Ervin's Trip to Tanzania

Greetings in Jesus' name. It's a blessing to be here and gathered with you all.

I suppose most of you know we had, well, we had some whooping cough and things that we were kind of staying at home about, and we weren't, we had this trip planned to Tanzania. It was the end of March here, and so I wasn't sure how everything was going to work out, but so, but everyone was well enough that we went. And, um, I'm not sure how noticeable it was because we weren't always coming, coming to church and together anyway, and so, um, but we were, we were in Africa for two weeks. Well, we were gone here for two weeks. It takes a while to get there.

Um, I was thinking, you know, why we went there, what, what was the purpose of it. Maybe before I talk about that, I was, I don't know how many of you know where Tanzania is. If you look at Afri a map of Africa, I thought of drawing one here. I tried to draw one on paper, but it, I didn't practice much with it, so it didn't. But it's on the western, western side of Africa, like the opposite side of the US.

The US would be, um, west. So it's, to get there, we flew, we flew into Turkey, and then we go south another, fly about another seven hours south. It's just under Kenya. Kent, the equator runs through Kenya, and then Tanzania is right under that.

So it's, uh, it's a fairly warm climate there. Most places, except in some of the mountainous regions, it's, it's a little cooler and more rainy as well. Kawita is where I have a brother-in-law there, would be Carrie's brother, Warren. They've lived there probably close to seven years now.

And, uh, they had both worked there as singles, and then they, after they married, they lived there, and they have about nine children that they take care of there. The oldest is like 14 and, uh, on down to about age four. And they, they did a lot of these, they took in as infants. Um, it's just somebody has a child and they feel like they can't take care of the dad is who knows where, and the mother, you know, will ask them if they would take it. And so they have done that for nine children. Well, actually, they didn't take all the oldest ones. There was another family there for quite a number of years that had taken some of these in, and they started out with them.

And then when my brother-in-law moved over there, they, they kind of became their parents. And so a lot of ways they have their hands full. Um, it's, uh, when you have nine children those ages, it's, uh, it's, uh, plenty to sometimes not quite reach around.

But the Lord is blessing them there, and it's, uh, been a, was a blessing to be there. Back in, you know, taking a trip like that is, takes a lot of resources, and it's, it's a long, tiring trip. And I remember back in 2014, I had a brother in Paraguay then that we visited, my wife and I, and we had three children then. So our whole family went, and I was figuring out a little bit what it would cost us to go, and I was, you know, it was going to cost a good bit. And I asked my brother, I said, well, should we just send you the money or should, would you rather we come?

And he's like, well, come by all means. I mean, he's like, so, you know, being there is, is, uh, you know, we can send money, but being there is, uh, you can see where they live, and it's more of a connection than if we just send, send them money.

So I had to think, you know, our purpose for going there was, was to visit them and to, there is a mission there. It's been going probably close to 20 years now that Harmony would have started about that long ago. And I'm not quite sure how it started. I'm not sure what all the story is, but a number of families had moved over there and kind of went into certain areas there where there was some other Christians and, and, you know, just gave some instruction and direction and tried to help them form a church. And there's a number of little churches now that are, most of them being led by, by native Tanzanians there. And while we were there, they had a, they had meetings, like a leadership meeting for all these people.

And so I'm not sure, it wasn't probably quite a hundred people there, maybe 75 or so.

And it was like all day, Saturday and Sunday, and then on into the next week, we were there Saturday and Sunday. And after you're in a, in a meeting for a whole day and you don't understand the language, well, it gets, a lot of times someone would interpret for us. And so we got, like, usually got most the idea of what they were sharing there. There's a number of families there that have been there for 10 or more years, and they know the language. The language is Swahili. So they know, know the language quite well. And so they can teach and preach in that language. So even the ones that would have known English, they didn't, um, they preached in Swahili.

There was going to be two, two men coming from the States and be in those meetings. I was kind of looking forward to that. I thought, you know, they would then preach in English and someone would need to interpret for the other people. But the one man's mother-in-law passed away and there was a funeral, and so they delayed their trip to coming there. So we never got to meet them. So everything was in Swahili.

