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THE
LION'S
Se e
the Lion
of the t ribe of Judah . . .
has
triumphed
DAWN BAIRD
Elizabeth
Rachel
Joshua
Mid Yea r
1996
m
iw
COMMITMENTVERSUS
CONVENIENCE
Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view
of
God's mercy,
to offer your bodies as livingsacrifices, holy
and
pleasing
to God - this isyour spiritualact
of
worship. Donot
conform any longer to the
pattern
of this world,
bu t
be
transformed by the renewing
ofyour
mind. Then you
willbe able to test
and
approve what God's willis- His
good, pleasing
and
perfect will
Romans
12:1
2,
V
Before coming to Tanzaniawewere told thatthe people group
called the Makua were a people
that
had
not
been reached for
Christ. So, of course we had visions ofwhat that
would
mean.
We
remembered thewitch doctors from Zaire and expected
them
here,
and maybe more. We had heard also that many of
the
people here
were Muslims, and
that
brought pictures to our imaginations also.
Mostly pictures of bombed out buses and suicide bombers and
religious fanatics? We came with preconceived ideas about what
the
people would be likespiritually.
To date we have visited and
taught at
a Makua village called
Msikala
three times and have had
the
opportunity to talkwith many
people here in Masasi with various religious backgrounds. We
have found that, although these people may be classified as
unreached, itdoes not meanthat they do not have some form of
Christianity among them. For example, at our very first
visit
to
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Msikala
we
spoke
to a bo ut 6 0
men
w o men
and
chil
dren. Themajority
were
adult males
and a
good
num
er
of th em wer e
wearing
the
tradi
tional
Islamic hat
Most of
the
village
leaders m ake
a
claim
to
Islam
Af
ter our teachings
we had a question
a nd a ns we r t ime
Most of the ques
tions
w e
received
w ere ou t t radi
t ional
Chris t ian
practices: infant
baptism,
church
authority structure, and when would we be putting
up a building?
We
have found that almost all the people here
align themselves with some religion- Islam Chris
tianity, or Traditional. They are a very religious
people - just like the people in Athens who wor
shiped an Unknown God so that theywould have
allof the bases covered. Ithink
that
many of
them
believe from what they know of Islamand Christian
ity, and from what they see in their traditional
religion
that
they can
put these
beliefs into any
combination
that
isappropriate for a specific physi
cal or spiritual need. The greatest value of their
religion is Its convenience.
This Romans passage tells us
that
Christianity,
Christ, isour life. We give ourselves to IT to
IM
and
we
do
not
t ake our
lives back, ever
We
are
changed, we
are
renewed by Himto face
each and
every circumstance, seeking Hiswill in everything.
We don't change im or add to Him,or put Him
together with
others
to get the whole picture. He
Is
the
whole picture. A comment by one of
the
Joshua and Shadrack on
th e
mountain
above
Masasi
leaders
at
Msikala, one of them wearing the Islamic
hat, was that ifwe buy thema.grJnding machine for
their corn and they have full bellies,
then
they will
be
better
able to hear our message. Another man,
our contact
person there said thatwe need to build
a buildingand they
will
fill
it. Show strength, show
wealth, do something for us and your religion will
be the religion of the hour, the popular one for
ow
We attended
two
funerals since coming
to
Masasi.
One
was an Islamic funeral where
the
women do
not
attend and
the other
was
a
funeral
of a Christian man from
the
Anglican Church. The
Islamic
funeral
w as all in
Arabic The
leader first
said
his linesand then some of the people responded. I
could see that very
few
of the people there
under
stood Arabic. Ifthere were any words of encour
agement
or instructions, most of them did
not
understand them. At the Anglican service the
wordswere in
Kiswahili The
leader read
them
from
a book and, again, some of
the
people responded.
The
same
words are spoken probably at every
funeral, with little or no meaning or hope for
the
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people listening.
The people here may have heard part of the
Gospel, butmost ofthem are still unreached. They
are still living ina worldwithout sacrifice-without th e
sacrifice
of Jesus
to
save
them
from
their
sins -
without their own living sacrifice to the
Christ.
They
are living ina worldwhere the center of theirworld
istheir stomach. Pray for the Makuapeople forthe
peopleof Masasi aswe teach them about the only
acceptable religion -oneofcompletecommitment.
