Easter greetings from Africa!! I trust you all had a blessed celebration of our Savior’s resurrection! As I write this, it is Easter Monday and we are waiting at a beach café at the port in Zanzibar for our ferry which will take us back to Dar Es Salaam. We are very grateful to have had about 5 days here of relaxation, recreation, and soaking up some sun.
Our time here was preceded by some days in Arusha picking up supplies for the coming semester and then a day and a half in Dar where I was fortunate to find a new motorcycle for myself at a reasonable price. I was really hoping that my Honda 250 would hold up for the remainder of our stay in Tanzania but the time between significant repairs has been rapidly becoming shorter and shorter and it became apparent that purchasing a new one was unavoidable. For those that care, my new bike (a Honda XR400) is significantly newer, more powerful, and much more suited for our use. Ben hopes to also find a similar bike in the next couple months.
While we are on the subject, I should say that it appears God is calling us to one more, final year in Tanzania. In the previous months we have once again been analyzing the situation here, our role, and how God might be directing. Through this time, various things have impressed on us the need for one more year. In short, we feel much progress has been made in the previous years not only at Waama Bible School, but also in our village ministry with the Jesus Film. With one more year we feel this progress would not only be solidified but that we could also ensure more completely the self-sufficiency (which we feel is absolutely critical) of each side of this ministry. On the side of Waama, we are helping accomplish this through heavy involvement in the current restructuring and updating of academic curriculum, among other things. On the side of the Jesus Film ministry, we continue to make progress towards establishing as many as 3 teams of Tanzanian evangelists outfitted with solar-powered audio/video equipment. Once these teams are established, they would easily be able to carry on that ministry with no outside support and on an even broader scale than we have ever been able to.
In recent months we have also had opportunity to communicate our vision to the leaders of the church and it seems they have been slowly but surly getting on board as well. All this, combined with the financial improvements realized through things like the electricity project, we feel quite optimistic about the future. Thank you so much for your part in all this. We continue to covet your prayers.
For the remaining months between now and our summer furlough (which will begin in July), we also ask that you continue to pray for our third semester classes (I will be teaching James, 1 Corinthians, 1 Timothy, and English), the students who will soon be returning to their various ministries, our weekends of village outreach, and our on-going health and protection. Pray also that God would continue to keep us sharp, on track, and faithful in this calling. During this Easter break, I have been re-reading Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala and have been very strongly reminded of the importance of prayer and a desperate dependence on God in everything we do. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants their life to count for eternity…even if they have read it before.
I am sorry to have to cut this short but our boat will be here shortly. Thank you again for your love, prayers, and support. Keep checking our blog for new pictures of our Easter break, the friend’s wedding I will be in on the 18th in Arusha…and my recently acquired motorcycle! J Again, that address is http://benandjesse.blogspot.com.
God continue to bless you all!
In Christian love,
Jesse Long
Mbulu, Tanzania