But it was also a blessing seeing some of these black brothers, especially the one, one man. He was a, he was a tall black fellow. He talked on purity. They had the, the man and the, the ladies separated during that time. And it was just a blessing to see him have a passion for that, you know, just to, to live in purity and to, and this was, I'm sure there were some there that, that was, they knew about it, but, you know, didn't really know how to live it out or, I mean, just to have a passion for what's right and for, to, you know, to live with your wife. And, um, it's just a blessing seeing them, you know, passionate about that and doing what's right and lifting up the truth.

I also, I guess another, probably the main reason to go is I, I would like to expose our children to other cultures. Um, our oldest children are in their teens, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to, to do that. Um, and we, we got a good exposure to their culture there. You know, you fly there and you don't sleep real well, and you're flying into the, flying east, so you're flying into the time zones.

And it kind of messes with your, your days and nights, and they kind of run together after a while. And till we got there, we were pretty tired. And the one town, the town we flew into was Embea. There was a, was it an international airport there, but we, they took a small, we took a smaller plane to Embea.

Then from there, um, well, there were some families there that we had lunch with, which that was about four o'clock because our flight had gotten delayed. And then they stuck us on a public transport there to go down to Kawita where Warren was, my brother-in-law. And, uh, if you've never been on some of those public buses, and this isn't the big buses that, there are some big buses that run like 12-hour runs, and they're pretty nice big buses and not quite as crowded, but this is just the common, um, it's, it's not the, like a big Greyhound bus, maybe about half that size. And, you know, they pack the people in there and they pack them in there hard, and it doesn't cost that much to travel in that.

Carrie and I had been there back in '07, soon after we were married, before we had any children. And so we, I had had some experience with that, but, and there was a, a girl from, not from Harmony, but from the church at Sunbury that went with us to, to help out there. She was, she was staying there. She went with us because we were going.

And so they said, we're going to keep the ladies here and we're going to send you out into the, on the public transport. And it's like they, I was just send us out. And so that first, it's, it's interesting, you know, you go into these, go into the bus stops and there's all these people around trying to sell you things. And, um, everyone wants you to ride in their bus, you know, come over here, this, and they're all, you can't understand, understand what they're talking. And fortunately, we had someone with us. I mean, he got us on the bus, told us where we're going. And it, uh, and as we're, once we got going, they, they stop at, they have these bus stops, they stop at, and there's people there that want to ride.

And, you know, more people pile in and more people pile in. You think, well, there's no more room, but after a while, there's people standing. And after a while, they're kind of, if you're sitting in a seat, they're trying to hold themselves over the top of you, and it really gets full.

And it doesn't even, doesn't cost that much. It, uh, you're paying shillings there. So it was about an hour's drive. I'm not sure how many miles it was, but, and over a mountain. And for three of us with some luggage, cost us about 12,000 shillings, which is equivalent to about $5 for, I mean, if you, if you use their transport that way, I mean, you could get someone to drive you in a van, just you, but then it would be, it would cost a lot more. So, but in some ways, it's, it's kind of fun doing that, just kind of mixing in with the people and going where they'd go and do what they do.

And they stop at, every time they stop to pick up more people or see if more people are, want to get on or off, then you have people coming around the windows with their bananas, roasted corn, you know, holding it in the windows, sticking in front of your head. And, you know, once you, you need something to eat, you don't even need to get out to, um, you know, go find something to eat. It's, it's almost on your nose.

And, uh, you know, that it's, and it's also interesting to me, the, the, the kind of order that, I mean, it looks like a lot of disorder the way the traffic is, but they do have their ways of doing things. And there's people walking on the road and these buses blow their horns and there's motorcycles everywhere, but occasionally they have accidents, kind of like we do here too. But they do have a, you know, when a bus comes, the motorcycle needs to move or a car needs to move. The buses, they have, they rule the road there and next it'd be trucks. And it's just, uh, it's a, it's a different way of, um, it's not what we're used to, but it's what they're used to.

