I love surprising people, especially those I consider dear. Since the doctor had cleared me to fly I made arrangements to get back to TZ as soon as possible. The brethren there did not expect that I would return until late November. Cy Stafford and Daniel Gaines agreed to keep my trip a secret and snuck me in after arriving at the airport Wednesday evening. For those of you who have been to TZ you know one of the most popular sayings is “there are no secrets in Africa”. This has proven true time and time again and we weren’t quite sure if we would be able to pull it off. Turns out we did a pretty fair job at keeping it on the down low. Cy and Daniel had arranged for a nice dinner for a number of the brethren and their wives to say thank you for their recent participation in the summer campaigns. Cy hid me behind a stand of trees until the group had arrived and taken their seats. Daniel came and retrieved me and it was great to see that they were genuinely surprised and, even better, glad to see me. It has been, and is, such a great privilege to work with these brethren. They have traveled so far in their spiritual walk and it makes all of the missionaries here swell with pride and joy to see how their faith has so richly matured.
This morning I had the privilege to preach at the Kisongo church of Christ. They didn’t know I was coming to worship with them so no translator was present except for our good brother Ahimidiwe Kimaro. Since I can’t translate or speak Swahili good enough to preach, I was elected to preach and Ahimidiwe translated. It was very encouraging to be with the brethren in Kisongo once again.
The Arusha church of Christ wrapped up their week-long campaign on Sunday. This campaign was significant for the church in this area for a number of reasons, namely, that the brethren organized and conducted the entire campaign without the aid of missionaries or U.S. campaigners. Also of importance was the tremendous support shown by fellow brethren from around the country and even Kenya. There were 75 brethren that participated in the campaign making the trip to Arusha from as far away Kyela, Tanzania (an 18hr treacherous bus ride). Aside from the exciting results of the campaign, we are thrilled to see the motivation and initiative of our Tanzanian brethren to place their trust in the Lord and successfully stand on their own to conduct such a monumental effort. God certainly blessed their diligent efforts and we give all praise and glory to Him for so doing. When it was all said and done the campaigners had conducted:
47 Bible classes
56 Bible correspondence courses
2300 tracts distributed
4 precious souls were added to the body of Christ. Pray for Sylvia, Rosemary, Angel and Lydia as they start their walk in Christ.
Numerous visitors were present for Sunday’s worship
I look forward to reporting more good news about the work in Tanzania in the near future. We are most grateful for your support. The results mentioned above most likely would not have happened were it not for faithful supporters like you. Thank you.
Until next time, take care and God bless.
In Christ,
Sean and Anita Hochdorf
To see Sean’s report with pictures, please click here.