Abounding in hope

The following is based on a letter from Bishop John Lupaa to Gail Patton, our team co-ordinator. The photo shows Bishop John with his wife Devota at the Nkonko seminar.

Thank you for coming to do the seminars in the Anglican Diocese of the Rift Valley (DRV). Thanks for those who contributed the money for this wonderful mission. Thank you SOMA–USA leadership for supporting the seminars. And please thank all intercessors who prayed during and after the seminars.

“This simple teaching about Jesus has big power!”
“We’ve never before received such thorough and deep teaching.”
“This was the first big seminar in Manyoni in which all denominations participated fully.”

These comments, heard from around the diocese, celebrate what the Lord accomplished between July 4 and 24, 2007. Thousands attended the 11 seminars conducted by the SOMA teams.

In one day at Manyoni, more than 200 accepted Christ; Chikuyu about 20; Chikola about 150. Many received inner healing or physical healing. God healed one woman of heart decease! Others were set free from evil spirits. Even witch doctors opted to follow Jesus.

One story involves a husband, his wife and his sister–in-law. The husband had had an affair with his sister-in–law. She conceived and bore a child. As a result enmity, hatred, and inner hurt developed between the women. During the seminar they received inner healing and publicly forgave each other.

Pastors have started teaching the seminar at their local churches and report that God is faithful; they are experiencing the same power in their seminars!

Please pray for the DRV as we appoint new SOMA leadership and train teachers who will teach others to teach the Emotionally Free® material. Ask Jesus to grant the money for his ministry.

The purpose of our safari ("journey" in Swahili) was to teach the inner healing course, Emotionally Free®, by Rita Bennett at 11 central locations in the Anglican Diocese of the Rift Valley, Tanzania, East Africa.

My team taught during the first week in Nkonko, the southernmost village we served. For our second week, we moved to Kintinku. During our third week we joined all the other teams for one large seminar in Manyoni, where the diocesan cathedral is located.

We were six for the first two weeks, Bonnie Bashor and myself from the USA, Captain Anderson Medimillo (a priest and our translator), and three lay teachers from Mpwapwa Diocese (to the east of Singida District). The team are the people with the yellow badges in the photo above. From the left they are: Janeth, Nely, Joyce, Bonnie, Anderson and Julie. The other man in the photo was our driver. The woman in the back on the left is Judith, the Mother's Union representative from the diocese. The other young woman is one of the workers at Ndlaa Guest House where we stayed in Kintinku. Our team leaders were Bonnie and Anderson.

Each seminar started with a confirmation service. The Bishop, John Lupaa, combined confirmation with the seminar to minimize the number of trips he was required to take around his large diocese.

The roads are impassable in the rainy season. This is the dry season, when travel is possible. Bonnie and I sat crammed together into the front seat of the Land Cruiser for our journey from Nkonko to Kintinku. It took all day long. The stretch of road in the photo above looks quite good, but it was common to have to come to a full stop, shift into first gear and gently navigate around deep ruts and holes.

At each location, we listened to choirs sing, prayed with the team, planned for how to present the seminar, shared the teaching opportunities and ministered to those who came for prayer. The Lord moved mightily in each seminar. Many miracles happened and stories are continuing to come in to the Diocesan office.

In Nkonko Bonnie and the TZ team members prayed for a demon oppressed woman during the confirmation service. She was delivered and came back for additional prayer during the week.

The first week, school hadn't started yet, and many children sat everywhere in the aisles. My heart is for children so I talked to Anderson and Bonnie about organizing a children's program. We needed a translator. As if planned, 23-year-old, David Hebron, who was leading one of the many choirs, just happened to be standing near us and said he could translate. So, by day two, I was out under a tree with 80 to 100 children clustered as close as possible around me. I taught them to sing two songs, taught them a Bible verse and told several stories, including the call of Samuel, Adam and Eve, and putting on the whole armor of God.

On the right is a photo of David and I with the Nkonko children. We are standing under the trees that served as our classroom.

At the final Sunday service, which closed the seminar in Nkonko, Bonnie preached the sermon and I gave the children's sermon. In it I challenged the children to learn to pray and suggested they could, even now, pray for their future spouse: boys for their future wife and girls for their future husband. They thought this uproariously funny!

These children will not forget the special work we did with them. Their parents were thrilled. Praise God! Amen!

The morning we arrived in Kintinku was the first day of school for the season. Tanzania is located just below the equator. July is the first month of cool and dry season. Although equatorial, the weather is modified by altitude. Most locals thought the temperatures outside were cold and some were even wearing down jackets on the morning and evenings. The land is semi-arid. It reminded me of California, especially with the palm trees and low chaparral.

Everyone seemed to be suffering from seasonal colds. Within two days of arriving in Kintinku, I missed one-half day of seminar with a cold. Bonnie also got sick. We didn't realize that her sickness was malaria until we got to Manyoni.

The spiritual needs in Kintinku were very different from Nkonko. Led by the Lord, we began by presenting the need for salvation. Team member Nely preached her heart out! (Our TZ lady team members were normally quiet and soft spoken, but Nely in front of an audience changes into a powerhouse for God.) That evening 47 people came forward to make a profession of faith.

The same night a woman came for prayer who was oppressed by evil spirits. She seemed very closed, head hanging as she quietly told us that the spirits had bothered her ever since her last pregnancy. She lost the baby, but the spirits continued to deny her sleep and torment her. She had been prayed for several times and experienced deliverance only to have the spirits come back.

