Tanzania lives on in the hearts of Aussie Salvos on mission
- deansimpson7
- 42 minutes ago
- 7 min read
A NSW/ACT Divisional mission trip to Tanzania in late 2025 was a transformational trip for those involved. In this week’s Global Focus, Salvos Online journalist LAUREN MARTIN speaks to two participants – Major Bindy Lupis and Lisa Sims (from Shire Salvos Menai) – about their experiences.
Lauren spoke first to Major Bindy Lupis, Senior Program Manager for Salvation Army Emergency Services.
Lauren: So, Bindy, why did you want to be part of the mission trip to Tanzania?
Bindy: I felt called to officership as a young teen. I even remember, around [the age of] 17 I think, I heard someone share about something in Africa. I felt this strong call, added to my call to officership, that it was also to Africa. I wrote letters to YWAM, World Vision, all these different organisations, trying to find opportunities to go to Africa. I wrote to the current DYS [Divisional Youth Secretary] at the time, asking if they were doing mission trips. And I kept on getting, ‘no’ and ‘not yet’ [responses].
Life goes on, but it’s always been there; it’s always been on my heart. That pull on my heart specifically for Africa has never wavered.
Two years ago, I was in a divisional role in the NSW/ACT Division, and Tanzania is one of our partner territories. Divisional Commander [at the time] Kim Haworth was saying, rather than just constantly sending money, what else could we do? We said, “What if we sent a team over and did ministry beside them?” I told her the story [about my childhood calling] and said, “If this is happening, I’m going!”
Lauren: What was it like to finally make it to Africa?
Bindy: There was a part of me that just felt ‘at home’ ... it felt so natural and so right. It was amazing, and it was emotional, and I cried lots, and I smiled lots. I’m not a dancer, but I danced lots! That free worship in Africa, you can’t not dance!
The Tanzanian people are just beautiful people, and their perspective [is powerful.] I wish a lot of officers in Australia could get a taste of it. They have so little. One of their churches was just made of the branches of trees and flour sacks as the roof, and they are stoked, that’s all they need. They just want to worship, and they are hungry to learn.
Our churches are dying, theirs are exploding. We need to learn from them about mission and ministry.
Lauren: What was the aim of the mission trip?
Bindy: It was about the two territories partnering. It was about Aussie Salvos and Tanzanian Salvos doing ministry together. We visited a prison and did stuff in schools. It was not us going and doing things for them. That was a really important focus; it’s too easy for us to think we have all the answers.
Lauren: What key things did you learn there?
Bindy: For me, it taught me the real importance of getting back to basics. The Acts 2 church stuff: sitting in community, sitting with ones and twos, the home visits. The joy in the basics and the joy in the simple. To just take away all the extra ‘stuff’ and focus on just loving Jesus and loving other people and finding the joy in that. I think we have lost our joy here in the Western church. The simple joy of being together and worshipping Jesus [is so important in Tanzania.]
Lauren: You had the added joy of sharing the trip with your daughter, tell me about that.
Bindy: Yes, Hannah, she’s 15 and has a heart for mission as well. She wanted to step out of her comfort zone and grow in her confidence, and it was so evident to everyone [that God was growing her.] Part of the time was to pray for people for healing. Even I admitted that it was out of my comfort zone. But Hannah jumped right in! She stood next to one of the others who was praying, to observe and to learn. By the end of the trip, she was putting her hand on someone’s shoulder and praying with them. Just watching her interact with that was beautiful.
My heart for Africa and calling seems to be this generational thing that we share. I might never go and live there, but maybe she will. (And I’ll visit her!)
Lisa Sims is a small business owner, wife and mother who worships at Shire Salvos in southern Sydney. Here is her interview with Lauren:
Lauren: So Lisa, what drew you to Africa on this mission trip?
