The Brouwer Family

Please pray for the Lake Victoria Baptist College this week as we embark upon a new term. Fellow missionary Greg Wagoner told me today that there are 52 students enrolled for this term with many new students included. It is a joy to participate in the college as future and current church leaders are trained for the ministry. It is also a tremendous blessing to see national pastors and leaders and hear of God's blessings upon their ministries. These students come from about ten different churches in the Mwanza area of Tanzania. I will again be teaching the basic Bible doctrines class, plus I will also be teaching an introductory class for new students on how to do college work. It is always so refreshing to teach new students who are eager to learn God's Word. Please pray for these dear Tanzanian Bible college students that God would change their lives by the power of His Word.

What a privilege it is to be involved in the greatest business in the world: God's Business!!! Thank you for your involvement in this ministry through your faithful prayers.

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Igekamaja!!! What is an Igekamaja???? It is the name of the village where we are planning to start a new church soon.

In the past few weeks we have visited Igekamaja several times to survey the area for the possibility of a new church plant. The leaders of the church at Fumagira are the ones who were first burdened to reach this neighboring village which is about 6 miles away from Fumagira. We discovered that there is no good Bible-believing church in this village which is about twice the size of Fumagira. There is one Catholic church in the village and one small Pentecostal church on the outskirts of town. As we continued to visit the people in this village, we were increasingly burdened to give them the Gospel of Christ, and plant a fundamental Baptist church there.

On our first visit to Igekamaja, we saw a piece of property that we thought would be a great place to start a new church. It is in a very visible section of the village. That day we just talked amongst ourselves about how great it would be to get that property, not knowing if it was even for sale. After meeting with the village chief several times to inform him of our intentions to start a church in his village, we inquired about the land that we desired to have. The chief introduced us to the owner of the land who was indeed interested in selling it to us for what we considered a fair price. On Thursday of this week, the leaders from Fumagira met with the owner of the land along with the leaders of the village to buy this piece of property. Of course, at the very time of the purchase, the owner tried to increase the price on us, but our men stood their ground. At the end of the day, we were able to purchase the very piece of property that we really wanted for the price that we had agreed upon. Please pray with as we now make plans to start this new church in the next few weeks. We are so excited about the prospects of reaching this village for Christ!!!

Services went well today in Fumagira. We had a bit of rain before the service started, so attendance was down a bit. No one was complaining about the rain, though, because it is sorely needed here. Thank you so much for standing with us in your prayers.

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Wednesday of last week, we had the opportunity to meet the chief of the village where we are considering starting a new church. He and his associates were very receptive to our plans. He asked us to return this coming Wednesday to discuss the possibility of us getting a plot of land on which to meet. Please pray with us that God would give us clear direction as to His will in these matters. Pray also that God would reveal to us which men from the church at Fumagira should assist in starting this new church plant. We have been well received by the people in this village, and we are excited about planting a Bible-believing Baptist church in this needy place.

Sunday services went well this week. Attendance was good, and the congregation at Fumagira seemed joyful, as always. Something kind of funny happened in between Sunday School and the morning service. After teaching in the Book of Revelation during Sunday School, as I was greeting the folks before the service, I overheard a vigorous discussion between several men in the church. One older gentleman had informed some of the other men that there were two "Johns" in the New Testament. One, of course, was John the Baptist, and the other was the writer of the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John. Those other men were adamant that there was only one John, John the Baptist, who was also an apostle and the writer of several New Testament books. As I walked by, I was asked to settle the dispute. These men were very surprised to find out that in fact there were two "Johns" in the New Testament. It again reminded me of the need to keep it simple with these very new believers in Christ. Things that we might just take for granted they simply do not know yet. It is also refreshing to work with people who are so hungry for Bible knowledge.

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were in the village of Fumagira all day today. God gave us great services, and the attendance was good. Since our evangelistic crusade about two months ago, we have been averaging over 200 in attendance on Sunday mornings at this church. I continue to teach through the Book of Revelation in adult Sunday School. A national named Petro preached in the Sunday morning service while Tammy and I taught the children in children's church. In the afternoon, I continued teaching some foundational Bible lessons from Genesis in the Bible Institute.

The survey trip on Thursday to a village that we are thinking about starting a new church went very well. We were able to spend about three hours there visiting many homes and talking to people on the streets. This village is about twice the size of Fumagira, so there are plenty of people. There is one Catholic church in the village and one small Pentecostal church on the outskirts of town. Therefore, there is a definite need for a Bible-believing Baptist church in this village. This village is about a one hour bike ride from Fumagira, so several of our men from Fumagira are excited about helping start this church. We tried to meet with the village chief to share with him our intentions, but he was out of town last week. He should be back this week, so we will make another attempt to see him. Please pray with us concerning this wonderful opportunity to plant a gospel-preaching church in this needy village.

On the home front, all is well with our family. God has been so good to us, and we sure are blessed to have the privilege to serve the Lord in East Africa. Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)