Norbert Moris Nchimbi - A Kibidula Lay Missionary

Norbert Nchimbi was a typical politician in his village. He had helped many political party leaders to gain victory, and he was respected and liked by many villagers because he was seeking to defend people’s rights.

During this time of his political involvement, he met Festo Matthew, a Kibidula Lay Missionary, in his village. The two took time to study the Word of God (the Bible).  After almost a year of studying together, he made the decision to accept Jesus and all the truths which are in the Bible. 

Sometime after he was baptized, he also joined the Kibidula Lay Missionary team.  He was relocated to a new village far away from his home village, to work in spreading the knowledge of love of Jesus. He moved to the new village with his wife and two children.
 

At the first house which he rented he faced difficulties.  He used his home as a place of worship (church) since there was no separate church building. Some people were against his work.  He and his family were forced to move away from this home.  

After moving to another house, they started having church and worshiping God outside under a tree.

The tree where they worshiped

After sometime, there were able to return to their first house, as God opened the way for them.

Thank you for all your prayers for the Lay Missionaries, their families, and most of all for those they are seeking to minister to.  God loves people and they need to learn of His marvelous Love which led Him to die to save us from our sins!

Alfa Mwahasanga - A Kibidula Lay Missionary

Alfa Mwahasanga joined the Lay Missionaries of Kibidula recently.
After Alfa went through the training in Kibidula's Lay Evangelism School, we asked if he would be willing to volunteer to work as a Lay Missionary. He agreed.
In August he had his wedding and moved to Nyanyembe village in Iringa region ready to work. He and his wife moved from the Sumbawanga district of the Rukwa region to this new village to share the love of Jesus.
I , Watson Kiwovele - Lay Missionary Coordinator, recently went to visit him in his work.  During the visitation he told me of a challenging experience which he had recently gone through. As with many of our Lay Missionaries, their lives are under constant attack.  Satan does not like that we are seeking to be the hands and feet of our Lord in reaching out to dispel the darkness of customs and traditions which  obscure the truth of God's love for humanity. Many suffer from challenges of harsh environment, illness and open persecution.
Alfa's wife had become very sick with serious stomach pains for two long weeks. They went to various hospitals without good success in healing. Much money was spent for her recover in health.  She had been so sick with such little success that those living around them were wondering what the results would be.  I am happy to report that God brought them through this challenging time, and now she is doing fine.   We praise God for bringing her back to health, and we know that God can bring good out of all things.  We hope and pray that this new family will be a great blessing to the villagers around them as they see Jesus in their lives.
Please pray for this new couple and the work they are doing in Nyanyembe.

ALFA MWAHASANGA FAMILY

Petro Mbugano - A Kibidula Lay Missionary

Report by Watson Kiwovele, lay missionary coordinator.

Petro Mbugano and his wife Mariam Mgaya have been working in Ukemele village for some time now.  The growing number of believers they are raising up is coming up very well.  They are working in an area located about 50 km south of Kibidula.
Recently they have gone through the very sad situation of losing their daughter of 17 years.  She was a student in secondary school, her third year ("form three"). She became very sick.  They took her to the hospital, but there she passed away within a week.   This lay missionary family buried this daughter on the 25th of September back in their home village.
While visiting with them, it was evident that they need more prayers of comfort in their hard time.

Petro Mbugano and his wife Mariam

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25 Liters of Marijuana

We planned to have a special guest Sabbath meeting in a small village called Njoo mlole (which means come and see.)  Many people were invited to attend and they came to the meetings.  We were very thankful for all those who came.  The people that came included village leadership and members and leadership from Sunday churches.  They wanted to come and hear what we are teaching and preaching.            

During the preaching, one man by the name of Denis was brought in by a group of people.  He was brought to the meetings to disturb the attention of people and cause confusion. He was smoking marijuana and making lots of noise.  Many people were laughing at his behavior instead of stopping him.   But after a while he kept quiet and began listening to the message. Then he left.
After sometime he came back.   And with him, he brought 25 litres of marijuana!  He asked me to burn it publicly, so I did.  He then took off his charms after a prayer and they also were burned.  He went on to say that other charms were in his stomach and "how can they get out of me?"   I offered another prayer for him.  Then he professed publicly that "from today onwards, I accept Jesus and his Sabbath day and want to be a Seventh-day Adventist."

Two other smokers said if Denis had made decision to follow Jesus, they were going to follow Jesus, too.  That day 10 people accepted Jesus and His Truth of the Bible.

After all this, the village chairman asked for an opportunity to speak.  He said what Denis has done is a great thing. We as leaders of this village have failed to stop this man from smoking marijuana with all our efforts.  But through the power of the Word of God, it has been possible for him to let go of this bad lifestyle.  Please build a church in this village so that we, too may worship the One True God.
When his father heard that Denis had burned his charms, he said he would wait and see if Denis would be okay without them.  He said that if he is "okay" without his charms, he, too will join to be a Christain and come to church.
The church has not been built yet, but we are hoping to get a church built in this village.
Please pray for these people and for the many other people.
Daud S.is working in Chengena village.

The Priest Confirmed the Truth in His Church

One day I was caught by surprise when I was told by members of a Catholic church that they have been told that what I was teaching them was the truth.  I asked them what specifically they were talking about.  They answered it was about the change of the Sabbath and the day that people worship!

The story they told me continued like this.  The priest was preaching in his church.  As he preached we were so amazed to hear him tell us that there are three days remembered in the world for worship, but only one day is the one God chose.  We were all waiting to know which day is that was! Then he continued saying that day is Saturday.   He said that those who are keeping the Sabbath are true followers of the Bible. 

Many people from other religions and churches are more open to the truth than ever before.
Please pray for the work in Idodi as we continue to spread the gospel message.

We have 21 people studying the Bible with us and six are ready for baptism.  


This is Mr.  & Mrs.  Amos L.in Idodi village.

Sad News

Sunday as we were leaving we got news about one of the lay evangelist.  His wife died during the night.  She was at the hospital, and she had been having health issues for a time.  I don't know what they were.  I just am relaying what I was told. 
One of the staff had left very early in the morning to go get the body from the hospital and bring it back to his village to be buried. 
Dead is a common but very unwelcome thing here.  It seems like there is a funeral all the time.
Please pray for our evangelist.  They are working for the harvest of souls, and their work costs them everything.  Thank you.

Prison Ministry

Matthew 25:44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

From  Mama Kikula:  "Visiting people in prisons is one of the opportunities I have witnessed and seen its blessings.   I am able to meet people of different back grounds and and different attitudes, all  gathered together in prison.  Some of these people are sentenced to serve for life (never to be free again,)  some for many years, and some are still in the trial process. In addition to this, we meet a largbe number of people from different religions and belief systems.  This last year I work in visiting 4 prisons. 
This is a sample of the work in just one prison.  We gave 70 "Voice of Prophecy" Bible studies, 18 Discovery Bible studies, gave out 24 Bibles, and 215 books.  Seventeen people accepted Jesus through baptism this last year.
More information will come in five months to come.

The people in these prisons need more course studies and your prayers for encouragement and hope.

Amina Kikula (one of our lay evanglists second from left in the cap) is prison ministry director and she is with her team members.

"We give thanks to Kibidula family Development international for the willingness to give the contribution towards this ministry. Although we have I big load to carry we pray that the Lord will help to reach the unreached in prison. We need $1200 per year from Kibidula."