Furaha na amani! Joy and peace!

And happy new year! I pray that you will find yours filled with joy.

I have a doctor’s appointment early next week and anticipate a clean bill of health. The past month has been difficult and good. Since mid December I’ve convalesced and recovered in Bukoba under the good care of my fellow missionaries Felice Stewart, Maria Roeber, and Michael Pagedas. Along with their guests, we had a delightful Christmas and Theophany together. For quite some time I was too weak to work, and the enforced vacation has been restful and refreshing. It was also an opportunity for us four missionaries to deepen our relationships and have great fun together. Now I’m itching to get back to my regular routine in Mwanza.

… For a few weeks, at least. And then, on January 27th, I’m scheduled to arrive in Orlando!

I sure hope to see as many of you as possible. I’ll be on the road almost nonstop for three months, catching up with everyone I can. I’ll be stopping in at many of your parishes to report on your work with the Orthodox Church in the Holy Archdiocese of Mwanza and Western Tanzania. This is your work, which you are doing through your prayers, friendship, encouragement and support.

At the end of this email you will find an itinerary of my confirmed travel schedule. Most of the dates still open are fairly firmed up but await final confirmation. I’m sure grateful for the many invitations and offers from both friends and total strangers! If I will be in your neck of the woods, get in touch with me and we’ll find a way to catch up. My number will be (239) 410-0765. If I won’t be in your neck of the woods… wish I could be! But we can try again in 2014 or 2015?

It looks like I will have a vehicle for the bulk of my long-distance road travel in February and March. Thank you very much for your offers and prayers in this regard. When I’m back in Florida during the last few weeks of April I believe I’ll be able to rely on my old 1988 Corolla for local travel. But if it’s not in good enough shape, then I may need a vehicle at that time.

It’s surprising to think that my first term of missionary service in Western Tanzania is nearly complete. I look forward to beginning a second term in May of this year, God willing. My Archbishop +JERONYMOS has warmly welcomed me to return. There is much work ahead.

Visiting North America is part of this work. During this time I hope to fulfill my responsibility to report to you about how your prayers and gifts are being used to God’s glory in Western Tanzania. And, I will be appealing for new people to join in this work. I am asking God to raise up about twenty new parishes, families, groups or individuals each able to pledge an average of $50/ month. Some supporters are giving more than this, and many are only able to give quite a bit less. God is using them all. If you would like to make a pledge of financial support, you can do so online at http://jhargrave.ocmc.org (click on “Support Missionary”) or by calling 1-877-GO-FORTH. (Ask for the Finance Department.) Much more importantly, I will be asking for your continued prayers which are the source of my sustenance and joy.

Your prayers, emails, facebook posts and well-wishes during my illness were frankly overwhelming. I am awed and humbled. No wonder God’s taking such good care of me, with such an army of prayer and love advocating for me. Thank you. May the love that you give be returned a hundredfold. And may you NEVER catch pneumonia!!

By your prayers in Christ,

James Hargrave

PS Here is my confirmed itinerary for my time in North America. At all locations I will be speaking at the end of the service. A calendar will continue to be updated at http://jhargrave.ocmc.org . (Click on “Events.”)

Sunday, 29th January – Arrival. Worshiping (but not speaking) at the Orthodox Church of St Stephen the Protomartyr in Longwood, Florida.

Sunday, 5th February – Orthodox Church of St Stephen the Protomartyr in Longwood (Orlando), Florida. 1895 Lake Emma Road. Divine Liturgy begins at 9:30 am.

Sunday, 12th February – St Elizabeth Greek Orthodox Church in Gainesville, Florida. 5129 NW 53rd Ave. Divine Liturgy begins at 10:00 am.

Sunday, 19th February – St Justin the Martyr Orthodox Church in Jacksonville, Florida. 12460 Old Saint Augustine Road. Divine Liturgy begins at 10:00 am.

