Dear Co-Laborers,
Jimmy continued teaching the Gospel of John in the Men's Bible class and preached the second half of the sermon on Galatians 5 and 6 to a fully packed auditorium. Trina was scheduled to teach the Children's class ("The Ten Commandments") with about 20 in attendance (all ages) while Paulina taught the Ladies' class.
Yesterday, the "once-a-month" Child-Training class (scheduled for two hours) lasted four hours. The women really enjoyed it, asked questions, expressed their thankfulness to be learning so much and were amazed at the numerous verses in Proverbs concerning child-rearing. It is Trina’s intention for this class to last through the month of December and to have a "graduation" ceremony and dinner for the ladies.
On Monday, Trina went to study with Joyce (Janet's sister) without a translator because, in Janet's view, Joyce knew English well. Sadly, this was not the case. Trina would speak slowly and simply to Joyce and she would look at Janet who would then try to "translate" the English to her!
Since there are so many non-Christians (about 8 people, including Joyce) who need Bible studies, we scheduled a group Bible study at the church building on Saturday after the Child-Training class. Sadly, and surprisingly, none of the people invited showed up. So, perhaps they are just uncomfortable coming to the church building at this point. When we have an available translator, we will schedule individual studies. Also, Trina is going to ask some of the ladies who took the Personal Evangelism class (taught by Hannah Box) to conduct some of the studies.
There are so many here who want to study or who would gladly study the Bible if asked. We know this is rarely the case in America, but don't lose heart! The good news is that Stan Crowley, one of our recent visitors, has some EXCELLENT DVD's available for people (both the Christian and non-Christian) who feel threatened by a one-on-one Bible study. The DVD's are all wonderful tools to teach the truth to your non-Christian friends, family members, church visitors, etc. They are all audio but have the Scriptures and pertinent information typed out (and are "user-friendly"...the simple truth told in love and kindness). A person can listen to them at their convenience and review. Your work would be in the follow-up asking if they understood or wanted more study. It won't cost you a thing because Mr. Crowley will send them free of charge to anyone! You can do as we did and send him a list of addresses. His email is sjctexas@juno.com. One person to whom we sent the DVD's was baptized!
Our new Christian sister, Helen, has been too weak to attend services. Her cancer is in stage 2B. The news she received from the doctors (3) in Dar es Salaam is that she would not survive an operation or radiation. All three have advised an herbal treatment, although we were told by American doctors here that there is no known herbal cure for cancer and that the treatment may only help her feel better. Please continue to remember Helen in your prayers.
The Kisongo congregation has organized and planned their own campaign beginning July 19-24. Their plan is to knock on doors and set up Bible studies in the morning and have preaching in the evening. Trina’s translator and her were asked to help conduct a children's Bible class on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening as the week comes to a close.
Our sincere gratitude is extended towards those who sent some extra funds! The power outages are now seemingly constant (lasting 12-14 hours) with the electricity off more than it is on! In order to run our washing machine, refrigerator, water pump, and have fans at night (to keep mosquitoes off) and have internet we must spend between $30 to $50 per day buying petrol (gas) for the generator. Plus our water filter expired and we've had to buy drinking water the past few months. Thankfully our visitors brought us a new one! Again, we are extremely grateful for your financial support, care, concern and prayers. Thank you for coming through in our time of need.
In Christ,
The Gee's