To Tanzania

Today I begin the long trek to Tanzania. I fly Spokane to LA on Alaska; LA to Doha, Qatar (15 hour flight) on Qatar Airlines, & finally Doha to Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania on its east coast. I spend two days in Dar acclimating before taking a puddle jumper to Kilombero. I was suppose to land in Ifakara but they won’t land there due to bad conditions on the grass runway there (though those in Ifakara say it’s fine). I will be picked up in Kilombero by my friend Pastor Moses and driven to the village of Malinyi where I will stay at the Tumaini Lutheran seminary. We will stop in Ifakara to visit the bishop of that diocese. It’s about 120 kilometers but will take about 5 hours to drive. I’m excited to see the Tumaini Lutheran School our congregation has supported, and to see Moses and the people there. I have been invited to preach in their congregation this next Sunday.

After a week in Malinyi I am driven back to Kilombero where I fly back to Dar es Salaam and then to Arusha where I meet Lori. Lori and I will then go on a safari followed by a few days enjoying Zanzibar island.

This has been a bucket list experience since I was a child and hearing of Tanzania from our family friends, the Simonsons, who spent over 50 years doing missionary work in Arusha. I have especially been interested in going since seminary when my advisor, Jim Nestingen, was there on sabbatical. He help do some mass baptisms when the Maasai people became Christian. I have especially been interested in these last few years since meeting and hosting Pastors Moses and Eliud when they came to visit as we have a sister relationship between our synod & their diocese.

I am very interested to observe the Lutheran Church and worship in Tanzania. They have experienced tremendous growth in the Lutheran Church(es) there in the last 30 years. I am very grateful for the time and resources to go, and for the kindness and hospitality of our sisters and brothers in Tanzania. I pray it will be beneficial to me, my ministry, and to the people I encounter there.

My childhood and close friend, and member of St Luke, Dave Krause, sitting right behind me on the first leg to LA. Small world.