Tongwe

Over the past few months I've had a particular people group on my heart to pray for and promote.  They call themselves the Tongwe.  As you probably know I've been to Tanzania twice for the summers of '08 and '09.  On my second trip I worked with a man named Tori and his mission these past few years has been to reach the Tongwe and related peoples like the Bende, Rungwa, and Pimbwe.  Recently Wycliffe started a cluster project to start Bible Translation on these four peoples as well.  One of the friends I made and worked with that summer was Musa, a Tongwe Christian who wants to build the Church among his people and bring the light of life to them.  The Tongwe however have historically been a stronghold of Satan as only in the past few years have there been any believers among their people.  They are primarily Muslim (though in name only) and have been told many lies about Christianity and Jesus.  A few years ago Tori's team partnered with a Tanzanian evangelist as they tried to reach this group.  As they preached the Muslims started a riot and sought to kill the evangelists and destroy everything.  By God's power they did not kill anyone.  When the riot started the evangelist told his team to evacuate as he stayed up on the stage.  However, God masked him from them as they could not perceive him nor harm him destroying all of their equipment around him but leaving him alone even though they were searching for him urgently.  God masked him from their eyes.  So now Tori has another plan this summer.  He wants to build a road to these people, both metaphorically and physically.  They are some of the poorest people in Tanzania being fairly remote with no access to commercial centers other than by a long boat ride that is dangerous.  So the plan is to build a road for these people so they can more safely and quickly have access to commercial centers and improve their economy and access to medical resources as well as other necessities.  If you've read this far, then please read this next sentence very carefully.  Please consider praying for Tori, his team, and the Tongwe people especially this summer as they build the road.  If you would like to support this project, please let me know and I can help coordinate that effort.  If you would like to know more about the Tongwe people, take a look at some of the links below:

Joshua Project
Ethnologue
The Word is Life

and some more general information about Tanzania:
CIA Factbook
AllAfrica.com

and an article written by Tori's father for your consideration:
Are The Times Too Tough for Missions?

There is also a web site that Tori set up for the project specifically.  For security purposes it is password protected so it would not be a good idea for me to post the username and password online on a public blog, but if you are interested in taking a look at the project further then e-mail me, talk to me, or call me and I can give the information to you.

For His Glorious Name,
Jason