Friends Visiting Tanzania

In late January, a delegation of Friends traveled to Tanzania to organize the plan of evangelism being led by Tanzanian pastors and a missionary couple from Kenya, Nicholas and Dorcas Otieno. This delegation consisted of John Muhanji, Kelly Kellum, and Ron Bryan from FUM, and Eric Dale and Eric Fleck from Indiana Yearly Meeting. That Nicholas and Dorcas are answering the call to become missionaries in Tanzania has inspired Friends in Indiana Yearly Meeting to organize support for their ministry. We are excited to announce that Nicholas and Dorcas will be sponsored through FUM’s Living Letters program.

Flying into Tanzania from Nairobi meant landing at Mt. Kilimanjaro briefly before before traveling on to Mwanza, which sits on the shores of Lake Victoria in northwest Tanzania. Friends have begun to evangelize from the shores of the Indian Ocean to the southern-most regions of Tanzania, and across this great land to the western border, which touches Burundi. Driving long distances is not easy due to Tanzanian infrastructure, which is constantly being improved. The sharply pointed hills and mountains which border the Serengeti are new to this traveler, including glimpses of wildebeest and zebras in the distant grasslands. Tanzania is definitely not Iowa.

Yet we found comfortable hotels in Mwanza where we met other dedicated pastors and finalized our arrangements for the next two years. Crusades are being planned in three locations for this year—the first in March. Many new churches have been planted over the last ten years, and God is blessing the seemingly impossible obstacles. The next ten years are being dedicated to mapping out a strategy of planting new churches in five regions within Tanzania, to train disciples and to lead leaders. May God bless our calling to obedience in this endeavor.

Ron Bryan, Presiding Clerk of FUM