Dear Friends,The main event this month was Daniel's 7th birthday. We had a great party in the garden with lots of friends, and this is his Tom and Jerry birthday cake, which was quite a challenge for mummy! Tom and Jerry and lots of other old fashioned cartoons are all the rage here in Tanzania!
Last weekend Revival choir entered a big competition here in Dodoma. It was organised by the health department of CCT (the Christian Council of Tanzania). Choirs from all denominations could enter and had to write and perform 2 songs raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and a Christian response to the issue. We came 3rd out of 19 choirs and are now taking part in an X-factor style competition including just 10 choirs from 4 regions of Tanzania.
It will be televised on local TV each Sunday for 6 weeks starting this Sunday and people will vote for their favourite choirs by text until there are 4 choirs left which will enter the final. Please pray for us, especially this week as we do some more filming for the TV. It was a wonderful weekend. This picture shows the choir after the event.Christine has been running a youth bible study with choir Revival called Mwamba Salama (Solid Rock) and this picture shows some of the group. It is a very good study guide in Swahili covering all the basics of Christianity and aimed
particularly at youth groups. Christine also hopes to run a seminar at work to train youth officers from all the dioceses to use this recource as group bible study is very uncommon in Tanzania, and there is a real need to encourage youth groups to read and discuss the Word together.This picture shows Isaac with some of his class who led their school assembly recently for the first time. Isaac did very well and is very happy to stand up and perform!
At the University we are getting ready for graduation including finalising assessments of who is able to graduate or not - this is obviously a difficult task and tensions are high with a need for a balance of compassion and justice.
We are busy getting ready for our return to the UK in November. We fly on the 21st November and will spend a week in St. Austell followed by a few weeks up North, and then will settle in St. Austell from Dec 27th. The boys will be going to Bishop Bronscombe school for a few months. Please pray for us all as we prepare for this. We are looking forward to seeing many of you soon.
Love and blessings,
Paul, Christine, Daniel and Isaac. xxx
