Return to Arusha

Our drive home the next day was awesome. We soaked in the beauty: the East African landscape, the growth that has begun in the local crops, and the faces of the people.

Truly, this was another one of the blessed times of our ministry here in Tanzania.

Thank You, Lord, for the opportunities into which You have invited us.

We praise You for the transformation that You are working in these ministry leaders’ lives,

in our lives,

in our ministry partners’ lives,

and in communities all over the world.

Bwana asifiwe! Amen.

Conference II Ending

The pastors excitedly said that they had never heard teachings and seen video evidence of God’s work in the world like they had this week. They banded together in prayer and in support of one another.
The conference ended with a wonderful spirit of unity and love.

O Lord, we need You!

The room was filled with people who were clinging to God. What started as loud prayers of open confession then turned to solemn and silent prayers of desperation, as we all humbled ourselves before God and began to seek His face.

We left plenty of time at the end of several of the sessions for these ministry leaders to “do business” with God.

My teaching sessions

Much of my teaching for this seminar surrounded the areas of spiritual hindrances: sin, pride, and curses (both on people and on the land).

The topic of curses was clearly the favorite. As I taught, I read Biblical descriptions of a cursed people and a cursed land; and, they heard descriptions that they could totally relate to! Then, as I began to teach about the Biblical remedies, I could see every eye in the room! No one was sleeping! No one was distracted. They were sitting on the edges of the benches, pens and highlighters ready. I continued to lead them to understand the problem as well as the remedy that is found in Jesus Christ. I taught them some very practical ways of appropriating Jesus’ sacrifice as the atonement for their sins and curses.

At the end of those sessions of teaching, I left them with some “homework”: to research and pray about their respective communities, asking God about those sins or curses that may be thwarting God’s desired blessing.

Even as I was wrapping up the speaking session, however, one pastor slipped a shabby, paper note up to the front for me. The paper said (in Swahili),
“My father murdered a man right here in Gendabi years ago. What do I do now to break the curses off of myself, my family, and the land?”So, right then and there, we were able to stop and practice what I had been teaching! It was a beautiful opportunity for them to “grow into” the new principles, and put action to them!
After that little activity, as pastors began to return to their seats, I spotted many of them beginning to write on spare papers. By the closing of the conference, we had a large handful of papers containing the writings of many leaders, confessing the curse-inducing sins of their families and villages. What a blessing to finally deal with the weights that have been on their shoulders and hearts for so long!

Bob teaching on unity

Bob did a particularly fine job speaking to the pastors about unity, and the blessing that unity draws.

(See Psalm 133.)

As he described the concepts, you could sense that they couldn’t really figure this out. However, Bob surprised them by dumping a bottle of water over his head (in illustration of verse 2) then explaining again the concept of unity—not a single hair of the beard, but the anointing creating the unity of all the individual hairs into one beard.
By the end of the seminar, the pastors stretched both physically and over denominational lines, to join hands and pray together with one heart and one mind.

Dr. Frank Byela, Guest Speaker

Our guest and assistant for this conference was Dr. Frank, a Congolese medical doctor by profession, but a preacher by "calling."

Though we didn't assign him tons of teaching sessions, we asked him to lead the showing of the Transformation videos. He did a fabulous job of translating from his mother-tongue of French, into Swahili.

What a whopping success!! After hearing teaching from Bob and me during the morning and afternoon sessions, the ministry leaders were then able to watch gripping testimonies of transformed communities all over the world. . .thus, allowing them to view examples of people who had put into practice the same principles we had been teaching them.

The excitement of what God is doing in the world totally overwhelmed them. Several times during the movie, the pastors erupted into "Hallelujah!" "Amen." and "Bwana asifiwe!" (Praise the Lord!)

Faustin Bayo

Our translator, Bayo, helped us tremendously again this conference. He is clearly highly-respected in this region. His love for the people (and particularly the pastors) is evident in his care, his concern, and his zeal to teach and disciple them.

Gendabi, in the Tanzanian Rift Valley

After hours of traveling both paved roads and dirt, we arrived in the small village of Gendabi, at the foothills of Mt. Hanang. Gorgeous scenery and a mild climate make this a wonderful setting for the 2nd conference in the Dareda valley.

The setting for this conference was quite pleasant. The buildings are wired with electricity and fed by a natural spring. These blessings were left for the locals by the American missionary couple who lived here in the 60’s. They also established a medical clinic and a school system. The local church has been very careful to maintain the institutions and buildings they inherited.

Beans and Maize

Bayo reports that approximately 70% of the beans and maize that end up in Arusha’s marketplace are grown in this area of the country. Thus, famine in this valley means a lack throughout much of the country.

However, significant rainfall for the past month and a half, plus nutrient-rich soil have already begun to yield crops of beans that are ready for reaping!
Maize that was stunted a month ago has sprung up dramatically. Tasseled crowns atop tall stalks promise a good harvest in about another month.

Green Valley

As we approached the massive valley that contains the many villages (including Dareda and Gendabi), we could see the evidence of the rain that has continued since last month’s conference. We praised God as we drove past kilometer after kilometer of green fields and crops.
We saw many people working out in the fields. Our translator, Pastor Bayo, explained that the rains have again brought hope to the people. Now they gladly spend long days out in the field, hoping for an abundant harvest this year.

In fact, many have begun a second sowing, anticipating multiple harvests over the coming months.

After weeks of preparation. . .

We packed up our gear—conference materials, computers, projector, battery and inverter, clothing, water purifier, Audio Scripture units, and Iraqw language Bibles.

As we drove out of Arusha and across the plains, we recognized how very dry the land is. In these remote areas, no rain means no food or water. Famine is affecting many; in fact, many people and their herds are even dying!



About an hour outside Arusha, the road becomes rough. . .so rough, indeed, that 4-wheel drive vehicles and buses alike have created off-road paths that are preferable to the rocky, washboard road itself.
Two years ago, when we drove this very road for the first time, it rattled screws out of our car’s dashboard. Thank God for the “diamond lane” this time!

Unity Committee

February 18, 2009, we travelled to Babati (about 2/3 of the distance to Ndareda) to meet with the “Unity Committee,” a group of pastors from the Dareda area of the Rift Valley who, despite varying denominations, dedicate themselves to unity. These are the men who have made commitments to building the Kingdom of God, rather than only building the ministries of men.

We met together to talk about the next conference, and to make arrangements for invitations to go out (via phone text messaging) to pastors across the wide valley—reaching our hands out to those of other denominations, asking them to join us as we look to the King of Kings, and to His Kingdom-building around us.