Swahili congregations Pastor and visitor

Rev Canon Yolande with Pastor from Dodoma

 

 My daughter Rebecca in the congregation

 

 

Sharing the Peace

 

Music group 'Annointed'

 

 

 

On Sunday 3 February I was invited to speak at St Agnes and St Anne's Gresham Street in the City of London.

 

It was a great pleasure and privilege to be invited to attend the Eucharist service and share in the Peace with the  the Tanzanian congregation. At the end of the service I had the opportunity to speak to them about SEEDS4Tanzania. It was such fun to  start my talk in Swahili and I  was delighted that they understood what I was trying to say - or were they just being kind! It was a relief,however, to revert back to English and tell them about our projects.  Also at the service was a visiting female pastor from the Dodoma area and now we hope to be able to communicate with each other and perhaps have the opportunity to meet when I am in Tanzania.

 

The congregation were very gracious in their response to my talk and I was thrilled to be told by the pastor that they would try and fund bags of cement for the building project. What kind and generous people particularly as they are facing a great challenge.  Their lease has expired for which they have been paying £4000 per year. This seems a large sum as they only use the church between 2pm and 4pm  on the first Sunday in the month. The diocese of London have now asked for £25,000 per year to renew the lease.  This huge sum is out of the question for the congregation and after 50 years of using the church they do not know where their future lies.