Tanzania: Orientation - Moshi 7/4/2009

Today is the first official day of the trip. I'm eager for the good stuff to start.

After breakfast we take the team bus over to Uhuru (the other hotel) for orientation. Addie greets me with a big hug again. This is comforting, because I am coming to realize that almost everyone on the trip is part of a group, and I'm feeling a little alone.

At orientation, Leif introduces all the leaders, including the local bishop. We will come to realize that this is part of the culture of alignment and honor, which is one of Leif's themes. During the week as we visit numerous churches, I also come to understand the favor that came to us as a result -- once the local bishop blessed our coming, all the local churches were happy to have us visit.

After the introductions, we worship and take communion together. Leif preaches on kingdom alignment and honor. This means that we need to make sure that Jesus is honored in everything. He assures us that we will also receive and have fun -- it is not contradictory.

It is all about worship. Everything else is temporary. Worship is the only thing we'll do for eternity.

There are actually four additional leaders on the trip, as we will be covering four ministry locations, in order to make it easier for the local people to attend. Each of the leaders speaks briefly.

Leif: "I know who Iam, and whose I am. My papa is well pleased with me."

Paul: "As long as we act as orphans we can't function in the Kingdom. It is in the pattern of a son that the Holy Spirit is patterning us into. We are being conformed to the image of the son".

Jack: "God's grace IS enough. He is strong when we are weak, i.e. the opposite of strength."

Tom: "relationship leads to greater anointing. "

We take a 15 minute break, and I run over to the internet cafe, since my own hotel doesn't have one. The internet is incredibly slow, and the keyboard doesn't work very well, but I manage to send out a quick email to let everyone at home know that I got here safely.

The break ends up lasting an hour (this is Africa...) and I'm frustrated, because I don't want to get gypped out of the prayer and impartation time at the end. We have only 45 minutes left before the bus is supposed to leave to take us back to our hotel, and there are 2 more speakers before the prayer time starts. I didn't really need to worry -- I expressed my concern to one of the trip administrators and she reassured me: The bus will wait until everyone gets prayed for. In retrospect, that was an example of an event driven culture rather than a time driven culture.

Then we heard from Tom: "If you are praying deliverance over someone, make sure they are treated with dignity. Before praying to cast out the demons, first make sure they are born again and that they want to get free. " [Many of my friends at home were offended when I told them this advice. The problem here is that if the person chooses to remain under the control of a witch doctor, you can cast out the demons as often as you want, and they will return. You have not accomplished anything until the person chooses to switch allegiance]

Then we had the prayer and impartation time. What a great way to begin our trip! And it makes sense -- fill us up, and then send us out.