Travel in TZ

 Our trip to Mwanza took 14 and a half hours, not 13 like we had thought! Driving with little ones makes for lots of stops. Especially if one of them gets sick on the last leg of the journey. It's good to be prepared with plenty of water for washing on the side of the road.

Kids keep each other entertained for a lot of the journey. 

Luke was really missing some cruise control by about midday, but no such luck.

We are thankful for an uneventful journey (apart from the incident by the side of the road that had to be washed off a particular kid), the old car ran well and the traffic police let us off with a warning for going 54 kph in a 50 zone. (whew!)

Peter's graduation.

We were happy to attend Peter's graduation in the city of Dar Es Salaam. His wife was also there from Kigoma and beaming with pride for her husband. He finished an intense one-year course on missions and he would like to reach the Wataturu tribe with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please be in prayer for him as he takes this big step of faith with his family.

December Update

Praise the Lord! We had a nice time at the beach on Saturday, celebrating Esther’s 11th birthday (even though it was a bit rainy).  

Esther's 11th Birthday

Praise the Lord! The graduation for the Disciples of Jesus school went well today (Wednesday). The 7 graduates (the 8th one was not present) were challenged by the Word to go into God’s harvest fields and serve the Master faithfully and with all their heart. Please continue to pray for them in the days ahead.

Graduates.

Tomorrow morning we get up at 4 AM to begin our 13 hour drive to Mwanza, then we catch a flight to Dar Es Salaam to attend Peter’s graduation from the Missions school (Saturday) and then Sunday we fly to Bolivia. We will be there for 6 weeks for Christmas, the new year and Christopher Mattix’s wedding on January 6, 2018. Please pray for our many travels these next few days.

Thank you and have a joyful Christmas celebrating the birth of our kinsman Redeemer.

Blessings,

Luke and Gina Johnson

Rainy season

It's wonderful to be back in warm Kigoma. The kids have enjoyed playing outside every single day, except when we get a downpour and they have to take cover from the rain. We are in the beginning of rainy season and we are so thankful for the good rains in this region. Everyone is busy planting their corn and beans. Even in our yard, the guards have sectioned off a large portion of the property and were busy planting last month. Now with the new shoots coming up, our ducks get herded to a fenced-in area so they don't eat the new plant shoots. Later they need to guard the flowers that come up from the bean plants, and then the ducks will be free to roam once more. The kids are excited for the 3 new nests that the mama ducks have laid, two have 13 eggs each and the other has 5.

Emily in action.

Emily and Aaron catching "kumbikumbi".

Our first week here, we had a nice hard rain. The very next day, the termite mounds were full of activity as the big termites came out of the ground and took flight. The ducks eagerly grabbed at the clumsy termites, the birds swooped down and snatched them up, the lizards were quick to get the ones on the ground and our kids were not to be left out.  They ran into the house to get their empty containers, returned to the busiest dirt mound they could find and grabbed them by the handfuls. About an hour later, when the excitement wore off and the termites were retreating to their underground homes, the kids sat on the steps and de-winged their stash of "kumbikumbi", (flying termites) to get them ready for the frying pan. That evening the kids enjoyed a batch of freshly fried kumbikumbi.

Enjoying their snack after their hard work of collecting them.

Two weeks later we had a couple more hard rains and the kumbikumbi were out in abundance once more. In fact, this time they came for 3 days straight, more than I'd ever seen. The kids filled a 4-liter container! Well, that probed to be a bit much so they gave a lot of them away to the grateful guards.

Enough about bugs...

Kigoma is right on Lake Tanganyika and the port is a busy place. From our house we can hear the horns of the big boats as they arrive from Zambia and DR Congo and also the whistle blowing from the trains as they arrive from the western coast of Tanzania.

Kigoma port.

For Thanksgiving some 30 people came over to our place and we all enjoyed a feast and we thanked God for his provisions and blessings in our lives. We are also thankful for this community of missionaries that we meet with regularly for fellowship, encouragement and teaching.

Thanksgiving.

Kids' table.

Living by the lake, it provides for a great get-a-away as a family. Our kids enjoy the water and all the fun that it brings. Even Aaron, has lately been enjoying looking for small fish with his little net.

Esther and her friend jumping from the rocks.

I have been enjoying the beautiful colors that come with the rainy season. Everything is fresh and green and bursting with new life.

Colors in our yard.

November Update

Hello dear praying friends,

One more week until graduation. We have been going full speed ahead ever since we arrived back in Kigoma about 4 and a half weeks ago. Luke has been teaching at the discipleship course since our arrival and has 2 more classes before the final exam. Gina has been working hard with the girls to get as much homeschool done as possible before our extended Christmas break. Esther will be turning 11 years old on Dec. 8 and we plan to have a birthday party at the beach on Saturday (Remember, it’s not cold here).

Lord willing, on Wed. Dec. 13, 2017 eight students will be graduating from the Disciples of Jesus school here in Kigoma town. We will celebrate and praise the Lord with them at the graduation ceremony. The following day we drive 13+ hours to the big city of Mwanza to catch our flight to Dar on Friday. Then, on Saturday, we will attend the graduation of our good friend Peter Yamungu from the Missions School where he has been studying for the past 8 months. His desire is for he and his family to be a missionaries to the mostly unreached tribe of the Wataturu. On Sunday we fly to Bolivia for Christmas, new year, and Christopher Mattix’s wedding in January. We will begin our travels back to Tanzania at the end of January.

Fourteen of the youth from the town church are taking a short missions trip to Burundi. Please pray for unity and love among the group, effectiveness in their ministry, and safety in their travels.

Please pray for us:

- In all the busyness that we would make time each day to draw near to God through His Word and prayer

- For strength to finish strong

- For the graduates that they would serve the Lord with all their hearts

- For the youth group trip to Burundi

- For safety and patience in our travels

In this season may we remember to bless our gracious God for sending His indescribable gift to us, through Whom we enjoy eternal life and ALL blessings!

Merry Christmas to you and your families,

Luke, Gina, Esther, Emily, Aaron and Michael Johnson