Saturday, 25th February – Holy Ascension Orthodox Church in Mount Pleasant (Charleston), South Carolina. 265 N Shelmore Blvd. Great Vespers begins at 6:00 pm.

Sunday, 4th March – Carolinas or Appalachians, details not yet confirmed.

Sunday, 11th March – Central Kentucky, details not yet confirmed.

Sunday, 18th March – Christ the Savior ~ Holy Spirit Orthodox Church in Norwood (Cincinnati), Ohio. 4285 Ashland Ave. Divine Liturgy begins at 9:30 am.

Sunday, 25th March (Feast of the Annunciation) – St Matthew Orthodox Church in Torrance (Los Angeles County), California. 2368 Sonoma St. Divine Liturgy begins at 10:00 am.

Sunday, 1st April – British Columbia, details not yet confirmed.

Sunday, 8th April (Palm Sunday) – British Columbia, details not yet confirmed.

Sunday of Pascha (Easter), 15th April – Worshiping (but not speaking) back home at St Elizabeth Greek Orthodox Church in Gainesville, Florida.

Sunday, 22nd April – details not yet confirmed.

Sunday, 29th April – Vacation! Worshiping (but not speaking) back home at St Elizabeth Greek Orthodox Church in Gainesville, Florida.

Mungu yu nasi! God is with us!

Greetings from Bukoba, where I am spending this Christmas season together with fellow missionaries Maria Roeber, Felice Stewart and Michael Pagedas as well as their guests. It’s a packed house and we’re having a great time.

I am recovering well, by your prayers. Thank you for your prayers. If my recovery continues at its current pace, I should be healthy enough to visit North America February – April of 2012, as originally planned. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you.

And I have a request for you. I will be on the road quite a bit during my time in North America, and I will need reliable transportation.

If any of you know of options for a short-term lease, or other means of using a reliable vehicle in those months at a good price, please let me know. I will be traveling extensively and need something very dependable. I plan to arrive in North Central Florida (Gainesville area) at the beginning of February 2012, and to depart for Tanzania from North Central Florida at the end of April. I would need a vehicle for most of the intervening time.

Thank you again for your prayers. Because of them, I am sustained and uplifted by the presence of our God here with us.

See you soon! Stay in touch!

By your prayers in Christ,

James Hargrave

Dear friends,

Furaha na amani! Joy and peace!

After seven days in the hospital, I have been discharged. I am continuing to recuperate under the watchful care of fellow missionary Maria Roeber.

I’m only just beginning to sift through emails and facebook messages. The well wishes and prayers that have been coming my way are nothing short of overwhelming. Your prayers have been apparent to me all this week.

As you might imagine, I am very happy to be out of the hospital. I am happier still that the hospital was there when I needed it. As soon as I was admitted, I swiftly began receiving excellent care. My recovery has been much slower than I would have liked, but my path to recovery has been straightforward and uncomplicated. Each day is better than the last.

And today I breathe freely with nothing but my own lungs. I have seen the sky, listened to the birds, and watched the sun set on Kirumba Hill. What could be better?

I am grateful for your continued prayers as I work towards full recovery. Please remember the hundreds of sick and suffering still in Bugando Hospital- especially Judith with liver/ kidney failure and Felix with tetanus, who remained in the ICU as I left today. And stay in touch!

By your prayers in Christ,

James Hargrave

Dear Friends,

Kila mwenye pumzi namsifu Bwana!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Greetings from the Intensive Care Unit of Bugando Medical Centre in
Mwanza. I have asked fellow missionary Maria Roeber to type and send
this for me.

This past Sunday I started having trouble breathing. By Monday morning
it was really bad. My local family took me to the hospital where I was
placed in the ICU, given oxygen, and diagnosed with “acute abnormal
bacterial pneumonia.” I am responding to antibiotics.

