Dear Partners,
The Lord promised His people in Jeremiah 33:3
“Call upon me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things…”
You faithfully prayed for the 10 people who led the Story Cloth training in Arusha, Tanzania last week, and our Lord answered in marvelous ways. This trip was organized in a shorter time span than is preferable, and it involved more “moving parts” than normal. The ten team members traveled out from various parts of the USA, and also Cape Town, South Africa. The Maasai and MBBs to be trained came from all over Maasai-land, as well as the extreme western part of Tanzania. So many things could have gone wrong! However, although unforeseen changes and challenges did present themselves along the way, God was gracious and made all things work out extremely well.
The first unforeseen challenge happened at the Charlotte Airport when one team member discovered she had been administered a rapid Covid-19 test instead of a PCR. She quickly was taken to a clinic located nearby the airport and returned within plenty of time to catch the first flight. However, due to bad weather, that first flight meant being rerouted through JFK, versus the original plan which would have had most team members join up in Atlanta. Due to the change of itinerary, none of our luggage arrived in Arusha with us. Some pieces did not arrive until 5 days after our arrival. However, because this trip was planned in conjunction with ACTS, their personnel jumped into action and helped take care of all our special needs, i.e., make many runs to the airport to pick up luggage, buy clothes in a local market, etc. Many thanks go out to Adrian and his excellent Tanzanian team. The bad weather forced the team member whose departure airport is in Knoxville to be delayed to the following day. He was rerouted through Ethiopia. I got some great Ethiopian coffee out of that deal, so…
Men’s Group
The men met on a covered roof of the Runako Lodge. Mt. Meru was visible from the roof (1st picture). Because our luggage arrived late, Richard Coffman and Elizabeth Taylor had to draw their own maps of Israel and Jerusalem (2nd picture). There were 26 men in attendance (3rd picture), and they included 21 Maasai and 5 men from western Tanzania. Four of those brothers were MBBs who work with an IMB team. Two of those men were formerly sheiks and their testimonies were powerful. One of those men, after receiving Jesus, had to hide for almost 4 years to avoid being killed. We gave both of those men plenty of time to share from their experiences. Their insights into how Islam deceives its adherents offered the Maasai a unique opportunity, given the fact that Muslims are working hard, both in Kenya and Tanzania, to convert Maasai to Islam. Their testimonies of persecution and suffering brought their Maasai brothers to tears. Before the week ended, sincere commitments were made by all members of both communities to pray for one another, and to coordinate ministry when possible.
Because of CRM’s generous donors, we were able to fly Alam to Arusha from Sudan. He contributed much to the event by sharing his insights into the Quran and through his testimony as to how they are winning Muslims to faith in Christ. At the end of the conference, he flew to Uganda loaded down with more resources. He will in April carry them back to Darfur.
As in the past, we asked the men to compose a song and prepare a drama based on one of the 42 stories of the first Story Cloth. We chose the 7th story which is about Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac. The 4th picture above was taken of the Maasai brother who composed the song. We divided the men into 3 groups to perform a drama of the same story. The props one group chose to use were simply great and everyone laughed and appreciated their effort.
We were surprised to learn that only 3 of the Maasai men in attendance had ever seen a Story Cloth. That revelation confirmed the need for this training event. I asked Carl Smith to join this team, given that for some years he has annually led a discipleship team to both Kenya and Tanzania. I wanted him to see the advantage of going into depth on each story over a 5-day period. John Rampei came down from Kenya, and he affirmed Carl’s observation that bringing leaders together, going in-depth on each story by using a series of good dialogue questions, offers distinct advantages. Sending those same leaders back home with digital resources to supplement and build on their better understanding of the Bible’s major themes, should boost, deepen, and widen the scope of their evangelistic and disciple-making efforts.
Women’s Group
Seven of our CRM team were ladies, and they were blessed with the opportunity to train 25 Maasai women, and 2 MBB ladies from western Tanzania. Mikaeli Tatile, the local Maasai Baptist leader, thought he had 4 Maasai women lined up who could translate. However, as the event started, it quickly became apparent that only his wife, Upendo, had the ability. The wife of the hotel owner, Janet, graciously agreed to help translate into Swahili for the two ladies from Kigoma, so starting on Tuesday, all participants could understand everything.
As with other training events, Lori Bryan led the women in trauma healing education sessions. On this trip she was helped by her friend Elizabeth Taylor. They discovered that Maasai women daily deal with many traumatic issues in their homes. Many of these issues stem from being involved in a polygamous marriage. Some women are either wife number 3 or 4. When Lori had the ladies make clay figures of the things they are thankful for, the women fashioned images of livestock and of children. Not one woman mentioned their husband during that session.
