Friday, Nobember 14th, 2008
Finally, after a very long trip, I am home again.
Charles picked Russ and I up at the Terminal hotel at about 5:30pm on Thursday night and took us to the Carnivore Restaurant in Nairobi. I had heard about this place from a freind of mine here in Atlanta, but had never been there. It was really amazing! They had a huge round fire with three layers of all different kinds of meat. We ordered the sampler plate which had beef, pork, chicken, ostrich and crockidile meat. The ostrich was good but the crockidile was pretty tough! It is the most famous restaurant in Nairobi. There we met a yound Canadian lady who was also heading home that night. In fact, we found out that she was on the same flight that we were on!
From there Charles dropped us off at the airport for our 10:50 flight out of Nairobi. We made it through security, checked our bags and made our way to our gate. There we ran into Trish again and visited with her while we waited to board our flight. We also met a few Baptists who had been doing mission work in Kenya as well. One of the men sat right across from me on the plane, so I talked with him quite a bit on our flight.
It was an 8 and a half hour flight to Amsterdam through the night. I usually like to get a window seat but was fine with an inner isle seat on this flight since there was nothing to see anyway. We arrived in Amsterdam at 5:00 in the morning (we gained 2 hours from Nairobi), although it flet much later than that.
Our flights home didn't leave until after 10:00am so we had a few hours to kill. We walked around the airport and found our respective gates (Russ and I split up here - he returned to Minneapolis and I returned to Atlanta). Then we sat down and I did some computer work until my battery went dead (I fried my converter in Africa, so I left it there and had no way to charge it in Amsterdam). About 9:30 we said our goodbye and split up. It was really rainly and dreary that morning but it didn't dampen my mood as I prepared to get on the last leg of my trip on my way home!
I was on and Airbus 330 on the trip home and it was practially empty. I have never seen so many empty seats on an international flight before. I was in a window row and the lady in the center rows beside me had four seats to herself! Most of the trip she spent laying across the seats sleeping! Almost everyone in our section of the plane had empty seats beside them. I was a bit discouraged at first because I had a window seat, but it was right over the wing, giving very little view. But as we took off and cleared the cloud I found it didn't make any difference, because all that could be seen was clouds! Throughout the whole trip, whenever I looked out the window, there was nothing to see below but clouds. It must have been a dreary day everywhere below!
We hit the ground right at 2:00pm on Friday (after gaining 6 hours from Amsterdam). Because of the few number of people on our plane I sailed right through customs and was waiting for my pick-up by 2:45. Debra and the kids picked me up about 30 minutes later with big grins and signs welcoming me home again! It's good to be home!
Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers over the past 5 weeks. What a blessing it has been to visit, instuct and learn from our brethren in Kenya and Tanzania. Even though I am home now, please continue to keep the work there in your prayers. There is much more to do, and we ask for the Lord's blessing in it!
May our gracious Lord be with you and them,
In Christ,
Nathanael
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Thursday, November 13th - Headed home!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
I awoke dark and early this morning at around 4:00am. There was a horrible commotion down in the street below our room. The hotel is connected to a restaurant and it sounded like a truck pulled up and was being unloaded. They weren’t being quite about it at all! Our windows were open to the outside because our room had been painted earlier in the day and still smelled like paint thinner. We were stuck between a stink and a loud commotion. I tried to go back to sleep, thinking the truck would be done unloading fairly soon. But it was not to be. At around 5:00am there was another disturbance. There was shouting and laughing coming from the street now. Men were laughing and a woman was yelling. Her yelling turned to crying. It sounded like she was pleading with someone about something, but it was hard to tell exactly what since she was speaking in Swahili. Every once is a while some English would come out, but most of the English words she knew were profanities. It was very frustrating.
At around 6:00am the light was starting to come through the windows. The arguing and crying had died down but there was still a lot of noise. Since I could see, I decided to read for a while. Wouldn’t you know it, by 7:00, after we were already up and going, it was almost quiet! So much for a good night’s sleep at this point!
Although the shower reeked of a harsh paint thinner, the shower had wonderfully hot water! I even was able to shave with hot water out of the sink faucet for the first time since being in Africa! (I have found it strangely amusing that the handles on the sink are like ours at home with red circles with the letter H in the middle on the left side and blue circles with the letter C in the middle on the right side, yet both offer only cold water... finally one that is truthful!)
When we arrived here last night we only had a few Kenya Schillings – not enough to pay for a hotel, and because of the late hour, all the exchange places were closed. The owner was kind enough to let us check it and told us that we could pay in the morning when the banks opened up. So our fist order of business was to get out and exchange some money so we could pay our bill. At 8:30am we went to a nearby bank only to find that they didn’t have the updated exchange rate for the day yet! They asked us to come back in 30 minutes. So we decided to get some breakfast. We went down the street to the Kenya Comfort Hotel - a hotel we were familiar with from our stay there last year. They have a restaurant there and always had a good breakfast buffet. Of course we still didn’t have very much in Kenya Schillings so Russ paid for breakfast with his credit card (yes, they take Visa here)! We met and visited with one of the workers there who I met last year. He was usually on guard and in charge of opening up the computers last year, so we came to know him very well.
After breakfast I walked back down the now busier street to the Bureau de Change to get some needed Kenya Schillings, and from there back to the hotel in time to meet Charles. He arrived at about 10:00am and we visited and went over reports for about 2 hours. He agreed to come back and take us to the airport this evening around supper time. On the way he promised a stop for Pizza for supper! Yea!
It is now 12:30pm. I have another meeting this afternoon with two other men, and then we are finished. Our flight leaves Nairobi tonight at about 11:00pm and arrives in Amsterdam at 5:00am. We have a five hour layover in Amsterdam where Russ and I will split up. At 10:00am tomorrow morning Russ gets on a plane for Minneapolis and I get on another for Atlanta. It is going to be a long night, but we are both looking forward to getting home again.
Please keep all the work here in your prayers. There is so much to do, and so little time to accomplish it in. There is more to do here than can be accomplished in five weeks. We really need to have someone here full time with all that needs to be done. Pray that the Lord sends reapers into the harvest....
In His service,
Nathanael
I awoke dark and early this morning at around 4:00am. There was a horrible commotion down in the street below our room. The hotel is connected to a restaurant and it sounded like a truck pulled up and was being unloaded. They weren’t being quite about it at all! Our windows were open to the outside because our room had been painted earlier in the day and still smelled like paint thinner. We were stuck between a stink and a loud commotion. I tried to go back to sleep, thinking the truck would be done unloading fairly soon. But it was not to be. At around 5:00am there was another disturbance. There was shouting and laughing coming from the street now. Men were laughing and a woman was yelling. Her yelling turned to crying. It sounded like she was pleading with someone about something, but it was hard to tell exactly what since she was speaking in Swahili. Every once is a while some English would come out, but most of the English words she knew were profanities. It was very frustrating.
At around 6:00am the light was starting to come through the windows. The arguing and crying had died down but there was still a lot of noise. Since I could see, I decided to read for a while. Wouldn’t you know it, by 7:00, after we were already up and going, it was almost quiet! So much for a good night’s sleep at this point!
Although the shower reeked of a harsh paint thinner, the shower had wonderfully hot water! I even was able to shave with hot water out of the sink faucet for the first time since being in Africa! (I have found it strangely amusing that the handles on the sink are like ours at home with red circles with the letter H in the middle on the left side and blue circles with the letter C in the middle on the right side, yet both offer only cold water... finally one that is truthful!)
When we arrived here last night we only had a few Kenya Schillings – not enough to pay for a hotel, and because of the late hour, all the exchange places were closed. The owner was kind enough to let us check it and told us that we could pay in the morning when the banks opened up. So our fist order of business was to get out and exchange some money so we could pay our bill. At 8:30am we went to a nearby bank only to find that they didn’t have the updated exchange rate for the day yet! They asked us to come back in 30 minutes. So we decided to get some breakfast. We went down the street to the Kenya Comfort Hotel - a hotel we were familiar with from our stay there last year. They have a restaurant there and always had a good breakfast buffet. Of course we still didn’t have very much in Kenya Schillings so Russ paid for breakfast with his credit card (yes, they take Visa here)! We met and visited with one of the workers there who I met last year. He was usually on guard and in charge of opening up the computers last year, so we came to know him very well.
After breakfast I walked back down the now busier street to the Bureau de Change to get some needed Kenya Schillings, and from there back to the hotel in time to meet Charles. He arrived at about 10:00am and we visited and went over reports for about 2 hours. He agreed to come back and take us to the airport this evening around supper time. On the way he promised a stop for Pizza for supper! Yea!
It is now 12:30pm. I have another meeting this afternoon with two other men, and then we are finished. Our flight leaves Nairobi tonight at about 11:00pm and arrives in Amsterdam at 5:00am. We have a five hour layover in Amsterdam where Russ and I will split up. At 10:00am tomorrow morning Russ gets on a plane for Minneapolis and I get on another for Atlanta. It is going to be a long night, but we are both looking forward to getting home again.
Please keep all the work here in your prayers. There is so much to do, and so little time to accomplish it in. There is more to do here than can be accomplished in five weeks. We really need to have someone here full time with all that needs to be done. Pray that the Lord sends reapers into the harvest....
In His service,
Nathanael
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Wednesday, November 12th - On to Nairobi
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Our last day in Moshi. Our shuttle from Moshi to Nairobi left the hotel at 11:00am, but we had a lot to accomplish first. At 8:00 I had a meeting scheduled with Pastor Angowi and the Treasurer, Josephat Lewis. They have been so busy with preparations for graduation and other meetings that we had not yet had the chance to meet. We talked about the finances of the LCEA and discussed new procedures that we would be putting in place for the coming year. We talked about the seminary, needs and concerns related to it for the coming year. In our time at the seminary we noticed that not all the students had Swahili Bibles. There were about three of them and they were passed around from student to student. So we came up with and implemented a plan: I sent Russ to the Bible Book Store to buy 20 Swahili Bibles (like our pew version). These were to be used in the seminary by the students so that everyone would have one for classes and their own personal study during the years they are in sem. But the students will not keep these. Instead, upon graduation they will receive a nicer and larger Swahili Bible with cross references for their use in the Pastoral ministry. We hope that this will be a blessing to them and enable them to better study God’s Word.
It was also requested by Pastor Angowi that all the students have English translations of the Bible for study. While I was here I gave away two English Bibles (one which I had brought from home and another which I had picked up from Kisii), but I will plan to bring more back next year. We were also glad to work out an arrangement for another full time teacher at the seminary for the coming year to help Pastor Angowi with the teaching and supervising work load. Now we just need to work out some financial arrangements. Over all it was a very beneficial meeting and I have high expectations for the coming year. There are eight graduates this year, and there are three students that are already prepared to enter as first year students, and many more applications still coming in. May the Lord bless the work here!
After running a few errands and hitting the internet café after my meeting with Angowi and Lewis, I sped back to the hotel just in time to meet Russ who had checked out of our room. Within minutes our ride to the bus station had arrived, and we were off. At the bus station we only had to wait a few minutes until our shuttle arrived. It was a smaller bus, although bigger than the Matatoo’s used for general public transportation. It could seat about 20 comfortably, but there were only five people on it for this leg of the trip. This shuttle took us from Moshi to Arusha, where we had to get off and board a different bus for the trip to Nairobi. We arrived in Arusha at about 1:00pm and had to wait until 2:00pm when the Nairobi bus left. This bus was about the same size, but it had more people on it. Our excess luggage was loaded on the rack on the top of the bus covered with a tarp and roped down. This bus still wasn’t full, but every row had someone sitting in it. Russ and I sat at the front of the bus and had a friendly conversation with our driver, Naftali. He was full of information and we learned a lot. He makes the trip from Nairobi to Arusha (of vise versa) every day and it was clear by the way he handled the road that he was very familiar with them. We had no problems crossing the border back into Kenya. (They even let Russ back in even though he only had a single entry visa which he purchased at the airport when we first arrived!) It was a very uneventful trip – just the way we prefer!
It was a long and tiring journey and we finally arrived at our destination in Nairobi at about 8:00pm. We checked into the Terminal Hotel in downtown Nairobi and immediately went to find something to eat. We had already decided on Steers where we could order Pizza! We didn’t have much in Kenya schillings, but were thankful when they said they would take US Dollars! Just after we placed our order, paid and sat down at a 70's style table, the power went out. We wondered if we were ever going to eat! It was interesting to note people reaction to the power outage. There were a couple of "Woo"’s, but other than that, it didn’t seem to bother anyone. Russ commented, "If this happened in the states, everyone would be in a panic!" There has been a lot of trouble with power outages this year as they try to implement new power strategies.
Hopefully it will get better soon.
Well, that’s all for now. We fly out from Nairobi tomorrow night....
In His service,
Nathanael
Our last day in Moshi. Our shuttle from Moshi to Nairobi left the hotel at 11:00am, but we had a lot to accomplish first. At 8:00 I had a meeting scheduled with Pastor Angowi and the Treasurer, Josephat Lewis. They have been so busy with preparations for graduation and other meetings that we had not yet had the chance to meet. We talked about the finances of the LCEA and discussed new procedures that we would be putting in place for the coming year. We talked about the seminary, needs and concerns related to it for the coming year. In our time at the seminary we noticed that not all the students had Swahili Bibles. There were about three of them and they were passed around from student to student. So we came up with and implemented a plan: I sent Russ to the Bible Book Store to buy 20 Swahili Bibles (like our pew version). These were to be used in the seminary by the students so that everyone would have one for classes and their own personal study during the years they are in sem. But the students will not keep these. Instead, upon graduation they will receive a nicer and larger Swahili Bible with cross references for their use in the Pastoral ministry. We hope that this will be a blessing to them and enable them to better study God’s Word.
It was also requested by Pastor Angowi that all the students have English translations of the Bible for study. While I was here I gave away two English Bibles (one which I had brought from home and another which I had picked up from Kisii), but I will plan to bring more back next year. We were also glad to work out an arrangement for another full time teacher at the seminary for the coming year to help Pastor Angowi with the teaching and supervising work load. Now we just need to work out some financial arrangements. Over all it was a very beneficial meeting and I have high expectations for the coming year. There are eight graduates this year, and there are three students that are already prepared to enter as first year students, and many more applications still coming in. May the Lord bless the work here!
After running a few errands and hitting the internet café after my meeting with Angowi and Lewis, I sped back to the hotel just in time to meet Russ who had checked out of our room. Within minutes our ride to the bus station had arrived, and we were off. At the bus station we only had to wait a few minutes until our shuttle arrived. It was a smaller bus, although bigger than the Matatoo’s used for general public transportation. It could seat about 20 comfortably, but there were only five people on it for this leg of the trip. This shuttle took us from Moshi to Arusha, where we had to get off and board a different bus for the trip to Nairobi. We arrived in Arusha at about 1:00pm and had to wait until 2:00pm when the Nairobi bus left. This bus was about the same size, but it had more people on it. Our excess luggage was loaded on the rack on the top of the bus covered with a tarp and roped down. This bus still wasn’t full, but every row had someone sitting in it. Russ and I sat at the front of the bus and had a friendly conversation with our driver, Naftali. He was full of information and we learned a lot. He makes the trip from Nairobi to Arusha (of vise versa) every day and it was clear by the way he handled the road that he was very familiar with them. We had no problems crossing the border back into Kenya. (They even let Russ back in even though he only had a single entry visa which he purchased at the airport when we first arrived!) It was a very uneventful trip – just the way we prefer!
It was a long and tiring journey and we finally arrived at our destination in Nairobi at about 8:00pm. We checked into the Terminal Hotel in downtown Nairobi and immediately went to find something to eat. We had already decided on Steers where we could order Pizza! We didn’t have much in Kenya schillings, but were thankful when they said they would take US Dollars! Just after we placed our order, paid and sat down at a 70's style table, the power went out. We wondered if we were ever going to eat! It was interesting to note people reaction to the power outage. There were a couple of "Woo"’s, but other than that, it didn’t seem to bother anyone. Russ commented, "If this happened in the states, everyone would be in a panic!" There has been a lot of trouble with power outages this year as they try to implement new power strategies.
Hopefully it will get better soon.
Well, that’s all for now. We fly out from Nairobi tomorrow night....
In His service,
Nathanael
Tuesday, November 11th - Goodbye to Himo
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Today was our last day teaching at the seminary. I wanted to have a full day teaching, but with all the graduation preparations for this Friday, I only had a half a day for class. We arrived at 10:00 when class was supposed to start, but our translator wasn’t there. We had to wait 45 minutes before he arrived, but Russ had a little session with them anyway! When Pastor Shenkalekwa arrived I collected the homework from the previous day and corrected it while Russ presented a study on the 10 plagues. It was a study that Bruce had done up in Kisii, and Russ did a good job with it.
