Tanzania

At 364,900 square miles, the country of Tanzania is slightly larger than two California(s) put together or more than 7 times the size of Arkansas – quite a large place!

Nestled at the foot of the Uluguru mountains, the town of Morogoro, the size of a small town in the U.S., is situated in the “bread basket” of Tanzania.








Traveling around this part of Tanzania we see mats, laying out on every conceivably flat space, covered with rice -- brown -- still in the husk, drying in the sun.  Taking advantage of the opportunity, we buy some rice at the rice market.

Spotting some woven mats and baskets for sale on the side of the road, we stop to pick up an unusual shaped square basket with a lid. The young man selling them is from the Luguru people group.











With a land mass this large, Tanzania’s landscape varies widely, from ocean beaches to mountain ranges. With massive games parks as well as many lakes, tourism is Tanzania's largest industry. As we head toward home, we spend the night in the town of Moshi (Moh-she) near one of the largest tourist attractions in Tanzania, Mount Kilimangaro -- Africa's tallest mountain.  (Yes, that is a snow cap!)

For behold, He who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth — the LORD, the God of hosts, is His name! Amos 4:13

Pray that God would make Himself known to the varied people groups in Tanzania.

Surrounded by God's amazing creative creations, pray that the people of Tanzania would not just see the creation, but have a relationship with the Creator!

Vidunda of Tanzania

Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath.  Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, He displays His glory in Israel.  Isaiah 44:23

Isaiah is prompting the people to glorify God, who has the victory and gives us the victory, through our faith in Christ Jesus. God has redeemed us and displays His glory throughout the earth.  However, not everyone can claim this victory – not everyone knows the glorious saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Living in the mountains of central Tanzania, the Vidunda (Vee-Doon-dah) people are, according to researchers, a UUPG (Unengaged/Unreached people group).

These are the people we are in search of on our trip.  We ask questions about where they live, if churches are there, the language they speak, etc.


In our quest for the Vidunda people we meet Ezeckiel, the pastor of a GCC (Great Commission Church).  As we sit and talk in the little clearing behind his house, Ezeckiel introduces us to his neighbor; a Vidunda woman who has moved down from the mountains and made her home here in Mkamba village.

During our conversation with her, Jerry asks how to greet in the Vidunda language and writes the words down for future reference. Ezeckiel confirms for us the fact that there are no churches in the mountains among the Vidunda.

Many people see the Vidunda as somewhat backward and are indifferent toward them, “Oh those people – they live in the mountains.”  Because of this attitude and the fact that it is difficult to go where they live, there is no road – you must climb the mountain, people turn a blind eye to them.

As we fellowship together, we discover that some Vidunda people come down the mountain to sell their goods; bananas and beans, at the market on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Guess what today is – Thursday!  Off we go to the market in hopes of meeting other Vidunda people.

Scanning the market, we make our way to a man and woman selling bananas and sure enough they are Vidunda. Jerry greets the woman saying, “Chiwaso”  (Chee-wah-so), she is so excited, she hops over her piles of bananas and begins dancing on the path – someone is greeting her in her language!

She takes us over to a friend who is selling cooked bananas.  The flavor is quite unique as they stuff them with small fish and fry them.

In our conversations we learn that this Vidunda man has walked two hours down the mountain to bring his bananas to market.  He will use the money his bananas bring to buy goods needed in his village and carry them back up the mountain in the evening.

We did not make it up into the mountains on this visit.  Previous commitments make it impossible to spend the two or three days it would take visiting with the Vidunda people.  But now we know where they live – we have seen for ourselves the remoteness of the area and the high probability that they have not heard the Gospel.  We will make plans to return to the Vidunda.

Ask God to open the hearts of the Vidunda, even now-- that the soil of their hearts would be tilled and ready for the seeds of the Gospel message.

Pray for a person of peace to come forth when we return that the door would be open to us.

Pray that the Vidunda would lay heavy on our hearts until either we return, or someone in our stead, to share the Gospel with the Vidunda of Tanzania.