Responding slowly. The more I improve, the more I realize how very
sick I am. Through Wednesday I was on maximum oxygen, sitting bolt
upright in bed, fighting hard to breathe. I could barely speak, drink,
or eat—let alone sleep!—because all my consciousness was focused on
getting that next gasp of air..and the next…and the next.

Now I am able to lie down. I need less oxygen support. I have been
sleeping. It’s wonderful!

I feel like I am receiving good treatment. More important, Maria is
satisfied with my care. She is a nurse, and she should know! She and
missionary Michael Pagedas came to Mwanza on Tuesday morning and Maria
has been with me daily, keeping company and being my link to the
outside world. I’m grateful to her, and grateful to her supporters for
sending her.

This is my first hospitalization, so I’m getting familiar with all the
trappings of this life. My clothes are gone. There’s an IV valve in my
left arm, a cuff on my right arm, a little clip on my thumb, and wires
stuck all over my torso and legs. A mask is strapped over my mouth. I
can barely move for fear of coming unplugged. My sheets are changed
under me while I’m in bed, nurses bathe me, and I’m learning to use a
bedpan. I’d always wondered if this stuff was as uncomfortable and
embarrassing as it looks. It is.

Being helpless is no fun. I can’t imagine anyone becoming like this by
choice. But it’s Advent, and I remember how our God came down to us.
By choice He was stripped of His power and glory as I am of my breath
and my clothes, and was confined to this earth as I am to this bed.
The creator of the universe chose to become weak and needy, a child as
tiny as the one in the bed to my left. In time, He cried out in pain
like the man with tetanus on my right.
When I arrived on Monday, the closest I could get to prayer was to
gulp out: “My God”–gasp–“do you know”—gasp—“how awful”—gasp–“this
is?” And the reply comes back: “Yes, James”—gasp—“I sure do.”

Bugando Medical Centre may be one of the best hospitals in Western
Tanzania. It provides good, affordable care to thousands of patients.
But Western Tanzania is bigger than California, and has about eighteen
million people. Most folks in my condition cannot access the care I’m
receiving.

Even so, I am experiencing in a small way the suffering of many who
I’ve been sent to serve among. I am grateful for good care as I learn
to identify with the people around me, and understand in a new way the
radical sacrifice of the Incarnation. Thank you for sending me here.

Thank you for your prayers especially in these tough days. Maria is
keeping OCMC updated on my progress, so if there is news it will be on
ocmc.org. When I am out of the hospital, I will write again.

By your prayers in Christ,
James Hargrave

P.S. This is a note from Maria: James gave me this letter this
morning, which he wrote yesterday. He continues to improve every time
I see him, which is twice a day.  He is now free of his BP cuff and
heart monitor, and is on oxygen mostly for comfort measures. He
continues to receive antibiotics both via IV and also by mouth, but he
is breathing much easier and is able to eat and drink. His vital signs
are all normal. James’ phone is not allowed in ICU, but we are hoping
that he will be transferred to another ward on Monday or Tuesday when
he doesn’t need as much oxygen. James is under the care of an American
physician working in Bugando Hospital, and he and I spoke the other
day about James’ treatment plan and progress. His doctor is quite
reassured that James will be just fine and that his body simply needs
time to heal. I am also very impressed by the Tanzanian nurses and
other physicians who have been caring for him, as well as with the
equipment and facility in general. I am grateful to God for his mercy
and compassion on James, and so glad to be able to be here with him in
Mwanza. Thank you for your continued prayers for James. Asante sana!

Dear friends,

Furaha na amani! Joy and peace!

And greetings from Nairobi, Kenya. I have just spent Thanksgiving with old friends after a prolonged stay in this country. I’ve been on the road since late October, the bulk of this time with the Orthodox Church of Turkana County in Northern Kenya. I had a good visit and saw much of interest. God is at work there.

And I will be glad to get back home to Mwanza! Plenty of work has been waiting during my absence- translations, proposals, budgets, reports. As I work on these tasks I’ll also prepare to visit North America in February through April of 2012.

