Beautiful & Challenging Africa

A friend of ours recently described Africa as "Beautiful and Challenging Africa". That description has stuck with me and most likely because after living here for almost two years, I know it to be true. Around Lake Tanganyika the sights are breathtaking, especially the sunsets over the Congo mountains to the west. Even a picture of an old fishing boat is cool! Along with this beauty, there are many challenges which are complicated, confusing, and difficult to solve or even understand.

Our latest "challenge" is a big one. Every two years we must renew our visa to continue serving the Lord here in Tanzania. The visa is in two parts; the first part is a "work permit" which allows John to work in certain regions in the country, the second part is a "resident permit" which allows our family to live in the country. In October, we submitted our paperwork to renew our "work permit", and we recently learned that our renewal was rejected!

Needless to say, we were shocked and began talking with other missionaries within CMML-Tanzania to find out what this means and what we need to do. In our discussions with others, we learned that we can submit an appeal, but the answer to our appeal is final. With the help of others in the main CMML-TZ office in Dar Es Salaam, an appeal letter was prepared and will be submitted this week. We appreciate your prayers as we await an answer from the Minister of Labor regarding our appeal. We sincerely hope this rejection will be overturned and our permit granted, but everything is in the Lord's hands.

The "Street Boys" work is continuing to go well. (Above) My good friend, Emaneli, is sharing the Word with us after our game of soccer. As we have entered the rainy season, we have played in the rain several times, but we have not had to cancel because of the weather. The boys show up rain or shine! We thank the Lord for their faithfulness and desire to continue to come. Their lives are filled with many "challenges", and we are thankful to be able to show them the love of Christ in a practical way and share with them the Gospel.

The reading room or "Maktaba" which means "library" in Ujiji has turned out to be a real blessing. This room is a place where many pastors in the area come to check out books and grow in their understanding of the Word of God. This is also a place where many come with questions about Christianity, God, and the Bible. We are very thankful for the way God is using this place in the lives of many. Above, my friend Gerald is discussing spiritual things with a young lady, and answering questions.

Just the other day a pastor ran in and asked about a Bible reference which we were able to help him find. It has been fun to see God meet a huge need in this historic town.

We have now officially added the Emmaus Correspondence Courses to the "Maktaba". Harry brought the cabinet, desk, and the many courses (35) last week and we all helped set everything up. Now that these courses are available here in Ujiji, we hope to use this as not only a discipleship tool, but also an evangelistic tool!

Since we moved "Emmaus" into the "Maktaba", we have had several people start taking the courses and many others showing interest & curiosity, and hopefully they too will give this a try. We appreciate your prayers for the work in the "Maktaba" and are very encouraged at the many ways the Lord is using this place in Ujiji.

As I shared in a recent blog post, Gerald and I are now teaching the Bible in two primary (elementary) schools in Ujiji. (Above) Gerald is teaching the class from Genesis 3 this past week. While I await an answer on our appeal, I am only observing and praying. These kids are so attentive and eager to learn, and they also love to sing. Every Wednesday and Friday we walk to these two schools and share the Word with them. These schools will break for Christmas next week, so we hope to return after the new year and continue this work.

In other news, I (John) preached last Sunday at the chapel here in Kigoma. We celebrated Isaac's 12th birthday, and we hosted a Thanksgiving meal at our house for the missionary community in Kigoma.

Overall, November has been busy, shocking, encouraging, and confusing all at the same time! This is "par for the course" down here in "Beautiful and Challenging" Africa! As we are eagerly awaiting an answer on our future here in Tanzania, we are humbled by how many are praying for us. We are so thankful for each of your prayers and support in the Gospel work going on in Kigoma, Tanzania!

PS - We will let everyone know an answer when we receive one regarding our visa.