​Today is our last day in Kondoa. Each day has been rich in new experiences even though we have been to Tanzania  four times before.   On our way to the last village, the road was blocked half way along by a donkey which had sunk to the ground under the weight of 3 large buckets of water.
 
No amount of prodding, pulling or whacking could make it get up. We thought it must have something seriously wrong with it. We had never seen a donkey like that before.  They usually trot along willingly.
 
At last, one of the men accompanying us, John Bei, got out of the Land Cruiser and prayed, "Lord, if this hold-up is from you please tell us what the significance is. ( He was thinking of Balaam and the donkey) But if it is not, please help the donkey to get up."
 
Immediately, the donkey sprang up, the water was loaded back on and it trotted away briskly. Wonders will never cease 😊.
 
So we got to the last village, Birise. It was the Bishop's first time there as well as ours. It is a year-old church with about 280 members. Yes, you have read that correctly! ...Helen had a great time teaching healing prayer with John Bei translating. So our goal of empowering the villagers to heal the sick has been achieved but there was a bonus: Revd John Bei grew in confidence as we travelled and now has confidence to teach and run seminars on this subject himself.
 
What a big step. We are so pleased to be working ourselves out of a job. The verse that Ian and I are meditating on these past few days is "The fields are ready to harvest. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the harvest fields." Jesus said this in the context of sending disciples out to heal the sick. So we are privileged to have been sent out and used to train and equip workers to bring in the harvest. Praise God!

I am perched on the bed, back at base after three days in a remote village called Nante. I am trying to tuck the warm blanket around my legs in such a way as to fool any stray mozzies into ignoring me. Being the cold, dry season, there are few around but I think I have had my first bite of the trip.

I am thankful that the hornet that flew out of the long-drop as I approached it yesterday was not angry! I wouldn't choose that kind of bite over a mozzie bite.

Four members of the team have suffered diarrhoea and three, vomiting as well. Two had really bad colds but I'm glad it wasn't a full team count on both!

Di Carss has returned home with the Rangiora part of the team so Ian and I are now the only two "new imports" 😊

That's the bad news - now the good news. Yesterday was our last day in Nante. This remote village is home to many people who have never seen a white face! The last village was also like that but when we arrived there, more babies cried when they saw us ☹️

On the way we saw a huge 'boma' - a traditional house - that man would have many wives, see below.
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The church here is only one year old, the people converting from the local traditional African religion. For our visit they erected a shelter made of sticks and tarpaulins for the meetings.

The first day in Nante, I prayed for a woman who had a congenital cataract on the right, by the looks of it. A white patch covered the iris and the pupil. The other eye was fine. Her bad eye ended up being able to see far and near. Also, her headache went.

The next day she helped me pray with Ian and John Qubei for a man called Samuel who has been totally blind from birth; three local people testified to that fact. He had been led to the meeting by another young man called Ezekiel.

On our second prayer attempt, Samuel said to John (who was translating) that he could see his face. After the next prayer he was able to count Ian's fingers correctly four times. Then we tested him with identifying colours - which he got right. When the teaching time came he was able to tell how many fingers I held up from about 8 metres away. Very exciting! There was huge rejoicing in the congregation.

We then taught them how to pray for the sick and got them started in small groups of three. About 24 were healed by that approach. Empowering the people is a lot better than trying to do it all ourselves. We left some very happy people but there is always the thought, "I wish we had more time to explain a bit more."  Too difficult to impart 25 years of learning in 3 days.​

Tomorrow we start a marathon of visiting 6 churches in 4 days. Fortunately there is the morning to get a bit of washing done!    Helen

Today we travelled to Kikore which is a village we had visited in 2014. It is also the village where the Rev John Bei (who visited Whangaparaoa in November 2017) grew up and we met his mother, brother and cousin.

The steep, rocky road we used last time is now completely impassable because of winter flooding, so we had to go the long way around. Fortunately the Chinese-built tarmac road is very smooth and has taken a lot of time from the overall length of the trip. Unfortunately, the Chinese presence in the country has opened up a problem in that they are buying many donkeys to send to China to be eaten. Now the donkey population of Tanzania is 30% of what it was a few years ago. The government has not yet placed any protection on donkeys so the significant place they hold in agriculture, haulage of water and transport is in danger.

I had a conversation with Lilian Gaula on the way to the guest house we are staying in tonight. She says that despite the years of basic education and then theological education and ordination training she has received, she still did not know how to deal with curses until we came to Tanzania to help them. Curses are very common here, so this practical teaching has been very important in her pastoral care practice.

Also, Bishop Given told Ian that when we come with our teams, there is significant subsequent growth in the parishes we visit. ​How encouraging! ...Today Ian taught on how to receive forgiveness for sin and how to forgive those who have hurt us this gaining freedom from bitterness and the knock-on health problems which seem to follow our harbouring a chronic, unforgiving attitude. Tomorrow and Saturday we return to Kikore for further teaching sessions then go back to attend the Sunday Cathedral morning service.

Some of the team from Whangaparaoa and Rangiora next to Lilian Gaula: Ian, Andrew Allan-Johns, John Mock, Diane Carss.

St Stephen’s 3D Printing Club designed and made some gifts to take to Africa. I gave 4 crosses to the Catechists at Chiori parish and a chicken water dispenser to the pastor. They were very excited and there was much cheering at the presentations.