My first term of service as an OCMC Missionary in the Archdiocese of Mwanza and Western Tanzania will soon be complete. Time flies. These first two years have been good, and as a PS I’d like to provide you with a progress report on my development as a missionary in Western Tanzania.

This role I’ve been given by God- and by you- is a great job and an ideal apprenticeship. I am learning from good local leaders, and I am thriving.

Thank you for this job. Thank you for your prayers which sustain me, your friendship which encourages me, and for your faithful gifts which allow me to work out my salvation in a good place of joy and peace.

I hope to celebrate the Nativity of Christ in Bukoba together with Missionaries Michael Pagedas, Maria Roeber, Felice Stewart and their guests. In this Advent season as we fast and repent in anticipation of the Lord’s coming, I pray that Christ will be born anew in your hearts.

By your prayers in Christ,

James Hargrave

PS Here are the aspects in which I am working to grow as a missionary in the Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of Mwanza and Western Tanzania.

Language

My Kiswahili could be better. But after much effort I find myself using this language almost exclusively as I work in our Archdiocese office, conduct business and negotiations on behalf of the Church, provide interpretation in public settings, deliver talks and presentations, and go about day-to-day affairs. Living with a Tanzanian family has helped, although operating 24/7 in a foreign language can be tiring. It is my hope, next year, to begin learning a local language such as Kisukuma or Kihaya.

Culture

As my Archbishop JERONYMOS has given me increasing responsibilities I’ve found myself learning to handle the ins and outs of getting things done in this environment. Even simple tasks require nuance, considered indirectness, visible compassion for all involved, careful listening, and a great deal of patience. In Western Tanzania the norms for politeness, for conversation, for food and eating, for travel, for negotiation and transaction, for shopping, for friendship and for many other things are significantly different than they are in North America. And then there are big differences between rural and urban Tanzanian culture. It may take more than a lifetime to become fully fluent in this culture, but these days I am coping without great difficulty and thank God for that.

Church

As a tonsured reader in the Church I am getting a lot of practice chanting the daily services in Kiswahili every morning and evening. The  heartbeat of the Christian liturgical life is a source of stability and strength which I’ve missed while on the road. My admiration and gratitude for the leadership of my Church- our Archbishop, our priests, our catechists and administrators- continues to grow as I grow closer to these faithful Christians. Their love for their God, for one another, for the faithful and for the unreached- as well as their honest and competent management- are all examples worth following.

Teams

My role with short-term OCMC Teams has expanded with every group our Archdiocese has received these past two years. By God’s mercy our visitors have consistently had the orientation, food, drink, accommodation, and translation that they’ve needed. They’ve had their lost luggage retrieved, their crises averted, their questions answered and their issues resolved, and have made it safely home with money still in the bank and the balance sheet straight. Managing these things is hard work which transforms to pure joy in the presence of worthy people who travel far to share in the life of Christ and offer their talents to their sisters and brothers in Tanzania. Our Archdiocese plans to receive three OCMC Teams next year and I may have a big role in hosting all of them.

Fellow Missionaries

I travel frequently to attend to business in Bukoba, and enjoy the chance to spend time with fellow OCMC Missionaries Felice Stewart, Michael Pagedas, and Maria Roeber. As each of us develops a distinct role in the Archdiocese of Mwanza it’s helpful to compare notes, share stories, and bounce ideas off one another. Our separate tasks are unrelated on the surface, but our fellowship and our common purpose is a nourishing bond. Plus, the Bukoba house has a big kitchen and banging pots around is one of my favorite ways to relax. When I was there at the end of October I made a pretty good pumpkin soup, and Maria baked biscuits… mmm.