When he was finished I handed back the homework and went through a study on the Apostles Creed showing that what we confess in that Creed is clearly taught in Scripture. We closed our session at 12:30 with a final hymn and prayer. After our session I had a few meetings with various students and with Pastor Shenkalekwa. Finally we said our goodbye to the sem students and caught our final bus back to Moshi!
It was after 2:00 when we arrived at the hotel, so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat before people started showing up for meetings. I had scheduled several meetings with people in Moshi before we leave town tomorrow. I had spaghetti (which had become one of my food staples here - not because it is great, but because it is better then the other options!) and Russ had pepper steak (it was pretty tough).
As it turned out, only one of my meetings turned out. All the others cancelled or were rescheduled to tomorrow morning. I was really hopping to be done with all this today, but I guess not. So tomorrow I have a couple of meetings early in the morning before we leave town at 11:00am. We pray that it all goes well and everything is able to be taken care of before we leave.
I’ll let you know more tomorrow! Our trip is almost at an end, only three days remain...
In Christ
Nathanael
Today was our last day teaching at the seminary. I wanted to have a full day teaching, but with all the graduation preparations for this Friday, I only had a half a day for class. We arrived at 10:00 when class was supposed to start, but our translator wasn’t there. We had to wait 45 minutes before he arrived, but Russ had a little session with them anyway! When Pastor Shenkalekwa arrived I collected the homework from the previous day and corrected it while Russ presented a study on the 10 plagues. It was a study that Bruce had done up in Kisii, and Russ did a good job with it.
When he was finished I handed back the homework and went through a study on the Apostles Creed showing that what we confess in that Creed is clearly taught in Scripture. We closed our session at 12:30 with a final hymn and prayer. After our session I had a few meetings with various students and with Pastor Shenkalekwa. Finally we said our goodbye to the sem students and caught our final bus back to Moshi!
It was after 2:00 when we arrived at the hotel, so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat before people started showing up for meetings. I had scheduled several meetings with people in Moshi before we leave town tomorrow. I had spaghetti (which had become one of my food staples here - not because it is great, but because it is better then the other options!) and Russ had pepper steak (it was pretty tough).
As it turned out, only one of my meetings turned out. All the others cancelled or were rescheduled to tomorrow morning. I was really hopping to be done with all this today, but I guess not. So tomorrow I have a couple of meetings early in the morning before we leave town at 11:00am. We pray that it all goes well and everything is able to be taken care of before we leave.
I’ll let you know more tomorrow! Our trip is almost at an end, only three days remain...
In Christ
Nathanael
Monday, November 10th - More teaching in Himo
Monday, November 10, 2008
Only two days left at the seminary... This morning we left Moshi after checking our e-mail and crammed into a bus to Himo (as has been our custom). This one was a bit nicer than others that we’ve been in, but it was a bit more expensive also. This one cost us about $0.85 for the ride to Himo. Bruce, if you were only here! We started class at 10:00am and most of the students were there. I had told them that those who were late would get homework to be completed before I left on Tuesday. I had to hand out homework to six of them, but the rest were on time! We studied excommunication and church discipline in the morning and at 12:45 took a 30 minute break.
During the break we are served tea or coffee and peanuts (karanga in Swahili). I really enjoy the peanuts! After the break Russ went through a study on the Catechism until lunch was ready at about 2:45pm. We took a one hour lunch break so everyone could eat. Once again we were given rice with a beef stew gravy along with oranges. Let me tell you – I like the oranges much better than the bananas we had all the time last year!
For the final session in the afternoon we went through a study of the Sabbath and the Biblical proof for why the Sabbath regulations no longer apply after Christ. There are many Seventh Day churches here and the study was very well received.
After our closing prayer and hymn, I told the students that I would take some time to show them how to use the laptop computers we brought for the seminary. A member of one of our congregations has been taking computer classes during the past year and will be able to teach the students how to use them in the coming year. We pray that they will be a real asset to the students in their education in the coming years!
Russ had returned to Moshi earlier in the day, so I returned on the bus by myself, just in time to meet with another man from the Moshi area. He has been working on translating doctrinal materials into Swahili to help with the spread of the Gospel here in Tanzania and we needed to meet before I left back to the states. What a blessing it is to have so many dedicated people eager to preach the truth of God’s Word to others in this part of God’s world!
In Christ
Nathanael
Only two days left at the seminary... This morning we left Moshi after checking our e-mail and crammed into a bus to Himo (as has been our custom). This one was a bit nicer than others that we’ve been in, but it was a bit more expensive also. This one cost us about $0.85 for the ride to Himo. Bruce, if you were only here! We started class at 10:00am and most of the students were there. I had told them that those who were late would get homework to be completed before I left on Tuesday. I had to hand out homework to six of them, but the rest were on time! We studied excommunication and church discipline in the morning and at 12:45 took a 30 minute break.
During the break we are served tea or coffee and peanuts (karanga in Swahili). I really enjoy the peanuts! After the break Russ went through a study on the Catechism until lunch was ready at about 2:45pm. We took a one hour lunch break so everyone could eat. Once again we were given rice with a beef stew gravy along with oranges. Let me tell you – I like the oranges much better than the bananas we had all the time last year!
For the final session in the afternoon we went through a study of the Sabbath and the Biblical proof for why the Sabbath regulations no longer apply after Christ. There are many Seventh Day churches here and the study was very well received.
After our closing prayer and hymn, I told the students that I would take some time to show them how to use the laptop computers we brought for the seminary. A member of one of our congregations has been taking computer classes during the past year and will be able to teach the students how to use them in the coming year. We pray that they will be a real asset to the students in their education in the coming years!
Russ had returned to Moshi earlier in the day, so I returned on the bus by myself, just in time to meet with another man from the Moshi area. He has been working on translating doctrinal materials into Swahili to help with the spread of the Gospel here in Tanzania and we needed to meet before I left back to the states. What a blessing it is to have so many dedicated people eager to preach the truth of God’s Word to others in this part of God’s world!
In Christ
Nathanael
Sunday, November 9th - Sunday worship in Kibololoni
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Russ and I were invited to the church in Kiboroloni for the worship service this morning. Kiboroloni is just East of Moshi about 5 km. We had been here earlier in the week when we visited the school that they run, and I was excited to be there for the service. One of the seminary students lives close to the church here and helps serve as "assistant pastor" at the congregation.
We arrived about 9:30am and the service was scheduled to begin at 10:00am. We visited with Heoric (the sem student) and Pastor Angowi to find out how the service would go. It was a special service for harvest festival, so it was going to be a longer service. Of course the service didn’t start at 10:00, since very few people were there. It started at about 10:30 instead and people continued to come in after the service started. They kept bringing out more chairs and more benches for the people who came late. It was really a small building - about 30x50, and packed to the fullest. They had a special choir that was there which sang several songs during the service. Since last year they have produced their own album! The service was again very liturgical, with the congregation participating in responses like our liturgy. The congregation sang songs, they read several scripture readings, and Russ and I were given time to present the word of God in the place of the sermon. All in all the service lasted over two hours, and it wasn’t because of my sermon! Pastor Angowi had a meeting following the service, so we had the rest of the afternoon free.
After the service I visited with some of the members for a while, but then we returned to the hotel. It was 2:00pm when we arrived, so we ate a small, late lunch and then went to our room. Russ rested up and I tried to get caught up on my reports and records and did a little prep word for Monday’s classes at Himo.
I really didn’t realize how much I needed the afternoon quiet time until this afternoon. If felt good to be able to relax a little bit and do som much needed catch up work. It is always go, go go! We really haven’t had a day off since we arrived here over four weeks ago. Most of that is my doing, because I make the schedule, but I want to get as much done as I can while I am here. But it is wearing!
Our trip is slowly coming to an end, and yet there is so much to do before we leave. May the Lord give us strength and stamina and continue to keep us as he has thus far!
More tomorrow...
In Christ
Nathanael
Russ and I were invited to the church in Kiboroloni for the worship service this morning. Kiboroloni is just East of Moshi about 5 km. We had been here earlier in the week when we visited the school that they run, and I was excited to be there for the service. One of the seminary students lives close to the church here and helps serve as "assistant pastor" at the congregation.
We arrived about 9:30am and the service was scheduled to begin at 10:00am. We visited with Heoric (the sem student) and Pastor Angowi to find out how the service would go. It was a special service for harvest festival, so it was going to be a longer service. Of course the service didn’t start at 10:00, since very few people were there. It started at about 10:30 instead and people continued to come in after the service started. They kept bringing out more chairs and more benches for the people who came late. It was really a small building - about 30x50, and packed to the fullest. They had a special choir that was there which sang several songs during the service. Since last year they have produced their own album! The service was again very liturgical, with the congregation participating in responses like our liturgy. The congregation sang songs, they read several scripture readings, and Russ and I were given time to present the word of God in the place of the sermon. All in all the service lasted over two hours, and it wasn’t because of my sermon! Pastor Angowi had a meeting following the service, so we had the rest of the afternoon free.
After the service I visited with some of the members for a while, but then we returned to the hotel. It was 2:00pm when we arrived, so we ate a small, late lunch and then went to our room. Russ rested up and I tried to get caught up on my reports and records and did a little prep word for Monday’s classes at Himo.
I really didn’t realize how much I needed the afternoon quiet time until this afternoon. If felt good to be able to relax a little bit and do som much needed catch up work. It is always go, go go! We really haven’t had a day off since we arrived here over four weeks ago. Most of that is my doing, because I make the schedule, but I want to get as much done as I can while I am here. But it is wearing!
Our trip is slowly coming to an end, and yet there is so much to do before we leave. May the Lord give us strength and stamina and continue to keep us as he has thus far!
More tomorrow...
In Christ
Nathanael
November 8th - Visiting churches
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Today was not a school day so we had visits planned to two new churches which I had not visited before. We made a quick run to the Internet café to check our e-mail, and then returned to meet with Pastor Angowi at about 10:00am. We talked about our schedule for the remainder of our time here, which churches we were going to be visiting, and a few other details. Once again Pastor Angowi was going to be busy, so Pastor Shenkalekwa was going to go with us to the churches. I have seen very little of Pastor Angowi on this trip. He has been busy with meetings of all kinds with parents and organizing other details for the coming graduation.
We hired one of the seminary students to drive us to the two congregations we were going to be visiting. We paid him about $45 for gas and his time for the day. Boy, was it a ride!
The first congregation which we visited was near Moshi, in the suburbs of Pasua. This is a new congregation with a man named Lyimo serving as it pastor. The area of Pasua is mixed with Christian and Muslim. We passed a number of Muslim schools of different types and sizes. They sure have money! Our congregation does not have its own building. They are currently renting a room in the local secondary school on Sunday mornings for their worship. This part of Moshi is expanding rapidly and the land has become very expensive. Just like back home! We met with the members of the congregation in a covered open air building. We were told about the history of the congregation, and what their goals were. We sang some hymns and had the chance to address them from the Word. Then we were treated to a bottle of soda and were taken to see the school where they are currently worshiping.
From there we went left Moshi going West towards Arusha. About 20 km out of Moshi we turned North to Machame and then headed up into the slopes of Mt. Kilimangaro. There was some confusion about which congregation we were supposed to visit, but finally figured it out. We first drove to Pastor Ulotu’s home in a very picturesque area with banana trees all around. Almost as soon as we walked in the door the rain started coming down. Harder and harder it came down! It felt like we were going to be washed down the hill, house and all! After a quick meal of boiled bananas and boiled chicken, we made a break for the car to head up the road a little further to where the new congregation was meeting. We were a little concerned because the wipers on the car didn’t work, the windows were fogged up, and it was still pouring. The road itself had disappeared and a fast-flowing river had taken its place. Even inside the car the rain was coming in through holes that weren’t supposed to be there!
The members of Machame-Kimbushi were meeting behind one of the member’s homes. They had a canopy covering their little church area, with an altar set up on one end and wooden benches for pews. It was very small, but it was also a small group. Again they told us a little about the congregation. The woman whose house was being used had just lost here husband several months earlier, but wanted to do this for her late husband. She seemed to be very dedicated and concerned for the truth. We again addressed the congregation with the Word and encouraged them to remain steadfast and strong even the these difficult situations, trusting in the Lord.
By the time we finished our "service" the rain had subsided and the rushing torrent we had walked through to get to the house had disappeared. It was a little sticky, but the water had completely run off! We felt much better about going back down the hill now that it had stopped raining and the river had returned to a road! It was about a 45 minute trip back to Moshi from there and we arrived back at the hotel around 5:30pm. Even though it wasn’t that many hours, it felt like it had been a long day!
Tomorrow we have a shorter day with one church visit for the Sunday service in the morning. I’m looking forward to that!
In Christ,
Nathanael
Today was not a school day so we had visits planned to two new churches which I had not visited before. We made a quick run to the Internet café to check our e-mail, and then returned to meet with Pastor Angowi at about 10:00am. We talked about our schedule for the remainder of our time here, which churches we were going to be visiting, and a few other details. Once again Pastor Angowi was going to be busy, so Pastor Shenkalekwa was going to go with us to the churches. I have seen very little of Pastor Angowi on this trip. He has been busy with meetings of all kinds with parents and organizing other details for the coming graduation.
We hired one of the seminary students to drive us to the two congregations we were going to be visiting. We paid him about $45 for gas and his time for the day. Boy, was it a ride!
The first congregation which we visited was near Moshi, in the suburbs of Pasua. This is a new congregation with a man named Lyimo serving as it pastor. The area of Pasua is mixed with Christian and Muslim. We passed a number of Muslim schools of different types and sizes. They sure have money! Our congregation does not have its own building. They are currently renting a room in the local secondary school on Sunday mornings for their worship. This part of Moshi is expanding rapidly and the land has become very expensive. Just like back home! We met with the members of the congregation in a covered open air building. We were told about the history of the congregation, and what their goals were. We sang some hymns and had the chance to address them from the Word. Then we were treated to a bottle of soda and were taken to see the school where they are currently worshiping.
From there we went left Moshi going West towards Arusha. About 20 km out of Moshi we turned North to Machame and then headed up into the slopes of Mt. Kilimangaro. There was some confusion about which congregation we were supposed to visit, but finally figured it out. We first drove to Pastor Ulotu’s home in a very picturesque area with banana trees all around. Almost as soon as we walked in the door the rain started coming down. Harder and harder it came down! It felt like we were going to be washed down the hill, house and all! After a quick meal of boiled bananas and boiled chicken, we made a break for the car to head up the road a little further to where the new congregation was meeting. We were a little concerned because the wipers on the car didn’t work, the windows were fogged up, and it was still pouring. The road itself had disappeared and a fast-flowing river had taken its place. Even inside the car the rain was coming in through holes that weren’t supposed to be there!
The members of Machame-Kimbushi were meeting behind one of the member’s homes. They had a canopy covering their little church area, with an altar set up on one end and wooden benches for pews. It was very small, but it was also a small group. Again they told us a little about the congregation. The woman whose house was being used had just lost here husband several months earlier, but wanted to do this for her late husband. She seemed to be very dedicated and concerned for the truth. We again addressed the congregation with the Word and encouraged them to remain steadfast and strong even the these difficult situations, trusting in the Lord.
By the time we finished our "service" the rain had subsided and the rushing torrent we had walked through to get to the house had disappeared. It was a little sticky, but the water had completely run off! We felt much better about going back down the hill now that it had stopped raining and the river had returned to a road! It was about a 45 minute trip back to Moshi from there and we arrived back at the hotel around 5:30pm. Even though it wasn’t that many hours, it felt like it had been a long day!
Tomorrow we have a shorter day with one church visit for the Sunday service in the morning. I’m looking forward to that!
In Christ,
Nathanael
November 7th - Teaching at Himo
Friday, November 7, 2008
This part of the trip is the "teaching" leg. Most of our time here will be spent teaching in the seminary or in the conference as we did yesterday. This year we will only spend two days visiting congregations. Last year when I was here I was able to visit many of the congregations of the LCEA, but this year my focus is on the seminary. Pastor Angowi is very busy with preparations for the seminary graduation and other activities, so I have arranged to assist him by teaching in the seminary on the remaining week days we are here.
Of course there is a lot of preparation that needs to be done for this. Most of the students understand English, although they have a hard time understanding our accent, and are not fluent. Since last year though they have improved a lot. Even with Pastor Shenkalekwa serving as a our translator, I like to have handouts for them to make it easier for them to follow and to give them a resource ever after the presentation is over. I can do this on my laptop and then save it to a flash drive and print the sheet off at the local cyber café. Then I can take it next door to a photocopy store for copies. This is because it is much more expensive to print from a computer than to have photocopies made.