It's what they've always done.

Another thing that's interesting, there's not as much, I'm not sure how much the Muslim percentage of Muslim people are in, in Tanzania there. There, there is a fair amount of Muslim influence there. And, uh, then also as you get back into the villages, there's not as much, not depends what area you get into.

But, uh, just the, the modesty of, you know, the Muslim people, they believe in, they don't believe in nakedness and doesn't necessarily mean that they have good morals. But I was just, just kind of impressed that even the, a lot of the native people that aren't even Muslim, they, the ladies wear dresses and often cover their heads and it just because of the, that's their culture.

And it kind of made me easy to understand, easier for me to understand why, especially the Muslims have such a, uh, they don't like, like the Western, especially the U.S. influence because of, you know, if you, if there wasn't a, a tourist there, not even necessarily from the U.S. always, but from New York or somewhere, you know, they, it just weren't, weren't dressed very good.

When we were out at the capital, we had to wait on a flight and there was a beach close by there and I wasn't sure we should go out there or not. There was a, we had a couple hours to wait.

It was close to 10 hours, I think we had to wait there. And there was this friendly taxi driver there. He wanted to show us around the city there. And so we went out with him and it was the day after Ramadan. Like Ramadan is when the Muslims, the way I understand it, they, they don't, well, they fast for 40 days, but they, they don't eat during the day. But they eat at night then after the sun goes down.

And so it was the day after Ramadan. And so at the day after Ramadan is a big celebration for everyone. They, they just have a whole day party and the schools are closed and it's, you know, the families are out and about. And so, so we went out to this beach. We, we didn't actually go out on the beach, but the road goes by it pretty close, close by it. And it was so full of people that you couldn't get out in it even. But there was a, there was just not a lot of immodesty there. I mean, it was just, you know, they were dressed and it was warm, but then, you know, I appreciated that.

But then if you saw a foreigner there, often it was the other way around. It was just not, not dressed very well. And so that's kind of the impression that these people get of the West, of, of, or the European, um, nations is, you know, that's just the way they are. I kind of have a Hollywood impression of it.

And so when our people go there dressed modestly and, uh, there's more of an open, open door for that than if, you know, if we just, someone just goes over as a tourist or even if to reach out to them and, you know, we're not dressed, dressing modestly or having their heads covered. There was a, I might have seen a half dozen ladies or so that, you know, were totally covered, just had slits to look out, out of. But otherwise, it was pretty much they had their heads covered and, uh, almost would pass for an Anabaptist people.

Um, we did, couldn't really talk their language. So it's not like we could talk a lot with them. Um, but that, that was interesting how that, um, yeah, just the modesty. And, but there's another island there. It's called Zanzibar that, like Harmony will send young men there for often with a two-year commitment to teach English. You can't really get in there because it's of the, the Muslim influence there. But if you come as an English teacher, you know, they want education. Education is what gets you ahead. And if you can talk English, that's even better. So if you go in and as, as an English teacher, and I actually had the opportunity to talk and work with a couple of the young men that, that were there for a year or more.

And it's interesting, some of the conversations they get into, you know, they start asking them questions and, you know, well, what about God? What about Jesus? And, um, the, the one story that they told me was this, they had a lot of interaction with this one young man. And he said he never, he doesn't know that he ever really made a Christian commitment, but he was, he was really getting a hold of, of some of their teaching. And so they came to the, they got to talking about loving their enemies. And this young man was like, well, he's not sure how this works. I mean, how, how can you love your enemies? And they encouraged him to try it.

There was a college there that there was a lot of people there. And so, well, he, he thought about it. And after a while, he's like, well, I have a couple of enemies here. And, uh, well, he's going to see how that works. And he, I'm not sure what he did, but he went and did nice things for them or something. And they, after a while, these that had been his enemies started, these men that were his enemies started coming to their Bible studies as well. And, and, uh, it, and he was just, just getting all, he was really getting on fire for how this is working out. And so that's kind of where they had left that.

