Today I spent some time with some of the guys from church. When I arrived at Mandara's house he told me that the neighbor had just gotten saved yesterday. The neighbor had some religious questions for Mandara and one thing led to another giving Mandara the opportunity to tell him that he needed to be saved. He opened a Bible tract and showed him how to be saved! Praise the LORD! This is exactly what missions is supposed to be; reaching others with the gospel, discipling them so they can go out and reach others too.

A very short clip of Wilson's funeral just to give you a glimpse.
First you will see Mandara using a sledge hammer and chisel to loosen the hard dirt in the grave. Then, a song during the funeral service. And finally, the men shoveling the dirt into the grave.
Notice how the people seem to be accustomed to death. They experience it in all its ugliness quite often.

On Sunday we had a lady visit our church with her child. She is Muslim but came to our church looking for some help. Apparently, she has been having troubles in her home. Paulo sat down with her and explained the gospel to her. She did not get saved but wants to hear more. I will hopefully see her on Wednesday. Please pray.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much the people loved having this music to sing with! It was a little difficult at first because the timing and tempo are a little different than how we normally sing the songs.
A few ladies were really excited when I let them listen to "Come Christians Join to Sing" played on an electric keyboard. They said that it would be perfect for a choir song. I agree.

Now I have to figure out how they can play the music for practice. They have no mp3 players or CD players... Any ideas?

Gonna try something new on Sunday. I have found some really great piano/organ music at this site: http://www.smallchurchmusic.com 
I'm going to see how well our people like singing with accompaniment. Maybe I'll just introduce one song and sing the rest a cappella like normal. Either way, I'm looking forward to it!

Find Free Music Backing Files for Churches - Piano, Band, Pipe Organ www.smallchurchmusic.com
Quality music for congregational singing, prepared by church musicians. Large range old traditional hymns and modern songs. Variety of musical styles. Public domain music free, copyright music requires 15 cents copyright fee. Includes words and scores for public domain hymns.

William and Queeni

Today I visited the home of William and Queeni. William was leaving as I arrived so I didn't have a chance to talk with him. Last Sunday he said that he wasn't saved yet but planned to think more about it. I was hoping to have time to speak to him today. Hopefully, I will see him tomorrow.

Queeni is William's new live-in girlfriend. I asked her if she had any spiritual needs. She said she did have some spiritual troubles but did not share the details with me. She looked very burdened. Please pray for this couple to be saved.

Richard wants to know more about salvation

Last week I visited Richard with the purpose of explaining the gospel to him. He is Mama Alexi's "husband". He recently sprained his ankle while trying to find Mama Alexi. He was drunken and intent on hurting her according to one witness. He told me last week that he wanted to begin attending our church. I welcomed him but explained to him that it would be necessary for him to forsake his Muslim faith and choose Christ only in order to be saved. You cannot hold on to Jesus with one hand and Islam with the other. He fully agreed. He told me that he wanted to get saved. After explaining it to him he was agreeable but wanted to talk more about it later. He attended church today and heard a very clear salvation message. Please pray for Richard to be saved this week. I hope to see him on Tuesday.

Richard

Pray for Grace

I had to snap this photo while Grace wasn't looking because the people are so shy about having their photos taken. She told me that she has attended a local church her whole life. I asked her when did she become a Christian. She said when she was baptized. I said, "No that was when you became a Lutheran." (her denomination) She then said she didn't know what Salvation was. I used the gospel booklet she is holding to explain to her what Salvation is. She did not get saved but a good Gospel seed was planted. Please pray for Grace. Religious people are some of the slowest to get saved.

Grace holding a John & Romans booklet

Baptism Video

Here is a link to short video of a typical baptism in our church.
The video is posted on Facebook but I think anyone who clicks on the link can view the video even if you don't have a Facebook account.

