No Rest for the Pre-Form Students or Their Teachers

Gary & Joanne with all Pre-Form One Students - A, B, & C

Idigima Secondary School completed its sixth year and closed for the holidays on December 14th. After completing the scoring of the annual examinations, many of the teachers left to visit their families, as did the majority of the student body. Not so the students preparing to enter Form One in January. They and their teachers continued with the same timetable, taking off only Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Liberty Mwazembe

Liberty Mwazembe is a 2012 Form IV graduate from Idigima who was hired to stay and teach mathematics to the Pre-Form students. An orphan, he has had a long struggle in obtaining his education, but he has done a fantastic job and emerged with a delightful personality. It is a joy to work with him. He teaches mathematics to all three classes (Streams A, B and C).

Liberty with Pre-Form Students

Meanwhile, Joanne has the challenge of trying to bring Stream C up to speed in English. These are the newest students to arrive at Idigima, and those from Streams A and B who are struggling. Her loving, strict and encouraging spirit works wonders with these little ones.

Joanne with Pre-Form Students

After the annual exams and the school closed for the rest of the student body, Gary joined the team to teach English classes for Streams A and B, allowing Joanne to spend concentrated time with Stream C.

Gary with Pre-Form Students

Gary with Pre-Form Students

Pray for these students. Many of them are 14 years old and away from home for the first time. They are completely responsible for their own care, cooking, washing, and study discipline. They come for education, understanding that they will help build their school.

Pre-Form Students Working

Many times they do not have coats, let alone rain coats or umbrellas. They walk to and from school in the rain and sit all day in their damp clothing. It is by God’s grace that we do not have more sickness than we do.

Trusting in His grace,

Gary & Joanne Grenell

Sewing Seeds of Kindness with His Word

(unnamed student with Bible book cover)

Thanks to one of our gracious supporters, Joanne has some very strong, water resistant fabric she likes to use for making Bible covers for Bibles we give to the students. The environment here is very hard on books and papers.

(Gary with unnamed student with Bible book cover)

The students come to school rain or shine, and both rain and the African heat take their toll on the students’ notebooks.

(student, Stella, with book bag)

Coupled with the dust and dirt always present, books don’t last long unless the people are taught to take care of them. Many students have been blessed by the book covers and book bags Joanne makes.

(Stella, with friends and Gary)

(Stella, with friends and Joanne)

Speaking of books, we have been working with the church leaders in Ichesa to establish a church library. We are happy to report that a shipment of books was received at the end of the year. I (Gary) was scheduled to speak at the Christmas service, but rain made the trip a miserable and dangerous prospect. With rains nearly daily, the New Year’s service was hardly any better, but I went anyway.

(muddy road hill climb)

Having rained most of the night before, the rutted and muddy roads were a nightmare for travel on the back of a motorcycle. Going down the side of the mountains and around sharp curves, I found myself praying, “Lord, I’m yours in life or death.” Going up the mountain was worse . . . like a motocross hill climb . . . nearly falling a number of times, I was praying, “Lord, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

Finally arriving at the church, we had a fantastic time of worship. As part of my morning’s message, I challenged the church to make a New Year’s resolution to read the Bible daily. I found out later that very few have Bibles, although there are eight in the congregation who can read English. We decided it would be good to add a few copies of the English and Swahili Bible to the library for people to borrow.

(Pastor Michael and his family)

After the services, Pastor Michael took me over mountain paths to visit his parents. We returned to his home for a fish/rice/beans lunch and unpacked the library books. Michael drew out one book at a time and explained what it was about (all are in Swahili). There is a good variety of counseling books for addictions, marriage, leaders, and youth; Bible book surveys and atlas; commentaries; and topical studies to help train church leaders. I donated a concordance.

(Pastor Michael and his father)

(Pastor Michael and his mother)

The trip home was much more enjoyable, the day’s African sunshine having all but dried up the roads; however, with clouds rising in the south and west, I sent Moses home as quickly as possible after dropping me off. Within a half hour of my return, students were arriving for afternoon studies, so off we went to teach. The lectures were later interrupted by thunder and the pounding of rain on the tin roofing. A lull in the storm gave opportunity for the students to scurry to their ghettos in the villages, although later showers likely caught a number of the students who walk from more distant housing.

Thank you for your prayers of safety both physical and spiritual, and for your prayers for an expanding kingdom. God is faithful. Pray for laborers to enter his harvest fields. Pray for unity in the church. Pray for God’s people to walk in the spirit and in truth.

In God’s grace,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

Jesus Film

No question: The Jesus Film (Luke’s gospel) is the all time favorite at Idigima Secondary School. Yes, hearing it in Swahili is no doubt a major reason for its popularity. That aside, the youth still prefer to see the life of Jesus dramatized than most anything else. That was proven when, after class, we showed home videos and pictures taken a couple of weeks ago around the campus. After seeing themselves, we brought up the Gospel of John in English, and the kids were glued to it for the next hour or more. The afternoon rains came and went and they wanted to stay and see more.



We scheduled three weeks of movie nights for Mondays and Wednesdays in order to expose the entire Pre-Form One student body to the Swahili version of the Jesus Film.





We tried to have boys one night and girls the next, working through each class in turn, but there were always some students sneaking in with friends, some of them seeing the film three times.




They never mind being crowded, no matter how much we try to make it a comfortable viewing.


We will set up 20 chairs for 20 students, but have 30 or more squeeze in, full of smiles.


When will we learn? This culture thrives on being “together” in all aspects of life. Unity is a bond of peace. Individuality is looked upon as a suspicious behavior; something for the church to think about . . .

With love from Africa,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

Didn’t You Get the Memo?

