Greetings from Arusha! After a day or so of rest and adjustment to East Africa time (which has gone well), Missionary Ohlmann and I visited the seminary and met many of the students, who are taking their first semester exams this week. On Tuesday we set out with Pastor Jeremia on a 2-day visit to TZ-CLC congregations and contacts to the west. These included the Masai congregation at Esilalei and various churches in the Karatu and Mbulu districts. While my main duties will be teaching here at the seminary, I will also assist in the ongoing training of our current pastors, and in the colloquy (doctrinal interview) process for pastors who may wish to join the TZ-CLC.
At each stop we were able to meet and greet the pastors and people, and deliver an encouraging message from God's Word through a translator. Our last visit was a long 4-wheel drive trip to visit a family of the Hadzabe people, who have little outside contact and subsist on what they can gather from the wild. Missionary Ohlmann shared with them the message of the one true God, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the love shown to us by the Savior who died to take away our sins.
I am looking forward to Sunday worship at the Arusha church, where I will preach for Palm Sunday. T. Ohlmann and Lydia will be leaving on Tuesday, and then I'll have a good stretch of time to prepare for seminary classes. I have a comfortable room for the time being, and will be looking at options for long-term housing. I am thankful to our LORD for a good beginning here so far, and appreciate the many prayers from you all back home!
"Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD;
We have blessed you from the house of the LORD." Psalm 118:26
PHOTOS (click to enlarge):
My first visit to the Wittenberg Seminary
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