3 weeks left!

Dear friends,

3 weeks to go! 3 weeks today we fly to Dar-es-Salaam and then straight on to Dodoma and back to life as usual! We have been really blessed during our time here by the interest so many people have shown in our work and by the way so many people are praying for us and keen to support us. Please pray for us as we prepare to travel and as we adjust back to life in Tanzania, especially for the boys as they cope with another transition. They have thoroughly enjoyed their time in the UK but are now looking forward to going back and seeing their friends again.


We have been continuing to visit all of our link churches around the country and it has been wonderful to see you all and get to know you. Thank you all for your warm welcomes, encouragement and support. These pictures show lunchtime after the service at Chilcompton, and Paul preaching in the evening service at Saltford.

The next week will also be very busy as Paul is finalising the container which will be sent to Tanzania on 10th May. He has managed to collect books, computers, lab equipment, furniture and lots of other things from various generous donors. All of this is now being collected together at Plymouth university who, as well as donating equipment, have agreed to allow us to store it until the container comes next week. Please pray for Paul as he collects all the equipment this week, and pray that all the contacts he has who have promised items or assitance will do so and that everything will come together, and for the safe and trouble free arrival of the container in Tanzania.


One of the boys' aims when coming to the UK was to see some castles, so a visit to Granny and Granpy in Cardiff was a great opportunity for this. They had a wonderful time. Here they are at Caerphilly castle.

We have also enjoyed receiving several visitors - thanks to everyone who has taken the trouble to come and see us - we really appreciate it as it's lovely to catch up. This picture shows our friend Rachel enjoying an afternoon on the beach with the boys.

During Holy week we went to Spring Harvest in Minehead with our good friends the Groths, for a wonderful time of relaxation and refreshment which was much needed during this busy final month in the UK. We had a great time and the boys loved their group the "Whizz Kids".
At the end of March Isaac turned 5 and as usual wanted a big party with all his new friends. Here he is in his new Buzz Lightyear costume with his favourite girlfriend, Stella.

With much love to you all. God bless
Paul, Christine, Daniel and Isaac.xxx

Visits and visitors and the joys of Cornwall

Dear Friends,

We are still enjoying life here in the UK, though are missing Tanzania too. We have had a wonderful time visting churches and friends and family, and receiving lots of visitors too.(including cousins Thomas and Adam, and Christine's mum, shown on these pictures) It is great to catch up with you all. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to come and see us and to everyone who has been so welcoming on our visits to you. Thanks to all our friends in St. Austell too. We really value our time with you. We are now past the half way mark as we plan to return to Tanzania in late May. We are enjoying the spring weather, the daffodils and the opportunities to walk on the coast path and enjoy some of the beautiful areas around St. Austell.

We are keeping ourselves busy as we are still trying to find equipment to send back to the university in a container. Things are coming in slowly but it is looking possible so please if you know of any sources of equipment such as computers (not too old), university level books, lab equipment, musical equipment please let us know. Christine is also looking for funds for some of her projects, particularly the recording studio project and the small loans project and has been searching for various trusts and organisations who may be able to help. We are very grateful to everyone who has helped us with donations for this so far. Please pray for God's provision for our work.

We are also looking to boost our own financial support through CMS so that we are able to continue serving in Tanzania for the next 3 years. We are so grateful to all of you who support us as individuals or through your churches. If you don't already, please consider whether you or your church are able to support us in this way. Please again pray that God will provide all that we need.

The boys continue to enjoy life at school. Daniel has been learning about Jamaica this term, and Isaac about Australia. This picture is of Isaac telling the tale of "Sheila and the 3 Kangaroos" at their school performance. (some resemblance to Goldilocks and the 3 bears) They also love their swimming lessons. This is Daniel with his teacher, Ross.

We have a busy 2 weekends ahead visiting link churches in the Bath area and then will be looking forward to Easter and the chance to spend some time with Paul's parents before going to Spring Harvest with some good friends.

With much love and God's blessings,

Paul, Christine, Daniel and Isaac.xxx

The Chill, Churches and Cornish Cycling

Dear Friends,
We are now gradually acclimatising to the cold of the UK, though the boys did enjoy a trip to the tropical dome at the Eden Project which really felt like home! Here they are with Grandma at the “Baobab bar” – definitely a taste of Tanzania! Since the end of December we have been settled in St. Austell in a lovely little cottage which we are renting as we have very good tenants in our own home. We are very happy here and it has been wonderful to get involved with our church here again and to catch up with old friends. We have started attending a house-group and Christine has re-joined the worship group. Paul has been helping out with the “Besom” Project run by the church to practically support local people in need. We have also been enjoying the beauty of Cornwall and doing some walking on the coast.

