John 3:16 in Swahili "Maana Mungu aliupenda ulimwengu hivi hata akamtoa Mwana wake wa pekee, ili kila amwaminiye asipotee, bali awe na uzima wa milele."
Acts 2 recounts the miracle of the day of Pentecost where the disciples proclaimed the message of faith in Christ for salvation. On that day, the "unlearned" disciples were miraculously and instantly empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak in at least 15 different languages. That sign-gift of the Holy Spirit fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 28:11-12, and enabled the Gospel of Jesus Christ to spread to many peoples very rapidly. However, for missionaries since the cessation of the sign-gifts, the process of learning a language and translating the Bible into another language has been one of the greatest challenges to proclaiming God's salvation cross-culturally.
Recently we received word that the translation of the New Testament into the Datooga language has been completed. For the first time the Datooga people can hear the Word of God and the message of salvation in their own language!! Although there is still a great deal of work that needs to be done to proclaim His salvation among the Datooga people and establish indigenous churches, we rejoice in God's faithfulness to bring them His Word. This exciting development makes us that much more eager to get to Tanzania and get started.
Prayerfully, we are making plans to move to Tanzania this November. We have rejoiced in God's continued faithfulness to bring in our support. Currently we are around 84% of our needed support and are praying for God to bring in the remaining 16%. We want to personally thank each of you that have given and prayed to bring us to this point. We pray that God will richly reward you for your willingness to sacrifice for His glory among the Datooga. Thank you.
Praises:
1. For several great meetings and increased support!
2. For safety in our travels!
3. For God's faithfulness to call young people into missions!
4. For growth in our efforts to learn Swahili!
Prayer Requests:
1. For continued growth in learning Swahili, especially as I take a language
course in Denver this summer.
2. For our home to sell.
3. For the remaining 16% of our support.
4. For God to use use us as we minister in churches to call men, women, boys,
and girls to follow God's will for their life.
5. For a Tanzania woman who will come along-side my wife in that first year to help her learn the language and the culture.
