2024 April 27
He stepped in some mud as he crossed the street coming near to where we were had set up a literature display cart. Doug told him the traditional “pole” (poe’ lay) as an expression of sympathy, then offered him a free book. I heard him say, “Since you apologized to me, I will take a book.” Doug got him some water from our drinking water bottle to help him rinse off his shoe. He was very appreciative. He looked over the books and was very interested. He saw the book Desire of Ages and another friend explained to him that it is a great book about the life of Jesus Christ. He was very excited. He said he wanted to learn more about Jesus but can’t have a Bible of his own. He says he feels it is wrong to have one and be hiding it, feeling very deceptive in his own home. But this book, he was very interested in. He also saw the Great Controversy book and wanted to know if he could take only one book. In the end, he took several books and was very excited to learn more about Jesus. We had a nice visit with him, learning more about him, where he works and what he does. One of the local people hopes to follow up with him a bit later to see if he can continue to develop a friendship with him, and to answer any questions he may have. God is touching the hearts of non-Christians. Thank you for your prayers!
2024 April 20-27 Masaki meetings and literature outreach.
We had a great time with the team at the Masaki church this last week. The picture above is the beautiful wall hanging they had made with pictures from outreach and the meetings.
As we drove from Kibidula to Dar es Salaam, we drove through much rain. The street where we are staying has huge mud puddles that expand the entire width of road. The meetings were 8 days, and literature distribution was for 7 of those days. Every day of the literature distribution, it rained. It rained a LOT.
We would pray and ask God to stop the rain in time for us to give out books and tracts. And EVERY day, God did just that. Many times, just as we finished and got home, the rain would start again. Rain and paper products do not go well together. We had many, many wonderful contacts and experiences.
One evening, traffic got really bad just as it was time to meet. As soon as we left the church, traffic in all directions STOPPED. Since Doug was in the driver seat, some of us got out of the truck, and started handing books and tracts to the people stuck in traffic both directions. We continued this until we reached the distribution point. Several people were there waiting on us. I gave them rest of the materials I had and went back to the stuck vehicles. I got more books and tracts and started back again. As I continued back, more people were open to receive books and tracts. After reaching the meeting point again, I gave what I had, and returned back for a third trip. Traffic was stopped on the main highway both directions, on the road from the church, and on the other roads. I have never seen anything like it. I made four or five trips back and forth. Our vehicles made some progress and tried to get on another road, only to return back to the first one. I’m thankful for Google Maps and being able to share location so I could find our vehicle each time. Buses and every sort of vehicle was barely moving now and then on these roads. It was amazing. This challenge turned into a huge blessing. We were able to give literature to many more people in the roads than if we had only given out at the meeting location. About one and a half hours to two hours later, Doug finally arrived at the meeting point with the truck, just as we decided it was time to finish. The trip should have taken about 5 minutes by car. God really blessed. First he stopped the rain, then he stopped traffic! People were very excited to have something to read as they waited for traffic to clear. We had many interesting conversations. God has a thousand ways of which we know nothing.