Dear All,
Tuesday’s Bottom Line:
Hillary is feeling better, Scott is fine, everything about Babati was amazing: the travel to get there, the crowd waiting for them, the church facility, the leaders, the results, and what they saw on the way “home.” WHAT a day it was!
Tuesday’s Prayer Requests:
1. The pastoral couples who came to the Babati BT seminar to DO what they learned and keep doing it.
2. God to greatly bless the TTC partners whose faithful financial giving has made today’s seminar possible.
3. Another wonderful BT seminar in Arusha on Tuesday.Tuesday’s Details:
I really am going to let Scott tell you all the great news about today in his own words, and you will be pumped! But first, I do want to try to explain some things so you will realize what a big deal today was.
Scott has been going to Kenya and training pastors to become disciple-makers for probably more than five years. His core team, those who lead the TTC ministry in Kenya, are Hellen, Hillary, and James. (James is the one who was consecrated as a bishop on Saturday.)
Each of those three has led multiple 10-month-long weekly DM groups in various counties of Kenya, so each of them now has numerous disciples who are now raising disciple-makers who are raising disciple-makers, etc. But in recent years, those three have felt a strong calling to begin holding DM seminars and starting DM groups to raise disciple-makers in neighboring nations, as well as in Kenya.
Hillary has a heart for Tanzania. For the past several months, one of his disciples, Pastor Michael, has been making the same ten-hour, one-way trip that Scott, Hillary, and Joyce just made, and he does it every week to lead a DM group in Tanzania. Can you imagine?!? You’ve got to REALLY care about something or somebody to invest that kind of time and energy. Scott will explain details about that below.
See, it used to be that Scott would go to Kenya to lead DM seminars. Then the pastors who attended would join a DM group. As they learned and were trained, they started their own DM groups. Then Scott would go back later, and all those pastors who had been experiencing and applying this discipleship process would bring their wives and attend a BT marriage seminar for ministers.
That is how it USED to be, but now the Three and their disciples and their disciples are leading DM seminars and overseeing DM groups. They are making all the connections and arranging all the details, and on this trip, Scott is coming in and leading many BT seminars and a few DM seminars.
OK. I know that was one massively long introduction. But if you’re willing to keep reading, the really good stuff is yet to come. = )At 5:30 Monday morning local time, Scott said, “Hillary is eating and has not had any digestive issues since 8 pm. He even ate last night and had milk tea. We prayed for him and he seems to be doing well. Just a bit weak.” Praise God.
“Bishop Peter, from Arusha, was our driver. He also is the one who connected us with the people in Babati.” In this picture Peter is to the right of Scott, two men back.  Leaders from the Babati Better Together seminar“We had 102 attendees out in the village for the meeting today. Side note – it is a LONG way to Babati! Three hours on the road and about 30 minutes on terrible dirt roads. We arrived after 10 AM and everyone was there sitting and waiting for us, all 100+ of them. Whereas in the town, people came late and left right after lunch, in the village, they all stayed until the end.” |
Bishop Peter interpreting for Scott“They used a generator for power, since there is no electricity in the church.”
Church with dirt floor and literally no walls
Please look again at this picture of the leaders, and note Pastor Michael. His head appears to be right under Scott’s chin. And look at that smile!
Now here’s what Scott said about Michael. [Note from Patty about Pastor Michael: He’s a pastor, you know. Most pastors are fairly busy on Sunday mornings…] “Every week Pastor Michael travels on Sunday 6 hours to Arusha, stays overnight there, catches a bus at 5:30 AM for the three-hour trip to Babati, then rides a “tuk-tuk” for 30 rugged minutes from Babati out into the village.” Tuk-tuks are semi-enclosed motorized tricycles, economy taxis, so to speak.
Tuk-tuks in Tanzania
(Photo credit: https://tortugaphoto.smugmug.com/Africa/Our-Own-Private-Tanzania/i-ntZqpn6)”Michael then repeats all that travel on his way back home. He has told me multiple times he is ‘honored to be able to serve this way.’ The host pastor at this church in Babati has requested that we start a DM group at his church. Pastor Michael will meet with those interested next Monday to discuss starting the new group on Monday after his other group finishes. Yay!
“And Bishop Peter [who is based in Arusha and drove them from Arusha to the village outside Babati today and then interpreted for Scott] told Hillary tonight as he left that he has decided to cancel his plans he had for tomorrow, because he must bring his wife and the two of them sit and listen to the seminar tomorrow. AMAZING!
“Hillary received a great testimony from one of the husbands today. He said he had NEVER said he was sorry to his wife before, but today was the first time. His wife was there beside him smiling.”
I hope you can see that only a week into this trip, YOUR prayers are being heard by God and he is answering!!! Please don’t stop now.
Finally (well, almost finally) Scott said, “Look what we saw on the side of the road on our way home today!”
Can you count the zebras? I keep getting different numbers. = )And finally – for real, I promise – Scott said, “Please thank all of our financial partners who enable us to send out missionaries like this to equip these pastors to fulfill the great commission and make disciples of all nations.”
THANK YOU!Blessings
,
Patty |
Scott’s Tanzanian visa!
And a new vaccination booklet that is not falling apartSo, rejoice with us; God answered our prayers, and Scott and Hillary are now in Tanzania!
Bishop James, giving his acceptance addressScott will preach at Pastor Hillary’s church in Nairobi on Sunday morning, and after lunch they will begin their trek to Babati (“bah-BAH-tee”), Tanzania. It’s about a two-hour drive to the border, and that is where Scott has a very specific prayer request, which I will now try to explain.