I was very glad that I was already prepared for my presentation today, because it was raining cats and dogs. It started in the middle of the night and continued through the morning. We had to get from the hotel to the road down the hill where we could pick up a bus to Himo. And we didn’t have an umbrella! I had to go out to exchange money before we left anyway, so I decided to look and see if I could find an umbrella in town. By the time I made it to the exchange place I was drenched! It wasn’t open yet, so I asked a few men if there was a place where I could buy an umbrella. They looked at me like "Son, your already soaked, an umbrella won’t do you any good," but they were very gracious and showed me where I could buy one! I was very thankful, and I knew Russ would be too!
After exchanging money I returned to the hotel to find Russ waiting for me. We went down to the bus stop and got on the first one to Himo. It wasn’t very full. As a result every stop was very long as the "hustlers" tried to rustle up more riders. One stop we timed at 15 minutes! So much for bing on time for class! African time, right?
We finally arrived in Himo (along with Pastor Shenkalekwa who had jumped on our same bus a few stops back) and walked through the mud and puddles the several blocks to the seminary. We had to keep a careful watch for oncoming cars because if they hit a puddle when we were close by we would be covered in mud! As it was my khaki pants were splattered with mud from the cuffs all the way up past the knees. My shoes and socks were soaked from all the rain and puddles, so when we arrived at the seminary I took my shoes and sox off to dry and borrowed a pair of flip flops from one of the students. The students were dealing with water problems of their own. The rain had leaked into the seminary and they were busy mopping up water. It looked like only two rooms had been affected, so it wasn’t long and the classroom was set back up and we were ready to go. There were a few students who were absent at first, but they filtered in as well as a few pastors. Our first study was on Lutheran Confessions. First I talked about the Book of Concord and the confessions included in it. From there we discussed more in depth the three Creeds. There were a number of students who remembered much of the history of these Creeds even though they had studied them two years back. The other students soaked it up and took detailed notes.
We ended our morning session at 12:30 for a break. During the break I met with the graduates to talk about their self-help loans which they will be given after graduation. Then we were invited to sit in on a committee which was in charge of organizing the graduation festivities for next week. This went on all afternoon, but we had other things to do as well. After an hour we left for a meeting with some of the lead pastors of the LCEA. The meeting was very beneficial as we talked about matters with the CLCEA and other concerns.
I did not want our afternoon going to waste, so I gathered up the sem students who were available, and prepared the other class room for a short afternoon session. I spoke to them about the meaning of stewardship in the Bible. This was a very important subject for them to go over. I wanted them to realize that things would not always be easy for them in the ministry, and they should not be in this calling for the money. The study was very well received by those who were able to attend.
We were told that lunch was now prepared for us (at 5:30 in the evening!) so we ate a bowl of rice and beef broth and an orange, and then returned to Moshi. The bus back to Moshi was full of pastors and students riding together. I had a really good visit with one of the senior students. I have been very impressed with him both this year and last, and think that he will make a good pastor.
It was another very beneficial day, although it had a few unexpected disruptions. Tomorrow will be a bit different since we will be visiting congregations. A change of pace will be welcomed.
Our visit here in East Africa is nearing an end. We thank the Lord for His grace and blessing during this time and pray for His continued mercy!
In His service,
Nathanael
This part of the trip is the "teaching" leg. Most of our time here will be spent teaching in the seminary or in the conference as we did yesterday. This year we will only spend two days visiting congregations. Last year when I was here I was able to visit many of the congregations of the LCEA, but this year my focus is on the seminary. Pastor Angowi is very busy with preparations for the seminary graduation and other activities, so I have arranged to assist him by teaching in the seminary on the remaining week days we are here.
Of course there is a lot of preparation that needs to be done for this. Most of the students understand English, although they have a hard time understanding our accent, and are not fluent. Since last year though they have improved a lot. Even with Pastor Shenkalekwa serving as a our translator, I like to have handouts for them to make it easier for them to follow and to give them a resource ever after the presentation is over. I can do this on my laptop and then save it to a flash drive and print the sheet off at the local cyber café. Then I can take it next door to a photocopy store for copies. This is because it is much more expensive to print from a computer than to have photocopies made.
I was very glad that I was already prepared for my presentation today, because it was raining cats and dogs. It started in the middle of the night and continued through the morning. We had to get from the hotel to the road down the hill where we could pick up a bus to Himo. And we didn’t have an umbrella! I had to go out to exchange money before we left anyway, so I decided to look and see if I could find an umbrella in town. By the time I made it to the exchange place I was drenched! It wasn’t open yet, so I asked a few men if there was a place where I could buy an umbrella. They looked at me like "Son, your already soaked, an umbrella won’t do you any good," but they were very gracious and showed me where I could buy one! I was very thankful, and I knew Russ would be too!
After exchanging money I returned to the hotel to find Russ waiting for me. We went down to the bus stop and got on the first one to Himo. It wasn’t very full. As a result every stop was very long as the "hustlers" tried to rustle up more riders. One stop we timed at 15 minutes! So much for bing on time for class! African time, right?
We finally arrived in Himo (along with Pastor Shenkalekwa who had jumped on our same bus a few stops back) and walked through the mud and puddles the several blocks to the seminary. We had to keep a careful watch for oncoming cars because if they hit a puddle when we were close by we would be covered in mud! As it was my khaki pants were splattered with mud from the cuffs all the way up past the knees. My shoes and socks were soaked from all the rain and puddles, so when we arrived at the seminary I took my shoes and sox off to dry and borrowed a pair of flip flops from one of the students. The students were dealing with water problems of their own. The rain had leaked into the seminary and they were busy mopping up water. It looked like only two rooms had been affected, so it wasn’t long and the classroom was set back up and we were ready to go. There were a few students who were absent at first, but they filtered in as well as a few pastors. Our first study was on Lutheran Confessions. First I talked about the Book of Concord and the confessions included in it. From there we discussed more in depth the three Creeds. There were a number of students who remembered much of the history of these Creeds even though they had studied them two years back. The other students soaked it up and took detailed notes.
We ended our morning session at 12:30 for a break. During the break I met with the graduates to talk about their self-help loans which they will be given after graduation. Then we were invited to sit in on a committee which was in charge of organizing the graduation festivities for next week. This went on all afternoon, but we had other things to do as well. After an hour we left for a meeting with some of the lead pastors of the LCEA. The meeting was very beneficial as we talked about matters with the CLCEA and other concerns.
I did not want our afternoon going to waste, so I gathered up the sem students who were available, and prepared the other class room for a short afternoon session. I spoke to them about the meaning of stewardship in the Bible. This was a very important subject for them to go over. I wanted them to realize that things would not always be easy for them in the ministry, and they should not be in this calling for the money. The study was very well received by those who were able to attend.
We were told that lunch was now prepared for us (at 5:30 in the evening!) so we ate a bowl of rice and beef broth and an orange, and then returned to Moshi. The bus back to Moshi was full of pastors and students riding together. I had a really good visit with one of the senior students. I have been very impressed with him both this year and last, and think that he will make a good pastor.
It was another very beneficial day, although it had a few unexpected disruptions. Tomorrow will be a bit different since we will be visiting congregations. A change of pace will be welcomed.
Our visit here in East Africa is nearing an end. We thank the Lord for His grace and blessing during this time and pray for His continued mercy!
In His service,
Nathanael
November 6th - Moshi Pastor's Conference
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Today was the big day. Today was the day of the LCEA regional conference here in Moshi. All of the seminary students, plus our pastors from all over Tanzania were here. In all, we had 34 persons in attendance! We had a very good turnout and we were very happy about that.
The conference was scheduled to begin at 10:00am. Of course very few things run on time here in Africa. We say that the people here run on "Africa time" which means that it will probably be 30 minutes to a hour after the "scheduled" time. It drives us crazy, but there is little that we can do since it is so ingrained in the African culture that time really doesn’t matter. We were ready and waiting at 10:00 am. Some of the pastors were there, but others continued to arrive.
Finally we began at about 10:45. Russ gave the opening devotion and we all joined in the signing of "Open now the gates of Beauty" in English. After some opening remarks and greetings, I gave a presentation on Old Testament laws and ceremonies and their application to God’s New Testament people. There is a great deal of application for this topic here in Tanzania because of the large number of reformed and Seventh Day Adventist churches here.
Time was given for questions and answers, and then we took a short break. After the break, Russ went through a review of Bible doctrine laid out in the catechism. It was a valuable review for everyone. Then we broke for lunch. The hotel served lunch right there. It was buffet style with rice and spaghetti with gravy, chicken, and vegetables. Sodas were also provided. Most of the men who had come were local men from the Moshi/Himo area. But men were also there from Dar es Salaam, Tanga, and even central Tanzania!
After lunch we started back up with a homiletics study. I asked for their help in writing a sermon and took them through the steps of preparing a sermon. This was more interactive which helped to keep people awake after filling their stomachs! At 3:00pm we took another short break before finishing up the conference. Russ finished his review of Biblical doctrine with questions on the sacraments, which sparked some very good questions. At about 4:30 we concluded with prayer and the singing of a hymn in English and Swahili. It was a wonderful conclusion to a great meeting.
After the conference I visited with many of the pastors and said goodbye to those who had to leave that night. It was very enjoyable to see men I had met last year and meet many new ones as well. It was very obvious that they appreciated the conference we had put together. One man even asked that we plan for additional days in the future so more could be taught and learned! It can be costly to put together a conference like this, but it is very rewarding. The cost of this conference was much more that I had anticipated, but we also had many more men then what I had planned for, and that it a real blessing! Your offerings to the CLC MDF help to support conferences like this one as well as the purchasing of Bibles and Catechisms which are really needed by the people of this area. Thank you to all those who have given to this fund, and please continue to keep this work in your prayers!
In Christ
Today was the big day. Today was the day of the LCEA regional conference here in Moshi. All of the seminary students, plus our pastors from all over Tanzania were here. In all, we had 34 persons in attendance! We had a very good turnout and we were very happy about that.
The conference was scheduled to begin at 10:00am. Of course very few things run on time here in Africa. We say that the people here run on "Africa time" which means that it will probably be 30 minutes to a hour after the "scheduled" time. It drives us crazy, but there is little that we can do since it is so ingrained in the African culture that time really doesn’t matter. We were ready and waiting at 10:00 am. Some of the pastors were there, but others continued to arrive.
Finally we began at about 10:45. Russ gave the opening devotion and we all joined in the signing of "Open now the gates of Beauty" in English. After some opening remarks and greetings, I gave a presentation on Old Testament laws and ceremonies and their application to God’s New Testament people. There is a great deal of application for this topic here in Tanzania because of the large number of reformed and Seventh Day Adventist churches here.
Time was given for questions and answers, and then we took a short break. After the break, Russ went through a review of Bible doctrine laid out in the catechism. It was a valuable review for everyone. Then we broke for lunch. The hotel served lunch right there. It was buffet style with rice and spaghetti with gravy, chicken, and vegetables. Sodas were also provided. Most of the men who had come were local men from the Moshi/Himo area. But men were also there from Dar es Salaam, Tanga, and even central Tanzania!
After lunch we started back up with a homiletics study. I asked for their help in writing a sermon and took them through the steps of preparing a sermon. This was more interactive which helped to keep people awake after filling their stomachs! At 3:00pm we took another short break before finishing up the conference. Russ finished his review of Biblical doctrine with questions on the sacraments, which sparked some very good questions. At about 4:30 we concluded with prayer and the singing of a hymn in English and Swahili. It was a wonderful conclusion to a great meeting.
After the conference I visited with many of the pastors and said goodbye to those who had to leave that night. It was very enjoyable to see men I had met last year and meet many new ones as well. It was very obvious that they appreciated the conference we had put together. One man even asked that we plan for additional days in the future so more could be taught and learned! It can be costly to put together a conference like this, but it is very rewarding. The cost of this conference was much more that I had anticipated, but we also had many more men then what I had planned for, and that it a real blessing! Your offerings to the CLC MDF help to support conferences like this one as well as the purchasing of Bibles and Catechisms which are really needed by the people of this area. Thank you to all those who have given to this fund, and please continue to keep this work in your prayers!
In Christ
November 5th - Goodbye to Bruce
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
One of the most important responsibilities we have while working with the LCEA is to teach in the seminary. In every region we have put on a one or two day seminar to teach the leaders of these churches. The same is true here. Our one day seminar is set for tomorrow here at our hotel, but we also plan to teach several days in the seminary. We were able to teach a short amount on Monday afternoon, but today was our first full day.
Before our day started at the sem we visited the grade school in Kiberaloni. The church there supports standard 1 and 2 school with about 35 young students. Bruce had a gift of money from his church back home that had been sent for the school, so he wanted to visit it and give them the gift of money. They had big smiles on their faces and even sang us a song they had learned in English!
Then it was off to the sem for 10:00 am class. Since Bruce had to leave at lunch time and I had another whole week to teach, I let him have this time with the class. He taught his well-prepared study on Biblical Covenant Theology. When he was finished the students asked all kinds of questions - some related to the topic, and others not! But they did ask a lot of good questions and that was very good to see.
It was after 12:30 when he finally stopped and said goodbye to everyone. He loaded up his things and Charles whisked him off to Nairobi! His flight back home leaves from Nairobi tomorrow night. Russ and I have one more week here yet. We sent Charles back home to Nairobi since most of our time will be spent at the seminary and we will be able to take the buses back and forth. We were sad to see him go - he has been a huge help on this trip and a great companion.
We took a break from class for about half an hour or so and I visited with the students. They had asked a photographer to come in and take pictures, so everyone wanted pictures taken with us and different groups of students.
We resumed classes in the afternoon. I took this time to quiz the students to see where they were at with the knowledge of Bible History and doctrine. Some of the older students did very well, but it was clear that the younger students have much to learn yet - which would be expected. It was very helpful to me to find out what the students know.
Finally at about 4:30pm lunch was ready! We were served rice with the typical beef broth with tomatoes and meat, along with oranges. It was very good! Their custom is always to serve us first and then serve the students after. I hope this isn’t their schedule every day!
We visited with the students and other visitors for a while, and then walked to the bus stop for our trip back to Moshi. Pastor Shenkalekwa, who has been serving as our translator, joined us on the trip back, and we were attended by a couple students who insisted that they carry our bags for us. We tell them "no" but they insist that it is their culture! The buses are typically very crowded. They are small 14-16 passenger "mini-vans" that usually have at least 16 people crammed in them. The cost for the 50km trip to and from Moshi is about sixty cents. They always try to get more out of white people, and sometimes even the locals. Bartering is part of the deal. We kept telling Bruce that he really can’t say that he has been in Africa until he rides the public mini-buses – but we couldn’t get him to try it!
Tomorrow is our seminar here at the hotel, and I have some work to get done for the that, so more later....
Thanks for following our trip.
In Christ
Nathanael
One of the most important responsibilities we have while working with the LCEA is to teach in the seminary. In every region we have put on a one or two day seminar to teach the leaders of these churches. The same is true here. Our one day seminar is set for tomorrow here at our hotel, but we also plan to teach several days in the seminary. We were able to teach a short amount on Monday afternoon, but today was our first full day.
Before our day started at the sem we visited the grade school in Kiberaloni. The church there supports standard 1 and 2 school with about 35 young students. Bruce had a gift of money from his church back home that had been sent for the school, so he wanted to visit it and give them the gift of money. They had big smiles on their faces and even sang us a song they had learned in English!
Then it was off to the sem for 10:00 am class. Since Bruce had to leave at lunch time and I had another whole week to teach, I let him have this time with the class. He taught his well-prepared study on Biblical Covenant Theology. When he was finished the students asked all kinds of questions - some related to the topic, and others not! But they did ask a lot of good questions and that was very good to see.
It was after 12:30 when he finally stopped and said goodbye to everyone. He loaded up his things and Charles whisked him off to Nairobi! His flight back home leaves from Nairobi tomorrow night. Russ and I have one more week here yet. We sent Charles back home to Nairobi since most of our time will be spent at the seminary and we will be able to take the buses back and forth. We were sad to see him go - he has been a huge help on this trip and a great companion.
We took a break from class for about half an hour or so and I visited with the students. They had asked a photographer to come in and take pictures, so everyone wanted pictures taken with us and different groups of students.
We resumed classes in the afternoon. I took this time to quiz the students to see where they were at with the knowledge of Bible History and doctrine. Some of the older students did very well, but it was clear that the younger students have much to learn yet - which would be expected. It was very helpful to me to find out what the students know.
