Greetings in Chirst Jesus! I have just arrived back in Mbulu (city nearest Waama Bible School) after nine days of intense ministry in the Tanzanian countryside with Pastor Kevin Olson and the team he brought with him from the States.We split our team into two smaller teams and we were able to present a short program over 20 times. We did most of these in churches, but also in a number of high schools and even in one town square.
We also showed the Jesus film over 15 times, many times in the local dialect. This was the first time many of these people had heard the gospel message in their language or even seen the Jesus film. (The dubbing into the local language was finished just weeks before we arrived and we were priviledged to be the first ones to show the Jesus Film to the masses.) In all, thousands of people saw the Jesus Film and hundreds of people got their lives right with God through our program, the preaching (by Tanzanian pastors), and the Jesus Film. It was a tremendous jump-start to Jesse and my ministry here in Tanzania. Lord willing, I will be able to send some pictures at a later date.
We now have a couple days of much needed rest here at Waama Bible School, then we will go on a sight-seeing safari for a day. Then the team will leave for the US on Friday. Jesse and I are slated to start language school on Monday the 21st.
This last week and a half has been absolutely amazing in so many ways: seeing the Lord work in so many lives, seeing the Tanzanian church, meeting the leaders of the Tanzanian church, seeing the Bible School (even being able to stay in the house we will be renting!), and being able to do all this with Kevin Olson (missionary who has been here and has a good reputation in the area). God is truely a gracious God. Praise His name.
We do have some prayer requests you can pray for, too.
- Jesse and I will be needing a lot of extra grace as we head to language school. Pray for a supernatural ability to absorb the language. We have six weeks to learn Swahili well enough to teach in it!
- Pray too for wisdom as we learn the culture and interact with the church, especially the church leadership. We have much to learn about protocol and how things work in this country.
- Pray for us as we undoubtedly will start to go through culture shock at some point in the future. Things have been so busy that we have not had time to go through culture shock yet.
Thank you for the part that you are playing in reaching the Tanzanians for Christ and in building up the church here. May God richly bless you for your partnership with me.
Serving Him,
Ben Jore
