Tanzanian Treasures & Unexpected Surprises

Our journey to Tanzania this year is taking us into the northern region of the country.  God’s handiwork in this area includes Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti.

This journey has added “missionary” purposes.  Bekah Guess, 18-year-old daughter of Rev. David and Marcy Guess, Minerva, Ohio, traveled with us to further explore her sense of calling to missions.  She is using her budding photography skills to help us chronicle our safari as well as interview Safina (Children of Promise) sponsored children.  Also on our excursion are Rev. Scott and Deanna Compton and their 3-year-old daughter, Elliana, and 9-month old son, Ian,  from Mansfield, Ohio.  They have been selected by Global Missions of the Church of God to join the Tanzania mission team; this is their very first trip to Tanzania. They have assisted us interviewing the sponsored children, and as of this evening are in Babati, to meet with the Tanzanian team leaders Ben and Kelli Shular.

You can imagine our excitement when we all gathered together in the Detroit airport to make our journey across the Atlantic together.  One week prior, I had the opportunity to meet Elliana; suffice it to say, she is a beautiful little girl with a really sweet personality.  Both she and her brother, Ian, had some difficulties with their sleep patterns on the two days it took us to arrive in Tanzania.  They were little troupers as were their parents.  With 22-pound baby Ian strapped on her back, Deanna would frequently hold Elliana when she needed some reassuring. Both Deanna and Scott showed us that getting in a hurry was not always the best road to travel.

We arrived at 9:00 pm Saturday, Feb. 12, 2010 in the Kilimanjaro International Airport.  In Tanzania, the airlines moved a staircase out to the plane so we could deboard the plane.  Just as we pulled into the airport, God opened the skies and the rain fell in bucket loads!  We were now 2-days smelly and drenched from the rain.  The press of the mob at the Visa booth was daunting.  I finally caught the eye of an Immigration officer; he motioned for me to come around for the processing of our six passports.  Wonderful!  Poor baby Ian had to pay a $100 visa to get into the country; somehow that seems like a crime to me!!  With passports and visa stamps in hand, we got our luggage, got waved through customs and were met by Ben Shular and Ron and Carol Baker.  What a blessed site!  We arrive at our guest house about 10:30 or 11:00 pm.

The next morning we boarded the land rovers and headed to Meru for church.  I love worshipping in the village churches because, often, the people have only a drum, their hands, their voices and their passion for God to experience true worship.  We experienced the presence of God in singing Swahili songs, praising and worshipping the Lord.  A delightful experience occurred at the end of the service; I had heard of this, but never experienced it.  The pastor and platform guests led the way outside.  Once outside, we began forming a circle with each new person passing by everyone in the circle and shaking  each person’s hands.  The last ones in the line were Scott and Deanna Compton, Ian and Ellianna.  At first Elliana was shy in shaking hands…that is until she met some little children.  Her big beautiful smile lighted up her face.  I will treasure that experience alone as one of the most special experience we have had so far.  I have to wonder if she will remember this experience when she is a young lady.  I hope so.  The love of Christians is the same all over the world.  Who knows what impact this experience will have in the future or how many lives might be turned toward the Lord because of it.

We reconvened in the church to interview the children.  These children are delightful.  They may be young but they are dreaming big dreams for their futures.  Here are some of the occupations/professions they said they wanted to be:  doctor, lawyer, pastor, work with orphans, soccer player, teacher, pilot, and tourism specialist.  Doesn’t this encourage your soul? 

After church then the interviewing, it was time to eat lunch.  We enjoyed a goat stew over rice and a soda pop.  Then they brought a platter covered with a doilie.  What could this be?  First we were given Maasai blankets and beautiful cloth for sewing.  That was a very generous gift.  Then they removed the doilie from the covered platter.  There was a cake which one of the ladies had prepared and it was presented to me.  Ben, Ron and Carol explained to us how special this gift was because no one among our Safina families even owned an oven to bake a cake in.  Wow!  We cut the cake in small pieces so that everyone…children…parents…committee members and others could have a taste of this special treat.  What a way to end the Sunday worship/circle of community/thanked for something our sponsors make possible everyday by faithfully supporting the almost 900 children in Tanzania and 4,077 children around the world.  The next time you reach for a piece of cake I hope you will remember the sponsored children around the world and usher up a prayer for them and their families.

Linda Mason, Assistant Director, Children of Promise


P.S.  Tomorrow we will attempt to add pictures to our blog.  Traveling around the world is not an easy task.  Uploading photos this evening is taking a very long time and we pull out of Arusha at 5:30 am to make the 4 1/2 hour drive to Gelai where our Maasai sponsored children live.