Check out video from 2007

Check out the journal entries and photos from Pastor Jeanne Markquart's time as Pastor/Teacher in Iringa in 2007

Update from Tanzania Mission Trip: June 2009
Hello! We are having a GREAT time in Iringa, TZ. After a long, safe journey we got Iringa a little over a week ago. There are 10 of us on the trip, a mixture of youth and adults on the the Youth and Family trip to Tanzania. We jumped right in meeting people and we love the people here at Mkwawa. They are so very very welcoming, genuine, kind, loving, and fun. We spent the first day traveling around to the different preaching points and meeting people. We saw the new water hook up, interacted with children, and we welcomed warmly by each area.

Last Sunday we went to both church services and LOVED meeting all the people. Six hours of church went by very quickly and we couldn't get enough of the singing and gorgeous harmonizing of which the Tanzanians are so skilled. Lynda preached and did a fantastic job. This week we have seen some of the area: the Tanzanians took us on a hike out to some of the more remote areas to show us some of the tribal heritage.

We spent another day with children at the Haruma Center--an orphanage here--playing games, coloring, singing, having them teach us to dance, playing soccer, etc. We also had the chance to visit and tour Mkwawa University one day where some of the students ILC has sponsored now attend. One of the entertaining times was when we returned from the tour and spent some time hanging out at Mkwawa. A couple of the women taught us to carry baskets on our heads and babies on our backs (we used our backpacks rather than real babies--one woman got a huge kick out of when the bag would drop off and she'd laugh wholeheartedly). That said, they were very patient! One guy said we looked like we were trying to fly when carrying the baskets because we were holding our arms out for balance rather than walking naturally! I'm sure we were VERY entertaining to watch when it was something they do so naturally.

We spent two days in Ruaha National Park on Safari. The road was very very bumpy going and coming back, but we are in good hands with Peter, our driver, who is significantly more skilled at these roads than we could ever be. The Safari was amazing. Think Lion King and those are all the animals we saw. We got within 6 feet of lions and their cubs, within 10 feet of giraffes, saw lots of elephants (one got rather upset and started to charge us when we got too close to the baby which sent my adrenaline through the roof), baboons (heard the lions attack and eat the baboons one night too), hyrex, many birds, zebras, impala, gazelles, and much more. The nights were dark and clear with so many stars. We saw the Southern Cross and the Big Dipper upside down. The peace and the beauty were breathtaking and words cannot describe it. Pictures won't do justice to the beauty either. Tonight we are working shoulder to shoulder, bega kwa bega, with the people from Mkwawa on a work project and then going to our home stays tonight.

The most favorite part of the trip has been meeting people, talking with them, hearing their stories, praying/worshiping together, and being part of Christian life together. They are part of Incarnation Lutheran Church and we are part of Mkwawa Lutheran Church. Over and over again we together fully embrace Connecting, Growing, Serving, and Inviting. It is clear and it is strong and we feel incredibly blessed to visit our Tanzanian family and the Tanzanian Incarnation members here. We ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers as we keep you in ours.

Highlights from the 2007 youth and family mission trip to Iringa, Tanzania.

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Tanzania Mission Trip - June 18-July 6, 2007

A group of 22 folks from Incarnation traveled to Iringa, Tanzania, to continue building the relationship between Incarnation and Mkwawa Lutheran Church. It’s the largest group we’ve ever taken to Tanzania and we’re very excited about the possibilities!

Although we spent some time working bega kwa bega (side by side) on projects that will be specified by Mkwawa Lutheran and Image Secondary School, most of our visit was spent with the people of Mkwawa Lutheran Church, getting to know them, learning about their lives, and sharing stories person-to-person.

One of the things we most looked forward to was meeting the new pastor of Mkwawa Lutheran Church. His name is Rhoden Mang’ulisa. Another group of people that we met was the secondary students that Incarnation supports. This year, Incarnation is supporting 47 secondary students. We’re anticipating a higher number this year because we have 22 private sponsors, up from 14 last year.

