Written by Caryn & Jim Josephson
A wonderful Sunday at Vikongwa!
We were escorted from the pastor’s house to the church with singing and dancing. Worship included several excellent choirs and Pastor Msigwa preached in both English and Swahili. Many students from Bomalang’ombe Secondary School attended and sang. At the close of the service we met with the Vikongwa preaching point and exchanged gifts. At the end we announced that we would also be gifting the parish with a pikipiki (motorbike). There was much rejoicing, since a pikipiki was on their 3 year plan (check out the video below!).
After the service we met the three students and their parents/guardians who are being sponsored by Prince of Peace. They have aspirations to be a nurse, a soldier and a pastor. They are very grateful for their educational opportunities. We also heard from the parish secretary who was previously an evangelist and was grateful for training she received through the Theological Education Extention program.
We then met children from the Vikongwa Sunday School, and later children from the Mlandege Preaching Point came and sang for us.
After a delicious lunch, we had the partnership meeting. Vikongwa’s priorities include scholarships, continuing renovations to the Pastor’s house, more permanent church buildings at Mlandege and Muhu, and a business center near Mifugo that would include housing for teachers and some shops that could include School supplies. We share with them our 2022 Addendum to our annual report, and told of our Campus Planning work. Their partnership committee enthusiastically agreed to ask their pastor to sign the covenant and so Pastor Mdegela signed it witnessed by parish secretary Diana Mpinge.
Finally, we met with some more Iringa Hope members.
After dinner tonight we thanked our cooks and hosts, and were greatly entertained by the twins!
Tomorrow our village visit ends and we head back to Iringa. Time is flying!