Gospel message not lost in translation

LAUREL – Four area residents packed their patience, courage and faith into suitcases, and traveled halfway across the globe to encourage pastors.

Mark Leonard, Megan Forsberg, Ranae Kempf and Jaclyn Kempf returned stateside equally encouraged, strengthened and changed by the eye-opening two-week experience in Tanzania this past summer, calling it a “trip of a lifetime.”

The Laurel area missionary quartet, all part of the Concord Evangelical Free Church, took the journey which included several long flights, and several long layovers before arriving at the Tanzanian capital city of Dar es Salaam.

They joined forces with eight other individuals from the United States (Missouri and Pennsylvania) for the Gospelink mission to fellowship with pastors taking part in a regional conference held every six years.

The group also participated in fellowship with pastors in their homes and their churches in outlying cities and villages.

“Even though the churches are very poor, they all have a sound system. It doesn’t matter how poor it is, the sound system is of huge importance to them, speakers, sound boards, all these things. They have rhythm and they want you to join in with them,” Ranae Kempf said. “They are very serious about their worship and very demonstrative in how they go about it.”

It would not be unusual for a church service to last three hours with worshipers yelling out, “Amina” or “Haleluya” - in English “Amen” and “Hallelujah.” The Laurel missionary group joined in dancing as part of the worship services.

To get to church, worshipers may have to walk several miles across streams and sugarcane fields.

The Laurel missionary group experienced many adventures traveling by bus or car in the country including traffic coming to a complete stop to allow a pack of wildebeests to cross.

“All the roads are very rough. They’re just full of potholes. We couldn’t have been going more than 10, 15 mph the whole trip. There also are no traffic laws. It’s just kind of a mess,” Forsberg said.

Tanzanians predominately speak either English or Swahili and the Laurel missionary group said they were blessed to have translators available during the trip when needed.

“We were all surprised at how many people spoke English. It really was not a problem communicating with people. Most of the young people all spoke English and they all wanted to speak English with us,” Renae said.

When a nervous Leonard gave his testimony, he was grateful to pause after each sentence for the Swahili interpreter and collect his thoughts before carrying on. The group also showed “The Jesus Film” and observed many sermons which held a strong gospel and discipleship message, Forsberg said.

While Christianity is the most practiced religion in Tanzania, there is also a strong Muslim presence with some reports of persecution, Jaclyn Kempf said, although the local group did not experience any while there.

“They wanted to see us, they wanted to hear from us. We all had to introduce ourselves. We all sat in a place of honor. They wanted us to enjoy their food, their culture. They wanted us to worship with them. It was very important to them that they treat us with the utmost hospitality,” said Ranae Kempf.

The group was showered with gifts from traditional African dresses and handmade aprons, to hats, shirts, scarfs, fabric, honey, bananas and even live chickens.

The Laurel missionary group gifted back Gideon Bibles along with prayers at the ministers conference.

“We were told to pray for each and every chair in that room and for whoever would be sitting in the chair for their week at the conference,” Forsberg said. “That was really convicting to pray for people that I don’t even know.”

Along with missionary work, the Laurel group was able to enjoy the sights, sounds, tastes and cultural experiences of being in a new country.

On several occasions, the Indian Ocean was just steps outside of their lodging. Toes went in the water and wiggled in the sand, while they enjoyed sipping hibiscus juice. They also ate at a seafood restaurant right on the ocean. “I tried octopus for the first time, so did Mark, and it was a beautiful sunset, too,” Forsberg said of the experience. Other new foods tried include fried grasshoppers and “flavorless” ugali - a boiled cornmeal formed into a dough. An open-air market provided a unique souvenir shopping experience where the group learned the cultural importance of bartering. The group also experienced a safari - viewing exotic animals like baboons, warthogs, giraffes, elephants, and more - up close and personal. “The safari was amazing,” Leonard said. “You see these types of things on TV, on different shows and whatnot, but experiencing that live in an open jeep, literally just feet from some animals was incredible.” Although he’s been on mission trips before, this past summer’s trip was the first international one for Leonard. And he came away encouraged in his faith, and grateful for the opportunity and the blessings in his own life.

“They are in love with the Lord,” he said. “The little they have, the pastors and wives and a lot of the people we saw, I was super encouraged and thankful for what I have here in the United States. It’s easy to complain . . . but we have nothing to complain about. Some of the things are really destitute over there and we are really blessed.”