Regal Giraffe of Manyara

On our way out of the park we had a great viewing of a number of beautiful giraffe, all trekking near the shores of Lake Manyara. This regal mother and her baby were on their way to join the rest of the "herd" of dozens of these graceful creatures feeding among the trees.

They seemed just as curious about us as we were about them as we paused to admire them and snap their photos.

What a joy and privilege it is to travel to the remote areas and observe God's incredible creation in all its diversity and beauty. I am reminded of the account in Genesis where God looked upon all He had created and pronounced it "very good". . . our observation would add "truly amazing!"

Lunch break at Manyara - Part 2

Also during lunch (coincidently, the ONLY time visitors are allowed out of their vehicles), we looked and spied several lions. Can you spot them? Glad we had those binoculars!

There they are, beneath the tree! I was happy to see them...way over there...happily lounging from the heat of the day and unconcerned about the light-skinned picnickers nearby.

And then it was time to hit the road again to see the rest of the park.

Lunch break at Manyara - Part 1

We pulled into the park's picnic area for a quick bite of lunch, notice the binoculars in the middle of the table. We didn't want to miss a single opportunity to catch a glimpse of the wonders God had prepared for us.  While eating, we were greeted by another one of Tanzania's beautiful birds.

This little fellow landed just inches from us, perching on the end of our table waiting for hand-outs.  What striking colors and contrasts!

Day Safari in Manyara - Part 2

This is one of the few times that I have been privileged to see hippos. 

Because we came early in the day, before the heat of the sun was too unbearable, 

many of them were grazing by the banks of the lake.

Once the sun gets hot, these creatures, which are very susceptible to sunburn, 

spend their days wallowing in the pools.

Warthogs make me laugh. They are such comically ugly animals, but they too were on the hunt for good food, kneeling right down and digging wildly into the earth with their snouts.

One of my favorite African birds, the Crested (or Crowned) Crane loves the dry plains, where it can snack on plants, insects, and even lizards.

Day Safari in Manyara - Part 1

As a kind of belated birthday celebration, the AIM team decided to take me for a one-day, self-drive safari to Lake Manyara National Park. Manyara is beautiful, with terrain that varies from wooded streams to dry, grassy plains.

The elephants we saw at Manyara were smaller (or younger?) than others we have seen in Tanzania, but that didn't keep us from stopping for a few minutes. Since they were so close, we enjoyed watching the whole family of them as they ate and observed us.

Even the baboons seemed to be taking a day off, sitting in the shade and grooming each other near a small hippo pool.

Field-Direct Prices

As we entered the plant, we walked among large sacks of rice.

We watched as the raw,

whole rice (spread across the floor) was scooped by the bucketful and handed to the man on the make-shift scaffolding. He would then pour the rice into the hopper. The machine would husk the rice, and the clean, warm, white rice would exit at the bottom of the machine into another bucket.

The cleaned rice was then taken to the men at the scales who filled the large sacks with 100 kilograms (220 pounds). When the sacks are full, they are tied off and ready for sale.

Once again, Bayo took advantage of the 30% savings of buying factory-direct. He took a 20 kg sack home, which he says will likely provide his family with the rice they need for the next 4-5 months!

Magugu Rice - Tanzania's finest

About halfway back to Arusha is the village of Magugu, 

known throughout East Africa for high-quality, aromatic rice. 

The fields are golden and ready to be harvested. 

Bayo showed us how the grains form and how they simply fall off the stalk when they are ripe.

We took a few minutes in the village for a "tour" (ok, really more of a look-around) at the processing plant. As we arrived, we had a difficult time knowing where to park the car, since tarps covered with drying rice blanketed the front property...right up to the road.

Obstacles to Fruitfulness

The parable of the 4 soils (also called the parable of the sower) was another one of the key passages used to illustrate the obstacles to spiritual fruitfulness.

• How do we break up hard-packed earth so that the seed of the word can be received?
• What is needed in order to remove the stones that prevent stable root production?
• How do we get rid of the thorns or weeds of the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches?

Jesus used simple illustrations that everyone could understand to drive home principles for living and for wisdom. These are illustrations that rural Tanzanian pastors can really grasp since most of them are also subsistence farmers. We all took these teachings to heart and faced the issues of our lives. We spent time on our faces before the Lord, thanking Him for loving and caring for us and giving Him permission to deal with our sins, with our self-focus, with our distractions to a fruitful life and ministry. 

Expansion of Conference Ministry Partners

We were blessed with a few new people who were also capable translators willing to give Bayo an occasional break. We were also blessed by adding Santosh Kumar to the teaching team for this conference.  We met Santosh in Holland, Michigan, and began to develop a friendship with him in his last months of seminary training.

God gave us the wonderful  opportunity of ministering with Santosh in Tanzania. Santosh really enjoyed his time teaching the pastors, and it seems that the pastors really enjoyed him, too! Before Santosh left, they gifted him with one of the local tribes' cloth wraps (shuka), which both expresses their thankfulness to him but also their welcome for him to come again in the future.

It was great for the AIM team to work with him, and we are praying for God to open doors for AIM in the Orissa region of India in the near future.

Matunda Mengi Sana (Fruitfulness)

We enjoyed the participating pastors and their responsiveness to the training. They love the Word of God and we love seeing it come alive for them. Their faces light up in joyful expectation as they listen to the stories of Jesus lessons with his Disciples.

They pressed in as we studied the deep concepts Jesus taught about the vine & branches (John 15). They seemed to hang onto the purpose of the branches: to bear much fruit. Their eyes are opened, and they now understand some of the Biblical principles of true spiritual fruitfulness.

Lutheran pastor learns of a new opportunity

The Lutheran church near Katesh's "downtown" volunteered to host the Pastors Conference.  This church is very active, and its pastor and leadership are well respected in the community. The pastor (as well as many others) showed huge interest in the water filter that we brought with us to purify our drinking water. As Bob demonstrated the simple filtration device, they exclaimed how their daily lives would be transformed by access to such a device! Though people still must fetch buckets of water, there would be no more waiting as the water sits in a tank for a day (as the large impurities settle to the bottom); no more gathering or paying someone extra for firewood or charcoal in order to boil the water thoroughly; no more waiting for the water to cool before it may be drinkable. AND no more waste of water when the unused water turns a bit rancid after 3 days.

Imagine! A rural Tanzanian family could be significantly impacted for under $50! We hope to bring several of these small filtering devices back with us when we return next year. We would love to put a few of them in the hands of the pastors who labor tirelessly for the Kingdom.

I just have one question for you...

...EXACTLY HOW DO I GET TO MAKUMIRA UNIVERSITY'S COMPUTER LAB?????

Preparing for Conference in Katesh

Because the Unity Committee requested that we schedule our trainings this year in Katesh, we were able to rent the home of a former missionary. It is currently kept in good working order by the local Pentecostal church. This fully-furnished home made our stay very comfortable and practical.

A young woman named Ana was also willing to help us with some of the daily essentials in the home, like cleaning and preparing dinner meals for us on the days that we had pastors conference or discipleship training all day. Her shy smile and gentle heart were a blessing to us, and her assistance allowed us to relax in the evenings and gather our thoughts for the next day of training.