New Year Update

Dear praying friends, 

Another month has gone by since we last wrote, and a new year has begun with fresh opportunities for serving the Master.

Disciples of Jesus School

On January 10 we began a new school year with 7 new students (2 men, 3 young men, and 2 young ladies). We may get 2 more students next week, if all goes well. Please pray for a deep spiritual hunger and for steadfast commitment for each student. Pray for us as teachers as we seek to nurture them spiritually.

Homeschool and Online School

We were happy to have Esther home from boarding school for the month of December for her Christmas break. Well, she is still at home, studying online after many staff at her school in Kenya had gotten sick with Covid. The plan is for her to return on Jan 29. Gina continues to homeschool the 3 middle children. That comes with many challenges, so you can pray for all of us for patience and wisdom from God with homeschool and online schooling.

William was sick with malaria on Christmas.

We enjoyed a Christmas dinner on Boxing Day!

Pretending to be tourists in our own town.
Visiting Dr. Livingstone museum.

Back to school: Emily doing a science experiment.

Esther doing online school with RVA.

Direction for the future

As we look forward in this new year we would ask for your prayers for us. That God's Spirit would guide us and fill us with love, wisdom, and the knowledge of His will. We need His direction and empowering for our family, for the discipleship school, the new school property, evangelism and outreach, and with the many struggling churches in the region.

Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer for the Lord's work here in Western Tanzania. May the Master use you as well to accomplish His good purposes.

In Christ, Luke Jonson (for the family)

End of Year Update

Dear praying friends, 

The Disciples of Jesus School celebrated the graduation of its 9 students on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021.

Please pray that they would serve the Master with the new knowledge they have and remain faithful to Him.

Graduates 2021

We have continued to visit village churches as we are able. Luke traveled with 5 others to visit the believers at Kanoge for 4 days. There was a seminar, a wedding, a Sunday service, the recognition of 2 new elders, as well as good conversation and fellowship.

Continue to pray for the many village churches to be salt and light in their communities.

Wedding in Kanoge.

Luke has begun studying the book "True Discipleship" by William MacDonald with 5 young men from the town assembly. We have met 9 times and the discussions have been good so far. Pray for Isa, Michael, Baraka, Daudi and Amini to dedicate their lives fully to their Savior and serve Him mightily.

As a family we have made 2 visits to two different families, both who recently lost loved ones and also recently had new births in their families. It was a joy to spend time with them and seek to encourage and bless them in a small way.

Work at the Discipleship school property continues slowly. We planted a bougainvillea hedge around the fence, and have to replant where the clippings did not sprout. We are in the process of getting the power company to bring electricity to the property as well.

Pray for God's provision and direction to move forward in His time.

Finished fence and gates.

A week ago Gina and I were able to fly to Dar Es Salaam to meet up with Esther, who was returning from boarding school in Kenya for her Christmas vacation. While there we visited the US Embassy to renew Luke and Esther's passports before flying home. We are now enjoying our time with Esther during her 1 month holiday!

Family fun at the beach.

Family time at the beach.

Celebrating Esther's 15th birthday.

There are many different Christmas celebrations at the church in the coming weeks.

Pray for God's Word to bear fruit as some family members who normally don't attend church may be coming for these special events.

We thank you for your continued prayers for the Lord's work here in the Kigoma region. Most of all we thank God for his indescribable gift, as we remember His coming to earth and wrapping Himself in a human body in order to redeem us from the curse. 

Merry Christmas!

May you rejoice in Him always,

Luke and Gina Johnson

Esther, Emily, Aaron, Michael and William too.

Prayer card

Here's a recent family photo and the required prayer card/missionary card we had ready for the summer furlough that never happened. So, here it is instead, for you to print and then put on your fridge. =)

Thanks for your prayers!

Blessings in Christ,

Luke and Gina Johnson

He's here!

	We are happy to announce the birth of our son: William Kyle Johnson Born in Kigoma, Tanzania  on May 20th at 3:45 am weighing 3.16 kg. We praise God that the siblings are all adjusting well, little William is healthy  and mama is resting and recovering.  Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.  Blessings in Christ, Luke and Gina Johnson

Bringing William home.

