Juma's Burden For His Village

In the picture above is Juma and his family. They are new members at our church in Mayoka. Since joining the Central Baptist Church of Mayoka, Juma has asked Pastor Pelegrino about the possibility of starting a church in his home village of Kimaga - a village with no church of ANY kind. 

When Pelegrino went to visit this village with the intention of surveying the area for a potential church plant, over 150 people gathered to listen to the Word of God. They had many, many questions about God, the Bible, and salvation. Pele also shared with them he and Juma's burden to start a church in their village. He asked them what they would normally do on a Sunday since there was no church in their village. They told him that some people just stay home while others follow traditional religion and go to the mountain to pray to their dead ancestors. Here is yet ANOTHER Tanzanian village in complete spiritual darkness! What a joy it is to bring the light of the glorious gospel of Christ to places like Kimaga! 

Since that time Pele has been able to return to this village again to preach the gospel to them and ask if there is interest in starting a church there. Pele received an overwhelmingly positive response. We are now in the process of buying some plastic tarps for them to meet under as we begin the initial stages of a new church plant.

Bill & Tammy Brouwer

Tanzania

Building Dedication

This past Sunday we had a celebratory service for the Charity Baptist Church in the village of Bundilya. It was their first time to meet in their new building. I'll let this short video give more details...

Powerful Display of God's Word To Change a Life

We witnessed a powerful display of God’s Word to change a life during our week-long revival meeting at the church in Fumagira the week before Christmas. There were a total of 47 adult salvation decisions during the meeting, however, the salvation of one lady demonstrated the mighty power of the Word of God to convict and convert even one held in bondage by Satan.

As we have mentioned many times before, the villages where we are planting churches are steeped in witchcraft. Before hearing the truth of the Gospel, the people in these villages live in constant fear of curses and under the heavy influence of witchdoctors.  They believe the spirits of their deceased ancestors control every aspect of their lives.  They build little wooden huts for these ancestral spirits to live in.  They cook extra food to place in these huts in order to feed their dead ancestors.  The witchdoctors claim that they can communicate with these spirits.  When people experience trouble or what they consider bad luck, they visit the witchdoctor.  He claims that he can appease your dead ancestors in order to change your luck.  In reality, these people are opening up their souls to Satan and his demons.

 
This particular lady who was converted at our revival meeting was invited to this meeting by one of our church members at Fumagira.   We discovered later that this was the first time that this lady had ever attended a church in her entire life.  Kitabo, a preacher from a church in Bariadi, preached on the topic of witchcraft that evening. Kitabo knows all about witchcraft since he was a witchdoctor before becoming a Christian. As his message was coming to a close this lady fell to the ground and began yelling and screaming for almost ten minutes. Pastor Pelegrino and some other leaders in the church calmly took her aside and opened the Word of God. As they did so a guttural animalistic voice uttered unintelligible words from her mouth.  She was obviously being harassed by the forces of evil. At one point her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she went unconscious for a short time. When she came to she couldn’t remember anything that had just happened. They spent the next hour giving this lady the message of the Gospel. She desperately wanted deliverance and received Jesus Christ as her Savior.

 

She instantly became a new creature in Christ! She came every night of these meetings. She attended the Christmas service. She helped the ladies who cooked the meal for the Christmas service. Even her countenance was transformed! She looked like a different person. During our baptismal service on Christmas Day, she publicly declared her faith in Christ and submitted to believer’s baptism.  We are thrilled to report that she continues to faithfully attend our church at Fumagira, and she is growing in grace.  God’s Word has not lost its power. It is still “quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12).

Revival in Fumagira!

It was a busy week for Fumagira. Pastor Pelegrino, Pastor Petro, Pastor Naftary, and Kitabo organized a week long evangelistic meeting that led into a special combined service on Christmas Day. I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking...

Nightly Evangelistic Meetings

Each evening there was preaching. This is Kitabo preaching.

Of course there was singing. 

This lady in the middle got saved during these meetings. More on her story in another blog.

The Jesus Film or another Gospel film was shown to a large crowd each night.

Christmas Day Combined Service

Fumagira hosted this year's Christmas service. They started in February saving money to decorate. 

Sure looks festive!

Christmas morning people started arriving from each of the six churches. Boy can they pack a truck!

