Tanzania, Africa
Chimala Newsletter – Chris & Tam Raynor – March, 2004
Friday, March 26, 2004
Hello from Africa! Everything is going great. Tam and I are keeping busy. Today is a beautiful day here at Chimala Mission Hospital. The kids are out of school this week, at the primary school. Starting next week, Bernard, who has worked at the mission for many years, will take a leadership role in the primary school. Bernard is a well educated man and I’m looking forward to working with him.
Preaching is going well and Erhard and I are working well together: I preach while Erhard translates. Sometimes I work with Jason’s translator, Boaz, when we go to the Masai village. Boaz knows the way to get to that congregation. It is definitely an “off-road” experience and very much out in the bush. Last Sunday we were at the Madunguru Church of Christ, which is in the Masai village. During my sermon, a 4-foot lizard was climbing on the wall behind us while I was preaching. My sermon was short, needless to say. The congregation kept moving further and further away from the front of the building. We all had a good laugh, I think. We’re planning to return to the Masai village in three weeks and they will have a feast for us at that time. Tam and I find the Masai people to be fascinating. They are very artistic and graceful and both men and women like to wear their traditional clothing. They are cattlemen primarily, but they do have some crops. They train their boys while very young to herd the cattle.
This coming Sunday Jason and I, along with a couple of the instructors from the school of preaching, are going to finish up the Friendship Seminar at the Kimani congregation, east of Chimala. We are preaching on unity, peace and love. It will be an all-day affair and we will eat lunch with all the brethren. The new congregation in Mpolo is doing well. One of the mission’s grounds men is going to be their preacher for a while, and he’s doing a good job.
Tam says that her Wednesday evening Bible class is going well. There are at least 25 kids there and they are very attentive. On March 30 and 31, we will have a ladies’ seminar here at the mission. Jason and I will be speaking along with some of the preaching instructors. Also, Madesha, Carrie and Tam will be speaking as well. And just so you know, the men won’t be present when the ladies are speaking!
I find it very thrilling to go to the different congregations and meet the Christians in this land. It impresses me on how well versed they are in the Bible. Occasionally, Jason and I will use a preaching student to preach and they do quite well. The students in the school of preaching are finishing their finals today (26th). They will be off next week for a break. Next quarter at the school, I’ll be teaching the books of Timothy and Titus. I’m looking forward to that. Tonight will be my last night for the New Christians’ class. In two weeks, we are planning to begin teaching on the denominations and religions in the area, including Islam and witch doctors! We will use different instructors to teach on the different denominations. Some of the religious groups here are the Catholics, Methodists (in Mbeya), Apostolic, Moravian, some different Pentecostal groups, witchcraft and Islam.
Tam and I are still getting used to the different bugs around here. I thought the bugs in Texas were big! Africa’s bugs are bigger, I’m sorry to say. Last night our gardener, Hamisi, saw a medium sized snake go into a flowerbed outside our back door. None of us could find it, even with the guard helping us. I’m still getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road, with the steering also on the wrong side of the car. No head on collisions yet! Pray for me. It’s surely a different way of driving.
Last week Jason, Boaz, Lazima and I went to Chimala village to do some evangelizing. We meet two men who had fallen away from the Lord. They were next door neighbors! So we prayed with them and encouraged them to return to the church, and to hopefully encourage each other. They had the same excuses that Americans have for not going to worship. One man said his work kept him away. The other man had been ill for a while, but he is better now.
Tam and I took a tour of the hospital last week. The work they do is very impressive. We were there just in time to see a new born baby being weighed. We saw one man going into surgery. We saw a little child who had been burned in a fire. They do a fine job at the hospital taking care of people.
Thank you all for your support and help. Keep us in your prayers. May God richly bless you.
Love, Chris and Tam Raynor