Meet Eli

 

 
The young man pictured above is Eli.  Of course, that is not his given name, but it is the one most call him as his given name is long and hard for me to remember.  Eli is of the masai tribe.  They practise many things which are contrary to the Bible and are cattle farmers.  Eli came to me in July last year asking if I would be willing to assist him in going to college.  While I get many requests for help which I cannot grant, this particular one I felt compeled to meet. 
 
Eli informed me that his father has 4 wives and 22 children.  Eli is 22 and stated that he had no desire to stay within the tribe and continue as a cattle farmer.  His desire was to continue his education in order to find better work.  Eli had already taken the initiative to apply to two higher education courses and had been accepted by one and was awaiting news of his acceptance to the other.  Having recieved this acceptance, he was now in need of funding.
 
While to us the cost is not too great, to a Tanzanian, especially a young man like Eli the cost is a fortune which they can rarely come upon.  The cost of his first year of school would be around 900,000 shillings which in USD equals around $575.  The average daily wage for a Tanzanian is 5-7,000 shillings per day.  It would take 5 months to earn this amount of money.
 
I talked with Eli for several days about his plans.  I agreed to pay for his education if he would do two things.  The first was to study hard and make good grades.  The second was to read the Bible (which I provided) and go to church while at school.  He agreed and in September he left for school in Dodama which is quite a distance from here.
 
Eli returned to Chimala in December for  the holidays and then was to spend one month working at the hospital learning the administrative side of things as part of his schooling.  He scored all A's and B's in his classes and he said he had been reading his Bible as promised.  For the month he would spend here, I bunked him in with the CBI students (Chimala Bible School) and hooked him up with several of the Bible teachers for Bible studies.  Yesterday, Eli was baptized into Christ.  I am so proud of him and rejoice in his decision to accept God's plan of salvation.  Below are a few pictures of his glorious day.
 
 
 
This is Boaz, an Elder at the Mission church of Christ and one of the Bible teachers who studied with Eli.  He is attempting to clear some of the muck from the top of the water where Eli will be baptized.

 
Eli is listening as we are all singing praises to God.
 


Boaz finds that while we sang and read a few scriptures, the muck has returned to the area.
 



 
Chad leads the prayer for Eli.  This was a GREAT DAY!
 

 

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