Here are the letters written from the group while they were in Tanzania:

June 26, 2007
Jambo Rafiki of Incarnation!
Hello friends of Incarnation! All of us are writing to you from Iringa with big smiles on our faces. Yes, truly all 22 of us are writing this letter (in between games of Scrabble, cards, cribbage, and such.) We have had a whirlwind five days, after driving down from Dar es Salaam. We will assure you that the eight hour drive actually wasn't that bad. We stopped in a game park for lunch where the kids had fun playing with a monkey in a tree. Then Pastor Jeanne told "The Party Bus" (the one that had all the 7 younger kids) that she would pay 20 tshillings to the first person to spot an elephant, a baboon, a giraffe, a zebra, and a water buffalo. We thought she was kidding because we weren't necessarily in the game park. The kids were thrilled with the prospect of Tanzanian money, but at that point they didn't realize it was equal to two cents. They did end up seeing all of the animals except the water buffalo!

Our first adventure occurred about 20 kilometers from Iringa. One of the buses couldn't switch to its second gas tank, so it had to pull over to the side of the road. This was an opportunity for all of us to pull out our Swahili dictionaries and practice our terrible Swahili on people in the neighborhood. After "Jambo!", we were at a loss, but one elderly woman tried to help us along and was thrilled when Lynda, our leader, spoke some He He. Two boys from the area came back with a hose and an empty container and siphoned gas with their mouths from tank to tank. After lots of "Asanta Sanas!" (thank you's), we were back on the road. We were then greeted on the side of the highway with singing and dancing of the Mkwawa Congregation dressed in their best clothes. It sounded so beautiful and we received lots of hugs and handshakes. Twenty two people lined up and gave each of us a bouquet of flowers. We can't imagine any king or queen being better received or welcomed then us dusty, dirty, tired folks from Incarnation. Very humbling. We joked that they treated us like rock stars (except we certainly can't sing like one!)

Our second morning (Thursday, June 21) started with breakfast at the guest house and our kids talking over a fence (that surrounds the guest house) to Tanzanian kids on the other side. Then, we loaded our bus and went to Mkwawa for tea, dancing, and Kara Jacobson and Becky Benson trying to play Tanzanian instruments. We drove out to the three preaching points to meet our fellow Christians and learn about their ministries. Every single place met us with hugs, songs, and dancing and made us feel very welcomed. We want every person at Incarnation to know that they weren't just welcoming us, but all of you at home. We are simply the faces of Incarnation. Also for those who were worried about us not eating, trust us, we are fed well with lots of food that is very delicious. Even the kids are eating! Many tears were shed at the Ikonongo preaching point where Pastor Jeanne told them how we are all one in Christ, and then told us of the difficulties in getting a well of water source to their area. It will be several months before they will be able to drill through the rock and hopefully get water.

After a long day of meeting everyone, we went to Pastor Jeanne's apartment for dinner. It is an incredible apartment with a kitchen that most people only dream of! The food was prepared by Sarah, a woman who works for Bega Kwa Bega. We don't know if it's because Pastor Jeanne can't cook more than macaroni and cheese or if it's because she wanted to spoil us with Sarah's wonderful cooking, but either way we were happy! Pastor Jeanne also invited a friend, Jacob, a carver, to bring some of his carvings for us to buy. The pieces were beautiful, and he was patient with all of our questions (How do you say giraffe in Swahili? What wood is this from?) We all left for bed very tired after a busy day, but Zach summed it up when he declared "This is the best vacation ever!"

The rest of our days have been filled with meeting lots of people, cooking spaghetti for 35 elders, who enjoyed Brian's cooking. They weren't used to "noodles" but ate up the food and expressed huge gratitude for our gesture of hosting them in a meal.