Finally at about 4:30pm lunch was ready! We were served rice with the typical beef broth with tomatoes and meat, along with oranges. It was very good! Their custom is always to serve us first and then serve the students after. I hope this isn’t their schedule every day!
We visited with the students and other visitors for a while, and then walked to the bus stop for our trip back to Moshi. Pastor Shenkalekwa, who has been serving as our translator, joined us on the trip back, and we were attended by a couple students who insisted that they carry our bags for us. We tell them "no" but they insist that it is their culture! The buses are typically very crowded. They are small 14-16 passenger "mini-vans" that usually have at least 16 people crammed in them. The cost for the 50km trip to and from Moshi is about sixty cents. They always try to get more out of white people, and sometimes even the locals. Bartering is part of the deal. We kept telling Bruce that he really can’t say that he has been in Africa until he rides the public mini-buses – but we couldn’t get him to try it!
Tomorrow is our seminar here at the hotel, and I have some work to get done for the that, so more later....
Thanks for following our trip.
In Christ
Nathanael
Friday, November 7, 2008
November 4 - LCEA graduation
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
We were back at the seminary today for the pre-graduation ceremony. Originally the graduation was set for Nov. 28. I was not able to stay that long, so I asked Pastor Angowi if there was a possibility of moving the date up a few weeks so that Pastor Naumann and I could be part of the service. He complied, but there was some confusion about the new date. He had set the graduation for the 14, but in the letter he sent me the 1 was missing, so I thought it was the 4th. We didn’t find this out until we talked three weeks ago at the conference in Nairobi. By then it was too late to make any changes because many preparations had already been made. So we decided to keep the date of the 4th as a pre-graduation ceremony that Bruce and I could be part of.
So that was set for today. But we had one other problem. There was an issue of a possible theft of some money and personal property from one of the seminary students. Before having the service we had to get to the bottom of that issue.
The graduation service was set to start at 10:00 but we were talking to the students about this issue and talking more with the student whose things had been stolen to get more information. We continued this until 1:00pm. In the end we found that the student had lied about the property which was stolen! It was very discouraging, but we were glad to have the matter resolved.
Because of the time we decided to have lunch which was ready, and then after lunch we would proceed with the graduation. The graduation finally started at 2:30pm. We met in the chapel at the seminary. The students were there, and many pastors were there. Bruce had brought his robes especially for this occasion. We put them on, the bell was rung and the service began. We sang a processional hymn, and continued with liturgical responses which were led by Pastor Angowi. We sang a few more familiar hymns. I am amazed at how many of their hymns we are familiar with. They are Swahili words but with German melodies found in our hymnal! The Swahili is fairly easy to read so it is pretty easy for us to sing along if we have the words in front of us. Of course, not everyone has a hymnal, so most of the people have many hymns memorized which is a great blessing. I preached on Acts 20 where Paul encouraged the leaders of the churches in Ephesus. There he spoke to them about what the ministry was all about and from where their strength would come. After another hymn Pastor Naumann preached on Joshua who took over leadership of the people of Israel after Moses. Then after another hymn we presented KINSHIP gifts to the eight graduates and wished them the Lord’s blessing on their future ministries serving His flocks. What a blessing these 8 men will be to the Lord’s work here in Tanzania! By the time words of thanks and other greetings were completed and a few more hymns were sung, the service stretched to about 2 hours in length. It was hot in our robes, but it was very enjoyable, and we were thankful to have had the opportunity to address the students in this way.
After the service we returned to the hotel in Moshi (about a 30 minute drive from the seminary). There we found Pastor Jeremiah from Arusha waiting for us. I had quite a few things I needed to talk with him about, so we talked for over an hour about matters in his congregations.
After Pastor Jeremiah returned home, Russ, Bruce and I sat down for some cards and some supper (it was Chinese night!). This is Bruce’s last night here. Tomorrow he and Charles will leave for Nairobi after a morning session at the seminary. Russ and I have a little more than a week left here, but it is starting to wind down. May the LORD continue to bless our work here!
In Christ,
Nathanael
We were back at the seminary today for the pre-graduation ceremony. Originally the graduation was set for Nov. 28. I was not able to stay that long, so I asked Pastor Angowi if there was a possibility of moving the date up a few weeks so that Pastor Naumann and I could be part of the service. He complied, but there was some confusion about the new date. He had set the graduation for the 14, but in the letter he sent me the 1 was missing, so I thought it was the 4th. We didn’t find this out until we talked three weeks ago at the conference in Nairobi. By then it was too late to make any changes because many preparations had already been made. So we decided to keep the date of the 4th as a pre-graduation ceremony that Bruce and I could be part of.
So that was set for today. But we had one other problem. There was an issue of a possible theft of some money and personal property from one of the seminary students. Before having the service we had to get to the bottom of that issue.
The graduation service was set to start at 10:00 but we were talking to the students about this issue and talking more with the student whose things had been stolen to get more information. We continued this until 1:00pm. In the end we found that the student had lied about the property which was stolen! It was very discouraging, but we were glad to have the matter resolved.
Because of the time we decided to have lunch which was ready, and then after lunch we would proceed with the graduation. The graduation finally started at 2:30pm. We met in the chapel at the seminary. The students were there, and many pastors were there. Bruce had brought his robes especially for this occasion. We put them on, the bell was rung and the service began. We sang a processional hymn, and continued with liturgical responses which were led by Pastor Angowi. We sang a few more familiar hymns. I am amazed at how many of their hymns we are familiar with. They are Swahili words but with German melodies found in our hymnal! The Swahili is fairly easy to read so it is pretty easy for us to sing along if we have the words in front of us. Of course, not everyone has a hymnal, so most of the people have many hymns memorized which is a great blessing. I preached on Acts 20 where Paul encouraged the leaders of the churches in Ephesus. There he spoke to them about what the ministry was all about and from where their strength would come. After another hymn Pastor Naumann preached on Joshua who took over leadership of the people of Israel after Moses. Then after another hymn we presented KINSHIP gifts to the eight graduates and wished them the Lord’s blessing on their future ministries serving His flocks. What a blessing these 8 men will be to the Lord’s work here in Tanzania! By the time words of thanks and other greetings were completed and a few more hymns were sung, the service stretched to about 2 hours in length. It was hot in our robes, but it was very enjoyable, and we were thankful to have had the opportunity to address the students in this way.
After the service we returned to the hotel in Moshi (about a 30 minute drive from the seminary). There we found Pastor Jeremiah from Arusha waiting for us. I had quite a few things I needed to talk with him about, so we talked for over an hour about matters in his congregations.
After Pastor Jeremiah returned home, Russ, Bruce and I sat down for some cards and some supper (it was Chinese night!). This is Bruce’s last night here. Tomorrow he and Charles will leave for Nairobi after a morning session at the seminary. Russ and I have a little more than a week left here, but it is starting to wind down. May the LORD continue to bless our work here!
In Christ,
Nathanael
November 3 - First day at Himo
Monday, November 3, 2008
Finally we are in Moshi to stay for a while. We had a meeting scheduled with Pastor Angowi at 10:00 am this morning, so we decided to go out and get a few things done before our meeting. We stopped in at the internet café and uploaded some blog pages, checked prices for some computer equipment, check Bible prices at the book store, and even exchanged some money. We then returned to the hotel for our meeting with Pastor Angowi. Pastor Angowi is the leader of the LCEA, and the dean and primary teacher of the seminary in Himo. He also serves a congregation of about 100 members in Uchira along with one other pastor.
In our meeting we talked about updates with the congregations and new stations of the LCEA, work at the seminary, graduation, our schedule for the week, and a few other details. He took us to see his old Land Rover which was currently undergoing repair. It was a truck from the 60's which was being completely overhauled. The truck was completely broken down to its frame. The engine, interior and wiring had been removed and the body was being filled and sanded smooth. The repairman said that when they were finished it would be a new vehicle! The cost? 2.1 million shillings. Now that may seem like a lot, but when you convert it, it comes to about $2,000 for a complete overhaul. That is a pretty good deal! And all that in less than three weeks! I wish I could get my Oldsmobile over here to get its transmission fixed!
After seeing the Land Rover we returned to the hotel for lunch. At 1:30 pm we left the hotel for the trip to the seminary. Pastor Angowi said that we could go to the seminary and teach afternoon classes there beginning at 2:00. When we arrived we were greeting by the students who filtered out of their rooms and activities. Most of the students I remembered well from last year, but there were 6 new students to get to know as well.
It was a bit discouraging, because their were several students absent, and our tentative interpreter had not yet arrived! We began anyway. Bruce started with an explanation of how to teach a Bible lesson. This was valuable in two ways: 1) this info can be taught to Sunday School teachers so they know how to teach lessons to their students, and 2) this can be used by the pastor as a reminder of how to teach Bible studies and preach sermons.
Next I reviewed the Church year calendar going through all the seasons of the church year and pointing out the purpose of each season of the church year and showing how they point to Christ. I also gave them a church year calendar which listed the seasons of the church year and the texts for preaching every Sunday throughout the church year. At about 4:30 we closed with prayer, and returned back to the hotel.
It was a shorter day than usual, but we are not complaining. We used the extra time in preparation for the graduation service tomorrow, and in writing reports and blog updates. We hope that everyone back home is enjoying them.
May our gracious Lord be with you all,
Nathanael
Finally we are in Moshi to stay for a while. We had a meeting scheduled with Pastor Angowi at 10:00 am this morning, so we decided to go out and get a few things done before our meeting. We stopped in at the internet café and uploaded some blog pages, checked prices for some computer equipment, check Bible prices at the book store, and even exchanged some money. We then returned to the hotel for our meeting with Pastor Angowi. Pastor Angowi is the leader of the LCEA, and the dean and primary teacher of the seminary in Himo. He also serves a congregation of about 100 members in Uchira along with one other pastor.
In our meeting we talked about updates with the congregations and new stations of the LCEA, work at the seminary, graduation, our schedule for the week, and a few other details. He took us to see his old Land Rover which was currently undergoing repair. It was a truck from the 60's which was being completely overhauled. The truck was completely broken down to its frame. The engine, interior and wiring had been removed and the body was being filled and sanded smooth. The repairman said that when they were finished it would be a new vehicle! The cost? 2.1 million shillings. Now that may seem like a lot, but when you convert it, it comes to about $2,000 for a complete overhaul. That is a pretty good deal! And all that in less than three weeks! I wish I could get my Oldsmobile over here to get its transmission fixed!
After seeing the Land Rover we returned to the hotel for lunch. At 1:30 pm we left the hotel for the trip to the seminary. Pastor Angowi said that we could go to the seminary and teach afternoon classes there beginning at 2:00. When we arrived we were greeting by the students who filtered out of their rooms and activities. Most of the students I remembered well from last year, but there were 6 new students to get to know as well.
It was a bit discouraging, because their were several students absent, and our tentative interpreter had not yet arrived! We began anyway. Bruce started with an explanation of how to teach a Bible lesson. This was valuable in two ways: 1) this info can be taught to Sunday School teachers so they know how to teach lessons to their students, and 2) this can be used by the pastor as a reminder of how to teach Bible studies and preach sermons.
Next I reviewed the Church year calendar going through all the seasons of the church year and pointing out the purpose of each season of the church year and showing how they point to Christ. I also gave them a church year calendar which listed the seasons of the church year and the texts for preaching every Sunday throughout the church year. At about 4:30 we closed with prayer, and returned back to the hotel.
It was a shorter day than usual, but we are not complaining. We used the extra time in preparation for the graduation service tomorrow, and in writing reports and blog updates. We hope that everyone back home is enjoying them.
May our gracious Lord be with you all,
Nathanael
November 2 - Sunday worship in Mkinga
Sunday, November 2, 2008
This morning Pastor Gondwe came to the youth hostel and met us at about 8:00 am for the trip to Mkinga. This congregation was in a very small and poor congregation about 30 km north of Tanga. The roads were not in very good shape, so it took us about one hour to get there. The village had a population of about 400 people, a long way off the beaten path. The village was made entirely of mud waddle houses with thatched roofs. They were very close together, and the roads were very narrow and not made for automobiles. As Charles was driving through the “streets” there were several time I thought he was going to hit a pole or the corner of a house and bring the whole thing down! It was that close!
The service was supposed to start at 9:30 am, but there were very few adults there, so we waited an extra 30 minutes. During this time Bruce and I visited with some of the church leaders and played with the kids. We were told that there were going to be 12 baptisms in church that morning, although that seemed like a lot for a small village like this one. There was also a Pentecostal church in the village. While we were waiting we could hear someone from that church singing into a amplification system. It was a little distracting and quite a bit annoying, and I hoped that their service would be over by the time we were ready to begin!
We finally started the service at 10:00. They have a very liturgical service, with Pastor Gondwe actually singing his part of the liturgy, and the congregation singing the response. The service is actually very similar to ours in the order that it follows, with the only difference being that they do it in Swahili! We had planned ahead of time that I would be the preacher, and Bruce would give an overview of baptism before the baptisms. I preached on Rom. 1:16-17 with a Reformation theme, and reminding the members that the power to salvation is God’s and not ours. After another hymn Bruce gave an explanation of Baptism, and then we had the baptisms. Instead of having 12 there was only one child that was brought to be baptized, the others didn’t show up or were running behind. I was asked to conduct the baptism, and actually said the Baptism formula in Swahili, so they would know what was being said. In a way I was disappointed that there was only one baptism, but at the same time I was glad that this family had brought this young child to receive this precious gift from God!
After the two hour service we were invited to eat a quick lunch and then we had to get on the road, in order to make it back to Moshi before dark. It was another hour back to Tanga where we dropped off Gondwe, then another four hours back to Moshi. We made good time and arrived back at the hotel by supper time. Russ was there waiting for us and we had a lot to tell him (and he us). It was a great feeling to know that we were not going to be getting back on the road again! We will be stationed here at Moshi for over a week now working primarily with the seminary at Himo. What a relief after all this hard traveling!
In His service,
Nathanael
This morning Pastor Gondwe came to the youth hostel and met us at about 8:00 am for the trip to Mkinga. This congregation was in a very small and poor congregation about 30 km north of Tanga. The roads were not in very good shape, so it took us about one hour to get there. The village had a population of about 400 people, a long way off the beaten path. The village was made entirely of mud waddle houses with thatched roofs. They were very close together, and the roads were very narrow and not made for automobiles. As Charles was driving through the “streets” there were several time I thought he was going to hit a pole or the corner of a house and bring the whole thing down! It was that close!
The service was supposed to start at 9:30 am, but there were very few adults there, so we waited an extra 30 minutes. During this time Bruce and I visited with some of the church leaders and played with the kids. We were told that there were going to be 12 baptisms in church that morning, although that seemed like a lot for a small village like this one. There was also a Pentecostal church in the village. While we were waiting we could hear someone from that church singing into a amplification system. It was a little distracting and quite a bit annoying, and I hoped that their service would be over by the time we were ready to begin!
We finally started the service at 10:00. They have a very liturgical service, with Pastor Gondwe actually singing his part of the liturgy, and the congregation singing the response. The service is actually very similar to ours in the order that it follows, with the only difference being that they do it in Swahili! We had planned ahead of time that I would be the preacher, and Bruce would give an overview of baptism before the baptisms. I preached on Rom. 1:16-17 with a Reformation theme, and reminding the members that the power to salvation is God’s and not ours. After another hymn Bruce gave an explanation of Baptism, and then we had the baptisms. Instead of having 12 there was only one child that was brought to be baptized, the others didn’t show up or were running behind. I was asked to conduct the baptism, and actually said the Baptism formula in Swahili, so they would know what was being said. In a way I was disappointed that there was only one baptism, but at the same time I was glad that this family had brought this young child to receive this precious gift from God!
After the two hour service we were invited to eat a quick lunch and then we had to get on the road, in order to make it back to Moshi before dark. It was another hour back to Tanga where we dropped off Gondwe, then another four hours back to Moshi. We made good time and arrived back at the hotel by supper time. Russ was there waiting for us and we had a lot to tell him (and he us). It was a great feeling to know that we were not going to be getting back on the road again! We will be stationed here at Moshi for over a week now working primarily with the seminary at Himo. What a relief after all this hard traveling!
In His service,
Nathanael
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
November 1st - In Tanga
Saturday, November 1, 2008
This morning we wanted to get an early start because it is a long journey to Tanga. We had planned to take Pastor Gondwe with us back to Tanga (this would save him the cost of transport back since we were going there anyway. But when we thought about it, we realized that it might be difficult to get everyone in Charles’ little Toyota for that long trip. Since it was going to be a very quick trip down there and back Russ decided it might be best for him to stay in Moshi while Bruce, Charles, Pastor Gondwe and I travel to Tanga. He had a few errands to run, anyway, so it worked out well. We decided to leave at around 7:30 am. Charles came to the hotel as we were finishing up breakfast and we were loaded and ready to go before 8:00.
