Soul-winning, visitation and Bible distribution

The past 4 weeks have been very busy for us here in Tanzania. We began an emphasis on out reach via soul-winning and visitation in preparation for our revival services (March 13-17) in the village of Kingereka. Each Saturday we have been going house to house presenting the gospel and handing out John & Romans booklets. On Wednesdays we would spend some time handing out John & Romans booklets at the bus stand and market before beginning our mid-week discipleship services. In the past 4 weeks we have been able to hand out approximately 3,000 scriptures.

We did have a little help when we were handing out scriptures at the bus stand one day. At each bus stand there are many young men who sell various snacks and drinks to passengers on the bus. As a bus pulls into the station these young men grab their cardboard boxes full of nuts, drinks, candy and cookies and jockey to get the best position outside the bus at each passenger’s window. If a passenger wants to buy something they simply hand the money out the window and the item is handed up to the passenger. Well, I was doing the same thing with these Bibles except that I was giving them away for free. A few people were afraid to take them because they thought I was trying to sell them. When they finally understood that the Bibles were free gifts nearly everyone on the bus wanted one- including the guys who were selling the concessions to the passengers. After a few busses came and went a few of these young men asked me for a hand full of the Bibles so that they could help me pass them out. I was a little leery at first thinking that the may try to sell them instead of giving them away so I kept a good eye on them. They were true to their intentions and honestly wanted to help hand out Bibles. We spent just 1 hour at the bus stand but were able to hand out more than 1200 Bibles to those people who were traveling all across the country! We definitely plan to do that again in the very near future. Our soul-winning and Bible distribution did not lead to anyone being saved as far as we know but we are assured by Isaiah that the Word of God will not return void.

During our revival services the preacher gave a lesson on how to give the gospel to others. It was a ‘hand slap to the forehead’ moment for me. I have been making a point in many of my messages about sharing the gospel with friends and neighbors but I hadn’t taken the time to teach them how to do that. I just assumed they knew how. I will begin teaching more about soul-winning as soon as possible.

I was really encouraged to see 3 visitors attend the revival service as a result of a newly saved man in our church. In fact, one of his visitors also brought a visitor! It is great to see a new believer excited about his new life in Christ. It reminds me of Andrew who immediately went to find his brother Peter (John 1) to bring him to Christ.

Please pray for us:
Pray for our soul-winning efforts and Bible distribution.
Pray for our Wednesday discipleship lessons.
Pray for our safety as we make a quick trip to Kenya for dentist visits (Mar 27-30). It’s a 7-hour road trip each way. Caitlyn will also have her 12-month vaccinations while we are there.
Pray for our new church plant in Moshi. We have a good core group of about 40 people attending but are asking God to use us to see people saved.