Sunday worship service at Mkwawa was 2 1/2 hours long, followed by tea, then another service that was also 2 hours long. Amazingly our kids, including a five year old, were able to sit still and behave. However, this doesn't mean Pastor Medin, Pastor Dale, Pastor Markquart or Pastor Taibl should start getting any ideas of lengthening our service..... After the 4 1/2 hours of worship, we ate lunch and then had a 2 hour meeting with their Sunday school children and teachers. It was fun to see them also sing "If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands" in a different language. However, by 4:00 p.m. when we were done at Mkwawa, we were all very ready to return to our comfortable surroundings at the Mlandege Guest House (or "The African hotel" as the kids call it). It was great to see the Mkwawa people, but after nine hours, we were all exhausted.

This leads us to the end of our day here, where we are eating our dinner together (Sambusas, now a favorite of everyone, so we fight over the last ones!) and the games mentioned earlier in this letter. Yes, we are all getting along with our fellow travelers, even with the age range being from 5 years old to 60 years old. We hope this finds you all well in Minnesota, and assures you we are all great here. We love the people, the food, and the music, and look forward to painting a school tomorrow, followed by our Safari the following day. Lynda Thompson told us African time is slow, but so far it's going way too fast!

Your Friends in Tanzania

July 2, 2007
It takes a village to raise a child. Although the American culture has turned away from that concept, it is still very prevalent in Tanzania. We have seen older children carrying younger siblings on their backs. If one child cries, there are several people around to provide comfort. What we didn't expect was how this sense of community would pour over to our children. The Tanzanian secondary students eagerly step in as "big brothers" to our American kids, teasing them, carrying Nicolas, our five-year-old Incarnation traveller down steep terrain or to provide comfort if someone is having a hard day. We truly feel like one community here in Christ, Tanzanians and Americans as one.

We have shared many experiences with our Mkwawa friends. We were able to spend a day at the Huruma Orphanage, playing with the children and touring their gorgeous facility. One image none of us will forget is seeing Pastor Mang'ulisa on the teeter-totter and jumping rope. We laughed and told him he was enjoying a second childhood.

Another highlight was our safari to the Ruaha National Park. We brought some Tanzanian friends (Pastor and Mrs. Mang'ulisa, and Dennis, Beatrice, and Shalom Ngede) to experience God's creation. It is incredible to see zebras, lions, giraffes, and impala up close, however, a few of us pushed our comfort zones when an elephant tried to play tag with three youth on the trip (caught on video!) and a few more of us were awoken at 4:00 a.m. to "munch, munch, munch" outside our screened window and discovered we could poke the hippos on the rump as they ate if we wanted to (although we didn't!).

Another experience we have shared were two different days of working literally Bega Kwa Bega (Shoulder to Shoulder) with our Mkwawa family. We helped make a brick wall of the new Mkwawa Church and we helped clear brush from the land at both Kigamboni and Itamba preaching points for future construction. All of us love these working days because we can hear the beautiful singing as we work side by side and we are all working together to help create a larger community to share the news of Jesus Christ.

An unexpected honor occurred when we were asked to participate in a ceremony that put in the cornerstone of the new Mkwawa church. The bishop was present, which awed all of us. We were most surprised when he took off his regal bishops hat, took our guitar, and did an improvisational song. He can rock out! We collectively decided Pastor Medin needs to bring his guitar to the alter for Sunday services, too. He also carried Nicolas, the five-year-old from our group, in his arms and said what huge, good-willed ambassadors we were by bringing our children along. (We have seven kids under the age of 14.) This showed their congregation we were committed to the future.

After worship at Kigamboni this past Sunday, we were able to meet the secondary students that are sponsored through Incarnation. We were impressed at how dedicated to education these teenagers were as each one stood up, introduced themselves, and stated their ambitions for their future. It was clear to our group that these are the future leaders of Tanzania as these were teachers, lawyers, doctors, journalists, and engineers in the making.

We want you all to know that our hosts are very gracious, great cooks (in fact too much food!), and very warm and welcoming. This country should be visited by every member who has the opportunity. The singing alone is worth the trip. This community is blessed with harmony, down to the preschool children who sang for us. Your prayers are most appreciated as we have all been in good health and sharing lots of laughter together.

Bwana Yesu Asifiwe! Praise the Lord!


To learn more about Iringa, check out: