Children’s Outreach in Mtwara: The Mango Tree Church

This past Saturday, we had a children’s outreach at one of the church’s that we attended last Sunday. As we were in the service, I saw that there were sooo many children there. I felt in my heart that we should do something for them so I decided to ask my team leaders if we could do an outreach there. They agreed to it so we went for it… Boy, was I in for quite the surprise. We expected 20 – 30 kids, initially. However on Saturday morning, the pastor called and said there would be about 50 – 70… When we finally arrived, there were children all around our car… We had to send the taxi back to get more snacks because 200 + kids showed up!!

We sang Swahili songs with them and Sheri told the story of David and Goliath as Janine translated. Afterwards, we had maybe 10 -20 kids raise their hands to receive salvation and many to actually say the salvation prayer when Janine asked those who wanted to receive salvation to pray with her. I later gave a testimony of how God has blessed me to dance for Him and I make sure to praise Him with my body. Then Janine and I taught them a dance and so we had a little “praise dance” party under the mango tree, which is where the pastor has service every Sunday.

We had a great time… until the end!! We passed out snacks to the kids and they were pretty reserved. However, when it was time to distribute the juices, the kids got waaaay out of hand. It was so difficult to pour simply because they were crowded so close to us…They were fighting and pushing each other so that they would make sure to get their drinks. It was so sad because we wanted to make sure that everyone received a drink but there were kids who would come back for seconds even though they knew they weren’t supposed to. We couldn’t tell who had received already…

Though I didn’t leave discouraged about our time with the kids, I did leave disheartened about the lack of resources available for them. Their reaction was a direct reflection of their poverty and lack. Please pray for transformation in the lives of the children of Mtwara. Pray that their would be no lack and that the spirit of poverty would be broken over this area…

Overall, my time in Mtwara has been great… My whole experience has been great!! I have learned much and I am continuing to grow and mature. God is making things clearer for me so that I can begin to focus more. Right now, I am involved in many things. If you know me well, you know that’s the story of my life… ☺ hahahah.. Pray with me, that I will make the right decisions on what to focus on as I move from student to full-time minister….

Blessings and look forward to hearing from me soon!!

Love you all!!

Week 4: Augutst 10 - 16

Week 4: Teaching English at Bible College; Children’s Outreach at the Mango Tree Church

We arrived in Mtwara last week to meet up with the team that is teaching at the Bible College. Like I have said before, my team leaders just started a Bible College last February and this week. The last three weeks, they have been attending classes in the church of one of the board members here. They have taken courses on the Pentateuch and the Book of Acts as well as English with Janine and I.

The English class has gone very well. The first two days were fairly difficult but on Friday there was breakthrough. They seem to understand a lot more. One of the major issues is that half of the class understands some English, and the other half has no English has little to no English background. For some of the students, Swahili is their third language and the course is taught in English with Swahili translation! That’s like me trying to learn Spanish in French! Nonetheless, they are getting and God is working. Continue to pray for them though… They are all ambitious and anxious to learn though. We are all enjoying our time together.

Week 3: August 3 -9

Week 3 was by far one of the most transitional weeks for me here in Tanzania. Though we did many things, the most impacting experience was the time that I spent in children’s ministry. I had the opportunity to be involved in children’s ministry with two children’s homes in Moshi, “KiliKids” and the “Emmanuel Center”.

Our team has visited the Emmanuel Center, a home dedicated to raising and discipling orphaned boys, for two years in a row. Every year has been a blessing for us and for them, but this year was very special for me. This year we shared dances. I taught them a dance and they taught us dances as well… Mind you, there songs are like 8 minutes long so by the time we were done, I felt like I had worked out. All in all, we had a blast!!! I laughed with them and joked with them and tussled with them… It was great. One of the boys, who is usually shy when I come around even spoke with for a long time this year. He speaks English very well, but because he was so shy when I was around, he would never say anything to me though he would smile.

He opened up one night when he noticed that my watch was “wrong.” He is accustomed to military time, so his watch read 20:00, though mine read 8:00 pm. It was sooo funny because he kept saying, in his Tanzanian way, “You’re watch “eez” wrong.” I could not, for the life of me, explain the difference between the times but we had a fun time laughing at the whole issue. Just that little “matter” opened up a door of communication between he and I. I plan to keep in touch with him through correspondence in the future so that I can continue to build a relationship with him.

