Farming

The rainy season has not come this year as usual. Some districts around us are getting occasional showers that we hope will sustain their crops but Kisongo is not getting even that. We request your prayers for the farmers whose crops still have a chance. Even if it started raining now the majority of our crop, if not all, would be lost but we hope that is not the case for the other farmers.

While this news sounds terrible – we have two years worth of corn stored from past harvests. But pray for those whose livelihoods depend on this rain and these crops. The school will be fine, it is just a setback, but many others desperately need this rain and these crops to feed their families.

We continue to harvest greens, onions, and other small crops on our raised drip beds. We are grateful for this technology that allows us to conserve water and still harvest.

Because our corn is a loss this year we will not be able to use the stalks for silage for the cows. But also, because there is no rain, grass is scarce even on our farm. Because of this we went ahead and bought 400 bales of hay before prices go up due to the drought. This is the first year since we moved to Kisongo that we have had to buy more than just a few bales where we ran out of silage a few weeks early.

Evangelism

It was not included in our last report but for the last month Anna has been visiting many women in our churches who are suffering for different reasons. Pray for our churches and pray for those who satan is trying to break them by others attacking them, attacking their marriages, their crops dying and not being able to feed their families and so many more reasons. It has been a difficult month but we know it is one of the reasons we are here. Despite the losses that continue to come we teach that God is still good and our hope is not in these things.

I am preparing and teaching a course on Christian evidences at ACSOP.

Please pray for rain. We need it for the crops but also to refill the water table that feeds most of the wells. And, as many of you know, power is ran on hydro-electric here. We need rain for many many reasons.

We are grateful to our Tanzanian family who is one by one in their own ways celebrating our last 3 years here and saying their goodbyes. This last week we went to the home of Bomoa for dinner. We have not seen more spiritual growth or maturity from anyone since 2015 as him and his family. It has been an incredible journey to watch and we are grateful to have played a small part.

If you don’t get their reports know that our teammates, Philip and Bekah Duncan, are a great fit here. Philip has helped tremendously with the farms budget but more importantly he has dedicated his time and effort to the teens at Kisongo. This last Sunday, it was awesome to see so many of our teens home from boarding school. But it was even more awesome for them to have a class, led by Philip and Rodrick, to help grow them spiritually. We hope that more churches take the time to begin teaching and training their teens in the Lord.

On Sunday it was announced at Kisongo that the church at Mto wa Mbu is in the processes of installing elders. We were thrilled to hear this! It is so great to see more and more churches choosing the biblical model of leadership. Keep this church and their possible new elders in your prayers.