Lisa: I saw it advertised in the corps newsletter in February [2025] and as soon as I saw it, my heart did a leap. I’d always wanted to do a mission trip, but I still sat in this space of trying to almost get out of it. All this mind stuff started coming in, rather than [following my] heart. So, it took me until July to pay the deposit; it was like I knew once I paid the money, I was committed. However, in saying that, I continually prayed about it from February right up to when we left in October because I really wanted to be sure that this was what God wanted me to do, not just something I wanted for myself. I waited on God continually for that confirmation. During that time, the song ‘Oceans’ kept coming up: ‘Spirit, lead me where my trust is without border ...’, and that became my prayer. I felt God was leading me into deeper waters where I couldn't walk on my own and was believing that he would make my faith stronger.
We [the mission team] had a Zoom meeting four weeks out, where we all got to meet each other. Everyone was ‘on fire’, and when it got to me, I said, “I am feeling so out of my depth and comfort zone! I don’t know what I’m doing!” They were talking about not having a big plan and wanting to allow space to go where the Spirit leads, and that was a huge difference to the way I usually plan things. Then they mentioned we had just received permission to go into a prison and meet with the prisoners. And everyone’s going, “Yay, hallelujah!” and I was like, “Really?”
I got off the Zoom meeting, and I said to my husband, “I don’t know what I signed up for!” I was feeling so out of my comfort zone and unsure of what to expect. So, I kept praying and, very quickly, I felt at peace. That in itself was confirmation that it was the right thing. We [the team] spent a lot of time in those weekly meetings preparing ourselves spiritually. [Auxiliary-Lieutenant] Katharine Brown, together with the other team leaders, led us with thoughtful and challenging devotions and helped prepare us spiritually for what God wanted to do.
“Looking back, I realise it was really about obedience – saying yes even when I didn't feel ready or qualified, and trusting that God would equip me as I went. And he did!”
Lauren: How was it when you actually got to Tanzania?
Lisa: It was so good. So many times, I saw and felt God move. So many unforgettable experiences.
[Prior to this trip], my whole idea of the healing ministry was, “Can God heal?” I thought, “Of course he can, 100 per cent”, but did I have limitations on that? Yes, I think I did. We live in a society where if you are sick, you go to the doctor. I still believed God could heal, but I think I was putting him in a box. Over there, I did see healing [and] deliverance.
In a home visit, there was a little old lady who was so tight and hunched over. We prayed over her, and we saw deliverance. There is no denying the joy that was on her face. I’ll never forget that look. She was so free, and she was actually moving her arms and stretching her whole body out.
I am a lawyer – a very rational and even person – and then all of a sudden, [I find myself saying], “I saw healing, I saw deliverance.”
Lauren: How has the experience changed you?
Lisa: It was the whole thing of expectation. I went in thinking, “Can this really happen?” and came out knowing, “Wow, God is so good, and we have to be expectant.” It’s made me bolder ... and expectant.
One of my challenges now is that I started to feel so free over there – free in the Spirit and free to do what the Spirit wants me to do, and to be listening to the prompts and acting on them straight away. The challenge is for that freedom to continue when I get home ... that I don’t fall into the ‘norm’.
They [the Tanzanian people] are so spiritual and are so thirsty for God. They don’t have what we have – all the systems and solutions that we can access so easily. They go straight to God. We’re so fortunate to have those things, but sometimes that means we go to them first instead of God. Their faith really challenged and inspired me to go to God first in everything!
And the generosity and joy I saw in everyone, even with so little, it was true community. They gave so much in faith, in worship (and dance), and in love.
Lauren: What do you think God has next for you?
Lisa: I am seeing that this was a calling that God wanted me to fulfil, because I’m still seeing the fruits of it now. I’m sitting in this space of, “Ok God, what’s next?”
You always come home from trips and camps on a high, but this is much deeper than that. I know that it will start to settle as well, but I also know that God has taken me deeper and has made my faith stronger. My prayer now is to remain in this space, to not lose that boldness and freedom that he stirred in me, and to keep stepping out in faith because I know he will always be there to meet me.
Auxiliary-Lieutenant Katharine Brown speaks at a church service, held in a very rudimentary structure, during the mission trip. “They just want to worship, and they are hungry to learn,” says Major Bindy Lupis.
