Greeting Christmas With Hope

Date posted: Wednesday 22 December 2021

After several months of heat and dust and more shades of brown than one can possibly imagine, things begin to green-up in Iringa as the rains return in the closing weeks of the calendar year.

 

With dormant fields, farmers watch the sky and feel for the changes in the wind that indicate it is a good time to plant their seeds. As they were in Bethlehem two millennia ago and as they are wherever Christians gather to remember Christ’s birth, anticipation and hope are in the air.

 

In that same spirit, we’ve asked some of our friends, colleagues, and members of the BKB Team to share their greatest hopes for 2022. This is what they had to say:

“My greatest hope is to have a strong relationship between SPAS and DIRA in preaching the Gospel of Jesus and that God will rescue his human creation from the pandemic of COVID-19.”
– Pastor Andeck Ngogo, General Secretary of ELCT Iringa Diocese

“My greatest hope for 2022 is that things will get better to allow the in-person connections we used to have before the pandemic: safe travels as well as village visits and all gatherings. We still have lots to do for the Mighty Kingdom through the BKB partnership.”
– Frank Mkocha, BKB-DIRA Scholarship Clerk

“My greatest hope is that God will give us all another chance to grow individually and in terms of our ministries together… That the world is going to smile because the merciful God is going to heal us from COVID-19.”
– Pastor Joseph Lwila, BKB-DIRA Coordinator

“My greatest hope is to build stronger and deeper relationships with those I chose to accompany in Tanzania, and to cherish those I will miss and always hold dearly in America.”
– Astine Bose, BKB-SPAS Program Coordinator

“My greatest hope is that the doors which have been closed by the pandemic will be opened and friends will start visiting each other again, that the number of children and youth attending church in both SPAS and ELCT DIRA will rise, and that new and sustainable projects will start to strengthen BKB.”
– Pastor Lusungu Msigwa, Luther Seminary Student

“My greatest hope is that we will soon be able to share singing and dancing and laughing with one as we celebrate life, together, in Christ – in real-time and in whatever form we can find. It is good to be together, whenever and however we can.”
– Pastor Peter Harrits, Director of BKB-SPAS

As for you, what are your greatest hopes for 2022? TELL US and we’ll share them with our companions in Iringa! With uncertainty and anticipation all around, a word of hope is a gift that can go a long way.

 

In the meantime, we wish you and yours a blessed Christmas and wonderful start to the New Year.
-The BKB Team

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