Tanzania Team Depart!

The Tanzania Team left the UK on Thursday bound for Uhambingeto!

On route to Heathrow, they had to collect their T Shirts from a van on the hard shoulder! (there's nothing quite like a last minute panic!)




Arriving at the Airport!



Ready for Departure!





Please continue to pray for the Team, for safe travel, good health whilst in Uhambingeto, opportunities to demonstrate God's love in practical action and to witness in words despite the language barrier...

Isaiah Chapter 39

“The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime”. v8

Throughout his life Hezekiah had valued the power of prayer, (see Is 38 v 3) and had seen favourable answers to them. Earlier in the chapter Isaiah does not rebuke Hezekiah for his actions but foretells the future. Verse 8 shows it is a future which the king accepts, maybe because he feels he has done all he can. He is living in the present and feels there will be peace in his lifetime. He leaves the future to God.

How often do we worry about things outside of our control? Seek God to find out what he wants you to do, and what you should leave for others to do.

Rachel Charnick

Isaiah Chapter 38

I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz. So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down. - v8

The laws of nature would declare that such an event is impossible, as it would cause the death of every living thing, and indeed the destruction of the earth.
2 Kings 20 v 9-11 and 2 Chronicles 32 v 24 would seem to confirm the above verse as an historical fact.

How great is our God? He is the God of the impossible. If God is not the God of the impossible, He is no God at all.

Truly the Creator is greater than His Creation

Dennis Mason

Isaiah Chapter 37

“Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, 'Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them?” v10-12

Has anyone ever told you that you were naive or stupid for believing in God? This is also what is going on in this passage of Isaiah; probably not too dissimilar to what we experience today as Christians. People often say that the intelligent belief is that there isn’t a God- after all there have been many times throughout history where God doesn’t seem to have stepped in and has “let” people suffer.
But, as shown by the outcome of this chapter, God is seeing and planning the bigger picture. He says in verse 26 that "Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass” By the end of this chapter, God shows that he is always in control –an angel of the Lord was sent in and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.

This gave us a really positive message that our God of all days (who achieved massive things beyond our comprehension in the bible) is still the powerful God acting in chapter 37 of Isaiah and indeed is still relevant and powerful today, seeing the bigger picture and able to do amazing things!

Joanne Hawker & Vicky Greening

Isaiah Chapter 36

Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, “The Lord will deliver us”. Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? - v18

The commander here sought to undermine the faith of the ordinary people in a vain attempt to use these people against Hezekiah. He could not perceive or understand the power of God, the real, the one and only God. As others had put their faith in false Gods and been defeated he believed, much to his own detriment, that the True God whom Hezekiah believed in was no different, even today many people still hold this view and are prepared to verbalise, using a language which we as Christians understand and they too suffer the consequences of their own lack of understanding.

Angus Heron

Isaiah Chapter 35

"Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Waters will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert". - v6

This is a wonderful promise for those who are bound by some infirmity whether physical, emotional or spiritual. For those who put their trust in the Lord, all that restricts them will be done away with and they will know such a shout of freedom flowing from them that will make them leap with joy.
Where there was once barrenness and times of doubt, when all seemed fruitless, and hope and faith had grown dim, there will be life again.

This is such an encouraging verse for those who are facing a time in that place of darkness and loneliness where hope and faith have abandoned them, the river of life will flow again . Hallelujah!

Christine Mason

Isaiah Chapter 34

Having read and reread this chapter, I still find it very hard to comment on it as it is so dark.
What keeps coming back into my thoughts is that our loving faithful God will not be mocked. He will have His way. Given the state of the world we live in with increasing rumours of wars and lack of individual and corporate responsibility or community spirit, it is a comfort that He has His plan. My responsibility is to stay faithful to Him and follow His plan for me.

Sandi Webb

Isaiah Chapter 33

"He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure." Verse 6

The reason why I chose this verse is because it speaks of God's love and his faithfulness. It is all the more significant in light of the context in which it is written. To me, 'sure foundation' emphasizes and reassures me that this foundation is the real and best thing.


The next line then encourages me to continually strive towards fearing the Lord, as it reiterates that fearing the Lord is the key to wisdom, knowledge and more importantly salvation. The knowledge of the store being ‘rich’ emphasises further, the depths of God’s love for His people which includes me.’

Katie Stephen