Spiritual Emphasis Week

Last week was Spiritual Emphasis Week at the Mwanza Bible College. Rob Shipley, missionary from Uganda, was our guest speaker for the week.

We had chapel services in the mornings with the students and the church people were invited to join us for the evening services. Rob was a real blessing to our students as he encouraged us to be leaders who are led by the Spirit and who preach and teach the whole Word of God. Rob gave them much to "chew" on from the scriptures; some of it was contrary to to their culture and will take time to "swallow" and "digest".

Whenever you ask, "If anyone has a need, please come to the front for special prayer" you can usually expect almost 100% of the students to come forward. They have serious needs and the only source they have to receive answers is through prayer to God and his provision.

On the last evening we had those students and church members who wanted to be filled with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit or refilled with the Spirit to come forward and probably 90% of the people came forward.

We had many refilled with the Holy Spirit and several church people who received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit for the first time. We had one woman who came forward and was demon possessed and she was set free after being prayed for by some of the women in the church.

We praise the Lord for his blessings on our Spiritual Emphasis Week.

Children - #2

Yesterday we spent the day at a small church outside of Mwanza in Nyakato; I wrote about this church in my last blog. However, Tim and I spent the day and observed as they touched the lives of over 300 children in their community. They do this every Saturday and they have children coming from all faiths and some with no religious affiliation at all; Muslims, Roman Catholics, Animists, and others. Their parents send them because they receive a hearty lunch, medical assistance for minor ailments and tutoring for those who are struggling in school. They are aware that the children also receive teaching in the Christian faith; however, to these families the benefits out weigh the dangers.

We watch as the staff spend their day touching the lives of these little ones with the love of Jesus. The pastor moves among them throughout the day giving a pat or a hug and calling most of them by name; the children are flourishing under the love of this pastor and his church.

Children

Last Sunday, Tim and I went to a church on the edge of Mwanza; Nyakato Assembly of God. The pastor and his wife are friends of ours and the church runs about 100-125 adults.
They have a Saturday Children's program that is amazing considering the size of the church; every Saturday they have about 300 children from the community crowd onto their property for a full day of activity.
The children are read to from the Bible, they are taught stories and have specialized activities geared to their individual ages and each one of them are fed lunch. All of these children's are either orphans or are living in poverty; the meal they receive will probably be the only one they get that day.
They have teachers who sit with those who need to learn to read and write or who are struggling in school and need some individual tutoring. They sometimes have nurses or medical personnel who are able to give minor medical assistance or treatment.
They are a small church doing something to alleviate the suffering of the needy children in their community; they receive some assistance with food costs but contribute heavily to the program themselves. When they started the program they had about 50 children coming but they continue to grow year after year.
On Sunday I looked around at the children seated in the church and could tell that they were welcome there. It doesn't seem to matter to this church that these little ones cannot contribute to the financial stability of the church or make any great contributions to the church.
They love them and welcome them because Jesus loved them and welcomed them.

Exciting Week

Some days pass with little change and one day can blend into another; however, sometimes you have special days that stand out. It's always preferable that they are memorable because something great happened or special guests came.
We have had an exciting week; some good things happened that made it a good week. We had our Tanzanian friends, Geoffrey and Christine Lugwisha over for supper and we hosted the monthly Missionary Potluck with all missionaries in the Mwanza area invited regardless of what denomination they are with. We had about 35 people last night and we had a great time.
We did have a couple of things happen that reminded us of God's protection. Earlier this week our neighbor down the road from us had armed thieves come onto their property and attempt to rob them. They didn't get anything from them but they did do bodily injury to the man who lived there and he had to have some stitches in his head.
Then, last night, after almost everyone had left following the potluck we began to smell smoke. In a few minutes the lights went out and there was smoke building up in the house. The smoke was toxic and our throats and eyes were burning as we searched for the source of the fire. Tim's five years as a fireman helped him locate the source of the fire; it was our electrical stabilizer box in the laundry room. He was able to bypass it and restore electricity and eventually the smoke and most of the toxic fumes were cleared from the house. A new stabilizer will cost around $400 but it could have been much worse. We thank God for his protection over us and our home.

Elin (Eileen)

This is a picture of Elin; she is the 19 month old daughter of our night watchman, Charles.

About two weeks ago Elin tripped near the open fire in their one room house; a large pot of water was boiling on the fire. As Elin fell, the boiling water sloshed out onto her body; she was badly burned as you can see in the picture.

When Charles arrived at our home on Saturday evening he told me about Elin's accident the night before. I asked him if she had been taken to the Doctor; he looked at me sadly and said "no". They had taken the jar of honey I had given them a few days before, mixed it with flour and smoothed it on her burns; it was all they had. Tim was gone on a twelve day ministry trip so I had no transportation.

Charles and his family are a typical Tanzanian family; they live in a world where there is no government assistance of any kind. He has no bank account or savings account. His expenses exceed his income each month even though we pay him more than the salary required by law; he has to make difficult choices. Many times he doesn't eat so that his family will have food; I give him food often when he comes to work because I know he doesn't eat much.

He has 4 children; two of them in school and the other two are younger. Sometimes his children have to sit out of school for awhile because there is no money. Charles struggles to keep them in school; he did not have the privilege of going to school more than a year or so and yet he sees the importance of education for his children.

When Charles told me the story of Elin's accident, I gave him money and sent him home to take care of her. He passed by a small dispensary on his way home and bought the items I told him he would need; pain medicine, an antibiotic, a dissenfectant to use in the water they were bathing her in and a salve to put on the burns.

When Tim arrived home a few days later he took her to a doctor at the large government hospital; he went with them to make sure she would receive treatment. It's an advantage to have a "white" person with you at such times as this. We have paid for all the medicine and medical thus far thanks to a donation given to us by an individual on the team Tim was hosting.

Elin is progressing well and seems to be healing without complications. We pray that she will have full use of her arm and that there will be little scarring.

Her mother was tearful when she came to our home and hung her head in shame because she had allowed her daughter to be injured. I smiled and gave her a quick hug, "accidents will happen" no matter where you live in the world.

I gave Elin a small stuffed bear while she was here and was rewarded with a smile. When they left a short time later she was clutching her new toy and smiling.