Andrew says: "We feel deeply privileged to have been involved in the work of Mission. I leave Crosslinks with much thankfulness to the Lord and to all the supporters who continue faithfully to uphold His work by their prayers and giving."

Andrew helps the Rural Dean with his new

Honda 90

Julia and the Mothers' Union make bricks!

More pictures...

There were good reasons for sailing.  Canon Alan Neech, the then General Secretary of BCMS, urged missionaries to travel light.  On the other hand Bishop Alfred Stanway, the Bishop of Central Tanganyika, for whom the Farrers were going to work, said, "Bring everything, including your fridge - you cannot buy anything here at present."  Following the Bishop's advice, Andrew and Julia elected to accompany their baggage by sea rather than sending their baggage unaccompanied and flying out themselves.  Much unaccompanied baggage never arrived.

In Tanzania, they met for the first time a number of people who have since become very familiar to them.  For instance, on arrival at the railway station in Dodoma at 6 am in the morning, they were met by Bishop Stanway's administrative secretary, Mary Punt.  She subsequently served with BCMS in Tanzania and then at the London HQ.  Indeed until very recently she came into the office regularly to work through the archives.

Whilst at language school in Nairobi, they spent the half-term break in Eldoret with John and Ann Ball.  As part of their induction to the diocese, they visited the theological college at Kongwa and stayed with Roger and Wendy Bowen.  Both John and Roger subsequently became General Secretaries of Crosslinks.

During the weekend at Kongwa, there was an ordination service.  Among the pastors being ordained were Donald Mtetemela, now Archbishop of Tanzania, and Simon Makundi, now Bishop of Kilimanjaro.  A year or so later Donald was the pastor of Isanga Church, which served the prison warders of the prison in Dodoma, and Bishop Stanway assigned Andrew to that church as a Reader.  Over the next year or so they became very close to Donald and his wife, Gladys and have remained friends ever since.  Andrew and Julia's daughter, Mary Pendo, is named after Donald and Gladys' daughter, Pendo (a much loved child).

During their eight years in Tanzania, life was often very hard.  Food supplies were always unreliable and one visiting home staff member of a missionary society, (not BCMS), remarked that all the missionaries seemed to talk about was the availability of food!  Sickness and disease were never far away.  Andrew contracted tick typhus and was seriously ill, Julia had a very bad infection of the leg and one of their closest BCMS friends from their time at All Nations College, Kenelm Rayner, died from hepatitis.

The Diocese of Central Tanganyika was much larger then than it is today.  It was the size of England, Wales and Northern Ireland put together.  Andrew was employed as the Financial Advisor and Julia as general factotum, which meant that she stood in as Bishop's secretary, Bookshop Manageress, manuscript typist for Central Tanganyika Press and even Land Rover driver for a visiting team from Campus Crusade - as well as her home duties as housewife and hostess.  Being in the centre of such a large diocese meant that diocesan personnel, both missionary and Tanzanian, were constantly needing food and accommodation.

In 1979 Andrew and Julia returned to England and Andrew was offered the post of Financial Secretary at the Crosslinks Head Office, taking over from the Revd David Smalley.  David and Canon Alan Neech both retired on the same day in 1980 and John Ball took over as General Secretary.

Andrew's twenty years in the office have seen some significant changes.  In 1980 there were over a hundred missionaries and an annual income of £387,000.  In 2002 there are seventy five mission partners and a budgeted income of £1.9 million.  Study partners were few in 1980, but now there are over seventy from a variety of backgrounds.  In 1980 the accounts were all done manually in large ledgers.  Gradually they were computerised and nowadays Crosslinks finances are completely dependent on computer technology. Crosslinks has also become more regulated by outside authorities, notably the Charities Commission and the Inland Revenue, and that makes for a lot of extra paperwork.

Andrew and Julia are retiring to Somerset.

more pictures

Crosslinks magazine August 2002 index