“There are moments in life that are... epiphanic. Moments in which, faced by great and daunting tasks which should by all rights fill us with fear, panic, or self doubt; we find ourselves filled instead with a great sense of self-realization or actuality- even joy, at the knowledge or confirmation that in this moment, at this time, we are exactly where we should be- ready to face what may come.

"After much, much, muuuuuch waiting, I finally heard from Africa Inland Mission that I had been accepted into fellowship with them. And…my joy was made full.

"I'm going to be living in the Pwani (lit. Coast) region of Tanzania, working with a people group of  around 700,000 people called the Zaramo. Now, due to the Arab slave-trade Our homes will be made of mud and cement, with roofs made of thatch and tinof the 18th and 19th centuries, Coastal Tanzania is predominantly Islamic, and so are the Zaramo. 

"Our homes will be made of mud and cement, with roofs made of thatch and tin. The homes will have an attached long-drop toilet (a deep whole in the ground), near which no lit match shall go. We'll also have one faucet inside the house attached to a rain-dependent water tank.

The Zaramo

The Zaramo trust in a potent brew of spirit- worship and Islam. Largely unreached, they pray and sacrifice to ancestors who are supposed to arbitrate between God and man. Witchcraft, they believe, is the root of nearly all death."I'd greatly appreciate your prayer - the closer I come to departure date the more I realize how little I have to offer, how weak and frail I am, what a huge thing I've gotten myself into, and how inadequate I am to this task; but the God who called me is not a frivolous God, and this knowledge is wonderful - it causes me to lean and rely on Him more and more for everything."

Read more about Dan's adventures at http://www.dansdeep.blogspot.com/

Bookmark