A few weeks ago we attended the CMS Partners in Mission conference at Clanfield near Oxford. It was a wonderful chance to meet other mission partners and to relax, learn, worship and pray together. This picture shows Christine at the conference. Unfortunately this coincided with the boys’ first week at school so we left them at home in the capable hands of Granny and Granpy. They are going to a local C of E school here in St. Austell. Daniel found it hard to settle for the first few weeks but they are now both doing well and making a few friends. They have also started swimming lessons which they are thoroughly enjoying. Daniel has been getting lots of swimming badges and Isaac was delighted last week as on the same day he could suddenly both swim and cycle without help.

We have had a few more very enjoyable visits to link churches. We are very grateful to you all for your continued support and for the great welcome we receive wherever we go. We look forward to meeting many more of you over the next few months. This picture shows us with the wonderful mission team at Hart Plain Church near Portsmouth.

Whilst here in the UK we are also trying to find some support for some of our work. Paul is trying to collect equipment for the university to send back in a container. He is particularly looking for computers (2nd hand but not more than a few years old), university level books and laboratory equipment. If you know of a school, college or company who are clearing out old equipment please let us know, or get in touch for more information. Christine is also trying to raise funds for some of the youth projects, including the recording studio project. For this project she is also looking for donations of studio equipment or electric instruments, which must be of good quality. If you are able to help in any way we would be grateful.

Also if anyone would like to buy or is able to sell our CD to raise money for the studio project, or our English choir CD we would be grateful. Please get in touch

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

A White Christmas

Dear Friends,

Firstly apologies for not writing a proper blog entry for 3 months, but hopefully you have received our updates and link letter in the meantime.




Our last couple of months in Tanzania were very busy as we were handing over our work to colleagues as well as saying our farewells. Christine’s main focus was a very big fundraising event to raise money for a recording studio which we hope to develop in Dodoma. The studio will be a huge benefit for the local youth choirs and will also be a source of income for the youth office where Christine works, where we are really struggling for funds. The event took place at the end of October and was a great event involving several choirs performing together with speeches from various important people. The guest of honour was the Chief Justice of Tanzania, Augustino Ramadhani, who contributed generously towards the project. In total we raised around £4,000 and together with funds we raised previously we now have around £5,000 towards the studio. We thank God for this encouraging start, but please pray for the project as we continue to work towards our target of £20,000.

Early November saw St John’s very first Graduation which was a wonderful celebration of three years of hard work by students and staff. The event went well and kick started the new academic year which had been delayed due to the General elections which passed peacefully. Paul managed to hand over all responsibilities and see the new timetable into action with a few days to spare before our flight. We had a small leaving party with some of our closest friends before we left which was a wonderful time of sharing together, though sad to say goodbye for the next 6 months. The picture at the top shows members of Revival choir giving us a leaving present, and this picture shows Christine feeding cake to the university chaplain, Bishop Ntiruka at our leaving party (a Tanzanian tradition!)

We arrived back in the UK at the end of November, probably at the coldest and snowiest time. We have spent the last month travelling, firstly to CMS house for a debrief, and then to London for a medical at interhealth. We made the most of this and had a few days in London which was a great time – the highlight was building a snowman in St. James’ Park! After this we went up to Manchester and spent a couple of weeks with Christine’s mum. During this time we were able to visit 2 of our link churches – the Avenue Methodist, Sale and Christ the King, Kettering. It was lovely to see friends again, and we very much look forward to visiting all our other supporting churches over the next few months.


For Christmas week we went up to the Lake District where we stayed in a big old farmhouse with all of Paul’s family. We are now in St. Austell where we will be for our remaining 5 months in the UK. We are renting a little house here as we have good tenants in our own house. It is nice to be settled, to catch up with friends and to get involved with our church here again.

As well as visiting our supporters we also hope to do some networking and fundraising whilst we are back in the UK. Paul is planning to send back to Tanzania a shipping container (or two?) and so is busy calling on all the contacts he can in the hope of finding schools, universities or businesses having a clean out. We’re primarily looking for good quality second hand computers, university level text books and scientific apparatus in quantity but so far we’ve yet to strike gold. Please contact us if you think you may be able to help (or know someone else who can).
Christine is trying to raise funds for a number of projects including the recording studio, the small loans project for youth groups, seminars in youth bible study and seminars in music and worship. If anyone has any ideas of organisations she could approach, or if anyone would like to do some fundraising for us (maybe through your church youth group or music group) please let us know.

We’re really sorry we will not be able to visit all our individual friends we would like to see during the 6 months we are here. However, we do welcome visitors here in St. Austell, and we would love to see you.

Please pray for us over the next few months as we settle back into life in the UK, travel around our link churches, and for the boys in school.

Lots of love and blessings,
Paul, Christine, Daniel & Isaac.xxx

Parties and Performances

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

Boats, Bibles and Betrothals

Dear Friends,

We continued to enjoy the boys’ school holiday in July and had a trip to Musoma up in the North of Tanzania on the shores of lake Victoria. We were apprehensive about the 15 hour bus journey each way, but the boys had a great time and had no problems at all. We were visiting our friend, Grace who is there with CMS. These pictures show Grace with us on a boat trip to an island in the lake. We had a lovely holiday there – it’s a very beautiful part of the country. We have also enjoyed some country walks at home. This picture is at our favourite local spot in Dodoma where cows and goats regularly come to drink at the lake.

