We know that since our last letter, your summer has officially ended and fall has arrived. The leaves are changing, and the hot summer days are getting fewer. Here in Tanzania, it is the complete opposite. We are heading into our summer months, which seem to have started earlier than usual this year. We have already had many hot days, followed by days that are even hotter. We are glad when we get to write another letter to try and give you a glimpse at what God is doing here in Morogoro, Tanzania.
One of our faithful church members, Bibi Deo, passed away, and although we were sad to say goodbye, we were rejoicing that she was in Heaven, with no more pain and no earthly struggle. At her funeral, I was able to preach and present the Gospel. Mama Rama, a lady who had been “looking” for God, was standing next to one of our church members and was able to get all her questions answered. She trusted in Christ and is now a faithful member at our church.
Our kids’ Wednesday night Bible program is growing. When we started it, we had 15 kids, and now we average 100. What started out as a few, God has multiplied. We also recruited more helpers from our church as well. They seem to be happy and growing spiritually, and each week we have more first-time visitors. We divide the kids into teams by color: red, green, blue, and yellow. They need to earn their team-color shirts. They check in each week to earn points. Coming, bringing visitors, and bringing their Bibles are just a few ways in which they can earn points. It was a new process for them, but over time, they are getting it. Each week goes much smoother than the previous one.
Our Grace Baptist Church Bible College is still going. We meet the last Saturday of every month. We currently have 10 students enrolled. I have wanted to do some teaching on Baptist history. There are currently no books or really any information on that topic in Swahili, so I had the privilege of translating over 50 pages or so into Swahili. We will be studying this topic for a few months or so.
We have a bus route in the area called Mikese. It’s about a 50- to 55-minute bus ride one way. We always have a full bus on Sundays, but on Wednesdays, we don’t have a bus go out that far due to the fact that Wednesday night is a much shorter service. We have been praying for a while for someone who could go out there on another night of the week to have like a midweek-type service. One of our members and his family have decided to have a meeting on Thursdays. They meet at one of the members’ houses and have a midweek-type service. They have been averaging 25 or so. We do thank God for Daniel and his family’s willingness to go help these folks.
We organized a community cleanup project. Some of our folks gathered together and helped pick up the trash around our church’s neighborhood. We picked up plastic soda bottles, bottle caps, plastic bags, paper, etc. Even some of the people in the community joined in. We had the local mayor and a representative of the District Commissioner of Morogoro come out with us to help promote cleanliness. We just wanted to let the folks know we care about the community and that they are welcome to come to church any time.
Thank you all again for all your prayer and financial support. We know that we couldn’t be here without the help of you. Each one of you are very important to us. Thanks again for your investment here in Morogoro, Tanzania.
Your representatives,
Mshama, Martha, Esther, Benjamin, & Rachel Kinyonga
