January – February 2025

Dear Pastor and Friends,   

2024 Recap: What a wonderful but busy year we had in 2024! We saw God’s hand of blessing and provision mightily on our work here. During the course of the year, we were blessed to see over 2,600 souls trust Christ as their Saviour, over 500 first-time visitors come to church, 2 students graduate from our Bible seminary, over 50 visitors from the States come to help with various outreaches, and believers join the church and begin growing in grace. We praise the Lord for all He has done!

SMITE Camp: The second week of December, Missionary Mark Holmes and his family, along with Missionary Caleb Christiansen and his family, traveled from Nigeria to Tanzania to help us hold our first ever SMITE training camp. The Devil fought hard the entire week, but we also saw God’s hand at work. During the course of the week, over 500 children were registered as having attended one of the 10 Bible Clubs around the city. We ran these clubs from Monday through Friday. What a blessing it was to see our young people being trained to lead these clubs and being taught how to win children in their neighborhoods to the Lord. 

After the second night of the camp, one of our young men came up to me and said, “Pastor, it was amazing! When we went to our Bible Club this evening, children who were at the club yesterday and were saved were waiting for us to arrive. They had gathered some of their friends and had a whole group of children waiting for us so we could tell them how to trust Jesus as their Saviour. These children were excited to bring their friends to hear the same Good News that they had been told. The young man told me that he had never seen anything like it in his life! There were actually several amazing stories just like this one. Please keep these young people in your prayers; pray that they will continue with this same zeal for reaching the lost with salvation. All 10 of the clubs will continue on a weekly basis.

English Christmas Service: What a blessing it was to have over 200 in our English Christmas service. I preached on the announcing of Jesus’ birth. The children from the three classes of English Sunday School had prepared a cantata and play that they performed for the parents. It was such a sweet time of fellowship and was enjoyed by all.

Christmas Services: Christmas is always such a warm time of year. As is Tanzanian tradition, we had a Christmas Day service. The auditorium was full as people poured in to greetings of “Heri ya Krismasi!” There was love, warmth, and happiness as we gathered together to celebrate the birth of the Saviour of the world!

Looking Forward to 2025: The calendar is already packed full for 2025, as we look forward to the many outreaches and events that will be held. We are in joyful expectation as to what God will do in our church and ministries in this new year. Please continue to pray for us as we serve the Lord here in Tanzania!

Your missionaries to Tanzania,

Jerry & Rachel Wyatt

November/December 2024

Dear Friends and Supporters,                                                                                                                                                     

Staff Outing: Tanzania has recently completed a high-speed passenger train traveling between our city and the capital city. This train has already been a huge blessing, as it turns a very dangerous four- to six-hour journey into a much safer journey of only one hour and forty minutes. Recently, we took our entire staff and their wives on an outing to our capital city. What a joy it was to see them enjoy the train for the first time—it was a first for them for many things, such as escalators, elevators, and automatic hand dryers! The women enjoyed doing some shopping, and the men battled it out on the go-kart track! It was a time of refreshing for us all. We are so thankful for the team that God has brought together, not only with our Tanzanian staff but also with Montana and Kellie Morrow.

Trip Home: We were blessed to be able to take a brief trip back to the States at the end of August and September. This was not a regular furlough but rather just a trip to reconnect with family, go to doctor’s visits, and “refuel.” One of the highlights was a family reunion on Rachel’s side of the family. All of her siblings and their families were able to be together for the first time in many years. With 31 cousins, there was never a dull moment for the kids! It was so refreshing to attend our home church for a few weeks and enjoy the fellowship of our friends and family there as well. We are blessed to have such a strong home church that stands behind us in every way.

Salvations: While we were Stateside, I crossed paths with many East Africans. I can always spot an East African even when they are in an “American” setting. It always makes me laugh to see the startled look on their faces when I walk past them in a store or somewhere and greet them in Swahili. A conversation is sure to follow, as they are overjoyed to find someone who speaks their native language. This has led to many, many open doors for witnessing to these people. While we were Stateside, God worked through divine appointments, and seven Swahili-speaking people came to a saving knowledge of Jesus through various witnessing opportunities.

Friend Day: Once we returned to Tanzania, we hit the ground running! We had our Baptism Sunday right away, followed by our Friend Sunday. What a tremendous day that was! We had over 830 in church, with 30 salvations and 4 baptisms. Our church members worked hard to invite their friends and family to attend church with them.

Business Seminar: Bro. Alfred Perez and Bro. Joe Wittig traveled with Dr. Ray Young to see our work here. While they were here, the Lord put it on our hearts to host a Christian business seminar. We were overwhelmed at the response we received from English-speaking businessmen and women who attended the seminar. These are great contacts for our English Sunday School. It was also a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel with people whom we otherwise would not have a chance to do so.

