Here's more of Dan's updates via Twitter via Facebook from Zanzibar and his transition to Burundi. He and Auzelio will be there for 8 days before the next team arrives. They will follow up with many of the churches that we have helped to plant since e3 started working in Burundi in 2008. It's so cool to follow-up: it's like watching your babies grow and mature!
Had a mystery bite at dinner. Spit out a shell or exoskeleton? It was either a whole spice or spicy bug... Ug... Just thru up a little again. After 2-days of no one accepting Jesus, I stood in awe watching the miracle of salvation. Very cool. God is very good. Thank you Jesus. "... dark as night & deep as death broke the light of thy salvation..." that describes dramatic contrast of salvation. In Zanzibar at Chinese restaurant celebrating. The table next to us is full of Chinese. Refused, denied permits, mocked & intimidated. But on Zanzibar 3-Americans & 20-Tanzanians told 1017 people about Jesus & 198 accepted. The Zanzibar Christians cannot believe so many prayed for Jesus. They are excited and hopeful. Zanzibar has 1.2 million people & fewer than 10,000 Christians & fewer than 45 churches. In 5 days Christian population increased 2%. Today is a good day in Zanzibar. Today, I reach into my suitcase & get a clean pair of pants! Umm... So soft... So clean... Fresh smell... Just finished "spice tour" in Zanzibar. My love affair w/ spice tea continues. My spice tea love is getting out of hand. I'm buying it in unlabeled plastic bags by the kilo. There is a Quaker church in Zanzibar that was established in 1800's. Today it has 2 only members but they are still faithful. Good news! There is no (very little) malaria in Zanzibar. I feel better about bites now. Took tour of St. Monaca's Church & my hotel. My room is over the slave cells. Church w/ Dr. Livingstone ended slavery in Zanzibar. Remembering how @berryman & I met. We would show up early or stay late & accidently meet up. My spicy tea relationship is out of control. I need to end it. We brought 60lbs of tracts from USA & more from the Tanzania mainland. The Islanders liked gospel of Matthew most. God's word is powerful. Sharing Jesus w/ tour guides. Nice rejections, saying that they need more evidence, saying it's hard to go against culture. When a muslim needs more evidence, he means prove Jesus is God or man, prove virgin birth, but don't use Bible, and only answer yes or no. Watching "God Provides" videos from Crown Financial w/ Tanzanian church leader. Last dinner in Zanzibar on the beach, sun setting, traditional sail boats, freighters loading on beach, acrobats, singing... Travel day. We move from Zanzibar to Burundi. We go from hot & humid to humid & hot. Watching Thursday night football in Zanzibar on Friday afternoon. Best travel day ever! We've been sharing Jesus w/ young woman in Nairobi for couple hours now. Pray for her salvation. We have arrived "home" in Bujumbura. Good night. Sobering thought: if Final Judgment were today, everyone (over 99%) in Zanzibar would perish. Sad reality: in Zanzibar the people are poor, but the Zanzibar people are rich, very rich, compared to the people of Burundi. Getting ready to connect w/ e-mail for 1st time since leaving for Africa. Looks like I'm 400 behind. :-( Little progress connecting to digital world. Power out in Bujumbura. Rainy day in Bujumbura, but we still can have dinner at Ubuntu w/ in country missionaries. FINALLY! Local missionary has 6 children visiting her in the city from the village. One of them is wearing a Christ Lutheran shirt!!! This week New Life Church in Bujumbura trained church members to share Jesus around their new campus using e-cube. Over 200 heard 80 prayed. The wife of the president of Burundi asked us to go to her church tomorrow. I guess we'll go.
