July, August and September Update

"How great are his signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation." (Dan. 4:3)

Greetings to all of you in our wonderful Savior's name. It has been a while since we wrote a proper update; the end of June, to be specific.

After the evangelistic conference in Songambele, my father, some church elders and I took a 5 day trip down south. I was dropped off with one other elder at the village of Katumba where we have a church. We team taught a 2 day seminar and then fellowshipped with the believers on Sunday. Meanwhile my Dad and the other elders went further south to visit 4 new churches for the first time. All in all the trip went well, the fellowship was uplifting and God's Word was taught.

The following week, in the middle of July, the Gungu town church hosted 3 days of meetings for the local elders of the Kigoma region. Besides discussing ministry and administrative items the Scriptures were taught 2 of the evenings.

The following week there was yet another evangelistic conference, 6.5 hours north-east of Kigoma, in the village of Kasanda. This time I was able to go with my family and we picked up 2 elders along the way. The seminar times in the morning were poorly organized and very late in starting, yet well attended. The afternoons consisted of open air preaching and in the evenings we showed the "King of Glory" film in Swahili.

Getting ready to show "King of Glory" in Kasanda.

5 believers baptized in the river at Kasanda.

By this time we were ready for a break and the last week of July we got to go to a missionary retreat on Lake Kivu in Rwanda. It was a wonderful time of being taught in the mornings (with the kids attending their own program) and the afternoons full of family activities and/or relaxing by the water. On the way back to Kigoma we stopped by to visit Danny & Anne Johnson (Luke's younger brother's family) in Gisuru, Burundi.

"Camping" in Rwanda for a week.

Kid having fun in the water

As soon as we got back the discipleship course started its 2nd term. Then toward the end of August we got a brief visit from Brook Ford (former missionary in Kigoma). It was great to see her again, and she spent much of it, traveling, teaching and ministering to the ladies. While that was going on we snuck in another visit to Burundi, this time to see Jesse and Joy Johnson (Luke's older brother's family) who had just returned from the US.

We got back just in time for me to begin teaching on Salvation at the Disciples of Jesus school, and also once a week at the mid-week Bible study at the Gungu town church.

Luke teaching at Disciples of Jesus School.

I just got back from another evangelistic conference in the village of Munzeze. The seminar was well received and prompted some good questions. The gospel preaching was met with no visible response, although the Word was faithfully sown, and will not return void. There seems to be a spiritual blindness over that village; even the evangelical churches are very stagnant, with little or no growth. Please pray for that village, that Satan's strongholds would be broken down and the veil lifted from people's eyes.

Harry Johnson teaching the morning seminar at Munzeze.

Gina has begun a new school year of homeschooling, and now Aaron has begun kindergarten. Please pray for Gina as she tries to find time to focus on each of the 3 school children. It is not an easy task, I assure you, especially with a little 3 year old (Michael) who feels left out.

Lately I have been challenged about the need to unite in prayer for the churches of the Kigoma region. Pray that they would grow and multiply with vitality and boldness, like the churches in the book of Acts. Please join with us in prayer for the outpouring of God's life-giving Spirit. God may be wanting us to take a bold step in a new direction, but we want to make sure we are following His lead, and not our own agenda. Prayer is the key that will open this new door. Please pray with us.

Thank you for your partnership with us in the gospel.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you,

Luke, Gina, Esther, Emily, Aaron and Michael

Odd post

Why some photos just won't make it on a newsletter:

They are blurry.

Now, I like this photo of the kids. It shows the excitement in the car that morning as we headed off to Burundi, and then onto Rwanda for a week of family fun. We had gotten up early and had packed the car, the girls remembered to bring their "kanga" (cloth) in case they got cold. Well, sure enough, as we climbed the hills it got chilly. Here they are huddled in the back seat, trying to stay warm just as we got back on the road after the first of many potty breaks. It was a full two weeks before we were back home, but we sure enjoyed traveling and seeing so many places and visiting with so many people.

They show every day travel but, maybe just a little too much.

On the second day of travel, just as we were leaving Bujumbura we came across this overturned taxi. It's common to see accidents while we travel and it's usually because the drivers are speeding. The roads aren't meant for cruising at high speeds and it's a good reminder to the other drivers to stay alert and not be foolish.
And speaking of accidents, you can clearly see the reflection of some underwear drying on the dashboard of the car. I think we'll blame the 3-year old, it looks about his size. Again, just a common occurrence when we travel!

They are too hard to explain.

I don't understand electronic stuff. But the sight of so many wires, with hardly any proper connections, and so much dirt covering it all, it's a wonder it works at all!

They are just awful.

In the 9 years we have lived here, I have failed at taking a good photo of the food. I think it'd be nice to show the amazing hospitality that is showered on us, especially in feeding us so well, but I can never get a good shot. I think it's partly the chaos that surrounds the meal time, the kids are so happy to get fed and we're all excited to dig in, the spoons are falling on the dirt floor, the littlest one is touching the dirty bench when he's just had his hands washed, the girls are arguing over which soda they should share, and we're trying to remind them all that in this culture kids are seen and not heard, especially at meal times. Oh well! So this is an example of an amazing spread by our local hosts, a goat was slaughtered that morning (Esther has pictures of that!) so we all enjoyed roasted goat, goat innards in a sauce (which we eagerly shared with another table), rice, beans and cooking bananas in tomato sauce. And of course the soda.

I don't know what to caption them

A dry pod with cool looking seeds....

This photo was taken in Kasanda, on our last day there. These seeds are Emily's current favorite. And they were growing on this vine, inside these pods right by the hedge where the ladies were cooking. They are really bright red as they dry, and a lighter pink when they are fresh. The church kids saw how excited Emily was that they all chipped in to help her collect as many as she could before we got in the car to drive back to Kigoma. So now they sit in an old spice container, waiting for Emily to get inspired and make a bracelet out of them, or perhaps a bulky ring.

They are not from the right angle.

I was sitting at the back of the church, listening to Luke teach on the Holy Spirit during the morning seminar at Kasanda. I purposely sit at the back so I can keep an eye on the kids that are playing outside. And as I'm looking out the church door from my bench I can see Aaron and Michael with some other kids hanging on the guava branches. They are swinging so hard I'm afraid they'll break it (later Luke assured me that guava limbs are very flexible), but they are having such a great time too. Later on they were up the tree and jumping off, making all the old ladies gasp. Best nursery care yet!

Wondering if they are appropriate.

This is in Kigoma, just outside the market, at dusk. The vendors come out to the road and it instantly turns into a street market for the many heading home who need to buy dinner on their way. We are one of the many buying dinner that evening. I like how the women are just going about their business and have the fish displayed on their trays or basins. I don't know them personally and I feel a little bad for taking their photo without them knowing. But now you know a little bit about our town and its evening market, we have lots of fish!

They make us look like weird parents.

It was the Sunday after Easter, and we were met with a down pour as we were finishing up the service at the church in Mwakizega. We waited for the rain to subside a bit while they served us a delicious meal of ugali and beans. An elder's adobe home in the next village over had just fallen the night before. So we drove the 20 minutes to his village, parked the car off the main road and then walked. This photos shows the road and the mud and the drippy rain as we walked some 10 minutes to the elder's home. Well, we didn't have any umbrellas with us, and thought that a rag on Michael's head would do the trick of keeping him a bit dry.

So that is why you won't see these photos in our newsletters. I'm sure I can find some more reasons and some more funny photos and give you a glimpse into our adventurous life here in East Africa.