That African Family: Expedition Season Is Off With A...Hiss?!

The Approach...

As we first came into Lekuti's village, we were greeted by scattered Maasai herding their cattle, plenty of thorn scrub and rocky ground cover, and a lush green vista on the back side of the Ngorongoro Crater that overlooked the Serengeti plains. It was amazing.

And then came the hiss.

No John, that was not a soda cap. To my defense, we had a case in the back of the truck and I couldn't hear the tire leaking when I got out of the truck. Yeah, duhhh.

Turns out it was a theme for this trip!

The Payoff...

Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. (Ps 54:2)

The man leading the children in song is middle of the group, slightly to the left. He holding a Bible and is an elder of the village and a long-time disciple of Christ. As the Team came in, he shared that our presence, the ministry we were bringing, and our relationships with our staff who come from the village was opening people's hearts to the gospel message. He told us we were "an answer to prayer."

We have been invited to share the Jesus Film and extended discipleship in a series of neighboring villages as a result of what was a long, taxing, but equally as amazing expedition. It all started about 2 years ago...

You may remember when Lekuti was the first of our Maasai staff to come on board, we soon thereafter invited his mom and adopted sister to come stay with us so his mom could get better medical care with our oversight. Her time greatly deepened our relationship with her whole family and people, and the fact that the Lord has restored her health a testimony to the goodness of the God we serve. This, the two years of work relationship with Lekuti, and his recent wedding celebration naturally paved the way for our invite to the Ngorongoro region where his village is. With that we were asked to bring ministry.

The Maasai are a marginalized people, even with their being the face of much of Tanzania's most lucrative resource: the tourism generated in the Serengeti, Ngorongoro, and Kilimanjaro (Arusha) regions. Their way of life is rooted in ancient custom and herding cattle, of which they believe they have a right endowed by God to all the cattle in the world. Many of their ancient traditions like female circumcision and child brides are banned in Tanzania but because of their clandestine nature and the central government's lack of resources the practices continue. We are praying for the light of the gospel to reach directly into these situations to bring freedom from harmful traditions.

We know that the door has been opened. We are praying for keys to handle this privilege in such a way that life can be experienced and celebrated in the fulness of surrender to the Kingdom of God.

We gathered to share a word and to pray together before rolling out...

Water From Above But Nowhere To Drink

The Ngorongoro Crater is in essence a giant dormant volcano that is hollowed out and home to it's own incredible ecosystem. There is a water source at it's center frequented by all sorts of African game, including the carnivores that pray on Africa's largest mammals. Once per day, each Maasai cowboy is allowed to walk his cattle past the lions and buffalo and hyenas to this hole, as it is the only constant water source for miles down the sides of the Crater's outer slopes. In an area that gets plenty of seasonal rain and has lush grazing lands, most of the water drains down the mountain and runs off into surrounding plains like the Serengeti. The Maasai who live on the slopes are always on the move trying to find puddles and ponds to water their herds. It is virtually impossible for this to be carried back to the villages. Even if it were, it is hardly suitable for human consumption.

The Maasai will often drink nothing but cow milk and blood for months on end when water is at its scarcest. In the ward which incorporates Lekuti's village with several others over miles of hillside, there is one well pump that is not deep enough and barely draws water most of the year. For some in the ward it is several miles to walk. We are on a mission to bring a viable well which will pump all year and bring water to villages which are now perpetually thirsty. We believe we can have this completed this year, hopefully even before the worst of the dry season is upon us.

And we pray the well we dig is not only a physical structure, but also a spiritual source of life in Christ that remains long past our influence can be felt.

The Icing On The Cake

It's pretty amazing when we get to go anywhere on behalf of our King Jesus. When it happens to be into the teeth of the African wild, you simply smile and say thank you for the ride!

What's Next?

We are hosting 2 of the planned 3 teams coming to Tanzania for Expedition Season. There will be a team helping us launch a church in one of our Tongwe villages, a team coming to do a pastor's retreat and seminar for local pastors, and a team coming to work on a village building project and village outreaches.
By the end of this month, Musa and Tryphone, two of our national missionary staff, will be accompanying one of our soon to be planted pastors to the village he is going to serve in. They will be meeting with village leaders and the believers to prepare for the coming church.
Currently, we are prepping one level 2 village medical seminar and revamping the first responder/first aid course to help some local missionaries as well.
Ibrahim, our lead translator and staff missions pastor has begun a church plant in his farm village and we plan to follow up with a discipleship seminar late May or early June.

October will bring the refugee aid trip to the Middle East, assisting peoples displaced by ISIS. We will keep you informed as we draw closer.

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