On the Road Again

Dear Prayer Partners,

On the Road:

Since the end of January, we have been to fourteen churches in seven states. Travelling together with seven children has its challenges, but it has been a great blessing as well.  Not only have we been blessed to meet and reconnect with a number of wonderful fellow believers and minister in a variety of settings, but also we have had the privilege of enjoying a significant quantity of time together as a family.   

Continued Progress:

Over the past several months, we have shared with you the progress of the building project in Ndatu.  We rejoiced to hear that the progress continues, and at this point the walls are n

early completed.  The exciting thing about this project has been the complete absence of outside funds with a total dependence upon the Lord to provide. 

He Who Has Ears to Hear:

I don’t often include family information in our prayer letters, but because many of you have been praying for our daughter Erin (who has battled ear infections almost constantly for several years), I would like to share with you a significant answer to prayer.  We were concerned that as a result of such long term ear trauma she might have permanent hearing loss.  However, praise be to God, the audiologist recently told us that she has no hearing loss whatsoever. Thank you for your prayers for her. Please continue to pray for safety as we travel, an agreement with a landlord to rent a home in the new village of Babati, and for wisdom and an open door among the Datooga people as we begin a new phase of ministry.

In Christ,

Aaron and Nicole Shipe

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Dear Prayer Partners,

Goodbyes

Nicole and I receiving "Goodbye gifts"
from our church family.

After a wonderfully blessed time of being reunited with family and church friends, we have now just begun reporting to our churches.  In early December, our ministry partners, Rodney and Lynn Myers, returned to Tanzania and transitioned back into the ministry in Ndatu.  At our last service at Ndatu Baptist Church, we had over 70 in attendance!  It was a special service where we formally recognized Rodney as the new pastor, and we said “goodbye” to those we have grown to love so dearly.  A few days later, we boarded a plane and returned to the United States to enjoy the holiday season with our family.

Future Plans

Scripture clearly teaches not to presume on the future but rather to say, “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”  So at this point we are making plans for our second term, while acknoweldging joyfully that our lives are in the Lord’s hands.  We are planning to move from the Arusha area and the Meru tribe, to the region of Manyara and the Datooga (Barabaig) tribe.  We will need God’s grace and wisdom as we seek to begin a new work in the village of Magugu.  Would you pray that God would prepare us, as a family, and that he would give us godly and commited national believers to partner with us in this endeavor. Also please pray for safety and a fruitful time of ministry as we report to churches over the next several months.

In Christ,

Aaron and Nicole Shipe

P.S.  See our new video at Shipe Family 2014

Blessings of God

Dear Prayer Partners,

Ladies Bible Study: The first week of September saw the beginning of a monthly ladies Bible study going through the teachings about the “Mke Mwema” (good wife) as found in Proverbs 31.  The ladies of the church truly enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to fellowship together and learn from the Word of God.  Please pray that this will help increase the spirit of unity and commitment among our ladies and enable us to reach out with the Word of God to other ladies in our community.

Building Project:  Since the very beginning, we have been saving the vast majority of our weekly offerings with the hopes that one day we could build.  By September we had saved enough and were able to  c0mplete the first phase of our building project.  Although this may sound backwards, we started with the support pillars, roof trusses, and the roofing.  Phase two includes the foundation, doors, and walls.  We were so thankful to see the joyful spirit of all who volunteered their time and abilities.  Some went to the stream to fetch water for mixing the cement.  Others dug holes, others were busy bolting and hammering on roofing, and still others brought food and water for the hungry workers.  By God’s grace, we were able to finish phase one in just one week’s time.  Please continue to pray with us as we ask God to enable us to build without outside help so we can learn to depend on the Lord.

