Short Report 10/19

 

Grace and Peace to you friends.       This trip to Tanzania has been a wonderful experience.  We had the pleasure of spending time in many homes of our dear Tanzanian brethren.  Those who follow me on Facebook had your feed flooded with pictures from these cherished experiences!  An important part of this trip was also to help Noel and Jessica Stafford in their survey of the work.  They are hoping to move to Tanzania to help with the work at some point next year.  They are excited about the possibilities and will begin fundraising immediately.  I encourage you to prayerfully consider helping them.   (Daniel Gaines, Noel and Jessica Stafford)        Exciting progress continues to be made on construction of the Cy Stafford School of Leadership.  Windows are installed, and the painting is complete.  Check out the beautiful floor in the hallway! We are happy to welcome our newest student, Christopher Carter.  Chris is a Bear Valley student who is finishing his senior year at the Andrew Connally School of Preaching.  This is the first time that we have been able to host an American student who came to Tanzania specifically to train with us. This should be a great experience for Chris and for his classmates as he graduates with us.     (Chris Carter and his new classmates) One of our biggest events of the year is the Tanzania Leadership Conference, hosted at ACSOP.  For an update on that, here is a message from Charles Mwanga:      "“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18), The scripture is encouraging us as Christians not to think that what we are passing through now is greater than the present to come. That’s why in our conference these year, we decided to come with topic which will be encouraging both individual Christians and the Church in general to “STAY TRUE TO GOD IN CHALLENGING TIMES.” Since the world has been tried through many hard situations, it is very easy for a Christian to loose “COURAGE,” Our conference was focusing on equipping the Saints with tools as to how they can stay Faithful to God even during the hard times.      "We thank God for the opportunity to serve in His Kingdom, as we all know many countries have been defeated to continue with their regular schedules both spiritually and physically, Here in Tanzania things have been different, We have been blessed to host our conference as usual. We had the average of 187 participants, 21 topics presented and various experienced teachers from both America and East Africa. We thank God for using us as a vessel to build up His Kingdom.      "We are back to our normal teaching schedule, both in our English and Swahili classes. We thank God for may brethren who are striving day and night to make sure that our school continue to exist. THANK YOU SO MUCH.      "We thank you all for your prayers and support even during this trying times. We have seen true love abiding in you. May the Lord continue to bless you and yours beyond measure.      "Thank you for all that you mean and do in His Kingdom."   Enjoy some images from TLC at the bottom of this email.    We also want to thank a sweet group of Ladies from the Mt. Juliet Congregation, who generously made 769 masks to send to Tanzania.  We distributed these at the Tanzania Leadership Conference to anyone who wanted some to take back to their congregations or families across East Africa.  People lined up to eagerly receive them, especially interested in the children's sizes for school.   (Mt. Juliet ladies hard at work)     (Melissa Burka delivers the masks to Daniel)   (Masks being distributed) If you would like an in-person visit to hear more about the work, then I would love to come.  Also, can you recommend this work to a friend or another congregation?  Referrals are a great way to help.  As always, the most important thing that we need for you to do is PRAY for this important work on a regular basis!   Till all have heard, Daniel Gaines Tanzania Missions