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
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