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.

The "Express" isn't so Express ...

On March 18, 2017, our family took the Express train from Kigoma to Dar Es Salaam. We were told it would take approximately 36 hrs. so we prepared for the adventure. We were up at 6 am, ate a quick breakfast, cleaned up the dishes, packed the last minute things and by 7:30 am we were walking the few blocks from our house to the Kigoma train station. The train was scheduled to leave at 8 am sharp. It was chaotic when we arrived. Luke and I guided our brood thru the crowded station and headed for the train cars at the bottom of the steps. Car number 2229 was on our ticket so we climbed aboard and then located cabin "D". We got settled, as best we could. The one sink in our cabin was leaking badly and leaving a big puddle of water on the floor, so all of the bags had to go on the seat or on the top bunk. The kids were very excited and explored our tiny living space while hopping from one bunk to the other.

4 kids on the top bunk.

Luke down the narrow hall of the cabins.

The boys in the cabin.

At 5 minutes to 8, the train whistle blew and at 8 o'clock sharp we started rolling. We were all very excited! As we pulled away from the station we enjoyed a view of Kigoma we hadn't seen before and saw the back of houses we had seen only from the main road. As the train cars lurched forward and swayed a bit with the curve of the tracks, the water on our floor moved to the door of the cabin. We quickly picked up our flip flops and got them out of the way before they became wet too.

Leaving Kigoma.

We were towards the back of the train.

 Luke's mom and dad were waiting at a road intersection ahead and we looked out our window to catch the first glimpse of them. First we saw their car and then we saw them both waving at the train, unsure of which car we were in. So the kids yelled to their grandparents and waved frantically. They still looked very sleepy as they had hosted a birthday party at their house the night before, but they were happy to see us safely on the train and took a video of us going past.

Emily and Aaron playing cards.

 Some nearby passengers noticed all of the water mess in our cabin and offered to call the train attendant to come and clean the mess. A lady soon came to our cabin to inspect and then left to return with a bucket and a mop. She proceeded to spread the water around and mop up only a little bit, there wasn't much else you could do. Then she left with her mop and bucket. So now we had a wet floor in every corner of the cabin and gave strict instructions to not step on it until it had dried. It was still the cool part of the morning and a breeze from our window and our door was refreshing. The floor didn't take long in drying. Then a maintenance man showed up with our cleaning lady and he took a close look at our sink to determine why the leak and happened in the first place. But he couldn't find any leak. We told him we'd watch out for it and let him know if we needed his help. Thankfully it did not leak again.

Michael taking a nap on the top bunk.

 A bit later our train attendant lady came by with pillows for every passenger, clean sheets and some wool blankets. I didn't think we'd be needing the heavy blankets but she was off too quick before we could hand them back so we kept them. Well, it was nearing 10 am and the kids were ready for second breakfast. I stayed in the cabin with Michael while Luke took the other kids with him to explore and locate the dining car. They came back only 30 min. later raving about the lovely tea and chapati (fried flat bread) they had enjoyed. So we enjoyed many trips to the dining car during our trip and had nice meals there.

At the Dodoma train station.

 It was a long day and a not so long night. We ended up needing those thick blankets when it cooled down in the middle of the night. We kept our window open as the train chugged along, but when we felt it come to a stop, Luke and I would get up and close the windows so the mosquitoes couldn't fly into our cabin.

The middle bunk is the best.

As we passed by towns it was neat to recognize them from the many times we had driven by in our car. Having the train come by is a bit of a big deal, so everyone would stop to look at the train, some kids would wave. And anytime they got a glance at us, the white people, they would point and exclaim to their neighbor. Many people took videos with their phones. I wonder what you do with that kind of footage in your memory card?

Boys looking at the sights.

Well, by the end of the second day, it was obvious we were running very late on schedule. Many of the passengers and crew members had different ideas of when we would be pulling into Dar Es Salaam. Some were hopeful and said by 10 pm, but others said that maybe by 7 am the next morning. As the sun set we finally could see Morogoro in the distance, (it is a 4 hr. drive by car from there to Dar). We finally pulled into the Morogoro train station at 7 pm. We saw many passengers jump off the train with their bags and head towards the bus station, hoping to make it into Dar at a better time than the slow train. I headed to the dining car with the girls to get our dinner as the boys waited in the cabin. As we got seated and asked to place our order we were told by the attendant that they were all out of food on the train as they had expected to be in Dar by this hour and had only brought the food for two days and no more. Well, I sent Esther sprinting back to our cabin to let Luke know so he'd have a chance to get off the train and buy some food from the local people before the train pulled from the station. A couple minutes later Luke jumped back onto the train with a black plastic bag (our to-go container) of rice and meat just as the train began to pull away. We sat in our cabin and enjoyed our last meal on the train.
Then it was time for bed. The kids did not put on their pjs as we were hoping to arrive in Dar in the middle of the night. Our DVD player could not play any movies because the battery had died and we had forgotten an adapter for our cord. There were some last cookies though, so we ate those before brushing our teeth. Esther and Emily climbed into their top bunks, Aaron climbed onto his middle bunk, Luke got as comfortable as he could on the bottom bunk and I slept next to Michael to ensure he didn't roll off the bed. And we slept.
I suddenly woke up with a start to realize the train was not moving. I peered out of the curtain and saw a sign: "Dar Es Salaam"! I quickly woke Luke up and we woke up the kids. We grabbed our bags and headed out into the dark and muggy train station, it was 3 am.

Getting close to Morogoro.

And 3 days later we were back on the train, ready to ride the rails back to our Kigoma.

Aaron is all smiles on our return train ride.

The cabin.

April Update

Hello dear praying friends, and a late Happy Easter to all of you.