Projects

Archbishop JERONYMOS has asked me to work on developing a youth program for the Archdiocese, as well as a regular newspaper/ newsletter. These are big tasks that have made little headway as I’ve worked to become competent in language and culture, and have been busy with the Teams and the Turkana assignment. I look forward to working hard on these projects in the coming year. With 99%+ of our Church offline (clergy as well as faithful) we need a reliable paper-based way of disseminating basic information and itineraries as well as reports on events and Christian teaching. And because the workforce of our Church is made up of youth (In Tanzania “youth” means age 18 to 35), we need to support these folks as they collaborate on a local and regional level to support their communities and their fellows.

Identity

More important than projects and programs (they are important!) is my identity and role. First, of course, is my identity as a member of the Body of Christ, living out our common salvation together in mutual love and worship of the Holy Trinity. And then as a member of the local Church, and as a member of that Church’s administrative staff. The more I am immersed in the prayer life of the Church and in the daily life of Tanzanian culture, the more I become fully alive in this place. And the more fully alive I am here, the more I am able to contribute meaningfully to the life, witness and growth of the Body of Christ in Western Tanzania.

The need is great and the resources are limited. So I’m learning to manage money carefully, to make each shilling go far and to report even tiny expenses with transparency and accuracy. I’m learning to negotiate, to do business, to make deals so that we can get the right people to the right places with the right support behind them. And more important by far I’m learning to just be with people, to share in their lives and identify with them. To listen carefully (hard in a foreign language!) and speak sparingly (easy in a foreign language!). To make my dwelling here, as Christ taught us to do.

Plans

From this place arise opportunities to support local faithful and local leaders as they grow in Christ and as they bring the good news of the Resurrection of Christ to their neighbors and beyond. And there arise opportunities to be directly involved in the evangelistic task of the Church, in carrying the Gospel to people who have never heard. As an Archdiocese we are responsible for a large territory, much of which is unreached. I’ve visited some of these places, and in the coming years I look forward to seeing where God will call us, and what role he may give me.

Furaha na amani! Joy and peace!

Greetings from Mwanza. It’s good to be home. I’ve been on the road most of this month and will be so again next month. For the past few days I’ve been resting and catching up on desk-work from the quiet of my own desk in my own office. It’s a gentle pleasure.

As I plan for November, I’m also processing the events of the past several weeks. I’d like to tell you about what’s been going on.

On Wednesday, 5th October 2011 the Holy Archdiocese of Mwanza received our very first OCMC Medical Team. This was the culmination of months of preparation and planning by His Eminence Metropolitan Jeronymos, the OCMC Teams Department, the clergy and faithful of Mwanza Region, and all four OCMC Missionaries in Tanzania. It was brand-new for me. Although we’d never seen a short-term medical team in operation before, OCMC Missionary Michael Pagedas and I found ourselves responsible for logistics. The communities we were interfacing with had also never seen a medical team before.

Thank God, we had good counsel. Missionaries Felice Stewart and Maria Roeber provided insight from medical teams in other countries, and I was able to consult with folks who have facilitated medical teams for other groups in Mwanza Region. The team leader, Dr Cheryl Johnson from Nashville, had a good sense of necessary medicines, so we were able to put together a program that looked lovely on paper.

But no matter how pretty the model is you don’t know what it will be until you start. It was a whirlwind.

The team was first-rate. Dr Cheryl worked with Dr Michael Datch from Baltimore, Dr David Balyegwera from Bukoba, and Theresa ‘Doctor Fupi’ Mellas- a physicians’ assistant from Buffalo- to provide care for thousands of patients over the course of eight daily clinics, each in a different community. Many patients came with serious and even life-threatening ailments, but even more came with minor complaints such as backaches or poor vision. So the nurses- Meagan Homsey from Oklahoma City, Stephanie Pappas from Cheyenne, and Daphne Cunningham from Vancouver, BC- spent nearly every day doing triage on the “front lines,” assessing patients under the guidance of the physicians to provide immediate treatment for those with simple complaints, and identifying the seriously ill to be seen by a physician.

