Childrens holiday 2017! Special offer!
"Siku kuu ya Mikaeli na watoto" - The Childrens special Sunday is coming up. And Soma Bible offers a 20% discount on several Childrens Bibles. A great opportunity to get the children a gift worth while!
The Tanzanian special holiday for children, Siku kuu ya Mikaeli na watoto, is coming up (last week of September). And for this reason Soma Biblia is giving a 20 % discount on selected Childrens Bibles and books for anyone placing their order/buy before 15th of September, 2017.
You get a 20% discount on the following books if you buy/order before the 15th of September:
Gods story for all (SWAHILI)
Biblia kubeba popote
Yesu Masiha
My Treasured Bible
Bible for Toddlers
100 best loved Bible stories
My first Bible Storybook
The Carry along Bible
Soma Biblia , Dar es Salaam +255 754 292 995 dar.somabiblia@gmail.com
Soma Biblia, Mwanza +255 755 355 445 mwanza.somabiblia@gmail.com
Soma Biblia, Iringa +255 765 910 495 iringa.somabiblia@gmail.com
Soma Biblia, Arusha +255 766 615 746 arusha.somabiblia@gmail.com
Soma Biblia, Mbeya +255 768 444 990 mbeya.somabiblia@gmail.com
Place your order to any of our five branches, by phone or email, and provide the following information:
1. Name of the book and the number you need.
2. Shipping method (post or bus).
3. Your name, Address and your phone number.
Remember: transportation is not included.
NEWS update from Soma Biblia
New literature
Did you know that Soma Biblia last year sold over 2,2 million Bibles and books? And that Soma Biblia is the third largest distributor of Bibles in Tanzania? In other words: together we build Tanzania, and even better: together we build the kingdom of God.
The organization Soma Biblia can be found everywhere in Tanzania. We have five branches spread across the country, and to reach even further, we have cars that go out from each branch in order to cover the whole country. A lot of people ask us how we use the surplus from our sales. The answer is simple: we invest it in going to those remote, far-away places where we know there is a thirst for the Word of God, and to places where we do not sell much because of poverty or other reasons, but where we can build relationships and spread the word of God through fellowship. We also use our surplus to invest in making new books, and to make our magazines: RIZIKI (a free magazine for those who work for the church) and Twende (a Christian magazine for children).
The latest RIZIKI (number 2, 2017) is now available. You can read it online by clicking this link: https://issuu.com/riziki/docs/riziki_2_2017
The latest issue of TWENDE is now available at only 500 tsh each.
Soma Biblia workers seminar
In order to create unity among our branches, and to inspire and create awareness about our work, all Soma Biblia workers gather once a year for a seminar. This year we met at the Amabilis centre in the city of Morogoro. We had a really good seminar, where we among other interesting things had Bible lessons held by Elizabeth Lulu from Mzumbe University, and a session with the Bible Society of Tanzania, who talked about the different translations of the Swahili Bible. In the evenings we had good time to build friendships and play games. And at the end of the seminar, we had a gamedrive through Mikumi national park.
Blessed Easter
"Instead of" - these two words holds the key to understand the most important message in the Bible.
““BADALA YA” means “INSTEAD OF” in Kiswahili; these two words holds the key to understand several messages in the Bible: In the Bible we read that one sheep died instead of Isaac. And in Egypt, the Israelites smeared blood from a lamb on their door frames so that their first-born should live. John the baptist said: Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. “Instead of” was the plan of God, and to us: it is good news.”
With these few words from Jon Jøssangs "BADALA YA", we wish our supporters and our customers a blessed easter!
Mzee Jon Jøssang 10.30.1926-12.30.2016
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of the founder of Scripture Mission, Mzee Jon Jøssang. Mzee Jøssang passed quietly away, 90 years old, with his family around him in Norway on 30th of December.
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of the founder of Scripture Mission, Mzee Jon Jøssang. Mzee Jøssang passed quietly away, 90 years old, with his family around him in Norway on 30th of December.
How do you sum up a life as rich as that of Mzee JJ? The stories about him are endless. He was curious, adventurous and seemingly without fear. He was a true believer in Christ, but not without doubt, and maybe that was what made his preaching so real and trustworthy. He and his wife had the ability of creating great things from what seemingly was dust, which made them perfectly fit for what the Lord had planned for their lives. But there is one trace throughout JJ`s life that really tells us a lot about who he was and why he did the things he did: he was always lead by the question ”how to lead a person to Christ.”
Jon Jøssang, best know as JJ, got at an early age the call to become a missionary. He came to Tanganyika the first time in 1954 as a missionary through the Norwegian Lutheran Mission. Here he worked for many years in Dongobesh and Kansay in Mbulu district. He served, as he puts it himself, as a ”jack of all trades”; construction worker, car mechanic, driver, priest and author. He built schools and churches and was part of the building of Haydom Lutheran Hospital. And then he of course preached on Sundays. He married Kjellaug his first year in Kansay, a warmhearted Norwegian nurse who had grown up in China as a missionary`s daughter. JJ and ”Memsab” (as JJ called his wife) were witnesses to the big happenings in the history of Tanzania: they were present during ”Uhuru”, heard Nyerere speak and saw Tanganyika and Zanzibar become Tanzania.
But the true legacy of Mzee Jossang, began one night he was unable to sleep. He had seen so many Tanzanians being baptized, but he did not have anything in writing to help the baptized continue to learn about their new faith. So together with another Norwegian missionary, Ingebjorg Boe, he developed two pamphlets (”Hubiri Habari Njema” and ”Tufundishe kwa Furaha”) to help evangelists and sundayschool teachers in their work. Now, God`s plan is often a lot bigger than ours, and these two pamphlets would mark the beginning of something far bigger than I think JJ realised. Because an other sleepless night in 1971, as JJ and Kjellaug`s time in Tanzania was coming to an end, JJ heard the name ”VOI”. And one day as he had some business in Moshi, JJ thought it wasn’t that far to Voi, so he crossed the border and entered the small, dusty, Kenyan town of Voi. In Voi, JJ stumbled upon an old, disused sisal farm with a couple of run down buildings. JJ met with the owner and was allowed to rent the place for almost nothing. So after a short period in Norway, JJ and Kjellaug with their two kids, moved to Voi.
