August and September in Photos

Highlights from our time in the States --

Ice skating for the first time!

Enjoying a few days at a retreat center in northern Washington.

Spending time with family.

Picking a whole lot of blueberries

Playing in the snow on Mt. Baker.

Seeing family after many years.

Spending a day with Daniel and Lisa Epp and their 3 kids.

Visiting the Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana.

Visiting "Kigoma friends" while in Montana.

Spending a day at Yellowstone National Park.

Visiting the Sonodas in Boise.

The Solar Eclipse!

Going to the Oregon Coast.

Seeing family on Shearer Hill.

Bajaji

Our main mode of transportation while in the big city is a Bajaji. They are 3 wheeled motorbike taxis, with a canopy for the passengers. A typical bajaji has a 200 cc engine, so it isn't built for speed, but it sure is convenient for zipping around town past the long lines of traffic.
Now can a family of 6 fit into one Bajaji?

Esther and Emily on the sidewalk side.

Gina and Aaron in the middle.

Luke and Michael on the street side.

Yes, we can! And our backpacks get dumped behind us where the engine sits, there's a place for everything. Safari njema!

June and July Update

Dear praying friends and family,

As our family gets ready to board our international flight this afternoon, we are reminded of the goodness of our Lord and are thankful for His protection and provision during these last couple of months.
Luke taught three weeks on the doctrine of Salvation at the Disciples of Jesus school in June. He has also taken the students on three different ministry trips to village churches where they taught the children and preached the Word.

Francoise teaching the Sunday School children in Kinazi.

The young men of the Disciples of Jesus school practiced for weeks in preparation for a friendly soccer match with the nearby church of Nkungwe. Pray for the students as they finish up their second term. Pray for Japhet as he's the only remaining full-time teacher there.

Soccer players from Kigoma.

In July we had a wonderful visit with some of Luke's siblings and their families. We enjoyed a hike to nearby waterfalls, outings to the beach, campfires with lots of singing and even an anniversary celebration for Harry and Ruth Johnson.

Waterfall hike with family.

Our kids especially enjoyed the visit from our friend Nicola, who lives in the DR Congo and came with her two young children to Kigoma. She is currently caring for a baby boy, whose mother died while giving birth and the family was unable to care for the infant. Baby Benjamin has since doubled his weight and our girls loved playing mommy with him!

Esther feeding baby Benjamin.

Our travels began last weekend by taking the train for two days to the big city of Dar on the east coast.

Aaron eating chicken on the train ride. It was really tough.

Pretty countryside along the train tracks as we near the east coast.

While in Dar we took the opportunity to visit our good friend Peter who is studying at a missions college in preparation to go to an unreached tribe in Tanzania. Please pray for him as he studies and is apart from his family during these months.

Peter (in blue) with his roommate Abson and their dorm room.

We look forward to seeing some of you while we are in the Northwest for the next 3 months.
Please pray for us as we continue our trip.
Blessings in Christ.

Luke and Gina Johnson

May Update

Dear praying friends and family,

Earlier this month, Luke went on a week-long ministry boat trip with his parents, Harry and Ruth Johnson. They were able to visit and encourage 3 village churches along the lake south of Kigoma. In all they showed evangelistic films 5 nights, had special church meetings, Ruth taught the children and met with the women. We are thankful to the Lord for his protection during the long sail. Please pray for Shakira, a young woman who was prayed for and delivered from demons. (See the previous blog posts for more on the boat trip.)
Those with google accounts can view an album of Luke's photos of the ministry boat trip.

The crew sailing home.

Harry, all ready to show films.

A guest teacher just finished teaching Angels and Demons to the remaining 10 faithful students. Luke will teach the next course, beginning Monday, on the study of salvation. They have begun their ministry trips to the villages every other Sunday. Today they visited the village church in Ilagala. Pray for the students as they continue to learn in the classroom and then minister in these churches by preaching the Word of God.

Students with Ahadi (in the back, in purple), the guest teacher.

