Reaching Out To Tanzania

The church in Ikungu has 13 believers and they are currently meeting in a school classroom. Again the church is built on the miraculous. For instance one person was paralyzed for 3 straight years. The church had an outdoor meeting and the man was carried to the meeting on his bed (ring any bells to a similiar New Testament story). At the end of the meeting they laid hands on him and prayed for him and instead of being carried home on his bed he walked home carrying his bed. The whole village was stunned and followed him all the way back to his house. Many people have been drawn to the church to hear more.

One of my favorite quotes of the trip was from a group of young boys who saw the car drive up the church and came running to see what was up. When they saw me they began to whisper among themselves, my pastor friend heard one exclaim that man must really scrub when he takes a bath, he scrubs his skin white.

We would like to welcome Pastor Chuck Devos and Osceola Assembly of God to the Tarafa Project.  We thank God they are able to partner with to us build two Tafara Chuches in the Western District of Tabora.  Because of their help, we only have two Tarafa left to reach in this region!  One by one, we will see each Tarafa reached for Christ.  Want to join Pastor Chuck and help build a church?  Click here to find out how!

Lions had been eating people's goats on the outskirts of town and the villagers were sick of it. So the whole village decided they would do something about it. The got a couple of guns and everyone else grabbed machetes and spears and off they went on a hunt. They took off in the thick bush tracking these lions and it wasn’t long until they found them. Not being super hunters they were able to get off a shot of one of the 4 lions but they only ended up wounded her, NOT a good scenario. So they had a powwow and decided that they would keep after them. As they got further in the bush the villagers became more and more jumpy, this was a place where you could get ambushed and killed by these lions, especially a wounded one. So when they tracked down the lions to a thicket all of the villagers ran away except for the pastor and 2 others. The only weapons they had were machetes and a spear. Well off into the thicket they crept and suddenly the happened upon the pride. The three lions took off running but the wounded one had had enough and she charged and attacked one of the villagers, biting him in the thigh and shaking him vehemently. The pastor without even a second thought charged in to help this poor villagers and he began to slash at the lion with his machete. Finally he battled with her enough till she dropped her prey and weakly dropped to the ground where she was finally killed. When the villagers finally came back they found the wounded man and the all but dead lioness with the pastor standing nearby. They were amazed. They said what kind of a man is willing to risk his life for a man who isn’t even a relative. And from that day they have held him in respect

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Assembly of God Bible School (AGBC) in Dodoma to preach ‘Missions Emphasis Week.’ I together with the help of Bob and Jackie Braswell encouraged the students there to be involved with ‘Tarafa Project.’ Through teaching, stories and Q&A we helped developed a good understanding of the Tarafa Project and our Foreign Missions program. It was incredible to see how the Tarafa maps helped the students grasp how much work needed to be done to reach all of Tanzania. Through these maps, the students were able to see where their home church was, and where they themselves could be involved in planting new churches. The hearts of the students were already to respond to the missionary call. The questions, which the students had at the beginning of the week turned into a positive challenge to reach their country for Christ. One Student said to me, “We cannot simply pass the baton onto the students who will follow us. Instead, we need to be their example of how to give to missions, and allow God to use us.” By the end of the week I was greatly encourage by the passion the students showed for reaching their own nation. Each of these students will soon go back to their own churches and preach the message of missions. As they do, they will be equipped with the proper tools needed for encouraging their congregations for God’s work.

Enclosure