We also visited KiliKids, another children’s orphanage that ministers to and disciples young children. There, I got to share my testimony with the children about my brother. Some of you may know that my little brother, Savion, passed away about 6 years ago. Due to the fact that many of these children are either orphans or have parents that do not want them, they understand what it means to suffer loss. One of my team member shared with them a story about Jesus being their friend. I “piggy-backed” her story by sharing how Jesus was my friend and was my Comfort when I lost my brother. I tried my hardest to share the story without crying, but it didn’t work!! I was a ball of tears in know time… They were sooo receptive and also very comforting. One of kids came up to me about an hour after I shared my testimony and told me again how sorry he was about my brother. It warmed my heart so much. I told the story to encourage them that no matter what losses they may have, Jesus will always be there. It was such a blessing because they received it and also loved on me!! ☺

I adore children and I hope to work with the children here on a grander scale in the future. Though I trust that God will make it clear how I can be involved here in the future, I ask that you would pray for them. The need is sooo great, yet the laborers are few! Whatever you know to pray, make your requests to God. He hears you…

There is actually another orphanage here that needs people to just hold and “love on” the children. That’s all!! Hopefully next year, I will be able to come back again with a team of others so that we can do just that… Pray about joining me next year if any of this burdens your heart at all… Or pray that the Lord would send more people to bless these children…

Still in Tanzania and Embracing It!!

There is such security and safety that we experience and that we have in the arms of such a loving Father. What a blessing!

This has been an amazing experience for me here, guys. I wish I could share everything with you, but its almost impossible. I have learned so much and have been exposed to so many things that its going to take some time when I return home just to process it all. I am enjoying every minute of it though. I will be home soon, so I look forward to seeing you all. I will be MIA for a couple of days just so that I can finish my projects and debrief in my spirit....I know I need it though… whew!!!

Since I haven’t posted in a while, I would like to give you a quick summary of what I have done the last two weeks. The following paragraphs will include a summary of weeks 3 and week 4… Enjoy!!

Right now, I am in a little restaurant called, Dubai. Interestingly enough, we’re in the southern part of Tanzania in a town called, Mtwara. Part of our Moshi team returned to America August 6th and we (Janine, one of my team leaders, Abigail, their baby girl, and I) left from Moshi to travel Mtwara on August 8th. It is here that the Antioch Missionary Bible College was launched back in February. Janine and I have been teaching the students English for the last week and will teach one more week before we leave Africa on Saturday.

Children’s Outreach: Saturday, August 1, 2009

Wow... is about all I have to say. The Children’s Outreach was wonderful today. We ministered to approximately 450 children and some received Christ. There were Muslim children there as well and it was a blessing that they were encouraged to come by their families today. Yesterday (7/31/09), we prepped for the event and prepared 700 goodie bags that included a Swahili comic book on the story of Jesus and lots of candy. We sang songs with them, danced, and also did arts and crafts. Because we had so many bags left, we plan to do an additional outreach in Pasua next Wednesday. God is great… I am eager to visit Pasua again and bless the kids. Hopefully, this will also encourage the parents of the children to come out attend.

Church Plant Visit in the Bush: Thursday, July 30, 2009

One of my most enjoyable experiences thus far was our visit to the Massai village this past Thursday. One of our team leaders, Brian Weaver, led his former Masai guard, Yohanna, to Christ years ago when he lived in Moshi, Tanzania. Yohanna later returned to his village, which is hours away from Moshi, to lead his family and friends to Christ. He planted a church there 3 years ago and last year, our team visited them when they opened the doors to their new church. This year we went to visit and encourage the new believers again and to also give testimonies. We had a great time.

Evangelism at Pasua: Wednesday, July 29

On Wednesday, we visited a town called, Pasua, just outside of Moshi (If you’re in Americus, the drive is similar to going from Americus to Plains; if you’re in Virginia Beach, it’s like traveling from Virginia Beach to Portsmouth) The leaders at Maskai Yake decided on this area because there are many Muslims there.

Though we though there would be many adults there to minister to, there were over a hundred kids that showed up. My friend, Georgia and I, danced and played with the kids the entire meeting. By the time the sun set, our feet were covered in dirt from jumping, running and dancing with the children. It was great!! Some of the other team members prayed with the adults who were standing in the distance. Overall, I think it was a successful first visit as we plan to go again next week. This time, we hope to bring goodies to the kids. One of our team members is a children’s pastor from New Jersey (by way of Egypt) and oversees ~600 kids. She was disheartened by the fact that we didn’t have anything to give the kids and so we may make goodie bags to give them next week. Prayerfully, more kids will come and we will be able to minister God’s love to even more children ☺… Napenda watoto sana (I love kids so much)..

Please pray that the parents of the children will attend the meeting and that God would grant us wisdom and strategy approach to reaching them.