After 45 years of service, Elisha Moita, the Head of Malambo Bible College from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT), retired from the church. Elisha’s partnership with MAF Tanzania began in 1987 when our evangelistic safari flights began taking him and his fellow evangelists to villages across Northern Tanzania to spread the gospel and love of Christ.
After 45 years of service, Elisha Moita, the Head of Malambo Bible College from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT), retired from the church. Elisha’s partnership with MAF Tanzania began in 1987 when our evangelistic safari flights began taking him and his fellow evangelists to villages across Northern Tanzania to spread the gospel and love of Christ.
On the last Sunday of September, MAF Tanzania flew Bishop Solomon Massangwa and two other church leaders to the college to attend the exceptional service prepared to celebrate Elisha’s retirement.
Bishop Solomon had spent the previous seven days touring the diocese of South Maasai by road, a gruelling trip taking in hundreds of kilometres of rough dirt roads and finishing up late on Saturday evening. He requested a MAF flight to Bible College, as this was the only way he could make it to the service on time. In view of MAF’s long partnership with Elisha, Country Programme Manager Stewart Ayling joined the flight to attend the celebration.
Flight to Malambo Bible College
“As we arrived at Arusha airport, a heavy blanket of cloud hung over Mt. Meru to the northeast and Monduli to the northwest, but there were signs of clearing skies to the south. I made a quick phone call to Malambo, and they confirmed good weather for take-off. We flew west under the cloud layer towards Lake Manyara, and after 15 minutes of flying, we popped up over a ridge and into bright sunshine as the cloud bank stopped abruptly,” Stewart said.
He added that they flew north towards the active volcano of Lengai, which provided a spectacular view and passed between the peaks, with thermals from the volcano buffeting the small Cessna C206. In 45 minutes, they arrived at the small town of Malambo on a busy Sunday morning with many people heading to church.
“A visit from the bishop is a significant event for the community. As we taxied to stop at the top of the runway, a large crowd was gathering waiting to greet us,” Stewart said.
He added that upon reaching the church, it was full of many visitors; among them, representatives from different Maasai congregations in anticipation for the service to begin. This reflected the growth of the church from 63 believers when Elisha’s ministry began to almost 10,000 believers at his retirement.
During the service, Bishop Solomon commissioned four new evangelists from different villages and baptised a child. “It was a joy to witness Elisha’s many years of faithful service recognised and celebrated,” Stewart said.
Once the service ended, the community shared lunch at the Bible College, followed by a further celebration at Elisha’s residence. “As I walked with Elisha through the village to his house, he shared that he would continue to oversee the Bible College and the evangelistic outreach carried out by MAF Tanzania. Elisha added that his retirement from church duties will give him time to explore and reach more Maasai communities, that have not been reached by the gospel of Christ,” Stewart said.
Elisha assured us of the continuity in the partnership with MAF Tanzania to bring help, hope and healing to Maasai communities in Tanzania.
