District Agriculture and Livestock Expo

We arrived in Dodoma, the government capital of Tanzania, which is about the center of the country of Tanzania, on Saturday, July 25th. The trip wasn't without problems! As you can see from this picture, we lost a tire along the way. The road was very bad and it took us 6 hours from Kondoa to Dodoma. We kept having to stop to hook the tail gate and re-tie some of the ropes. On about our third stop we noticed the missing tire, it wasn't just the tire gone, but the entire wheel hub, on we went very slowly.

Each district of Dodoma have a 5 acre plots to show different things. The district of Kondoa has the building in the background and plots of corn, mtama (grain sorghum), ulemi (finger millet), tomatoes, egg plant, mango and banana trees and other crops and fruits trees. They also plan to have cows, pigs, chickens, fish and goats on display.

We will be showing the biogas generator, you can see the men taking it off the trailer (400 pounds of water and manure), solar cooker, storage of grains, how to make the water clean to drink using the sun, and baking a cake using a kerosene stove. We will also be handing out tracts on how to have a new live in the Spirit and stickers for children that say, Yesu anakupenda (Jesus loves you).

Pray for us as we have opportunities to share not only how to have a better life on earth, but how to have Eternal life in Jesus Christ. For opportunities to share our testimonies and why we are here, in the Kondoa district.

June Update

We have just returned from our sectional meeting at Limuru Kenya, where we met with other missionaries from Kenya, Congo (DRC), Uganda, Tanzania, Ruwanda, Burundi, and Southern Sudan. It was a great time of fellowship and refreshing with Bible studies from Phillippians and also Joshua 1:9. The trip went very well, not a single flat the entire trip, and we were able to get liquid nitrogen for the AI tank at Usa River, at the National Artificial Insemination Center. Terry has finished his first biogas generator and gave it to our neighbor who has a dairy. The picture shows him putting the final hose on and ready to "fill" it. The biogas generator is filled with manure and water which produces methane gas that can be used to cook with.

Christmas in June

We received our crate this week and made the trip from Dar with a large two axle trailer. The trip went well, no flats, the crate didn't move around and the trailer "followed along" just fine. We felt like it was Christmas when we got it opened, all those great things we had crated just three months ago: chocolate chips, Frito's, tomatoe paste, Rotel, laundry soap, a recliner, ice maker, green beans, corn, and lots of other goodies that many of you helped us pack. Thanks to all of you who helped fill the crate with these goodies.

Tomorrow, Friday June 5th, we will head to Nairobi for meetings next week. On our way we will go through Usa River, a small village, where there is a government supported program that can fill the AI tank with liquid nitrogen and Terry will be able to purchase semen to use in his teachings. Saturday we will cross the border into Kenya and that can always be a "real treat". Pray for our travels, crossing the border and then our time in Kenya as we worship and fellowship with other of our mission family.

STAYING BUSY

We are working on demonstration projects for Farmer's Day which is August 8. Here Nan is making a solar cooker using two pieces of glass, an inner tube and a pot with a lid painted black. You put a piece of glass on the ground, the inner tube with the pot, covered inside and a piece of glass on top. It is supposed to take 3 to 4 hours to cook beans or rice, we will try it before teaching.

We thank you for your continued prayers. You know we can't always tell you ahead of time when we need your specific prayers. Just last Friday,when Terry was working on making a biogas generator he cut his hand with a box cutter. We had three options-drive to Dodoma, four hours away (and we didn't know what the medical care was like there), fix it ourselves (it was a deep cut), or try our local government hospital. We went to the local hospital, where Terry received 5 stitches. His hand is healing well, with some help from our butterfly bandages and lots of wraping here at home.

Pray for continuted healing, for the project demonstrations we are working on, and opportunities to share our testimonies. Just going out to buy the supplies for the solar cooker has given Nan several opportunities to share her testimony. People want to know what she is doing and when she explains the projects, then the doors open for her to share her testimony.

Rascal and Sister

Thank you for praying for us as we went to get Sister (on the right) and Rascal (on the left). We had an eventful trip, poor Rascal got sick 5 times in the car and we had a flat tire in a forest reserve area with lots of tsetse flies. Terry had to change the tire while Nan stayed inside with the dogs. We were very thankful we had lots of Off outdoors bug spray in the car and we gave Terry a very through coating before he got out of the car. We were thankful neither dog tried to jump out of the car when it stopped and a door was opened. We took a short cut which cut off about 3 hours, but still the trip, with flat a short lunch break and buying gas, took us 6 hours. As you can see both dogs seem to be settling in well at their new home.

Finished Work

The fence is done, gate is hung and painted, and concrete is poured all along the base of the chainlink. Now we can go get our dogs, Sister and Rascal, who are in Shinyanga. We will leave on Monday morning, April 20th. Please pray for us as we travel with two grown German Shepherd/Rottweller dogs, who have only been in a car once before in their lives and that was when they were puppies and they came to Shinyanga. We plan to return on Tuesday, the 21st. We will be traveling a different route this trip, over the mountains, but much shorter for us.

Building a fence

These are the men building the fence for us, on the left is Maguru (Maa-goo-roo), center is Michael and right is Mwamedi (Waa-may-dee). Please pray for these men as they work for us, for Maguru, because we know he has a drinking problem, Mwamedi is very young and Michael is more the leader. Pray for us as we have opportunities to share with them why we are in Kondoa. The fence is coming along nicely, maybe by Friday, April 10th they will be finished with the wire and the only thing left will be to put up the gate.

We have had good rains this week and we thank God for His blessings. We see many people planting and Nan even got out this week and fixed a little plot and planted broccoli. Since we have a small yard, people can see from every direction, they see Terry working with the men building the fence and Nan in her garden. That just makes us more accessible to our neighbors as we work and greet them. Continue to pray for those persons of peace and for opportunities to share Jesus "where ever we are going".