Dec. and Jan. Update

Dear praying friends and family, we thank our Lord for each one of you who remembers us in prayer. Your prayers are needed as we fight for our King. We are weak and need His strength.

There was a 3 day Christmas conference at the Gungu town church. We invited believers from the neighboring village of Nkungwe. Over the New Year we were able to spend some time with Jesse and Danny's families (Luke's brothers) who came down from Burundi for a few days. Some of us even got the first time experience of scuba diving in the lake.

At the beginning of January we met with Harry and Ruth Johnson and John and Jenniffer Kinlaw for a missionary planning meeting for the year. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to revive the churches in this region, bringing repentance and an urgency to proclaim the gospel to the unsaved. Pray that the church leaders would humble themselves and be servant leaders who are worthy of imitation.

On January 14 we started the 3rd term of the Disciples of Jesus school. We continue with 5 faithful students and Harry Johnson is currently teaching on the End Times. We hope to make 3 ministry trips to the villages. Our 4th year graduation is planned for the end of April and Lord willing we will have 8 graduates. Please pray that they lay their lives on the altar and for God to use them. We were able to purchase a piece of land for expanding the discipleship school. Please pray that we will be able to get the title deed from the land office and not be cheated by them like last time.

Luke is coming to the end of his marathon teaching series on the Holy Spirit (begun in Sept. 2018) at the local town church of Gungu. We are encouraged at the good attendance on Wednesday afternoons. Please pray that each one would yield to the Holy Spirit, discover their spiritual gift and begin to use it for the building up of the body of Christ.

Our son Michael recently turned 4 years old. The older three, Esther, Emily and Aaron work hard at their schooling which is all done at home. We are thankful for the Lord's healing of Gina from the malaria she had, and pray He will bring full recovery and strength to her body. Pray that she will stay healthy during the remainder of this pregnancy. We all eagerly await the arrival of the newest member of our family, due in May.

Blessings in Christ,
Luke and Gina Johnson

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

What a trip!

Just wanted to let you know that we arrived safely in Kigoma. What a trip!

The train pulled in at 7:20 pm on Friday. That was way earlier than we thought and a nice bonus to be able to be in our house before 8 pm and sitting down for a supper (that was all prepared in advance by our house helper, Grace). We were all bathed or showered and in our beds shortly after that. Boy, did it feel good to sleep in our own beds. Of course we were all up around 2 am. Emily walked right past me in the hallway with her Bible and into the living room at one point, while I put the boys down for the 16th time. She matter-of-factly tells me that she’s going to read her bible now. Well, I reminded her of the time and that she had to wait for the sun to come up first if she wanted to be out of bed!

It’s just amazing to think that everything went as planned, the car trip, with meeting up with Larry at SeaTac to get our two suitcases and giving him the car, and then onto 3 long flights, the luggage all arriving in Dar, and then our train tickets waiting for us at the motel where we stayed before getting on the train. We had no idea how it would all turn out. We prayed that God would just make things happen because a lot of things were out of our control.

While in Newark, we decided to use the smartphone one last time to check for any new e-mails. So we found a place to sit and charge it for a bit and then we fired it up. The first e-mail that caught our attention was from the man in Dar who had purchased our train tickets… well he said that something urgent had just come up so he was not able to meet us at the train station as planned. So where should he have the tickets sent? Wow, we hadn’t thought of that sudden change. And we had to think fast. So that is how the train tickets ended up at our motel. We had already made reservations at this hotel for one night so we figured it was the safest place to have something like tickets be dropped off.

God protected and guided every step of the way. I had prayed that the luggage wouldn’t arrive. You see I had visions of us arriving at a very crowded Dar Es Salaam train station with 6 pieces of checked luggage, all of our carry on back packs and our 4 kids, ... in the pouring rain. I figured it’d be simpler to have the airline figure out how to get our luggage to Kigoma if they misplaced it and all we had to deal with was our carry ons and the kids. But our luggage did arrive, and the moment of checking into the train station wasn’t as chaotic as it could have been. And it did rain very hard, but not until we were settled into our cabin!

All of our checked bags fit under the bunks, and the two carry ons were used by the boys to stand on and look out the window. So it wasn’t too crowded on the train after all.

So today we are busy unpacking and organizing. It rained in the night and it has stayed overcast all day so it’s nice to have cooler weather. And the cooler weather meant that our beach day was cancelled, and just as well as we have so much to do to get this place ship-shape.

