November Update

Dear praying friends and family,

In our last newsletter we mentioned the visit of Phil and Mary Parsons.
Here is a photo we will share of their visit to a village kindergarten. 

Parsons at Lugunga

It was a blessing and an encouragement to have them visit us.

We praise God for a safe trip to the city of Mwanza. On that Sunday we were able to visit the small assembly that is renting a building. Unfortunately they will need to look for a new place soon. Luke spoke on the excellency of Christ from Colossians 1.

Assembly in Mwanza

Tanzania held nationwide presidential elections, and we praise God for a peaceful week while the votes were being counted. In fact, the new president has already been sworn in. The country is passing new laws regarding the status of foreigners with a permanent address here, so that affects us. Pray that our work visa from April will be issued soon, as we and many others wait. We are thankful to have Emily's new passport, as well as Michael's 5 year passport (instead of the 1 year emergency one).Luke taught three weeks of "Bible Study Methods" to the Discipleship course students and now they are finishing up the term learning about the doctrines of man and sin. We are thankful for the 7 students who faithfully attend. The property we purchased for further development of this Discipleship program is still being held up at the land office due to injustice and corruption. Please pray that the name change could be completed on the title deed. God is still able to move in the hearts of men.Our family is transitioning as we look forward to moving house, just next door! The new house will be bigger, and the girls will have their room separate from the boys for the first time.

Esther (8 y/o) and Michael (9months old).

We have been getting a lot of rain, almost every day now, for the past 3 weeks. Last Friday there were high winds and a very heavy rain. 2 church buildings (of other denominations) and many houses were knocked down. Pray for the people who are trying to rebuild, as many of them are poor.Thank you for your prayers for us. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessings in Christ,
Luke & Gina Johnson
with Esther, Emily, Aaron and Michael

Baby Luka

Luke has a baby named after him! But it's not ours... unless you count Aaron, whose middle name is Luke.
But this is a first name, the baby is Luka Abeli. He lives in the village of Nkungwe with his mom Bernadette, his dad Abeli and his big brother Shadrach. We enjoyed meeting him for the first time. At the time of his birth, we tried to visit him and his mother at the local hospital, but we were not able to see him or his mother. We are thankful he is doing well.

Esther and Luka

Bernadette, Luka and Emily

The neighbor kids also enjoyed seeing the visitors...

Just outside the door.

Trick o' treating with the cousins

We had a big group of kids for trick or treating this year. And they were all related! The cousins from Burundi arrived that day. So we piled them in the car and we headed to the missionaries' homes to get some candy. It took awhile to do the rounds, so it's a good thing this only comes around once a year!

Cucpcakes at Mrs. Sue's

Aaron dressed up as Lowell Wertz from Joy in the Harvest.

The whole crew.