We Made it Home…Safely
May 20, 2008
Hello,
We pray all is okay.
We have arrived safely back from the bush of Longido. Our mission trip was successful and God did much more than what we prayed for.
We thank you so much for your intercessory prayers.
Our team was 8 people 2 which were pastors Habib from Moshi where we live and Benjamin from Mtwara about 500 miles away on the Southern coastline of Tanzania.
We taught 30 pastors from 7 different denominations for 7 days and many of them were from the Massai tribe. The Massai are the tribe that must kill a lion before they can be a man in the tribe. They are very tall and jump real high when they sing songs.
The mission was to introduce a church planting movement to them amongst the unreached tribes of the Arusha region. This consists of approximately 500,000 to 1 million souls, which are regarded as enemies of the Massai. The pastors caught the vision and began making plans for a seminar in June.
During the conference we learned many customs from these believers one being about marriage. Pastor Daniel told us that the men of the Wasonjo tribe that want to be married must first go into the Massai tribe and steal their goats then kill the herdsman and he must return with the head, leg or arm of a Massai herdsman and present it to the brides father and the village chief. This is one reason it is so dangerous here. The beliefs and cultures of the Wasonjo tribe are much different from ours and the other tribes. We are not here to change cultures but to let the love of Jesus change hearts.
A woman we call Mama who was cleaning the house we were staying in came back late Monday evening and asked for prayer.
We asked Pastor Habib to pray and she said “Habib!” She then said, “Are you Muslim?” He said he use to be, but now he is a Christian.
She began to weep and Diane found out that her son threatened to beat her. Her other son Michael called the police which caused Esau to run away.
Mama found out later that evening that Esau was in the city of Arusha with his uncle, which is 2-3hours away by car. We prayed with her and asked God to restore him to her.
The next day the older son brought him back to her and we told her to bring him over and we would pray for him. When he entered the door way you could instantly sense the demonic activity about him.
We prayed for his deliverance and the restoration of his mind, soul, and body. Instantly something began to change. In a few short moments Esau was on his knees asking to be set free from this bondage and he asked Jesus to save his soul.
Every night Esau came over for prayer and Friday night his younger brother Michael and little sister asked Jesus to save them.
On Friday Pastor Habib received a startling vision. He remembered when he was a small boy and his father would slaughter a sheep in the door way of their house. Habib’s father would pray that the blood spilled from the sheep would give protection over his family and household and that no blood would be spilled of them.
From our teaching we told stories from the bible that these pastors could use to lead someone to Jesus using stories from their own culture we call these redemptive analogies and Friday afternoon Pastor Habib received the vision to tell His father about how Jesus was the last sacrificed lamb for all men.
When we got home from the bush Habib called his father whom is a devout Muslim and told him the story. Habib’s father said he would not do this anymore and wanted to know more about Jesus. When Habib got saved Habib’s father sent Habib’s older brother to find him and kill him. Later Habib’s brother got saved. Habib has been a pastor here in Moshi for many years now.
Our food was prepared everyday by 12 very young girls and supervised by a woman named Eliza. She told us a story about these girls.
They had failed secondary school so their parents were going to give them to the older Maasai men as brides. They got together and decided to run away from the village and the organization we were staying at called LOCEPT/Longido Community Education and Practical Training took them in. They have been teaching them how to cook, and wanted them to cook for us. They were so sweet and were so hungry for love.
We were told they needed sponsors for secondary school. Everywhere you go there is always a great need for school fees.
Saturday morning we were invited into the homes of two of the Pastors from the training. This is a huge honor. Pastor Alliah has an orphanage of over 300 children. We got to witness them being taught bible stories, singing and dancing. We all joined in jumping, dancing, singing and waving our arms. What a wonderful blessing to see all these children singing and praising God in their own language.
We then visited Pastor Simons home he has 4 children, all boys, but we wondered who all the girls were. His wife told us, they had taken them in because their families were too poor to care for them.
We arrived back home from a 3 hour drive anxious for a hot shower. We all had stayed in a home together with one toilet, and no electricity. We were unfamiliar with bucket bathing, but soon got the hang of it.
Diane still has a hard time mastering the squatty potties in the bush. But so did all the other women. It is good to be home. We are tired but very happy because of the wonderful things our God did in Longido.
SUNDAY our orphan boys attended Pastor Habib’s church and just loved it. They are such precious children.
We met Nicholas today an older street kid who wants to help us get more of the smaller boys off the streets. We have all we can handle now and are trying to use wisdom as to what to do. Nicholas stated that there are many children ages 3 to 10 who need to be off the streets because they are too small and too sickly to beg and presently eat out of garbage cans. We want to take in more but our finances won’t handle it!
Please pray for us, that God will send us more supporters. We appreciate so much all of you who support us now with your prayers and financial support. May God Richly Bless You. We love you.
See attached photos of the girls @ LOCEPT, Esau and Mama and others
Your Hands & Feet in Tanzania
Jeff and Diane
