Bwana Asifiwe! (Swahili for "Praise the Lord” )

We are making progress...

With Joshua!!! (Update- continued from last posting)

Josh has continued to ask questions about God, Jesus, the Bible, Creation, and so much more every day that we are with him! It is so amazing to see him discovering Jesus! He had never even heard the story of Adam and Eve, or any of the Creation story for that matter. He only knew of Evolution, but his response was something like, “Now that I know this, this ape theory sounds crazy!” And telling him the story of Jesus… that was priceless.

One of my personal favorite things about Josh is his child-like faith, excitement, and honesty. It is a common response of Africans in general to immediately accept Jesus the first time they hear the Gospel. I believe that, for most, this is because it is the “Good News” that so many of them have been longing to hear all of their life. But I would also venture to guess that there are many who don’t take their decision to accept Christ to the next level, to a deeper relationship with Him.

This is what I love about Josh… John asked him last week if he had accepted Jesus into his heart as His Lord and Savior yet. He said no… but not because his heart is hardened, but instead, because he wanted to make sure he fully understands what it means to be a Christian before he becomes one. He tells us that he goes home every night and reads His Bible and processes all of the new information we have given him earlier that day, and that he will continue to think on what we have told him. It is amazing to me that he is so thoughtful and so conscientious of this huge decision he is making. I think that we could all probably learn from Josh in just how seriously he takes God’s Word and how he is putting so much thought and consideration into this decision, from the very beginning!

Please continue to pray for Josh’s salvation, and that in God’s timing, he would make the decision to come to know Him in a deeper way.

With Learning Swahili…
Praise the Lord! We truly are making progress in Swahili! We are now at a level where we can speak conversationally with the Ugandans. For example, we know how to greet each other, introduce ourselves, shop in the market for groceries, say simple Christian phrases, and we have even memorized Joshua 1:9 in Swahili (together with Josh!) and translated “God of Wonders” into Swahili with John playing the guitar to it!

And With Driving…


Praise the Lord! I (Erica) can finally drive a stick in Africa!!! Well, at least enough to get around and do every day errands or give other people rides all by myself! I used to have to have John in the car with me to tell me when to shift and what to do when I stalled, but I am finally figuring it all out! Thank you so much for your prayers, because if you would have seen my trying to drive 2 months ago, you would know that this is nothing short of a miracle and an answer to prayer!