A dream come true!

The longer we live in a third world country, the more we become grateful for the things God has given us and for the great country we live in! One day, as Mama Sadikieli was helping me with some housework. She noticed some old magazines sitting by the couch. She was very curious about all the things that she saw for the very first time. Each time she came to the house she always asked to look at some pictures. When the time came to replace the magazines with some newer editions, I thought of Mama Sadikieli. I asked her if she wanted to take them home with her. Her eyes lit up immediately as she said, "It was always a dream of mine to be able to hang up magazine pages on my wall. But I could never afford it. Now I can!" Here in Katesh, most houses our made of mud bricks with no plaster or dry wall to cover them. So, to make it a little more "homey" the people cover the bad spots with old newspapers and magazines. Now she can make her little one room house and "home." The things we take for granted..........

Our First Medical Missions Team

We brought in the New Year by hosting a group of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. This was a new experience for our team, so we did not know what to expect. The medical team was unable administer medicine themselves, but were able to minister to Katesh and Basotu physically and spiritually! They spent the first few days hanging over 100 mosquito nets in the local government hospital. This in itself has the potential of saving hundreds' of lives. They also hosted 2 medical seminars for the public and were able to advise over 200 people on basic health and prevention of common sickness. They were also able to hand out over 150 eyeglasses. They also hosted a medical seminar for all the health professionals in the area with a free dinner to all who attended. During there stay, 6 people trusted Christ as their Savior!

Christmas 2009

Our first Christmas in Tanzania in 2008 was a bit out of the ordinary because we had just arrived to the country. We had already opened our presents with our family before we left the states and were living out of our suitcases. We were blessed to be with Tricia's brother as his family, but it was still not the same. This year, we were able to put up a Christmas tree and a few decorations. We had the Burkholder's and the Wolf's over to the house on Christmas night to eat appetizers, have a gift exchange and sing some Christmas carols. God blessed us with a great time with family and friends in our new home as we celebrated the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ. We praise Him for a great first year in Tanzania!

Youth Camp 2009

Each December the churches from the Baptist Bible Mission of Tanzania join together for a youth camp. This year we had 29 students from Katesh and the new Basotu church go to camp this year. Out of the 100 campers there, 9 students accepted Christ as their personal Savior. It was another fun year! Please join us in prayer for these teenagers that their passion for the Lord will not "fizzle" after the excitement of camp wears off.

Truth Learning Center Graduation

Another ministry of the TRUTH Center is Truth Learning Center. The Truth Learning Center is a English medium school started by our missionary partners, the Burkholders. The school currently has up to 2nd grade and it is our vision to add a grade each year until grade 7. Natalie oversees the daily running of the school and has recently trained Tricia to manage the school while she is away on furlough. Each year we have a big graduation day for the kindergarden students entering into the first grade. It is held on a Sunday morning for all the church members to witness. Also it gives a great opportunity to preach the Gospel to many unsaved parents. We praise the Lord for a great school year!

Bible School Graduation

One of the ministries of the TRUTH Center is Truth Bible Institute. We join with other missionaries and their churches to train future pastors, teachers and those who are faithful church members. Each year several students from each church graduate from class one and class two. We had the honor of graduating 4 class one students from the ministry here in Tanzania. Brad was even given the opportunity to teach some classes that weekend for the Bible students.

Siku ya Vijana- Youth Day!

On October 3, we had a day of activities for the youth of Katesh. We had various sports tournaments, games, a movie, food. We had over 100 teenagers! Five accepted Christ as their personal Savior. The youth of the church were so encouraged and saw the fruits of their labor.