December Update

Hello dear family and praying friends. 

As Christmas approaches I have been thinking about Matthew's account of Christ's birth. "God with us" was born as King of the Jews and deserves to be worshipped by all men, even powerful men from the East (the Magi). This Christmas let's remember to truly worship the One who was born to rule this world and seek to make His name known to others. Wise men still recognize this Jesus to be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

This past month we attended the wedding of Peter and Naomi, a young couple at our church. This event was delayed due to a heavy rain but when it started it was celebrated with much joy, singing and dancing, and gift giving. We pray that God will continue to use them, now together, to build up His church.

We also got to go to the village of Bukuba, where I had taught a young people's seminar last month. This time the whole family was able to go and the believers were delighted to meet Gina, Esther and Emily. We went up on Saturday for a youth leader meeting and returned to Kigoma the next day, after the Sunday service. Again, we took a box of Bibles to sell at discounted price and not one was left by the time we returned. 

Lately I have been working on the sailing boat (a gaff-rigged ketch) that my father has been building for ministry on the lake. The roof structure for the cabin is finished and ready to be planked. We pray that this boat will be used to encourage the believers in the village churches along the lake.

We also had a family visit. Jesse and Joy Johnson and their 3 boys Zach, Micah, and Elliot came down from Burundi for a week so we spent time with them. 

Pray for:

- Christmas conference in the town of Lugunga that we plan to attend.

- The work that still needs to be done to finish the boat.

Thank you all, especially for your prayers. We appreciate the part that each of you plays in the work that God is doing.

In Christ,

Luke Johnson, for the rest of the family.

Ladies from the chapel visiting Gina

Emily at 7 weeks

Esther practicing her letters

November Update

Hello dear friends and family,

We are thankful to the Lord for the new life that we have in Him. I have been recently thinking of the privilege that we as believers have been given, namely to manifest the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ in EVERY place. (2 Cor. 2:14) Do I smell of Christ through my attitude, words and actions to the people I come in contact with every day? 

As I mentioned in our last newsletter there was a young people's seminar in the village of Bukuba on Oct. 15-17. The good hand of the Lord was with us and I taught a course on Sexual Purity which was well received. On the second day the things we talked about generated many questions and much discussion. Even the girls were asking questions, which is quite unusual for this culture, so I think it was well received. While there we also chose some leaders for the young people for the 5 churches in the north of our region. Their job is to help start youth groups in the churches and organize young people's events, seminars and activities. We hope that this will help the young people's work to go forward and that more youth will begin to attend our churches.

On Tuesday (Nov. 2) the ladies from church came to visit Gina to officially welcome us to our new house and congratulate her on the birth of Emily. It was a good time of praising the Lord for what he has done. They brought gifts (mostly fruit and vegetables) and prayed for our family and then they enjoyed some refreshments together before going home. We are thankful for their loving and joyful support. 

Tomorrow we will go with my parents to a small village church about 1 hour away. You can pray for this church in Kizenga as it has been struggling for many years and has not grown at all. There is only one elder and the church members consist mostly of his extended family.

Esther is learning her letters and enjoys practicing her Swahili at church and with 'mama Gracie' that comes to clean twice a week. Emily is now 2 months old and gracing us with her smiles and longer nights. =)

We thank the Lord for all you who faithfully support us in prayer. We know that our Great God delights to work through your petitions on our behalf.

You can specifically pray for:

- The youth work in the churches. That it would move forward through the efforts

 of the newly chosen leaders.

- The small struggling church of Kizenga; that it would grow.

- Spiritual discernment for us. That we would focus our efforts on what 

  God wants us to be doing, and not our own plans.

In His service,

Luke, Gina, Esther, and Emily Johnson

October Update

Hello dear family and praying friends. We hope you are all doing well. 

The Lord continues to give us opportunities to minister. Last weekend (Oct. 1-3) I, Luke, attended a Seminar/Evangelistic Conference in a village called Munzeze, about 2 hours North-East of Kigoma. On the way there I picked up 2 Tanzania brothers who were going to be the evangelistic speakers. I taught a seminar on the book of Galatians Friday and Saturday mornings, and in the 

afternoons and at night we had evangelistic meetings outside.

What does an evangelistic meeting look like here? I thought you'd ask, so if you'll allow me, I'll try and give you a little picture of one. It means a long introduction where each special guest must be recognized and welcomed personally, as well as given the chance to greet everyone. This is followed by a LOT of singing. Each church choir that was invited to the conference (3 in this case) gets to sing a total of 4 songs each during the service, and then of course there is a lot of congregational singing of choruses and a few songs out of the songbook. And finally you have an evangelistic message that could be anywhere from 1-2 hours long. Then you have an altar call followed by announcements, and finally the closing prayer.

