Winter in the UK

Dear Friends,

On the Cornish Coast

As the dark evenings draw in and the days get colder we are beginning to think about preparations for heading back to Tanzania in the new year. First we have Christmas to enjoy, when we will be visiting family and saying our farewells as well as visiting our final link churches. The boys are already getting excited with Christmas preparations which are very different to those in Tanzania.

In the Lake District with cousins Tom and Adam

At a link church

Harvest at Heligan

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the UK up to now. It has been a great time of relaxation and refreshment and a chance to catch up with family and old friends, and we thank all of those who have helped and supported us in many different ways to make this time enjoyable and fruitful. We have also enjoyed our visits to various churches and thank you all for the warm welcome that you have given us, and for your continued support financially and prayerfully.We also had a wonderful holiday in the Lake District at half term with Christine's mum and sister and her family.

At a link church

 

Daniel's 11th Birthday

The boys have been very happy in school and have enjoyed making lots of new friends. It is great to see how well they have adapted and how much they have enjoyed school, but are still looking forward to returning "home". They have also benefitted from extra swimming and music lessons and have enjoyed all the exciting activities that are available in the UK. In September Daniel turned 11 and had a wonderful "lego movie" birthday party with friends.

Packing the container

Packing the container

As well as relaxing and enjoying the delights of the Cornish countryside we have kept ourselves busy. We have been very much involved with the life of Holy Trinity Church in St. Austell and have appreciated the support we have there. Christine has been spending time studying for a short module in church ministry with St. John's College , Nottingham, whilst Paul has been continuing to collect equipment to fill a container to send back to the university in Tanzania. He has done really well, collecting over 150 computers, lots more IT equipment, text books, laboratory apparatus and more. We are very grateful to everyone who has helped us by donating equipment and finding contacts for us as well as helping us store and transport what we have gathered. We hope to send the container on January 6th, and follow ourselves soon afterwards, leaving the UK on January 10th. Please pray that the container arrives safely and clears customs with little hassle or expense, and pray too that we travel and arrive safely, and settle back quickly into life in Tanzania.

With Christine's Mum

Back in Tanzania things have been changing. A new vice chancellor, Prof. Emmanuel Mbennah, has been appointed at the university. Also, a new general secretary, Canon Dr. Johnson Chinyong'ole has been apppointed for the Anglican church of Tanzania, following the installation of the previous general secretary as Bishop of our diocese, the Diocese of Central Tanganyika. This means new leaders for both of us in our work roles. Please pray that both may be good and effective leaders and that we will have good working relationships with them. Pray too that God gives us a renewed vision for our future work as we return to Tanzania.



With Paul's Mum and Dad

If you need any ideas for Christmas presents, we are selling 2015 calendars aimed at helping you to pray for us and our work over the year. They are quite big with lots of space to write and lovely pictures. If you would like one they are £10 each including postage. We are also selling DVDs of Kikuyu Gospel Singers (swahili choir, but with a translation inside) for £10 and audio CDs of St. John's Gospel Singers (English language choir) for £8. Please let us know if you would like any of these.

Finally we wish you all a very happy Christmas and pray that God blesses you rich in 2015.

With love
Christine, Paul, Daniel and Isaac.xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in the UK





 

Sightseeing

Holiday on the Isle of Wight























Preaching at a link church

With Friends at New Wine

We are now back in the UK on 6 months home assignment. We arrived here mid July and spent time visiting family, attending various appointments with CMS , going to the New Wine festival with friends from our church and generally enjoying summer in the UK.


Enjoying Cornwall

We are now settled in St. Austell where we are living in a lovely mobile home owned by friends. We have also begun travelling around the UK visiting our various supporting churches and are grateful for the warm welcomes we have received so far.

We look forward to seeing many more of you over the next few months.

 The boys started school last week at Bishop Bronescombe School, the local C of E Primary School where they are very happy so far.

Ready for school outside our new home

They have also been enjoying the delights of Cornwall with its beaches, gardens, and cycle paths literally on our doorstep!



Computers for the Container

a

Worship in St. Austell

Whilst in the UK Paul is once gain putting together a container of equipment to send back to the University after the success of the last one sent three years ago. So far it's going quite well with over 12 computers and various bits and bobs collected after just a few weeks of asking around. We are mainly looking for computers (under 8 years old), university level text books and laboratory apparatus. It may be that you know of a school/college/university or business that is having a clear-out at the moment in which case Paul would love to get some contact details. Christine is also after keyboards and guitars and other electronic musical equipment for her projects which we'll hopefully have room for.


