Week #3: July 22-28

The site for the baptisms from Matt's series

Week #3 was filled with busy days preparing to preach in the evening, various Indian lunches at our favorite restaurants we'd discovered the previous week, and busy nights at our sites preaching our hearts out.

Arusha National Park - Monday, July 22

We had an amazing day today. We visited Arusha National Park. It is truly awe inspiring to drive into a park and find a group of ten to twelve giraffes roaming freely right next to the road. I was in shock. One of the most beautiful sights of my life. I've dreamed about seeing these animals in the wild my whole life. The park is gorgeous. The whole thing is one the side of Mt. Meru, a 14,000 ft + volcano. There were cape buffalo all over the park. We took a one hour walking safari with an armed guide to protect us. Saw a beautiful waterfall and walked right out across a field past a herd of these buffalo. They are actually the most dangerous animals on safari. We had a great time watching the Colobus Monkeys in the trees. There were a couple of babies. Right before we had to leave four of them in a row jumped across a 10-15 foot gap between two trees. It was a perfect end to the day.

Sabbath, July 28
The week ended with a beautiful day of baptisms, gifts, and good-byes. It was very hard to leave at the end.

Women from Leah's site being baptized


Man from Matt's church being baptized

God blessed the work that went on and many people made decisions to be baptized. During the preparation for the series, the director of our group told the local leadership that he was setting a prayerful goal of 100 baptisms. They were hoping for 50 and said that 100 would be incredible. In the end, over 200 people made the decision to fully surrender their hearts to Christ, and to begin their eternal relationship with Him. It was a beautiful testimony of the power of God's love and His desire to save us.