This is what the afternoon services looked like, and then you have a slightly shortened version of the same thing at the night services beginning at 8PM and ending anytime between 11PM and midnight. Needless to say I was pretty tired after the weekend, but in spite of this, the Tanzanians always seem to enjoy the fellowship, and especially the choir songs. The choirs are aided by a generator to power their keyboard, 2 electric guitars, and bass guitar. The choir members all do synchronized actions and steps (or should I just say they dance?) to the beat of the music. There always seems to be technical problems during their performances, such as excessive feedback, but they just keep going in spite of the unbearable high pitch squeal from the speakers ...

On Sunday we had a regular service outside and I preached a message on knowing God. During the weekend Gina stayed home with the 2 girls and I was very happy to see them at around 7:30 PM Sunday night after dropping off all the people that had crammed into the car. Was there any lasting fruit from this conference? Only God knows for certain. After one of the evangelistic messages there were a few professions of faith but I don't think there was very good follow-up by the leaders of the local church. One encouraging factor was that the people seemed to be very attentive during the seminar and they had a fair amount of good questions during the question times at the end of each session. Also I took 23 Bibles and was able to sell all of them at a reduced cost. The believer's were very eager to get them so we pray that God's Word will dwell richly in them. Is there a better way of conducting these evangelistic conferences? Probably, but the hard thing is getting them to think outside the box. That's how they have always done them, and that's how everyone else does them so why change now?

These are just some of the questions that we deal with on the mission field so we would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and discernment each day concerning all these issues, and that God would always be glorified through us.

On the home front we continue to adjust to having a newborn baby. Gina of course, cannot get a good night's rest at this stage, so pray for strength for her. And then it is hard to get the housework done with a talkative and active Esther and a hungry or fussy baby who needs a diaper change ...  Meanwhile I am trying to fix the leaky roof before the rains come and keep up with the little problems that the car keeps reminding me of, and administrative things and ... and then I wonder why I don't seem to have enough time to prepare for the next seminar. So this is when we learn to depend on God and draw our strength from Him. The next seminar will be for young people in the village of Bukuba next weekend (Oct. 15-17). Please pray for this young people's seminar as I will be teaching part of it.

We truly are blessed and privileged to serve our Lord and we wish we could do more for Him, but we hope we are faithful in all things including the "small" things. 

In His service,

Luke, Gina, Esther, and Emily Johnson

September Update

Emily Jane born Sept. 5th 2010

Esther

Esther meeting Emily

Family of 4

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

We're headed back to Kigoma after a wonderful time in Moshi, in northern Tanzania. The Rea's have been so good to us during our month-long stay with them, and Esther will miss the fun she's had with Uncle William and Aunt Eunice. We go back with 2 kids this time, making it a new experience for us. 

Luke taught two courses at Berea Bible College: Amos and History of Salvation. The courses went well even though there were only 2 students in the class. At this year's meeting of church leaders the issue of poor attendance was discussed so pray that next year there will be much better attendance at the Bible College.

On our drive down we hope to visit the believers at Kaziramihunda and Kasanda once again (where we lived for 8 months last year). Soon after getting back to Kigoma there will be an Evangelistic conference in one village (Munzeze) and a Young people's meeting planned in another village (Bukuba). You can pray for the ministry that will go on in each of these places.

That's all the news for now. May Christ continue to build His church all over the world.

In His Service, 

Luke, Gina, Esther, and Emily Johnson

August Update

Hope of the Nations' helicopter

Luke on his ride

Luke and Gina in Burundi

Dear friends and family,

After 3 days of uneventful travel (praise the Lord) we made it safely to the northern city of Moshi. William and Eunice Rea have been so kind to let us stay at their place for our extended visit.  Today Luke began his first day of teaching at the Berea Bible College and will continue to teach for the next month. This week he teaches on the book of Amos (same as last year) and in two weeks he'll teach a shorter 20-lesson version of the Firm Foundations. He has other speaking engagements in that in-between week so he'll be busy preparing during his free time.

Last month Luke got to ride in a helicopter for the first time. He was asked to help as an interpreter for a medical visit to a village that has no road access. We took a trip to Burundi and had a good visit with Luke's brother Jesse and family, and got a glimpse of their world during our week stay. Luke helped them by organizing one of the storage rooms. Since then Luke has been preparing for his classes and Gina has been getting things ready for the baby's arrival.

Please pray for:

- Strength for Luke as he teaches every day

- Peace for Gina in the last month of pregnancy

With love in Christ,

Gina, Luke and Esther

Just Keeps Growing

Dear friends and family,

We had a safe trip to Mwanza (northern Tanzania) and back. We barely had time to dust ourselves off after the first day of travel when we visited the church at Kasanda. They had a meal ready for the entire church and then a meeting where Luke spoke. They eagerly bought the few books that Luke brought. The following morning we made our way to Kazira and enjoyed a great time of fellowship with our friends. One man from the previous church wanted to join us for the second meeting so he got to hear Luke's message twice!

Our two nights were spent in our old little house at Keza. It was neat to visit everyone again and get free meals! Esther disappeared for hours on end, she was so excited to be back with her playing buddies. I (Gina) even got to see a World Cup soccer game on "generator night" with 50+ people crowded in front of the solitary TV. 

