Thursday: The Spirit was with us today

Today, the team (Mpeli, Neema, Pawdre, Bonnie, Bernard, and Floyd) were in Mbeya for the teaching conference at Ilomba Baptist Church. There were four different Baptist Associations represented, Moravian pastors and ministry leaders, and others from the area. Some of the participants travel two hours to come for the day long conference. The worship throughout the day was a time of joy and a powerful movement of the Spirit. The singing and dancing were unbelievable. Toddlers to elders joined in the woship celebration. Each day our worship has been led by Raymond Mwalisu and Sadiki Juma Nguza(both of Acts Fellowship, Iringa). Pastor Ephraimu Mwasasu, a very popular Christian artist in East Africa, is a part of the conference and leading in worship. Ambele Chapanyota also a very popular Christian artist in Tanzania led in two sessions of worship. The congregation was highly engaged in singing and dancing during the worship times. One elder had his cane and danced with joy and delight as he sang along. Throughout the day, the powerful presence of the Spirit of God was evident. In the teaching times and in the praise and worship times, there was an awesome presence of God. Bonnie and Neema met with a group of women led by Monica. She has a dream of a preschool for the area. The women were able to purchase property by raising funds through their work. The land has been very productive and the revenue from the corn and other produce sold has made it possible to begin construction. The property also had clay and sand for the making of bricks right on the property. The women through their own efforts have brought the building to its present point. Monica has been ill over the past months and the work has stopped. The preschool is meeting in the church building right now. But, this is only temporary. They will need help to finish construction; because, the roof timbers and tin sheets will have to be purchased. Bonnie is working with them on getting the specific information regarding their partnership needs. Joining us today was Harry Mwasanjala, Neema’s father, pastor and former leader of the Baptist Convention of Tanzania. We first met Harry in April 2004. Harry is the one who introduced us to Mpeli and the rest is history. Harry and Bernard have known each other for a long time through common work in East Africa. Also, Harry “adopted” Bonnie as his daughter about three years ago. He is a chief in his tribe and Bonnie became a part of the tribe and a queen. Today, Harry announced to the gathering that Bonnie and I were his people. This was a very special time for all of us. At the end of the conference, all of us joined Raymond, Sadiki, Ephraimu's team, and others dancing together. This was a great time celebrating our time together and God's grace and blessings of the day. Bonnie presented the women participating in the conference cloths knitted by Pat Reid and friends. Bonnie shared with them the sisterhood of women praying for each other (especially for them). She asked that the cloth be a reminded to them to pray for their sisters in the USA. Tonight, Bernard, Bonnie and I stayed at the hotel while Mpeli and Neema went to visit with his mother at the hospital. Bernard ordered Goat Ribs. Each night, ordering dinner has been a very interesting experience. Tonight was no different. When Bernard’s order came he had a beef steak covered in a ginger and garlic gravy (oops!)—sauce. We had a great time laughing about the joy of being surprised.