"When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent." (Proverbs 10:19)

On June 23rd I begin my 30-day retreat. A silent retreat. I will be fasting from unnecessary speech. It will be necessary to have a daily conversation with my spiritual director and to attend Mass daily.

I will be fasting from the Internet. From the time the retreat begins until after I arrive in Tanzania on August 2nd, I don't expect to have anything new to post on this blog.

Until then, I ask for your prayers for my Tanzanian hosts. The new Cathedral in Tabora town will be consecrated on July 5. It will be a huge occasion, one that I am sorry to miss, and a reunion of many of my friends, seminary classmates and neighbors from seminary student housing.

Mr. Mizengo Pinda, the Prime Minister of Tanzania (the second-highest elected official in the government) will also be there, with a contingent of bodyguards. He's not another of our classmates.

Please pray for the Lord's blessings on that day and on the work of the Tabora diocese. The poverty of the people there is made worse by the chronic drought, and Bishop Makaya often asks me to pray for rains so that there will be a crop to feed the people. When it's not a drought, then it's flooding.

Tanzania is 945,000 square miles in area (equal to Texas and New Mexico combined) with 40.3 million inhabitants. There are more than 160 ethnic and tribal groups. Eighty per cent of the population perform agricultural work. The Tabora diocese comprises 10% of the country's land area, with a population of about 2 million.

According to the most recent edition of Operation World (2005), a guide to intercessory prayer for the nations, God has answered the prayers of Christians for Tanzania in some specific ways:

• A peaceful transition from Marxism in the period after independence (1964) to democratic government (since 1992).
• Dramatic growth in the numbers of evangelical Christians (Lutherans, Anglicans, and Pentecostals) from the 1990's until now.
• An outpouring of the Holy Spirit, "resulting in vigorous outreach, bold faith, ...vision for advance," and many Muslims coming to faith in Jesus Christ.

The same Operation World proceeds to identify the challenges to the Tanzanian Church:

• Harmonious relations between Christians and Muslims, and the country's political stability, can't be taken for granted.
• The growth in the number of Christians is not consistent. Churches in some areas have stagnated; many areas remain unreached by Christian evangelism.
• In some churches, there is a "form" of worship but with unsuffient biblical teaching.
• There is a shortage of mature, trained Christian leaders.
• AIDS continues to spread, infecting more than 8% of the population and leaving more than a million orphans. The Church struggles to reverse this trend with sound teaching, counselling, and compassionate medical care.
• The young people (75% of the population is between 12 and 35) suffer from poor job prospects. Exposure to Western influences is having a corrosive effect on traditional social structures. There is a shortage of Christian religious educators and other Christian teachers for the schools. There is a need for Christian evangelists to work with university students.
• Bible translations in many of the indigenous tribal languages are still unavailable.
• There is a shortage of good Christian literature.