August 2015 Newsletter

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the of the Lord, and his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. whatever he does prospers."
 Psalm 1:1-3NIV

God's Faithfulness!
 We are now getting to three(3) Months in our new home and environment in Kisesa and all seems to be going well for now. There is also great improvement in our language and culture learning. Although it is not as fast as we may want it but we are getting there "pole pole" which means slowly slowly. In general our new environment is peaceful and the people in the community are all kind people. One are we are now trying to adjust to is the issue of water and electricity. For the past month and week now, tap water has become a big challenge in our community. Although it is not a challenge for us because we have two tanks, one is carrying 4000liters and a small one that carries 800liters. When they are all filled, they can take us for more than a month. When there is a serious scarcity of water in the community, we invite some of our neighbors and church members to come to our house and collect few buckets and gallons for their homes. As for electricity, the electricity company are giving the community only 8hours or less in a day. We get the electricity from 12am-8am the next morning. It is our prayers that all of these challenges will be resolved as soon as possible by the government.
Baby Milcah
Our daughter is now six(6) week and it seems she is growing more than her age. Since the day we brought her home  from the hospital, we have not stop receiving visitors, who are coming to welcome the new member of our family. Although we have had few sleepless night due to colic and her first vaccinations, we took her to the hospital and was given drug that will reduced the colic and we were told that this is the season of colic for children in Tanzania and it will go gradually as they get older, maybe in the next three(3) or six(6) months. Since we came from seeing the doctor, the colic has reduced and she is sleeping well and we too get to have some sleep. The only time we get to wake-up is for breast feeding during the night or to change wet pampers.
Ministry
(a) Installation
Last month on the 19th of July it was a privileged for Dixon to be installed as pastor in-charge of the church in Kisesa, although in limited capacity according to the Lutheran traditions. However it was a joy to see how the church has grown from a sub-parish now to a full parish in less than six(6) months. It was a great even to see the Bishop and some delegation coming to perform the ceremony. It was also during this time that the car that was bought for our ministry here in Tanzania was dedicated and prayed for by the Bishop.
(b) Church Construction
Another great news is that in less than three(3) weeks before the installation, the church in Kisesa was able to built an alter from collections and donations from her members. This was something the church has been trying to do for the past three(3) years but could not, due to poor financial structures that were in place. With our suggestions recommended, as we mentioned in our previous newsletter, it was taken into consideration and through that the church was able to save money for the alter project.
(c) Death of one member in the Church
Last time if you may recall, for those of you who got our July newsletter, we requested your prayers for one member of the church who was critically ill. With deep sense of loss, we announce her call  to glory. She went to be with her Father in Heaven on the 11th of July. It is painful that we loss her after all the prayers, but we believed that is was an answered prayers for her Father in heaven to take her home to rest and end her sufferings here in this falling world. She was laid to rest on the 12th of the said month. It was also an occasion for me to witnessed my first burial service in Tanzania and get to do the closing sermon and to speak  to more than 200 people who had come to paid their last respect to the dead.
(d) Bible Knowledge Class
Few weeks ago some members in our church who are part of a group called "Nyumba kwa Nyumba" "House to House" evangelism team came to me with an idea that we start a Bible knowledge class for old and new members in the church. It is a class that will help them know more about the Bible, the content, context and authors so as to be more familiar with their Bibles. We have met for the past two weeks now and the class is increasing by the week. From our general fund we were able to buy Fifteen (15) Bibles for new converts who cannot afford to buy one. What this means is that the week is fulled with activities and I (Dixon) am glad that I get to conduct prayers, Bible Knowledge class and Bible study, three days a week.

Christiana is still on nursing  leave and will not resume work until October. The school she will be teaching and helping to set up is own by the church and it is also still under construction. It is still in the process of getting approval from the government and it is expected to open as early as January of 2016. What she will be doing in October when she resume after her leave will be to help develop a science and technical education curriculum for the school and also help develop and recruit trained teachers.
Christy's mother visit
All is now set for Christy's mother to visit us in Tanzania. Although we had intended for Christy's mother and younger sister to visit and see Milcah for the first time. Due to financial challenges we were only able to help in the transport for Christy's mother. She will arrived in about a week time to spend one month with us and Milcah. This will also be an opportunity for Christy to get some comfort and rest from the stress of taking care of baby Milcah.
Prayer Requests

• For baby Milcah as she is now Six (6) weeks and weigh 5kilograms and got her vaccinations due for six weeks.
• For Dixon as he recovers from Malaria. This is his first malaria in Tanzania and he has been fighting it for more than a week now. It first started with the flu and after the flu then came the malaria.
• For our ministry as we seek to find more partners who will pray and support us financially.
• Thanksgiving for Dixon as he has finally gotten her residence permit.
• Thanksgiving for us as we now have a bank account in Mwanza and we are now legal residence in Tanzania.
• Prayer for the new Bible Knowledge call as we study and teach the Bible in its content and context.
• For the New Parish as she plans and work on opening new account and elect news leaders who will be signatories to the account.