Out of Africa

Thank you all so much for your prayer support for me and the team of short-term missionaries to Tanzania, East Africa.  I am happy to report that your prayers were heard and answered.  God did some amazing things while we were there.  As a matter of fact, I cannot remember a short-term trip where we had more opportunities to share our faith in Jesus Christ than this one.  We met with many men as a result of the Maasai Olympic games we held to draw them in.  We were able to meet with the women, many of whom were already Christians, and our team did a great job teaching and discipling them.  And while we had not planned to be in the schools at all this trip, God opened the doors to three different schools where we were able to present the stories of our faith.   We stayed busy every day and saw many come to know the Lord through this effort.

Baptism in the River

I have several favorite memories of this trip to share with you.  First of all, on the first Sunday there, I had the opportunity to preach in the morning service at the little one-room school house where the believers had been meeting.  After the service, we headed straight down to the river behind the school where we baptized twelve new believers.  That evening, a group of us headed down into the little village of Engaresero where we started a service on the street by singing some Maasai songs.  Within minutes there was a large crowd of people gathered around and I had yet another opportunity to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I guess I will remember that Sunday for a long time to come.

Then there were the worship experiences that we enjoyed together as a team.  Every night in camp, we would circle our chairs underneath the star-filled African sky and open our hearts in worship to the one true God.  Through singing, testimonies, prayers and just sitting quietly, we experienced some of the most precious and authentic worship one could possibly imagine. It seemed to me that God was using these times to re-energize us and give us the lift we needed to continue serving through these hot and difficult conditions.

Finally, I will always remember the time I had to spend with some thirty Maasai pastors during my final three days.  God had opened the door for me to lead a Pastor’s Conference in the neighboring city of Longido, Tanzania.  For three days, I was able to teach and encourage pastors who had had very little support since their missionary had moved from the area some six years ago.  Dan and Pam Johnson are now the only SBC missionaries working with the Maasai people and the scope of the work is just too great for them to do all the work that is necessary.  These pastors have been serving faithfully over the past years but with little hands-on training or support.  I was overjoyed to have the opportunity to be used of God to remind them that God has not forsaken them and that He sees them in their great effort to advance the kingdom in this difficult climate.  The three days of effort and sacrifice that I put into this conference were all worth it when on the last day a young Maasai pastor stood to thank me for coming to them.  With tears he opened his Maasai Bible and read a passage of scripture.  My interpreter simply gave me the reference and I quickly looked it up in my Bible and as I read, my eyes filled with tears and my heart swelled with joy.

            “Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.”  Prov. 25:25