We are Ray and Melody Schumacher and we founded Sonshine Ministries following a mission’s trip to Tanzania in 2003. Here’s how it all started: 

One morning while in Dar es Salaam Tanzania our group was gathered together praying, praising and worshipping the Lord when suddenly we all felt the Lords presence. He began to reveal His heart for this land. We saw so many needs, so many opportunities for ministry, it was like an open vision and we knew we were called to work here and that we would return to this far away place. Then our group leader, Prophet Gene Bacon began to speak.

Here is the word we received that day as spoken through Gene: "The Lord wants to do a new thing in Tanzania, He wants to break the curse off the land and set the captives free, yes they have been in great bondage in this land and He has heard the prayers of His saints and is even now setting into motion the things needed to accomplish a great work for His people. 

The Lord says He’s going to establish a new work. A work based on the church of Antioch where believers where first called Christians. He is going to raise up a work that will become a model for others. This ministry will be modeled all over the continent of Africa and will become a model for the church to expand. 

The Lord says this will be a place of excellence where His people will again learn His ways, where people will gather with a hunger and thirst for righteousness. They will lay down their idols, turn away from their idols and turn fully to the Lord their God. They will be taught and will understand the truths of the bible; they will have an understanding of biblical principles and will walk in them daily. They will have and receive an understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. They will see miracles, many miracles. God will be pouring out His power upon the people of Tanzania. They will be blessed of the Lord and all will see and know He is blessing them.

This ministry will teach practical skills to the people. The ministry center will teach new skills, mechanical, and carpentry, agriculture, computer skills. They will learn skills and they will have favor in the job market. The Lord says this will be a place where His people will prosper. The Lord says the curse is now being broken off His people and He is leading them out of the wilderness. He will be a light unto their feet. He says that if they will humble themselves and turn from their sinful ways, He will pour blessing out upon them that cannot be contained.

This ministry center is going to be a big place, it will need to be a big place because many, many will come to this place to learn of the Lord, to grow in the Lord, to get skills to feed their families. This ministry center will become a magnet to the fathers. Men will once again become the spiritual leaders in the home, The Lord is imparting the father’s heart into the men, the men will grow spiritually, they will grow financially and they will become the respected members of the community. 

The center will have garden plots for the saints and the crops will be abundant. Even during times of drought and hardship, this place will prosper. The people will know that the Lord is blessing Sonshine; they will understand that there is favor upon this place and through that, other blessings will come. 

The Lord says this ministry center will have an orphanage to care for the children, a children’s village where each child will be cared for and nurtured and loved. The Lord says this will need to be a big place because there will be many, many children; it’s got to be big. The Lord says we are to raise the children as a family not as an institution, teaching the children the Lord’s ways, raising them in God’s love, this will be a place where children will be cared for, where they will be mended and set free, the power of The Lord will fill these little children and they will no longer be a byword and a curse word but they will be blessed and have the favor of The Lord. These children will become the leaders of tomorrow; they will be the future for Tanzania.  

The Lord says this will be a place where He will raise up young pastors for the nation, He will use this place to establish His Word and many, many will come to learn the Word of the Lord. He will establish a school here where His Word will be imparted and students can grow in Him and become shepherds to their people, they will lead His people and the people will follow. 

The Lord says this will be a place of excellence; this will be a model unto the world. The Lord wants to break the curse from the people of Tanzania and is doing so even right now. The Lord says this is a great work, a mighty work, this ministry is only possible through the strong arm of the Lord; it cannot be stopped. This vision is of the Lord and He will follow it through unto completion".