On Monday we rose bright and early to have breakfast, followed by our personal devotional times with God. An hour goes quickly – we all have found that we could spend twice as long reading the Bible and talking to God if we had the chance! It is so good to be here at En Gedi (the name for where we are staying, where Ishara School of Ministry is located). It is such a beautiful, restful place without distractions where we can fully focus on God and listen to His voice.
Simon, a Ugandan-native on the Joshua team took us through the basics of Tanzanian culture in the morning, teaching us that Tanzanians are relational, conservative and agrarian. There are 52 million people in Tanzania and two-thirds live in rural villages, often without power, water or access to hospitals. The culture is people-oriented, not task or time-based, which leads to conversations that can last for hours arising out of everyday interactions.
Emma Phissoo (a kiwi who is now married to a Tanzanian) took us through a lesson in Swahili which the team has embraced whole-heartedly! Our favourite new word: “shagalabagala” – which means something like “random” or “higgledy-piggledy”.
We also began our ministry training, learning about Ishara School of Ministry and the reality that as we receive revelations from God, speak out those words in active faith, manifestations of the Holy Spirit are the result! It has been awesome hearing stories of local Tanzanians who have been healed and brought to faith as a result, and we are looking forward to heading out into the villages and slums ourselves later in the week.
Today we also got to visit the Joshua School and meet some of the children who our church has been sponsoring for years. These children come from impoverished backgrounds and it was so encouraging to see the education work that the Joshua Foundation has been doing to break the cycle of poverty.
In the afternoon we headed into town to sort out Sim cards for phones, to convert money and to see some of the urban culture. It was quite an experience handling the hustle and bustle of busy Arusha streets, with their vendors haggling and pikipikis (motorcycles) weaving everywhere! Then it was back to base for sport with the Masai students on base, followed by dinner and worship. A full on first day!