It was a long trip down, and much of the scenery was about what we had seen from Nairobi going south to Arusha. Much of the land was barren savannah land which could hardly be used for feeding grazing sheep. But there were also huge amounts of land that were used for growing sisal for rope. These yucca-like plants would go on as far as the eye could see in some areas. The spikes are cut and laid in piles to be carried off later. It is really an amazing sight to see these huge crops of plants.
The road to Tanga skirted a long mountain range. On the way to Tanga there was a ridge of mountains which was on our left side the whole way. It reminded me a great deal of the Bad Lands of South Dakota, but a bit larger in size. This was very impressive as well.
The closer we came to Tanga the more green it seemed to become. Banana trees, and coconut trees became regular parts of the scenery. It was very beautiful. We stopped to eat lunch at a hotel and restaurant in Sangella called the White Parrot. It was a very traditional looking place that was open air on one side with a timber frame and a grass thatched roof. We all had the buffet which offered fish, vegetable soup, rice with a vegetable gravy, or a meat gravy, mixed vegetables, and different kinds of fruit. We found out that the soup was made with coconut juice, and it was excellent!
After we finished it was another hour from Sangella to Tanga. After traveling Southeast from Moshi, we now turned to the Northeast along the coast of the Indian Ocean to get to Tanga. Tanga is not a small town. Pastor Gondwe estimated it at around 1 million people. It is a coastal city so shipping and fishing are the big industries. We also noticed that there is a very large number of Muslims in this area, just as there was in Mombasa. That itself emphasizes the importance of the work of these churches.
Once in Tanga we met with Pastor Shenkalekwa, who was the district leader of the LCEA for the Tanga region. He had arranged a meeting of some of the pastors and leaders of this district for us to meet with. One of the men was new to our group and had come out of the Anglican church here in East Africa because of the increasing liberal teachings of that church. He was a pastor in the Anglican church but left for reasons of conscience. We tried to give him information about us that would confirm for him that we teach the truth of God’s Word. We pray for all these men and their work here in Tanga!
Tanga leaders meeting with Pastor Shenkelekwa in the center, and Pastor Gondwe beside me.
After our meeting we went to an internet café to upload some blog information, then we settled into the hostel we were staying at for the night. The place were we had our meeting with the Tanga leaders was also a youth hostel. Saidi, the owner, showed us the facilities which we were very satisfied with. Bruce and I stayed in a big room with five sets of bunkbeds and our own large bathroom. It had tub and a sink in one room and off that room there was a bathroom stall and a shower stall. The hostel also had a big dining area, and living room area and an out door dining area for the use of all the guests. It was very nice, and even better, it was dirt cheap! The cost to lodge Bruce, Charles and myself was on 13,500 Tsch (about $12)! And that included breakfast for Bruce and Charles!
After lounging around and showing Pastor Gondwe and Charles the mission video Bruce produced from his trip three years ago (both men appeared in the mission video regularly) we went to Pastor Gondwe’s for supper. We had a very enjoyable time meeting his family (his older sons are away to school but the younger children are at home) eating a delicious meal with them, and then joining them in their evening devotion. We sang a few hymns, Bruce was asked to offer a devotion, we sang some more, and I was asked to close with prayer. I really enjoyed it because it reminded me of home. One of the things I miss a great deal is our family prayer time at night, and this brought back many memories of home. I enjoy the work here very much, but I sure miss my family!
After devotion was over we said "Asante" (thank you) and goodbye, and returned to the hostel. Tomorrow we another day on the road after services at one of the Tanga congregations.
More later...
Nathanael
October 31st - On to Moshi!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Today was another travel day, although not as much as Wednesday. We only had the short journey to Moshi from Arusha with a few unexpected changes in our schedule.
We went down to have breakfast at around 7:30am and then walked down to the internet café to check e-mail and send off some updates. It had been a while since I had checked mine so I stayed a little longer than Bruce and Russ. We were scheduled to leave town at 9:00 but were not sure that Charles would be ready to go. He still had a few remaining car repairs to finish, and we hoped that he would not be much later than that. At 9:00am we checked out of our rooms and went down to the waiting area off the hotel’s main entry to wait for Charles to arrive. We only had to wait about one hand of Rummy and he was there. We loaded our luggage into the car and headed to Pastor Jeremiah’s house.
Bruce with Pastor Jeremiah with one of his cows in the background.
Pastor Jeremiah lives in Usa River which is a "suburb" on the eastern side of Arusha. His home is off the beaten path but in a very beautiful area. He has a well manicured yard – very uncommon in this part of the world – with all kinds of beautiful flowering plants and shrubbery. He also grows bananas and coffee, and raises cattle and chickens in his backyard! We were invited into his home where his wife offered us coffee and tea, bread and boiled eggs.
Pastor Jeremiah's beautiful yard.
After finishing up there we drove by the church building. Since last year the congregation has poured a concrete floor throughout the church and sacristy. It looks very nice and is now much easier to clean. We met back up with Charles at the main road just before 12:00, and headed to Moshi.
The trip to Moshi was a quick one (especially compared to our last few trips - and this time with no mechanical problems). We arrived at the hotel at around 2:30 and Pastor Gondwe (from Tanga, Tanzania) was there to meet us. He had taken the bus from Tanga with the intent to be in Arusha for our conference yesterday, but the bus he was traveling on had mechanical problems. So we told him to stay in Moshi and meet us there, since we were planning to visit his congregations in Tanga anyway.
We were also planning to visit the Masai congregation in Misito wa tembo this afternoon. But the roads to that congregation are very bad and we were without a spare. So we decided to meet with Pastor Martin in Moshi instead while Charles took the afternoon to get our tire repaired.
We visited with Pastor Gondwe until Pastor Martin arrived about an hour later. When Pastor Martin arrived we sat down together and talked some more. The first topic of conversation was to inquire about Pastor Martin’s wife who had recently had surgery and has been at home recovering. We were glad to hear that she was doing better and will be returning to the hospital tomorrow for a check-up. Please keep Pastor Martin and his family in your prayers.
At about 4:30 we wrapped up our meeting and headed into Moshi to find the Bible Book Store. Pastor Gondwe had mentioned that they have a god deal on Swahili catechisms and we wanted to check on that. It turns out that they have them but they were not in stock. We will try to check back before we leave to see if they have them then. Almost all of our churches in Tanzania use Swahili (with the exception of the Masai and Ndorobo) so it would be very good to have a good supply of these Lutheran catechisms. The price for these catechisms is about 7,000 Tsch (that is only about $ 0.75 each!!!). So we want to make sure that we get a good supply for our churches here.
Late this afternoon I had a special treat. I went to the famous Pamm Internet café and was able to get wireless service for my laptop. I brought Bruce’s microphone and earphones, opened up Skype and called home! I was able to talk to my whole family for almost half an hour for less than $1 (and that was only for the internet use at the computer place. It was the first time since I left the states that I have been able to talk to my kids, and I really enjoyed it! I told Bosco, the internet café owner, how much I appreciated being able to do that, but I had to restrain myself from giving him a hug! I am glad the remainder of our time will be based out of Moshi, knowing that I am able to call home so easily and cheaply. The wonders of technology!
Tomorrow will be another long day as we travel over 350 km to Tanga. We will be there for only one day and will return again Sunday after the church service.
We appreciate all your concerns, thoughts and prayers for the great work here.
In His service,
Nathanael
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
After our adventure yesterday, it felt good to take a cool shower (not hot) and crawl into bed. I had a good night’s sleep and wok up ready to go today! We are staying at a hotel called the "Eland" - which is a kind of African deer. It is a nice hotel, but compared with other hotels in Africa, I don’t think it is worth what we have to pay here. It is $100 a night for one single and one double room, and although they are bigger rooms than the Southern Blue in Nairobi, they are not as nice. We are glad that we are only going to be here for two nights.
Beautiful Mt. Meru out Russ and Bruce's hotel room window.
Bruce and Russ are sharing a double room on the back side of the hotel and their window looks out on beautiful Mt. Meru. It is quite a spectacular sight! My room is on the front and overlooks the not so spectacular - though often intriguing - sight of the parking lot and highway!
Breakfast was served at 7:00am so we met up to enjoy our now common breakfast of tea and coffee, fruit juice, fresh fruit, sausage and a spanish omelette. It was very good. After breakfast Bruce went to do some blogging while Russ and I went to see if we could exchange some money. We are in Tanzania now, so we need to have Tanzanian schillings instead of Kenya schillings. The exchange rate is very different too. In Kenya the rate is about 78 Ksch to $1; in Tanzania it is 1,280 Tsch to $1! The most common bill that we use in Tsch is 10,000. Imagine carrying around a wallet full of $10,000 bills in the states! I try to exchange small amounts at a time so I don’t have a pile of bills that are unmanageable or awkward to carry around.
We returned to the Eland around 9:00 to meet with Pastor Jeremiah before the start of the conference. He drove us to a Western Union location so we could send some money to Charles. He was still in Kenya and needed some money to pay for the car repair and get across the border. By 10:00 we were back at the Eland and getting prepared for the conference. People began to filter in slowly as we talked. The conference was in a nice big room on the top floor of the hotel. It offered a nice view of Mt. Meru and the surrounding countryside.
There were a total of 12 people who attended our conference. There were pastors, church leaders and Sunday school teachers in attendance. Bruce began with a study on "How to teach Sunday School" in which he described the need for beginning personal study, the outer aim, the inner aim, and the application. He also described the importance of dividing Law and Gospel.
After that I began a short study on the difference between the accounts of Luke 2 (Christmas) and Matthew 2 (Epiphany). I described the characters in the two accounts and pointed out the similarities, but more importantly, the differences that separated these two accounts. The harmonization of these stories by many only reinforces the importance and need for our own personal study of God’s Word in preparation for teaching others.
Arusha conference attendees in the rooftop room in the Eland Hotel.
Finally we broke for a quick lunch and then picked up where we left off. Bruce again presented Biblical Covenant Theology, and when He was finished I presented an overview of the Books of the Old Testament. Charles finally showed up just after we started this study, so we were able to get the handouts out of the trunk of his car and give them to the attendees.
We finished our seminar at around 4:30pm with a short overview of the Lutheran Reformation, which Russ had volunteered to do, and with prayers. After everyone had left we worked on reports for a while and then met up to get some supper. We walked all over Arusha trying to find some a place that offered pizza, but couldn’t find one! We finally settled on a place called the new triangle restaurant. As soon as we had been given the menu, the power went out! The waitress brought a big lamp over for us to finish looking at the menu. We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to order anything at this point, but a few minutes later a big generator stared humming and the lights and TV came back on. When we were ready to order we the typical African response to our order: "We don’t have that." I can’t tell you how many times we have ordered something that was on the menu, and the waiter or waitress tells us "I’m sorry we don’t have that"! That’s what we call "living on the edge" since you often have to eat something other than what you really want!
It has been another good day of Biblical instruction and meetings. We thank the Lord for His grace! Our trip is now about half over. Tomorrow it is off again to Moshi where we will be for most of the remainder of our trip.
May the Lord be with you all,
Nathanael
Wednesday, October 29th - On the road again (to Arusha, Tanzania)
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Today was a day of unexpected turns. This morning we were planning to leave Nairobi for Arusha early in the morning. We didn’t think we would get the early start we planned because Charles was having problems with the CV joint on his car, and he was going to have to get it repaired before we left. So instead of a 9:00am departure we were planning a little later. So after breakfast at the Hotel Southern Blue we decided to get some computer time in and do some e-mail before we had to get on the road. After that I worked on a few reports while waiting for Charles to show up. At about 10:30 Russ came by and said that they needed us to get out our rooms. We found out they had a big conference coming in and they needed to get things ready for them. So we went down to the hotel restaurant and waited some more there. While we were waiting we spent the time playing Rummy, which is a new game that Bruce taught us.
After another hour had passed with no sign of Charles, we decided to eat lunch so we would not have to stop after getting on the road. After downing some food (Goulash for Russ and me, and fried veggies for Bruce) we finished our card game and then called it quits. Russ went to rest on the couch in the entry way of the hotel and Bruce and I read. At about 12:40 Charles called and said that the repair was almost done and that he would be there to pick us up in about an hour.
He arrived about an hour later and we loaded up the car. We didn’t have quite enough room in the trunk so we had to pack a couple of the smaller bags in the back seat with us. It was a little uncomfortable, but not too bad. By 2:00 we were on our way through Nairobi traffic on our way to Arusha. Little did we know....
Traffic was a bit slow in Nairobi but picked up as we came out the south side headed to the south east. Once we passed the airport we ran into the same road construction we had hit when we went to Mombasa. That went on all the way to the turn off to Arusha when we headed straight south. There the road was better for a while. But it didn’t last long. Soon we ran into construction on this road as well. And when I say construction I don’t mean they had one or two lanes closed. I mean the whole road was torn up and we were on a full blown rocky road detour!
It is hard to do much of anything when you are on a road like that. Typing on the laptop is almost impossible, and it is hard to read too. You could look out the window, but there is nothing to see. The land from Nairobi all the way to Arusha is practically the same. Mostly dry grass wasteland where only the hardiest plants can live. There are bat nests and termite hills galore and the occasional Masai man or woman along the side of the road. There are some hills and mountains from time to time, but other than that, the view seldom changes!
Then at about 3:45 our car broke down! At first I thought it was the transmission because it seemed like we were stuck in neutral. We popped the hood, jacked up the car and took off the driver’s side wheel. It turns out that the rod which comes from the transmission to the wheel (making the wheel spin) had popped out and was not turning the wheel like it should. For almost two hours we messed with it trying to pop it back into place. We had people from nearby towns stop by and try to help. One thing that is very impressive about this part of the world is how most people are willing to help out in times like this. One young man on a bike stopped by to see if he could help. He rode off to somewhere and came back with a few tools and a friend to help out!
By this time it was staring to get dark and we were still only a quarter of the way to Arusha. Charles suggested we stay in Namanga (the border town) and then leave when it was fixed the next morning. I hated to take a chance, and miss the conference which is scheduled for tomorrow, so Bruce and I decided we would try to go on to Arusha by bus yet tonight if possible. Charles would stay with the car and bring it to Arusha when it was fixed. So we hitched a ride with a man who said he would take us to Namanga for $50. At first the car was over full. It was a little station wagon not much bigger than my old Plymouth Reliant wagon. Inside we crammed 8 men and some luggage! Russ and I were stuck in the way back and Bruce shared the middle seat with three other men. We arrived at the border at about 7:30pm. Now we had to decide what to do. Should we find a bus yet tonight or get a hotel here and leave first thing in the morning? As we unloaded our luggage and contemplated this a man came up to us and asked if we were going to Arusha. He said he could take us the remaining 120 km for about $60. We talked it over and agreed.
We went through customs without any problems - not even for Bruce and Russ who had to purchase visas right there. What a blessing that was! We drove through no-man’s-land showed our passports on the Tanzania side, got back into our new ride and were off again for Arusha!
The young man who drove us was named Ibrahim and his ride was a unique 1985 Pugot seven passenger wagon. It had fancy rims and a air intake on the hood! It was even pretty comfortable inside. By now it was past dark. In the darkness we saw two forest fires on the east side of the road, both in the hills. It is very dry and the wind is blowing furiously, making these fires very dangerous. We sure hope that no one gets hurt.
Finally just before 10:00pm we arrived at the Eland hotel in Arusha. We paid our driver, checked into the hotel, dropped our bags off in our rooms and went down to get something to eat for a late supper. Over supper we discussed the day tomorrow and reminisced about the events of the durrent day. How thankful we are to have arrived safely in spite of all the troubles we had! May the LORD also bless our work tomorrow as we meet with the leaders of the CLCEA for our Pastoral training seminar!
In His service,
Nathanael
Today was a day of unexpected turns. This morning we were planning to leave Nairobi for Arusha early in the morning. We didn’t think we would get the early start we planned because Charles was having problems with the CV joint on his car, and he was going to have to get it repaired before we left. So instead of a 9:00am departure we were planning a little later. So after breakfast at the Hotel Southern Blue we decided to get some computer time in and do some e-mail before we had to get on the road. After that I worked on a few reports while waiting for Charles to show up. At about 10:30 Russ came by and said that they needed us to get out our rooms. We found out they had a big conference coming in and they needed to get things ready for them. So we went down to the hotel restaurant and waited some more there. While we were waiting we spent the time playing Rummy, which is a new game that Bruce taught us.
