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.

The TRUTH Learning Center

The TRUTH Learning Center was started by our ministry partners, Steve and Natalie Burkholder in 2007. The original intent was to have a nursery and Kindergarden to give the local children a good start to their education and a to introduce them to Christ at an early age. However, after a year, the parents and local government requested that we add more grade to have a complete primary school up to grade seven. We now have over 50 students up to 1st grade. We will add 2nd grade in December and one grade each year to follow. We praise the Lord for the opportunity to give these children the only Christian education in our whole district. Here are a few pictures of the the building process that we are in right now to add more classrooms.

While in Tanzania, we are serving with several other families of like faith. There are missionaries in several different parts of the country that are starting churches, schools, orphanages, and medical clinics. Lazaro is a faithful church member and Bible student in one of those churches located in the city of Arusha (about 4 hours from our town) He is part of the Maasai tribe. The Maasai is the largest tribe in Northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. He asked us to visit the village where he is originally from and where all his family still live. We made our first trip to visit the Masaai this weekend. It was quite and adventure and was filled with many new experiences! As we entered the area of the homes, we were greeted by his father, mother (plus his father's second wife) his grandmother and all the children from each one of the wives and grandchildren! The children greeted us with bowing down in order for us to touch the top of their head. We were then ushered into the hut of the Bibi (or grandmother) for a delicious bowl of old curdled milk mixed with corn. Then after we got our fill of that, we then went to the father's hut to eat rice and beans with a cup of hot tea. After our visit, Brad was able to pray for the family in Kiswahili as Lazaro translated it into Kimaasai. We then traveled down into the center of the village for an open market where we passed a portion of God's Word to hundreds of the the Maasai people. It was such a great experience to see Lazaro reaching out to his own people. When Lazaro first became a Christian, his whole village looked at him as being crazy. Through his testimony, Lazaro is now a respected man in his village and many people have accepted Christ. It is Lazaro's desire to move back to his village and start a church so they can hear the Word of God every week.

Worlds Apart

We have now been in Tanzania for almost 8 months. We are adjusting to the many changes in our daily life; the food, weather, bugs, landscape, the people and the language (just to mention a few!) We praise the Lord for a smooth "ride" so far. He has meet our every need! Recently we needed some bricks delivered to our house to build a small shed. I looked out the window to find some cows outside the dining room window hauling a large wooden cart. This method was used many years ago in the US, but it still works here in Tanzania. As mentioned we are getting used to many new things! This picture is a good illustration how we can be worlds apart, but yet we can accomplish the same tasks. Just at very different speeds!

A Trip to Civilization for Baby Sarah

My brother, Steve and his wife, Natalie had their third child June 4th, 2009. Her name is Sarah Elisabeth Burkholder. Both Natalie and Sarah are happy and healthy. My (Tricia) mom was able to spend two weeks in Nairobi, Kenya to help take care of the kids while Natalie recovered from her surgery. Brad and I took advantage to meet Sarah and to visit my mom. An additional bonus was to visit Nairobi, Kenya to enjoy some civilization and good restaurants! While we were there, we went to a giraffe park. We learned that the giraffe has a very clean mouth and its saliva is actually a great antiseptic. That little fact may explain why Brad actually fed one from his lips!

Some Thirsty Guests

About 2 weeks ago we noticed a strange smell when we turned the water on. We prepared ourselves for the worst and thought we would be cleaning out a clog in our septic system. We soon discovered that was not the problem. We were never so relieved and the problem that we were about to discover was nothing! Brad climbed up to our water tank to find hundred's if not over 1,000 bees inside our tank! With the help of Kingu, he and Brad managed to kill them all with a little smoke and several cans of insect killer. What a sight to see Kingu with Brad's motorcylce helmet on his head, running around the yard with a can of "Doom" in each hand chasing the bees! Here is a picture of Kingu scooping out the left over bees out of the tank. This is our new life in Tanzania!

The Birth in Basotu

We wrote in our last prayer update about the first church plant out of Truth Baptist Church in Katesh. Fellow missionary, Nate Wolf and Tananian church member, Christopher are pastoring the new church. They had their first Sunday service the first weekend in May. That weekend, church members from the Truth Baptist Church spent the weekend in Basotu preparing for the first service. A team of Bible students volunteered their time to play games, sing songs, hand out invitations, and preach to crowds of people. Four people trusted Christ as their Savior! We also were able to show some Christian films on Friday and Saturday in front of the church. Seeing a "movie" in their small village sure drew a crowd! Here are a few pictures of the events that weekend.

Ladies from Katesh (Mama Emma, Mama Hidijah, Mama Joshua, and Mama Frankie) enjoy some free time before the service

The crowd gathers before the service begins on Saturday

The mass "Exodus" of children to hear a Bible lesson