Yup! As you can just imagine, we got to the Bible College and found out that the entire town of Kasulu was without power. It’s a national holiday today so the power company decided to do some maintenance, as best we could figure. Did I panic? No, I really laughed. It’s just the funniest thing that challenges come up like this. Test of faith? Spiritual attack? I really can’t say, but being here in the Lord’s hands, doing what he has called us to do just makes it seem ….. well… OK. I knew that if not today, than tomorrow would be the day to start. In the mean time I began to set things up with the help of Elisha, the young man from Burundi who takes care of the computers and Internet café. We got the server assembled and one of the new PC put in place and by that time, Daudi and others had gotten a gasoline generator running so we could begin to boot things up. The server installation when through without a glitch. It was one of the quickest installs of Windows 2008 I’ve ever done. By the end of the day we had just about installed all of the software we need for the system and even had time to do some testing with some wireless repeaters we brought along. Those worked great as I had hoped they would. The repeaters will allow us to have Internet access throughout the Bible College classroom facility and offices. Most important of those is the staff room where we will install a new PC for the staff to use for private preparations and such.
That took up most of the day. When we got back to the compound, we had a wonderful evening with Alastair and Helen Sammons. They are two missionaries from Britain who are stationed here for two years. Helen is the Academic Dean for the Bible College and Alastair is a surgeon who is helping out in four hospitals in the region. I tip my hat to them for the work they are doing here. It’s hard living in the rural region, even with the recent advent of 24/7 electric power and such.
Tomorrow we are going to visit our God child, Frank NDahana, Daudi’s son and do some browsing around Kasulu on market day. I’ll hopefully get some time to post some pictures tomorrow as well. Tonight the cellular Internet connection is not working well so I’ll be doing good to get this text post out.
Please continue to prayer for us. We know we have felt the power of those prayers each day. Please know that we have been blessed by them and feel a closeness of the Lord’s presence because of them. We will get back to work on the computers on Monday, so I’m just looking forward to a nice weekend of fellowship and worship together with our friends here in Kasulu.
Bill
Wow! What a fantastic day. The weather was beautiful to start with. We got a early jump on going to the Airport which turned out to be perfect as there was a little confusion with the drivers of the two taxis we took to the airport such that we went to one terminal while the other car which had most of our luggage went to the other. But with a little bit of driving back and forth and clarification as to the terminal we were supposed to go to, we got security right on schedule and got all of the stuff we were bringing checked in and on the plane.
One thing that happened that delighted us was finding out that Mama Rose (Bishop Mpango’s wife) was on the same flight with us to Kigoma. She was leaving Dar a day earlier so she could be with us at her home for a visit before we drove out to Kasulu. We arrived in Kigoma at about 9:15 AM and promptly drove over to the Mpango’s home, which is located along Lake Tanganyika. As I said, the weather was beautiful today, so we had a great view of the lake from the back of their home. We ate (twice!) and did various things together and just enjoyed their company and hospitality.
One of the things that Bishop Mpango is involved in now is a ministry to the very poor of Kigoma. It is something that has always been a part of his ministry as the Diocesan Bishop and now that he is retired, and very much rejuvenated, he is embarking on a local ministry with the help of others to reach out and care for the poor. It’s a growing ministry that involves the setting up of a new foundation along with charitable giving of materials and 
supplies from others outside of Tanzania. We lucked out in that today was the day that many poor people from the area come to his home to enjoy some singing and worship together and have a short word of encouragement from the scriptures and then are given modest gifts that the Bishop procures locally. Eventually containers will come from England with all sorts of supplies to be given to these wonderful souls. It was a smaller group than normal today, but it was great to see Bishop Mpango in action, doing what he does best, sharing the love and joy of Jesus with the people that attended. 
Today they were given some simple bars of soup that were made in a local Kigoma soup factory. Modest for sure by our standards, but you should have seen how the people gratefully received these gifts. You would think we were handing out packets of gold.
Afterward we traveled on to Kasulu. Rev Daudi Ndahana drove us there. It was great to finally arrive in Kasulu with all of our bags and equipment in good shape. Relaxing for a short while, we then had dinner with Bishop Makaya at his home and enjoyed an evening of fellowship together.
Tomorrow we will hit the ground running! Cathy and I will start to work on the computer upgrades while Shaw meets with others to continue discussions regarding the on-line studies he has to offer to KBC and the Diocese.
Items for prayer are that all of our equipment setups and migrations will go smoothly. Also pray for the discussions that Shaw will have with Bishop Makaya, with Daudi (the Bible College Principal) and Canon Helen, the academic dean at KBC. There is much potential for great blessings for KBC and the Diocese through what Shaw has to offer. Meeting the exact needs of the Diocese is the key.
Good night again from Tanzania. The Lord bless you all.
Bill