Wedding of our friends and domestic staff Josephat and Lilian

When you live here, adventures sometimes come along spontaneously and completely unexpectedly. About three months ago, a snake wandered into our house. During school time, our housekeeper, Lilian, left the living room door open too long in the morning.

But even in this situation, the Lord had his eyes on us, and Lilian heard an inner voice four times in a row telling her to go inside. The first two times, she was reluctant because she wanted to stay with the fries she was preparing on the gas stove in the outdoor kitchen. But because she already knew the voice of the Holy Spirit and it wouldn't let up, she went inside and saw the creature slithering into the kitchen. She immediately ran outside and called our gardener, Josephat, her husband. By then, the snake had already reached the children's room, where Elia was taking his break. He heard the hissing, saw the creature, and quickly fetched his knife from the shelf, but Josephat was already there, deftly picking up the snake with a broom and the knife, and brought it outside, where, with Elia's help, he finally dispatched it. Elia simply said, "Some real action again!"

Beautiful and muddy

In April we took a trip to a mighty waterfall that cascades down from a long cave. (German soldiers had barricaded themselves in this cave during the First World War.) It was already late afternoon and the sun was low. On the way back in the Toyota we slid off the road in a very muddy spot into the sloping bushes. I said a quick prayer. We asked two motorcyclists for help, and three other men joined us. With the emergency shovel, a rope tied at the right angle to a tree on the other side of the road, and our combined strength, we were able to get the car back into the rut. After half an hour we were able to drive back to Mbeya with our shoes completely covered in mud. Thank you Jesus for sending people with hearts at the right time!

Our dream: 100 leaders among the Ndali

Over the past two months, we have been shooting a film in stages among the Ndali people about hypocritical Christianity and alcohol abuse. The goal is to help churches and congregations deal with the serious alcohol problem among their people, to find ways to help people inside and outside the congregations understand the liberating message of the gospel in depth and not allow themselves to be trapped by addiction. With our EthnoArts team, we recorded twenty-four newly composed songs by the Ndali at the end of April and May, which reflect specific Bible verses to be sung in addiction support groups. The composers have already recorded the newly learned songs in their own language. They also presented them in their communities and the response has been overwhelming.

...that is our goal for the coming years among the Sangu people. In mid-May, we called ten dedicated small group leaders to Mbeya. We trained them and then sent them back to encourage other leaders and visit groups in their language area that had been formed in recent years during the so-called Joseph Project. The Joseph Project included the large Joseph theater tour in the Sangu region, but also the founding of almost 50 small groups. To date, approximately 30 groups have continued, in which both the Joseph story and other Bible texts are studied in depth. Our goal is to build deep and trusting relationships with these ten young people, to encourage them in following Jesus, and to provide them with the tools they need to support the Sangu small groups. Please pray for these ten people that God will guide them, strengthen them in their faith, and work powerfully through them. We no longer have the funds for our further work with the Sangu, but we would like to continue investing in this people with many very young congregations and young Christians. If someone would like to donate specifically to Sangu, please indicate “for Sangu” when making the donation.

Visit from Germany

We were truly honored when Dorothee and Martin Zywietz from the Evangelical Free Church in Ludwigsburg visited us in the last week of June. They learned more about SIL's work and, in addition to visiting a few tourist attractions, were even able to join us for a trip to the village, where we videotaped two previously unknown Sangu art forms for a deeper understanding of the culture.

During the first week of June, Emmanuel and I conducted a video seminar in Mbeya. Three participants from each of four ethnic groups learned how to produce their own films using their smartphones and simple software. The goal was to convey culturally relevant, biblical content in their language areas, thus bringing people into contact with the Bible in their own language. I encouraged the participants to enter a competition: whoever produces the best Bible-related film in the local language by the end of August will receive a microphone set as a reward. Please pray that the four teams produce something that pleases God, helps people with their challenges, and helps them get to know Jesus.

Thank you so much!

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support, your donations, and your prayers for us and our projects. Thank you so much! May Jesus richly bless you!

All the best, Daniel, Damaris, Samuel, Rebekah and Elijah

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