Sunday School Teachers, Snakes & Shingles!!

What a title! What a life! Nothing keeps me down for long because GOD is FAITHFUL to PROTECT, CARE and PROVIDE for me!  And I’m so grateful He uses YOU to help! Thanks for continuing to pray and give to my ministry in Arusha, Tanzania. This year, my ministry partners and I have trained Sunday School teachers from 20 churches and we have 20-30 more to go before I head to LA in November! PRAY! Here are some stories:  

Sinyati, pretending to be 'stuck in the tree(chair)'

May: My TZ ministry partners, Sarah Samweli and Elisifa Zakayo, and I trained teachers in Arusha. Many were students from last year and were a great group.  Their favorite part is practice teaching—when their friends teach and they pretend to be kids—VERY NAUGHTY KIDS!!  Here is a video of Sinyati, in red, as a kid pretending to be Zaccheus but stuck in the ‘tree’—a chair! You dont need to know Swahili to understand this!  And yes, with that kind of creative spirit, she’s a great teacher! Go to my Facebook page (you don’t have to be on Facebook) for more pics and videos.

Just a harmless little snake....

            We also taught in Longido, a centralized town of the Masai tribe. I had my first outbreak of shingles (felt like I had been kicked by a horse! OUCH!) And a snake on my doorstep the last morning of training was a harmless surprise! For you snake people, it's an Olive House Snake, non-venomous! What a crazy week!  Sarah and Elisifa got sick, too--Elisifa's lips swelled for no apparent reason and Sarah got a type of flu! but God enabled us to teach right through it all! Spiritual warfare—TZ style! We had 15 students from 10 Longido churches: the FIRST EVER training for these children’s workers! Here's a video of Sarah teaching a song she wrote about “The Loaves and the Fishes”

Sarah teaching her Loaves and Fishes song

Mwandeti Children's Choir and their teacher, Lazaro

June: On the 21^st, we had a Baptist Children’s Day Celebration: our Arusha teachers brought their kids to sing, share memory verses and lessons, perform Bible Story skits, recite the history of Baptists in TZ and learn about Jesus.  Remember Lazaro, the teacher from Mwandeti Baptist? Here’s a pic of him and his Children’s Choir. 

Huge answer to prayer: The Chairman of the Baptist Convention of TZ asked me to train the teachers, elders and leaders of his church in Children’s Ministry. He is burdened by the lack of priority kids have in TZ and wants as many people as possible trained in his church and around the country! What an opportunity! We had 21 attend, including him! I also spoke at their Children’s Day Prayer service. I will continue to go and train them!  

Our BCT chairman sharing his heart for KIDS!

Elisifa my Masai co-teacher

August: Elisifa and I returned to Longido to continue training teachers there. Fewer attended than in May; the spiritual battle for the kids of Longido continues! This year, the rainy season was not only late but very short, creating drought conditions. Livestock (the Masai are herders) are dying and crops dried up before harvest time.  PRAY FOR LONGIDO! We will continue training these teachers! See pic of Elisifa teaching, holding a Swahili book of Children’s Bible Stories.

Family pic at Easter!

Personal blessings:  This year, I was able to see some of my kids that I haven’t seen for years!  In March, Veronica came home for her birthday then was off to her new job 12 hours away! At Easter, Respiquce and his family, plus Paschal and Jackie, came to visit. It was great catching up on almost 3 years!  Respiquce, a primary teacher, is starting university (by special request of his school board!) in September. He and Prisca have 2 boys, Prince and Prosper.  Paschal, a secondary teacher, is getting married this week!! 

Frank enjoying Pizza Hut!

In May, he brought Frank, studying Community Development, and Kelvin, starting junior college (pre-university) to visit on the way to Kelvin’s new school. These boys helped with my kids’ daily Bible studies in Mwanza. We had FUN making up for 3 years with cake, ice cream, Pizza Hut(yes, Pizza Hut!) and their first theatre movie! In July, I went to Tanga—10 hours

Kelvin has gotten SO TALL!!!!

away—to bring Jackie HOME TO ARUSHA to a new job only 45 minutes away! Great to have her so close after 6 years apart! Go to Facebook.com/TransformTanzania and type in any of these kids’ names to see more pics and videos of God’s work in them! They’ve overcome much and made me a blessed Mama, Auntie and Bibi (grandma)! 

Coming up:  This month, we’re going to the central Masai villages of Engarenaibor and Ketumbeine to train teachers.  At each center, 10-15 churches will be invited to send 2 teachers each.  None have ever been trained, had much school or are able to read. We’ll be ‘roughing it in the bush’ for a week each, teaching in Masai (Elisifa will translate my Swahili)! Pray for good health and good attendance for ALL—no shingles or snakes, either! PRAY we can provide the teachers with some skills they can really use. We hope to help them build a foundation of God’s Word in the heart of every kid in their churches!

Thank you again for faithfully praying for my ministry and for giving so generously! God used YOU to make ALL this happen! All the teachers, their churches and kids, plus my kids and I thank you so much, too! 

God bless you!  Kay Frost                                  Click here to give through Willing to Go