This weekend begins the fasting month of Ramadan for our muslim neighbors and friends. Pray that many would be drawn to Christ during this time of seeking. The local church continues with the weekly door-to-door visitation in their area. Luke meets weekly with an old muslim man named Nyamweru and is nearing the end of the book King of Glory. He is showing a lot more interest in the stories. Pray that the Lord would open his eyes to his sinful condition and his need of a Savior.

Pray for an evangelistic conference in the town of Kibondo, northeast of Kigoma at the beginning of June.

Luke with Nyamweru.

We are planning to visit the Northwest in the late summer from August to October of this year, Lord willing. The kids are excited about the upcoming plane ride and the many new things to do and see in the US. We look forward to seeing many of you.

Blessings in Christ,

Luke and Gina Johnson

3 of 3 - Ministry Boat Trip - Buhingu

On May 12, 2017 the boat was ready to cast off from Igalula and continue on their sail toward Buhingu. So they headed south, towards the Mahale mountains but stopping just shy of them.

Polo on deck relaxing as they motor out of Igalula.

Emineli up front watching for hazards.

Amani Ali joined the crew to guide them into safe harbor.

Anchored at Buhingu with film equipment ashore.

Ruth teaching the kids.

The crew went ashore and were received at Musa's house. The women cooked for them all, serving them lunch and dinner, sometimes they ate chicken, but often it was fish or beans.

The women at Musa's house washing the dishes and serving the guests.

And then it rained. Finally! The swells got quite high on the lake as the boat rocked, but the anchors and the mooring rope held.

Harry and Ruth collecting rain water.

As the rain stopped, the crew went to see the chapel building. The believers here have finished their foundation, and built the brick walls. They just need to finish with a tin roof.

Chapel building at Buhingu.

Again, the team got ready to show films that evening in the center of town.

Harry with the eager spectators.

The screen on stilts.

Unfortunately, the sound cut off 20 minutes into the film Ben Hur. They worked hard at trying to figure out what the problem was, but after another 20 minutes had to cancel the films.

The Mahale Mountains are so close.

The next morning, Saturday, they had a meeting in the church and Luke preached. Ruth had meetings with the ladies and also with the kids. Emineli and Luke worked at getting the sound for the film equipment to work. They figured out what the problem was but they could not get the parts needed in the village. So instead of canceling films for the second night, they looked into renting an amp and a speaker. The local people brought the needed amp and speaker at 5 minutes 'til 7 pm, so they quickly got the film equipment set up and showed Ben Hur. The boat crew was back on their boat by 11 pm and ready for a good night's sleep, with a couple mosquitoes bothering them now and then.

Believers in the unfinished chapel.

Rainbow over Buhingu.

Sunday morning the believers met again for worship in their unfinished chapel. Ruth first taught Sunday School and at around 10 am the main service started. Polo gave a short message and Harry gave the main message. Then the crew went to Musa's house for one last lunch before loading the film equipment onto the boat and beginning their sail back. At 3:30 pm they pulled anchor.

Polo and Emineli are happy to be going back home.

Sails are up.

The wind was perfect to sail with so they put all 4 sails up. But as the swells got bigger and the wind died down they had to slowly let down one sail at a time and then rely on the motor. At 7 pm the sun set and they could see less and less. And then the stars were out, they were so beautiful and so many. The motor used a whole tank of fuel as they fought the big swells and needed to add more. Finally at 10 pm the moon came up and glowed yellow on the water and bathed them in light. They could now better make out the outline of the mountains and the cape. At 11:45 pm they anchored at Kirando. Amosi Amani went ashore to go home; they tied the boat to some reeds and finally went to bed.

Polo and Harry on the last day of sailing.

The next morning at 6:30 am they pulled anchor and eagerly got to work on their last day of sailing. The land breeze made it perfect for sailing, so again, with all the sails up they cruised along, averaging 4 knots and later 5. They enjoyed a good sail, using the motor only a few times and pulled into Kikodeko in the Kigoma bay at 2:30 pm, much earlier than was expected. The kids and I were very happy to have Luke home.

