House Fires

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 1^st, 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.