designed by Felis Mwambalo

I am always intrigued by the way that seasons work here, south of the equator. We don’t have the four seasons like I grew up with in Northwest Indiana. What I find fun is that we do share April and May showers except here in Tanzania the cold season follows those showers. Instead of the grass turning brown because of the hot summer weather, it is green and lush and we wear sweaters. The season that follows our cold season is the prelude to the hot season which is a lot like autumn. The trees start to drop their leaves but not because of coming cold. They drop because of dryness (at least that is my interpretation) The weather increasingly gets hotter, leaves litter the ground and we enter a different kind of winter. Hot winter . I enjoy see the leaves on the ground. Autumn was my favorite time of year in NWI.

One of my favorite parts of this African Autumn season is that the Jacaranda trees bloom, drop their blossoms and cover the ground with, what I call, purple snow.

Enjoy this autumn season. Celebrate the life and change that comes with each new season. Please pray for us here at Pamoja as we enter a season focused on getting Nipe Jibu out. Pray for wisdom for me and our team as we learn the system for media and marketing here in Tanzania and East Africa.

On September 18th, I celebrated 5 years of ministry in Tanzania, East Africa!

We have finished our movie!

July 11th we premiered Nipe Jibu at the Zanzibar International Film Festival (www.ziff.or.tz) This is the first full-feature production from Pamoja Ministries. It is a Swahili musical with a good portion of the music written and performed by our friends, the Sowers Group. I am so excited to finally have the finished product to begin showings in Tanzania and then in surrounding countries. It was so much fun to listen to the crowd interacting with the movie.

group shot

the afternoon of the premiere

our group in the Old Fort, the main venue for ZIFF, with a group of students

3 weeks after our premiere we showed Nipe Jibu in Simanjiro

Our movie works! It was so great listening and watching viewers interacted with the movie. Laughing at the right parts, warning the characters when they are stepping into danger, falling in love with the main characters and signing the songs after the movie has finished.

Please agree with us in prayer that they message of hope in this film will bring lasting change for everyone who watches it.

We have 2 NEW music videos!

Thanks to 10x Productions, the Cook family and our fabulous Arts department at Pamoja we have 2 new music videos! One for the Sowers Group and one for the En-kata Choir. As soon as they are fully edited I will be sure to post them. These 2 videos will be great promotion for CHEZA! (dance), the Sower’s second album and Hope of the Maasai, the En-kata Choir’s second album.

during the day of green screen video shooting

10x, Cook fam, the Sowers, Nadine and Sig

We are discipling cultures through media!

Become fans of the En-kata Choir, the Sowers Group and Pamoja Ministries on Facebook

Elisabeth Helfen likes

En-kata, A Time For Singing

Create your Like Badge

Elisabeth Helfen likes

The Sowers Group

Create your Like Badge

Elisabeth Helfen likes

Pamoja

Create your Like Badge

The tail end of my trip in the States was in Florida at the missionary reunion with my mission, Go To Nations (GTN) (the name that Calvary International is doing business as…).  Supporters of GTN came together to fund four days of refreshing for all of us missionaries. It was such a blessing!

The days spent in Daytona Beach for our Refreshing Waters missionary reunion were exactly what the name said it would be, “refreshing.” The first night I was awed by the  ballroom packed with missionaries from all over the globe. I can easily say that I didn’t know 90% of them but we all have a couple of things in common. We love God and are committed to seeing every tribe, tongue and people reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are also all part of the same missionary family. We are Go To Nations (GTN) missionaries.

Me and my former team mates from Tanzania, Charlie and Sharon

Me and some of the other missionary gals... they each work in different parts of the world (Guatemala, Philippines,in Jacksonville at our World Head Quarters

With Kate and Tyler... friends that I know from Burkina Faso

Monday night we gathered together for the Awards Banquet for GTN. The ballroom was full of people. Half of our group had served with GTN for under 10 years and the other half from 10 to  20+ years. I was overwhelmed by the men, women and families that have continued to give their lives overseas. The room cheered as each missionary went up to receive their award. As it passed into the 10 year and above mark my heart began to feel heavy as the weight of my elders and their faithful service stood before me. I thought of Psalm 145:4 where it talks of one generation proclaiming God’s works to another. I felt that these moments, as missionary after missionary came up to receive recognition of their commitment to the task of seeing Christ exalted in their region, were a walking out of Psalm 145. These men and women are a living testimony, an encouragement, an example that I deeply respect and that I desire to emulate. Theirs is the heritage that we are to follow and is a heritage that I am proud to be connected to.  My eyes filled with tears as I thought about the honor that it is to be on this team, in this time, running this race to the finish.

I am refreshed and my passion for the work I am doing in Tanzania is continually increasing. There is much work to be done and we all have a part to play. Let us each be faithful to do our part. Amen!