Sunrise

Emineli, Ruth and Harry. Almost home!

2 of 3 - Ministry Boat Trip - Igalula

Emineli steering the boat.

On May 10, 2017 the team continued on their way and sailed further south until they anchored at the village of Igalula.

Amosi on the boat, anchored at Igalula.

The believers at Igalula have finished their foundation to their church building, so they have been working hard at making and firing the bricks that are needed for building the walls. Now with their bricks fired they are ready to continue.

Amosi standing on the church building foundation.

The current church building is made of palm branches with a grass roof.

The current chapel at Igalula.

The boat was tied to an island of reeds.

In preparation for the boat trip, Luke worked on getting some old solar panels fixed up. Emineli helped wire the cables and install lights so the boat was well lit after dark, unlike most village homes.

Solar panels for the boat.

Harry and Luke showed films for 2 nights at Igalula. On the second night, after showing films and packing up the equipment, a young woman was brought to the local elder's house to be prayed for. She had not spoken for a day and a half and was staying with her grandmother.  So before returning to the boat, Amosi, Luke, Polo and two other local believers prayed for this young lady. She sat on the mat in a daze, but as soon as they started praying for her she started shaking. Finally they laid her down on the mat and she continued to shake for a while and then became still. Not long after they finished praying, she sat up as if she had woken up from a sleep. One of the local elders began to talk to her and she responded like a normal person. She was a muslim but had been to a Christian conference and had been prayed for and even repeated the sinner's prayer, but she did not understand who Christ was and what He had done for her. They shared the gospel with her and asked her if she would like to have her sins forgiven by trusting in Christ. She agreed and prayed. The elders prayed for her once more and then gave her advice about meeting with believers and praying and reading God's Word and trusting in His power over demons. She was later given a new testament. Her name is Shakira. Please continue to pray for her, to be completely freed from the powers of darkness.

Many muslims in our area are severely oppressed by demons and need deliverance thru the power of Christ who has overcome the evil one.

1 of 3 - Ministry Boat Trip - Sigunga

On May 8, 2017, Luke went on a ministry boat trip. He went on his father's boat, Wings of the Morning, along with Harry and Ruth Johnson (his parents) and Emineli Jonathan and Polo Nasibu. The purpose of the trip was to visit 3 village churches to the south of Kigoma. Two of these villages are not accessible by land, but only by lake.

So, I went with the kids at 7 am to the Kikodeco port to bid them farewell.

Getting everything ready to untie the ropes.

They finally pulled up anchor at 8 am and were off. As they went past the Ujiji bay at 10 am the swells were quite high and rocking the boat. The kids and I prayed for a safe trip and for calm waters during the week that they were traveling. But we also prayed for rain for ourselves, we desperately wanted one good rain before the dry season set in for good!
Finally at around 6 pm, I got word that they had arrived at Kirando, a safe harbor for spending the night. Here they picked up one more crew member, Amosi Amani.

Polo working on the boat.

Dropping anchor at Kirando.

The next morning they were off again and only had to sail some 2 hours to get to their destination, the village of Sigunga.

Pulling into Sigunga.

Here they had the opportunity to see the church property, which the believers had to level before building the foundation to their church building.

Rocks that were carried and placed by hand.

The believers at Sigunga standing on their new foundation.

Ruth Johnson taught Bible lessons to the children.

Ruth with children at Sigunga.

The village of Sigunga sits on a steep hill and all of the trails in the village are almost vertical. It is also hard to terrace the land for building due to the many rocks.

Women coming down to the lake to get water.

The boat is safely anchored in the bay, but nobody ventured to cool off in the waters nearby. The local people say there is a crocodile that likes to live among those reeds.

Wings of the Morning

As the sun set, they got the film equipment ready and showed Christian films (The Hope and Le Combat) to some 200 people in the open air until 10 pm. Luke gave an invitation to anyone wanting to accept Christ after the films.

Harry and Emineli showing films at Sigunga.