Pizza, English, and Discipleship: Many of our young men have realized the importance of learning English in order to get a good job as well as to be able to read the best Bible commentaries.  Although they all learn English in school, very few can actually read or speak English well.  For several months now, we have invited several youth to our home on Fridays for homemade pizza and English lessons.  Initially they were unsure about pizza, but now they compete to see who can eat the most.  After pizza, they practice reading Bible passages, learning pronounciation and vocabulary, then Nicole teaches a grammar lesson and does drills.  Please pray for these young men that God will prepare them for His service.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,

Aaron and Nicole Shipe

Making Disciples

Dear Prayer Partners,

Make disciples . . .
These past months have been very busy and exciting for us as a church. We were able to see the mother of two of our young men make a profession of faith in Christ and begin discipleship lessons. We had been praying for her (Mama Urasa) in our church for several months and to see the Lord answer our prayers was a great thrill. Also, one young man named Kopriano, who had been attending our church off and on for nearly a year, repented of his sins and trusted in Christ as his Savior. Now begins the difficult process of discipleship. Please pray for them as well as two others, Brenda and Karolina, that they become mature and grounded in their faith.
Baptizing them . . .
Just three weeks ago we had the privilege of baptizing four young people. Jared (whom we mentioned in the last prayer letter), Jackson (his younger brother of 17), Herman (a 17 year-old orphan), and Jessica (who accepted Christ on Christmas day last year). Please continue to pray for Saidi and Gupta. Saidi has been given permission by his Muslim father to be baptized, but Gupta still awaits permission. Lord willing they will be baptized later this month.
Teaching them . . .
We also had the privilege of having Pastor Chris Luppino from Chapel Baptist Church in Claremont, Florida, teach a week-long leadership seminar on the doctrine of the church. His straight-forward Biblical approach to the doctrine of the church was much needed to help these men stand for the truth of God’s Word. It also provided me an opportunity to translate a sermon “live” from English to Swahili for the first time. Just one year ago I wouldn’t have been able to do that, but God’s grace is sufficient for the challenge at hand. Thank you for your prayers for our Swahili. We covet your continued prayers for this matter.

Dependent upon and thankful for your prayers,

Aaron and Nicole Shipe

P.S. We plan to be home for furlough from January-June of 2014. If you would like us to visit your church please contact us at the e-mail listed below.

Preparing to Build

Dear Prayer Partners,

The building project:
Although we are thankful for the building God has allowed us to meet in as a church, we have to admit that its life span is quickly nearing an end. Therefore, for the last two years we have been saving money and seeking the official deed to the property. We thank God that as of last week, the deed to the property is officially in our hands! Also, we have saved up nearly 1.2 million shillings ($738). Although we are truly thankful for the many offers of financial support, we are seeking to build without any financial support from outside of our own small body of believers. We desire to establish a pattern for church planting that is reproduceable and therefore, independent of outside funds. This has slowed down the process of building, but also has enabled us to build a sense of community within the church as they come together and volunteer their time, energies, and abilities to clearing the land, developing a blueprint, making bricks, etc. Please continue to pray for us to have wisdom to use our limited resources as prudently as possible.
You can’t inherit Salvation:
Since our very first service, one young man(Jared, aged 19) has attended our church faithfully with his parents, but he himself had never repented of his sins and trusted in Christ as his Savior. Although I and others had shared the Gospel with him numerous times, and his parents are wonderful godly Christians, he always refused saying he wasn’t ready. That is until last month, when he agreed to meet me privately in our old termite-eaten church building. There he bowed his head and with tears in his eyes, he confessed his sin to the Lord and asked for forgiveness through the blood of Christ. The following Sunday at the end of the service, he stood and testified to the church that he was now a follower of Christ. Please pray for Jared and several others (Jackson, Jessica, Saidi, and Michael) who we hope to baptize in three weeks.

Dependent upon and thankful for your prayers,

Aaron and Nicole Shipe

P.S. We plan to be home for furlough from January-June of 2014. If you would like us to visit your church please contact us at the e-mail listed below.

Make Disciples of All Nations

Make Disciples of All Nations:

These last several months have seen several professions of faith, from Nixon (a single leg amputee) to his friend Danieli; to Kadiri (a young man from a Muslim family) to the young men which we mentioned before, Michael, Fredi (who was recently baptized), Gupta, and Saidi (who has an area of sin in his life that must be repented of before he makes any spiritual progress). But just like in child-bearing, the birth is not the end of the parent’s responsibility, but rather the beginning. So in recent weeks, the long—and sometimes challenging—process of disciple-making has begun. Please pray for these young men that they would demonstrate fruits of genuine repentance and spiritual rebirth. If you are unable to pray for all of them, please choose just one to intercede for on a regular basis.

