September 2, 2002

Dear praying friends,

Greetings from Morogoro, Tanzania. I have now been here in Tanzania for seven weeks learning the language of Swahili. The time that I have spent here has been very challenging, and I am pleased with the administration and structure of the language school, as well as my progress in learning the language. Learning another language is never easy, and the language of Swahili has proven to be very challenging. An average day here at the language school has five hours per day of teaching/interaction, as well as one to two hours of study after class.

The language school not only has a large emphasis on language learning, but also on your relationship with Christ. Each morning, we have devotions, and each person in our class has the opportunity of leading the time of worship. I have already been able to lead two sessions, and I hope to lead at least one more session before I leave in November. I have been greatly challenged by the other missionaries as they have shared from the Word of God during our devotional time. It has been very educational getting to know the missionaries and to hear about the cultures that they are ministering in, as there are eight countries represented in our class.

Last month, I was able to go on a Sunday service with the head Pastor of the Seminary here in Morogoro. It was a day-long event among an unreached people group, the Masaii tribe. The Masaii are one of the 155 tribes here in Tanzania. I was excited when the opportunity arose, and I volunteered to accompany the Pastor to this area of Tanzania and to see what God is doing among these people. We began the morning by having chai (tea) with the church leaders, and then proceeded to the church service, where there were around 125 in attendance. The people sand hymns in the Masaii language, which was very beautiful. Next, the Pastor preached in the Swahili language, challenging the nationals to serve God faithfully each day. I have been so challenged by the Pastor here, as he is overseeing many churches among unreached people groups. This sort of experience allows me to enlarge my worldview and to see that there are so many who still need to be reached with the Gospel. We each need to take the responsibility to reach those around us, whether it be in a remote village such as I visited, or a fellow employee on the job in the United States.

In closing I would like to remind you of the project that I discussed last month. I plan to begin a jail ministry upon my return to Kitale. For Christmas, I would like to be able to do a gift pack for each prisoner, which would include some basic toiletries and a copy of the Gospel of John and Romans, as well as information about our church. This would be an excellent way to get the prisoners the Word of God, as well as getting them introduced to our church and our ministry. We will need $1,500 for this project. The due date for donations is November 1st; however, if you would like to give before that date, that would allow us to go ahead and purchase the supplies. Below, I have listed the contact information for the donations. This is all the current news from my time here in Tanzania. I would love to hear from any of you that would like to write. God bless you.

Sincerely,

Nathan Radford