MZEE ELDER)
Since
moving
into this side of town with the
Carters we have me t a very elderly gentleman
named Mgumbwe.
He
is
all
bent upwithage and
has a hard time walking around. His hands are
gnarled and he has just enough teeth on the
bottom to fit into the space on the top. He is
originally fromMalawi. He cameto Tanzania years
ago to work and has been here ever since. He
married an d ha d children and now he is th e only
one of his family left alive. He lives in a little run
down
house an d has no on e that really cares for
him. Well at least he did not have anyone untilwe
got here.
want to know what he Is sleeping on now.
Please pray for Mzee Mgumbwe that we can
make his life
easier
here
a t the
end
of it
and
that
w e
canhelphimto understand about the Saviorwho has
eternity all ready for him.
G O D
B L E SS Y O U
Bob
and Iwant to say a verybig
THANK
YOU
to those of you who have responded to our recent
callfor help. Thanksespeciallyto you at Bettendorf
Christian Church wh o so generously responded to
th e special offering taken for usand to th e Missions
Committee o f th e First
Christian
Church of Council
Bluffs
for sharing with us. Thanks also to allof you
who have written to say you are praying for us.
There ar e
not
words
to
describe
th e e nc ou ra ge
ment gleaned from your actions. We know that
there are manyof youwho prayand give and only
God knows and we are very grateful for you also.
Please continue to pray for us in these tw o
areas We ar e still
short
of funds to finish building
our house here. We
ar e
currently using our work
W e w e n t
an d
visited him a t
his
h o m e a n d w e r e shocked W e w o u l d
not put our pets inthe home that he
lived in. We are now feeding
Mgumbwe and buildinghim a new
house
O n e
o f
the
m en
w h o
works
on our building project isdoing over
time for me building a ne w home for
Mgumbwe. Wehaveallthepolesup
and tied together th e rafters are on
an d
th e
m ud
walls
will be
finished
soon W e have
to w ait
a
bi t
fo r
the
roof because the grass they use for
roofingisnot dried out enough yet.
We will also be get ting him a bed
mattress an d blanket. You don t
The
Bairds
putting their heads together to send their thanks.
8/10/2019 Baird Robert Dawn 1996 Tanzania
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funds and salaryto keep building.
Also,
since Janu
ary, we have lost around $500.00 a month regular
support, which has drained both our furlough fund
and Joshua's education fund. Itis reallydifficult
to
do
anything
about
this from Tanzania. Ifany of you are
aware of a church looking for a work to support,
please contact us or our forwarding agent,
Lynn
Kohlhagen at 810 Grove Ave., Morris,
60450.
Our last great big thank you
goes
to
those
of you
who have sent our familypackages. When we go to
the
Post Office
to
check our box we are always on
the
lookout for little white slips of
paper
saying we have
a package awaiting us insidel
We pray that all of you feel and
understand
that
you are in this work with us. Without your prayers
and funds
the
Mkua in the village of Msikala still
would not
have hea rd the first
word about what it
means to know Jesus Christ as one's personal Savior.
ENGLISH AS
A
SECOND
LANGUAGE
English
is one of two official languages
here in Tanzania. The other, of course, is
Kiswahili. Every
school child learns to say,
GoodMorningTeacher so that they can begin
their schoolday correctly. Itusually sounds like
Gud Mornig Teecha. Once this phrase is
learned it isused on each and everyperson the
kids
seethatthey
think might understand them.
And it is used any time of
the
day or night. So
when Iwaswalkinghomefromour buildingsite
one
day and saw
two
little boys in
the
path
ahead
waiting patiently for me, Ihad an idea of
what
to expect. Iwas not disappointed The
first boy said, Gud Mornig and the second
said,
Diz Is Da Winda. I think he must
have
been in the advanced
class.