Evangelists Training in Kibondo

Although we are enjoying our time in the UK we are also all very much missing our friends and life in Tanzania. Much happened in Tanzania since our last blog, but in our busyness preparing for our journey we didn't have the time to write. Christine held another conference of mission and evangelism co-ordinators in May which was very positive and encouraging for all involved. Also in June she travelled to Kibondo in Western Tanzania to run a training seminar for lay evangelists from 5 dioceses. This was a wonderful event and again a great encouragement to those involved who are passionate evangelists and very active in their local churches but with little or no training.

Mission and Evangelism Co-ordinators

English Choir Graduation

We hope to continue with this work across the whole of Tanzania. Please read more about these activities on the Mission department blog on the link above. Christine was also busy with Kikuyu Gospel Singers and the launch of our DVD which is now available for sale. Please contact me if you would like a copy.

Paul managed to tie up most loose ends at the University before we left but would like your prayers particularly for a young man named Philbert Mushumbusi who is currently producing the university timetable after being trained by Paul over the last year. The university term has now ended with the provisional results just released. Please pray for those preparing to graduate this coming November. Please also pray for the newly appointed Vice Chancellor and the work ahead of him as he guides the university into another chapter of it's history.


Talent Show with the Headmaster

The boys had lots of positive goodbyes at school and bible club but were very sad to leave their friends for these 6 months. They both received good reports at the end of the school year and both got into the finals of the school talent school with their music, at which Isaac was very proud to win the primary section playing his guitar and singing.

With love and blessings,
Christine, Paul, Daniel and Isaac.xxx
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas, Conferences and Cakes

 

 

We trust you all had a wonderful Christmas! It seems a long time ago now. We had a lovely Christmas at home in Dodoma enjoying services and parties with Tanzanian friends and with the local missionary community.  The pictures show the Christmas morning service at our own church at St. John's, and the "Carols by Candlelight" service at Dodoma Cathedral. 

After Christmas we had a wonderful few days holiday in Iringa with friends the Duncans and their daughter Hana, shown in the picture. With development of the road system in Tanzania, what was a long 9 hour trip to Iringa is now only 4 hours. It is a beautiful part of the country where we were able to enjoy walks in woodlands beside rivers and waterfalls and see sights such as “mini- Isimilla” pictured here with amazing erosion gulleys. Daniel in particular enjoyed the zip wire across the river which was the only way to reach the other side!

In our last blog post we gave the tragic news of the death of the university’s Vice Chancellor Prof Mwaluko. Since then we have been beset by further loss and are still in need of people to fill management positions at the University. A few weeks ago we learnt that the person appointed to fill one of our senior positions was now unable to come and we need to readvertise, then last week Paul attended the funeral  of Mr Muganda who had headed the communication skills centre since the university opened and now this week we have heard of the death of the Bishop of this diocese, Godfrey Mdimi Mhogolo, who although not being directly involved in the university had huge influence in this area and was a great friend and ally. With the search for a new Vice Chancellor still ongoing, a feeling of loss and fatherlessness pervades the university at this time and we are much in need of your prayers.

Life and work, however, continues and Paul, having completed his teaching practice observations for this break, is currently trying to get the timetable finished before the start of semester in a few weeks time. There are plenty of other projects on the go for which I’d appreciate your prayers, many of which have been put on the back burner during the last busy semester. These include installing a rainwater catchment and cooling water recycling system for the Chemistry laboratory water distillation unit, the ongoing student dormitory project and completing the air extraction systems in the Chemistry laboratories.

Following the last blog the university celebrated its 4^th graduation. It was a wonderful event and despite the recent loss of our Vice Chancellor and, at one point, a rather heavy downpour, the day was a good time to celebrate the achievements students and staff over the past 3 years. The picture shows the poor nursing students who were caught in the worst of the rain as they took their oath.

Outside of work commitments Paul has given the Swahili classes a break and is now running an after school club at CAMS (the school the boys attend). Around 20 pupils have signed up and, despite the occasional power cut, we are enjoying getting to grips with the SCRATCH child-friendly programming environment. It is hoped that within a few weeks, once we have covered the basics, the children can use their creativity to design and develop their own projects and games.

