Hello, friends.

It has been an amazingly busy, productive and spiritually invigorating three weeks. I just returned from another trip to Tanzania, East Africa, and was going non-stop from the time we hit the ground. I was accompanied by my good friend Steve Reid, which was truly a blessing. After flying for three days, we arrived in Dar and went immediately to the container that was storing much of the household items we’d left behind. People started showing up, and over the next three days, we got rid of ALL of our furniture, clothes, and everything else we owned while we lived there. It was a difficult time sensing the closing of a chapter in our lives, but also rewarding in being able to bless many who we care about, including my dear African pastors.

Following these days, we went to a church in Gongo la’Mboto and had an amazing time of worship. Steve preached on 1 John 4 and I followed him on 1 John 5, and then gave an invitation to any who desired to place their faith in Christ for the first time, and 13 people stood to their feet and verbalized that today they wanted to trust Christ instead of their own efforts to be saved. Bwana Yesu asifiwe!! Praise to the Lord Jesus! We prayed together, and celebrated God’s work in their life. Pastor Greyson affirmed their new faith, and committed to discipling them.

The next day we began our workshop for training pastors, which continued through the week. Twelve hungry Africans soaked up our training on Genesis which included a heavy dose of biblical theology. It was a blessed time seeing these pastors grasp more tools for studying, obeying and teaching God’s Word well. A key ingredient is that each of these pastors must now pass the training on to other pastors, thereby multiplying the tools so more and more leaders can handle God’s Word well.

The following Sunday we spent the day from early morning till late in evening with Bishop Mhina preaching in various church services and encouraging several of the leaders of ministries he overseas.

The next day it was back on the airplane and heading home. Despite four pieces of luggage getting lost on the way, all ended up turning out well. I was briefly in Seattle, and then headed with Holly down to Arizona to consider this place as a permanent relocation spot for us. Please keep praying for God’s wisdom in this decision making process.

Pressing on by God’s grace, Eric