It seems we are routinely surprised at what a day will bring. We get up, take a cold bath from the bucket, have a bite of leftover cold rice with banana, organize our lesson materials, and head off to school . . . only to find out that the students will be working, in special assembly, or lined up at the Registrar’s office for receiving information about their tuition dues. Or . . . as was the case today, to find out that a Talent Day had been planned . . . and that we were expected to participate.

We hurried back home to dust off the harmonica and scribble some lines to a favorite duet.

The day consisted of morning and early afternoon sports and games.

Joanne got cheers from the students when they saw that she could jump rope; Gary got laughs for trying. Gary damaged his shoulder playing volleyball and blistered his hand in tug-of-war.

Mid afternoon was filled with displays of students’ drawings, singing and dancing by students and teachers, acrobatic stunts, and a skit by students. The skits are most always teachings/warnings about the dangers of HIV/AIDS, witchcraft, prostitution and corruption. The skit today was a blend of these about a girl prostituting herself for better school scores and tuition fees, only to infect the community with HIV/AIDS. It ended with her being shamed and driven from the village.

The afternoon and evening continued with a student dance contest and then dance for everyone. Some of their dances are organized, somewhat like line dancing, but most is random, individual dancing in mass. It reminds us of the jumping crowds of kids that gather in front of the concert stages (mosh pit?). We circulate through the crowd and separate any “couples” that are getting too close.

Everyone seemed to have a great time today, although we wondered how they could go all day and night without water or food. They seem to think nothing of it, saying they will fix food when they get home. We know that process will take an hour or more, meaning they will eat at 9:00 or 10:00 at night. They like going to bed on a full stomach, so I guess it works out fine in their way of thinking.

Tomorrow will likely include some joking remarks about highlights of the day, but for the most part it will be business as usual, focused on the studies and projects to be accomplished. In spite of their poverty, these people do know how to take time from their work to enjoy life. If they are not sick, they consider themselves blessed, regardless of the condition of their clothing, living space and food.

Thank you for praying for us and our students. The enemy is always on the prowl, seeking to cause a disturbance. Our testimony of the Lord’s strength is real and effective in breaking through the barriers of fear and superstitions.

With love from Tanzania,

Gary and Joanne Grenell

Easter Conference

Members of four area churches gathered in Itewe for a two-day Easter Conference. Although Itewe is the closest of the four villages to Idigima Secondary School, all are west of two very deep valleys.

Because we’d just completed the Mid-Term Exams and had 700 to score and 7,000 scores to enter into the computer, I declined the offer to be the speaker for both days and agreed to attend only on Sunday.

After a night of rain, my thoughts were occupied with the treacherous slopes, deeply rutted and slippery with mud. It seems I am always contemplating the possibility of these trips being my last act of service. Surprisingly, the slopes had drained off and dried by the time Moses picked me up on his motorbike. The flat stretches, however, were scattered with patches of mud and standing water; we fishtailed our way to Itewe.

To my surprise, the order of service was quite different this year. In the past, we enjoyed a long song service, where choirs from the different churches each brought a number of songs. Various preachers and teachers would then share in the teaching and prayers. This year, after taking our seats at the front of the building, Pastor Michael leaned over and whispered that there would be an opening song, and then I would have one and a half hours for preaching . . . (Be ready in season and out of season . . . and pray that the Lord will be glorified.) There are, of course, no clocks on the rough mud bricked walls, so I don’t know how long I preached, but the entire service was over three hours long. It is really not that hard to spend a couple of hours preaching on the resurrection. We had eight people come forward “to beg God’s forgiveness.” They had another believer come to the Lord on Saturday.

After a luncheon of ugali, greens and chicken parts, we gathered again for a celebration service, which included the dancing and singing from the different church groups. Rain was threatening, so it was suggested that Moses rush me home. The only problem was that someone had taken the key from his motorbike, and they didn’t track the kid down and recover it until the rain was upon us. The spirit of the meeting was not dampened, even though holes in the roof and the absence of glass in the windows allowed for cooling mists and droplets. With probably 300 people pressed into the building, it was actually a relief from the heat.

When the rain reduced to a sprinkle, we set out. The flat stretches were worse than in the coming, and both of us had our feet down to keep the bike from going down. When we came to the steep slopes, I picked my way down on foot while Moses slid down the best he could with the bike. A very tense hour later, I was home . . . wet, cold, muddy, exhausted, but safe . . . again!

The Lord is good all the time.

Gary and Joanne Grenell in Tanzania

Front Yard Mechanics

It is amazing that drivers here seem to be mechanics as well. You may recall our early experience in 2009 of having a wheel fall off the car, and the driver tied it back on with a rope and drove home over the mountain. We didn’t have his confidence and chose to wait for another vehicle. Since then we have seen fuel pumps removed, cleaned and reinstalled on the side of the road, as well as break jobs.

On the home front, the truck used for hauling sand, stone and timbers for the building projects is periodically in need of repair. It was parked in front of the neighbors’ house for days for engine repairs.

On another occasion, the transmission was in need of repairs. Without hoists or service pits, students turn out to assist in providing the manpower and leverage needed.

In like manner, we’ve seen the truck stuck to its axel in mud while hauling sand from the river, but somehow the students’ united efforts have freed the vehicle.

Determination to see something through, with as much success as possible, seems to be a part of the culture here. When you consider that most of the work is done with very few tools, it is remarkable.
Whether they are building a goat shed with scraps of tin and bamboo, or preparing for National Exams in their quest for an education, they put their all into it. At the bottom of examinations, teachers will often put a quote, usually something like, “No Sweet Without Sweat” or “No Success Without Struggle” or “Success Is Suffering.”

Thank you for supporting our efforts to bring spiritual fruit bearing to this part of God’s garden. It is a sweet and sweaty labor of love.

Gary and Joanne Grenell