Elijah and Elisha - oops not Elisha but -- William

Two familiar Biblical names and one somewhat common name.
We will concentrate on the first familiar name and then the common name.

Their stories:

Elijah is a Maasai evangelist who was discovered by our recent Calvary Baptist Church team in the Simanjiro District of Tanzania.  As the team commented, "God just led us to him in another of our 'divine appointments'".

He started a church 3 years ago in an area were no churches existed.  He and his wife, Lea, built the first building out of the available materials - branches, grass, mud, and manure.  They have continued to this day and are now building a new building because they have outgrown their first structure.  The team left him a Chronological Bible Storying Cloth, an MP3 player with the stories and the NT in Kimaasai, and a Kimaasai Bible.  The team also gave Elijah some training in storying and follow-up.  We will be visiting him in the near future to see how he is progressing in his ministry.

William is an evangelist who showed up at one of our discipleship sessions.  He said that the spiritual leader of that area tried to contact him via phone and text message about our team leading this training but he never received the information.  Yet, he was there when we arrived for our second day of training at the area leader's boma.  The area leader was not there due to a situation he needed to take care of in the near-by local town.  When asked how he knew to show up at this boma, William simply replied, "God told me to come here on this day at this time and He would show me the rest".  He stayed through the entire training and then invited us to his boma.  We followed him in our vehicle as he piloted his motorcycle down the road to his small local kiosk. We then walked the rest of the way to his boma.  He informed us during our trek that his mother was a Baptist and that he received much teaching from her and her mother - his grandmother (sounds like a Timothy in the Bible).  Now he continues preaching, teaching, and discipling others.  We will invest time, training and materials in this young man who is faithfully serving God in the place He has put him.  Another "divine appointment".

God has placed leaders in different areas in Maasaini.
He is allowing us to meet them in many different ways so that we may get to know them, hear their stories, train them, and then partner with them in ministry.

Old and New Bibles

The discipleship teaching sessions had gone well.  Nairokoki (Nigh Row Ko Key) was proving to be an able and knowledgeable student of the Word.  As we were getting ready to leave, I noticed her Bible.  It had that "used" look that books acquire in the bush -- dirty on the outside, cover missing, re-bound several times with available materials (cardboard in this case) and pages missing.  As I went to the vehicle, Holy Spirit prompted me to action.  I asked Nairokoki if she would trade me her Bible for a new Bible and I would include a zip-up cover with it.  She thought for 2 seconds then gladly agreed.  So, she acquired a new Bible with cover (and all the pages intact), and I acquired a piece of Maasai spiritual history from this faithful disciple.

I am privileged and blessed to have this piece of nostalgia and also to have resources to buy Bibles to use in the Maasai areas of Tanzania.