The Brouwer Family

We are enjoying the wonderful blessings of God here in Tanzania. The rains have finally come full-force. People are telling us that this is the best November rains that they have had in about ten years. This is the beginning of planting season here in Tanzania, and these rains are critical for a good harvest. It is raining just about every day now. The rains have also cooled things down a bit. It is only in the 80's these days instead of the 90's. It feels very comfortable to us although the Tanzanians say that they are freezing cold!!!

God was so good to bless our services today out in the village of Fumagira. Attendance was down a bit because of the rain. Some of our people don't like to get out in the rain for fear of illness while others are tempted to do some farming work on Sunday. People are people around the world, so we deal with the same problems as you do in the States in trying to encourage Christians to be faithful in church.

Please pray for the church in Igoma as we begin another phase of construction on their new church auditorium. Several months ago we had the resources to put on the roof, and now we have the resources to put up the walls and put in the flooring. The blessing of completing this phase will be that the dear people of this church will be able to meet in this new building. We hope to start tomorrow (Monday) and finish by the end of December. Again, we thank the dear folks at Fellowship Baptist Church in Greeneville, Tennessee, for helping with the building materials. The members of the church at Igoma will donate their time and labor to do the work. It is a blessing to see believers around the world cooperate to accomplish a work for God.

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What a blessed time we had at the Lake Victoria Baptist College here in Mwanza this week!!! I deeply appreciate the invitation by fellow missionary Greg Wagoner to participate in the Bible college. We had 53 students from eleven churches in and around the Mwanza region. What a thrill it was to hear from these students and the churches that they represent. God is doing something marvelous in this part of Tanzania, and we feel so privileged to have a small part in what is happening. There seems to be a real desire on the part of many of these national preachers to start new churches. Please continue to pray that God would burden the hearts of these dear men of God to follow through on their desire to plant churches.
By the grace of God, I was able to teach two classes this term of Bible college. It was a bit of a stretch from the previous terms in which I taught just one class. Teaching two classes would normally be no big deal, however, we are talking about teaching these classes in Swahili, not English. Now, what normally would be no big deal became a monumental task. By the end of week, my poor old worn-out brain was mush. Thank you so much for your continued prayers for us to become more fluent in the language. Some days I feel like we not making any progress, but in reality I know that we are improving ever so slowly.
Today was a great day in the village of Fumagira. Pastor John from Bariadi was in for Bible college, so he preached for us in the morning and afternoon services. Our people love him, and he did a tremendous job, as always. Matter of fact, this village church had a brief business meeting after the morning service. They invited Pastor John back to preach for our Christmas service, and they took up a love offering on the spot to pay for his transportation for this special service.
What a joy it is to serve the King of Kings!!!!

Posted by Bill & Tammy Brouwer at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)