But it's, it's just a blessing to see, you know, people from our culture going over there and, you know, reaching out to them and, um, to, you know, show the light to them and, uh, willing to leave our own culture to, to go into that. There's also salt, CAM salt programs are, they have that going there. And that seems to, you know, there's groups of people that, that, that work seems to be working well for them and sponsor, like school sponsorships. There's, you know, there's people that live just out in the bush and places and, uh, you know, don't have a lot and can't afford to send their children to school. And so they try to reach out to some of those and make so that they can, they need to have a uniform to go to school and need to have, they have to buy their own, uh, writing tablets and kind of, kind of have to have their own supplies.

And if you can't afford that, then you can't go to school. So they're, they're doing a good bit of that in that area as well. It's, uh, they probably live two miles off the main road. The main road is a nice paved road, but then when you get off of that, it becomes, you know, just dips and, and, uh, it's pretty rough going back in there. It takes a while to get there because you can't go very fast.

It's, it's worse than our fuel lanes. And so, uh, yeah, just living back there and seeing where they live and doing things with them that we're able to work on a couple of the building, buildings there that they were working on, making some, trying to make some more offices for the, their school, school programs.

There's a number of young Tanzanian men there that are involved in that and, yeah, very passionate about helping their own people. And it's, it's just, it's just really nice when it works out really well when a native person gets the vision of helping his own people, they can help them a lot better than, than we often can because they know the culture and, and all that.

I guess another thing I have to think about is the freedom that we have. You know, to go there, we have to get a passport. I have to plan ahead. That can take a couple of weeks or however long it takes to get that. But once you have your passport, if you're an American, you can almost go anywhere. There's probably, there's some places you can't. But then that's what a, a lot of, a lot of people only dream of. A lot of people in the world, I had to think of our United States. Imagine we live in Pennsylvania and we're not too far from the Maryland border, but imagine not being able to go into Maryland or Virginia or New York or anywhere else because that's not your country.

You were born in Pennsylvania and so that is where you stay unless, unless you have a passport or the right documents, which most of them don't have. And so they are limited to, I think even in Israel, the, like the Gaza Strip there, I'm not, it's not very big, but people are just, they have to stay there because they have no, they have no passport. They can't go anywhere else. They have no other option.

And I've read stories of there's people that go out on boats that aren't, almost aren't fit to go, go out to sea like that and try to get to another country. And then when they get to the other country, sometimes there's people on the banks who'll throw rocks at them and, you know, we don't want you here. We don't want these people here. You, and they took that trip because where they were was, there was nothing really to be had.

They didn't have, were starving anyway. So they take that risk. And South American countries, people would try to walk like up through Central America into Mexico and hope, just have hopes of crossing the border and getting into the U.S. And, you know, we can, we can just come and go as we please and, you know, travel around. And I, I think that's something we should take advantage of and not advantage just for our own pleasures, but to, to build the kingdom of God, um, in other, other parts of the world.

And I, I often think I'm thankful to be part of a brotherhood where we, you know, there are people from here that are lots of different places in the world. And I hope we can continue doing that, sending people out.

And so when you talk with people, even the children that my brother-in-law has there, you know, they, they wonder about the U.S. and how we do this and how we do that. And do we make them discontent by how we live? Um, I remember back when my wife and I had gone, there was a, we were riding on this truck and there was a young man there. He was full of questions, was asking me questions about my work and all what I do. And, and I said that I'm a farmer and he kind of looked at me. I mean, everyone there farms. They have to, that's how they make their living. That's, or that's how they have food to eat is to work some ground planted and that's how they have food to eat.

And he thought for an American to be a farmer, that's just, I mean, in America, you go to college and you get an education and you have a, a white-collar job. You don't farm. And he was kind of telling me that and I wasn't quite sure what to tell him, but, um, that's kind of their idea of, of the U.S. You know, we, we have, we all have it made. And in a lot of ways we do. But I think with all, with the, with the resources that we have, I think we also have a responsibility to reach out to, to those in need and, and, uh, as we have opportunities. And I guess something that recently stood out to me that I, I had heard a message on, um, on this and I'd just like to look at a couple of scriptures about that in Matthew chapter nine.