Each of the choirs from the six churches sang specials they have been working on for some months. Many even had matching outfits made!

The most important part of the day is the PREACHING. Here is a 20 second video clip of Pastor Naftary preaching in Kiswahili and then Kitabo translating it into the mother-tongue of most of the people, Kisukuma

This is one of the 57 who were baptized after the service. What a joy to see so many older people who have trusted Christ as their Savior and then followed in believer's baptism!

And of course we train them to be good Baptists by having a meal afterwards.

Church building requriements...

Land? Building permits? Surveying fees? Architectural drawings? Zoning clearance? How about a  MANGO TREE...

Back in May of 2012 the church in Fumagira helped Bonifice start a new church plant in the village of Kikano. They began meeting under a mango tree. 

At the beginning of the rainy season we purchased a tarp so the church could continue to meet in spite of the rain. Each week Bonifice arrives early in order to put up the tarp. And at the end of the service he takes it down and carries it back home. (This is done so that it is not stolen during the week.) 

Boniface continues to be faithful.  The church is now averaging 50-60 each Sunday. There are 30 baptismal candidates attending classes in preparation for our next baptism being held on Christmas Day.

Initiative

As you know, we just got back from a short trip to the States. We had a wonderful time and are ready to get back at the work God has called us to do.

When we got home Bill spoke with Pastor Pelegrino about all that has been happening while we've been gone. Sadly, he has had to deal with three different instances of adultery with some leaders at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Igekemaja. Please make this a matter of prayer as Bill walks Pastor Pelegrino through the process of dealing with this sin issue in the church.

However, all wasn't sad news. Pele also shared that he and Pastor Petro called together the various pastors/leaders from several of our churches for a planning meeting. Pele explained that we were not there, and one day we would be gone and they need to learn to stand on their own. Each of the men raised the money for travel and lunch. Pele said it was a good meeting and everyone walked away encouraged and excited. Of course we were thrilled to hear of their initiative!

DETOUR

We were headed to church in the village of Kitongo today when we had to take a detour.  Detours in the bush can be quite interesting. One is never sure where the "road" is going to take them - past gardens, cows, through ditches, or what. It could be a decent detour, or like on other trips we've taken it can be a maze of thinking we'll never arrive at our destination.

Today as we drove down paths in the middle of nowhere I thought about a different kind of detour we had to take in this village. The detour we had to take was dealing with the leader who had lied repeatedly. It was a difficult time of confronting the leader with his sin, and explaining to the congregation the need for him to step down for a period of time. In Tanzanian culture even pastors can just say sorry for their adultery and it is expected that he'll not only be forgiven, but will continue in his current ministry. The church was very young and didn't understand the needed actions. For months Bill gave extra attention to this church. He preached messages on what true forgiveness means, the consequences of sin, and how a leader is held to a higher standard. It was not an easy time for this leader, for the church, nor for us.

Just like a detour that can be like a maze that makes us question the outcome, so did this detour make us wonder what the end result would be. Would the leader repent and eventually be allowed to lead again? Would the church grasp the necessity of him stepping down?  Would this fledgling church survive such counter measures to their cultural ideas?

That was just over a year ago. The detour was long and windy, but I'm thrilled to report that this church is doing great! As we sat in the service with about 100 people present, we listened as this same leader - now  the pastor - as he led the service with a humble heart, and we rejoiced.  We rejoiced that this man submitted to the Lord and repented. We rejoiced that God is full of grace and is using this man again. We rejoiced that through this detour God reminded us again that He is faithful!

Easter Series Part 3

EASTER SUNDAY

We've planned. We've prepared. We've visited. Now the day is here!

Every Easter we have a combined church service for all our churches who are able to attend. It is always a big day with much excitement. This year was no exception!

The women gathered early on Thursday to begin the tedious task of cleaning the 385 pounds of rice to be cooked on Sunday. The men slaughtered the cow Sunday morning at 5:00AM. The women arrived at 6:00AM to begin cooking. They all worked hard to provide a special meal for a HUGE crowd of people.

Now doesn't that look yummy?! That's what the beef looks like after it's been cooked - stomach, cartilage, hoofs, eyes, and all!  At this point I should be honest and  say that we desperately miss potlucks back in America!

