Lisa Newland

"But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the Word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." Mt 13:23

Tammy Brouwer and I got the privilege of leading Baba Ngoro and his wife to the Lord 5 months ago. Yesterday I was invited over for lunch after church. Read Baba Ngoro's testimony and see if you agree with me that he fits in the soil #4 category of Jesus' parable of the Sower and the Seed...

Ngoro Family

Baba Ngoro and his wife have 6 children. They are from different tribes (Sukuma and Jita) and different religious backgrounds (Islamic and Catholic). Looking at some of their pictures, they also use to be rather well-off financially, but Baba Ngoro hasn't had a good job for awhile. Not being originally from Igoma they have no plot of land to farm and land is very expensive to purchase. (I think these financial struggles helped prepare their heart to receive the gospel!)

After getting saved the whole family has been faithfully coming to church and are becoming good friends with Pastor Gervas and his family. Baba Ngoro came to the last Bible college session in April and plans on attending again in December. The first thing he wanted to share when I sat down in their living room yesterday was his gratefulness that Tammy and I and Pastor Gervas' wife, Anna, came to their house to share the gospel in Feb. "If you all hadn't come..."

Who led the service that night back at church but Baba Ngoro! He shared from I Cor 13:1-2 that love is very important. Great faith, tongues like angels, great works without love is nothing. He shared his desire to see the church grow and encouraged the members that we need to grow in our love for those around us.

And I sat there overwhelmed and humbled. What if I hadn't come? What if so many of you all wouldn't have chosen to support me and send me here? I believe Baba Ngoro would still have gotten saved. God doesn't need me here to accomplish His work. But oh the JOY of getting to be used by God!

Posted by Lisa Newland at 5:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday, I taught 20-25 children in children's church in Igoma. We've been teaching in the book of Daniel. I taught from chap 4-5 on the pride and fall of two kings, Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazar. I drew little stick figures on the chalk board. Stick figures are rather a new concept around here, so the kids loved it. :-) The Lord continues to answer prayer about my Swahili too. It's starting to flow more. Thank you Lord!

What?... full-time missionary and all you do is teach one lesson a week?

Indulge me a bit, that you may understand the work that goes into that "one lesson a week."

Last's week's journal of lesson preparation...
Wed: prepared lesson in English: prayed, developed lesson from the Bible story and wrote an outline. (1-2 hrs) Rewrote lesson in Swahili using Swahili Bible and English/Swahili dictionary. (1-2 hrs)
Thurs: read first attempt to Mariamu (language helper/ministry assistant), made corrections. (1/2 hr)
Thurs and Fri: practiced teaching the lesson to Mariamu 4 times, slowly getting the Swahili into my head and out the mouth intelligibly (3-4 hrs)
Sat: rewrote the lesson in outline form to review and have simple notes for Sunday (1/2 hr)

Posted by Lisa Newland at 3:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After 2 months of teaching children in Igekamaja, Mariamu and I have headed on to another village, Igoma. We're leaving the Igekamaja children in the hands of two Bible college students, Ngamba and Eliza, until we return in September.

Our Igoma church has been around for a long time (7-9 yrs maybe?), and has had it's share of trials. They used to have children's church for the children. We'll be teaching the whole month of June, and am hoping that will be the encouragement they need to keep going.

We had around 20 children. Mariamu taught from Daniel 1-2, and I led the singing, review game and memory verse.

It went well but neither of us were feeling our best... Mariamu was getting over a cold, and I was beginning one. I'm doing lots of resting today and tomorrow. Want to be up to full-speed for next Sunday! :-)

Posted by Lisa Newland at 6:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We continue to head out to Igekamaja each Wednesday to pass out Romans booklets and witness to people. Two parents of children that have been coming on Sundays have gotten saved! Praise the Lord for Mama Raheli and Mama Perusi. Please pray that these ladies would start coming to church on Sundays and grow in their new faith, and pray that we would be able to reach more parents through their children!! :-)

Two months ago there was no weekly visitation in Igekamaja. But, because the Bible college students are asked to keep record of how many people they witness to, they wanted to start something. Wilson and Ngamba asked if Mariamu and I would join them. We've been going for about a month now. Last Wednesday there were 12-15 church members at the church waiting for us! Justa and Sophie (from our church in town) have been coming too. So far, no one from the Igekamaja church has gotten up the courage to say much when we visit. Mariamu and Justa do most of the witnessing, and I add thoughts or verses if I understand where the conversation is going. Most of the conversation is in Kisukuma. I think I'm mostly just the "bus-driver." :-)

Heading out on visitation.

Posted by Lisa Newland at 5:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A couple Saturdays ago, one of our national pastors, Pele, did an all-day seminar on the family out in Fumagira. I went for the Swahili practice.

That weekend happened to be a national holiday. One of their customs is to have a traveling torch or "mwenge," which symbolizes peace and freedom. It traveled out to Fumagira for a dedication ceremony of a new clinic. A caravan of 8 or 10 SUV's came carrying soldiers and torch officials and other government people. It began with some drums and dancing to gather a crowd, torch carried in (being the only mzungu I got to touch it as it went by) and set in a little prepared spot, few words from a few officials about peace and freedom and about the new clinic, then a cloud of dust and they were gone.

The torch in Fumagira


Crowds that came to see the torch.

Posted by Lisa Newland at 5:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

They grow 'em big here! One of our guard dogs, Jeffy, killed two bush rats in one night last week. Ugh... I hope I never meet one of these alive!

Simon (our yard worker) and the bush rat

Posted by Lisa Newland at 5:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Sunday, after teaching in Igekamja for the last time until September, Mariamu and I stayed in the the village and had lunch with Ngamba and Deborah, a young couple from the church.

After everyone was offered water to rinse our hands, we shared a massive tray of rice (complete with our spoon!) along with ugali and chicken and sauce. It's humbling to know that they slaughtered the chicken just for us. The Sukuma people have a saying that if they invite you to their home, chicken will be on the menu.

Deborah, me, and Mariamu

After the meal Ngamba taught me how to play mancala (this game is all over Africa and everyone has their own version of the rules.) I beat him! :-)

Pascal, Ngamba, and Samueli demonstrating mancala (still wearing their choir outfits from church that morning)

I'm training Mariamu to be my assistant, which means training her to take pictures. She almost got us straight. :-)

Ngamba's Family

Ngamba's mother is not a believer yet... so she didn't really get why I'm here in Tanzania. She was sure she could convince me to marry her second son, John. It was a bit hard to answer her graciously... Finally Mariamu stepped in, made some light joke in Kisukuma, then nudged me to start walking. Praise the Lord for African friends! :-)

Posted by Lisa Newland at 4:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)