Hayden, John and Anne - Tanzania
Prayer Update January 2005
News from Kiteto
Please forgive if this news seems rather insignificant when the tsunami, the G7/8 summit and such matters relating to so many people are in the news. I know that many who read this have been praying and giving towards the work God is doing in Kiteto and I want to encourage you to keep on praying.
Those who know me know that I like to be ‘hands on’. It has not been easy this last two months here in UK reduced to praying and e-mail reports as those in Kibaya attempted the almost impossible task to design, obtain planning and build the 20 x 7.5 metre dining room and kitchen complex.
On Monday 10 January the Kiteto Christian College started a new term and the dining room, kitchen complex was up and running to the approval of the District Health Officer enforcing strict hygiene after a cholera scare.. Matthias, our German mission partner, who has very high standards, wrote ‘The kitchen and dining look just great and the builders did a really good job.’ ‘Just some carpentry work to complete but that should be done this week.’ The most wonderful fact from my point of view is that in two months those in Kiteto had done what seemed the impossible. They have worked to exhaustion, everyone helping each other. Eighteen months ago when I came back to the UK to be with Anne I would return after a couple of months and find very little, if anything, had happened. Gradually things have changed and now they have done something really amazing and I am now sure that when I hand over they can continue the work to the glory of God.
College began its second full term with 56 students. Mary had organised entrance exams and sent out letters of invitation to those who passed. We could have had far more if we had student sponsorship, classrooms and dormitories but that is for the future. We have approached several possible sources for funds to complete the College buildings. Please pray about this. Pray too for the students and staff as we seek to meet the challenge. Helen Borthwell flies out with me on 20 January to teach until the end of term in mid June and we are hoping another teacher will be able to come and join her. (We do need volunteer teachers for 2006 - any offers?)
The last few days of January are going to tax us to the limit. The new dormitory is already full with students and three rooms of the guest wing of my house have 16 girl students boarding! I think I’ll need good earplugs as with open windows sound travels. But that is not all. From 23-27 January we have twenty HIV-Aids workers for a seminar - we are racing against time to build a classroom where they can sleep and then overlapping 26-29 January we have a group of 15 from the USA (on a high cost holiday and expecting all mod cons!) coming to see work they have supported and sometime a German missionary is turning up to discuss co-operation. Well we’ve proved our God is the God of the impossible with the latest building work. We now wait to see what prayer can do with this challenge!
Please don’t stop praying too soon because in February the challenge is even greater when at KCC we have a seminar for forty Pastors on evangelising Muslims (9-12 February) and the second week (13-18) they are joined by their wives for one led by African Pastors’ Fellowship
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