Missionary profile – Suleiman* to Tanzania

By Mercy Kambura

Suleiman*

Missionary from Tanzania

As a teenager, I was a fisherman for two years, eking out a living and trying to stay afloat. I didn’t know that Jesus would make me a fisher of men years later. I’m now a missionary at the border of Kenya and Tanzania among a Muslim people group.

It has been a long journey to missions for me. Education didn’t come easy. It took the kindness of a benefactor for me to study Theology. It was while studying that I developed a heart for Muslims. The burden was heavy, so I started looking for Muslims, staying with them and speaking to them about Christ.

My benefactor advised me to take a missions course that would help me reach the Muslims better. He paid for me to go to the East Africa School of Mission in Dar es Salaam. When I finished, I left my hometown, Kigoma, and went to the Muslim community that I’m reaching now.

Initially, they were very wary of me and my presence there, but a girl in the community offered to be helping us to cook in our house. After three months, we needed to leave briefly for Zanzibar. We prayed and left the house in her care.

She had previously experienced terrible nightmares, with unseen elements choking her in her sleep. Her dad is the Sheikh, and he had unsuccessfully tried to help her. She slept soundly for the first time on the first night in our house.

She went to her house on the second day, and the nightmares returned. When she slept in our house again, there was peace and tranquillity. She called us and asked, “What did you put in your house that it’s so peaceful?”

I explained that Jesus – the one she called Isah al Masih – made all the difference. We read Bible verses and explained about the Prince of Peace. She immediately wanted this Jesus and this peace. She was our first convert.

We secretly started on Discovery Bible Study for one and a half years. After the first year, she decided to tell her father, and as expected, he threw her out.

As she was praying, a voice came to her and told her things about her father, things she didn’t know, and she wrote them all down. She took what she had written and sent a child to give to her dad. When he read it, he started crying, wondering who had known him this deeply. No one knew these things about his life, not even his two wives.

He knelt and asked her to forgive him. He also said he wanted to know who revealed all these things to her. She called me to explain the mysteries. I went to her house and found Sheikhs, elders and the whole family waiting. Afraid for my life, I sat by the door, ready for an escape should things get heated.

He said he had hated Christians, but now his daughter was free to learn whatever she wanted. He freed us to teach our teachings to these people. I invited them also to be Christians; they’re still thinking about it.

We now have 14 secret Discovery Bible Study groups in the community.

#Pray:

For the new secret converts to continue growing in the faith and for their safety.
For the Sheikh and other community members still struggling with the decision to follow Christ.
For us, as we reach out that we will be safe and that we will be faithful to the gospel.

*Not his real name for safety reasons

Representative photo