God Bless Africa!

Exhuberance marks local praise and worship; the people in the foreground are dancing

Africa provided a fantastic conclusion to a four nation tour, even though it involved a grueling schedule that began the day I arrived. Barely hours after reaching (February 29), I found myself giving a short retreat to a group of African youth, which was followed by a talk to local parishioners.

The session with the African youth was really alive, but it didn't exactly prepare me for the vibrancy of worship I witnessed the following day (March 1) at the Emmaus Center prior to my talk. The locals sang and danced with an abandon I have never seen elsewhere.

The hunger in the people was also amazing to see. There were 300 people when I started. By the time I was half way through there were over a thousand people in attendance. My talk was supposed to have been for two hours, but the translator (Br Sebastian) suggested that I continue, and I ended up speaking for another two.

Before and after the other programs that followed, there were talks to local communities, visits to the sick and a miscellaneous assortment of things including a visit to Cardinal Polycarp Pengo to pay my respects. While I had met nearly two dozen bishops over the past few years, this was the first Cardinal that I was meeting. I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last

All the sessions were organized by Cajetan Misquitta, who was also my host for the length of my stay in Tanzania along with his Hindu friend Milan. God is going to use both these men in the days to come, even though one of them doesn't quite know it yet.

On Air on Radio Tumaimi

Mama Chilambo and me on air on Radio Tumaimi

An hour long recording session on Radio Tumaimi two days after I reached Dar es Salam led to an invitation to record three more talks. Though my schedule was extremely tight, I could hardly refuse, especially given that I had the chance to reach over ten million people, which was the listenership the station had. I recorded the fourth and final talk the day before I was to leave. The Director of the station, Mrs Esther Chilambo, respectfully called Mama Chilambo, did a simultaneous translation of my talks.

Discipleship Program, Don Bosco, Dar es Salam

Don Bosco, Upanga, Dar es Salam

A full day Discipleship Program at the open air Don Bosco Church in Upanga brought to an end a very long mission in four countries and, though I was happy to have had the opportunity to reach so many people, I was also glad that it was over and I could go home. I hadn't seen my family for longer than a few hours during the past one month and I really missed them.

I travel next in April to Bombay, India.

Discipleship Program, St. Joseph's, Dar es Salam

St. Joseph's Church, Dar es Salam

With Br Roman and Fr. Rewchungura

While the program in Emmaus Center had a rough start, the one that followed at St. Joseph's Cathedral had a terrific beginning -- and it stayed terrific until the end. The church, which was built by German missionaries five hundred years ago, was quite lovely and I enjoyed preaching in it despite the strong echo it carried. I had a different translator for this program: Roman, the deputy director of Agape, one of the Emmaus ministries. Roman, like Sebastian, became a good friend by the end of the program as did the parish priest, Fr. Rewchungura, who attended all the four sessions and seemed quite delighted with it. He told me I was welcome to preach in the parish any time that I wanted.

Discipleship Program, Emmaus Center, Dar Es Salam

Emmaus Center, Dar Es Salam, with Bro Sebastian translating

Two Discipleship Programs began simultaneously on March 3: one in the morning at Emmaus Center, a Charismatic organization, for a totally local audience; the other in the afternoon at St. Joseph's Parish. The first one got off to a disastrous start. The instant I began two goats walked into the prayer area and distracted everybody, including me. Somebody eventually chased them off, but it was uphill from that point onwards. The next day, however, was great and by the time the program closed, I had received an invitation to return in June as one of the key speakers for a national convention that attracts nearly 10,000 people. Needless to say, I was pretty pleased.