A-Town Gazette

June 28, 2009

Busy....but blessed. That’s a short and sweet way to describe this past week for Mary and me. A wonderful group of single people (and a couple of married sponsors) called “Frontline” visited us this past week.
   Monday
– painting day. The Mromboo church got a face lift of new color on the walls and fresh varnish on windows, doors, and benches. Pastor Moses and his family were thrilled and were excellent hosts for the group.
   Tuesday
was Masai village day. It consisted of several hours of camp type games at a school in the bush, one and a half hours outside of Arusha. Our gang broke up in to smaller groups running stations of soccer and big ball / face painting for the kids / relay races / arts and crafts. At 6:30 pm we broke out the sound equipment, played Christian Masai music, and then at 7, showed the Jesus Film in the Masai language! It was well received with a crowd of about 100, that steadily grew to over 400. Our own Bible Institute student, Lazaro, is a Masai. At the wrap up of the film, he did a superb job , in the language, leading many people to Christ – safe to say over 100 people prayed with him. God knows their hearts.
   Wednesday – Baptist Bible Academy Field Day. The frontline group did a superb job, once again running stations of games all morning for our BBA kids. It culminated with a Chapel program with each class doing a small presentation. The excitement and fun can only be described by someone who writes better than I do! Ha.
   Thursday – Masai village day. Basically an exact replica of Tuesday except it was a different village. Only about 100 people total, came out for the film. However, the response was excellent. Pretty much everyone prayed with Lazaro at the end of the film.
   Friday – The frontline group loaded up on busses and headed East to Mount Kilimanjaro. As I write, they are beginning their third day of climbing. Three more to go. Phew.
   Sunday – We were down in attendance by 600!!! Remember last week was our annual Friend Day blow out with 840 in attendance. This week... Actually was pretty good. 200 in attendance with one dear lady accepting Christ at the end of the service. No complaints here.

Please pray for my travels this week as I head down to Morogoro for a pastors meeting Wed-Fri, and then a youth leaders meeting Fri-Sun. In these meetings, I am only a participant, not a leader. Therefore, it should be a great time of battery re-charge. On Sunday, God willing, I will have the privilege of preaching the message at a new church plant, started by one of our Tanzanian pastors in Morogoro.

Thanks for taking the time to read. As always, we are grateful for your thoughts and prayers for us here. God Bless and give you a great week.

Yours in Arusha,
Vernon and Mary

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Web Editor- Don Tarvin
Updated 29 Jun 2009