Harvest Time In Tanzania!
“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” John 4:35
Dear Friends,
Our neighbors are happy. As Warush (Maasai who have become farmers), they anticipate the harvest all year round. “How many bags did you get on your shamba?” Is a typical question this time of year.
The Lemoja family are some of our neighbors. They have been here for years uncountable…some of the first to turn this bush into farmland. We have watched them harvest for ten years since we began to develop Wild Hope’s base next door. Harvesting is a family affair and everyone joins in. Here is one of my favorite pictures of Mzee Lemoja and his wife Mama Josiah with him literary sitting on a “hill of beans” with one of his innumerable grandchildren on his lap a few harvests ago.
While we were in the States we heard the sad news that Lemoja went to be with the Lord. He was 84 years old and active to the end, being a good father and grandfather, a faithful member of his church choir, and a great yet completely humble leader of our community.
Lemoja has left his mark. Even our road leading from the highway built by the Chinese a few years ago is now named after him. A shout out to a family that has farmed this land for decades and who, through their quiet gentle faith, have been a pillar of our community and a great help to us in establishing our base.
One of the first things we did after returning in August from our three months in the States was to offer our condolences and just sit with his widow Mama Josiah. We talked about many things…changes mostly. Life is morphing fast on the African continent and Arusha reflects this. Bush has become farmland and now farmland is becoming suburbs of a city in a hurry to grow up.
The latest change is electricity. Utility power didn’t exist in our neighborhood until 4 weeks ago; we have been using wind and solar power on the base. I asked Mama Josiah about that and she giggled. In the 78 years of her life she has never lived in a house with electricity and she’s enjoying flipping a switch and lighting up her living room after dark.
Electricity is not the only thing that has been in short supply around here. Water is a huge challenge in our neighborhood.
Ten years ago we brought water to our village but now due to growth and politics we and our neighbors only get a trickle. As we were praying with our key local intercessor group here ten months ago, they received a word from the Lord that we would have plenty of water soon. The Bible says in James 1 that we are to act on His message, so believing this promise we stepped out in faith and talked to dear supporters Ray and Michelle Adamyk and Michelle’s son Titus who have helped us before bring water in Maasailand. They, being the gracious people they are, helped us buy a small plot up the mountain from us that has proven historically to have plenty of good water.
We’ve worked hard getting all the permissions for drilling as well as acquiring all the easement rights from there to our base 3 ¼ miles away. It is an ambitious project, but if it works we will have control over our water and be able to supply water for our neighbors. Tomorrow we begin the drill. Please pray we strike good and bountiful water!!!
Pray too for Prudencia and Humphrey who will be doing the drilling with their big rig!
In August it was a joy to participate in our annual youth seminar with key young men and women we have been sponsoring, some for a very long time now. As we spent four wonderful days delving again deep into their lives, I came to a fresh realization that it’s not only the environment surrounding our base that’s undergoing profound changes but also the world these young people are navigating.
Their fathers have been spearmen, some have killed lions and leopards that attacked their cows. Now threats to family and faith are coming in very different and digitally algorithmic ways.
Tammy and I are so proud of the way these leaders of the future are traversing a rope that is sometimes very tight indeed…honoring Christ, their parents, and culture while seeking to apply their faith in a world very different from the simple life in the bush around the kitchen fire.
Thank you for your love and support as we form disciples at the point of culture here in Tanzania. You are making it possible for us to see Christ formed in African leaders and emerging leaders as they wade into fields “ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35).
Peter and Tammy