It is Saturday night (August 19, 2006). Last night, we accompanied the short-term team to the I will back up to give you a more accurate picture of our time with the team. There were thirteen of us from the States who divided into two teams of 6/7. We also always traveled with a
Tanzanian driver and/or Pastor and saw many churches and schools spread over some of the roughest and most diverse terrain I have ever traveled. My team (“A” team) was led by Andrew Olson. He is only 14 years-old but was an amazing translator/preacher/friend to us and the people of
Our first day of ministry on Sunday, August 6th. Near-by, was a school where we were able to show the ‘Jesus’ film after the service. This was a common sight throughout our 9 days of ministry.
The picture shows a fairly typical set-up and also shows the type of church we most commonly worked with during this time. In all, between our two teams, we were able to minister in 30 places over the 9 days…it was very exhausting.
Following our scheduled days of ministry, the leader of our group, Pastor Kevin Olson, was good to schedule some time for debriefing, reflection, and seeing some sights. I have included some pictures to try to give you a little idea of how 
great this was. Even Tanzanians (and the safari tour guide we had on Wednesday) said our day in Ngorongoro Crater was “once-in-a-lifetime” kind of day. During our day we saw lions, ostriches, zebras, foxes, hyenas, giraffes, hippos, black rhinos, elephants,
flamingos, cheetah, water buffalo, Kudu, gazelle, wildebeest, crested cranes, warthogs, etc. Nothing short of being there could do it justice but suffice it to say, it was unbelievable to see all this in the wild. The vehicle actually belongs to the mission here and was how we traveled throughout our time.
This morning, Ben and I jumped a bus and took a 9-hour ride down to the Lutheran Junior Seminary here in Morogoro (3 hours West of Dar Es Salaam) where we will be until October 1st attending language school. We arrived around 3:30pm and are very pleased with what we have seen so far. The accommodations have running water, electricity, internet, laundry facilities and good meals. We have already met students from around the world and look forward to starting classes on Monday morning. Pray for wisdom and quick learning.
I want to say here that I am very blessed to have Ben as a ministry partner. We get along great, see virtually everything the same way, even like the same kind of food, and both speak Portuguese (which comes in very handy when we need to discuss something privately in the presence of others). God is so good.
God bless you all for the blessing you are to me. Keep the prayers coming. They make all the difference in the world (and in heaven, too, for that matter!)
With much love and gratitude,
Jesse Long