Luke begins teaching on Monday. Tomorrow we will see everyone at the local church. The kids have had a chance to pick guavas and eat fresh mangoes, now they are catching up with the neighbor kids.

And I need to prepare supper.
Bye for now.
Gina for the family

Getting comfortable for a night at SeaTac, or uncomfortable.

The calm train station... maybe it's because we were more than an hour early!

Back on the train, feels so familiar...  it's only our 4th time this year!

First african meal on the train. Dig in!

Lake Tanganyika, at last!

February Update

Dear praying friends and family, 

We praise the Lord for His goodness to us, for his mercies endure forever.

Ministry

We prayed for a good turnout for the Disciples of Jesus school and we asked you to pray, and the Lord answered our prayers. We were expecting around 7 or 8 and we got (and still have) 14 students! Two of them are from villages and the rest are from town. We have a good mixture of both adults and youth, male and female. And they are all eager to learn and seem quite well behaved. I (Luke) finished teaching “History of Salvation” (a survey of God’s plan of salvation throughout the Bible) for 3 weeks. Now Peter Yamungu is teaching on how to study the Bible and prepare to teach or preach on a passage (Homiletics). Pray for him as he has begun to feel sick. Please pray also for the students, that they would continue to be faithful in their attendance and eagerness to learn and apply God’s Word to their lives.

Students taking their exam.

Next week we plan to have a 3 day seminar at the Gungu town church on evangelism (particularly to Muslims). God has placed His church there in Gungu as a lighthouse in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood, but our “light” has not been shining very bright, and there is much fear when it comes to witnessing to Muslims. On the second and third days of the seminar we plan to go out and visit our neighbors door to door and talk with them about Jesus. Please pray that friendships would be developed and that this will be an ongoing exercise through which God’s Spirit will draw Muslims to Christ. We need you to pray for this seminar, and we need you to pray for Christ’s church at Gungu! Please remember us in prayer on the 13th - 15th (Mon - Wed) of February! We know our God is able to do mighty things if we are prepared to suffer for Christ’s sake and step out in faith, and we need the support of your prayers.

Family

Much of our family has been sick with upset tummies for a while (especially Luke and Michael). We have been tested and have taken medicine but our condition has not improved much. We have been enjoying the rain and the green grass and the beautiful sunsets lately. Aaron has just learned to ride a bike so he’s pretty excited about that. Esther and Emily enjoyed staying up until midnight when going with their mom to a muslim friend’s wedding.

Aaron riding his bike.

Thanks for praying for us.

Blessings,

Luke and Gina and kids

December Update

Happy New Year to all of you!

We thank the Lord for all of His blessings this past year, and we rejoice in the challenges which He has allowed in our lives which form us spiritually and teach us endurance. We also praise our heavenly King for each one of you who love Christ, though you have not seen Him, and serve Him continually through your prayers and participation in the gospel. Truly our Sovereign Head has designed the body to function in unity and to work together in love.


Ministry
The last time we wrote was in the middle of September. Since then we have had the opportunity to visit 4 churches, one of them a new fellowship of believers started by an elder from a nearby village. We were able to meet them, encourage them in the Word and give guidance to them as they gathered for the first time to remember Christ's death. We gave them some Christian literature and shared a meal together before returning. Please pray for these believers to seek to learn God’s word and be faithful in meeting together to encourage one another. Also, pray that the Holy Spirit would raise up elders among them who will have a true calling to shepherd the flock of God. These saints live in the village of Kajeje.

Luke preaching at Kajeje

Our friend and brother in Christ, Peter Yamungu, made another trip to visit the unreached tribe of the Wataturu, a full day’s drive away from here, in the Tabora region. He was able to meet the local chief and chairman, who was very friendly to him. He preached the Good News to many at a gathering and from house to house. He handed out tracts, portions on Scripture, and 3 Bibles, to those who knew how to read and who understood Kiswahili. He also attended a wedding and got to see their customs, which are very different from his own. We thank the Lord for preparing the way for him and keeping the door open for future service. Our family has decided to support Peter in his vision by sending him to a good missions school in Dar Es Salaam. He will be away from his wife and 4 kids for 8 months (from May - Dec.), with a short break in the middle. Please pray for Peter as he takes this big step of faith to become a cross cultural missionary. Pray for him and his family as they will be apart for this period of time. Pray that he will learn many things that will be useful for him in future service. And pray for our discipleship course, as we will not have Peter, who is one of our key teachers, for our 2nd and 3rd terms.

