Much has happened in the last few months and we would like to update you.
Regional Elder's Conference
We had a good elder's conference for our 3 western regions of Tanzania. 44 elders attended from 30 different churches and we had 8 sessions of teaching on Servant Leadership and Humble Leadership, followed by 2 days of business meetings. Pray for God's blessing on these elders, that they might be filled with God's word and His Spirit to shepherd the flock and serve humbly.
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| Seminar teaching for the elders. |
Disciples of Jesus School
We have started our third and last term of our discipleship school. We now have 6 students, as one from last year returned to finish his last term. Pray that God would provide for these students and guide them as to how they can serve him when they return to their local churches. They are all young men.
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| Photo of students with their mentor, Daudi. |
Johnson Reunion
In July we drove, took a bus and then a train to get to a Johnson family reunion on the coast of Kenya. We enjoyed 5 days together, celebrating Harry and Ruth Johnson's 50 years of marriage. We thank the Lord for a wonderful godly heritage. All 7 of their children and their spouses are walking with the Lord and most are in full time service for the King. It is by His grace.
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| Celebrating Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary. |
After that we returned to Kigoma with our daughter Emily, for her summer break. We enjoyed some time at the beach, night fishing and sailing. Emily has just returned to boarding school in Kenya (Rift Valley Academy) for her 11th grade year. Esther spent a full summer at a bible camp in Ohio, but now has begun her sophomore year of nursing studies at Cedarville University. The 3 boys are about to start their homeschooling with Gina.
*As a side note... We can no longer send mail thru the Post Office to the US from Tanzania. So if you would like to write an encouraging note to Esther, I know she'd greatly appreciate it. 😊
Here is her address:
Esther Johnson
251 N. Main St. #4370
Cedarville, OH 45314
Conferences
Two weeks ago we had a 3 day evangelistic conference in the village of Sambala. There was door to door evangelism with tracts, outside meetings with choirs and gospel preaching and Christian films shown at night. We thank God for the good response. Pray for lasting fruit and that the local church would follow up with the contacts that were made.
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| Door-to-door ministry. |
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| Open air preaching. |
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| One of many choirs singing. |
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| Some of the crowd gathered to listen. |
At the end of September we plan to attend another 3 day conference at Inyonga, where David and Sara serve as Tanzanian missionaries sent from our town church here in Kigoma. We hope to encourage them and also have some Bible teaching and evangelism. It is about an 8-9 hour drive so pray for God's protection for us and that our journey would be profitable for Christ's kingdom.
Work Permit Renewal
Luke has applied to renew his work permit. Please pray for it to be granted so we can continue serving here. Last time we applied we were told it was our final grant, but we know God is able to work in the hearts of rulers.
Thank you for praying for us. The God we worship is able to keep us from stumbling and bring us into his eternal and blessed kingdom. Let's keep serving while it is still day.
In Christ,
Luke and Gina Johnson