Departure day has arrived!

I can hardly believe that today is the day!

The USA part of the team gathers this evening at 4 pm in Northern Virginia. We will share an "African meal" and get acquainted. This will be followed by training both this evening and tomorrow morning. Then we head for the airport!

This is the last time I will post until I get to a computer on my return, July 21. I'm excited for what the Lord will do! Thank you for your prayers. My prayer for you is that you will draw closer to Him through your participation in this effort!

God be with you all and your families!

The countdown is on!

It's hard to believe that Tanzania 2007 is almost here! I am working long hours on a project for my client in CA. Please pray for focus and concentration to get this work done with a few hours of rest before the trip begins on Friday.

Lon has been really struggling this week with his health. Thank you for your prayers!

God is moving!

In my last post I told you about the joint prayer meeting last Tuesday night. The Wesleyans were so hungry for more that they met at lunch on Wednesday to pray. Lon and I joined them on Thursday, and they prayed again on Friday.

After prayer on Thursday, I talked with the assistant pastor at FWC about our lack of space at SPSP for a dedicated, 24/7 prayer room and asked if a room might be available at FWC. She went immediately to the senior pastor, and we have our prayer room! We also lent the assistant pastor John Guernsey's video presentation on the "Prayer Driven Church." If you haven't seen it, you can get a copy from the American Anglican Council.

For me, there's been a qualitative difference in all my prayer experiences since Tuesday night. I have a sense of expectation like never before that God is moving here in Roanoke!

Lon has been really struggling with his heart and his hypertension. Through a book he's reading, he learned that hypertension may be the body's response to early-childhood trauma. We will be doing inner-healing prayer for him this afternoon. I'll let you know what happens!

People who love to pray

"Hello, my name is Mary." (name changed) the young woman on the opposite side of the table introduced herself. It was the sort of exchange one has before any business meeting or social event. As we each told a bit about ourselves one could feel the human warmth in the room! Things really began to heat up, though, when together we turned our attention to our Lord Jesus and began to worship and cry out to Him. Tears, songs of praise, exclamations of joy, and groans of supplication followed. By the end of two short hours, you'd have thought we were members of the same extended family!

We are! When you belong to Jesus, the deep fellowship with other believers is such a blessing! What I just described occurred last night, June 19, 2007, as five people from St. Peter and St. Paul (SPSP) and four people from First Wesleyan Church (FWC) just up the street from SPSP, met for the first time to pray!

I'm excited about what the Lord is going to do through this partnership! How wonderful to find a group of people who want to pray!

Interesting links

To find out a little more about where we're going, check out this web page: http://www.anglican.or.tz/rift_valley.htm

For a series of photos showing what we will see, including a photo of the front of All Souls Cathedral in Manyoni point your browser to:
http://www.mccannmission.org/broadband/photogallery.html

Chikola, Chikuyu and Manyoni

The three places above are where I will be in central Tanzania. Two different satellite maps seemed to locate Chikola and Chikuyu in different places, as they don't appear on any political maps. Wikipedia says they are wards in the Manyoni District, which is west of Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania. Manyoni the town will be the site of the third week's seminar to which 20,000 people are expected to attend!

Wikipedia also says that this is one of the poorest regions in all of Tanzania. This area experienced drought in 2006. There's a wealth of information on the Internet. Just search on "Manyoni Tanzania."

When it rains it pours

As a gentle rain falls outside, I sit at my computer working! I haven't had a paying project for several months. Suddenly, at the beginning of this week, a client called, and I will be working flat out right up to the day I leave for Tanzania! This is good news because we need the income. I'm also pretty much ready to go having purchased most of what I need for the trip. But, please pray that the project won't totally exhaust me! I don't want to begin Tanzania with a sleep debt.

You can be Emotionally Free

The above is the title of Rita Bennett's book published by Bridge-Logos of Gainesville, Florida. In preparation for Tanzania, I'm reading and loving this book. I think we all need inner healing. When I first experienced this type of prayer many years ago, I more or less assumed that I had to be prayed for "officially" by someone like Mike Flynn for the technique to "work!" But, this is not true. Our God is truly an awesome God. I was so blessed yesterday as I recalled childhood experiences (good ones, actually) and recognized Jesus loving the nine-year-old I was then. I encourage you to get the book and pray for yourself and for each other. Jesus wants to heal us!

A living book of Acts

I've been inspired this week by reading the current (June) Voice of the Martyrs magazine/newsletter. It focuses on Vietnam. Believers take advantage of their prison incarcerations to evangelize, and many criminals accept Christ! Their home Bible Schools offer a course on how to deal with the police. But, instead of focusing on legal issues, this course teaches, "'not to be afraid; that perfect love casts out fear...not to worry...the Holy Spirit will give ...the words to say at the right time.'...Vietnam is a living book of Acts."

That phrase captured my attention. I pray that my life and the lives of my intercessors will be living books of Acts.

God's rich supply

Praise the Lord, we have received to date $700 toward airfare. Thank you to everyone who has sent a check! A letter went out today to more than 50 additional friends and family describing Tanzania 2007, inviting membership in the intercessory team, and soliciting contributions both to help meet my airfare (total cost approximately $2,300) and SOMA's seminar expenses. Please pray that the letter will inspire as well as communicate the need.

Listening to God

My husband, Lon, taught his third adult Sunday School class this morning at St. Peter and St. Paul. He reports great blessing and excitement. Realizing that there is SO MUCH to study in the Word, the class discussed starting a new weekly study group called "God Chat." This idea has to be approved by the Education Committee, but it sounds promising. Praise God!

Lon also reports that he felt directly led by the Lord before the service to go over and pray a specific person at St. Peter and St. Paul. Lon obeyed, and the Lord worked through him in a wonderful way! Prayer changes things indeed.

My mosquito net is on its way. I selected a Mosquito Net Wedge Sleeping Enclosure. I'll share a photo.

Mosquitos

Avoiding insect bites has become a major topic of conversation and planning these last few days. I naturally attract bugs and get bitten at least once every time I spend time in the forest. For some people, taking vitamin B1 daily repels mosquitos. (They say garlic doesn't work.) The B1 may or may not work for me, but I'm going to try it. I plan to take a free-standing mosquito net for sleeping and am contemplating soaking my clothes in Permethrin. Apparently this chemical, which is now made synthetically but comes naturally from the chrysantheum plant, is harmless to humans, but deadly to mosquitos. One brush with a fabric treated with Permethrin kills the insect immediately. My third defense is to use a repellent cream based on the chemical Deet.