February 2026 newsletter
PROMISES MADE – PROMISES KEPT
It was a cloudy Sunday morning in December 1961 when Mom, Mike, my little brother, and I walked into the service at Calvary Temple in Arusha, Tanganyika. Dad did not feel well that morning due to heart problems and stayed home. We were set to fly to the U.S.A. the next day for his medical treatment.
Mother felt the Holy Spirit nudge her to read a Scripture that morning, and she read these words.
“You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.”
John 15:16 NLT
We had no idea that Sunday morning would be our final time attending Calvary Temple’s service, and that we would never worship as a family there again.
Dad and Mom had laid their lives on the line for the past four years (1958-1962) as they opened Northern Tanganyika (AKA Tanzania) Assemblies of God mission. A Bible College was established and the anchor church in Arusha, flourishing Calvary Temple Church, was built.
Hundreds of satellite churches were meeting in outlying villages all over Northern Tanzania and the Holy Spirit was spreading like wildfire, as in the days of the Acts of the Apostles.
Our mother often reminded our family of the promise she received from God that Sunday morning, and we continued to trust that God would fulfill that promise until the day she passed away.
In 2008, sixty-five years later, God opened the doors for us to begin African Moons. For the past eighteen years, you, our African Moons family, have watched the miracles that God has done through African Moons.
Rosemary Julius, a young Muslim woman, is among those reached by the ministry that began in 1958, when Paul and Helen Bruton arrived in Arusha.
Rosemary’s parents died when she was a teenager. She moved from Tanga to Arusha to live with her sister and husband. She was mistreated, used as a servant, and molested by her brother-in-law. One day, her Muslim sister suggested she attend a church near their house because she had heard stories about how people who attended it were helped. Bethel Temple, a church plant of Calvary Temple, began to minister to Rosemary, and she accepted Christ.
She graduated with a diploma in Christian Education from Arusha Bible College in 2008! Rosemary shared how she knelt in front of the huge Cross dad built into the front wall of Calvary. It was at that same Cross I remember kneeling as a teenager with tears, after listening to my dad preach. Although I had not related the story of how significant the Calvary Temple Cross was to our family.
Rosemary recently told me how she had just been saved from Islam. She had been a Christian for a few months. One day, she entered Calvary Temple, and the first thing that touched her heart was the large Cross inside the church. She said, “Deep in my heart I desired to go and hug it as an expression of hope and gratitude for the work of Jesus Christ because I knew it was at the Cross of Jesus that my salvation from sin and darkness was accomplished.”
As I heard the words of Rosemary describe that moment at the Cross in Calvary Temple in Arusha, these words whispered … “That your fruit should remain”. Yes, Mom, God keeps His promises.
In 2018, Joel, Gayle Henegar, and I went to Arusha in November for the “Christmas in a Backpack” Project. Rosemary called and asked if she could meet me. As Gayle and I listened to Rosemary’s heart, we knew this young woman had a powerful call on her life. She inquired whether African Moons would be willing to provide a scholarship enabling her to pursue a Master of Divinity in Biblical Languages (including Hebrew) at the Assemblies of God University in Dodoma.
Rosemary earned her degree in two years and is now serving as a Bible College lecturer in the Tanzania Assemblies of God Church Education Department, with the hope of becoming a professor.
THIS IS CALVARY TEMPLE, ARUSHA TODAY! PRAISE GOD! FRUIT THAT REMAINS!
Has God given you a promise? No matter how long it takes, you can rest assured God keeps His promises.
Thank you, African Moons partners, for being part of this meaningful story. We support each other through prayer and grow together, trusting in God’s promises. The seed you sow in African Moons is bearing fruit daily!
REMEMBER, HE IS RELIABLE, TRUSTWORTHY AND YOUR FATHER ALWAYS LISTENS TO YOUR HEART’S CRY.
Tanzania for Jesus!
Joel & Sally