Moshi Church of Christ Newsletter

Moshi Church of Christ, Tanzania
AUGUST O7 NEWSLETTER
ANY HOPE FOR THE OMARIS OF MOSHI, TANZANIA?
Omari just turned 19 this last month. He knows the month but not the exact date. Omari has been a Muslim. He couldn’t understand what they preach in the Arabic language. And so he started to read the Bible by himself. He read the story of Joseph the son of Jacob. He tells the story with ease. His cousin, Deogratius who had to sneak from a catholic church sponsored vocational school to be baptized, encouraged Omari to give himself to the Lord. So he hooked us up and I studied with him about Christ and that He is Lord over Mohamed. Of the people I have studied with this year, Omari is the easiest to teach. He is a fast learner and he has some very thoughtful questions. Omari is my buddy. He lives 15 miles from Moshi Town. One Monday morning Omari got his small bag and came to Moshi. He had been promised a job at a construction site but when he reached, there wasn’t any job for him. He borrowed 500 shillings to come to town and that was all he had. Since there was not a job for him, he had to get back home. But he did not know how he would do that. The previous night he went to bed on an empty stomach. On Monday he left before he had any breakfast. He did not have any energy to go back home. So he came to church. By good luck, yes, I had a meeting with Samuel, Dhudha and Phil and so I went to church to pick up some writing material and that is when I met Omari -stranded at the church. We sat and talked and I sympathized. Gave him enough money to take him back home and pay the debt and enough to bring him to church the following Sunday. Then I said, ‘Omari you are now free to go back home, I have a meeting that I must rush to; and may God bless you…’ And he answered, ‘Amen.’ Then he added, ‘I am looking for a job, any job, if you have any I would be glad to take it.’ ‘I do not have any job’ but I said to him, ‘my ears will be out should I hear anything, I will let you know.’ With that he left the office. Ten minutes later, I stormed out of the office as I was at the knick of being late… and Omari was still on the stairs. There was a problem. And so I asked him, ‘Omari come we pray.’ And we moved to the auditorium where we both knelt down and I prayed for him. He knelt first, and so I had to kneel too as this prayer was for me as well. Just like people have different spiritual gifts so does the church. Some congregations will have strengths in different fields of ministry. Our congregation is a tool God has chosen to reach people like Omari. The urban-poor. A people with very little education. We can’t run away from them, they need Christ the most. Every day I have heart breaking encounter with my kith and kin who have to fight intoxicating hardship bravely and still cling on to Jesus thanking him of his generosity. This relationship with Jesus has always improved the lives of those who believe in Him. Their hope is in Christ in whom grace and mercy abound over and above ‘justice’. Justice will condemn them to the abyss of despair and hopelessness. It is now three years since we restored this promising congregation. We are still dependent on the Ankeny Church of Christ - Iowa, for rent for the theatre hall that is now housing us as a church. The Ankeny church has also pressing needs at home and would be glad if we got off their back and became self reliant. It is our desire to be self-reliant, it is honorable. And yet we do not have enough money to be able to do anything substantial. We need our own building. Currently we are paying 336 dollars a month on rent. The rent has a tendency of going up often. The only lasting solution is for us to be on our own. Would you please help us be on our own and help us break this circle of dependence on America? We seek for mercy. We have 10,000 dollars. We have an expert doing for us estimations and since we will have to purchase a plot and build a building on it, it will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 dollars. Yes, I need help for this church. Will you help us? Will help me? Any amount will do. A Swahili proverb goes, ‘haba na haba hujaza kibaba’ meaning little by little fills the measure. And that is our approach, little by little by faith and we’ll be there. On how to help from the USA, please contact Royce Hammit: rhammit@juno.com or reach him by phone: 515-964-1885 OR 515-577-0703. Royce Hammit is our US contact person and he is one of the elders of the Ankeny Church of Christ that oversees this work. All donations are tax deductible. Please contact Royce and we’ll keep you posted as we progress with this. Special regards and love to you from the Church here –at the foot of ‘Kilimanjaro’

I remain yours sincerely,
Charles Ngoje