Check out the bulletin board in the BGLibrary the next time you’re at church. You’ll find pictures of Pastor Livingstone Msungu and his family, celebrating the first birthday of their daughter, Belight. Their son Bethany is celebrating five years already!
Pastor and family have moved on from Isimani as he’s studying at Iringa Lutheran University for an additional degree. We’ll still connect with them on our next trip because they truly feel like family. We’ve known then a long time.
Pastor Livingstone served our companion congregation in Isimani for a number of years and accomplished great improvements to the church and community. He began a woodworking school for boys, enlarged and improved the sewing school for girls, and—of special interest and connection to the BGLibrary—created the community’s first library. For the last decade, each time we did a “weeding” and offered extra books for sale to HT congregants, the money we made went to Isimani for their library. When the Lugallas were still with us, Sapi helped Pastor with logistics, purchasing books from a Christian bookstore in Dar es Salaam before heading up the highway to Isimani.
Now turn your gaze to the shelves below labeled “International Ministry.” There you’ll find several books of interest that explain something about our Isimani connections. “Simply Tanzania” and “Ruaha National Park” are especially interesting and useful. Ruaha is the park we visit for safari each trip. You’ll also find maps of Tanzania on these shelves to show you Isimani’s location, high up in the mountains in the center of the country.
Throughout this next year those of us who’ve made the trip to Africa will be talking about our experiences, sharing what the community is like. In the meantime, I urge you to check out the literature available and whet your appetite!
Dot Kasik