Green, David Tanzania
Green main pageSeptember 2004 Prayer Letter (Acrobat pdf version - click here)
Rwanzali
Mission
Dear Friends,
I can hardly believe it – I’ve been here 3 months already! In June and July I got settled in to a steady routine – going to the Bible School 2 mornings a week to teach the student evangelists, preaching most Sundays in Swahili, acting as correspondent and secretary for the diocese’s overseas account. It stretched me at first, getting back into Swahili, and a hot climate – but not too much.
Then came the bombshell on 1st August. I was told “Next Monday (8th) we start a new class of about 12 students to learn English. You will teach them, David, five days a week for the next 3 months.” Panic! - because I had none of my books and teaching materials with me: I had been advised that since the materials and the level of the TEFL course (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) which I took in Cheltenham is geared to Western culture, it is a challenge to transpose it to a Third World situation of more elementary education and lack of resources. And I had had a serious problem of excess baggage at Heathrow when I came here – so my books were left behind in England.
Following hectic emails to my son Andrew and to the English Book Centre in Oxford, some books have arrived and others are (I trust) on the way. I have been able to start; and I – and 7 students – have survived the first 3 weeks. Thank you – those of you who have heard of this and have been praying – I have been able to keep my head above water, just about. And there is the satisfaction of having a go at what I came here to do. Also, as one ever-so-kind (!) friend, who is familiar with African culture, reminded me “At least you were given a week’s notice, David!” So I’m finding out that a teacher’s life is not a ‘doddle’ – and please pray on for me.
The class is down to 7 students – scarcely a viable number, but more manageable for me at my first attempt at teaching. (The others couldn’t find the fees for their accommodation.) They are a varied group; 3 pastors from the diocese in their late 30s who are conscientious and eager to learn, and 4 teenagers who have completed their primary education but not made the grade for secondary school – and are not so motivated. One pastor is from Burundi; all the others are Tanzanian. All are wanting to learn, and all have potential.
I teach them at the diocesan Bible School, 3 or 4 miles out of town from the diocesan centre where I’m living. A very hot, tiring, dusty walk it would be if that were how I had to get there. But Giles and Annie Roberts, the Crosslinks mission partners who went on leave just after I arrived here, very generously have left me with their 1986 Land Rover, for which I am immensely grateful. (If you think a 4WD vehicle is surely not necessary if I live in a town, come and visit Tabora! How any vehicle survives these roads more than 4 or 5 years is a miracle – well, many don’t survive.)
Looking ahead, this English course ends in November: what happens after that? Most folk have some holiday over Christmas and the New Year – and I am looking forward to having a holiday with my daughter Sheron in January. Whether there will be another short course from mid November until Christmas, or I will return to teaching the student evangelists in the Bible School, I don’t know. After that, there will be time for just one more 3 month course before my return air ticket and my placement with Crosslinks are due to expire – unless I return for a second 9 or 10 month tour. Bishop Francis, the Principal of the Bible School and I will be discussing all of this in the near future. Please pray that we may find what is God’s will in this matter.
Meanwhile, having a vehicle does, I suppose, increase my usefulness to the diocese, enabling me to go further afield to preach and visit. (But with this English course I’m preaching less now.) Last weekend I helped to transport Rev. Shadrak Sabaya – a great guy, diocesan missioner and church planter I think we’d call him – plus fortissimo music and P.A. equipment for a mission on Friday, Sat. and Sun. evenings in Rwanzali village, just beyond the Bible School. (I’m glad Giles didn’t see how his Land Rover was packed – but he’s getting this letter!)
Rwanzali
Mission
It was when the Bible School students started leading a ‘conger’ around the mango trees where we were meeting, at full exuberance and top decibels singing “Yesu ni wangu, wa uzima wa milele!” (“Jesus is mine, my life for eternity”), that I prayed “Lord, what is going on here?” But people were starting to come out of their houses then and join in; and I couldn’t help thinking of the parable of the prodigal son, and the “knees-up” and feasting that the father laid on when his son returned home. We never did things like this in the Cotswolds. But where do they do things like this? – “There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents”.
The next song – just as spontaneous – was quiet and worshipful (‘mp’ anyway, if not ‘pianissimo’), then Shadrak preached eloquently; and people responded with repentance and faith. It was a great time, and a privilege to be there. (But I still thank God for my hearing aids – I can turn them OFF when I need to!)
God bless you. And thank you for your prayers,
David Green