Blogs from Iringa, Centre, Tanzania, Africa - page 3

Last week we were busy walking the pathways in Iringa and Ipogolo passing out fliers. We were advertizing the restart of our Saturday classes. We took a recess in order to make our special journey to Malawi. That proved to be a good two weeks of teaching Personal Evangelism. Our advertizing last week included distributing over 2,000 invitations and also having it advertized for about three days on the radio. Our morning session is conducted in a class room at the School for the Deaf. The afternoon class is conducted at the church building. We are thankful that we got off to a good start. We had a number of Christians attending at both sessions and 5 non-Christians in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Interestingly, one of our visitors said he had found a ... read more

Most parents have a natural bias toward their own offspring. Since it is expected that a father provide “for his own, and specially his own household” (1 Timothy 5:8), it is no wonder that he would also take particular interest in their development. Joy and I are very pleased with the service our children are striving to render toward others. This past Saturday, Ed and Lina Crookshank hosted a youth gathering at their home. Young people from many congregations came to participate. There was a table prepared in the driveway where those arriving could sign the register. However, after the program had started, a truckload arrived and these attendees likely did not get their names recorded. The attendance was about 130 young men and women. Once it was time to begin, everyone took a seat on ... read more

The apostle Peter, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, explained the purpose of baptism. Baptism "doth now save you . . . not the putting away of the filth of the flesh. . ." (1 Peter 3:21). Just as water was a means of saving the eight human inhabitants of the ark (1 Peter 3:20), so today water plays a role in our salvation. It does not clean the body, it is for cleansing of the soul (cf. Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 6:3, 4). This afternoon when Carey had finished teaching the Saturday afternoon session on New Testament Survey he drove with Jacob, Charles, David, and Degratius (nicknamed "Deo"). Meanwhile, I was driving with Joy, Luke, Lindsey, Editha, and Olivia. We would meet together at a petrol station. Joy had already gathered some towels and I ... read more

For those of you who may not have heard, the Samford family, our fellow missionaries here in Iringa, welcomed their newest addition to their family July 2nd. Here is a link to my personal blog if you would like to read more about it. www.alifeofjoy.blogspot.com. We appreciate the prayers of many Christians who have been praying for a safe delivery. We are so thankful to God for a healthy momma and baby!... read more

I wish to introduce you to two Tanzanians. One is a young man and the other is a young lady. Charles and I have been having studies with Alex. He is a bright youth who seems to have keen interest in learning the Word of God. He is presently living in one small room. When we arrive at his room for class, Jacob and I duck as we go through the small doorway. Alex opens the shutter board that covers the small window. I sit on the small bed beside him, since it takes up much of the room. Jacob sits upon a small wooden stool that is about 11 inches off the ground. A chair is positioned in front of us to serve as a table, and I write each verse in Swahili as we ... read more