Kisukuma Chorus
We work with the Kisukuma tribe of people in the village of Fumagira. Like most other tribes here in Tanzania, the Kisukuma people are very superstitious and steeped in traditional witchcraft. Non-Christians visit the local witchdoctor regularly to receive protection from evil spirits and healing from physical ailments.
During our worship services on Sunday, the congregation likes to sing a chorus in their native tongue. They sing this chorus virtually every Sunday. I like the tune, but honestly I had no idea what the words meant. We are still trying to learn Swahili, let alone the tribal language of Kisukuma. Our assistant pastor is not from this tribe, so he himself is trying to learn some Kisukuma. He wrote out the words to this chorus on a 3x5 card, and he sings along with them. This morning on the way to church, we asked him for the words to this chorus so we also could sing along. We also asked him the meaning of the words. The basic meaning of the chorus is this: "I used to visit the witchdoctor, I used to bring him my chickens (they are used by the witchdoctors in their rituals), but now when I am sick, I go to Jesus, my Lord." Hallelujah!!! When they sang this chorus this morning, my heart was thrilled to know what they were singing about. May God continue to bring them out of darkness into His marvelous light.
God gave us good services today, however, attendance was down a bit due to the frigid weather conditions. It was probably about 75 degrees this morning with a breeze (Brrrrrrr). I thought it felt quite comfortable, however for these dear Tanzanians, it was downright chilly. No one was saved during our services today, but we did have two precious souls receive Christ during our Wednesday soul-winning visitation.
Please pray for the Lake Victoria Baptist College this week as a new term of Bible college assembles for these one-week intensives. Pray that God would speak to the hearts of these dear leaders as they train for the work of the ministry.
Also, please pray for us as we travel to Kenya at the end of this week. Our children will be attending a camp for missionary kids, while Tammy and I relax a bit in Nairobi. We will also have an opportunity to do some teaching and preaching while in Kenya. I will write the next update when we return from Kenya in about two weeks.