Greetings from a very hot and dry Tanzania. You all are heading into fall, and we are continuing with the heat. This season has been hotter and drier than usual. Many of our folks have asked, “So is this what American weather is like now?” We try to describe the fall season, but it hard to explain just how beautiful it really is. We pray that you all are doing well. The Lord continues to be good to us here.
These past months we have really been busy growing the new folks who have joined our church. As we said in our previous letter, many are very new to Christianity, and it takes time to “ground them in truth” and change the way they think and handle situations. But we are extremely grateful for their teachable spirits. It makes discipleship a lot easier with a teachable and changing heart. We started a three-week class on soul winning. Many have never heard of doing that before, or they weren’t exactly sure how to start. It was fun seeing excitement and eagerness to speak with folks. The last week we had role playing. We paired them up and had our assistant pastor give them many scenarios of what they could face, such as Catholic, Muslim, Jehovah’s Witness, Pentecostal, etc. The next week we went out, and the Lord allowed us to see 8 souls trust Christ.
Services have been great. On Sundays we average 125, and on Wednesdays we average 50. During are Bible study time on Sundays, I have been doing a series of the Pentateuch. We just finished Numbers and are going into Deuteronomy. On Wednesdays we have been going through the different parables. I’m very thankful for the people here at Grace Baptist Church.
For fun we had a family day and played soccer, our men against our teens. I believe we mentioned this in our last letter. We had 114 people, and it was such a sweet time of fellowship. The teens won 7-2!
We had the opportunity to go visit out in Mvumi. It’s basically a farming area. Out there, mostly the Sukuma people are the ones cultivating the farms. The situation out there is so sad. There is no school, no church, no hospital, no electricity, and no water apart from the mountain river. Another one of our assistant pastors came out with us and was able to witness to a few of them in the Sukuma language, because even Swahili was hard for them. One boy named Paul was 13 years old, but he didn’t know this. He said, “You will have to ask my mom; I’m not sure.” The mom knew only the year he was born. Neither Paul nor his mom had ever been to school. We thank God for the opportunity He gave us that day to give them the truth. The Gospel is powerful no matter what language it is given in.
We thank you for your sacrificial giving, and we covet your prayers. Please pray for our upcoming election on Sunday, the 25th of October. Pray for peace. Pray that this new president will continue in religious freedom throughout the country. Also pray for our Teen Camp coming in January. We are praying for many teens to come and be saved or continue to grow in the Lord. There are many details that we are starting now to make sure that camp will run smoothly.
Thank you for taking the time to read what God is doing here. Please know that you all are invited anytime. We love you.
Mshama, Marsha, and Esther Kinyonga