Video here: Baptism Jan 1, 2012

Celebrating Our New Life in Christ on New Year’s Day

The Tanzanians always look forward to New Year’s Day with excitement. I think they look forward to it more than Christmas. Every year I hear testimonies of how thankful people are to have lived another year, to currently have good health or to have seen so many provisions from God. The last few months of 2011 we had a handful of people saved but we delayed our Baptism service until Jan 1st. The main reason for doing so was because we were in the process of getting hooked up to the village’s water supply. In times past we would carry 5-­‐gal buckets of water about 1/2 mile to Mill our baptistry. We typically need about 300 gallons of water to Mill the baptistry sufMiciently. Needless to say, it is a lot of work.
I also thought that being baptized on New Years day would be very appropriate. I teach our new believers that Baptism doesn’t forgive sin or add any righteousness to a believer. It is simply a step of obedience to our Lord and a public testimony of what has taken place in their lives. This testimony shows others that they have been saved. It shows that they are committing their lives to live as Christ would have them to live. It shows that they have a new life in Christ. What a wonderful picture. Please pray for these new Christians. Baptism is but the Mirst step in this new life with Christ. There will be many trials and temptations along the way.

Please Pray For these newly saved and Baptized folks:

• Patina and his wife Mama Mawili 
• Israel 
• Mama Alexi 
• Bibi Washa 
• Babu Betweli

Download a printable copy of this prayer letter here: http://d.pr/kZf2

Patina

Mama Alexi

Bibi Washa

Mama Mawili is a little nervous!

Mama Mawili thrashing about.

Helping make ends meet

Today I went to visit some of our church folks. One man asked me for 2 bags of cement and 2 pieces of wire mesh so he could build some cement cooker stoves to sell. He has been without work for so long that they are struggling. Its too hard for me to say no to people who are trying really hard to make ends meet in any way possible.

After seeing him I met Mama Alexi. Her kids were not in school today because their dead beat dad has not been home in a few months and does not send any money home to care for the kids. I asked what she was lacking. Only 3 backpacks, pencils and notebooks and $12 for partial tuition. Wouldn't you have helped her? I did. Now I see why we are falling short financially every month.

Israel Saved

Praise the Lord for a man named Israel who was saved on Sunday!

Cool Clear Water!

After many months we finally have water on our property! Thank you to everyone who sent in extra money to make it happen. This year has been a lean year and we would not have been able to complete the project without the extra /inancial help we received. We have received more blessings than just water from this project. One man was saved the day we began the work. Later that day two men reconciled their friendship by forgiving each other for some various trespasses. Many in the church have labored in prayer to ask God for help in completing the project. Truly it has been a big blessing in many ways. I am reminded about an incident 2 weeks ago with the water manager. He initially told me that everything looked good on our application form and gave us his approval to continue with the project. I asked him when we could get started. He said, "Well, the problem is that there are no water meters left. We can't start the work until the meters arrive." I asked him when they would arrive. Would it be in time for Christmas? Our church really wanted to do a baptism before Christmas. He replied, "Oh well, since it is for the church you can have the meter on Monday." That was said on Thursday. Apparently, the meters were in stock and he thought it not wise to ask the church for a bribe in order to receive the meter. Most things work like this here. When I arrived on Wednesday morning I was told by the guy who does the scheduling for the water line installations, "All the workers were busy today. Come back tomorrow." I explained that the manager approved the work to be done because it is for our church and that we wanted to be able to do a special baptism service very soon. He reassured me that they would in fact arrive tomorrow. And they did! I believe this was a direct result of prayer. We now have 5 people who are planning to be baptized on Jan 1, 2012.
Amen! What a way to begin the New Year. I will do my best to send photos.

Please Pray

• For our baptism service. 
• The new year to bring a renewed urgency in me and our church people to see folks saved.
• For a short seminar about "having a godly family" the second week of January. 
• A woman in our church is always upset about something. Pray for her bitterness.

For a printable copy of this prayer letter click here.

Merry Christmas!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family this year. Our Christmas service went really well. We had a full house in church Sunday morning. One man named Israel visited us for the first time. He was an invited guest of Patina who was saved just a few months ago.

We were blessed to have Cathy's Mom and Dad with us here in Tanzania. The holidays are always difficult when you are so far away from home. This year was much more tolerable thanks to them. Thank you to all who sent in extra money specifically for Christmas. It was a HUGE blessing!

2 Sermons at one time

We had a really great service today. I tried something new during the preaching. I preached in Swahili and then translated the message in English for Mom and Dad in-law and my kids who don't have any Swahili yet. I was exhausted but I had a lot of fun preaching 2 sermons at the same time.