I used to think that a pharmacist was the guy who sold me cough syrup at CVS. Was I wrong. Our pharmacist, Andrew Bersu from St Augustine, quickly proved to be the center of the whole operation. Along with Maria Miller from Austin and Missionary Maria Roeber, Andrew worked diligently to provide each patient with medicines prescribed them by the physicians. Even when crowds started to thin out at triage or in the physicians’ waiting areas, the pharmacy was always packed. For several days Andrew worked without any rest or reprieve, but kept a joyful countenance and sincere love for every patient he met.

Sarah Edquist, a nurse’s assistant from Milwaukee, managed wound care. We saw patients with major wounds that had been infected sometimes for months. Along with the nurses, Sarah cleaned and dressed these wounds and lovingly taught the patients how to continue cleaning and dressing them on their own. The team had brought funds to rush the worst cases to the nearest hospital. For many people, the cost of transportation to the nearest hospital is more money than a family might see in a month. So this assistance was of critical value, and probably saved a few lives.

Pons Materum from San Francisco and Evan Bernick from Chicago served their teammates by getting them food and water, by managing crowds, and by interfacing with local leadership and assistants to bring order to the clinics. They were always available to do any sort of work that would help the team do their jobs better. Evan’s and Pons’ hard work, good insight, brilliant ideas, and humble approach were invaluable to Michael Pagedas and me as we four worked together on daily logistical issues.

And then there were the locals. Missionaries Maria Roeber and Felice Stewart organized the daily packing, counted heads on the bus, prepared medicines, and counseled team members as they confronted new and unexpected things about Tanzanian life every day. Translators Alfred, Laurence, Tambua, Sosthenes, Michael Pagedas and myself worked hard to facilitate good interaction between Kiswahili-speaking patients and English-speaking nurses and providers.

Translation was a stretching experience for me, as I’m sure it also was for Michael. On the second day of clinics, I translated outdoors in triage with Meagan. Several times a patient would describe a complaint to me and I’d look at Meagan in terror. “I can’t do this. I don’t understand him.” But there was the need, and there I was. I couldn’t just flee. So I’d question the patients carefully in my best Kiswahili, using lots of gestures, until I was confident that I got their meaning. Then I’d jot down the new vocabulary on a note card and use it with the next patient. Meagan needed to know whether each woman was pregnant, so that she could give the correct worm medicine. Again, I panicked. I didn’t know the word for pregnant! So I asked these poor mamas, “Do you have a child in your belly?” And they would laugh, and all the women around them would laugh, and then they would say “Yes, I have a child in my belly,” or “No, I don’t have a child in my belly.” That night, I looked up the vocabulary for “pregnant,” and now the query “Una mimba?” is burned forever into my brain.

The team was great. They all worked sacrificially, stretching themselves far beyond their limits and depending on God to sustain them. It was a rare treat to just hang out with people from my own culture. Greater still was working together with my fellow long-term missionaries in support of such a good project. But, with apologies to these fourteen amazing folks, my favorite part was the communities.

Many of these were communities from which we had drawn participants for our 2010 youth camp in Geita. So every time we pulled up to a church in a village where I’d never been, I found myself greeted by familiar faces. I got to meet our good priests and see them in their full pastoral roles, guiding their faithful and their neighbors through a strange and unavoidably complicated process. In some communities there was no infrastructure other than the shade provided by a few trees and maybe a tarp. But the faithful gave everything they had and more to ensure the team had as much support and comfort as possible. In moments of downtime, I was able to visit with the priests, to hear their stories of their faithful and of their outreach. Watching our Church’s leaders in action, and learning from their words and deeds… nothing cooler than that!

