Mission Moments: Kilimanjaro

Sowing seeds, transforming lives

By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ

As Damson Samson was preparing for our Kilimanjaro Chapter training in March, he had a dream. Thieves came and took away what he had gathered.

“It (the dream) happened twice,” our missionary to East Africa reported. “I was asking, ‘What could that be?’ Then I was led to Matthew 13, where I read the parable of the sower.”

“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.” – Matthew 13:19 (NKJV)

“I discovered there is a need to put much security on the Word I am sharing to these people,” Damson said after the conclusion of our quarterly chapter training of guides and porters. “The enemy is there to take it away from them.”

Damson met with 36 members for two days, reviewing what had been taught in late November during Mission: Kilimanjaro 2017 and then moving ahead with our disciple-making training from The Timothy Initiative (TTI). He also expanded the chapter’s Bible studies, increasing the number to five villages, where members will gather twice a month to learn more from the TTI materials we have provided. This is part of a year-long program that will conclude with Mission: Kilimanjaro 2018 in December.

READ MORE ABOUT THE KILIMANJARO CHAPTER EVANGELISM TRAINING IN ‘THE CLIMBING WAY’ (VOLUME 42, MARCH 2018).

Asheri Marko with some of his chickens.

After another successful evangelism training, Damson resumed home visits in Marangu and Moshi, and checked up on the chicken project, which has served the physical needs of guides and porters. One porter, Asheri Marko, who currently has 70 chickens, was able to sell 40 for US $90 to pay for a funeral when no one else could help him. Damson said Asheri was thankful to God and Climbing For Christ for “life-transforming support.”

Other lives were transformed by the Holy Spirit during Damson’s home visits.

Jackson Mtui’s family.

In one home, the family of Jackson Mtui, seven people gave their lives to Christ. “Hillida Mtui, a 73-year-old widow looking after four grandchildren, was very happy and more excited to have this wonderful time,” Damson reported. Another 84-year-old widow also surrendered her life to Jesus.

“It was very touching and we had a big number willing and ready to accept Jesus,” Damson said.

The next day, three brothers – Fadhili, Alli and Lorent – all accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

In a house where Damson shared about Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave, five people confessed their sin and asked Jesus into their hearts. “God doesn’t come late for He is God,” Damson told them, explaining how he used the physical sickness of one in their home to bring eternal healing to many.

At the last of eight houses Damson visited, “Dauson (Chonjo, one of our chapter leaders in the photo above) prayed for a 98-year-old widow to come to Christ.” And there was joy in the presence of the angels of God over this sinner who repented (Luke 15:10).

Sixteen times during these home visits, all of heaven rejoiced.

Damson also was honored to be asked to preach at a church in Moshi, where about 200 believers gathered. “I shared on the title, ‘The Rejected King.’ This was picked from Matthew 27, verses 20 to 25. This is where we saw people asking for Barabbas and rejecting Jesus to be crucified. My message was ‘why do people reject Jesus up to this time?’ We found that it is all about personal interest; everyone wants things to be the way he wants it to be, not as God wills it to be. That’s why we are easily driven from the will of God to the will of man.

“Reading from John 11, verse 25, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ This is the only hope for our lives, even if many have rejected it. He will never change for He is what He is.”

This is why Climbing For Christ will continue to ask, as Jesus did in John 11:26, “Do you believe this?” We will teach and share, and guard against thieves who would steal this precious gift. We will sow into good soil and watch the LORD bear fruit, producing a harvest of “thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (Matthew 13:23). All for HIS glory.