After a great break in the USA seeing friends and family, we arrived back in TZ to new banana trees in our yard and an amazing cake on our table.   Once again, we were reminded of how thankful we are for our friends here in TZ.  While in America we were able to see lots of friends and family, meet some people at congregations that we had only met via the internet and get some much needed time to rest and regroup.  We also had a great report on Nathan from his muscular dystrophy doctor but we did learn that his doctor will be retiring in the coming year or so.  Please be in prayer that we are able to find another great doctor to help us navigate this craziness.

 

 

The first weekend we were back in Tanzania was filled with the Tanzanian Leadership Conference (TLC) being hosted at ACSOP.  The theme this year was “All Christians are Leaders” and was attended by many Christians from all over east Africa.  After TLC finished up, Phillip drove Brad Whinery out to several congregations in the Usa River and Maji ya Chi areas.   This led to Phillip going back out to the Lerai congregation area several times to help with different Bible studies that led to a baptism into Christ!

 

 

Kisongo church has been busy over the last few months.  The Kisongo Christians have been teaching classes and working on local evangelism.  Every Sunday there are five classes that happen at Kisongo: two children’s classes (one for older kids and one for younger kids), a teen class, a new converts class, a women’s class and a men’s class.  While we were gone to America all of these were taught by Tanzanians and while we do plan to be available to help, we do not plan to take back over the classes.  Our goal over the last year has been to help them see that they don’t need us to do what God has told them to do.  We are proud of the people overcoming their fear of doing something new.  Fear is problem for everyone but fear isn’t from God.  Growing into a new work isn’t easy but it is what God calls to do.

Phillip and Rodrick have been working over the last year to help improve the teen class. Shadrack is now helping with this work. They teach a weekly Saturday class, that is sometimes learning and sometimes just for fun, and a Sunday morning class. It has been great to see this grow so well. When boarding school is out there are as many as 40 teens in class! At least 14 of the teens have chosen to be baptized over the last year and they are working hard to grow in Him.

Phillip has also worked over the last year to design a four year curriculum that is useful here for teen and adult classes. He has now handed the curriculum outline over to Shadrack who has gotten that part translated and they will continue to write lessons for this resource. Lord willing, this will get put together into a usable resource for teen and adult classes. It is designed to take people through the Bible over four years and as Swahili resources are sparse, Lord willing this will help many people through the area. We are so thankful for Shadrack and Rodrick’s wiliness to work to help this work grow.

The women at Kisongo have started gathering money to take food to those who have lost loved ones in the month and I am trying to help them get organized to visit those who are struggling physically or spiritually.  We are encouraged by their desire to help others and pray that we are able to help them in this work.

 

While we were gone, Agustine and the farm workers were very busy and Ishmael did a good job keeping up the books.   While they are still ironing out some kinks in book keeping (as farms are always changing), it is going very well.  Our goal of having the farm on a budget is looking very realistic which is encouraging.  This past month they harvested 200 lbs of carrots, 200 lbs of onions, along with eggplant and greens (somewhat like collards and mustard greens).  All of this was given to the school to use now or freeze for future use.  The greenhouse was repaired so that it can keep growing tomatoes and peppers and the 3 month financial report was completed.  The report showed great numbers for the farm and its helpfulness to the school.  The broiler project is going very well and keeping the school well supplied with chicken.  There are still 35 bags of corn available for the school to use in making ugali (think thick grits) and makande (bean and hominy stew).  The raised bed rotation that Agustine created is working well and allowing for the school to have a more sufficient and consistent supply of vegetables year round.

 

As for things going on with the boys and around our house, we are getting back into the swing of life here and working to get some things moving again.  We are working to get caught up on some school work that we let slip before furlough…because life happens.  We also spent the weekends mourning with some and celebrating with others.  We went with many other local Christians one weekend to help bury Charles Hebreth’s brother near the Kenyan boarder.  Another weekend we got to help celebrate Vivian, Agustine’s oldest daughter, graduating form 4 (about the equivalent to USA 10th grade I think) and celebrate with Justini and Nema (Kisongo Christians) in renewing their wedding vows.  I helped (a little) decorate for the vow renewal and that is always in experience no matter where in the world you are.  🙂  In case you are wondering, men who help women decorate for a wedding on any continent have a special place in heaven.  😉  It is also the time of year that the jacaranda trees and African tulip trees bloom here.  Jacaranda trees bloom a beautiful purple and African tulip trees are a vibrant red.   I love how the trees are not anything to notice normally, but when they bloom they are something beautiful to behold.

Thank you all for your  prayers, love, encouragement and support.  We pray you each continue to grow and to help others grow along with you.

In Him,
Phillip, Bekah, Micah and Nathan

For those who have asked, support can be sent in two ways:

Through Paypal at: pbduncan20@gmail.com

Or:

Checks can be made out to and Mailed to:
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver
2707 S. Lamar Street
Denver, Colorado 80227 (Memo line: “Duncan TZ mission”)