Evangelism Update

Last time we wrote to you was in February after our 3 day seminar on the topic of Muslim evangelism. I am pleased to say that a handful of believers have continued visiting people in the Gungu neighborhood once a week, on Tuesday afternoons. Some continue to show interest but few are ready to make any commitment or decision. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would open the eyes of those who have been blinded by Satan to the truth of the Gospel.

Disciples of Jesus School

A little more than a week after the seminar on evangelism the “Disciples of Jesus” wooden classroom building was broken into in the night and the 18 plastic chairs that we use were stolen. We reported it to the police but nothing has been recovered. We rejoice in our sufferings because suffering produces perseverance. Pray that we would continue to rejoice and persevere.

The “Disciples of Jesus” school has continued and the first term will end with an exam on Friday. Then we take a 2 week break before beginning again. We have had 4 ministry trips  (see previous post) to village churches with the students this term, which has kept me busy as I drive them to each village. We divided the students into 2 groups and they take turns leading and teaching Sunday School, and preaching (for the men) the short message and the main message. They have done well and we advise and evaluate them each time.

Annual General Meeting

At the end of March our family took the “Express Train” to Dar Es Salaam. We rented a cabin and spent 2+ days seeing the Tanzania countryside. The train is not really “Express” but it is nicer than the old train. When we got there we had our Annual General Meeting of missionaries with Steve and Gill Davies (Echoes of Service) and Harry & Ruth Johnson. As a bonus we got to spend a day at a water park with the kids while there, before returning to Kigoma by train.

CMML and Echoes of Service missionaries in Tanzania.

Visitors

In Dar Es Salaam my parents met up with John Kinlaw and his son Isaac, arriving from North Carolina, who are interested in the possibility of serving God in Kigoma. They flew back together and spent the nearly 2 weeks with us, seeing the different ministries. We really enjoyed our fellowship together and the encouragement they were to us. Pray for wisdom for the Kinlaws as they seek the Lord’s guidance for them in the coming days.

Easter

On Easter Sunday we went to the village church of Sambala. The road was very muddy going and even worse returning as it rained for most of the service. Praise the Lord for His protection, and that we did not get stuck.

Seminar on Family

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, following Easter we have had a seminar on the Christian family, talking about child rearing, husband and wife responsibilities, budgeting and other topics. It was well attended with over 40 coming each day. Pray for God’s word to change the church families for the better, and that Christ’s love and light would shine through them to others.

Our family
Last week we enjoyed a visit from the cousins that live in Burundi, Jesse and Joy Johnson and their boys. They all spent a day sailing on Grandpa's boat and many other outings that mostly involved swimming. Our girls are always eager to take part in any social event and look forward to our weekly missionary meetings, the lunches we share with our unsaved Latvian friend and her daughter, and even the yearly easter egg hung in our yard.

Upcoming

My father and I have been planning a boat trip to visit and minister in some southern churches. We may be gone 7 - 10 days. Please pray for Gina as she takes care of the 4 kids while I am gone, that God would give her grace and strength. Pray for preparations, last minute repairs, and who to take along to help and minister. Pray for protection, fruitful ministry, and mutual encouragement.

Thank you so much for lifting us up before the Father, the God of miracles.

In Him we trust,

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

Ministry trips with the students

Here are a few photos of the last ministry trips with the students from the "Disciples of Jesus" school.

Helping haul sand for a village church building.

Starting sunday school at the Kirando church.

Sunday school at Kirando.

All done with church and heading back down for a quick lunch and then the drive home.

Spotting the MV Liemba at the Kirando harbor.

Crossing the ferry at the Malagarasi River.

Sunday school at the Sunuka church.

Sunday school at Sunuka.

The students on the ferry, heading back home.

Seminar Update

Hello dear praying friends and family. 

I thought I would give you a quick update of the seminar on Muslim evangelism which we had at our Gungu chapel Monday through Wednesday. 

It went very well. We averaged around 30 people per session. Monday was all teaching (morning and afternoon) with 4 sessions. On Tuesday there were 2 sessions in the morning and 1 in the afternoon, followed by evangelism. We divided up into 6 groups of 2 or 3 people each. (We did not force anyone who did not feel ready to go). Each group went to a different neighborhood road and we went door to door to talk to people about Christ and the Gospel. We took with us tracts and gospels of John. It was scary and exciting. 

Japhet teaching one of the sessions.

Each group went at its own pace. The report the next day confirmed that our neighborhood has quite a few more Muslims than "Christians". Some encountered opposition from the Muslims, but most were at least willing to listen, and accept literature, and some even allowed us to pray for them at the end. Some of the "Christians" were nominal Christians or Catholics, or no longer attending church, so they needed the Gospel and/or encouragement too. 

Wednesday was a similar format to Tuesday and we went out again to evangelize in the afternoon. All in all it was a very good experience for all of us. It was wonderful to see the excitement of the believers as they shared their reports of how things went in their group. 

Mzee Maisha witnessing to a group of youth.

We want to thank all of you who prayed for us. We know that God heard your prayers and strengthened us for the task. Please keep praying, that this would be an ongoing exercise and that in the long term it would bear fruit. We need persistence to reach the Muslims, whose minds have been blinded to the truth for so long that it is difficult for them to receive God's Word, which is the only thing that can change them. Keep praying for us. With God all things are possible.

We thank God for your partnership in the Gospel,

Sincerely,

Luke Johnson

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

And another video

Here is a link to a short video that CMML put together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEy9QF9rTLA&feature=youtu.be

Video post

Here is a video we made for our church in Yakima, WA.
It gives a little glimpse into our daily lives.

Just click on the link:

TDBC Video January 2017

2016 in Review

Here is a link to a collection of photos from 2016.

Click HERE to see the photos.

We count it a blessing to serve the Lord in Tanzania, East Africa.
You are welcome to come and visit us!