Green, David Tanzania
Green main pageNovember 2004 Prayer Letter (Acrobat pdf version - click here)
Dear Friends,
Done it! The first English teaching course which I wrote about in my last letter ended on the 5th of this month. Eventually, out of 12 or more initial enquirers only 6 were able to find the fees for accommodation at the Bible School and to complete the course.
How much have they learnt? Well, they and I were certainly able to converse in English with a degree of competence, and confidence, that they did not have at the start of the course. As ever, in a classroom I guess, there are those who stride ahead and those of whom you wonder what have they learnt? And even these 6 gave me surprises on both counts. But they were a delight to teach and to get to know. I pray now that they may have a sufficient grasp of English to go on using it, and the incentive to increase their competence in it. But that will be difficult, because they all come from villages where English is hardly ever spoken or seen in print – except in the New Testaments that I gave them.
For me it was three months of constant challenge – “What am I going to teach them tomorrow?” Very little of the teaching material from U.K. was I able to use or adapt; it was geared so much to our Western culture. My greatest resource was the teaching notes compiled by Sue Fannon (Crosslinks mission partner working at Musoma on Lake Victoria, 300 miles north of Tabora) which she generously sent me on a CD. So there you are – my computer skills are also being cajoled and kicked into the 21st century! But Sue’s notes have been a life-saver.
Right now I am enjoying a welcomed bit of respite. Thankfully there is not a one-month course before Christmas – as I had said there might be. Last week I had the job of sorting through 2 boxes of assorted second-hand tools – for carpentry, metalwork, building, car maintenance – sent to the diocese for setting up a trade school; and I enjoyed doing a bit of my own carpentry. But before Christmas I must also revise my teaching notes: another 3 month teaching course is due to start at the end of January.
I am also having a few opportunities to see other parts of the diocese. Bishop Francis Ntiruka will be retiring at the end of June ’05; and because travel around the diocese is such a major undertaking he is already having to use his current visits to parishes for confirmation services as his farewells to the people. He took me recently to Nkulisi Parish, 30 to 40 miles west from here (over 2 hours on a rough road in his Landcruiser). I knew when we were just about there, because my friend Shadrack Sabaya had arrived first and got installed with his P.A. equipment and choir, and so we heard them before ever we saw them! (See my last prayer letter.) We had a great service – Ordination (of their vicar Ernesto, who was until then only a Deacon), Confirmation, Holy Communion, and Farewell Celebration. It was scheduled for 10.0 a.m., began at 11.0, and lasted until after 2.30 p.m. But Anglican robes, under a corrugated iron roof, with a blistering tropical sun above, for that length of time, must be the most effective, but least comfortable, way of taking a sauna bath!
A similar service – not so long, and not quite so hot – followed the next day here at St. Stephen’s, Tabora. These people do know how to celebrate. They are also most warm-hearted and full of appreciation for the leadership and ministry of Bishop Francis over the past 15 years. Pray for him in these remaining months, and for the man of God’s choice to succeed him.
Another visit, in October, was to Nzega goldmine (90 miles north-east), which is operated by an Australian mining company. Sue Jaggar, of C.M.S. Australia, who works in this diocese, is the contact with the mine personnel. I confess it was a treat to enjoy some ‘western’ comfort and culture for a weekend break. And we had a look at the mine, which is an extraordinary operation – 2.5 km. long (it will be), 800 m. wide and 600 m. deep (already) – and they have only just reached water. How many millions of tons of rock and earth is that? And for every ton of rock they shift and sift they get on average one gram of gold. Is it worth it? They say they will break even when the mine is exhausted in 5 years’ time. I couldn’t help considering – the Bible is very positive in what it says about gold, from Genesis 2:12 to Revelation 21:18. But St. Peter says “Your faith (and that of my English students) is of far greater value than gold …” (I Peter 1:7). Which of us is onto a good thing – miners or mission partners?
Lastly, my daughter Sheron joins me in December for Christmas and most of January. (That’s why the next English course won’t start until the end of Jan.) We hope to visit Zanzibar and even have a go at Kilimanjaro. Please pray for safe travel, good health, and great joy in God’s creation.
After the English course, my time with Crosslinks in their “Next” programme comes to an end. So I am praying “What after ‘Next’?” – return here for another year’s teaching? settle in England? and if so, where? Please pray that I may hear God’s answer to that.
God bless you this Christmas and in the coming year. And thank you for your prayers.
David Green