Chief in the village of Uwajawanungu reading the Bible he received.

Family

We had regional church elder meetings at the end of November and were able to sneak away on the last day and travel to Burundi to spend an early Thanksgiving with Luke’s brother Danny and his wife Anne and their 3 children. We enjoyed our time together and Luke was able to attend a morning session at the Timothy Bible School where Danny was teaching on the 4 gospels. We made it back in time for Thanksgiving in Kigoma and enjoyed the fellowship with other missionaries.

Visiting the cousins in Bujumbura, Burundi

During the month of December we had a visit from Gina’s parents, Mark and Carol Mattix. We had a wonderful time with them doing various things such as celebrating Esther’s 10th. birthday, singing together, rest and relaxation, walks, hikes and talks, 2 nights of camping at the beach, and ministry. Mark gave a 1 day seminar on Creationism. We visited a village church, and Mark preached on Christmas morning. They left the day after Christmas and we thank the Lord for the special time we had together.

On a hike with "Grandpa Mattix".

On a family outing up country.

The four kids.

Looking Forward
On Jan. 9 we’ll start up our new year at the Disciples of Jesus school. A number have shown interest from town and out of town but we wait to see how many will actually come. Please pray that the Lord would bring those who are hungry for God’s Word and ready to put it into practice. At the end of February we’ll start visiting the village churches with the discipleship students to give them opportunity to serve and develop their gifts. Please pray for the many other things that we have planned for this year, that God will direct and enable us in everything, and that His will would be done in us and His people. It is our desire that this would be a fruitful year for Christ’s church in the Kigoma region. We covet your prayers for us and our dear Tanzanian brothers and sisters.

May God’s grace abound to you this year,
Luke and Gina Johnson

August Update

Dear praying friends and family, an update on the work here is long overdue.

We arrived back in Kigoma exactly 4 weeks ago, after traveling to the US for Steven's wedding (Luke's youngest brother). The wedding went very well and we were happy to see many friends and family members. Our stay at the CMML guesthouse was enjoyed by the whole family and we are grateful for the rest we had there.

The Johnsons who attended the wedding.

On our way back we spent almost a week in Kenya with Jacob and Annette Hebert and their 2 boys (Annette is Luke's sister) before making the 3 day drive back to Kigoma.

Aaron and his cousin Carl.

Since returning we have been very busy with car & motorbike repairs, paperwork, and planning for the Disciples of Jesus school graduation. On Saturday, Sept. 3 we had 4 students graduate (just like last year). Please pray that these young people would love the Lord with all their hearts and serve Him faithfully.

Daudi and Shadrack, Happy and Prisca.

Last Sunday we were able to visit a new church plant in a village about 1.5 hours away. We went with a couple of the elders from nearby churches, who are ministering to them at this early stage. We also took Bibles for them to buy at a reduced price. Pray that these believers would be firmly rooted and grounded in the Word, that they might understand God's will for them.

A young girls' choir sings for the church service that is outside.

That very afternoon there is another choir ready to sing!

Unfortunately, a young people's conference and seminar had to be cancelled after the youth leadership were not happy with some of the elder's decisions. Please pray for humility and repentance for the youth leaders, and that there would be a spirit of unity and a willingness to work together.

On the home front we continue to homeschool Esther and Emily. Luke has decided to do science with the girls and Gina does the other subjects. We try and do double each day with Esther so that we can finish 3rd grade and start 4th. This is because her 3rd grade schoolbooks were held up in a container for over half the school year. Pray for strength for Gina as she keeps house, takes care of 2 young boys, cooks, and also tries to find time to homeschool.

Taking a hike on Luke's 35th birthday.

Emily blowing out 6 candles!

Since returning we have also been battling with various illnesses, including worms, bad colds, and malaria. It seems there is always at least 1 or 2 in the family who are not feeling well. Please pray for Aaron to get over malaria and pray for the others who have long been trying to get over their colds. 