Now I get about ten days at home to work on budgets, reports, proposals, correspondence, paperwork. This will include three days of retreat. Thank God! Then I’m off to Bukoba to spend time with my teammates, and by early November plan to head onwards to Kenya for almost a full month. My leadership at OCMC has asked me to visit our Orthodox Church in Turkana, an immense semi-arid region of northwestern Kenya where the Orthodox Christian faith is expanding rapidly among nomadic and pastoral communities who had previously practiced traditional religion. I grew up in a different part of Northern Kenya (called Marsabit), and have great love for the people, traditions, and landscape of this beautiful but difficult region. I don’t know what to expect. But I’m excited. I ask for your prayers.

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love, friendship, correspondence and encouragement. These past days have been straining and exhausting. I am all tuckered out. But I have experienced joy beyond measure, and suspect I have found relationships that may prove to last a lifetime. Thank you also for your faithful, sacrificial and consistent financial gifts which allow me to work out my salvation in this place of joy and peace. I am here because of you.

By your prayers in Christ,

James

Dear friends,

Tupendane.
Let us love one another.
- 1 John 4:7

Greetings from Mwanza on this feast of the Holy Apostle John. It’s a sunny September, the trees on my hillside are in blossom, and the lake is very blue.

I recently had business in Kenya, and returned to Mwanza on the seventeenth of September- the very date that I first moved to this city, one year ago. Time does fly.

It’s been a good year. The learning curve has been every bit as steep as expected, and of course it will take a lifetime to adjust fully. But I’m happy to be where I am.

In about ten days, we plan to receive a medical team from OCMC. The team will be conducting clinics in rural and urban areas around Mwanza Region. Logistics are every bit as complex as you might imagine, and I’m grateful to be working together with my missionary colleagues Maria Roeber, Felice Stewart and Michael Pagedas as we prepare to care for the visitors.

Time flies indeed. My first term of service as an OCMC missionary will conclude early next year, and so I am working on plans to visit North America- I’d likely be on the continent from the beginning of February until just after Pascha.

And I want to see you! Yes, each of you- or at least as many folks as I can in ten short weeks. My goal in visiting will of course be to spend a little time at home in Gainesville with family and friends, and also to touch base with as many people in my support network as is possible. I’d like to see you in person, catch up on your life, (meet your new babies!!) and talk with you face-to-face about the work that God is doing in Western Tanzania thanks to your prayers, encouragement, and generosity.

So, if you’d like me to visit, please be in touch. When I met many of you in the fall of 2009 and spring of 2010, I was inspired and instructed by the way that you and your communities are bearing witness to the Resurrection and proclaiming the glory of God in your local context. I look forward very much to coming back and getting another glimpse.

It is obvious to me that your prayers are with me, as God sustains me here. The challenges are good and healthy, but they are challenges indeed, and I am borne through them by strength that is not my own. Thank you.

Thank you also for your encouraging communication, and for your consistent generosity. I am here because of you.

By your prayers in Christ,

James Hargrave

Sisi tuliona utukufu wake kwa macho yetu wenyewe.
We were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
- 2 Peter 1:16

Greetings from Mwanza, where I have returned after several weeks in the hills of rural Muleba District in Kagera Region. In the three weeks leading up to the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor, more than one hundred Orthodox Christian young people from the Muleba countryside gathered at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in the hamlet of Ibale for our annual Archdiocesan youth seminar.

It was my joy to participate in preparation for the seminar, as well as to assist in hosting the Finnish Orthodox Mission/ OCMC Team which taught Christian education during the ten days leading up to the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Archdiocese of Mwanza works very hard to integrate foreign visitors into our ongoing projects, and it was a delight for me to be together with this Team as they settled right into sharing their lives with local youth in a fairly rustic and difficult setting. The sacrificial love that they brought with them, and their willingness to lay aside their own cultural baggage and learn to see the world through Tanzanian eyes, was of special encouragement to me. In a future email, I hope to tell you more about the Team Members.