Graduation: We were honored once again to have Dr. Ray Young come to preach our second Faith Baptist College graduation. We had two young men graduate this year. These men have shown tenacity and faithfulness as they finished their college education and are now more equipped to serve.

Your representatives to Tanzania,

Jerry & Rachel Wyatt

Testimony: A young man in our church came to me and shared a testimony about an incident at his home. He was sitting and listening to our radio, which was playing some preaching. Some of his neighbors saw him listening and asked him to turn up the volume so they could hear as well. After the message was over, he took the opportunity to share the Gospel with them. Three of them bowed their heads and trusted Christ as their Saviour. What a blessing it is to see the next generation of young people with a desire to share the Gospel!

Stadium Crusade: We are praising the Lord for an incredible Stadium Crusade this year. Thank you to everyone who prayed with us for this event. This year's crusade was hosted by First Baptist Church of Hammond, with FBMI bringing a team over to help run the crusade. People from all over the USA were part of the team. It was amazing how God knit everyone's hearts together as we worked shoulder to shoulder with our Tanzanian brothers and sisters in Christ for one common goal. We were blessed to see over 5,000 people at the crusade, and 838 people trusted Christ during this outreach.

Medical Clinic: In August, we held a mobile medical clinic at our church, partnering with local doctors, nurses, and a team of 41 medical professionals and volunteers from Medical Missions Outreach. Throughout the week, we were able to provide treatment to 2,370 patients. We had both a medical clinic and an optical clinic. Each of these patients had the opportunity to have the Gospel shared with them on a one-on-one basis. We are truly blessed to share that 766 individuals made the decision to accept Jesus as their Saviour.

We usually see tremendous fruit from these outreaches. We have already had many visitors to our services who first came to the clinic. Several even took the next step of getting baptized. Please pray that these new Christians will get grounded and continue to grow in their Christian walk.

Comings and Goings: Montana and Kellie Morrow have been serving with us for over two years, and they returned to the States in August for their first furlough. Although we will miss them, we are thankful for Andrew and Mary Butler, who have come to fill their place for most of their furlough, followed by a couple of young ladies who will be covering the remainder of the time. Please be in prayer for the Morrows as they travel, as well as for those who have come here to help the ministry in their absence.

 These past couple of months have been extremely busy with two of our largest outreaches that we do during the year, as well as hosting many people from the States. Although we get tired sometimes, it is a "good kind of tired." Sometimes we just stand back in awe at what God allows us to be a part of. Thank you for being a part of this amazing journey with us.

 Serving the people of Tanzania,

Jerry and Rachel Wyatt

Vision Clinic Week:

We are praising the Lord for all that He did during the optical clinic last month! Working together with local optometrists and our church family, the team from the States was able to treat over 1,300 patients. Our church members were able to sit down one on one with everyone who came to receive help with their physical sight and show them how they could also gain spiritual sight. We praise the Lord for the many hundreds who had their eyes opened to the truth of salvation. We have seen many come back to church because of this outreach.

Deaf Days:

What a joy it was to have special days for our Deaf Ministry on a Saturday and Sunday! We are thankful for the hard work of our Deaf Ministry director, Ima Masebu, and his wife Melina. They saw over 50 deaf individuals in attendance each day, many of whom were visitors. We are praising the Lord for the 2 who trusted Christ. Please pray that these visitors will continue coming to church!

Albino Days:

We had the opportunity to be a part of a special presentation to a group of albinos here in our city. We put together 100 bags loaded with sunscreen, a hat with our church logo, and a John and Romans with a clear presentation of the Gospel on the back. Please pray that many of them would accept the Gospel and trust Christ.

Men’s Meeting:

In June, we held a Men’s Meeting at our church. There were 87 men in attendance, with 14 trusting Christ as their Saviour. We are praying that God would continue to raise up an army of men here in Tanzania who will stand up for right as they lead their families.

Prayer Requests:

Please join us in prayer for our annual Stadium Crusade. First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, along with FBMI, will be sending a group to assist us in hosting this year's crusade and Soccer Sunday. Every year, there is a potential for thousands of people to hear the Gospel, and we earnestly seek God's provision and blessing as we finalize all the details for the crusade.

Please help us pray for our radio ministry as we endeavor to complete the transfer of our radio to our mission. This process has been ongoing for years, and we are still in the midst of it. We are fervently praying for God's intervention in working out all the remaining details.

We will also be hosting another medical outreach in the month of August with an even larger group from the States. Please join us in prayer for all the preparations for this event.

We recently experienced a break-in at our home while we were away for an evening. The house was ransacked, and electronics and cash were stolen. However, we are praising the Lord that we were not home and that no harm came to us. This incident serves as a constant reminder of the importance of God's hand of protection over our family and ministry. Thank you for lifting us up in prayer!

Serving the people of Tanzania,

Jerry & Rachel Wyatt