Sing to the LORD, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples. Psalm 96:2-3

Grace and Truth

After two days driving west and south from Dar-es-Salaam we find ourselves in a small town called Ruaha (Roo-aha).  We aren't really talking hard driving at 70 mph here -- while the main roads are quite good in Tanzania, they are only two lane and we can only travel 50-60 mph. on the open road, slowing to 30 mph. when we come to a settlement or village area. There are quite a number of police stationed in these small settlements waiting for the unsuspecting driver to exceed the limit through the settlements!  While they are putting effort into keeping up the main roads, the secondary roads are in pretty poor shape, so as we leave the main artery we must slow up considerably.

As we come to Ruaha we keep a look out for any evangelical church sign posts. We find one and stop to see if we can locate someone who may have information about the area churches.

This research business is a slow process. If we want to get good on-the-ground information, we have to be willing to spend time with folks listening to their story.

 As we talk with this GCC (Great Commission Christian) pastor, we learn his church has a couple of new church starts nearby, so we all pile in the car to visit one.

This small preaching point is located at Msolwa Station, a different sort of name for a Tanzanian village -- as we leave the tar road we discover why --  we are driving for miles through fields of tall sugar cane, this village is in the middle of sugar plantations.  The cane is also processed here and the fragrance of sugar in the air is amazing – I think you could gain weight by just breathing!  If you want the experience,  go in the kitchen -- open your sugar canister – stick your head in and sniff!


We locate the young pastor’s mud house near the market area and discover a crusade is scheduled to begin tonight.

There is a three-wheeler trailer just outside the house with sound equipment and a generator ready to go to the church.  As we have another passenger, I thought I might walk to the church, but on hearing that it is a bit far, I climb into the trailer with the sound equipment and off we go.  It takes all I have to hang on as we bump down the rutted path to the church!


We spend quite some time sitting in the church talking together with the young pastor, and the other ministers.

They discuss the difficulties of spreading the gospel among various cultures and peoples, bound by tradition and religious ritual keeping them from understanding and experiencing the truth of Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. Jerry encourages them to continue to teach that grace and truth come only through Jesus Christ. He finishes with Christ’s prayer for his disciples from John 17:26, “I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” He encourages these men to pray daily that this same love the Father had for his Son also be in them.

Pray for these men and others as they come up against walls of tradition and religious ritual as well as ancestor worship. Pray that they would be enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit with words of wisdom and truth that would penetrate deep within hearts.

Pray that we, who know the Way, the Truth, and the Life, would share the Gospel message with those around us whom Satan has bound with the chains of religion, that they may have a relationship with Christ.

Those walking in darkness...

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them…” 2 Peter 2:1

There will be false teachers among you…  We have all seen these false teachers, these ones who lead others astray, but nowhere is it more evident than on the east coast of East Africa.

Today we find ourselves in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.  Dar is the biggest city in Tanzania and also their port city.  Being on the coast, Dar has two seasons; dry and hot, and humid and hotter.

But it has a beach!






We have come to Dar for several reasons;  to get our passports squared away so that it will be easier for us to enter Tanzania from here on, and to meet with friends living here to discuss engaging the unreached.

Staying in the guest house on the Baptist property, we are continually reminded of our purpose, our calling, our reason for being here – several times a day we hear the chants, singing and prayers through the loud speakers at the mosques -- the Muslim call to prayer.  




Isaiah prophesied Christ’s coming when he said, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned.”  Well, today we know that not all people of the world are walking in the light of Christ’s salvation -- many are blinded and confused.

In Matthew 5:14, Jesus tells those who have God’s word to be a light to those walking in darkness.  “You are the light of the world …”  Verse 16 goes on to say, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

We are a conduit of God’s love to the people of the world – let your light shine!

Pray for the power of God’s word to flow out among those who don’t know Him.

Pray for opportunities and open doors of witness to plant a seed of truth that would encourage questions about Christ as God’s Son.

Pray protection on those who are a witness to the truth of God’s word.

Ask God to send forth His word and let there be light!