I have written blogs about him before, but I have rarely
known a more dedicated servant among our churches. Jacob Korinda is now an
ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church of Tanzania. He was one of the
first local pastors I met and he introduced me to the history of the Mara
District which I unknowingly would later assume leadership of. Jacob is the
pastor of Ingrichini UMC, circuit leader of the Rorya Circuit, and chair of our
district development committee. None of these jobs earn him a paycheck, but he
does them lovingly anyway.
On a recent visit to his home we were talking about
different housing styles and building materials and he shared with me a story
from when he had just started working as a local pastor. He was out in the
field with his wife and they had had to leave their children at home in care of
the oldest brother. While they were gone one of the younger children accidently
knocked over the wood cooking fire and sent sparks into the roof of his
traditional mud and grass roof house. By the time that Jacob and his wife
reached home the house had already burned down. All the children were okay
thanks to the oldest who rescued them from the house, but the family lost
everything expect the clothes on their backs. Even through this episode the
family stayed faithful to the church while slowly rebuilding their home,
purchasing new clothes, and making it though a tough time.
Since that house fire many years ago Jacob have led the
church members in building a church for Ingrichini UMC. This is the only church
in our district where I found a roof already on the building and simply had to
finish some of the layers of brick and doors and windows. Yet in all of that
time Jacob has continue to live with his family in a traditional house with a
grass roof. I feel like people as dedicated as Jacob should have safe,
dignified housing.
Please consider supporting us on December 1st,
2015 as we participate in Giving Tuesday and work to transform the lives of the
people we work with. You can head to www.umcmission.org/give
and search for “Church Construction and Development - # 3021923.” More information on how donations are matched
is below.
UMC #GivingTuesday, Dec. 1
On Dec. 1, United Methodists will once again come
together to support the work of Advance projects and missionaries on UMC #GivingTuesday. And once again, every gift made online through The Advance at www.umcmission.org/give on Dec. 1, 2015 will be matched up to $1
milion.* The missionary who receives the highest amount of online donations on
UMC #GivingTuesday will be able to direct $10,000 to an Advance project of
his/her choice!
* Global Ministries will allocate matching funds dollar
for dollar up to the first $1 million in gifts to Advance projects received
online on Dec. 1, 2015, between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. CT. A maximum of
$2,500 per individual gift to a project will be dispersed as matching funds. A
project may receive a maximum of $25,000 in matching funds.