Caring for 100+ young people and a dozen foreigners in rural Tanzania for three weeks is no joke. Our local infrastructure consisted of: one church, one house, one creek, and plenty of rolling hillside. So we chopped down hundreds of eucalyptus trees to make tent poles, constructed huge tents for classrooms and for sleeping, brought in mattresses and water tanks and a towering truckload of firewood. Every day, between or after classes, the young people took turns walking to the creek and hauling water- in buckets on their head- back to camp to refill the water tanks. With no refrigeration, I ended up going grocery shopping almost daily- each day, the market is in a different hamlet, and you never know what you’re going to get. Once we found some really amazing catfish (long as your arm), and that was a treat.

God provides, and both the youth and the visitors stayed in good spirits despite various difficulties. Nearly every night we danced for hours to drums, singing songs that had been composed especially for the event. Until the moon got too bright, the Milky Way was visible overhead so clear that it might have been daytime clouds. And now the young people are back in their homes, teaching others the things that they learned about Christ, about themselves, and about their faith.

What’s next? Plans. Reports. Budgets. We’re starting to prep for something brand-new- a series of rural clinics in Mwanza Region which will be staffed by an OCMC Health Care Team in October. I look forward to receiving the Team, along with fellow OCMC Missionaries here in Western Tanzania, and to caring for them while they are with us.

It is good to be here. It was a special refreshment to be with the youth and our foreign guests up in the hills, to catch a glimpse of the glory of God, and to return to the daily routine of life as an eyewitness of that majesty. May it be borne also in your hearts.

Thank you for your prayers. They are felt, and their effect is plain. Thank you for your friendship, for your encouragement, and for your consistent and generous financial support. I am here because of you.

Stay in touch!

By your prayers in Christ,

James Hargrave

Furaha na amani! Joy and peace!

And greetings from Tanzanian winter. It’s hovering around 18 degrees- 65 Fahrenheit- and although it’s the dry season we have had some small rainshowers. I’ve been reading about the extreme heat waves in North America. If you’re pitying me for having to endure Africa’s supposedly harsh and unforgiving climate, don’t!

Here in Mwanza we are making final preparations for receiving volunteers from the Finnish Orthodox Mission and OCMC who will participate in a rural youth seminar in Muleba District of Kagera Region. This is an annual event, taking place in a different deanery each year, and currently our major ministry with youth at an Archdiocesan level. Event planning in rural Tanzania is a little different from event planning in North America. It’s been fun.

In June, I was pleased to welcome two newcomers to the Archdiocese of Mwanza. OCMC Missionary Maria Roeber, a maternity nurse from Georgetown, arrived last month after more than two years of preparation. Maria hopes to help the Archdiocese of Mwanza develop its health care ministry, possibly by working at Resurrection Hospital in Bukoba or through other means. She is also helping OCMC to develop regional long-term health-care strategy elsewhere in East Africa. Maria is currently stationed in Bukoba town for her time of language and culture acquisition, and I have thoroughly enjoyed catching up with her in the past two weeks.

Meg Engelbach, an Intercultural Studies/ Linguistics student at Biola University in Southern California, is serving a summer internship here in the Archdiocese of Mwanza. She is living with a local family in Mwanza city, sharing in their life and learning from them. Meg is also learning Kiswahili and using her experience to help improve language-learning materials to better address East African linguaculture. God willing, Meg’s notes and suggestions will be of benefit to future OCMC missionaries as they learn language in this part of the world. I’ve enjoyed having Meg around, and am very impressed with her dedication and adaptability. It is my hope to continue to play a role in welcoming students and interns to share life with us here in Western Tanzania as they broaden their own experiences and make decisions about possible long-term missionary service in the future.

It’s been a good winter, and I’m looking forward to what lies ahead. I am grateful to each of you for your prayers, encouragement, and long-term commitment to financial support. I am here because of you. Stay in touch!

By your prayers in Christ,

James Hargrave

I’m sure it says something terrible about my ego that the word in this phrase that bothers me most is “trip.”

Seriously, they were probably searching for this.