Greg Wagoner & Family

Romans 11 was our focus today as we looked at God's Grace in Israel's remnant and the grafting in of the Gentile nations. The 15 adults in the service received the message with apparent joy and understanding. Romans 11:6 is especially enlightening for anyone who makes a claim that salvation comes through the means of work or combination of grace and good works. It must be one or the other (by grace or by works), it can't be both.
Paige had a great group of 20+ kids in this her second week of conducting children's church. The children were all excited about getting suckers for answering questions pertaining to last week' lesson.
After the service we made our way, as a collective body, to Moses and Helena's place. They are the proud new parents of Lilian. We fellowshipped around rice and roasted goat. Mm... Mm... good! You can see some great pictures of the event on BJ's post.

Posted by Greg at 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well Glory! This week was much more encouraging than was last Sunday. Even though we were not necessarily a great number of people there were 3 first time visitors in church today. Also, we were able to take a large step forward in the work by getting a children's church started.

It was a blessing to see some new faces make their way into the assembly. I preached from Romans chapter 10 on "Jesus Christ - The Champion over the Law". Praise God, it is good to know that we are not condemned by the tablets of stone, but redeemed by the blood of Christ. I felt a good amount of freedom to preach this morning. Hmmm... Could that have had anything to do with all of the children being in their own meeting?

Cathy Schultz has been doing some lessons for children during the Sunday School time for a few weeks now. Today we built on that as Paige led a 10 and under service during the preaching. I believe this will be a great help to the church AND be a great way to communicate the message of salvation on their level. So many kids do not think they can be saved at an early age. Pray that these little ones will come to Christ! Also... Pray that our container would arrive soon so that we can set up one of the tents for a children's church shadowing shelter.
The sun was pretty intense today.

Another blessing... Brother Moses announced that his wife Helena gave birth to a baby girl on the Tuesday. Her name is Lilian.

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I made my way to Nyayo House in downtown Nairobi very early this morning and was sitting at Trupista's door when she entered for her work day. Trupista is the one who gives authorization for the local one year multiple entry visas and endorses the passports. She placed the visa in my passport but we will have to get Paige and the kids' endorsed the next time they come into Kenya because Trupista can't authorize a visa for someone outside of the country. That was kind of a bummer, but we will be way ahead in the process when we next journey to Kenya; since the authorization for Paige and the kids' visas has been pre-approved.
Once this was done, I hastily made preparations for an afternoon return on the shuttle to Moshi. (I had intended to travel tomorrow morning.) We pulled out of Nairobi at 1:45p and I snuck up on Paige, Abigail, and Susanna when I got to the house at 9:30p. It was a surprise entry, but Christine saw me when I came through the door. Thankfully, she didn't scream - "Daddy!" as I gave her the "Shhh." sign to which she complied. It is soooo good to be home.

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After church on Sunday I made my way to Nairobi. While here I will be working on getting one year multiple entry Visas for our family. We usually make 4 or more trips across the border in a year, so the multiple entry Visa works out as a savings for us. Instead of paying $50 for each family member for every border crossing we pay $110 for the full year and can pass from Tanzania to Kenya as often as needed.
Since the turn-around process is a minimum of four days I have "holed-up" in a Baptist Guest House for missionaries called the Hampton House and am working on a class for LVBC in October. The class is Vipawa vya Kiroho, or... Spiritual Gifts.

Posted by Greg at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our attendance was a bit down today in Kingereka. Since we are only 30 on a full day, it was a tad bit discouraging. Nonetheless, the Lord blessed the services as Bro. BJ conducted Sunday School and I preached from Romans chapter 9 on "God's Glory Revealed in His Purpose."
Someone you can remember in prayer in our church is Eliana, or - Mama Mzungu. Before she came to Christ her business was selling banana beer. But, when she got saved she quit that work. Amen. However, she has been having a difficult time making some frazzled ends meet. Her testimony touched my heart because I have a very similar pre-conversion background. Brother BJ and I thought it a good thing to help her get started with a market business of selling corn. She is working to sell the two bags of corn we bought her and use the profit to carry on with life. As part of the deal she is doing the custodial duties at the church for a period of time. Please pray that she will be faithful and that the Lord would bless her, her children, and her business. Thanks!

Posted by Greg at 8:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DA CAKE!! A cute butterfly.

Time to blow out the candles!

Duh, What could this be?

Oooo, lotion, nice!

Yippie, I can read more books.

Posted by Greg at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On a couple of different occassions we had been smelling a strong electrical burn, but never could figure out the cause. There appeared to be no particular appliance or electronic inside the house that was smoking or anything. Alas, the power went out and, God gets the credit for this timing... an electrician was here wiring a water pump for me. He discovered the problem, and we were able to get a new fuse for this festering conundrum.

So, do you think we would pass an inspection? lol.

This gives a whole new meaning to - "Holy Smokes!"

Posted by Greg at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A missionaries life is one of peregrination.

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Bro. BJ's Sunday School lesson dealt with the Tabernacle construction when the children of Israel were on their way to the Promised Land. During the worship service I told the people that Romans 8 was the Holy of Holies for a New Testament believer. After a rocky road in Romans 7 we get a big lift in chapter 8 as we receive the knowledge that the Holy Spirit does for us what we cannot do. Hallelujah! I stressed the doctrine of eternal security and the fact that a believer does not have to live a defeated life of guilt and condemnation. By grace through faith we have been forgiven and freed to live a victorious life in Christ!
At the conclusion of the service I allowed for questions, as the ideas of salvation by grace and eternal security are foreign concepts to the natural man and majority of "churches". There was good discussion and opportunity to further develop the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and our positions as Bible believers.

Posted by Greg at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a fairly profitable day in Dar (got about 75% of what I wanted to do, done), it was back on the road to Moshi. Today, I kept my speed in check ;-)
I made it back to Moshi in time to have lunch with the fam before driving to Arusha, with Susanna and Christine, to buy dog food. There is a supermarket that gets some cheap dry food periodically. Last night my contact at the store told me they just got a shipment in and to get there quickly, as many people were waiting on the new stock.
The girls and I bought all we had cash for, loaded it in the van, and made it back home before nightfall.

Posted by Greg at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While in Dar I am staying with Jessie and Shalimar Tingson. They are a Philipino couple who has been sent to Tanzania by their church in the Philippines. Bro. Jessie is doing a great job. He has started a church and an orphanage. Please pray for this dear couple and their daughters, Malaika and Imani.

Posted by Greg at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was out early this morning to make my way to Dar Es Salaam. Though Dodoma is the political capital, Dar Es Salaam is the business capital and the place where we deal with mission and immigration affairs. I have to tend to some paperwork for BIMT thus, the trip south. The seven hour drive wasn't too bad though I did have to pay 1 speeding ticket. dobt@!
A secondary, but more important, reason for the trip was to deliver 50 boxes (16,500 copies) of the Romans booklet for use in some Independent Baptist Churches in this HUGE CITY (approx. 4 million people during the day). When I got to Dar, I parked along a busy thoroughfare and distributed 8 boxes (2,600+) in one hour! w00t!

Posted by Greg at 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We finished up Romans 7 this morning by looking at the struggle that often faces us when we try to "match up" to the law with our own personal merit. Romans 7:14-25 can be a tongue twister when read quickly, but the real life persona is something all believers understand as we seek to live godly in this present evil world.
Thankfully, we have a Deliverer who has overcome the world. AMEN! For this reason we can be of good cheer.

Posted by Greg at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)