This Won't Be In The Report, Will It?

"Let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..." Heb. 12:1                     

Dear Co-Laborers: 

We hope you are having a great Sunday! Jimmy left early this morning to preach and teach at the Moshi congregation. Afterwards he will be traveling to Dar es Salaam (along with Elly and Neema Martin) to pick up the British visas and the U.S. tourist visas at the Embassy. Jimmy won't return until Thursday evening (yes, it takes that long to drive, attend the interview and receive the visas and return home). Trina taught the ladies class (Genesis 42) and Candace taught the children's class at the Kisongo congregation.    

Saturday, we attended the funeral of David's grandmother, a very friendly and sweet person. Close female friends or relatives of the deceased wear white to the service. An interesting belief is that the body of the deceased must first go back to their house (to say "good-bye" to their home) before being transported if service is elsewhere. 

"This won't be in the report, will it?" asked Elijah after he said something really funny (that I've forgotten now). Saturday, the girls invited friends over for a "farewell" party to say good-bye. Next Sunday, April 28th, we will leave immediately after services to go into Arusha, eat a quick bite, then get on a large bus (coaster) which will travel to Nairobi, Kenya. Later that night we will board the plane. You will not receive another update until the end of May (during furlough we will report monthly on our travels, etc).

We thank God for each and every one who has contributed and/or prayed for us concerning our furlough! We simply cannot thank you enough for your sacrificial giving. However, we are still waiting for some funds to arrive. 

We're looking forward to seeing you real soon! Thank you for the outpouring of love and concern. 

With Love from Africa, 
Jimmy, Trina, Lindsey, Abigail, Heather, Candace, Stuart, David, Naomi, Elijah and Matthew

Maturing The Lord's Church In Tanzania...

Greetings Fellow Servants, 

It is our hope and prayer that this report finds you all doing well, blessed and busy serving faithfully.  We are good, busy and thankful for the life we have been blessed with, in Christ Jesus. God continues to bless his work here in Tanzania in amazing ways.

After fifteen years of labor with the Tanzania 2000 mission effort, we have been blessed with seeing much good. The maturing of the Lord’s Church is beginning to show its self in many ways. The talent we are blessed to work with is encouraging and promising as to the bright future of the growth of the Kingdoms work.

One such talent is seen in the life and work of our brother Charles Haberth. Charles is married to Amy and they have been blessed with three small children. Charles is a graduate of the Andrew Connally School of Preaching, both the undergraduate and graduate programs. He also serves as the evangelist for the newly planted Kwa Mrombo congregation here in the Arusha area. 

Charles has a work ethic to be admired by anyone. He also serves as one of our instructors at the school. One of his other primary roles is, translation work. He has and is currently working on several projects. The last large project he has completed (with the assistance of several others) was the evangelistic book by John Moore, “Searching for Truth”. With the help of World Video Bible Institute, this work book in Ki-Swahili is now being used. We have sent copies to Nairobi, Kenya, Ushirombo, Tanga, Tanzania and have also began using them in the Arusha area. 

We have great hopes for the good this book, translated into the local vernacular, will save many lost souls. We also hope to use this tool in a big way during our Safari for Souls campaigns coming up in May, June and July. We are expecting just over 60 co-workers this year and have a goal of distributing 1,000 SFT books. Along with thousands of other Bible tracts, Bible correspondence courses, Bibles, and hundreds of one-on-one Bible studies. 

The work being done is possible because of good men like Charles. We thank him, his family and the many others who give of their life that the cause of Christ might go forth here in East Africa.

We solicit your prayers for the upcoming campaigns and for the use of this new tool, SFT. May our God be glorified and may the preaching and teaching of God’s word have its desired affect on the lost of this community. 

Please remember the Gee family as they are in the final days of preparing for their furlough. They will leave Tanzania a week for today. Also, please remember Anita, currently in the States helping Sean’s parents as they get settled. She is to return to TZ the first of May. 

We thank each of you for your prayers, support and care for God’s work here in Tanzania. May you have a blessed week in your service to others, to His glory.  

In Him, 
Cy, Stephanie & Granny

A Special Note Of Thanks...

