Jerry Wyatt Jr. Prayer Letter: Where Has the Time Gone?

In our last update, we wrote that Sarah was coming home to Tanzania for a couple of months. What a miracle and answer to prayer that was. We find it hard to believe, but she is already back at college and will be starting classes tomorrow. “Where has the time gone?” Even harder to believe is that we brought her to Tanzania 21 years ago, when she was just 4 months old. “Where has the time gone?” We certainly understand more than ever the need to heed the challenge from the Word of God to redeem the time. How quickly time passes; and before we know it, we are asking the age-old question, “Where has the time gone?”

God has opened YET another new door of ministry opportunity worthy of your investment of time in prayer! There truly is freedom of religion here in Tanzania, with two 40-minute “religion” periods set aside each week in every public school in Tanzania. Can you imagine??? Most of the time, those periods are back-to-back, giving us 80 minutes of class time a week, which we call Vipindi vya Biblia (“Bible Sessions”). Praise the Lord! Just this past week, Faith Baptist Church was invited to teach the Bible in a seventh public school here in Tabora. We are now teaching in three elementary schools, three secondary schools, and one teacher’s college. Timothy, two Tanzanians, and I are currently teaching those seven classes. Please pray that the Lord would touch the hearts of more Tanzanian believers to enter the fabulous harvest in the public schools of Tanzania.

WE HAVE WATER TO THE CHURCH BUILDING! Just this month, the baptistry was filled for the first time using city water. Praise the Lord!! We have attached a picture of Yohana filling the baptistry. Again, we thank all who prayed for and provided financial help in making this possible. What a blessing it is to the church.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE STARTING OF FAITH COLLEGE–TABORA. Amazingly enough, the date is 11 years to the day Faith College–Morogoro was started. It is such a blessing to see so many of those who were there 11 years ago still faithful serving the Lord!! We trust and pray that Faith College–Tabora will be a conduit through which God in His grace can touch the lives of the believers here in Tabora and mold them into the image of Christ.

In the last two months, we have been kept busy with several special days:
1. A seminar on music was held. When asked how many of the attendees had ever seen a written line of music, the response was astounding. Not one of the Tanzanians attending the seminar had ever even seen a written line of music. An understanding of the overwhelming power of music to influence—for good or bad—is sadly lacking among the Tanzanian believers. An analogy was drawn between giving an army assault rifle to someone who has never even held a gun and giving someone the ability to push a few buttons on a keyboard to “create” music with any rhythm and volume, but with no idea of the effects—good or bad—of that “creation.” We will be including an expanded version of the seminar in the new Faith College–Tabora.
2. Kids’ Day was held on the Saturday before our Anniversary Sunday. (Some pictures are attached.) Almost every child who attended Kids’ Day was back for church on Sunday. All the members of the winning team were present on Sunday.
3. On Sunday, August 5, Faith Baptist Church–Mpela celebrated its 2nd anniversary. It was a very well attended Sunday, with dinner on the grounds and a total of 6 believers baptized.
4. The last Sunday of August became a special Public School Day planned by God. It started out when the seventh graders who attend our Bible Session at Mwanzo Elementary School approached Sarah and asked if they could come to church to be prayed for before their national seventh-grade testing, which determines if and where they go on to secondary school. They added that they would also pitch in to provide food for the event, which they did. Many of the young ladies had trusted Christ with Sarah last year when the class was first started. The church provided transportation from their school, and 11 seventh graders, together with 5 of their family members, came. That was blessing enough, but God was not finished. He does “. . . exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” The very same day, 5 students came from our Bible Session at Uyui Secondary school for the first time. These young men ranged in age from 19 – 22 years old. Praise the Lord!

The Wyatt Family