Paul has also built a new tree house. The old one was a little worse for wear and now the boys are older they are able to have a higher more interesting house which is great fun for them and their friends (and mum)

Christine’s work is progressing well with a number of exciting projects going ahead before our leave in July. We have just completed our latest music and worship school for musicians from across Tanzania. This time we had nearly 50 students and as usual it was a great success and a great blessing to all involved. We are now preparing for the provincial week of prayer in April, and a trip to Kigoma on the West of Tanzania to train evangelists. Read more in my work blog (link above)

In February we went to Nairobi for a CMS conference for CMS UK mission partners working in Africa, together with CMS Africa personnel. It was a wonderful opportunity for fellowship, sharing and learning from one another, as well as a chance to explore the aims and vision of CMS for the future. The boys enjoyed a wonderful children’s programme and thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

In February Kikuyu Gospel Singers completed our video recording and we are now waiting for the producer to complete the DVD. It was hard work but great fun to do. The choir have now been given a project by a local Christian medical centre which involves writing and recording songs on a number of health issues to be used in campaigns, and performing at a launch of a project to promote awareness of cervical cancer, which will take place in a few weeks. It has been a great challenge as it is very different to our usual work, but we hope it will be of benefit to the communities and help to raise awareness of some important issues.

Today we celebrated Isaac’s 8^th birthday with a “Despicable Me” themed party, which was great fun with many “minion” themed games activities. The boys are now approaching their Easter holidays and are eagerly rehearsing for the Easter production.

 

Romans, Retreats and Recordings

Dear all,

Many greetings from Dodoma where it is trying to rain but not seriously. This is common for a Dodoma November/December and we still hope and pray that the proper rains will make it in time for Christmas and last for a good while.

Christine’s Mum, Jean came to visit us back in September. We had a lovely time together, she enjoyed staying with us in Dodoma, spending time with the boys and seeing all our friends and we all managed to enjoy some time at the beach too. The picture shows our trip across to “Lazy Lagoon” island for a short holiday.  She was also here for Daniel’s 10^th birthday party which was a “Roman Mysteries” themed party featuring togas, a coliseum cake and making a mosaic from soda lids. These photos show him with his best friends, and Emperor Daniel being attacked by gladiator Isaac!

 

In October Christine spent a couple of days on retreat with other missionary women of Dodoma which was a lovely time of relaxation, refreshment  and fellowship.

Christine’s work in the mission and evangelism department is progressing well. Please pray for God’s provision in terms of funds and resources so that she can develop some of her plans. You can read more about this work on the link above.

The boys weekly bible club is still going strong. It is a wonderful time of fellowship, learning and fun for the children. We have recently got new T-Shirts for the group which look great on everyone. This picture shows Christine with Michaela, the daughter of our good friends the Garrets who host bible club. Christine, Michaela and her mum, Wendy have been running bible club for about 5 years now and Michaela does a wonderful job of leading many of the activities.

The plans to build a dormitory on campus as an investment for the University Chapel fellowship (which have featured here before) were given a much need boost, after slow progress of late, by the visit in November of Ed Luebben, an architect from America who has now returned home and is draughting plans for the building as an act of mission. With this help, it is hoped that things can progress to the next stage although we are still seeking funds and building work may not start until some time next year.

A few weeks ago Rosie, who has worked for us at our home for many years was married. She has been married for many years and is a Grandma but her husband was a muslim. Last year he came to faith and so they decided to have a Christian wedding. It was a wonderful event.

On the same day as the wedding, the university graduation was due to be held but the week before we heard the tragic news that the Vice Chancellor of the University Professor Gabriel Mwaluko had died whilst undergoing medical treatment in India and so on that day the university community instead gathered for his funeral.  His death is a great loss to the university. He was a wise and Godly man and a good leader. Please pray for his family and for the university as they look for a new Vice Chancellor.  Paul had the honour of being amongst the coffin bearers as shown in this picture. The postponed graduation will now be happening this coming weekend.

Last week Christine’s Swahili choir, Kikuyu Gospel Singers have been busy with the first stages of recording a video of their latest album. This picture shows some of the choir celebrating on location! We have completed 2 songs and aim to finish the work in February when Dodoma will be looking much greener!

