Bill Schrull
Yesterday and today were work days for me at Lake Tanganyika College. Yesterday we installed the five new Thin Client PC’s along with two new regular PC’s. Bon reported that there were five other thin clients that we had brought in the past that were not functioning. I checked them out and found that they post the familiar Dell logo on start up, but then would not continue to boot up. We put those aside for the moment as I wanted to contact the supplier I use in the USA (Vecmar.com) discuss the problem with their tech support department. I had to wait until the evening since the supplier is 7 time zones behind where we are. When I did get a hold of Vecmar tech support, they were very helpful. I got instructions on how I could reload the thin client operating system using a USB Flash drive.
Today we went to purchase additional keyboards and mice. Even though there is less dust in the air these days in Kasulu as there was when I first visited Kasulu in 2005, there is still enough to eventually cause the keyboards to malfunction. Fortunately we could purchase these in Kasulu. When we got back to the college, Bonface, the lead computer system admin for LTC went to work on replacing the keyboards while I set to work on fixing those five thin clients that were not booting. Following the procedure that the Vecmar technician gave me, I was able to fix all five thin clients. I was grateful that we could fix them on site rather than having to bring them back to the USA to repair. My hat is off to the folks at Vecmar. Their support team is one of the best I’ve encountered in the industry.
Having fixed the thin client issue, we moved on to some other minor issues and backup procedures for maintaining the server systems. All in all, it was a productive two days so far at LTC’s Computer Center. Tomorrow I’m hoping to get the wireless network working better so they can get network connection in the office area and some of the class rooms.
Of course while Bon and I were working on the computer systems, there was lots of activity going on around the college. And there was plenty of activity going on in the computer center as well. I’ve posted the picture so you can see how much the systems are being used. There are people working with the computers and receiving training in computer applications all day long. I’m looking forward to when they get the new computer center construction completed, hopefully by the time we travel back here next year. “The new computer center you say, Bill?”. Yes, there is a new center being built. They have had some issues that stalled and delayed construction during the past couple of years, but they are looking to move forward with completing it soon. I’ll write a bit more about this later in the week. I believe Cathy and I will be involved in a small ceremony to lay the foundation stone on Thursday.
That’s it for now. Check back in a couple of days. Blessings to you all!
There is not much to report about Saturday as we just took it easy and did some catch-up from our travels. I did go to Lake Tanganyika College to deliver the new computers we brought with us. But it was a short visit to just check on things. Monday I’ll hit the ground running on helping setup the new systems and offer some training in configuring them for use with their network.
Today was a different story. We were quite busy with worship services at Marusi Church, which is on the east side of Kasulu. Marusi Church is one of my favorite churches to visit. I’ve been here many times. However, this time I was asked to be the guest preacher for their 6:30 and their 9:00 services. You might ask, why some much time between services? It’s simple. There is very little time between services. The 6:30 service started on time and ended at about 8:40. The 9:00 service was even longer. It ended shortly before noon. Such are worship times in Tanzania.
About the guest preaching – I got a text message from Bishop Emmanuel Bwatta on Saturday morning. His message asked if I was comfortable with preaching at both services. The folks at Marusi asked for me specifically. Wow! That was an honor and privilege for sure. I thought about it and decided to accept the invitation. I knew I did not have a lot of time to prepare, but when you are asked to serve, you serve! Cathy and I also prepared a couple of songs to sing during the service. One is called Forever Reign, the other is called God So Loved. Both are pretty up-beat songs. I try to keep to those types of worship songs because the people here are quite animated in their praises and love to sing and dance during worship. I really wish you could experience it at least once. Sunday worship is a joyous celebration in this part of the world.
So, back to the sermon. I chose the gospel for today form the ACT Prayer Book, which is John 8:12-20. I focused on verses 12 – 14 below:
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
I won’t go into the details, but I can report that the message was well received and appreciated.
So now it is early evening and it’s just about dinner time. I’ll end here for this posting. Thank you all for your prayers while we are here in Tanzania.