a3 iS3n 3n NoiiD3yyoD
s s s a a a v
LZVZ-106LZ Ni'3|| AX0U>
ZZVZ
xog
Od
UOj;epOSSV S93fAJ3S UOpSjlAJ
jjujjad
Ni ailiAxouj^
pjBd36eK0d s n
9666-0S6il
-6jO
) iOJd UON
ZZt-Z-lOeiE
Ni sillAXOua
-UVZ *O0 Od 'NOIiVIDOSSV S3DIA3S NOISSIW
0) ssdjppe Mu
jnoi
p id03 s i^qej6ut|{eujsq} pu9$vscaid 'saoiu noX
eiuezuex
jsese^
S f 9
11
9SS xog
3AV3AOJ9
0L8
uoisuedx^
luesi
ud6emqo>|
uui^n
pjieg
UAABG p ue q og
:ss9jppY SuipjeMjoj
s sa jp p v PI9IJ
u
f u o n 3111
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THE
LION S
See the Lionof the tribe of Judah . . . has triumphed
BOB DAWN
BAIRD
Elizabeth Rachel
Joshua
IN
AFRICA
5
De cemb er 9 9
W E
ARE
GRATEFUL
Great
and
marvelous are
your
deeds,
Lord
God
Almighty.
Just and true are
your
ways.
King of the ages.
Revelation
5:3
We are grateful for God's provisions. During
the
months of
Novemberand December
most Americans celebrate what is known
as the HolidaySeason. Itbegins with Thanksgivingand ends with
NewYears. InMasasi, Tanzania,
the
Baird family, along with
the
rest ofour teammates, joininthat celebration. Wedo this certainly
with the same fervor ifnot exactly with
the
same style as
the
rest
of you inAmerica.
Thanksgivingand Christmas helpusto bring to mindallthat we
have to be grateful for - everything from our physical blessings of
good health and
daily
provisions of food and clothing through to
the blessings of a precious familyand precious friends, all the way
to the best blessing of BabyJesus the Christ Child,Jesus our Savior,
to Jesus Christ our reigning God and King.
Bob
and
I
would
like
to
share
with you from
our
first 20
months
inTanzania, a listof very special ThankYous to people to whom
we
owe
more
than
we can ever repay. People to
whom
we are
indeed grateful. Thislistwillnot be complete, of course. Allofyou
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who have
prayed
for usandsupported usover this
time
have ourdeepest andmost sincere thanks
But,
please
join
with
us
praising
God
forthese
special
blessings.
Thank you:
Bill and Nellie
Parker
(Bob's Sister) for keeping Elizabeth.
Allen and Melody Shew for providing our familv with a place
to
stav.
The Familvthat gave us
$12.500
toward building
our house
here.
Mark
and
Rachel
Shew
for ALWAYS being
there
whenever we need them.
Sherry Deckro. our praver partner, for always having us for
the
Wednesdav mornino
Bible Study at a time which ALWAYS
seems
to fall in August near Dawn's
birthday, which means a
oartv
with
cake and presents.
Shirley Weaver fo r being Dawn' s mentor
and
friend.
Jeff
Nelson
for
keeping
Bob
ooina with
great
letters
and
Dave
Berry.
Charlie and Lenora Sargent for buying
Bob s bicycle.
Duke and Beth
Morr ison for helpino
us
get
a
video
camera.
Lynn Kohlhaaen. our
Forwardino Agent, fo r her patience
and
perseverance
through
the
touah
times
and
the
good.
The Sunday School Classes at Caoe Girardeau for
great
Christmas gifts.
Mission
Committees
at Churches in Bettendorf and Council Bluffs. Iowa:
Centralia
and Moline. Illinois: and Dver.
Indiana, for
EVERYTHING.
Bernie
and
Karen
Swanaer
for always seeing in our needs
ah
opportunity
to
provide.
To The Person
who
anonymously deposits
money
in
our
checking account -
your left hand will never know
what
vour right
hand
is doing.
ToAllof the Churches and Individualswho have given us special donations toward our building fund.
With these Blessings to
ecount
Oh L ord
et
Us
Serve You
Well
CLASSES UNDER
THE CASHEW
TREES
I have always heard about and participated in
ShadeTree mechanics. Here in Tanzania we have
CashewTreeChristianEducation. Myfirstclasswas
under the Cashew
Tree
in Tukae
Wote.
I now have
a second class
underthat
t ree and a
third
class under
a
Cashew
Tree in
Mskala.