 

We are now beginning to think about and plan our 6 months furlough in the UK from July 2014. Please pray for us as we prepare for this. We will soon be contacting our link churches to arrange dates to visit you. Whilst back in the UK Paul will once more be trying to put together a container of books, apparatus and computers to send back to Tanzania. If anyone has useful information about any schools, libraries, universities or businesses that are doing a clear-out around that time then please let Paul know at the above email address.

 

Many of you should soon receive our official CMS prayer letter which should reach supporters by email or on paper soon.

With much love

Paul, Christine, Daniel & Isaac

 

 

 

 

 

Sea, singing and Certificates

Dear all,

Whoops it’s been a very long time since our last update and some have been asking what’s happened to us. Well to make up for the long silence and to clear the backlog of news to tell you all, this one should be a big one.

We are now at a slightly quiet phase in our working lives as Christine has just finished one of her big projects (more later) and Paul is in the middle of the university break. Over the last few months God has been good to us, keeping us in good health and occupied in enjoyable service. As the end of the academic year approached Paul was involved in the annual Physics IT workshop – another chance to help our students to appreciate the use of Technology within the laboratory by performing a series of hands on data-logging experiments. He also found time, aside from his usual teaching tasks, to try his hand at software development by working alongside his friend and colleague Dr John Ham in making improvements to the university database system, with more developments possibly in the pipeline.

At the end of the semester we went through our, now annual, bitter-sweet experience of saying goodbye to half of the English Choir. Having had such a great year, working closely together during the recording, it was a sad moment to both congratulate but also say goodbye to our graduating members. The photo shows the leavers with their certificates and presents.

The end of the school year brings the talent show “CAMS got talent” at the boys school (CAMS = Canon Andrea Mwaka School). Daniel played the keyboard at the show and did very well. This is him and some friends with their certificates.  Isaac was a little too shy to enter this year – maybe next time! Isaac is definitely more outgoing than Daniel in general but Daniel is a confident performer! They are both now enjoying their new year at school in standard 5 and 3 and are so far very happy with their new teachers.

We had a wonderful holiday during the school break at “Kipepeo” (butterfly) beach in Dar-es-Salaam. Daniel discovered a love of the waves and we almost had to drag him out of the sea (destined to be a surfer when we head back to Cornwall!) Isaac is happier on the beach hunting for crabs! In this picture he is trying to dig one out of its hole!

In June Christine and Kikuyu Gospel Singers organised a mission in the local community of Kikuyu, with our friend Evangelist Musa Njagamba as our preacher. It was a wonderful event which reached lots of people. Many people gave their lives to Christ and others were healed. These pictures show Musa leading a time of prayer, and Kikuyu Gospel Singers and friends singing.

Also in June Christine’s good friend and ex-colleague from the youth department, Justine, was married to Salome at the Cathedral in Dodoma. It was a wonderful and very joyful occasion.

At the end of the school holidays we spent a few days in Kilimatinde and got to know Zephania (Grace and Festo’s baby) a little better. These pictures show us on a walk to the rock in Kilimatinde with Zephania

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christine has just finished a month long music and worship school for church musicians from all over Tanzania. It took place at St. John’s during the university holidays. It was a wonderful event and the 35 students who attended were very blessed by it. We taught practical music and music theory as well as music ministry and worship.  We also taught song writing techniques and gave the students the challenge of writing a song based on a passage from Song of Songs in groups. We even managed to record some of these songs. The video below shows one of the songs which was very different to the usual Tanzanian style. These pictures show the whole class and a group learning the keyboard. I will soon put more pictures and details on my work blog too. (see link above)

With a few weeks to go now before the students return once more, Paul is occupying himself with the timetable and other ‘holiday jobs’ and enjoying the lull before the coming storm as he’ll be back to a busy teaching load this coming semester. In his spare time Paul has also been tinkering in his shed and has completed version 1.lots of his rowing machine. It was designed for Paul to keep fit and worked to a degree in that it was exhausting to build and tweak but now it’s complete it has turned out to be more popular with the boys as it’s not quite tuned for adult use yet. Daniel can be seen using it ont he video below. Perhaps version 2 may appear during the next university holidays.

With love and blessings,

Paul Christine, Daniel and Isaac.xxx