everyone seemed excited about the potential the farm project has to bring new life to the mission helping to solve many of the mission’s long-standing challenges. While there have been a number of attempts to make the mission more self-sustaining, I have never known of a more comprehensive and well-researched proposal for helping the mission to reach its goals than the one proposed by Gage Coldwater with the Manna Project. For many years much of the mission’s nearly 800 acres has not been utilized in a useful way. In keeping with being good stewards of God’s things, the mission’s financial burden could be greatly reduced with an intelligent and practical use of the land in the form of efficient farming techniques involving vegetable gardens, coffee, tilapia ponds, raising rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, chickens, pigs, etc. The mission is at an ideal location with ample water flowing from the Chimala River and temperate climate for growing a great variety of items. Gage has been assisting mission efforts around the world and said concerning the Chimala Mission, he had never seen any mission anywhere with all the right elements needed to make a program like this work.
“Sunday morning, we divided everyone into three groups. Adam “Simba” Gifford traveled with Mary and me and Jacob our translator to the village church at Kimani. Adam presented the lesson and I gave a quick review of the Lord’s Supper. Following worship service, I encouraged the children to remain for a class that Mary would teach. That afternoon, Gage took Bill and me on a tour of what he has already proposed to carry out at the mission. For Sunday evening service Mary and I traveled with Adam and Jacob to a village church at Isitu where I preached from the fourth chapter of Philippians. After the evening worship services, it is Bill and Cyndi’s tradition to invite everyone over to make pizza. It gave us all a great time to get better introduced which was very encouraging. Tomorrow morning at 7:30 the group will attend chapel at CBI. Following chapel, Bill plans to give the rest of the tour of the entire mission.
“Consistently the response from everyone is positive toward the Chimala Mission and the good works that are conducted there. It is late and I can barely keep my eyes open, so I apologize in advance for any writing errors. Hopefully I will update this report after several other days of visits and classes.
“Please pray for this good work of the church at the Chimala Mission. Mungu bariki!
“In His service, Howell Ferguson”
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