I am always amazed by the teachings and life of Jesus. The Scriptures say that if you want to see God, know God, look at Jesus. He had compassion on the sick, the poor, the disenfranchised, the 'sinners'. At a particularly crucial point in his ministry, he gave the Twelve power and authority and he sent them out with the command to "proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal". They did just that by His power and what happened was like a bright light illuminating the darkness.
Jesus continues to send us out to preach and to heal. We do that through his power, his strength, and with wisdom that he gives. We do it because he said so, and because there are people that have not yet seen the beauty of Jesus nor have they experienced the joy of having their sins forgiven and new life.
I love the promise that Jesus gave to us. First that he has all authority, and that he is with us. Always.
This week we have the privilege of Preaching and Healing with an awesome team. Brad and Angie from San Diego have arrived safely. They brought with them 600 pair of reading glasses! We will be serving together here in Kigoma/Ujiji, and out in two villages (Kaseke and Mwakizega). Our team is Sally and I, Brad and Angie, Michelle (a missionary nurse here), Pastors Jackson and Onesimus, and one of the elders, Juma.
Sunday: Ministry at Azimio Baptist Church, Ujiji. Ujiji is approximately 100,000 people with 99% of another faith. Brad will preach. After we will offer to the community a free clinic of giving reading glasses, treating kids for worms and giving vitamins, and blood pressure screening. During that time we will be talking of why we are Followers of Jesus.
Monday through Thursday: Village of Kaseke. Kaseke village is where Pastor Onesimo began a church last year. We will do a similar thing in the mornings with the free clinic. In the afternoons we will be showing a couple of films as a means to initiate conversations about faith. The film on Monday is "Adam and Eve", the first in a series of films of faith from the Bible (www.godstories.com). Tuesday through Thursday we will use the film "The Hope" (produced by Mars Hill Texas). After the film and discussion, we will do home visits to people that haven't yet decided to become followers. One of the mornings we will be teaching about safe water and hand washing. It is such a basic, but as many don't have safe water, they suffer diseases because of it. We will be distributing some tablets that help to purify water. They are readily available here in Tanzania and we want to encourage people to use them. (Wednesday morning we'll do a reading glasses clinic at the hospital.)
Friday and Saturday: will be going to a new village down the road – Mwakizega. God has impressed it on Pastor Onesimo's heart that he is to go there and preach. We offered to come along and as a team, preach and heal.
Sunday: back to Kaseke Baptist Church for worship.
Will post an update as the week progresses. Please remember us. Pray that people's ears will be opened to the truth, the person of Truth, Jesus Christ. Pray that their eyes of their hearts will be opened to see the beauty of Jesus. We know that God draws people to himself. We pray that we will see His Kingdom come in Ujiji, Kaseke, and Mwakizega this week.
Daily by His grace,
Larry and Sally and the team
