Sunday in Marangu

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Today is our first Sunday in Africa this year – we have been here for one week now. It was planned that we would visit the church in Murangu this morning. Last night we made arrangements with a taxi driver to take us to Murangu in the morning. We would have to leave a little before 8:00am to make it there in time for the 10:00am service. After our now-typical breakfast, Larry, Russ and I met Pastor Malyi in front of the hotel and loaded our luggage into the boot (that’s the African word for trunk). We headed East out of Arusha and passed several other churches that I have visited on previous trips: Momella, Legruki, Moshi, Kiberaloni, Jerusalem, Osehu, Uchira, and Himo. We left the shadow of Mt. Meru and entered the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Along the way we decided to drop Larry off in Himo while Malyi, Russ and I went on to Murangu. The seminary building is located in Himo, and one of our congregations uses the building for worship services on Sunday mornings. One of last year’s seminary graduates now serves the congregation in Himo.

After dropping Larry off in Himo we turned North and headed right for Mt. Kilimanjaro. About 20 kilometers north of Himo is Murangu, right next to one of the entrances for the Mt. Kilimanjaro park. It is a very beautiful and prosperous area with all the agricultural products that are grown there.

We arrived a little late – it was about 10:15am – but there were only a few people there. Slowly, more and more people began to show up and finally we began at a little after 11:00am. The congregation was made up primarily of women and children, but this seems to be typical of African churches. They had congregational hymns, responsive readings, Scripture readings, a condensed liturgy, and the time for the sermon. Russ used the story of David and Goliath as a reminder that even the small and weak can prevail with the Lord on their side. I preached on Ephesians 2, and reminded the people that we are dead in sins but have been made alive in Christ. I emphasized the fact that this is the work of God since dead people cannot do anything for themselves. I was amazed how many people remembered the sermon I had done on the armor of God two years before!

After the service one of the women of the congregation brought us oranges, cucumbers, papaya, and donoughts, with coffee. I am not a coffee drinker, but I tried some – I still don’t know why so many people like coffee!

We returned back down the hill to Himo to pick up Larry at the seminary and greeted some of the members who had remained after the service to visit with him. It was good to see them again, and they were glad to see us as well.

After saying goodbye, we turned back to the west to return to Moshi. We had a meeting scheduled with a member here to talk about some of the issues facing our churches in East Africa. We visited for about 3 hours and learned a lot from the meeting. It was well worth the time and effort.

Tonight we are staying at a hostel in Moshi, probably one of our favorite places to stay while in East Africa. It is used as a training facility for hotels across East Africa and offers inexpensive lodging, great food, and wonderful service. I turned in some clothes to get washed and had a whole load of laundry done for me for less than $5! It is always clean and it is returned very neatly folded! Usually we spend more time here, but this year we will only have two nights. Maybe we will have more time here next year....

In His service,

Nathanael Mayhew

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).