This letter is from two missionaries that Gloria Dei has supported in the past:

Dear friends,

In our Christmas greeting we highlighted a group of Maasai women involved in a small income-generating project. Nine of these ladies, along with 14 students and three infants, were baptized on 29 May 2005. Obviously, this was extremely significant for each one personally but also for the community. Choirs from other congregations walked for 2 hours just to be there. Three hundred people attended the four-hour service. A celebration meal following the baptism was prepared over open fires and included 50 kilos of rice and two goats.

Traditionally the Maasai view God as good. After all, they say, he gives them cows, rain, and children. But they are afraid of him and can only obtain access through a traditional healer, or certain trees or mountains. The message of Jesus as our great high priest comes with the conviction of the Holy Spirit. In our area of Ketumbeine about half of the nomadic communities are now Chris6tian. Local Maasai say Christianity has brought a new respect for women who were previously treated much like property. Maasai customs were tolerant of and encouraged sexual promiscuity. Many elders tell us Christian communities now require faithfulness in marriage. These changes are especially significant now that the AIDS epidemic is beginning to reach even remote areas.

Our children are thriving in the African bush. At age three, Shalai amuses everyone with her fluent Swahili. For several hours on their 9th birthday Nyika and Zaka watched from the edge of the forest as 30 cape buffalo grazed on a mountain meadow. Loserian, their Maasai guide, hunts buffalo with a spear and twice has been thrown through the air by massive horns. The boys will soon begin fourth grade in homeschool.

Steve's work is full of variety--patient care, renovating buildings, installing solar lighting, encouraging staff, and lots of travel between a dozen clinics. He is looking forward to the return of several colleagues who have completed upgrading courses. They will assume more and more of the leadership in the clinics.

We are so thankful to you who pray for and support us. It is a rare privilege to work among the Maasai as they deal with the forces of change. We daily marvel at the Lord's goodness in providing us with health, safety in travel, good colleagues, and friends.

Bethany and Steve Friberg

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