Day 9

African women are able to carry so many different things on their head! Desiree got to try it today — she carried one brick (the other one was added for the photo) for about a meter. We chances upon a group of people carrying and building bricks to working on their church building! Desiree got involved in, literally, building a church! – Ivan

Day 12

The last twelve days served to be one of the most humbling experiences to witness God's grace in a town that was, at one point, so unknown. God has revealed the magnitude of his handiwork by equipping each one of us as we stepped out of the boat of comfort to share his love in Tanzania. As a team, we discovered first-hand the depth and power of the Holy Spirit in Kigoma. Some of our ministry activities included: teaching church leaders about leadership development; talking about Jesus in the villages of Manyovu, Kasangezi and Nkungwe; supporting the Kids Club ministry and speaking in secondary schools and youth nights to encourage young adults.

It would be an understatement to say that we did not struggle. As leaders, we faced seasons of joy and discouragement. Yet, God has equipped us to submit to his plan with humility in order to plant seeds of hope in the hearts of the community members. We discovered that our objective was to simply introduce God's Word. There is no reason to impose unnecessary expectations in our personal capacities to appear as though we are seasoned conversationalists of God's Word. Because the truth is, we would not have achieved our ministry goals if it wasn't for the grace of God. In my point of view, God worked effectively through us as a team during the most overwhelming situations in our ministry. We learned how to do our best and leave the outcome to God. Our job was to start the work and trust that the Holy Spirit will achieve its fruitful completion. As Philippians 1:6 says, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Although we came with the goal of equipping leaders in Kigoma, we found ourselves to be at the receiving end of learning about the cultural and socioeconomic differences in leadership development between church leaders in Tanzania and Canada. For example, there is a lack of resources to strengthen the professional development and leadership capacity of church leaders and congregation in Kigoma. While there is a significant interest to learn more about God’s Word, there are just as many challenges to get a hold of a Bible, which costs roughly around ten-thousand shillings. In Canada, on the other hand, Bibles and other devotional resources are most often readily accessible and are sometimes found in bedroom drawers of several hotel chains.

Certain struggles are inevitable, but we rejoice in the grace that God has given us to make the first step and share his love to others – even if it means feeling incredibly nervous before speaking in front of church leaders about leadership development, knocking on someone’s front door to talk about Jesus or spending hours under the sun to teach kids about Philippians 4:13 in Swahili. These are significant measures that create a durable impact in the lives of people, regardless of where we come from.

The last twelve days have been fundamental in the transformation of our mindset and hearts. As a team, we demonstrated full reliance and complete dependence on God in our daily activities in Kigoma. Our Hope of the Nations family played a significant role as our cultural bridge that helped us connect with the village residents and church leaders. They have effortlessly gifted us with the tireless resilience to trust the power of the Holy Spirit and to persevere in sharing God’s love to others without hesitation. The workers are few; the harvest is plentiful.

Asante sana na tuta onana badaye, Kigoma.