In Voi JJ started working with whatever the Lord put on his mind: like teaching the Bible at two secondary schools, and regurarly visiting the Manyani prison and preaching there. Then JJ noticed how buses going to all over East-Africa all had a stop at Voi, and he started handing out tracts at the bus station. 96000 tracts were handed out just like that! And JJ realised the great potential of spreading the gospel through the bus station. But he needed help. No problem! JJ was the kind of person who found workmates everywhere! His only requirement was the same that Barnabas said to Saul the first time they met ”Have you seen Jesus?” Whether people were Anglicans, Baptists or Presbyterians was less important to JJ. The only question was: ”does my colleague have Jesus in his/her heart?” Which of course led him to wonderful people of God, f.ex. Josefu who JJ hired to sell Bibles, books and pamphlets at the bus station from a small table. When the business was running well, they opened a small bookshop.
Also the potential of leading people to Jesus via correspondance was something JJ dived into. He wrote a simple but engaging booklet in Swahili called ”Faith and Life” (Dini na Maisha). This book was made into a Bible correspondence course, and is to date used in Soma Biblias Bible correspondance course and one of Soma Biblias most popular booklets. Also ”Badala ya” (”instead of”) which in simple words explains how Jesus compensated for our wrongdoings, came to life at Voi and became a popluar book on the market and is still in sale today.
In 1976 JJ finally registered what would become NLM`s literature work in Kenya as ”SCRIPTURE MISSION”. At the office in Nairobi for the registry of mission work, JJ was told that ”It’s a very nice name indeed!” .
JJ`s literature work expanded and more missionaries came. A literature base was created on the NLM compound in Nairobi. Two magazines were founded, RIZIKI for pastors and evangelists, and ”The Brief” for students. RIZIKI is still very much alive today! The work continued to grow, and more effort was put into media, even a radiostation was built in Voi and Wazee Jossang moved the literature office to Wundanyi in Taita Hills. Here they built their house and workplace for many years, called Hebron. A wish for the literature to reach further into East-Africa, made the registration of Scripture Mission Tanzania happen in 1985, with Norwegian missionaries taking JJs work further.
JJ and Kjellaug continued their literature work in Wundanyi up to 1993, when they retired. Although a couple like JJ and Kjellaug cannot leave East-Africa just like that and they continued working for small periods all the way up to 2006 when JJ`s health declined as he was diagnosed with Parkinsons. But also in his last ten years, JJ followed the work of Scripture Mission closely, including the merge of Scripture Mission and Soma Biblia in 2015.
Today, as Bibles, Christian books, booklets, tracts and magazines are everyday spread throughout Tanzania through a Soma Biblia bookcar or a Soma Biblia bookshop, we look back in gratitude at the work JJ started, keeping in mind the number one reason for our work: How can we continue to lead people to Christ?
"Miracles in the plan of God" RIZIKI #4, 2016
The latest issue of RIZIKI is now available. This time we dig into the topic: Miracles in the plan of God.
RIZIKI is a inspirational magazine for Swahili speaking priests and evangelists. It comes out four times a year, and aims to help those who preach the word of God every week.
In the latest issue of RIZIKI (published Nov.28th, 2016), we dig deeper into the quite challenging topic "Miracles in the plan of God". In this issue you will also find a nice piece on friendship, a challenging article about money, time and trust and also a script for a Christmas skit to show on that special Christmas service.
Soma Biblia Bookshop in Arusha – new location
On 14th of November, Soma Biblia Arusha branch moved their bookshop to the TFA grounds in Sokoine road.
“This new facility gives us the chance to reach even further with our service”
The old bookshop
At the merge of Scripture Mission and Soma Biblia 1.1.2015, the Arusha branch moved their bookstore from the Scripture Mission compound in Sakina, to a shop facility in town. But they knew it would be temporary, since the shop was far to small to host all the titles, Bibles and items in the Soma Biblia stock. So it is with great gratitude that we, almost two years later, can welcome the Arusha branch customers to a new shop at a very good location at the TFA grounds on Sokoine road. This is a place which is easy to find, also for the non-frequent customer. And it has parking facilities and great security.
Special offer!
21st of November
10% off Bibles
20% off Tenzi (up to 10 copies)
“This new facility gives us the chance to reach even further with our service,” branch manager Martin Mwaisumo explains. He has been working non-stop to get everything in order since the keys were given to him at the beginning of November. Monday the 14th was the first day of sales, but the grand opening will be held on the 21st November. “This day we have invited especially all the pastors, evangelists and priests in Arusha, but everybody is welcome! We want to see the shop full!” Martin laughs, “There will be a 10% offer on all Bibles, 20% offer on Tenzi, and we shall even try to have some chai for our customers. It will be so good!”
We congratulate Mwaisumo and the rest of the Arusha team on their new bookshop, and pray that that it may serve the main purpose of Soma Biblia: to spread the Word of God to the Swahili speaking community.
The sales personel at Soma Biblia Arusha: Martin Mwaisumo, Melania Joakim and Praygod Kimaro.
Soma Biblia Arusha contact:
Martin Mwaisumo, Branch Manager Phone: 0687 666 020 E-mail: arusha.somabiblia@gmail.com
Opening hours:
Monday-Friday: 8:30-17:00 Saturday: 8:30-14:00