When Istarted the class InTukaeWote Istarted
itasa devotional typeof lessoninthe
Gospel
ofJohn.
My
students requested that we dosomething more
like
a class. So1developed studyquestionsforJohn
much like the Theological Education TEE) bookswe
used inZaire. We had 10weeks of class, two review
tests
on
the
3rd
and
7th
week, and then
a final
exam
on the 11th week.
Whilewewere goingthrough the bookofJohn,
we, the Team, were scouting the
horizons
for any
signof availableteaching material. Ifound whatwe
needed through our fellowmissionariesfrom ACM,
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June and Howard Crowl,inNairobi. Nairobi, Kenya
iswhere th e Evangel Pressislocated and isthe source
of th e
TEE
program. June and Howard rounded me
up a catalog and the class decided on th e two-part
study of Acts. The Crowls did ail th e footwork for us
to
receive
th o se b oo ks h e re in Masasi.
Thatfirstdasshascompletedthe Gospelof John
and isnow starting into
the
book ofActs. The second
class isalso people fromTukaeWote who saw what
we were doing and wanted to join a study. Now
seven more people are studying the Gospelof John.
Jeff and LoisWhytsell are now in the States for
eight weeks doing their home service. Jeff had
started a class inMskala,also in
th e
Gospel of John.
With Jeff there at home Iam doing that class, too.
The people inMskalaare verydifferent from the ones
inTukaeWote. We don't do a study. Iteach them
from the Gospel, using small portions of scriptures,
simpleapplications.Wehaveaverysporadicturnout
and Ido not know where we
will
go with this.
InTukaeWote most of the people inth e classes
there are with th e Anglican Church. I have asked
th em a bou t
baptism and now know what their
practices are. Intw o weekswe will be doing th e 3rd
chapterof Actsandtheywillseetheapplication ofthe
Great Commission. Then inthe following week I
will
be giving them allof theirother scripturesconcerning
baptism. So around
th e
9t h
tothe
16th of November
we
will
be seeking
to
reap a harvest among these
people for th e Lord. Probably you will receive this
after the fact, but pray for the NewChurch.
QUESTIONS
YOU ASKED
While h o m e this last
s u m m e r
I c a m e t o realize
there are a few important questions to whichmany
ofyouwanted the answers. Ifwe missed anything,
please let us know, but we hope
th e
following list
provides all of those answers.
la . Yes, th e postal system works very well in
Tanzania. AirMail packages take onlythreeweeks.
Ask
th e
postal clerk to send your package
Small
Package and do not put a letter inside. Ifyou put a
letter insideyou cannot getthe Small Package rate.
Things you can send in small package: videos
(without food); snapshots of your
family,
Sunday
School,
etc.; cheese(itdoes not
spoil);
pepperoni;
candy bars
Snickers,
Butterfingers, or M Ms);
packetsof powderedwhippingcream. Please put all
food inzip lockbags.
1b. Surface mail takes
about
three months
but
packages arrive ingood shape.
1c. Yes,you can put little goodies in regular
letters... packages of red Koolaid, a Uptondecaf tea
bag, a Folgers decaf coffee bag, or a package of
unflavored gelatin.
2. We are currently taking a five-year term.
This is
tw o
years on
th e
field, six months Home
Service,
tw o
years on th e field, six months Home
Service. W e will b e h om e th e s u m m er a n d fall of
9 7
onourfirstHomeService. Thisfive-year term takes us
to th e middle of th e year 2000.
3. Birthdays: Bob-January6th, Dawn-August
15th Joshua
-
December
15th.
Anniversary: October 10,1970.
Y O U K N O W Y O U R E
AN MK (Missionary
Kid)
WHEN
Youspeak two languages, but can't spell either.
You have a passport, but no driver's license.
Yourlifestory uses the phrase, Then we
wen t t o five
times.
You watch nature documentaries and you think
about
h ow g oo d
that would
be if it were fried.
You speak with authority on
th e
quality
o f
airline travel.
You sort your friends by continent.
Where are you from? has moret han one
re a sona bl e a nswe r.
The majorityof your friends do not speak
Englishas a first language.
You watch a movie
set
in a foreign country,
an d you know what th e nationals are
REALLY saying into
th e camera.
-copied
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