Led by the Holy Spirit, Anderson asked her if she was a Christian? She said, "No." Where had she been when we made the invitation? She told us it was very hard for her to stay in the church. She had not been there for the evening's teaching. Anderson decided (and we concurred) that, rather than pray for deliverance, we would pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to her. She needed to get saved! After prayer, she went home.

The next day we talked about the scriptural basis for inner healing, had the group renounced the occult and witchcraft, and concluded by inviting the Holy Spirit to come. He came! Our demon oppressed lady was there. She fell to the floor and several people took her into the Sacristy. Our team was ready to pray for deliverance, but Anderson told them to leave her alone and let the Holy Spirit do his work. So they left her in the Sacristy.

Later, when Nely returned to check on her, she was dry heaving. Apparently, this is often what happens as the demons are coming out. She was completely set free without hardly any input from us!

On our last night in Kintinku, as we were having a late supper, the delivered young woman came to say good bye. We didn't encourage her to come. She just wanted to come. What a difference in her demeanor! She is the one in the middle on the photo above. No longer sad, she confirmed that she slept soundly the night before and that she is now a believer in Jesus!

Two other supernatural events blessed me in Kintinku. One occurred while I led the guided prayer for inner healing. (I used the same type of prayer that Mike Flynn uses in which we visualize Jesus reaching into the heart to remove the painful hurt and replace it with His light and love.) We asked for testimonies and the young man who leads the worship band stood up. He is the pastor's son. He explained that when the seminar started he didn't believe there was anything to this inner healing business. (Typical preacher's son! He's seen it all.) Then, as the guided prayer began, he felt the Holy Spirit stir his heart. He had been rejected and deeply hurt by a young woman to whom he was engaged to be married seven years ago. The emotional pain had immobilized him. Since then, he has not dated. But, during prayer, Jesus took the pain and set him free! Hallelujah! Amen!

The other event in Kintinku occurred when Bonnie was leading the prayer to break the generational bondage. This is a powerful prayer that can result in the healing of the land. I felt led to walk around the church and pray. Four of us team members then stood in the center aisle praying over the people as the prayer reached its climax. Suddenly, just as Bonnie pronounced the breaking of the bondage, a severe wind whipped up clouds of dust and engulfed the building. Bonnie went over to the side door and spoke directly to the wind, "Stop it!" she demanded. It stopped!

Since we did not conduct a simultaneous children's program in Kintinku, we gathered the children at the end of the seminar for one session. I decided to teach the story Jesus told about the 99 sheep and the one who goes astray. Nine children represented the 99 and one child went her own way lost at the back of the church. The shepherd (a tall girl) went to find her and carried her back to the fold. The children love to participate in illustrated stories. Anderson translated for me. We had rapt attention for at least an hour and I really sensed the Holy Spirit at work. I asked who would like to accept Jesus and all 40 children raised their hands. Anderson prayed with them the sinner's prayer and afterward we encouraged them to remember this day, 13 July, 2007. The photo shows me with these precious children.

Our final week in Manyoni was also wonderful and challenging. The seminar took place on a one-km-square soccer field with a stage to one side. On the second day we started the children's program, but this time we had at least 200 children. It was impossible to keep control of them under a tree with the sounds and sights of the adult program going on simultaneously and the occasional scorpion to deal with.

The Lord answered prayer and one of the other Americans, Michelle, volunteered to lead part of the group. We had a few anxious moments without translators, but soon each of us had a translator and we launched into our lessons. Additional challenges faced us immediately. We had moved beyond the borders of the field to another smaller soccer field. But the military was doing training on this field, marching and chanting with wooden guns. Although it was hard to keep the children focused, 12 in my group prayed the sinner's prayer to accept Jesus. The photo is of the older group, which I led.

At the final closing ceremony, the children said their Bible memory verse (John 10:10) and sang a song in English and Swahili. One never knows how much they are absorbing. Having a program for the children emphasizes how important they are in the Body of Christ!

Several hundred people accepted Christ in Manyoni and many healings occurred. One young man said he had not wanted to attend, but his mother told him to come. So he came, and he gave his heart to Jesus. His name is Emmanuel. I asked him if he knows the meaning of his name, and he said, "Yes!"

The last event of the seminar involved reconciliation. This was a powerful experience. At first, we Americans asked forgiveness for the way our part of the Communion has forsaken the authority of scripture and rebelled against God. Then, we reconciled over the issue of historical slavery. (This is always a moving experience. I was directly involved in Kintinku where I asked forgiveness for anything my German ancestors may have done to exploit Tanzanian territory.)

The final reconciliation occurred between the denominations who were present: Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Baptist, Moravian, Methodist and Assemblies of God. Tears flowed freely on the platform and in the audience. I only wish I could have understood all of what was being said.

In the photo above the pastors of the various denominations listen to the spokesman asking for forgiveness. The nearest person on the left is Anglican Bishop, John Lupaa.

There is much more to tell, but I hope this gives you a flavor of what we experienced. We were very aware of your prayers for us. Each day I would wonder how things were going to turn out—especially with the children's ministry. But, it was as though we were fulfilling a master plan that we hadn't made! The Lord provided at every turn. It felt easy! That's what prayer does!

We will never be the same. Part of our hearts we left in East Africa. Thank you again for your prayers and for your financial support. God bless you.