I am grateful to have many blessings to report from here in Tanzania. Thank you so much for your part through prayers and support.
One blessing to report is that we have gotten rain for the fields!! As I am sure many of you have been hearing in the news, this year has been predicted to be a “year of hunger” in East Africa. We praise God that rain has been falling here and even the timing that God orchestrated seems to have been perfect for when we were able to plant, etc. In fact, as I write this email, the corn in the field is about 4-feet tall! Your prayers are still needed, however, as not all areas within this region have been so fortunate as we have with regards to rain.
I am also happy to report that classes this semester have been going quite well. I am especially excited about the material I have been covering in “1 John” (with the first-year students) and “Evangelism” (with the third-year students). Continue to pray that everything the students are learning would not only be head-knowledge but would have an impact on how they live their lives and the work they do in their churches.
Our evangelism schedule continues to move forward. We are excited about the places we have already visited as well as all the places we are scheduled to visit in the coming months. This weekend we were in the region of Daudi and showed in two different villages (Friday night and Saturday night). Both of the places we visited are new areas of work for the church here so it was good to be able to encourage the people in each place with a special event like this. In each place we also had opportunity to share testimonies and do some brief teaching. We had some rain on Friday night that threatened to disrupt the film showing. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to talk to some of my family back home while the showing was happening and it seems their prayers kept it from becoming anything more than a light drizzle. This weekend we traveled together with 3 of the students from my “Evangelism” class in order to give them a chance for some “practical training”. It was so encouraging to see them at work, applying some of what they have been learning. I was also extremely blessed to hear their testimonies with regards to what God has been doing in their lives through their time at Waama. Please pray for this coming weekend when we will be in the region of Kansay visiting two different villages that are said to be in desperate need of the Gospel. As a matter of fact, all the people we have talked to refer to this area as an area of mission work for the church. There are churches that have been started in these areas but the work is slow and difficult. We actually don’t have students from either of these two villages but felt like it was important for us to go due to the significant need and, again, students will be accompanying us.
Since my last email, we also had a safe trip to Arusha. We were able to be there from January 29th to February 2nd. The goal of that long weekend was simply to recharge before beginning this busy month of teaching and village ministry. We have found that we have to schedule weekends off like that every 4 or 5 weeks or we will burn out. Even this past weekend in Kansay with all its blessings left us exhausted by the time we made it home Sunday evening…and that is at the beginning of a week of teaching! Speaking of which, thanks so much for your prayers for our health and endurance. Especially challenging are these weeks which, in addition to teaching, include a busy schedule of village ministry on the weekends. Your prayers make a difference!
With regards to another blessing, the electricity project continues to make exciting progress. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers and also for those who have been led to give toward this project. As it currently stands, the main office/classroom building is almost completely wired and will likely have electricity in the next week and a half. From that point, we will proceed with other buildings as funds become available.
I will end here for now. Thank you again for all your loving prayers and support. I am often reminded of how blessed Ben and I are to be the ones sent to this place, to be involved personally in this work, and to be able to witness first-hand the fruits of your prayers and generosity. God bless you tons!
In Christ,
Jesse Long
Mbulu, Tanzania
