Mission Blog – East Africa

There was not much to report about Saturday as we took the day off and rested in the hostel at the DWT compound.    We did have dinner that evening with Andrea Young.   She is a German missionary who has been here in Kasulu for many years, so we have gotten to know her well.   It’s always a pleasure to visit with her and compare notes on what’s been happening in the diocese since we’ve been gone, and to bring her up to date on our family and friends at St. Paul’s.

Sunday, we worshipped at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Kasulu.    It was an early morning as worship starts at 6:30 AM and we need to be there early to get setup to sing during the service.    We did just that, leading the congregation in the song “Forever Reigns”, like we did at Murusi church last week.   Again, we sang the bridge verse in Swahili.   The original verse in English is “My heart will sing no other name, Jesus”.   Since Swahili words and grammar tend to have more syllables than English, we change the words to “Moyo wangu utaimba, Jesu” which translates at “My heart sings Jesus”.   The main thing is that the rhythm of the words match the music.    

Later in the early evening, we went to Bishop Bwatta’s home to have a viewing party of the St. Paul’s Live 10:30 AM service.   Since we are 7 hours ahead in time zones, it was 5:30 PM our time.    It was great being able to join in with the worship at St. Paul’s from such a long distance and a remote place in Tanzania.   The best part was when our Rector, Fr. Joe did a shout out to us during the announcement time and had the congregation turn around and wave to the camera.   Bishop Bwatta really enjoyed that gesture.   My thanks again to Dave Szen and the sound person (not sure who was on deck for sound on Sunday) for making this happen.

So it’s Monday now.   It’s our last full day in Kasulu before we go to Kigoma on Tuesday to visit with Margaret Mpango and her daughter Rose. Margaret, AKA Mama Rose, is the wife of the late Bishop Gerard Mpango.   Bishop Mpango was the first bishop I partnered with at DWT when we first brought computers to the college back in 2006.    After visiting with Mama Rose, we will spend some time with Bishop Sadock Makaya. He is the now retired bishop of DWT who we have served with over the passed several years.  From there we will start our journey on Wednesday to go to Kenya.    We’ll write more along the way.

Bill