Greetings from the Land of Eternal Spring (aka Guatemala)!

I pray that this message finds you all doing well. We are doing fine here.

First, please accept my apology for being so late in sending this message. So much has been happening and so much continues to happen that I decided to stop and to write on our behalf before more time passes by. Lord willing, we will be sending out a few updates within the next few days. After you receive them, you will better understand what I mean when I say a lot has been happening. So, be on the lookout for some Guatemala updates coming very soon.

However, this is just a short note to say THANKS to so many of you that responded in various ways upon the passing of our sister Linda Kay. The numerous amounts of emails received were a great encouragement during this time. Also, all the cards that came from around the world gave us and our family assurance that many were praying for us. The flowers, both from individuals and from congregations, were very beautiful and represented the beauty we share as friends and as brothers and sisters in Christ. Your presence at the church was also a comfort and inspiration to us. In addition, there were funds sent our overseeing congregation in memory of Linda. These funds are being used to purchase books for the ITL library. A note will be placed inside of each purchase letting the readers know of the generous donations. 

It's difficult to express in words how all that you did helped us through such a difficult time. 

Thank you so much for every gesture of kindness during our time of loss. May our God in heaven repay each of you for the way you have and continue to support us.

We love you and thank God each day for you. Take care and be blessed in Him!

Con amor en Cristo,
Hawatthia

"Teaching the CENTRAL MESSAGE in CENTRAL AMERICA!"

Reports From Students Of USOE Show Growth...

Dear brethren,

Thanks be to our heavenly Father who is always blessing us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. The short course is ending this week and brothers Donnie and Jimmy will be leaving on the 18th of April 2010. This being our end of the year holidays, all our students will be allowed to visit their families. We have six students from Congo who are on my neck that they want to see their families. Each one of them needs $200 for their bus fare to go and come back. The total is $1,200. We promised all our students from Congo and Kenya  transport to and fro once a year.

We have 6 students from Kenya who will need $150. The total money we need to help us transport these students home and come back will be $1,350 dollars. 

Land Issue
On the land issue I have all the necessary forms for the transfer of land ownership. The local chairman has endorsed his stamp and signature. I am waiting for the District and later take it to the lawyer to sign as a witness of the transaction. The funds you sent to help in this work, I received it and it is very much helping me to move around. May our good God bless you for your contribution in this. Very soon the land title will be in our school names. 

Ladies Coming To School
So far we have received ten sisters willing to come to study God's word. As I said we are going to keep them here for two weeks. We need your prayers for this program's success.

Reports from two students are below.

Francis Wechesa

NAMUNGODI CHURCH OF CHRIST

CHURCH REPORT

EMMANUEL MAWA

The Namungodi congregation currently has a membership of 21 people including adults and children.

• The adults 15
• Children  6
• Male adults  8
• Female adults 7

Baptisms
At the beginning of the year the Lord added four souls to this Church, largely due to our evangelization and invitation of nonChristians to come and worship with us.

Monthly Contribution
The monthly contribution keeps fluctuating weekly and, therefore, monthly. On average per week, it is 5000/= meaning that monthly it is 20000/=.

Dropouts and Restorations
Unfortunately, we have had three dropouts of whom we had restored last year and have dropped out again. There has been some effort to reach them, but so far to no avail. Keep praying for them to come back to the Lord.

No restorations therefore.

Challenges
Just like any congregation in the world, Namungodi Church of Christ has a lot of challenges.

1. We lack a proper place of worship, like land and a Church building. With regard to the land we are currently using, the owner of the land, brother Asa, does not tell us the truth about the land. He says he gave the land to the Church; another time he wants money for the land without giving a specific amount.

We had a plan for roofing the small structure on the land which would be adequate as a Church building, but now, without knowing ownership of the land, there is no way we can start looking for funds to aid in the purchase of the iron sheets.