People started arriving from  the  villages of Fumagira, Mayoka, Kitongo, Nyamasale, and even Mwanza town. 

It is amazing how many people you can fit into the back of these trucks.

With six choirs, and the children from each of the churches planning to sing and quote Scripture, Pastor Pelegrino tried to keep things moving.

The church was full to capacity with children sitting in the isles to attempt to make room for the adults to sit. However, there were still adults standing in the back. There is no way to know for sure how many were there, but we estimate somewhere around 700. 

Pastor Petro preached a clear message of salvation and 13 people came forward to receive Christ.

After the four-hour service people gathered outside for the baptisms. Due to lack of water we tend to baptize twice a year. Once during the Christmas service, and once at Easter. Sixty-three people were baptized.

To end the day bowls and bowls of rice, beans, and meat were served up. People went away that day with hearts and bellies full!

To read Part 1 click here. To read Part 2 click here.

Easter Series Part 2

PREPARATIONS

There was much work in preparation for our big, combined Easter service.  With plans for baptizing, the youth had to go to a watering hole about 1 1/2 miles away to collect water in jugs and bring it back to the church. It took several trips to fill up the tank.

One of the leaders, Ngamba, is building what will be a temporary cooking hut. The ladies will be cooking a whole cow, rice, and beans for a BIG crowd.

The children also got in on helping to prepare. Here they are bringing corn husks for making the walls of the cooking hut. 

The ladies also came and decorated the church for the special occasion. This section was for the pastors and their wives who came from the various six churches.

Easter Series Part 1

EVANGELISTIC CRUSADE

Easter Sunday is a big day in our village churches. In preparation for the big day, Pastor Pelegrino and other leaders of our churches, decided to have an evangelistic crusade at the host village of Igekemaja. 

The leaders asked our teammate, Lisa Newland, to hold a children's crusade in the afternoons. Lisa and two other pastor's wives organized games and taught the children. Two children made a profession of faith!

In the evenings they showed The Jesus Film in the local tribal language of Kisukuma. People began arriving hours before the film was to show in order to get a seat. We estimate there were about 500+ people there every night! Pastor Pelegrino brought several videos, but the people kept asking for The Jesus Film. Pele would show about 10 minutes of the DVD and then preach for a time. He wanted to be sure they were thoroughly understanding the message. There were 58 people who made a profession of faith during the week of meetings!

The goal and desire of every missionary is to train nationals to do the work of the ministry. Well, that is exactly what they did! These leaders organized and led this meeting all on their own. 

Christmas in Kitongo

Christmas 2011 found our family in the village of Kitongo. The Independent Baptist Church of Kitongo was started in October 2010. This church has had its struggles, but has continued to move forward. It was decided that they would host this year's combined Christmas service. They were thrilled to have this privilege and they worked hard over the past few months preparing for this big day. They also decided to have two days of special meetings leading up to the Sunday service. Since this village is over an hour away from our home we were invited by the H Family to stay with them. (They minister in a family-style orphanage there in Kitongo and attend our church.) What a blessing that was!

Friday and Saturday people visited in the village announcing we would be showing the Jesus Film as well as some other Christian cinemas.  It was exciting to see the people as they clapped when Jesus performed miracles, and with rapt attention watched as Jesus was horrifically crucified and then gloriously rose again! We praise the Lord for the six people who professed Christ through these special meetings.

Christmas Day - Sunday, we had a big combined service with churches coming from Fumagira, Igekemaja, and Mayoka. We had been praying for no rain during these meetings because the roads are pretty beat up with one bridge caved in and repaired. Rain could have prevented these other churches from making it out to Kitongo. The Lord answered prayer with three days of dry weather - something we've not seen much of recently. With joy the churches began arriving. They came prepared with special choir music and memory work from the children. It was neat listening to the children quote the books of the Bible and long passages of Scripture by memory. It was truly a service to look back on with much rejoicing!

On a more personal note...we spent Sunday afternoon with our friends, Dave & Becky H and their six children, Lisa Newland, Alicia Hazlett, and Larry and Bev. We opened gifts and ate a big meal, although not really a typical Christmas dinner - enchiladas, salsa, guacamole, broccoli salad, green beans, corn on the cob, and salad. No matter what it was it was, we thoroughly enjoyed it as we celebrated our Savior's birth together as believers!