Baird Robert Dawn 1997 Tanzania

8/10/2019 Baird Robert Dawn 1997 Tanzania

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THE

LION S

See the Lion o( the tribe ol Judah . has triumphed

f

i1P?OAWN

Elizabeth Rachel

oshu

April 1997

AFRICA

m

HANDS O N

When we lived in Zaire Iworked in the Theological Education

program(I.E.). Wedeveloped a systemofI.E. schoolsservicing the

areas in which our churches were located. In this program my

responsibilities were inthe area of developingteachers' guides for

the

existingI.E. books, leading seminars for churches

that

wanted

to startI.E. classes and organizing seminars to train and

encourage

the

I.E. teachers. One of

the

classes

that

Ideveloped was an eight-

week study entitled How to Lead Someone to Jesus. The actual

text study lasted only four weeks. The first four weeks the

teacher

trained the

class

in the use

of

the

book The second four

weeks

each class member taught a non-believer from the book and from

what

they had learned inclass. During

the

second four weeks

the

students still met in

the T.E.

class to discuss questions or problems

they hadencountered. Theresultsofthisclasswere two-fold.

First,

many Christians found out that they could carry the Gospel to

someone else; they could do it and God would bless It. And

secondly,was the fact that hundredsof people learned

about

Jesus

and in faith

were buried

and

raised

with

Him to new

life.

Here in Masasi there is

no t

a

T.E.

program. But, from my

experiencewithT.E., Ihavestarted two classes and have adapted

T.E.materials. Aswe grow here, somedaywe could have a system

like Zaire; but for now I am

the

teacher using T.E. books and

writing additional study materials. Inour studies, first inJohn, then


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in Acts my

initial

class has been becoming more

aware ofthe realJesusasopposed to the 1raditional

Jesus. InActsthey sawhowthe Disciples-Apostles

worked to

fulfill

their commission. Theysaw for

the

first time the timing of baptism.

Next,

we studied

from the letters

about

the meaning of baptism.

And they allwanted to be baptized. One man even

taught hiswifeand she alsowanted to be baptized.

Isaya Yasiniprepared to die with Jesus.

When mystudents made their decision, Ithink

I felt

like

a new Dad. Everything had to be right

Howwouldwe baptize them? Wouldwedig a hole

and put plastic init temporarily? Would we

build

a regular baptistry?

My

thoughts were,

Let's

do it

right And, Do they really understand? Every

thing had to be right so their experience was

all

it

could possibly be. I

know

the reality of baptism

is in

the

faith of

the

one being baptized and in

the

response of his Savior. I knew that Butit did not

relieve myanxiety. Iwanted it to be the best. So,

I ran around like a

chicken for

a

week

until we had

it all together. Our Team had planned both a

baptism and a communion service. It was great

Praisethe

Lord

When Ibaptized those people into

Christ, I think I might have had a slight glimpse of

how God feels about it. Ifelt likethose people were

mychildren- like babies. I felt protective, proud,

and happy. Ifeltwonderful and itwasn't even me

I

Brigita, Isaya'swife, raised to new life.

Starting a

new

life.

Whatever part God has given me or

will

give

me to play in his service has eternal significance.

But

when

he gives me the gift of hands-on partici

pation, I am most grateful.

DanielChinguva sharing in the body and blood of Jesus.


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STRANGE NORMAL?

Zacaria and

Kristina extended us

an invitation

to a meal In their home and we gladly accepted.

Theyare students inBob s firstBible classand newly

baptized. Boband I rode our bikesthree milesout

to the

village

of Tukae Wote on a hot, humid

Thursday afternoon, bringing along our own drink

ing water and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

As Bob

went

to sit with

the

man and chat, Kristina

proudly showed me around her garden. Fromher

I learned that the blossoms on the kind of squash

that

are grown here can be cooked and eaten with

the

vegetable itself. Housed in a bamboo pen,

Kristinaalso keeps two sows. They are so familiar

with her voice that they come when she calls, turn

their backs to be scratched, and playfully suck on

her toes when she gets close enough. The pigs are

not pets, though; one isto eat and the other isfor

breeding.

Later on, sitting on a woven mat in their dark,

cool mud hut, we enjoyed a meal of ugali, which is

boiled cornmeal, and mbazi, which is a pea-like

vegetable Kristina had cooked to a nice sloppy

mush.

Somehow

the

conversation

go t

around to

cultural relationships and who could eat at the

same meal with whom in their culture. Normally,

women

here

do

eat

with the men

unless t he re a re

a lot of kids. Inthis case. Dad gets

to

skipout eating

with only

the

older boys. That's right - Mom gets

stuck with all rowdy, messy toddlers. So far, I'd

heard mostly

what

I'd expected to hear. Then

Kristina

volunteered,

If

my parents were eating

with us,

th e men

and

women

would have

to

eat

separately. When I asked her why,

Kristina

ex

plained

that

the women could not eat with the men

because ifher mother did anything embarrassing

at

the

meal, her

mother

would lose

the

respect of

Zacaria, her husband. This apparently, would be

terrible. Strange

to

me,

bu t

normal for here.

On

the

other hand, within this

same

family isa

situation not unfamiliar to

some American

families

Zacaria and Kristina have been together for ten

years. She is 27 years old and he is36. Kristina Is

very unhappy over

the

fact

that

she has not been

able

to

give Zacaria any children and has asked me

to pray

that

God would bless them with a baby.

Zacaria could have left hiswife a long time

ago

over

this problem,

but

hasn't. Obviously, because he

loves

her

Normal

to

us,

but

different for here

As long as we

are

discussing

the

unusual, Iwill

tell you about how we have found it fascinating

here that women may

not kill

chickens. Now you

might think, Well,

what

woman would

want to

kill

a chicken anyway Since there are no grocery

stores where fresh meat is nicely prepackaged

someone

has to kill dinner. After inquiring several

times, we have

the

vague idea that ithas something

to do

with a

woman no t

being

able

to

shed

th e

blood of an animal. Something tied up in

these

peoples' animisticbeliefswhich,with time, we hope

to

understand. Usually,ifa person brings a chicken

to our door to sell, part of the bargain is that the

seller

kills

the chicken. They get to keep the head,

feet and intestines in payment. If a woman comes

sellingthe chicken,she bringsa man or a boy along

to kill it, then proceeds with

the

cleaning. Indeed

strange and too bad about those intestines


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PRAISES AND PRAYERS

1. Praise: Just as Joshua and Dawn were studying in Biology about how to pasteurize milkwe found a

source of fresh

milk.

Now we have fresh milkto drink instead of powdered.

2. Praise: WehaveE-Maill

-In

Masasi, Tanzania Iam amazed We have to send through a hub in Dar

that

is being run by MissionaryAviationFellowship, which connects with a hub in Nairobi, but we are

still connecting with

the

net. So if you would like to send a message we are:

[email protected].

3. Praise: On Friday, March 7th, Dawn's Mom came successfully

through

a surgery on her bladder.

4. Prayfor Don Filipse, Trena Lieb s father, who has been diagnosed with cancer of

the

liver.

5. Prayfor our new Christiansat Tukae Wote. Praythat they willgrow inwisdom and grace and that they

will be willing to plant their faith in others.

6. Prayfor Tanzania to

get

the

needed

rain for this season. As I ride back

and

forth to work t ride

through

the gardens and I see the corn leaves curling from the heat. Please pray for rain

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Documents

Baird Robert Dawn 1997 Tanzania