Our sixth month on The Race was in Sumbawanga, Tanzania. My team, comprised of Missy, Amanda, me, Nathan, Dan, and Chase were paired with Casey Weatherman’s team, comprised of Alys, Stacy, Jen, Lynnsey, Suzy, and Kelly. This month was a bit different for our two teams though. Adventures in Missions has a program called Passport: World Race Exposure. College-aged individuals are given the opportunity to spend one month with a World Race team; therefore, my team received Josh Beebe, 21 yrs, and Grace Zoller, 20 yrs, and Casey’s team had Candace Nevels. It was a great month for us because Grace and Josh brought a lot of outside perspective, wisdom, and energy to our team.
My team, Casey's team, and some of our ministry contacts
Dan and Nathan getting their hair braided!
Our ministry contacts were Pastor Amos, the preacher for an Assemblies of God church, Reuben, an active member of the church, and his fiancée, Mary. Our ministry was less diverse than some of the other months I have had on The Race because it was mainly open-air preaching and door-to-door evangelism. Unfortunately, many of us were sick throughout the month with malaria, parasites, worms, GI infections, fevers, and other maladies, so only about half of our two teams were able to participate in ministry consistently. I will post a blog about my month-long experiences with numerous health issues and what God taught me though it all. I was unfortunately only able to attend church services, one orphanage visit, and one open-air preaching event.
Mary and Casey
Morning church service on Sundays
If I had to choose one word to describe a church experience in Africa it would be “freeing.” Church members worship however they want, whether that means making a whooping noise with their tongues, getting up and dancing in the front, or breakin’ it down in the aisle. There is no judgment in how they worship, and it is a beautiful experience; there is so much energy, joy, and love for the Lord. Some of us sat in the children’s section and danced with them during worship as well. We loved on them, and they loved on us!
Pastor Amos asked our teams to lead part of the worship time and also give a message each Sunday. Casey played her guitar and Suzy sung a couple songs for worship, and Chase, Amanda, and Casey gave messages this month.
The little kiddos singing for the church body
The youth presenting a song with dance
Open-air preaching
Open-air preaching was always on Sunday afternoon and occasionally during the week. It basically was an outdoor church service in one of the communities. It started off with an intro by a church member, followed by music, singing, and dancing, then a message by one of us, such as Nathan, Dan, Grace, and Josh.
Grace and Pastor Amos
Door-to-door evangelism and prayer walking
During the week, we split up into two teams, one with Pastor Amos, and one with Reuben to go out into communities and evangelize and pray for the locals.
Orphanage visits
We would visit a Catholic orphanage about once a week to play with and love on African children. I am blown away by how much African children love being held and cuddled by us. It is an honor to demonstrate God’s love for them in this manner.
Loving on street kids
This was a ministry that created itself. The longer we lived in Sumbawanga, the more street kids found out where we were living. Whenever we would leave the home we stayed at, a flock of street kids would run up to us and love on us. They LOVED being around us and followed us everywhere!