After another hour had passed with no sign of Charles, we decided to eat lunch so we would not have to stop after getting on the road. After downing some food (Goulash for Russ and me, and fried veggies for Bruce) we finished our card game and then called it quits. Russ went to rest on the couch in the entry way of the hotel and Bruce and I read. At about 12:40 Charles called and said that the repair was almost done and that he would be there to pick us up in about an hour.
He arrived about an hour later and we loaded up the car. We didn’t have quite enough room in the trunk so we had to pack a couple of the smaller bags in the back seat with us. It was a little uncomfortable, but not too bad. By 2:00 we were on our way through Nairobi traffic on our way to Arusha. Little did we know....
Traffic was a bit slow in Nairobi but picked up as we came out the south side headed to the south east. Once we passed the airport we ran into the same road construction we had hit when we went to Mombasa. That went on all the way to the turn off to Arusha when we headed straight south. There the road was better for a while. But it didn’t last long. Soon we ran into construction on this road as well. And when I say construction I don’t mean they had one or two lanes closed. I mean the whole road was torn up and we were on a full blown rocky road detour!
It is hard to do much of anything when you are on a road like that. Typing on the laptop is almost impossible, and it is hard to read too. You could look out the window, but there is nothing to see. The land from Nairobi all the way to Arusha is practically the same. Mostly dry grass wasteland where only the hardiest plants can live. There are bat nests and termite hills galore and the occasional Masai man or woman along the side of the road. There are some hills and mountains from time to time, but other than that, the view seldom changes!
Then at about 3:45 our car broke down! At first I thought it was the transmission because it seemed like we were stuck in neutral. We popped the hood, jacked up the car and took off the driver’s side wheel. It turns out that the rod which comes from the transmission to the wheel (making the wheel spin) had popped out and was not turning the wheel like it should. For almost two hours we messed with it trying to pop it back into place. We had people from nearby towns stop by and try to help. One thing that is very impressive about this part of the world is how most people are willing to help out in times like this. One young man on a bike stopped by to see if he could help. He rode off to somewhere and came back with a few tools and a friend to help out!
By this time it was staring to get dark and we were still only a quarter of the way to Arusha. Charles suggested we stay in Namanga (the border town) and then leave when it was fixed the next morning. I hated to take a chance, and miss the conference which is scheduled for tomorrow, so Bruce and I decided we would try to go on to Arusha by bus yet tonight if possible. Charles would stay with the car and bring it to Arusha when it was fixed. So we hitched a ride with a man who said he would take us to Namanga for $50. At first the car was over full. It was a little station wagon not much bigger than my old Plymouth Reliant wagon. Inside we crammed 8 men and some luggage! Russ and I were stuck in the way back and Bruce shared the middle seat with three other men. We arrived at the border at about 7:30pm. Now we had to decide what to do. Should we find a bus yet tonight or get a hotel here and leave first thing in the morning? As we unloaded our luggage and contemplated this a man came up to us and asked if we were going to Arusha. He said he could take us the remaining 120 km for about $60. We talked it over and agreed.
We went through customs without any problems - not even for Bruce and Russ who had to purchase visas right there. What a blessing that was! We drove through no-man’s-land showed our passports on the Tanzania side, got back into our new ride and were off again for Arusha!
The young man who drove us was named Ibrahim and his ride was a unique 1985 Pugot seven passenger wagon. It had fancy rims and a air intake on the hood! It was even pretty comfortable inside. By now it was past dark. In the darkness we saw two forest fires on the east side of the road, both in the hills. It is very dry and the wind is blowing furiously, making these fires very dangerous. We sure hope that no one gets hurt.
Finally just before 10:00pm we arrived at the Eland hotel in Arusha. We paid our driver, checked into the hotel, dropped our bags off in our rooms and went down to get something to eat for a late supper. Over supper we discussed the day tomorrow and reminisced about the events of the durrent day. How thankful we are to have arrived safely in spite of all the troubles we had! May the LORD also bless our work tomorrow as we meet with the leaders of the CLCEA for our Pastoral training seminar!
In His service,
Nathanael
Tuesday, October 28th - On to Nairobi
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Today was another long day, but I’ll try to keep it short (for once)! We left Kisii this morning at 9:00am for our return trip to Nairobi. We took the same route was had on the way here a week ago and reminisced about where we ate lunch at the Tea Hotel, where we had our flat tire and more. We passed though Kenya national forests, where both softwood trees are planted for later harvesting. We saw tea fields as far as the eye could see, with hundreds of workers out picking the tea leaves. From time to time we would see a big compound with many, many houses side by side which served as the housing for the tea farm workers. It was incredible to see how many people there were working in this profession!
For lunch we stopped in Nakuru and ate at a place called the "Tangerine." It was like a fast food place in the states, with pizza and burgers. Russ and I ordered beef burgers, Bruce ordered a chicken burger and Charles had an African dish. I think we were all happy! The beef burger wasn’t quite like at home, but it was the first beef burger I’ve had since getting to Africa, and it was a nice change, so I’m not complaining! As we were pulling off the road for lunch we noticed a popping sound coming from the driver’s side front tire and determined that the CV joint was going bad. That will have to be fixed either tonight or tomorrow morning before we leaved for Arusha!
From Nakuru it was another four hours back to Nairobi and we arrived at around 5:30pm. We received a warm greeting from our friends at the Hotel Southern Blue when we arrived. The people here are great, and we have really enjoyed their hospitality and friendliness.
Picture of the better bathroom facilities at the Hotel Southern Blue.
After checking in we made a trip down the street to say "hi" to our friend Hadessa (Esther) and to check e-mail. Then we met up with Charles and Pastor Simon from Mombasa who was on his way home after meeting with some of the other pastors for their monthly conference. Simon was running it in Charles’ absence. After that it was a late supper and some visiting about the coming trip to Tanzania.
We thank the Lord for bringing us safely this far, and pray for His continued blessings on the remainder of our trip, and all the work here. To God alone be the glory.
In Him,
October 27th - Goodbye to Etago
Monday, October 27, 2008
Today was going to be a longer day than originally planned because of the unexpected problems with our car’s exhaust. The muffler repair was finished yesterday so we were all set to go this morning on our final congregational visits. All except one thing...
In one of our many brainstorming sessions we had come up with the idea of purchasing cork board which could be cut into bulletin board sized pieces and hung up at each of the churches. Russ took this project up and spent several mornings visiting the local shops in Kisii trying to track down something that would work for that purpose. Well, this morning was our last day here and he wanted to make sure that we had it. Finally he found something that would work, but he had a very difficult time getting it purchased and getting someone to cut the 4x8 sheet into the appropriate sizes. They would tell him "15 minutes", and 30 minutes later they would say "just 15 more minutes"! Talk about having a problem with time!
Because of this delay we ended up not leaving town until about 9:30 instead of 8:00am. But the delay gave me the time I needed to type up the minutes from our Nairobi conference for Pastor Fred. After picking up the boards we were off once more for Etago. This time (with a new muffler on his car) Charles was much more careful, so the trip was a bit slower than in the past. It took us 2 hours to get there, and when we arrived we were greeted by the pastors and church members. We asked to disturb the school classes to say good bye to the teachers and all the students. This would be the last time we would see them on this trip.
After saying goodbye to Pastor Fred and the others who had come to see us off, we were off again to visit the members of Ometembe. This was the congregation we had planned to visit yesterday, but were unable because of our car.
It was about a 20 minute walk to the church from the road. When we arrived the people were already gathered and were singing hymns. We were ushered in and sat down at the front of the church were seats had been set up for us. They sang a few songs, had their choir sing, and gave us time to preach the word. Russ again did the armor of God, Bruce preached about "getting on the bus" as an illustration of how God brings us to faith in preparation for our final destination of heaven, and I preached on the parable of the wedding feast which God has prepared for us in Heaven and invites us to through His word.
Ometembe church service - Pastor Naumann is preaching, Pastor Enosh translating.
After the service, we were asked to go next door to pray for a man who was sick. When I asked what was wrong with him, they said that he was "mad" and he was tied up so that he wouldn’t run away. It was very sad. He was a younger man, who was married and had two children. We all went in and I prayed for him and for his family. We pray that our gracious Lord would be with this family and, if it is His will, heal this man so that he may again provide for his family.
From there we drove to a new congregation in Misesi which is led by Pastor Joseph. Pastor Joseph left the large and liberal Lutheran church (ELCK) and found out about our CLC church in Etago through our missions website. He has been going through a "colloquy" and is very excited about our work in the Kisii area. The church here is a small church but they already have started a preaching station in another area and are eager to learn and teach others. They are very well organized with leaders in the church having certain responsibilities and hope to build a church building for worship this year. Pastor Joseph is an older man with a lot of experience, and we pray he will be a great blessing to our young church body in Etago.
Until next time, Usiku mwema (good night)!
Today was going to be a longer day than originally planned because of the unexpected problems with our car’s exhaust. The muffler repair was finished yesterday so we were all set to go this morning on our final congregational visits. All except one thing...
In one of our many brainstorming sessions we had come up with the idea of purchasing cork board which could be cut into bulletin board sized pieces and hung up at each of the churches. Russ took this project up and spent several mornings visiting the local shops in Kisii trying to track down something that would work for that purpose. Well, this morning was our last day here and he wanted to make sure that we had it. Finally he found something that would work, but he had a very difficult time getting it purchased and getting someone to cut the 4x8 sheet into the appropriate sizes. They would tell him "15 minutes", and 30 minutes later they would say "just 15 more minutes"! Talk about having a problem with time!
Because of this delay we ended up not leaving town until about 9:30 instead of 8:00am. But the delay gave me the time I needed to type up the minutes from our Nairobi conference for Pastor Fred. After picking up the boards we were off once more for Etago. This time (with a new muffler on his car) Charles was much more careful, so the trip was a bit slower than in the past. It took us 2 hours to get there, and when we arrived we were greeted by the pastors and church members. We asked to disturb the school classes to say good bye to the teachers and all the students. This would be the last time we would see them on this trip.
After saying goodbye to Pastor Fred and the others who had come to see us off, we were off again to visit the members of Ometembe. This was the congregation we had planned to visit yesterday, but were unable because of our car.
It was about a 20 minute walk to the church from the road. When we arrived the people were already gathered and were singing hymns. We were ushered in and sat down at the front of the church were seats had been set up for us. They sang a few songs, had their choir sing, and gave us time to preach the word. Russ again did the armor of God, Bruce preached about "getting on the bus" as an illustration of how God brings us to faith in preparation for our final destination of heaven, and I preached on the parable of the wedding feast which God has prepared for us in Heaven and invites us to through His word.
Ometembe church service - Pastor Naumann is preaching, Pastor Enosh translating.After the service, we were asked to go next door to pray for a man who was sick. When I asked what was wrong with him, they said that he was "mad" and he was tied up so that he wouldn’t run away. It was very sad. He was a younger man, who was married and had two children. We all went in and I prayed for him and for his family. We pray that our gracious Lord would be with this family and, if it is His will, heal this man so that he may again provide for his family.
From there we drove to a new congregation in Misesi which is led by Pastor Joseph. Pastor Joseph left the large and liberal Lutheran church (ELCK) and found out about our CLC church in Etago through our missions website. He has been going through a "colloquy" and is very excited about our work in the Kisii area. The church here is a small church but they already have started a preaching station in another area and are eager to learn and teach others. They are very well organized with leaders in the church having certain responsibilities and hope to build a church building for worship this year. Pastor Joseph is an older man with a lot of experience, and we pray he will be a great blessing to our young church body in Etago.
By this time it was late afternoon, and so we had to get back on the road so that we could be back in Kisii before dark. So again we wished this congregation the Lord’s blessings and said goodbye. We made it back to Kisii in good time, and enjoyed a final meal at our favorite restaurant "the Nile."
It was another very good day, with a lot done here with our Etago churches. Tomorrow we head back to Nairobi as we come to the end of the second leg of our four leg trip.
Until next time, Usiku mwema (good night)!
In Christ’s service,
Nathanael
Saturday, November 1, 2008
October 26 - A change of plans in Kisii
Sunday, October 26, 2008
In my last post I mentioned that we almost lost our muffler on our way back to Kisii from Etago yesterday. Charles was going to try to get that fixed but because today was a Sunday, there was little chance of getting that done early enough for it to be ready to take us to church in Omotembe this morning. So Charles called me this morning and arranged for alternate transportation. The problem was that we would have had to pay extra for the vehicle we were hiring, plus pay for the repair of Charles car. So we decided to see if we could reschedule our visit to Omotembe for Monday since we only had one other church to visit on that day. We hated to miss the Sunday church service, but we were already running behind and would not be able to make it in time for the start of the service anyway. We ran the idea past Charles and he thought it was a good idea, so we called Pastor Enosh to break the news. He was very gracious, and said that would be fine.
So now, with our recent change in plans we suddenly had some extra “catch up” time. The three of us walked to the Nakumatt (Africa’s version of a super Wal-mart) and did some shopping for financial supplies for the church, and other odds ‘n’ ends. From there we went to the Nile to get something to eat. I was very disappointed. I ordered a Beef burger and got a “club sandwich” instead (it was a grilled piece of bread with tomatoes and onions on it). There was all kinds of confusion with our order, and Russ was the only one to get what he ordered. When he brought out the food for me I asked about the Beef burger and his response was a simple “No beef burger!” How disappointing!
While we were eating out late lunch I received a call from Fred who said that four of the men were coming to town to talk about a few things and would like to meet with us. So I met with them at about 2:00 for almost an hour. Bruce was not there right away, but came in a little later (he was trying to get some info on the blog). We discussed a little more about the changes that would soon be implemented in the Etago church. We ironed a number of things out and had a profitable meeting.
After they left Bruce and I set to work on typing out a constitution for a group of congregations, an individual congregation, and a financial policy to provide more security and less chance for abuse by a single person. We spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening getting all this information typed up and ready for printing tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is our last day here and we want to be able to leave it in their hands for implementation. After hours of work we felt it was ready to go.
It wasn’t the typical kind of day for us today, but it was very beneficial none the less. We needed some time to get caught up on paperwork and get the constitution finished up before we left Kisii, and that we were able to accomplish. We will have a longer day tomorrow since we will have to visit two congregations instead of one, but that should work out fine.
W thank the Lord for His continued blessing upon our trip...
Nathanael
In my last post I mentioned that we almost lost our muffler on our way back to Kisii from Etago yesterday. Charles was going to try to get that fixed but because today was a Sunday, there was little chance of getting that done early enough for it to be ready to take us to church in Omotembe this morning. So Charles called me this morning and arranged for alternate transportation. The problem was that we would have had to pay extra for the vehicle we were hiring, plus pay for the repair of Charles car. So we decided to see if we could reschedule our visit to Omotembe for Monday since we only had one other church to visit on that day. We hated to miss the Sunday church service, but we were already running behind and would not be able to make it in time for the start of the service anyway. We ran the idea past Charles and he thought it was a good idea, so we called Pastor Enosh to break the news. He was very gracious, and said that would be fine.
So now, with our recent change in plans we suddenly had some extra “catch up” time. The three of us walked to the Nakumatt (Africa’s version of a super Wal-mart) and did some shopping for financial supplies for the church, and other odds ‘n’ ends. From there we went to the Nile to get something to eat. I was very disappointed. I ordered a Beef burger and got a “club sandwich” instead (it was a grilled piece of bread with tomatoes and onions on it). There was all kinds of confusion with our order, and Russ was the only one to get what he ordered. When he brought out the food for me I asked about the Beef burger and his response was a simple “No beef burger!” How disappointing!
While we were eating out late lunch I received a call from Fred who said that four of the men were coming to town to talk about a few things and would like to meet with us. So I met with them at about 2:00 for almost an hour. Bruce was not there right away, but came in a little later (he was trying to get some info on the blog). We discussed a little more about the changes that would soon be implemented in the Etago church. We ironed a number of things out and had a profitable meeting.
After they left Bruce and I set to work on typing out a constitution for a group of congregations, an individual congregation, and a financial policy to provide more security and less chance for abuse by a single person. We spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening getting all this information typed up and ready for printing tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is our last day here and we want to be able to leave it in their hands for implementation. After hours of work we felt it was ready to go.
It wasn’t the typical kind of day for us today, but it was very beneficial none the less. We needed some time to get caught up on paperwork and get the constitution finished up before we left Kisii, and that we were able to accomplish. We will have a longer day tomorrow since we will have to visit two congregations instead of one, but that should work out fine.
W thank the Lord for His continued blessing upon our trip...
