March/April Update
As I think of the address list of all the people to which this letter is sent, I am amazed at how quickly God is raising up a network of people to support me in this Tanzanian adventure Whether you are a new pastor and church family that I haven’t met yet, or a family friend that knew my parents before I did, ... you are an answer to my prayers! No missionary does his work alone, and the stronger the support network, the stronger the missionary’s work
God is answering your prayers! I am currently at 12% and my schedule is filling up. PTL! Thank you to churches in Colorado, Utah, and Kansas for your warm welcome and generous love offerings these last few months. All extra money is going into an already growing fund for my future move to Tanzania.
Easter 2007 brought a dear college friend, Kristine McLaughlin (missionary nurse to the Ivory Coast), to my home. Praise the Lord for sweet times of fellowship, sight-seeing, and celebrating the Resurrection together. We also had an amazing opportunity to lead a lady to the Lord on door-to-door together. PTL!
The next few months my schedule takes me to six more churches here in CO, then candidate school in TN, and four churches and a junior camp in OH. Please continue to pray for traveling mercies (especially on the long drive to TN, May 31-June 1), a full schedule of meetings, and that the Lord would use me to minister to others as He wills.
Tanzanian update: The Independent Baptist Church of Igekamaja had their first service, Easter Sunday. Over 70 people were saved in the previous week’s evangelistic meetings and that first service. PTL! God is moving in East Africa! What is so exciting to me about this new church is that the Tanzanian believers, from nearby Fumagira, initiated and planted this church, with only some encouragement and help from missionaries, Bill and Tammy Brouwer. Soon we’ll work ourselves out of a job and have to move to a new town (hopefully not before I get there !) Pray for these new believers to grow in their walk with the Lord and to forsake their old ways.
Swahili update: My bag of vocabulary cards is getting heavier and my brain is getting more befuddled as I try to keep up with the new lessons and not forget the old. Driving through Kansas is a great time to review vocab I’ve discovered. I-70 is so straight, you hardly have to touch the wheel Here’s a few more Swahili words for your intellectual enrichment: buibui: spider, kuku: chicken, and asubuhi: morning.