Back in Iringa continued

Fora was in Minnesota with an Iringa choir in 2005. She is from Magome.  Now she is a new Pastor  with a new parish in Iringa.  We visited her church which isn't completed but is beautiful. We are packing to leave tomorrow morning for Dar es Salaam.  Can't believe it is time to leave here.  We are all well.  Thank you to everyone for your prayers and contributions.  We will give a report at the annual meeting.  Judy, Jack, JR and Jeff

Back in Iringa

We got back to Iringa last night, but the Internet was down. We had a wonderful time in Magome.  On the way we encountered a detour and then when we got fairly close to Magome we had a huge log truck blocking our way!! He had been there for 2 days and there were some men that came from Magome to literally dig out the hillside so we could drive around the truck. We were delayed about 20 minutes. We were greeted by singers and dancers, one of which was the new pastor.  However, we didn't realize that.  We went to church after tea. Here is a picture of the pastor and our  interpreter.  Also a picture of the congregation.

The internet is hit and miss, so I will summarize our village experience. After lunch we got our gifts separated,  found 10 iof our scholarship students.  We took their pictures and gave them their gifts. We showed the "hi Magome " video. Sat around the cook fire and sang songs.  On Monday we went to Ikelamo preaching point. The evangelist's home is pretty well finished. Last trip we took a picture of him on a pile of bricks. Then we went to see the Salem preaching point. The mud hut church has been torn down and a new foundation has been poured.  They hope to have the walls up by September,  the bricks are all there. Then the roof raised so they will have a roof over their heads before the rainy season.  We also visited the primary school,  gave out our school supplies and soccer balls. That afternoon we also visited the dispensary and gave them the medical supplies that Louise and friends got for us. It was a very busy day. Again we sat around the fire,  when a box of crystal bells showed up.  They are using them as percussion  instruments! ! On Tuesday we attempted to drive to the 30 acre tree farm that has been planted. We got to within 3 hills of it driving on a plant covered road.  Michael our driver said "no farther". This is the "road".

We went back to the village and said our goodbyes. Pastor Agrippa and his new wife Lucy

We then went to Image school to see our form 4 students. Only 4 of the 9 that we thought would be there were there. Always frustrating to try and track down our students. Another long day. Today we visited the Diocese Office, and Radio Fruaha. We then met Flora Chavala whom we have known for 11 years!! She actually was in Minnesota years ago with an Irin

Heading to Magome

We are at the Luthern Centre and will load the Land Cruiser tonight because we have to be on the road tomorrow at 6:00 am!! This is a picture of all the bags we are taking. Today we shopped in Iringa to buy supplies for the village.  We bought rice, brown sugar, corn meal, cooking oil and notebooks for the secondary students we sponsor. We also bought notebooks for the elementary school in Magome.  The supplies are already in the cruiser. Hopefully we can get the bags in or on top of the vehicle.  We are all doing well and look forward to visiting the village and meeting the new pastor.  Keep us in your prayers. Judy, Jack, JR and Jeff

We made it!

We made it to Dar es Salaam with all our luggage. 

We are heading to Iringa this morning in our Land Cruiser with our driver Michael.

Judy