Um,

if I can find it here.

And especially, I think of it especially when we're up in a, in a plane, I had, I enjoy flying, you know, just feeling all the power and being way up there and looking down and you see all the cities and the, you know, there's just, especially in the cities, there's, there's lots of people. And, uh, and what is my attitude towards them or what, am I just kind of aloof or, or can I reach out to them?

And we often think of the Great Commission there at the end of Matthew where Jesus was sending just before his ascension, he was sending out his disciples or just before he was leaving them. And he said, and we call that the Great Commission where he says, um, to go teach all nations. Um, I can, that's the end of Matthew where he says, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

But you know, there's something even before that, even before that commission that I think we should all be in very actively engaged in. And in Matthew chapter nine, the end of the chapter there, verse 37, maybe I'll start at verse, uh, 36. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.

Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. And then this is, this is Jesus' command here. He says, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.

And you know, I've been thinking about that, you know, maybe we don't go ourselves, maybe we can't go, but we can pray. And as he says here that we are to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into his harvest.

And you know, as we pray that God would send forth laborers into his harvest, um, I think it will, it will motivate us and we will see, we can see the harvest. I think we need to ask God to open our eyes so that we can see the harvest. I had to think of a crop out in the field. Um, if we see a cornfield that's all dried down and it's ready to shell, but nobody does anything with it. I've gone past that, going down the road somewhere and, and you see this field that's ready to go, but nobody's harvesting it. It's just going to waste.

And we, there's, there's just something within me anyway. It's like, well, somebody needs to do something with that. It's, there's a, there's a lot of potential there, but it's just going to waste.

And, and here Jesus is telling his that we are to pray that the Lord would send forth laborers into his harvest. And then in Luke 10, it's pretty much the same words.

Luke chapter 10, verse, uh, verses two and four. This was when he was sending out the Sabbathy disciples and he said, therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.

And I have to ask myself the question, is that in my prayers that God would send forth laborers into his harvest?

Do we have our eyes open? Do I have my eyes open or am I just kind of dulled with, with all my things, my needs, my, maybe my outchucks and that I forget that there's others that there's a harvest out there that, that God is, uh, God is wanting to, wanting us to take advantage of. And then in John chapter four is kind of the same words, verse 35.

Say, say not ye, there are yet four months, then come with the harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest.

God wants us to be looking for the harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathers fruit unto life eternal. When we reap that harvest, we are gathering fruit unto life eternal. That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And hearing us that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap whereon ye bestowed no labor. Other men labored and ye are entered into their labors.

You know, it's something we do together. It's not something that one person can do. We labor together in that. And we don't always know. Maybe we're, we drop a seed somewhere where we help someone out or another person maybe has done it. And you know, we, we try to, by the grace of God, we can see that harvest.

And you know, I don't think it's always, uh, you know, the big things, maybe traveling to another country or something, but it's, it's doing what's around us. The needs that around us are right around us, taking advantage of the opportunities that we have. Um, you know, mighty, I read somewhere that mighty works are of less importance than caring for the needy. He that hath pity on the poor lent it to the Lord is the verse in Proverbs.

And thinking of praying that the Lord would send forth laborers into his harvest, First Thessalonians 5:17 says that we're to pray without ceasing. And I think that some of what our prayer should be is that the Lord would send forth laborers into his harvest.

And then also in Galatians 6:10, I often think of that verse and I think it's a good motto to have is that as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

So, you know, I've taken that trip. I feel like it helps keep my focus where it needs to be. And I hope we, you know, we, our children can, you know, there's more, there's more to life than just, there's more, yeah, more to life than just what we have here. It bothers me when I hear, especially hear young people say they're, that they're bored. Life is just boring. There's nothing to do.

There is lots to do. There is plenty to do. And I think just we need to pray that God would open our eyes that we could see the harvest and, uh, get busy in that harvest as we live out our lives.