Nathanael
October 25 - Etago church visits
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Today we had plans to visit two of the Etago congregations. Besides teaching the pastors and church leaders we also want to find time to visit the members in their congregations to encourage and support them with the Word of God. This also gives us the opportunity to see how services are conducted, discover the knowledge of the members, and see how things have changed with the congregations since the last time we were here. Some churches have a roof which they didn’t before, others have new doors or windows, some have been added on to. So this is very profitable for us as well.
So this morning we left for Etago at 9:30am and arrived at the church around 11:00am. We decided to take two cars since we needed both Pastor Enosh and Pastor Fred to go along. One church was led by Pastor Fred and another by Pastor Enosh. So in addition to Charles’ car we also took Enosh’s car. Bruce, Russ, Charles and Fred rode in one car, and Enosh, Jepheth, Enosh’s driver and I rode in his. I volunteered to ride with Enosh and what a ride that was!
Enosh owns a very old Toyota wagon that felt and sounded like it could fall apart at any given moment. The drivers door could not be opened from the inside (the driver had to roll down his window and open his door from the outside) and my door wouldn’t open from the outside! The windows had no rubber seal and rattled loudly as we drove down the road. The best part of the car was the newer cassette deck that was mounted in the dash which played Swahili hymns as we would around the Kenya countryside! First gear didn’t work very well, so whenever we were ready to start the driver would rev the engine to what seemed like full throttle before letting out the clutch! What a ride!
The first church that we visited was Kenuchi church. But before going there we were invited to the home of one of the founders of the congregation. This man had donated land for the church to be built and has a son who is attending his first year of seminary at St. Peter’s in Himo, Tanzania. At his home our whole caravan (plus a few others) were served rice, tea, and banana. We greeted the family and thanked them for their hospitality and then were asked to take a few pictures. Then we walked up the hill to where the church was. It was already filled with people waiting for our arrival. Because of time and our schedule to visit another congregation we had to shorten our visit here. They had quite a program ready to go, but we had to keep it short. They introduced key leaders of the church, introduced us, sang a couple of songs (one by a five man choir that was very well done) and then give us time to speak to them. Russ did the “armor of God” and I spoke on 1 Peter2 about being strangers and foreigners in this world. Bruce gave the closing prayer. Then we were off again to Chotororo. There was some concern that we might not be able to visit this congregation because of the roads. If it rained it could keep us from getting there and clouds were rolling in.
I was again in Enosh’s car following Charles and Co. On the way our wonderful car started acting up (more than usual) and then stopped! It was starting to sprinkle now and the other car was nowhere in sight. The driver popped the hood to have a look. He played with the carburetor, but couldn’t keep it running. Soon it was clear he wasn’t going to get the old beater running. Out of nowhere a few people arrived to help. The driver thought that it might be the plugs that were the problem, so he pulled four old plus out of the glove compartment that looked like they should have been retired already. He pulled out a piece of copper wire, stripped the end off with his teeth. The he took one of the plugs and held one end on one battery terminal while holding one end of the wire on the other battery terminal and sweeping the other end of the wire across the top of the spark plug. When it sparked he knew he had a good plug. This was repeated with each of the plugs! Now they had to find a way to pull the other plugs out. Off someone went to find some kind of wrench for the job while others intrigued by the sight gathered around to see if they could lend some mechanical expertise. Soon they had a wrench and pulled out all the plugs and tested them in the same way. They all fired (and looked a lot newer than the ones that had come out of the glove compartment), so now they had to go back in. But wait! They are all dirty now and can’t go back in like that, so what will they do? One man pulled a rubber hose off a plastic fitting and then put his head in the engine cavity, about thirty seconds later he came out with a mouthful of gasoline from the gas line! He grabbed the plugs and while rubbing them back and forth in his hand spit the gasoline over the plugs to “sterilize” them! What a job, huh?
By this time the rain had stopped and the hot sun was now beating down on us. (I have aslight sunburn on my forehead and neck to prove it!) The mechanics kept working away. They replaced all the plugs and then checked the plug wires using the same system. The rubber gaskets were pulled back to expose the metal which was held to the battery terminals. Three sparked, one didn’t. So the took the copper wire which had been used earlier, cut it to the proper length, and ran it beside the original wire and attached it at both ends. It was reattached to the plug and the distributor in the hopes that it was the problem. The car was started up again, but still wouldn’t stay idling. By now a really big group had gathered. At one point there were more than six men with their heads under the hood checking for possible solutions! I couldn’t see a thing! Next they took the carburetor apart (they were running it without an air filter on it). I’m not sure what they did, but whatever it was, it worked! We paid one of the men 150 shillings (about $2) for his help and were off again. I wouldn’t suck up gas for that much, but they were thankful!
On we went to Chotororo, which was Fred’s home congregation. In fact he had donated his own land to have a place for the church to be built. When we arrived after our long delay, we found the other group waiting for us. While we were having our engine rebuilt on the side of the road thy were enjoying tea and chapati!
Today we had plans to visit two of the Etago congregations. Besides teaching the pastors and church leaders we also want to find time to visit the members in their congregations to encourage and support them with the Word of God. This also gives us the opportunity to see how services are conducted, discover the knowledge of the members, and see how things have changed with the congregations since the last time we were here. Some churches have a roof which they didn’t before, others have new doors or windows, some have been added on to. So this is very profitable for us as well.
So this morning we left for Etago at 9:30am and arrived at the church around 11:00am. We decided to take two cars since we needed both Pastor Enosh and Pastor Fred to go along. One church was led by Pastor Fred and another by Pastor Enosh. So in addition to Charles’ car we also took Enosh’s car. Bruce, Russ, Charles and Fred rode in one car, and Enosh, Jepheth, Enosh’s driver and I rode in his. I volunteered to ride with Enosh and what a ride that was!
Enosh owns a very old Toyota wagon that felt and sounded like it could fall apart at any given moment. The drivers door could not be opened from the inside (the driver had to roll down his window and open his door from the outside) and my door wouldn’t open from the outside! The windows had no rubber seal and rattled loudly as we drove down the road. The best part of the car was the newer cassette deck that was mounted in the dash which played Swahili hymns as we would around the Kenya countryside! First gear didn’t work very well, so whenever we were ready to start the driver would rev the engine to what seemed like full throttle before letting out the clutch! What a ride!
The first church that we visited was Kenuchi church. But before going there we were invited to the home of one of the founders of the congregation. This man had donated land for the church to be built and has a son who is attending his first year of seminary at St. Peter’s in Himo, Tanzania. At his home our whole caravan (plus a few others) were served rice, tea, and banana. We greeted the family and thanked them for their hospitality and then were asked to take a few pictures. Then we walked up the hill to where the church was. It was already filled with people waiting for our arrival. Because of time and our schedule to visit another congregation we had to shorten our visit here. They had quite a program ready to go, but we had to keep it short. They introduced key leaders of the church, introduced us, sang a couple of songs (one by a five man choir that was very well done) and then give us time to speak to them. Russ did the “armor of God” and I spoke on 1 Peter2 about being strangers and foreigners in this world. Bruce gave the closing prayer. Then we were off again to Chotororo. There was some concern that we might not be able to visit this congregation because of the roads. If it rained it could keep us from getting there and clouds were rolling in.
I was again in Enosh’s car following Charles and Co. On the way our wonderful car started acting up (more than usual) and then stopped! It was starting to sprinkle now and the other car was nowhere in sight. The driver popped the hood to have a look. He played with the carburetor, but couldn’t keep it running. Soon it was clear he wasn’t going to get the old beater running. Out of nowhere a few people arrived to help. The driver thought that it might be the plugs that were the problem, so he pulled four old plus out of the glove compartment that looked like they should have been retired already. He pulled out a piece of copper wire, stripped the end off with his teeth. The he took one of the plugs and held one end on one battery terminal while holding one end of the wire on the other battery terminal and sweeping the other end of the wire across the top of the spark plug. When it sparked he knew he had a good plug. This was repeated with each of the plugs! Now they had to find a way to pull the other plugs out. Off someone went to find some kind of wrench for the job while others intrigued by the sight gathered around to see if they could lend some mechanical expertise. Soon they had a wrench and pulled out all the plugs and tested them in the same way. They all fired (and looked a lot newer than the ones that had come out of the glove compartment), so now they had to go back in. But wait! They are all dirty now and can’t go back in like that, so what will they do? One man pulled a rubber hose off a plastic fitting and then put his head in the engine cavity, about thirty seconds later he came out with a mouthful of gasoline from the gas line! He grabbed the plugs and while rubbing them back and forth in his hand spit the gasoline over the plugs to “sterilize” them! What a job, huh?
By this time the rain had stopped and the hot sun was now beating down on us. (I have aslight sunburn on my forehead and neck to prove it!) The mechanics kept working away. They replaced all the plugs and then checked the plug wires using the same system. The rubber gaskets were pulled back to expose the metal which was held to the battery terminals. Three sparked, one didn’t. So the took the copper wire which had been used earlier, cut it to the proper length, and ran it beside the original wire and attached it at both ends. It was reattached to the plug and the distributor in the hopes that it was the problem. The car was started up again, but still wouldn’t stay idling. By now a really big group had gathered. At one point there were more than six men with their heads under the hood checking for possible solutions! I couldn’t see a thing! Next they took the carburetor apart (they were running it without an air filter on it). I’m not sure what they did, but whatever it was, it worked! We paid one of the men 150 shillings (about $2) for his help and were off again. I wouldn’t suck up gas for that much, but they were thankful!
On we went to Chotororo, which was Fred’s home congregation. In fact he had donated his own land to have a place for the church to be built. When we arrived after our long delay, we found the other group waiting for us. While we were having our engine rebuilt on the side of the road thy were enjoying tea and chapati!
Walking up the hill to Chotororo church...
From there we had quite a walk to where the church was built. It was a small building of about 25 x 60 made of sticks and mud walls with openings for doors and windows. It had a gabled roof with new metal sheets (offerings to the CLC’s MDF were used to purchase them). Our practice is to help churches put on a metal roof once they have secured their own land and have built the walls of the church. That way they are not depending on us entirely, nor do they get money from us to start a building which never gets finished. We work together in this way.
Pastor Fred also showed us land that he would like to see used for a Kenyan seminary some day. He is a very dedicated man, and it would be a wonderful thing to be able to have a seminary in both Kenya and Tanzania at some point in the future. Please keep this in your prayers.
After our visit to this congregation we returned to Etago. (Since we were planning to meet with someone in Etago, I was rode in Charles’ car this time! We went to visit the man who had caused a bit of commotion at the Etago meeting the previous day. He was the father of one of the Church Council members and the man who had donated the land for the Etago church and orphanage, but was no longer a member. We talked with him about his concerns regarding the church and told him things would get better now. We had a good visit and ironed out the problems voiced earlier. We are thankful to the Lord for that!
Then it was another long trip back to Kisii. On this trip home our muffler broke in another location and it dragged most of the way home. Tomorrow is Sunday, but Charles is going to try and get it fixed as early as possible so we can get to the church service at Omotembe tomorrow morning. We’ll see how it goes!
More later...
In His service,
Nathanael
October 24 - Etago conference day 2
Friday, October 24, 2008
This morning it was back to Etago again. This time Charles made the 30 mile trip to the church in an hour and a half! Of course our poor Toyota paid for it. The bottom of the car hit rock many times and at the end of the trip we heard a crack in the exhaust. The moral of the story about the turtle and the hare may have more then one beneficial meaning. He who goes slow doesn’t need a repair job at the end of the race!
When we arrived we talked to Pastor Enosh about handing out the T-shirts that were sent for the kids at the orphan school. They were prepared and sent by Alana Ahrens for all the kids. Russ had also purchased a volleyball net for the kids an we gave them that as well. Finally we gave Christmas cards to each of the teachers for their work with a small sum of money from KINSHIP. It was really fun to be able to see their reactions! Excitement, wonder, and even sometimes confusion!
At about 10:00am we continued with our seminar with the church leaders. Because of the concerns that were raised on our first day here about the running of the church organization, Bruce thought it would be a good idea to do a presentation on a church constitution. Really neither an individual church constitution or a synodical constitution would work here, so we had to make quite a few changes in order to make it fit the situation here in Etago. I began by introducing the topic and showing why a constitution is valuable and important for a group of believers. Then, since Bruce had done most of the work on this, he presented how the constitution would be set up for them. When he was finished the leaders were given the opportunity to ask questions or add their own thoughts. A constitution committee was selected that would take the document that we had prepared and review it and make any necessary changes to it. They then would present it to the voters of the Etago churches for adoption this coming January. It seemed to be well received and seemed to quell the concerns of those who had spoken when we first arrived. We pray that the Lord would continue to bless this effort and bring peace, unity and strength to this group of believers.
After lunch I continued our seminar with a presentation on Church discipline. I reminded these leaders that God has called them as shepherds to lead and feed the flock of God in their churches. That means we are required to preach both God’s law and His gospel for the salvation of souls. There were a few questions that were asked when I was finished and we closed with prayer at around 3:00.
Now it was time to meet with the Etago church members who had originally raised concerns about the operation of the church. We discussed the new constitution process with them and gave them a chance to voice their concerns. A man was there who caused a little bit of chaos, and we told him we would speak to him privately later. Otherwise things seemed to be pretty much resolved!
Bruce had stayed at Enosh’s last night and during a break he mentioned that he felt he was putting the family out by staying there just like I had. We had talked about staying with Joshua, but his wife Josaphine has been suffering from some kind of heart condition and has not been well. So we both decided to travel back to Kisii for the rest of our stay.
After another hour and a half trip back to Kisii, we were in need of a weld on muffler. After dropping us off at the Zonic hotel, Charles went to get that done for our trip tomorrow morning.
We all went for supper at a restaurant called the Nile, which is just down the street from our hotel. I tried the chicken fried rice, Russ the beef fried rice, and Bruce ordered a chicken sandwich. The portions were huge for Russ and myself. Bruce got the short end of the stick with a small piece of chicken half the size of his bun and a bit on the dry side! With our sodas, the total cost of our meal was less than $15! (And that was for all three of us together.) A much better price than what we had been paying at the restaurant in the Zonic hotel.
Time is flying by, but we are getting a lot done. Tonight I have to do some work on editing the model constitution I have with proper changes for this group. We want them to have something in detailed format so they have something to work with.
In His service,
Nathanael
This morning it was back to Etago again. This time Charles made the 30 mile trip to the church in an hour and a half! Of course our poor Toyota paid for it. The bottom of the car hit rock many times and at the end of the trip we heard a crack in the exhaust. The moral of the story about the turtle and the hare may have more then one beneficial meaning. He who goes slow doesn’t need a repair job at the end of the race!
When we arrived we talked to Pastor Enosh about handing out the T-shirts that were sent for the kids at the orphan school. They were prepared and sent by Alana Ahrens for all the kids. Russ had also purchased a volleyball net for the kids an we gave them that as well. Finally we gave Christmas cards to each of the teachers for their work with a small sum of money from KINSHIP. It was really fun to be able to see their reactions! Excitement, wonder, and even sometimes confusion!
At about 10:00am we continued with our seminar with the church leaders. Because of the concerns that were raised on our first day here about the running of the church organization, Bruce thought it would be a good idea to do a presentation on a church constitution. Really neither an individual church constitution or a synodical constitution would work here, so we had to make quite a few changes in order to make it fit the situation here in Etago. I began by introducing the topic and showing why a constitution is valuable and important for a group of believers. Then, since Bruce had done most of the work on this, he presented how the constitution would be set up for them. When he was finished the leaders were given the opportunity to ask questions or add their own thoughts. A constitution committee was selected that would take the document that we had prepared and review it and make any necessary changes to it. They then would present it to the voters of the Etago churches for adoption this coming January. It seemed to be well received and seemed to quell the concerns of those who had spoken when we first arrived. We pray that the Lord would continue to bless this effort and bring peace, unity and strength to this group of believers.
After lunch I continued our seminar with a presentation on Church discipline. I reminded these leaders that God has called them as shepherds to lead and feed the flock of God in their churches. That means we are required to preach both God’s law and His gospel for the salvation of souls. There were a few questions that were asked when I was finished and we closed with prayer at around 3:00.
Now it was time to meet with the Etago church members who had originally raised concerns about the operation of the church. We discussed the new constitution process with them and gave them a chance to voice their concerns. A man was there who caused a little bit of chaos, and we told him we would speak to him privately later. Otherwise things seemed to be pretty much resolved!
Bruce had stayed at Enosh’s last night and during a break he mentioned that he felt he was putting the family out by staying there just like I had. We had talked about staying with Joshua, but his wife Josaphine has been suffering from some kind of heart condition and has not been well. So we both decided to travel back to Kisii for the rest of our stay.
