Today was an unscheduled day to relax and get ready for the coming trip to Tanga. Because of the death of Pastor Jeremiah’s niece, it was necessary for Pastor Jeremiah to postpone our trip to Tanga so that he could attend the funeral and spend time with his family. As a result, we had an unscheduled “free” day. Well, sort of. Since I knew that we were going to have some time today, I had scheduled some time to meet with one of our pastors from the Moshi area. He has made a contact with a man and congregation in Singida, near Dodoma. Both of these men planned to come to Arusha to meet with us, along with Pastor Malyi, who would assist as an interpreter when necessary. They were planning to call us in the morning to let us know when they were supposed to arrive, but we never heard from them. They finally came walking into the courtyard of our hotel at around 12:00pm, just as we were getting ready to leave for lunch. We found out that they had tried calling, but were unable to get through. This was because there was a mandatory power cut throughout all of Arusha today, and this also affected the hotel phones!
It turned out to be an exciting meeting. The man was a Sunday School teacher in the Lutheran Church, but became inactive over time. Then he met our pastor and became involved again. Now he is working to form a congregation in Singida and has the local government of the area asking him to start other congregations! They have been given a track of 10 acres for the church and are preparing to build a church. The man is also eager to continue his training so that he can become a full time pastor! What a blessing from God!
Todd stands in front of our new favorite hotel in Arusha, Tanzania - the Caanan HotelThe rest of the afternoon was spent reading, resting and doing prep work for the coming trip to Tanga. We worked on our computers and other devices until the batteries were dead on them, and then had to find something else to do. At about 5:30 the hotel started up their generator for electricity, which was just outside our window.
At about the same time Elisha arrived to take us out for supper in Arusha. Elisha is Pastor Jeremiah’s son, who works as a tour guide to the many tourist areas which surround Arusha – the tourist capital of Tanzania. He is a wonderful and very likable young man and he knows the places to go. He took us to “Nick’s” which specialized in fish grilled over fire with vegetables. He said they were big enough to feed two people and both Todd and Mike were game, so they ordered two fish for the three of them to share. I ordered the “kuku” which is Swahili for chicken. It kind of reminded me of when I took my wife to Red Lobster and ordered the chicken sandwich. It was not a good chicken sandwich and I remember my wife saying, “Well what do you expect ordering chicken at a seafood place?” The difference was that the kuku was actually really good – good enough that I’d order it again if I had the chance (and I’m not just saying it was good because fish was the only other option, either!).
The picture of the fish has been removed from this site for your protection.... Use your imagination!
We appreciated the fact that Elisha took the time to spend with us and take us out to eat on our last night in Arusha, and we enjoyed the time we spent together. We pray that the Lord would continue to bless him in his service to the Lord in all that he does.
In His service,
Nathanael
“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. ” – Colossians 4:5-6
No comments:
Post a Comment