Six Months and Counting:

Our partners, Rodney and Lynn Myers, are planning for their furlough beginning this December. Although Christmas may seem far away, it is less than six months now. There is much work to do in preparation for that time, but perhaps my greatest concern is to be linguistically advanced enough to handle the pastoral responsibilities of teaching, counseling, and evangelism by myself for a significant duration. Please pray for me to be disciplined in language learning in the months ahead. Also, please pray for a church member, Mama Sunday, as she prepares to take Lynn’s spot teaching Children’s Church. She has never taught children before, but has agreed to observe and learn in the upcoming months. In addition we are continuing to pursue the official deed to the property so we can begin construction of the new church building before this December. One of our church members, Elbariki, recently built two new benches to accommodate the growing number of people attending our now cramped church.

One Baptized and Facing Persecution:

Just last month Fredi, one of our recent converts, got baptized. It was an exciting day, but honestly we were hoping for others to obey the Lord and be baptized as well. Would you pray that his example would stir the hearts of others to be obedient to the Lord in this area? Also pray for Fredi, although he received permission from his parents to be baptized, immdiately following his baptism, he began to face persecution from his own parents in the form of beatings and threats. Pray for Fredi to remain faithful in spite of these trials. The words of Jesus in Luke 14:26 speak powerfully to this situation, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

Serving a Worthy Master,
Aaron and Nicole Shipe

“For as the rain . . . . so shall My Word be . . .” These past two months have been busy and full of God’s blessing in a variety of ways. The rains have come and brought with them the blessings of new life and cooler tempertures. Everything we see around is green and growing rapidly. Like the rains, we have seen the water of the Word of God bring new life to two more young men (Gupta and Furedi). These two neighbors of ours have played with our children, done projects with my tools, sewed their clothes with Nicole, and for the past 3 months been coming to church with us regularly. Recently, I began a weekly Bible study time with them and two others (Saidi and Michael- who accepted Christ a couple months ago); the first two lessons dealt with salvation. After learning about the Biblical teaching of salvation, both repented of their sins and trusted in Christ as their Savior. Please pray for further Biblical growth from these four young men. They have stated that they need to be baptized, so pray for courage for them to follow the Lord in this step of obedience. Saidi, Furedi, and Gupta are brothers; please pray for the salvation of the remainder of their family. I have begun to develop a relationship with their father Hussein, and he has agreed to come to church with us soon—maybe for their baptism. Leadership Training: If you remember from our last letter, we were anticipating Pastor Jim Glasscock from Marion Center, PA coming to teach the Pastors and church leaders of the GFF Baptist Chuches. God blessed, and from 8:30 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon with only small breaks for tea and lunch, Pastor Glasscock faithfully taught the Word of God for three exhausting days. It was a blessing to have one of the men of our church, Baba Jared, be able to take time off from his work schedule and sit under the teaching of God’s Word. Thank you for your prayers to this end. Church Plant Progress: God continues to bless in the church plant of Kanisa la Kibaptisti Ndatu. Last week we had so many people in the morning service that we were forced to bring in extra chairs, and I had two kids on my lap just to make enough room for everyone. We also had 43 children between the ages of 3-10 who came for Children’s Church. Please pray for us as we seek to minister to the many children there. Most are very attentive and respectful, but just a handful have been causing us repeated trouble. Please pray for wisdom as we seek to handle this situation in a God-honoring way. Especially pray for the salvation of one young boy name Victor who is the instigator of most of the trouble. Also continue to pray for the building project. We are trying to obtain the official deed to the property in order to come to an agreement on the borders of the property with our neighbors before we move forward with building. We are thrilled with the faithfulness of the church members in giving to the Lord’s work. The church account has climbed to over 600,000 shillings (or just under $400), and we are nearing the point where we can begin building. Please also pray for the salvation of a 15 year-old Muslim girl named Saida. She had refused to come to church for several months, but these past two weeks has been to every service. Thank you again for your faithful partnership with us in prayer! Serving a Sovereign God, Aaron & Nicole Shipe Aaron, Michael, Saidi, Ben, and Furedi praying before a Bible study