After another hour and a half trip back to Kisii, we were in need of a weld on muffler. After dropping us off at the Zonic hotel, Charles went to get that done for our trip tomorrow morning.
We all went for supper at a restaurant called the Nile, which is just down the street from our hotel. I tried the chicken fried rice, Russ the beef fried rice, and Bruce ordered a chicken sandwich. The portions were huge for Russ and myself. Bruce got the short end of the stick with a small piece of chicken half the size of his bun and a bit on the dry side! With our sodas, the total cost of our meal was less than $15! (And that was for all three of us together.) A much better price than what we had been paying at the restaurant in the Zonic hotel.
Time is flying by, but we are getting a lot done. Tonight I have to do some work on editing the model constitution I have with proper changes for this group. We want them to have something in detailed format so they have something to work with.
In His service,
Nathanael
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
October 23rd - Etago seminar
Thursday, October 23, 2008
When I awoke this morning everyone was already up and going. Even the kids were outside working on different chores. Various animal sounds filled the air. Cows and roosters went about their business as well. I did some reading and preparing for the days activities while waiting for Enosh. When he was finished Elizabeth brought in some buttered bread and tea for breakfast. We visited over our meal about more church matters and then headed off to school. Before leaving I thanked Elizabeth for everything she had done while I was there.
We came to school and awaited the beginning of the church seminars which were scheduled for the day. While waiting I worked on my presentation. But I also took some time to play with the younger children. We played tag (I was the monster that had to tag everyone)and sang some songs. They are so intrigued by the Muzungus (white people)! When I would go outside, they all followed me out. When I came back inside, they all followed me back in! It was hard to get things done. Even after their classes started I would see young faces sticking their heads through the open windows to see what I was doing!
Finally, the men started showing up. At 10:30 Bruce arrived. Russ had stayed behind in Kisii because he had some things he wanted to get done and because he was feeling a little under the weather. Hopefully the rest will do some good. When Charles and Bruce arrived we found out they had another flat on the way to Etago. So Charles went back into Etago town to see about getting the tire fixed while we began the leaders seminar.
We had a total of 23 men in attendance. After an opening prayer Bruce began with his study on Biblical covenant theology (the same one he had done in Mombasa). After that I gave a presentation of the church calendar. We went through all the seasons of the church year from Advent to Trinity and I explained their meaning and purpose. I also handed out a pericope of Scripture readings that I explained could be used in the churches as an aid to preaching the whole counsel of God.
Since lunch was not quite ready yet we decided to quiz the men on their Bible knowledge by playing Bible baseball. It took them a while to get the idea, but they soon got the idea, and really enjoyed it. Finally lunch arrived and we all ate. It was the traditional African meal of rice with a beef or chicken stew poured over the top.
After our late lunch we continued with the seminar. Bruce presented a study of the 10 plagues that God sent against the Egyptians through His servant Moses. He showed how every one of the plagues was related to one of the many gods of the Egyptians. Here the true God was showing in a pwerful way that He was more powerful than the “gods” of the Egyptians. He is not just another god. The LORD is the one and only true God!
After finishing up and concluding with prayer everyone began their trip home. Bruce had decided to stay in Etago this time and I was returning with Charles to Kisii. Charles and I had a good visit on the almost two hour trip back to Kisii. That was one nice thing about staying in Etago – I didn’t have to endure the torturous ride to and from Kisii! But, alas, we will have to do it agin tomorrow morning!
When I arrived back in Kisii, I checked in on Russ and then went to do some e-mail across the street. Then we had a late supper and worked on reports and preparation for tomorrow’s presentations.
We thank the LORD for another wonderful day of study in His word and pray that He would continue to strengthen these men for their work in leading and feeding Christ’s flock!
In His service,
Nathanael
When I awoke this morning everyone was already up and going. Even the kids were outside working on different chores. Various animal sounds filled the air. Cows and roosters went about their business as well. I did some reading and preparing for the days activities while waiting for Enosh. When he was finished Elizabeth brought in some buttered bread and tea for breakfast. We visited over our meal about more church matters and then headed off to school. Before leaving I thanked Elizabeth for everything she had done while I was there.
We came to school and awaited the beginning of the church seminars which were scheduled for the day. While waiting I worked on my presentation. But I also took some time to play with the younger children. We played tag (I was the monster that had to tag everyone)and sang some songs. They are so intrigued by the Muzungus (white people)! When I would go outside, they all followed me out. When I came back inside, they all followed me back in! It was hard to get things done. Even after their classes started I would see young faces sticking their heads through the open windows to see what I was doing!
Finally, the men started showing up. At 10:30 Bruce arrived. Russ had stayed behind in Kisii because he had some things he wanted to get done and because he was feeling a little under the weather. Hopefully the rest will do some good. When Charles and Bruce arrived we found out they had another flat on the way to Etago. So Charles went back into Etago town to see about getting the tire fixed while we began the leaders seminar.
We had a total of 23 men in attendance. After an opening prayer Bruce began with his study on Biblical covenant theology (the same one he had done in Mombasa). After that I gave a presentation of the church calendar. We went through all the seasons of the church year from Advent to Trinity and I explained their meaning and purpose. I also handed out a pericope of Scripture readings that I explained could be used in the churches as an aid to preaching the whole counsel of God.
Since lunch was not quite ready yet we decided to quiz the men on their Bible knowledge by playing Bible baseball. It took them a while to get the idea, but they soon got the idea, and really enjoyed it. Finally lunch arrived and we all ate. It was the traditional African meal of rice with a beef or chicken stew poured over the top.
After our late lunch we continued with the seminar. Bruce presented a study of the 10 plagues that God sent against the Egyptians through His servant Moses. He showed how every one of the plagues was related to one of the many gods of the Egyptians. Here the true God was showing in a pwerful way that He was more powerful than the “gods” of the Egyptians. He is not just another god. The LORD is the one and only true God!
After finishing up and concluding with prayer everyone began their trip home. Bruce had decided to stay in Etago this time and I was returning with Charles to Kisii. Charles and I had a good visit on the almost two hour trip back to Kisii. That was one nice thing about staying in Etago – I didn’t have to endure the torturous ride to and from Kisii! But, alas, we will have to do it agin tomorrow morning!
When I arrived back in Kisii, I checked in on Russ and then went to do some e-mail across the street. Then we had a late supper and worked on reports and preparation for tomorrow’s presentations.
We thank the LORD for another wonderful day of study in His word and pray that He would continue to strengthen these men for their work in leading and feeding Christ’s flock!
In His service,
Nathanael
October 22nd - Etago
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
We are staying in a place called the Zonic Hotel in Kisii. This is a pretty large hotel (for Africa) with more than seven floors and about 12 rooms on each floor. The rooms varied in size with single beds, double beds, and multiple single beds. Russ and I shared a room on the third floor with two single beds and a bathroom and Bruce had another room with a double bed next door. The rooms had a sliding glass door that went out onto a small balcony overlooking the main road below. The bathroom was small with a toilet, sink, and bathtub. There was hot water but it was a unique Africa set up. You flip a switch on the wall which has a cord that goes to the shower head. It works like hot water on demand. No hot water from the sink or the tub spout. Also there was no toilet seat and no shower curtain! As we looked around the hotel we saw door handles that were missing, water damaged ceiling tiles, missing floor tiles, and all kinds of other maintenance problems. It looked like the hotel was built in a decade (or even centuries) ago. To our astonishment we found out that the hotel was built in 2002! We even saw a stone set into the front of the hotel with the date carved into it. Unbelievable!
We were supposed to leave at around 8:30 but because of delays didn’t get on the road until about 9:30. Pastor Enosh came to town because it had rained the night before and the road was under construction, so he wanted to make sure we found our way there. We also decided to buy gifts for the children of the school. Russ was in charge of buying the children Christmas presents from KINSHIP. So Russ, Charles and Enosh went to the store to buy 136 tootbrushes and tubes of toothpaste. You can imagine how long that would take!
After that was finished we left Kisii for the 30 mile journey to the church and orphan school in Etago. Believe it or not, it took us over two hours to cover that distance! The roads were wretched! There would be short sections of blacktop but the rest were heavily rutted mud, dirt and rock! Even the short sections of blacktop were full of potholes. Our poor little Toyota sure took a beating! The majority of the trip was at about 10 kilometers per hour or less! Part of the road was under construction, so hopefully it will be much better next year!
When we arrived at the school the orphans were all outside singing: “Welcome, welcome to our visitors!” They were all lined up in two lines, singing their hearts out! Greetings were shared with all the other church leaders and the teachers, and we were ushered through the singing children into the church to begin the festivities. Introductions were made, Pastor Fred gave a brief devotion, and the children began their program. They sang, danced, and even put on short skits for us. When they were finished we greeted them and passed out Christmas cards from the school children in Mankato, Minnesota, and the Christmas presents from KINSHIP. It was a long process for that many children!
Finally (about two hours later) the children were released for a very late lunch and we prepared for a meeting with the church leaders. We talked about matters going on in the church and found out how things were going with the two Etago students who are currently finishing up their first year at St. Peter’s seminary in Tanzania. It seems they are having some difficulty adjusting because of being Kenyan rather than Tanzanian like the other students. We plan to follow up with that when we get to Tanzania to make sure they are doing well. There were also some concerns raised about the leadership in the church. As we heard more about the situation we found that the churches here were really not following their constitution, which meant that things were not being run by the church but rather by certain leaders within the church. So we are going to look into this more and address the concerns of the members and work on establishing a working constitution for the congregations to follow so that the work of the church is carried out in an orderly way.
Because of the long trip back to Kisii, we had to make sure that we were on the road back to Kisii by 4:00pm so that we would be back by dark. Bruce and I had talked about taking turns staying in Etago staying with Enosh or someone else to have some time to spend with them. Bruce had come ready to stay tonight, but we decided it might be better if I stay so that I could talk with Enosh about this situation and work on preparing a solution. So Charles took Bruce and Russ back to Kisii, and I stayed in Etago. We walked to Enosh’s house which was a short walk down the road from the church building and school. We spent the next couple of hours talking about things as he showed me his land. He owns about three acres on which he grows tea, corn, bananas, and some pineapple, potatoes and onions. He also has three cows of different ages, a number of chickens and a small cat. His house is made up of two buildings. One serves as the living quarters with a living room/dining room area with tables and chairs, and two bedrooms. The other building serves as the kitchen where all the cooking and cleaning is done. The buildings are made with a wooden frame which is then filled with mud and coated with a glaze. The roof is covered with metal sheets. There are wooden door and window frames built into the walls with doors and windows made of wood. It isn’t quite like home but it’s much more comfortable than camping in a tent! By the way, there is no running water. That means no bathroom. They use a third building for that!
There is no electricity in Etago. They are working to get power line out there, but there is nothing yet. Most people, if they want to work after dark (which is at about 6:30pm to 6:00am) need to use kerosene lamps or flashlights. But Enosh has used the money from his crops to buy a small solar panel which he uses to charge a battery during the day. Then he uses the battery to recharge cell phone batteries, and at night it is used to run small florescent lights in both buildings. It is a small panel but it works very well! Enosh’s wife Elizabeth fixed a wonderful beef stew for supper and I had a great time playing with his four children (ages 11-3). At about 9:30pm everyone went to bed and by 5:30am everyone was up again. It was nice to be able to stay with them and very enjoyable, but I felt like I was putting them out with 6 people already in their small home.
Staying in a place like Etago, even for one night, sure makes one sit back and think about all the things we have in our country that we take for granted on a daily basis. We could do with so much less than we have!
In Christ,
Nathanael
We are staying in a place called the Zonic Hotel in Kisii. This is a pretty large hotel (for Africa) with more than seven floors and about 12 rooms on each floor. The rooms varied in size with single beds, double beds, and multiple single beds. Russ and I shared a room on the third floor with two single beds and a bathroom and Bruce had another room with a double bed next door. The rooms had a sliding glass door that went out onto a small balcony overlooking the main road below. The bathroom was small with a toilet, sink, and bathtub. There was hot water but it was a unique Africa set up. You flip a switch on the wall which has a cord that goes to the shower head. It works like hot water on demand. No hot water from the sink or the tub spout. Also there was no toilet seat and no shower curtain! As we looked around the hotel we saw door handles that were missing, water damaged ceiling tiles, missing floor tiles, and all kinds of other maintenance problems. It looked like the hotel was built in a decade (or even centuries) ago. To our astonishment we found out that the hotel was built in 2002! We even saw a stone set into the front of the hotel with the date carved into it. Unbelievable!
We were supposed to leave at around 8:30 but because of delays didn’t get on the road until about 9:30. Pastor Enosh came to town because it had rained the night before and the road was under construction, so he wanted to make sure we found our way there. We also decided to buy gifts for the children of the school. Russ was in charge of buying the children Christmas presents from KINSHIP. So Russ, Charles and Enosh went to the store to buy 136 tootbrushes and tubes of toothpaste. You can imagine how long that would take!
After that was finished we left Kisii for the 30 mile journey to the church and orphan school in Etago. Believe it or not, it took us over two hours to cover that distance! The roads were wretched! There would be short sections of blacktop but the rest were heavily rutted mud, dirt and rock! Even the short sections of blacktop were full of potholes. Our poor little Toyota sure took a beating! The majority of the trip was at about 10 kilometers per hour or less! Part of the road was under construction, so hopefully it will be much better next year!
When we arrived at the school the orphans were all outside singing: “Welcome, welcome to our visitors!” They were all lined up in two lines, singing their hearts out! Greetings were shared with all the other church leaders and the teachers, and we were ushered through the singing children into the church to begin the festivities. Introductions were made, Pastor Fred gave a brief devotion, and the children began their program. They sang, danced, and even put on short skits for us. When they were finished we greeted them and passed out Christmas cards from the school children in Mankato, Minnesota, and the Christmas presents from KINSHIP. It was a long process for that many children!
Finally (about two hours later) the children were released for a very late lunch and we prepared for a meeting with the church leaders. We talked about matters going on in the church and found out how things were going with the two Etago students who are currently finishing up their first year at St. Peter’s seminary in Tanzania. It seems they are having some difficulty adjusting because of being Kenyan rather than Tanzanian like the other students. We plan to follow up with that when we get to Tanzania to make sure they are doing well. There were also some concerns raised about the leadership in the church. As we heard more about the situation we found that the churches here were really not following their constitution, which meant that things were not being run by the church but rather by certain leaders within the church. So we are going to look into this more and address the concerns of the members and work on establishing a working constitution for the congregations to follow so that the work of the church is carried out in an orderly way.
Because of the long trip back to Kisii, we had to make sure that we were on the road back to Kisii by 4:00pm so that we would be back by dark. Bruce and I had talked about taking turns staying in Etago staying with Enosh or someone else to have some time to spend with them. Bruce had come ready to stay tonight, but we decided it might be better if I stay so that I could talk with Enosh about this situation and work on preparing a solution. So Charles took Bruce and Russ back to Kisii, and I stayed in Etago. We walked to Enosh’s house which was a short walk down the road from the church building and school. We spent the next couple of hours talking about things as he showed me his land. He owns about three acres on which he grows tea, corn, bananas, and some pineapple, potatoes and onions. He also has three cows of different ages, a number of chickens and a small cat. His house is made up of two buildings. One serves as the living quarters with a living room/dining room area with tables and chairs, and two bedrooms. The other building serves as the kitchen where all the cooking and cleaning is done. The buildings are made with a wooden frame which is then filled with mud and coated with a glaze. The roof is covered with metal sheets. There are wooden door and window frames built into the walls with doors and windows made of wood. It isn’t quite like home but it’s much more comfortable than camping in a tent! By the way, there is no running water. That means no bathroom. They use a third building for that!
There is no electricity in Etago. They are working to get power line out there, but there is nothing yet. Most people, if they want to work after dark (which is at about 6:30pm to 6:00am) need to use kerosene lamps or flashlights. But Enosh has used the money from his crops to buy a small solar panel which he uses to charge a battery during the day. Then he uses the battery to recharge cell phone batteries, and at night it is used to run small florescent lights in both buildings. It is a small panel but it works very well! Enosh’s wife Elizabeth fixed a wonderful beef stew for supper and I had a great time playing with his four children (ages 11-3). At about 9:30pm everyone went to bed and by 5:30am everyone was up again. It was nice to be able to stay with them and very enjoyable, but I felt like I was putting them out with 6 people already in their small home.
Staying in a place like Etago, even for one night, sure makes one sit back and think about all the things we have in our country that we take for granted on a daily basis. We could do with so much less than we have!
In Christ,
Nathanael
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