Due to a lack of translators, the women were not able to break into small groups for story review and questions as is normal. However, toward the end of the week, it became clear that the women were learning the stories. When called upon to come to the front and tell a particular story, the women chosen to do so could tell them word perfect. Lacey wrote that a highlight of the whole event for her was the look on one particular Maasai woman’s face when she made the connection between the lamb of the Passover, and the Lamb of God on the cross.
The ladies were taught in small groups how to sew washable feminine products. This was something our team could do without a translator simply by doing the work in front of them. Of course, the Maasai ladies know how to sew, and they easily took to sewing the various materials involved in making the pads.
The ladies also composed songs and dramas based on various stories of the cloth. Mary Westermann stated that she was truly blessed by the songs and that everyone laughed and had a good time as groups did their dramas.
During the last session on Friday, the Maasai ladies told our team that while they did not have gifts to give to show their appreciation, they wanted the team to know that their appreciation would be shown by their telling the stories of the cloth to all the women of their communities. They then circled our team and laid hands on them and prayed over them. Lacey gave an invitation during Friday’s last session, and almost half the women raised their hands. Whether that indicated they were rededicating their lives, or receiving Jesus as Lord for the first time, only God knows.
Concluding Thoughts on The Training
- Because of your giving to CRM, this team was able to bless all in attendance with a story cloth, and we had all the materials required to do crafts. We were able to lodge and feed the participants in an outstanding venue. We were blessed to send leaders home with digital scriptural resources, including micro-SD cards, projectors and MP3 players, to use in evangelism. We took out at least 100 lbs of story cloths to distribute to leaders and bought a case of Bibles for the MBBs of Kigoma.
- Because of the input from the male MBB leaders, the Maasai men went home with a special burden to reach Muslims living around them with the gospel. They also now know not to fear Muslims, but to befriend and witness to them.
- Through bringing women and male leaders together in one venue, we enabled people who live over a very wide area to make new friends, and to build that friendship on a powerful shared experience. This will help promote coordination of church planting.
- The in-depth training of women will result in a powerful surge of evangelism and discipleship.
News From Sudan
- CRM funded in March a training event for 60 women of Darfur. A___ reported that it was a historic event. He believes their time of fellowship and the teachings they received will result in many Muslim women coming to Christ.
- A___ conducted the first ever Christian wedding. Many unbelievers attended. The response from the community was sheer amazement. They had no idea what the Bible teaches about marriage. The feedback was “if Christian couples truly model the teachings of the Bible concerning marriage, our community will be turned upside down.”
- The 18 Bible school students finished their classroom studies in mid-March. They are now on a two-month assignment to go into unreached areas and start new churches. Each student must start a new church to graduate.
- A____ traveled into Khartoum last week to attend a meeting of the Sudan Council of Churches. He was given the registration certificate for the newly formed Baptist Convention of Sudan. After hearing A___ explain all that God has done in Darfur since May of 2019, the chairman stated, “there has never been such a movement of the Spirit in the history of Sudan!” Adam related that the leaders of the various Christians groups represented in the council gave good reports of what God is doing all over the country. Everyone in attendance left convinced that the Lord is ushering in a new day in Sudan.
- I am now working with A____ to form a plan for him to travel to Kenya to receive treatment for his lower back. He has been living with severe pain for over a year. He will be treated at the Kijabe Hospital which is affiliated with the Africa Inland Mission. Please pray that every detail of this plan will fall into place smoothly.
- Alam flew from Tanzania to Uganda and is now with his family. Pray that while he is out of Sudan, he can translate and write many materials which will aid in evangelism and discipleship. We also want him to record Bible stories, teaching messages, and songs in the languages of Fur and Sudanese Arabic.
Brothers and sisters, there is so much happening, so many stories coming in, that it is always frustrating for me to conclude each newsletter knowing that there is so much more that I could share. However, I trust I have shared enough for you to realize that your prayers for and giving to CRM are producing abundant fruit; fruit that will abide. And that fruit is being produced in least reached areas, among people who have had little to no exposure to the pure Gospel of Christ.
As the Lord leads you, we encourage you to continue to give generously at this time, as the opportunities for empowering movements among least reached people exceed what we can finance. Remember that you can give through our website, by clicking on the Donate button or you can send a check to: CRM, 4100 Fulton Road, Corryton, TN 37721.
