Thank you

Thank you for your prayers. Yesterday was the hardest day so far. On a human level I should have rested in my room  but this was an opportunity to trust God for strength in weakness and he didn't disappoint. I had a 10 minute sleep in the lunch break, instead of food, and a resurrection happened! God enabled me to teach with passion and clarity. In spite of feeling utterly drained and dejected afterwards, the feedback was good. Bwana asifwe - praise God!
Today was the last day of teaching with graduation ceremony. The above photo is the Mwanza class of 2019. I have done 26 separate talks and sermons in less than 2 weeks. It has been such a privilege to share some of my experience and training in a context where they, through no fault of their own, are denied it. Their appreciation was heart felt and effusive. I have fallen in love with Tanzania and Tanzanians all over again. Here is our cohort waving their much prized certificates!
I feel so honoured to be hosted by Michael Nhonya, the General Secretary of the Baptist Convention of Tanzania, a truly amazing and godly national Christian leader who I plan to blog about on another occasion. He is sitting on my right as I write, driving at 120kph to make the most of the daylight in order to do most of our return journey to Dodoma. He has just finished a tilapia fish which he bought from the fish market just hours ago in Mwanza.
I am also very grateful to my Anglican colleague Simon Moore for inviting me to join him on this teaching trip. We've had a lot of fun and worked hard together. It's difficult to say this, but I will miss him!  Well, he is an Anglican as well as a Watford supporter. Here is Simon teaching with Michael as translator
So, the first phase of my sabbatical is completed. Next up the Pugh family, five or so hours north from Dodoma in the middle of somewhere but not on a map. I should get to them sometime on Saturday. Can't wait.
A few photos of Lake Victoria follow (from one short walk!) plus one of an enormous and largely unused shopping centre. The prices are out of the reach of most here.





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