Luke continues to meet regularly with an old Muslim man named Nyamweru. They are reading "The King of Glory" book together (in Swahili), 1 or 2 chapters at a time. Only recently has he begun to discuss the things we are reading so we are thankful for the Spirit's work in him. Today our muslim neighbors and friends remember Abraham's sacrifice and make animal sacrifices of their own.  Please pray that God would help them to understand the ultimate sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Thank you for your prayers.

Blessings in Christ,
Luke and Gina, and Esther, Emily, Aaron and Michael.

April Update

Dear praying friends and family, we want to thank you for your prayers for us this past month.

We have 2 praise items that we are pleased to mention:
1. We received our residence permits (we had to reapply since they had lost the first application papers) and they gave us 2 full years from now.
2. We were given an alternate piece of land for the Discipleship Course, as compensation for the one we bought from someone who was not really the owner. It has been a long wait and has required perseverance and patience but we thank the Lord for answering our prayers and yours.

We thank you for your prayers for the 2 day seminar on giving at the village of Sambara. As follow up I have heard good reports from one of the elders there. Since then we attended the Easter Conference here in town (Friday) and then we went to the village of Songambele for Easter Sunday.

Church at Sambara

Luke has since been back to Songambele with some elders from the nearby churches to reinstall the other elder in that church. He had fallen into sin, received discipline, confessed his sin publicly and waited for a period while his life was watched to make sure he had changed. We are pleased that along with the congregation's full consent he was officially put back into leadership.

We also hosted, together with Harry and Ruth Johnson, our Annual General Meeting (AGM) of CMML missionaries here in Kigoma (it is required by the government). Ron and Maria Cunningham (an older couple from N. Ireland) attended from Moshi and Steve Davies from Dar Es Salaam. We enjoyed our time together giving and hearing reports and fellowshipping.

AGM attendees

We had a local church meeting last Saturday, and on Sunday 2 ladies that have been at odds were able to ask each other's forgiveness and reconcile. Please pray that there would be complete restoration between their families as there may still be some other problems under the surface. This is also an answer to prayer.

This past week was quite a challenge. Our whole family got sick, one at a time with a very bad flu, accompanied by a bad cold. We are all over the flu, except for Michael who just came down with it yesterday, and still has a fever. Some of the rest of us are still coughing quite a bit, especially at night.

On Saturday Luke will be traveling with 4 Tanzanian brothers to the town of Mpanda where there is a new church plant. We will be with them for the Sunday meetings and then begin teaching a seminar on the subject of the church (starting Sunday afternoon and going through Tuesday). We will also be showing Christian and evangelistic films for 2 nights. We will return, Lord willing, on Wednesday.

Please pray for safe travels, that the car would run well, and that God's Word would build up, strengthen and save new souls. Also pray for Gina as she stays home with the kids (some still sick) and homeschools them and keeps house while I'm gone.

Helpful Aaron

Silly Michael

Emily and Esther relaxing at the beach.

You are a vital part of this battle, so keep praying. There is opposition but the Lord is still working so we take courage.

In Christ,
Luke, for the family.

March Update

Dear praying friends and family, I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers for the Seminar on salvation by grace and the assurance of salvation. The Seminar went well with about 45 in attendance (on and off during that time). Most of them were church leaders. Please continue to pray that they might fully understand the grace of God in salvation and that the church leaders would effectively communicate these truths to their respective congregations.

I would also ask for prayer for another seminar, in the village of Sambala. I will be teaching for 2 days (Mon and Tues) with a Tanzania brother on the subject of giving. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would use us as vessels to communicate His truth. Pray for receptive ears and hearts and pray for God’s protection against the schemes of the enemy. 

I would also ask for your prayers for my health as I have been feeling a bad cold coming on, which could affect my voice. Pray for healing and strength, and also pray for Gina and the kids as they stay at home.

We also have a big praise because Esther's school books have arrived! On Monday she will officially start 3rd grade. The container (that belongs to missionary friends) that we were waiting for sat in the port city of Dar Es Salaam for a full year.

Esther opening her box of school books.

Thank you so much for lifting up these needs before the throne of God. Your participation with us in prayer is vital to the success of our calling and mission.

With love in Christ,

Luke Johnson

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.