Christ’s Hope International
The team journeyed to Mwanza—Tanzania between September 17th and 19th; Mrs. Holtzhausen from Namibia, Caesar from Kenya, Sharon and Carolyn from Uganda. By September 20th, we had all arrived in the lake side city of Mwanza, well received by Christ’s Hope International, settled in and ready to begin training Christ’s Hope International staff for seven working days and later, the Mennonite church in Nyashimo for another seven working days. While in Mwanza, Christ’s Hope International ensured we had food, accommodation and transport to and from the training ground everyday.
We began training their staff on 21st of September at the Tanzania Assemblies of God church training facility at Igogo. Twenty two people attended including all Christ’s Hope International Tanzania staff members and three people from the church. Having not received any training in Genesis Design, most of the staff were enthusiastic to learn.
The training run from 8:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the evening. We are very thankful to God that we were able to cover all the foundations successfully.
We used teaching strategies like “Think, Pair, Share” where the participants could share in groups of two or three. Here they could learn more from each other as the facilitators went around to listen in on the discussions and guide where necessary. They were challenged by the truth received.
We reminded them of the redemptive work of Jesus and how God wants and is able to restore that close relationship and fellowship with Him. We pray and hope that they will live the truth so that they can confidently teach it to the children. This was the first time we were out teaching as a team and it was also a good opportunity to learn from Ms. Sylvia on how to teach effectively. Having a weekend after the first two teaching days gave us an opportunity to physically sit together and effectively prepare for the rest of the training. We were able to sit and sort out the material that we would need.
We enjoyed every part of the training; from how organized it was, the great meals, lively participants and even the beautiful venue by the rocks. It was also heartwarming to be appreciated by the attendees in a special way.
Mennonite Evangelistic Church of Tanzania
Our next stop was Simiyu Region - Nyashimo, two hours from Mwanza city. We left Mwanza on Saturday the 30th in the morning. Our contact Mr. John Simba had organized a meeting with the church leadership later that day. This gave the team time to familiarize with the church setting and effectively organize the teaching. We had our meeting with leaders drawn from various Dioceses in Tanzania who were mostly bishops and secretaries. It was an honor to have the Archbishop of the Mennonite church in Tanzania in attendance as well. We gave a brief on who we are and what we do. We also briefly shared what our teaching would entail for the seven working days we would be there. We expected to have 30 participants but as the days went by and word went out about the teaching, more people came from all over the country to get an opportunity to listen but some had to be turned away due to logistical issues. We ended up with 37 participants at the end of the training, with most attendees being pastors and church leaders drawn from across Tanzanian Mennonite churches.
What stood out for us was the hunger for God’s truth from the participants. They yearned to understand God’s truth more as they asked questions pertaining to Genesis 1, 2 and 3. They admitted to getting new insights that they had never paid attention to. Again, many were challenged by the truth from God’s Word to change for the better in their homes and share it with their congregants. The Fortress again hit home for most people as they admitted to never getting such teaching.
Saturday 7th saw us have a session of Question and Answer. Though it was voluntary to attend, we still had all the participants in attendance which showed their thirst for truth. A great learning point for our team was learning to adapt to the audience and to the circumstances. For example; due to the frequent power outages, we had to find new teaching tools and strategies that did not require PowerPoint presentation. We also engaged the attendees by having them do dramas that were a great complement to the teaching. They really enjoyed doing the dramas. We are grateful to God for being with us, granting us good health and safe travels back to Mwanza and then back to our home countries.
Thank you for your prayers and financial support towards making this training a success.