The Lord's protection of us was evident during our time at the big city of Mwanza. Thankfully nothing was stolen, only broken locks in an attempt to get something out of the car. Esther enjoyed the company of her uncle Ben on our long 13 hour drive back to Kigoma.

Lord willing we will drive back up north in a month, this time to Moshi (at the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro) for Luke to teach at the Berea Bible College once again. But before we go there we want to visit Luke's brother Jesse and his family in Burundi, only an 8 hour drive from Kigoma.

Please pray for:

-Health and energy for Gina during the last 2 months of pregnancy

-Luke to have time in preparing for teaching at Berea Bible College

-Safety (and comfort=)) in travel

With love in the Spirit,

Luke, Gina and Esther Johnson

With Dr. Steven and his family at Keza

Esther at 3 years and 6 months

Gina at 7 months

June Update

Dear friends and family,

We finally moved into our own place on May 28 and are getting settled in little by little. There is always more to do to make the place more like home. We had a local carpenter make us a dining room table with chairs and just recently picked those up. Before that we were eating our meals at a small desk. Our living room consists of 2 wooden benches and a wooden chair (no sofas yet). Gina cooks on an electric hot plate and uses the washer at my parent's house to do laundry.  But I won't bore you with our lists of "To do's" and "To get". 

We visited one of the local churches down south on the coast of the lake called Mwakizega. We travelled with one of the Tanzanian elders from the church here in Kigoma town and it was a blessing to have him along. I had the privilege of preaching on Rom. 3:19-28. 

The church was made up of more women than men and there is only one elder there. They have been having work days to gather piles of stones to sell for building and we have helped them buy some tools for that. We also left them some discounted Bibles which they will pay for later.

Lord willing we will make a trip to Mwanza (northern Tanzania) in a week. We hope to buy some of the things that are on our "To get" list. On the way there we will stop for 2 days at Keza Swedish Mission (where we were for 8 months) and visit the believers at Kaziramihunda (Sunday morning) and Kasanda (Sunday afternoon). 

Esther is our chatter-box, and always full of questions. With her books and toys finally unpacked she is enjoying all the "new" stuff she has. She dances, jumps and runs around while singing during our evening family devotions and continually asks to pray before meals. She is very excited about being a big sister and a helper for mommy. I (Gina) am getting bigger and more uncomfortable by the day. Had a first ultrasound this last week and everything looked great. 

Please pray for:

-Safe trip to Mwanza and back

-Good visit with the believers at Kazira and Kasanda

-Luke's preparation for teaching at the Bible College in August

In His Grace,

Luke, Gina and Esther Johnson

May Update

Dear praying friends, we hope you are all well and walking close to the Lord.

Last time we wrote we mentioned that we were going to have the Annual General Meeting for the CMML missionaries in Tanzania.  That went well and we were able to hear reports of what God has been doing in different parts of the country.

House

We also mentioned that God provided a house for us to rent.  After the missionary meeting was over we have been been working to get the house in shape for us to move in.  Plumbing, electrical, painting, fixing doors and windows and screens etc ...  We have not yet moved into the house but we're getting close to being done.  There always seems to be one more thing ...  It will be nice to be able to unpack and organize much of our stuff which has been in storage the whole time since we arrived. Gina is half way there with the pregnancy and Esther eagerly awaits a baby sister. We'll just find out when the time comes. =)

Ministry

We have already been invited to visit a church down south on the 16th. of this month.  We have been trying to learn from my parents as much as we can about the churches in the area,  and of course we plan to visit and help nurture them in due time as the Lord leads.  There are 20 churches total in the Kigoma and Rukwa regions that we hope to help minister to.  Meanwhile we can learn about them and pray for them.  Many of them have various problems.  They lack good teaching and have no resources, so we would appreciate it if you would pray with us for these churches and their spiritual growth. 

There have been 2 deaths that have affected us recently; one an old man from the church whose funeral we attended and the other a young muslim man (Amisi Omari) who was a mechanic that often worked on my Dad's car.  Amisi collapsed suddenly while walking in town and died soon after arriving at the hospital.  My Dad had often witnessed to him but he had made no profession of faith, to our knowledge.  This was a solemn reminder of the brevity of life and the fact that death can come so suddenly.  Please pray for Amisi's muslim family that they would turn to the Lord in this difficult time. 

Well that's all the news for now.  Thank you for your prayers and gifts.  May the Lord continue to bless and use each of you where you are.

In His service,

Luke, Gina, Esther, and ? Johnson

Little One on the Way

Esther at Lake Tanganyika Hotel.

I (Gina) am 22 weeks pregnant and feel the baby moving quite a bit. I am unable to make sudden movements, like standing up quickly or changing positions while lying down. Pulled out the maternity clothing I have, there are a few of my regular items that I can still wear, things that are stretchy or baggy. Esther likes to ask about the baby and touch my growing belly. She hasn't felt the baby yet, but she thinks she has. She's convinced it's a girl, but we don't know yet. Maybe in the next month I'll get an ultrasound, but we don't want to find out the gender until the baby is born.