The Brouwer Family

Wednesday was a great day!!! Tammy and I taught Bible classes at the Jacaranda Christian School. Each week, Tammy teaches the younger children and I am teaching the older kids. It is always a great encouragement to teach these young people. They are so eager to learn and are so receptive to the Bible. Many of them have never been saved and have no real Bible knowledge at all. We are teaching a basic survey of the Bible, hitting the high points of the Old and New Testaments. We are trusting God to use His Word in their lives.

After teaching at the school, we headed directly to Fumagira for soul-winning visitation. We made an attempt to visit the lady who claimed to be demon-possessed (we mentioned this lady in a previous update). She was not home, but her older teenage daughter was there. We had an opportunity to talk to her at length about the Gospel, and she was very receptive to the Word. After presenting God's plan of salvation to her and after answering all of her questions, she said that she wanted to receive Christ as her Savior. Considering the environment that she lives in, it was a joy to see her turn to Christ.

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 6:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had the privilege of seeing four people get saved this week. Three precious souls turned to Christ on Wednesday afternoon soul-winning visitation. One was led to Christ by a young man that hasn't even been a Christian for a year himself. It is exciting to see this new believer on fire for God and wanting to see others come to Christ. Then, an elderly couple heard the good news of the gospel and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. We originally intended to visit a man in our church who had been ill, but the Lord led us to his next door neighbors, this elderly couple. The elderly woman had visited a Catholic church a few times years ago, and her husband had no church background at all. They listened intently to every word as we gave them the good news of salvation through Christ. Both of them immediately desired to receive Christ right then and there. I was choking back the tears of joy realizing how close they were to eternity, and now they were saved. I was also burdened with this reality. How many other people in these villages have never heard a clear presentation of the Gospel message?

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 5:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a privilege it is to be involved in the Lord's work! Our services today went well. I went to Fumagira for Sunday School to teach the adult class. We are teaching through the Book of John, and we are now in chapter 19. After Sunday School, we jumped in the car to rush over to Igoma for their morning worship service. I was asked to preach the morning service. I preached from Romans 12 on absolute surrender. We trust that the message was a challenge to believers to give their lives to the Lord. I heard later at the afternoon service at Fumagira that there was a lady who received Christ at their morning service there. We now have 13 new converts who are ready for baptism, but there is no water out in the village. We are making plans to transport these people to another church for baptism.

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our Wednesday afternoon service this week was held at a funeral service at a neighbor's house in the village. About a month ago I mentioned in an email update that an elderly lady who had been ill for quite some time had requested a visit from our church. During this visit she received Christ as her Savior. We received word on Tuesday that she had passed away. On Wednesday afternoon as we met at the church for soul-winning visitation before our prayer meeting, we decided to cancel the service at the church and minister to this grieving family. It was a tremendous opportunity to be a witness to this family and others in the village. There were probably between 200-300 people at this family's home. We gave everyone a gospel tract and booklet containing the books of John and Romans. Our church was asked to lead the service before the burial. Our choir sang several songs, and then our assistant pastor preached a great salvation message. What made the message so powerful was the testimony of the deceased, and how she had recently received Christ as her Savior. Please pray that God would work in the hearts of those who were lost at this funeral service.

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, God blessed our Sunday services in a wonderful way. Pastor Jon, a national pastor from Bariari, preached in both the morning and afternoon services, and he did a fantastic job. This man can really preach, and the people of Fumagira loved every minute of it. He is from the same tribe as the people of our church, so he really connects with the people. We had 167 in the morning service and 92 for the afternoon service. That is the highest attendance for an afternoon service that I can remember. Pray for this dear national pastor. He is doing a great job, and he has such a burden to start many more churches in Tanzania. He was in Mwanza this week for the Bible college, and we were privileged to have him preach for us.

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bible college was a great blessing this past week. There were over fifty students present for this week of intensive classes. Vernon Smith, a missionary from Arusha, Tanzania, taught a class on the charismatic movement and a class on biblical giving. Greg Wagoner taught a class on homiletics. Paige Wagoner and Mary Smith taught a class to the ladies on marriage and the home. I taught a class on basic Bible doctrines. This class is required for all new students, and I will teach this same class every term. It was a tremendous blessing to have a part in training national pastors, their wives, and other church leaders. With classes going on all day long and chapel services every night, there was a spirit of revival this week. God did a marvelous work in the hearts of many including myself.

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is the name of the series of classes I sat in during Bible College this week. What a blessing it was to watch 15 ladies soak in the biblical teaching of a wife's purpose. Mary Smith and Paige Wagoner taught these classes and both did a wonderful job! As I sat there I kept praying that the Lord would help me to learn the Swahili language so I too could teach the ladies. I'm progressing daily, but too slow for my taste!!

Friday evening were the last classes on A Wife's Purpose. What a joy it was to listen to one of the ladies thank Paige for teaching her. She said she wasn't yet married but now knew how to be a good wife. Another lady thanked Paige for teaching on the topic of praising your husband. She said she really needed that lesson and would put it into practice when she got home. The Bible truly is pertinent for our every day lives. Now we just need to pray that these ladies will be "doers of the word, and not hearers only."

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 6:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)