1. Evangelism is another problem. The Christians say that at the moment they do not know what to say or how to present the message. Others say it is not their obligation among others. As the preacher I am trying to teach them how to go about it and, hopefully, in the near future they will learn the basics and do the work of the Lord. 
2. The giving on the Lord’s day is not sufficient to do all, or most, of the church activities, like benevolence among others. 
3. The distance from the meeting place is also a challenge. This reason was given by one of the dropouts because they do not have enough money to come for worship or bible class on Sunday and Friday respectively.

Future Plans

1. To solve the problem of worship house, the plan is to build a worship house of about 15 X 30.
2. Continue praying with members on personal evangelism. 
3. To set up a “bread basket” where members contribute food or money twice a year according to the harvest seasons. We have also set up a group where members contribute 4000 monthly as a savings to be used by individual Christians in times of need. A Christian can put in more than the standard 4000, so far so good. 

NAHAYAKA  CHURCH OF CHRIST

CHURCH REPORT

Wandera Peter and John  Ndiang’u

This is Nahayaka church Christ report since I started worshiping from there. We were two preachers there, but eventually he left me alone there having been sent to another congregation.

As we were two preachers there we found four people, and as my fellow preacher left me there we were altogether 7 people. The number grew from 7 to 8 people excluding children, when children are there we are 11. Therefore, the number of men were 3 people, the number of women was 4, and the number of children was 4.

Number of Dropouts and Restorations: 
Since I started worshiping from there, in June  2012, there has been 7 dropouts and no restorations.

Monthly Contribution
The monthly contribution varies from month to month depending on the weekly contribution which is an average of 6,000/=. Therefore the monthly contribution is used up by Mzee Nalyali.

Baptisms per year:
Right from 2012 up-to-date there has been no baptism carried out since that period.

Challenges:
Just like any other congregation in the world, the church of Christ in Nahayaka faces various challenges that include the following:

1. There is lack of Church building: The church is congregating at Mzee Nalyali’s house which is hindering other people to come in to continue with the service, thus hinders church growth.
2. There is lack of enough evangelist: This problem is hindering church growth because of one preacher who is not able to carry out all the church activities, yet the few members available after leaving on the Lord’s day go until the coming week and, therefore, is leading the church to fall down.
3. Distance covered: This problem is hindering church growth because during holidays it is becoming difficult to travel from home to go there to carry out evangelism and hence leading to church to fall down.
4. The giving on the Lord’s day is insufficient: This problem is hindering church because the amount contributed cannot work for all church activities, and beside that, whatever is contributed ends up being used by Mzee Nalyali to complete his problem.

Future Plans
The future plan made to solve the above out coming is that, first of all, there is need to put up a church building outside Mzee Nalyali’s family because this will encourage other people to come especially those who fear to come in Mzee’s house.

Dedication Of Events Hall To Come...

Beloved in Christ Jesus,

Greetings from staff and students of the Southwest School of Evangelism (SWSE), Ibadan -Nigeria.

The students of SWSE-Ibadan led by brother Abraham Idu Yeje and brother Olofingorite Mayowa evangelized Akinwande and Alagbede villages from 8:00 am - 2:30 pm today, April 20, while I and brother Kayode Eniafe, brother Dele Shotola and brother Joseph Adeniji evangelized Egbeda town of Egbeda L.G.A. of Oyo state. We also discussed with the three WBS of brother Ken Heflin of the West Olive congregation and their family the possibility of starting the Lord's church at Egbeda town by May 2013.

Brethren, work commenced on Friday the 19th of April on the flooring and fixing of frames and doors at the SWSE Events Hall in preparation of May 31 when we shall dedicate the hall to our beloved Patron & Special Adviser - brother Douglas M. Wheeler in appreciation of his great and wonderful contribution toward the growth of the Lord's church in Nigeria since 1984.

Also, the 4th Semester classes begin on Monday, April 15th at SWSE-Ibadan, Nigeria. The students will be going for their teaching practice June 8 through July 7, 2013, Lord's willing.

We appreciate you all for your wonderful support, both financially and morally! May the Lord of blessing continue to bless all our joint efforts in Christ name, amen.

I remain your fellow-laborer in Christ Jesus,

Makinde Ebenezer Olufemi(Director of studies)
Southwest School of Evangelism (SWSE), Ibadan-Nigeria