TANZANIAN MISSIONS

Rev Dr Park Seung Kyu, Principal
Bible College of East Africa, Tanzania

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ from the brethren in Tanzania who have the same mind and spirit in the Lord. We always mention you in our prayers. May the Lord bless you with heavenly blessings and remember your prayers and the sacrificial support for the ministry in Tanzania.

When I was studying at the Bible College, I learned the Word of God through a lot of books and from teachers. But after being a missionary and coming to this mission field in Tanzania, I have been learning the same Word vividly through various life experiences. This year I learned what 2 Corinthians 11:23–27 means: “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”

This year was a year when many hardships and dangerous things happened to me: I and other missionaries were attacked by robbers in one of our mission field trips and our lives were threatened with gun and machetes. In addition, I have been suffering from a sudden onset of kidney stones and taking medicine during these three months. It has been so painful, but thank God I am surviving till today.

As I have experienced many things of life and death this year, I feel that the works of this mission field have become more urgent and must be hastened. I remember this song: “Work, for the night is coming, Work through the sunny noon; Fill brightest hours with labor, Rest comes sure and soon. Give every flying minute, Something to keep in store; Work, for the night is coming, When man works no more.” So I have been spurred on to do many works at the same time over the past few months. Although there have been some difficulties, all works are progressing steadily, one by one. Please pray that all these works will be completed smoothly.

Bible College of East Africa (Tanzania)

This year, there were 27 students in the spring semester and 17 students in the fall semester. There have always been financial pressures because Bible College of East Africa (BCEA) runs the school free of charge, with no tuition fees from students. There were so many students in the spring semester, and it made the college difficult to appropriate finance. Thus, I prayed to God that the college would be reduced to only 10 students in the fall semester. In response to the prayer, exactly 10 students were reduced, with 17 students remaining in the fall semester. However, the number in the spring semester of 2019 would be around 25.

This year, I taught in two campuses of BCEA, in Tanzania and in Rwanda. I have been covering various subjects in my lectures: Church History, various books of the Bible, doctrines, and homiletics. I really give thanks to God for the students who have been following my lectures diligently and studying hard.

The students of BCEA have been trained through the same routine:

• At 5.30 am, all the students and lecturers have a dawn prayer meeting together.
• After breakfast, all the college members have devotional time at 7.30 am.
• After having the daily worship service at 8 am, the students take lectures for four hours from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm.
• After lunch, they must do their assigned duties for two hours every afternoon.
• After dinner, the students have to be in the classroom for two hours of mandatory study every night from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm.

We are training students to pray, study, and work. Pastors Judah Pallangyo and Joseph Amos, and two other lecturers including me are dedicated to the training of the students. They are serving in the college faithfully. I really thank the Lord for the graduates of Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC). We are serving the Lord together with the same mind, spirit and doctrines.

Thankfully, our Tanzanian campus has one graduate this year. This graduate will go up to BCEA Kenya next year and study more. Please pray for him to adjust and study well in Kenya. And also, please pray that he will return to Tanzania and become a sincere servant of God who would preach faithfully the gospel of Jesus to Tanzanians.

Some of our students came to the college with malaria, and one of them almost died. But by God’s grace, he escaped death. As you know, Africa has very poor medical facilities. The same is true in Tanzania. It is not easy to find hospitals and doctors who can deal with emergency situations in such a vulnerable health environment. However, God made us pray for this matter and sent a Korean missionary doctor in the most critical time so that this student could be saved. I give all the glory and thanks to God. It is always a great pleasure to witness a dying life regaining life, whether it be spiritual life or physical life.

In addition, it is already 14 years since the Tanzanian campus was built. For this reason, there are a lot of old and defective spots around the campus. The Tanzanian campus is currently undergoing full-scale maintenance works: (1) Construction of the water tower is well finished. (2) Main gate has been widened. (3) Fence construction is still in progress. (4) Tiling works on the floor of entire college, kindergarten and the church buildings in progress. (5) Painting the roofs to protect them from rust.

I am really grateful that the Rev Stephen Khoo—a retired pastor in Singapore—donated a lot of books from his library to BCEA Tanzania. I think it is time to build a library here. Thank God for sending us helping hands to further develop the work. The library is a necessary place for the students to study (now the students are studying in the classroom). Please pray that the college will be well prepared to build the library, including finances.

Chemchemi Kindergarten

The Chemchemi Kindergarten has changed its financial policy this year—to offer free tuition because of the force of the government. Without any tuition fees from students, the kindergarten can operate fully through supporting funds. Ironically, this policy change has resulted in more children in this area getting benefits from the Christian education of the kindergarten.

One thing to understand is that this is only possible because of the current Tanzanian government policy. Tanzanian education policy, so far, requires that students follow the policies of the school. And so when parents from whatever religious background decide to send their children to Christian schools, they are required to follow the policies of those schools. Thus the students who come to us undergo Christian education based on the Word of God. This allows the students to be exposed directly or indirectly to the environment of Christian education. So it is not just the college, the kindergarten also is an important mission field in Tanzania for Christ.

Thankfully, the number of the kindergarten students for this year has increased from 40 to 60. It will increase to 75 in January 2019. Now, three teachers, one assistant teacher, and a chaplain are working hard to educate the children. All kindergarten teachers and students start their daily works with morning worship service. This year 14 students graduated on November 23.

The Chemchemi kindergarten has constructed a new building to add two more classrooms. We are now able to accommodate more kindergarten students. I have directly supervised the construction of this building from its foundation, and it is more solid and structurally sound than the other buildings. We also built a kitchen to provide students with snacks and porridge.

Glory Bible-Presbyterian Church

The walls of the church are in danger of collapse. The church building is one of the first buildings of this campus, and it is old and defective. Thus, it is now undergoing repair and renovation work. At the same time, we are also tiling the floor because the cement on the floor is also old and damaged. Pastor Joseph Amos is working hard for it in many ways. We have just finished tiling work for the church building, but there is still more to be done for the front wall.

The Tanzanian campus is now preparing for the children’s Vacation Bible School (VBS) during this coming winter break in December. In order to do this, Miss Bae Eun Young (BCEA Kenya, FEBC graduate and True Life missionary) is also preparing to come down to the Tanzanian campus with teachers from Kenya. Please pray for this VBS in December. The Chemchemi kindergarten students will also attend this VBS. Please pray that more children in this area will know and accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour. The students of BCEA Tanzania will also join and learn something about VBS.

Prayer Requests

• Please pray for students to study God’s Word diligently and the lecturers to teach faithfully.
• Please pray for God’s wisdom to run the college, the kindergarten, and the church rightly according to biblical principles.
• Please pray for continued construction and renovation works within the campus.
• Please pray for my family in Singapore who are studying at FEBC that they can complete their studies well.
• Please pray for safety in the mission field and especially for health.
• Please pray for the persecuted churches and missionaries in East Africa.