Gary goes on a long safari

Dear friends and family,

Greetings from your work in Tanzania. Thank you so much for allowing us to be your ambassadors in the Lord’s work among these eager students.

I went on a long safari (journey) Sunday by bicycle and foot that I want to share with you.

Bahati and I traveled to Mlowo on Sunday morning, traveling by foot and bicycle. It wouldn’t be fair to say “bicycle,” as much of the roads are too steep and rocky to ride up OR down. We made good time going, reaching the church in three hours, but the mountains were working for us more on the way than on the return trip. Pushing the bikes up what seemed like more mountains than we’d ridden down, I joked that Bahati was taking me on detours to show me all the hills in the region. He claimed he was taking a different route to avoid the really steep slopes. It took me five hours to get home, sore in muscle, parched of throat, but filled with a joy in the day I’d had among the people. The people of the church I visited are a satellite of a larger church on the far side of the city; a quality group of people who are excited about growing the church in their neighborhood. We had a fantastic song service, much of it led by an elementary aged girl that was simply amazing, filled with the spirit, enthusiastic, and fully animated in her dance choreography. She had a back-up of older kids. The adult song leader had a deep bass voice that I imagined was heard well beyond the walls of the building.

I preached to a very attentive and responsive crowd, Bahati doing his usual very good job of translation. I was able to give some Swahili greetings and interjections, which are very much appreciated by the people. The luncheon with the leaders of the church was held in a small back room of the rented meeting house, which we’d luckily finished before the building was struck by a ‘kimbumnga.” You’ve doubtless seen in America the little “dust devils” snatching up dust like tiny tornados. Well, during the dry season, with the dust inches deep, these whirlwinds can get 50 feet high and quite forceful. The building was immediately filled with a haze of dust, and people were scattering to open doors and windows to clear the air after the whirlwind had passed.

An even more severe kimbumnga hit our house on Monday, completely stripping away the corn stocks laced in our bamboo fence to keep chickens out of the garden, and leaving dust and debris in the front half of the house. We look forward to the rainy season for obvious reasons. Water is a lot easier to sweep out of the house, with actually beneficial end results.

On our way home Sunday, Bahati and I took a route through Ichesa and I got to view the school grounds I’ve written of in the past. Many brick stacks were present and piles of foundation stones. I actually met up with a student on his way back to Idigima from Ichesa. He has a ghetto in Iyula-B, so we had good conversation on our long trip together. He, Alon Mwampamba, wants to be a future math teacher at the Ichesa Secondary School. We always hope that students will give back to the program after they receive their education.

Bible Knowledge classes continue to go well, especially since incorporating the flannel graph set donated by Deaf Missions in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The students are captivated with the illustration of the lessons. With their limited skill in English, the pictures do more than my thousand words can accomplish in many instances. We are studying Abraham in Form I, Moses in Form II, and David in Form III.

I’ll close with a couple of prayer requests.

First, our Form II students are facing national exams in the second week of November. The students organized an all-night prayer vigil, followed by a three hour prayer service the next day with area pastors in attendance. One student accepted Christ at this service, and many others came forward for specific prayer needs. Pray that the students perform well on the exams to the glory of God. Last year, the results were so fantastic that the school received national recognition, which is no doubt the reason for the numerical growth in the school.

Second, VST is in a really critical time right now with all the building going on at so many schools, and most make bricks every year during the dry season for the continual addition of classrooms. The threat and danger, however, is that the bricks can be destroyed by the coming rains if they are not used in construction. The students have worked so hard to make the bricks; pray to the Lord that sufficient funds will be received to buy cement for the many projects and that the workers will be given God’s speed in building. A bag of cement costs 15,000 Tsh, or about $10.50. Idigima alone needs an estimated 300 bags to complete the project goals of this year, so you can imagine the needs of the total 29 schools.

May God’s grace abound to you as you glorify Him in your lives.

Gary and Joanne Grenell, your feet on the ground in Tanzania

Sewing made easy!

Dear friends,

As many of you know, Joanne has applied her sewing talents in a big way here at Idigima Secondary School in Tanzania. The treddle sewing machine, however, has been a constant frustration. Her solution was to hand carry her machine from Iowa all the way to Africa, literally. It never left her side until it was safely set up in our house here.

However, she only got to enjoy a few seconds of powered sewing before the generator peaked and her foot peddle burned out. Not to be stopped by the lack of electricity, we tried and failed a half dozen different methods of connecting the machine to her treddle cabinet. One of the students came to help with laundry one day and brought a window crank handle she'd found along the way, which gave birth to a new idea. The result is a hand-cranked sewing machine! It actually works and is a great upper-body workout. As sewing projects begin to pile up, the remedy came in the nick of time...or is that a stitch of time?


We've given a "torch" (flashlight) to the student president, Justin, so that he can see students safely home after evening study at the school.

Best to all in the Lord,

Gary and Joanne

Brick by brick

Dear friends and family,

The dry season, which is coming to a close in another month, is the time of year that sun-dried and fired bricks are made for the construction of the VST schools. Each class and student is assigned a quota of bricks and the work is very exhausting.

(I hope I captured that in the attached pictures - see the slide show for these photos.)

Land is cleared and plowed up by hand using the big hoes they call CHAPAKAZI. Next, water is irrigated into the field and further hoeing and stomping is underway to work the soil into muddy clay. Hundreds of brick molds are then brought to the scene and students literally run all day long back and forth from the mud pits to the drying field, which had to be cleared of all grass and stones to allow a flat surface. Once the bricks are laid out to dry, they are covered with grass threshed by the students. This keeps the fresh bricks from drying too quickly and cracking.

After about a week, the grass is removed for final drying. We will move the bricks from the field to school property across the valley, where they will be stacked and burnt. The mounds, each containing from 1500 to 3000 or more bricks, are covered with mud to retain the heat. In the meantime, students have spent hours cutting with hand axes and collecting fire wood for the burning.

I asked my students what future students will be doing at Idigima, since the current classes will be involved in all the building projects. With some sarcasm, but I hope a lot of pride, one student said, “They will get to spend their time in study.”

The bricks made this year will be enough to erect three buildings, and possibly starting a fourth building for the science labs.

For the walls to go up and the floors to be “poured,” we need a lot of cement, which is one area of contribution that is always in high demand. With 29 VST schools at various stages of construction, the students are making a lot of bricks. We invite you to join them in building schools that will provide both them and their younger siblings and future families with an education.

May God bless you richly for your involvement.

Gary and Joanne