God is good! No glitches during our February 2nd Zoom meeting. In addition to the "Helping Without Hurting" video, from which we learned the importance of interdependence towards each other and that poverty alleviation does not come from solely providing material resources, we were privy to a newly recorded short film sent by Harold and Coni Knepper, HoTN missionaries. I’m hoping this will be viewed by the church congregation to provide a better understanding of the process that built this Bible college, which is a blessing through God’s grace. If you have the time here is the link to the video: https://vimeo.com/785857004 I know I keep learning, which of course breeds more questions, where and how many churches have been planted by HoTN Bible college graduates? Are there women leaders? How do students pay for the training?
During our meeting we delved into fundraising opportunities and details. One fundraiser will be Kevin’s yummy pulled pork sandwiches. Another will be selling burritos on Sunday at the Gilroy at the Gilroy campus with Tina’s supervision and directions on how to prep and roll burritos. This will help the Tanzania STM fundraising efforts while Tina recovers from recent shoulder surgery. The team will also be holding a burrito Sunday at the Hollister campus soon. At the end of April, we will be offering vegetable plants for your garden that include heirloom tomatoes, hot & very hot peppers for Sam, Isaac & Kevin, sweet peppers, eggplant and flowers. A few other possible fundraiser are being talked about, so keep posted for updates.
We also worked through a book called “Before You Pack Your Bag Prepare Your Heart.” This brought up discussions during our meeting such as “Are You an American First or a Christian First?” The Tanzania culture, customs and behavior, will be the topic of most of our meetings and I am sure this will bring up additional questions. Thank you, Tammy and Jack, for answering these questions without making us feel intimidated and sometimes answering these questions by sharing examples, both funny and serious, from previous trips. Tammy and Jack take their roll very serious about making sure we all are spiritually, mentally and physically ready for this STM
Susan Mister
Team blogger
