Nehemiah Project

Jennifer sharing with the Sunday School at Kizenga.

We have had an incredibly busy and action filled March! We thank you all for your prayers and support, it is such a blessing to see our great and awesome God at work. Much is happening and has happened, so let’s get started with a few ministry updates from March.

The small church in Kizenga is doing well. We are continuing to have 50-70 kids for Sunday School/kids club. We are especially encouraged by a prayer meeting that is meeting on Fridays. We have been praying and teaching on these things, and so encouraged to see this starting. Three of us sat on a mat for 3 hours, prayed through many things and sang hymns…

such a sweet time.

John teaching a group of Emmaus students in the village of Ilagala.

Emmaus is continuing to grow! We recently added another village, Mpanda, which is 6 hours away. We are using the bus system to send and receive courses. So far this is going well, and these guys are excited to be starting the Emmaus Correspondence Bible Studies :)

We continue to hear good things from the many Emmaus students as we grade their exams. Many of them are pastors, preachers, and Sunday school teachers who are teaching and reaching many others. These courses not only reinforce truth, but they also expose false teaching. Such a blessing to be able to “disciple” the ones who are feeding many others!

Above several students are receiving certificates ( which represents 7 completed courses in a section). We are averaging 15 certificates a month!

The maktaba is continuing to be a light in a dark area. During the recent month of Ramadan, we had several Muslims come in for New Testaments, (common during Ramadan interestingly). We even have a Muslim who recently started the Emmaus

program!

Muslims reading the Bible and getting reading glasses in the maktaba.

The reading glasses we give out for free continue to be a great way to get the Word of God into the hands and hearts of Muslims.

The Lord is seeking the lost!

This past month was also challenging and exhausting in many ways, but the Lord has been faithful to strengthen us and help us.

Isaiah 41:10

As the US team left to return home at the end of February, one decided to stay with us for a while longer (Tori Schlabach from Camp Horton Haven) to help us manage homeschooling, help care for Grace, and even help with cooking :) We are so thankful for this blessing considering the following challenges we faced recently.

A bad cold passed through the family early March and Grace came down with it. It moved into her lungs and got much worse. Our neighbor, a Baptist Doc, checked her oxygen levels and found them in the high 70’s! She was taken to the hospital and put on oxygen immediately. She was there ( Jenn and I also!) for 6 days until her oxygen levels came back up! She is home now, happy and healthy :) Tori was a HUGE help at home during those 6 days.

Katie was playing outside with her friends, and stepped on something sharp cutting her foot open. Our neighbor once again came to the rescue and together with another Baptist doctor, they sewed up Katie’s foot - 6 stitches!

We have such a sweet missionary community here in Kigoma, and Katie’s injury turned into a sweet evening of fellowship.

Isaac has been having itching spells where his whole body has an itch attack for like 20-30 minutes. We are looking into what could be causing it, like soap, laundry detergent, or shampoo? No answers yet, but keep him in your prayers.

We could share more, like killing a (small) snake in our house 😅, but we will spare you. It’s been a crazy month full of challenges. Whether this is all spiritual warfare or just life, the Lord knows!

Now, we have exciting news! We have begun construction on the wall at Camp Nuru! We officially broke ground today. In Africa, if you don’t have a wall, you will have nothing at all! Our first objective (because thieves are a HUGE problem) is to get this property closed in with a wall.

Hence: The Nehemiah Project

We had a small storage building built for storing cement, building materials, and tools. We are hoping and praying about finishing the wall before dry season is over. Dry season is from mid May to early October, and there is literally no rain during this time (perfect conditions for building).

We have set up an account with our mission organization, Christian Missions in Many Lands or CMML, for Camp Nuru so that those who feel led to support this work can give a tax deductible gift through the link below:

https://www.cmml.us/ministry/camp-nuru

We are hoping to return to the US for a much needed furlough as soon as we complete the adoption process for Grace. That is looking like September at the earliest, depending on how long it takes. July 24 we complete the fostering process and file for adoption in TZ. Once that is completed we change her name on her birth certificate, then apply for a TZ passport. Once we have the passport, we can make an appointment with the US Embassy in TZ to get a special visa for adopted children in order to complete the process on the US side. We appreciate your prayers as we work through this process!