The Schultz Family in Tanzania Africa

After the morning service last week I was approached by one of the Maasai men in our church and was asked to perform his wedding. This came as a surprise for several reasons. First, he has been living with his soon to be wife for several years and just last month their second child was born. I just assumed they were married already. Secondly, and most significantly, I was surprised because I had never performed a wedding before either in English or Swahili.

Recently, I attended a Maasai wedding and found it quite interesting. Read the amazing story here and view a few video clips. I have to admit that I am a little apprehensive about taking on this huge responsibility. While in the car on the way home both Majaliwa and Anna said that I shouldn’t do the wedding. They said if I mess it up the couple would be stuck with my mistake for the rest of their lives. Oh boy, more pressure. Fortunately, I will have Greg Wagoner’s help and the wedding is not until December so I will have plenty of time to practice and pray.

On Thursday, Mose and I went to visit a man I led to the Lord at our revival meetings several months ago. Unfortunately, he had just left for town to do some business. We stayed for a good hour or more and talked with his wife while she prepared some chai for us to drink. I asked her if she had received Jesus as her Savior like her husband did and after a few minutes of me explaining what salvation is she affirmed that she was already saved. It is difficult to communicate with the Maasai people in our area because they mainly use their own tribal language and their Swahili is not very good. Add my mediocre Swahili to the mix and you have a difficult conversation. Fortunately, Mose (aka Moses) is fluent in both Swahili and Maasai and he made many clarifications for me.

In the Sunday school hour I ran into a small problem: no one came. However, since this is Africa and starting on time is arbitrary I just waited until a few more people showed up. We started Sunday school 50 minutes late and just continued until I was finished! Try that in your Sunday school class. Ha ha. My lesson covered the fact that mankind needs a Savior, God promised He would send the Savior thousands of years ago in the garden of Eden and God never forgets or changes His mind about His promises. By the middle of the lesson we had about 20 people in attendance. During the following service Greg reminded the people that there was a Sunday school class and challenged them to make it on time next week. We shall see.

Please pray:
My preparations for the wedding
My son, Daniel has been very sick
Cathy will be traveling on Wed to Nairobi