Man formulates plans, but God dictates his steps

What a glorious sight to witness at the beginning of our trip!

May the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.               Romans 15:13

A group of pastors will soon visit Tanzania. Hoping they will work together with their churches to engage unengaged people groups, we are returning to places previously researched to organize their upcoming vision trip – we also hope to get in some more research and mentor some younger missionaries on the side.

Necessity dictates half of the group go west and south of Dar visiting the Kutu and Vidunda people and others go north to visit the Segeju and Zigua people – our plan on this trip is to go to each group and logistically figure it all out – where to stay, where to eat, good places to stop and so on.


We “fly by the seat of our pants” when we are on research trips, but when folks from the U.S. come out – well, it is nice to have an organized plan.  Anything can happen in Africa, and usually does; but at least if we try to organize a bit, some things might go smoothly!

Traveling down the road viewing God's creatures
will be an added plus for those going west.

The group going west will have a difficult journey, but we hope the rewards will overshadow the lack of comfort as God demonstrates to us on our journey to Vidunda village.

Join us next week as we travel up the mountain and visit Vidunda, the first of three villages where the Vidunda people live.

Pray for the upcoming vision trip. This is the way engagement of unengaged/unreached people begins and we pray that God will speak to hearts as they visit people needing to know the truth of John 3:16.

Pray for us as we move through Tanzania, that we can be the aroma of Christ.

Finally, pray for the people whom we visit, that they may see God in us and be encouraged to learn more about Him.

in this world there will be trouble

"Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, trust also in me."
John 13:1

Things happen the world over.
Things are happening in Kenya as well.  In these last weeks several bombs exploded in various locations around Nairobi. The following is a quote from the most recent U.S. embassy warning.

"In the past year and a half, there have been numerous attacks involving shootings, grenades, or other explosive devices in Kenya...  In total, over 100 people have been killed in these attacks and hundreds have been injured."  

God does not give us a spirit of fear.  We trust in Him daily.

Pray for the people of Kenya to trust in Christ -- if God is for me, what can man do to me?

Pray for the message of God's love and His gift of peace through the redemptive blood of Christ to permeate hearts and minds.

Currently, we are on a research trip -- pray for safety and open hearts as we travel that God would go before, beside, and behind us.  We depend upon your prayers!

...the church at Kasabuni

On Saturday a man died alone – with God.  He had been ill for a long time. Because of his illness, he could not work. His wife, finding work in Uganda, was living and working there when she received the news that her husband had made a turn for the worse.  She was making her way to him when he died.

Outskirts of Kasabuni

Today, we are at Kasabuni (Kah-sah-boon-ee) Baptist Church, located on the edge of Kasabuni slum; the third largest slum in Kenya. We are quite impressed with the church – the building isn't much at all, but the CHURCH – the body of Christ here is impressive. They have youth, middle school and children’s Bible studies as well as adult Bible study.

Debbie taught the story of Noah and the ark to about 40 children and Jerry shared the Word in the main service – both taught in Swahili.

Now you may be thinking this sounds familiar – just like any church in the U.S.  – well, yes and no.  The building property is walled with cement block, so they use three of those walls for the walls of their building, the remaining wall is metal roofing sheets, the floor is dirt and mice run across the front of the church during the worship service.  “We only see them during the worship time,” laughs Pastor Jecktone.

Following the service, Pastor Jecktone and three deacons take us on a prayer walk through their village, Kasabuni slum.

The outskirts of the slum area are not so bad; having weightier
issues on our minds, we didn't take the camera on our prayerwalk 

Stopping in various areas to pray, the smell of sewage is almost overwhelming.

As we pick our way around garbage, stepping carefully over open sewers and ducking under clothes lines full of laundry, children run up, sticking out their hands hoping to touch the wazungu (foreigners).—How are you?  The first English question every child learns in school.

Parking the car at an angle outside the church
on 6" - 8" of refuse.

Smiling, we shake hands with many adults and lots of children as we move slowly down the narrow winding pathways.


We end our walk through the slum at the home where our story today begins, the 18’ x 20’ room where the man lived and died. His wife arrived this morning. Singing, praying, and sharing words of comfort, there are 20 of us now crowded in this small space; Kasabuni Baptist Church sharing in the suffering, the comfort, and sharing in the joy – knowing that even while there is mourning, there is relief from suffering and life everlasting, for this one knew Christ!

Pray that this widow, mourning the death of her husband, would sense afresh the love and peace of God in her life.

Pray for Kasabuni Baptist Church as they reach out with the love of Christ to ‘the least of these’.

Click this here to link to a Baptist Press article on Kasabuni and the church.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.  Habakkuk 2:14

God is filling the earth with the knowledge of His glory – are you part of His divine filling? Are you sharing the love of Christ – filling the earth with His glory?

Inching our way through crowds of people, around motorcycles and other vehicles, down paths crowded and dusty, it feels like we are driving through a maze.  Never having been in this area of Nairobi before I am lost after the second turn – good thing we have a guide.

It is Sunday morning and we are headed to church.

Asked to preach at Kabiria Baptist Church in the Kabiria section of Nairobi, this is Jerry's first time to preach an entire sermon in KiSwahili without an interpreter.

Pastor Nzoika (N-zoe-ee-kah), our guide, instructs us to pull into a small fenced off area and park beside the fence near the metal structure that is the church building. There is only room for our car.

Greeted by a few early arrivers as we enter the church, we are grateful for the cool breeze; this all-metal structure would be unbearable if not for the cool morning temperatures.

Assured Bible study will begin soon, we sit in the plastic chairs set in rows that comprise the pews.

As the church fills up we begin to realize that not all of these folks are from Kenya, many are from the D.R. Congo, having fled from there during the years of conflict.

The choir is very good and we have the opportunity of hearing three different songs from them as well as their leading out in the congregational singing, accompanied by a guitar, drums and box-like metal shakers.
Nothing compares with African music – it is amazing!

God blesses Jerry’s hard work as the congregation interacts with him during the sermon; questions asked and answered during his preaching indicate that the congregation understands what is being said as God’s vision of filling the earth with the knowledge of His glory is imparted.

As the service ends and we are greeted by the enthusiastic members we are in awe at God’s marvelous grace -- grace that was poured out on us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  The opportunity was given to us to hear and understand the gospel message.  Now it is our responsibility to share that same message so that others may hear and believe.


Pray for the church at Kibiria.  These folks have very little, but they love God and want to serve Him.  Pray that they will obey His voice in their lives and reach the whole area of Kibiria with the gospel message.