The boys are now back at school and very much enjoying it. Isaac is in reception class and is very happy to be a “big boy” now. Daniel loves his new class and teacher in standard 2 and has made some new friends so is much happier than he was. Please pray that both continue to enjoy and do well at school. We have also started up bible club again, which had a break since our friends, the Garretts left for a year’s furlough in the USA. Christine is now hosting it at home and it has been very well attended so far. This picture shows some of the children singing praises.

On the 8th of August was the annual “Farmer’s Day” in Tanzania and we went to the agricultural show in Dodoma. These pictures show Daniel testing out a pump for watering vegetables and Isaac playing with a friendly bunny.

A few weeks ago we were invited to the launch of a new English service which will be held once a week at the hospital chapel in Kilimatinde. Paul was asked to preach at the launch service. This weekend we were invited to be witnesses of the engagement of two of our close friends from Kilimatinde, Rev. Silla and Janeth. This picture shows the ring giving. They hope to get married in November. Please pray for them as they prepare.

Paul is currently involved in visiting/assessing our teaching practice students on placement whilst Christine is busy at work preparing for a big fundraising event for our recording studio project which will take place in October. Please pray that this event will be a success and plenty of people will come and contribute to the project. When we are back in the UK Christine wants to try and visit some studios or other organisations which may be interested in this project to look for funding or possibly second hand equipment to help with the project. Paul will also be looking for second hand books, computers and laboratory apparatus for the University from schools, universities and other organisations back in the UK. The plan is to fill a container ready to ship to Tanzania by the time we return in May. If anyone knows of organisations who may be able to help us concerning equipment, or for funding for the small loans project please let us know.

This final picture shows Rosie, who works for us in the garden. She is also a member of the Mothers Union choir, and this is her dancing at church.

Many thanks for all your support and may God bless you as you bless us.

Paul, Christine, Daniel & Isaac

Hellos and Goodbyes

Dear Friends,

Sorry for the long break from the blog but hopefully you have received our link letter in the meantime. Dodoma is now very dry again. Many parts of the country have had a very good harvest this year, though as usual Dodoma region has suffered due to lack of rain. At least there should be plenty of food around from surrounding areas this year.

Christine’s small loans project is continuing to go well in the diocese of Kiteto. Thank you to everyone who has made contributions on my just giving page or to me personally and please pray that this avenue continues to be effective. We recently carried out training of 8 youth groups and have distributed loans to them. This work would have been impossible without your contributions and more is still needed. The pictures show the training event. The groups will be carrying out a range of projects including vegetable gardening, carpentry, pig and chicken keeping, small shops and others.

In June Revival Choir (the Swahili choir with which Christine sings) held a big event to launch our CD which we recorded late last year. It was a great event. A well known Christian singer from Kenya, Solomon Mkubwa, joined us. He is pictured here performing, and the group shows Revival choir with him and others.

Paul is starting to hand various responsibilities over to others at the university as we get ready for our furlough. He has promised to see the new timetable in and so we’ll be leaving shortly after the university opens in November and not long after our first graduation for which frantic preparations are ongoing and for which your prayers are welcome. In the mean time there will still be the usual tasks to keep Paul busy: marking, exam mark collation, teaching practice observation, timetable creation along with this year a little bit of teaching A-level Physics on a pre-university entry course. The university year has just come to an end and we were very sad to say goodbye to graduating students who have been with us in the English choir for the last 3 years. A few weeks ago we had a lovely farewell party with them. This picture shows the members who will be leaving us singing at the party.

We have just had a visit from Christine’s mum. This picture shows us picnicing with her and some friends beside our favourite lake in Dodoma. We also had a few days holiday in Bagamoyo. Here the boys are catching crabs with daddy and playing in the sea with Grandma.

















We have had a couple of trips to Kilimatinde recently. Here Isaac is helping our friend Ema to wash the car with water from the lake in the village.

We are busy making preparations to come back to the UK on Furlough in November this year for 6 months. Thanks for your prayers for the practical side of things. We have just confirmed a house to rent in St. Austell and CMS will be lending us a vehicle, so things are coming together now. We are in the process of arranging dates to visit all our link churches and generally planning our busy schedule. Please pray for God’s hand over the whole process both in terms of our time back in the UK and the situations we leave behind.

Though the house is well equipped there are a few things we will be looking to borrow if any of our friends in St. Austell are able to help out. If anyone has a spare oil fired or electric radiator which we could use in a bedroom we would be very grateful. We would also be grateful for the loan of a few toys and especially kids bikes (for a proficient 7 year old, and a 4 year old needing stabilizers)

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