July 2015 Newsletter

"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayers..."
1Peter 3:12NIV

It is a Girl!
First and foremost, we must say a big thank you to all of you who have been keeping us in your prayers. Indeed, we serve a faithful God. On the 29th of June, God delivered to us a beautiful baby girl at about 11:30am East African Time. Although according to science the baby was due on the 23th of June, God in His own time brought her to us on the 29th of June. Christy was getting weak and tired, so we decided not to wait too long again before seeing the doctor. We visited the doctor on the 28th of June, and Christy was given bed rest. The next morning the doctor had to hang a drip IV on her to try to induce the labor. When we talked in his office, he told me the entire process was going to take about 10 hrs. We were therefore shocked to see that instead of 10 hours the process took just under 2 hrs.

This was entirely the work of God and not anybody else. For this reason, we have decided to call our daughter Milcah Kou Dixon. Milcah is a Hebrew name meaning Queen or Console, but we have decided to go with the console aspect of the name. A year and a half ago, we lost our son Ethan Nyan Dixon on the 1st of January 2014. So God is consoling us with Milcah. Kou, is the name of every first girl child born to a family of the Mano tribe in Nimba County, Liberia. Dixon, is the name of my maternal grandfather and my own first name.

Ministry
Last month we had the opportunity to have Rev. Dale Taslma, Missionary Developer from the Global Lutheran Outreach, visiting us for the first time since we moved to Mwanza over five (5) months ago. He came visiting to see how we were settling down and also to suggest ways we could possibly improve on our language learning. It was also a time to discuss with the diocese our roles and to see if there will be a need for adjustments or other added responsibilities. Furthermore, we made time to discuss our immigration issues. It was a wonderful time, and Rev. Dale Talsma had the privilege of preaching for the first time to the congregation we are helping here in Kisesa.


From the 8th-10th of June, we had our first three (3) days of prayer and fasting in the church. It was a wonderful experience for the members, because this was their first time getting to pray and fast as a church. Although they had done fasting before, it was not done the way we did on the 8th-10th of June. We were gathered together beginning from 9am-6pm, teaching and praying. It was really a wonderful three-day experience in the presence of God. Prayers were answered, healing took place, and many got a revelation from God for the church. Words may never be enough to explain what happened during those three days. The church has now agreed to do prayer and fasting on a regular basis.

Two days after the praying and fasting, Bishop Gulle visited our home and took me (Dixon) to see a land that was given to the diocese by the community to build a hospital more than 10 yrs ago. This was Bishop Gulle's first visit to this community since he took over as a Bishop five(5) years ago. We surveyed the entire land area and had the idea of building a center for less-privileged children within Mwanza. We hope it can serve as a home for orphans and street kids. This, according to the Bishop, will be different from the normal orphanage homes around Mwanza, because family will be invited to stay and serve as parents and role-models for these kids. Our missionary friends from Sweden, who are also working with the diocese, have bought the idea, and together we will work to see how this dream can be achieved.



Three weeks ago I (Dixon) made my first official visit to a family that has been so regular in attending service, despite the distance from their home in Busekwa to the church. Since the road is not too good for cars, we decided to take a motor-bike to the area. Indeed, the road was very bumpy and rough. With a bike, it takes about 30 mins from the church to that community, but by foot it takes 2 hrs from the church there and back. While there we had the privilege to speak to the people in the community and to also pray for healing for one of the church members who is suffering from cancer. This has made her bed ridden for over 7 months now.

After our visit and prayers from the people of Busekwa, I decided to walk with some members of the church from Busekwa to Kisesa, to experience what these people experience all the time when they come to church on Sunday. It was nice to walk with members of the church on such a journey, and they were all excited to see me taking this journey with them.

Special Request
As missionaries here in Tanzania, Christy and I have a very low regular support base. Coming to Tanzania, we had to raise support through a crowd-funding platform and other supporters in order to raise enough money for our first year in Tanzania. It was out of this amount that we withdrew the amount of $2,000 for hospital bills and to get things for our daughter. We are asking for your prayers and support as we seek to repay this amount or else we will not be able to finish out the year in Tanzania. We are also looking for partners who will commit to supporting us on a regular basis or people who will help with our next year budget. If God is leading you to pray and support, please go to www.globallutheranoutreach.com/blog/Gbeanquoi and press the "Give" button, or write a check to "Global Lutheran Outreach" and put "Gbeanquoi" in the memo line. Checks can be mailed to Global Lutheran Outreach, 6709 Ficus Dr., Miramar, FL 33023

Prayer Requests

• For baby Milcah as she is now in her early stage of development and right now it is just eating and sleeping with little crying.
• For Christy as she recovers from the labor pains and as she prepares herself for exclusive breast feeding for the next six(6) months..
• For our ministry as we seek to find more partners who will pray and support us financially.
• Thanksgiving for Christy as she has finally gotten her residence permit.
• For completion of my (Dixon's) residence permit process. We have no news on this for now.
• That God will continue to increase the membership in the church, we have grown from 75-120 within the last six (6) months.
• For me (Dixon) as I begin a new program for helping members learn how to read the Bible and pray as individuals.