Greetings from Tanzania! We pray that this letter finds you all well and happy in the Lord. It’s hard to believe that April is almost over. The year truly seems to be flying by. We want to thank all of you who sent cards and emails, wishing Esther a happy birthday. Talking about time flying—she is six years old already! Who would have imagined that?! She had a great birthday party, and she was so happy to receive all those birthday wishes.
Grace Baptist Church is continuing to grow, for which we give all the credit to God. It is He Who gives the increase and allows people to come, stay, and grow. It’s always encouraging, though, to see people not only visit and leave but also come back week after week and stay and thrive. We have 150-160 each week, with a high day (apart from Easter) of 195 the first week of April. We are excited about the high days, but we are glad for the constancy. We don’t want a high week, then low, then high, etc. Stability is where you can see people grow and see lives changed for the greater.
Easter, of course, was a big day for us and a busy one, as well. We had the church service during our Bible hour. During the main service, we had four weddings, so we had all four weddings back to back to back to back. None of the couples had a lot of money to put on a wedding, so that’s why I combined all four that day. We supplied the food, the extra seating, and the tent. It was worth it. What better way to celebrate Easter than with weddings?! Our church people who had cameras helped take pictures. We had an IT man who goes to our church help with the music. All of us working together helped keep the cost lower but still allowed the couples to have first-class weddings. It was my first time doing a wedding, so I was a little nervous with the first one. By the time the fourth one came, there was clearly not as much pressure. The Lord truly blessed, and that day we had 375 in attendance.
The week prior to Easter, we had the kids’ Easter-egg hunt, because we knew the actual day of Easter was going to be crazy. We had close to 100 kids, and they came out and searched for eggs. As many eggs as they returned, that’s how many pieces of candy they received. It was just a fun day for them, and we were grateful this year we could do the hunt on our own property.
Our Bible college is going well. The students we have are really enjoying the classes. I’m grateful that we have the opportunity to have one. We are still a new church. As time goes by, I am looking forward to seeing how God is going to grow and use this ministry. We were also able to get into two new schools as well. The door is wide open for the public schools, and there are so many here. With the two new ones, we are in a total of seven schools. Please continue to pray that we can train more of our people to be able to get into the schools.
We are grateful for all of you and appreciate you all. Thank you for taking the time to read our letter. Please know that you are welcome to visit and see firsthand where and how your money is being used. Please continue to pray for us as we push ahead with the Gospel here in Morogoro, Tanzania.
Your missionaries to Tanzania,
Mshama, Martha, & Esther Kinyonga
