Greetings Fellow Workers;
What a week we have had in the Lord. Our hopes and our prayers are that you are well and that the Lord continues to bless you through His beloved Son, our Savior. For the eight days preceding this weekend, Elly Martin, Gene Davis, Cotton Box and myself, were on an evangelist journey to Ushirombo. To say the Lord blessed our efforts would be the understatement of the week.
We began our 1,200 mile round trip journey early Friday a week ago. On our way we stopped by and met our recent graduate, Eliya Danyali. He and many of the members met us to greet us and show us the land, the burnt bricks, and foundation stones they had collected to build a meeting house. What a joy it is to see the Lord’s Church grow. We asked Eliya if he lived near the building site and he replied; “no, I walk over that small mountain for an hour and a half to worship and conduct Bible classes. What a warrior!
We then made our way to Singida for the night, arriving at Ushirombo late Saturday afternoon. We were greeted by Yusuph and other brothers from the congregation. We worshipped the next day with a packed house (150 plus) of the Lords family, a great day! We began one-on-one Bible studies the next day, all day for the next four days. Yusuph and his family are doing a marvelous work, a shining example of the “fruit of the Andrew Connally School of Preaching.” A couple of stories stand out:
“Big John” is a retired equivalent of our CIA agency here in Tanzania. After Cotton and Gene completed their study, John said he wanted to obey the Gospel and wanted to be baptized the next morning. Unfortunately he was admitted to the hospital with Typhoid fever and was unable. Later in the day a man came to the building and told Yusuph that “John” had told him that he had received some “beloved teaching” and that he needed to find the church meeting house and study God’s Word. After studying with him, he said he wanted to be baptized into Christ, but he wanted his wife to be present. He left and later that night he called Yusuph and said; “my heart will not allow me to wait.” He came to the building and put Christ on in baptism.
Our new brother on his way home met a friend and told him the “Good News” and the next morning his friend found us and we studied with him as well. Friendship evangelism at its best!
On that Sunday we met a brother by the name of Simon. He, and a friend of his, road their bikes close to 40 miles one way to worship and for Simon’s friend, Solomon, to study the Bible. The study took place and Simon and our new brother Solomon rode their bikes back home (40 more miles) rejoicing as new brothers in Christ.
In total God added 5 new souls to the Kingdom during our four days of work. We thank God, we thank Yusuph and all who make this work a reality. God is good, He never disappoints.
To God be the glory, great things He continues to do.
In Him,
Cy, Stephanie & Granny