the first two weeks in Africa...

In my first two weeks back in Africa, I met a lot of interesting people, including a witch-doctor and a cross-dressing drunk. In addition to 500 people coming to Christ and two new churches being succesfully launched, I also had the privilege of seeing, however, that a lot of good things have been happening as a result of the training that we have been offering the pastors and leaders in Tanzania over the past few years. Currently, about 50 acres of land are under cultivation in the villages, with food being made available for the people in self-sufficient projects the people can maintain themselves. Also, 68 orphans are being taken care of directly and another 25 indirectly. Also 32 widows are being taken care of by the churches due to all these self-sustaining projects. In most cases the orphans are being put together with the widows, thus creating new family units.

Each church is doing something a bit different, something specific to the needs and cultures of their villages. There have also been a large number of projects started, each one particular to the community. In one case, a church has started raising chickens, some for meat and others for eggs, and they are using some to feed orphans and others to sell and generate further income for ministry in the community. Another community has planted maize and, due to a bumper harvest this year, they were able to feed the whole village with plenty left over to sell.

One village is growing a vast quantity of baby trees, which are being sold to people in the community at a small price, thus giving them the ability to submit to a recent Tanzanian law requiring every landowner to plant a tree. The projects are many and varied, and each one is serving the goal of helping the community and also operating as a self-sufficient ministry project with no needs of continuous funds from outside. In a number of cases, the whole villages are getting involved in these projects, and the word is spreading as people are now saying, "Look now how these Christians love." These projects are relatively new but already a great deal is happening through them. We're looking forward to seeing what happens as these works continue to grow.

I also spoke at a conference in Nairobi this weekend, and as a result of this conference a door may be opening to spread these kinds of projects all over Africa. If that works out, it could really have an impact on a lot of communities all across the continent! In addition to that, also as a result of this conference I just spoke at, another project is in the workings that may go international very soon. A lot of exciting things are happening!!!

At the moment though, I've got a few days off before going to Uganda and training pastors and leaders there. I'm also tired and hungry, so I'm going to go get me some food now. The stories about the cross-dressing drunk and the witch-doctor will have to wait for now, but I'll try to get to them before too long...

(note: the above entry was written on August 23rd, but due to technical problems it was only possible to post it today)