SOULS ARE ADDED TO THE KINGDOM AS THE 2013 CAMPAIGN SEASON BEGINS
We are glad you have taken a few minutes of your time to read the latest Tanzania Chronicles and pray this edition arrives at a time of your well being and labor in the kingdom.
Our campaign season is underway and we have had a number of visitors that have put in a lot of hours and great deal of hard work to spread the gospel throughout Arusha. The pre-campaign and campaign in the White Rose area have just concluded. White Rose is a suburb of Arusha and has been selected by area congregations in the first step of a plan to try and establish congregations throughout the city. Generally speaking, due to walking, most people won’t travel further than 2 -3 kilometers to attend services. In an attempt to address this dilemma local congregations, combined with concentrated campaign efforts, are methodically targeting the different areas that are without a congregation. White Rose was the area selected this year. While too numerous to name, we are grateful for the many visitors we have had thus far. All of these good brethren have gladly given their time and hard earned money to give themselves for the cause of Christ here in Tanzania.
We are thrilled to report that when the Hoover church of Christ group finished the campaign the results were reason to offer thanks as the Lord added 18 souls to the kingdom. In addition to a multitude of tracts and bible correspondence courses over 300 bibles were handed out! (Update - 2 more souls were added this past Sunday for a total of 20!)
In conjunction with the White Rose campaign Hannah Box, Jessica McVeigh, Stephanie Stafford and Anita conducted a VBS. The children were taught about Moses and the 10 plagues. Sunday morning one of the children came to Anita and said “you taught us about Pharoah”. The young girls words made Anita smile pretty big as it confirmed that the youngsters were listening. We offer our heartfelt gratitude to Patty Shafer, and those who assisted her, from the University church of Christ in San Marcos, TX for preparing enough material for a 5 day, 500 children VBS. Not only was there plenty of material for the White Rose campaign there is enough for an upcoming VBS that will be conducted next month in Kwa Mrombo. It is a real blessing to have partners in Christ on all sides of the world.
During the next few weeks we have nearly forty more visitors coming to conduct campaigns in another area of Arusha. I’ll send another report after they conclude to share the good news.
TEAM MAGAZINE
We are very excited about our upcoming issue of the TEAM Magazine. The printing is complete and our good friends from Oklahoma will be bringing as many as they can carry with them. This issue is 36 pages in length with half being in English and the other half in Kiswahili. We print in both languages because the magazine will be used in other East African countries that dont speak Kiswahili. We believe this will be an effective tool in reaching many with the gospel. This issue contains articles detailing what is required to become a disciple of Christ, the unique and powerful nature of the bible, and a helpful questions and answers section. If you would like an electronic copy of this issue you can find it here. The latter half of the magazine will be upside down as we printed the magazine in such a way that it can be handed to English or Swahili speaking people. Lord willing, our next issue will be ready for our October leadership conference.
UPCOMING FURLOUGH
We will be returning for our furlough August 1st and we are looking forward to visiting with our family, supporters and friends. During our furlough we will be trying to accomplish two main tasks: reporting to several of you, our supporters, and trying to meet those who are not supporting us in an effort to make up our budget deficit. If you know of anyone that might be interested in this good work perhaps you could point them our way, we would be glad to meet them and discuss the work.
As we prepare for our furlough there are a number of you who are individual supporters of our work with whom we will not be able to visit with and personally offer our gratitude. We hope you understand. We are very, very, grateful for your sacrifice.
We are facing a bit of a dilemma, and we hate to ask, but we need some help to find a remedy. When we return to the US we will be without transportation. For the cost of renting a car we could actually purchase one that we could, in turn, use each year. This is our preference for a number or reasons. However, we would be thankful for any help offered to carry out our travel needs. We plan on traveling coast to coast and a number of places in between to visit with current and potential supporters.
ON A PERSONAL NOTE
Anita and I are now empty-nesters and are adjusting to this new stage of our lives. Our son, Race, completed his time in the Army on June 14th and will be heading back to college this fall. Our daughter, Madeleine, will be getting married to Caleb Norman on September 27th. Caleb is a fine young man and we are excited about the big day. We would be appreciative for your prayers for Race, Maddie and Caleb.
CONCLUSION
As we close, again we want to express our deep gratitude for so many. We thank you for your sacrificial giving. The Lord’s kingdom is growing in Tanzania as a result of your selflessness. We are humbled to be considered your partners in this noble effort. We thank the numerous visitors we have that work so hard to get here and work here. We also would be remiss if we failed to recognize and offer gratitude toward Cy and Stephanie Stafford. Their dogged determination to stay in Tanzania through some very difficult times is most certainly one of the main reasons this work has not only continued but has prospered. We also thank our family. My parents have invested themselves personally and financially to see us succeed. Our children, while independent, still want us to be close by to lean on. They have been patient and understanding of our personal absence. Most importantly, we thank God Almighty for loving mankind enough to make the biggest sacrifice of all, His Son. We hope that our combined efforts will show our gratitude toward Him as our Father.
Until next time, take care and God bless,
Sean & Anita Hochdorf
Arusha, Tanzania
To see Sean and Anita’s report with pictures, please click here.