Bill Schrull
Today we were involved in another long worship service, but as with Msagara, I hardly noticed the length for all of the joy that was expressed in worship today. It was a big celebration. Today Canon Daniel Nyguwa was appointed as the new head pastor of Murusi Parish and also as the zone leader for DWT in the area. I’m sure Daniel would not mind my mentioning again about the illness he was suffering from (a difficult to control Malaria) only about a year or so back. And I think I mentioned earlier that Fr. Joe Shepley from St. Paul’s, his son David and I visited with Daniel and his family last year and prayed for his healing and recovery. And now to be here celebrating with Daniel as he moves forward in ministry at Murusi Parish? Well that would have been worth the trip if we accomplished nothing else. Fr. Joe had us bring a number of vestments that were no longer needed at St. Paul’s. Bishop Makaya was so pleased to be able to give Daniel one of those vestments today during the ceremony.
Along with Daniels appointment, there were confirmations. Cathy and I also got to sing again today. We sang a song with the congregation called “You’re Beautiful”. We dedicated the song to our friend Jerry Steege who died last week while we were traveling to Tanzania. Jerry was a good friend and an inspiration to Cathy and I through the Faith Alive ministry. Jerry loved to sing and had an enormous baritone voice. I mean that. He could fill a room with praise and worship when he sang. I wanted to honor him and what he has meant to us. What better way than to do so with a song. I explained that to the congregation. They sang a part in the song that Cathy lead and I sang the main verses and counter melody during the chorus. I wish you all could have heard this church singing with us. Their most have been a least a 1000 people in attendance when you count all of those who were sitting under tent extensions out side of the main building. In the final verse, these were the words we sang:
When we arrive at eternity’s shore
When death is just a memory and tears are no more
We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we’ll singYou’re beautiful!
Here’s to you Jerry; a song we’ll sing together to the Lord some day I’m sure. Jesus you are beautiful. For what you have done for us, we’ll never have enough words to express our thanks.
During the worship there was a traditional choir. That’s what they call it. These are groups that use more traditional chants and dance with heavy beads or shakers on their feet. As you can guess, the songs they do are very rhythmic. I admit you all, I have always loved these particular worship choirs, ever since I witness them at a youth choir camp I attended in Kasulu back in 2007. And of course, once they got going with their dance, Cathy and I joined in. Cathy got up first. That got the congregation cheering. And then I put down my iPad (I was videoing them at the time) and came down to dance as well. I’m a dancing fool really, so it was not all that hard to get me going. And in a couple of seconds, I was in sync their steps. I have found that people here really appreciate it when visitors join in with their worship like this. The congregation was cheering, shouting and praising the Lord as we all dance before Him. Oh, but I could wish that we could learn to be so free in Christ in our worship back home. I think that is one of the biggest reasons for my coming to Kasulu each year. I am so refreshed by our fellowship and our worship together. Working on the computers? That’s just an excuse which brings me here for moments like these.
We also had a chance to say a few words to the congregation. I mentioned that although my many friends in Kasulu have said that I have done an extraordinary thing with the work I have done at Kasulu Bible College, that I considered it to be rather ordinary for me. I have these skills and talents in computer systems which are ordinary for me. I do them every day back home. But then I told them that once I offered them to God and for his service, that He made them extraordinary. I encourage them to take what ever God has given them; their minds to think, their hands to work, their resources how ever limited they may think of it as, and offer them to the Lord fully. He will make them extraordinary.
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And so here we are at the end of our time in Kasulu. Cathy and I are pretty much all packed up and ready to start our trip home tomorrow. We fly first to Mwanza where we have a 7 hour layover. Fortunately the Bishop has a brother who lives there, so he is going to meet us and take us around to see the area and get a good meal before we fly back to Dar Es Salaam. That will be a good thing as we will arrive at our hotel pretty late (around 10 PM) so there won’t be much for food service at that hour. I’ll continue to write in the blog over the next few days, so keep coming back. I’m hoping to get a bunch of photo’s posted when I get back to the states and also get a video or two up on YouTube from the worship at Msagara and Murusi Parish’s.
Until tomorrow. Lala Salama!
Bill
But God! That’s where I left off yesterday. I’m referring to Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved.” I’m referring to this because when I got home from the Nov 2005 trip, I had no idea on how to approach the task of getting funds to provide a computer network and Internet for KBC. I really had to rely completely on God to show me the way. Much like this passage speaks of, I was in a word “helpless” in my situation, but God in his great love had a plan already in place for me to simply walk in by faith. About three weeks after returning to the USA, I was attending an Executive Committee meeting for the Faith Alive ministry. During our weekend together, the president of Faith Alive ask me how the Tanzania trip went. I told him about the blessings and about the statement I had made to Jackton concerning the computer systems for KBC. Tom just smiled at me and told me that he was on the Board of Directors for a small Christian charitable trust and that he though that they would very interesting in funding the project. Say what? “Really” I said. Tom gave me instructions on how to apply for a grant. The short of it is, six months later I had a full grant covering the entire project.
Getting the computers to Kasulu was perhaps the next big challenge. I had the funds and I had been given the name of a very honest and reliable computer vendor in Dar Es Salaam who supplied us with most of the equipment we needed. But there was one specific item that I needed to get that was not available in Tanzania at the time. That was the Thin Client computers I spoke of in an earlier post. After talking it over with our vendor, it seemed best that I ship them over from the USA to his location so they would be kept safe until my arrival. The problem was the cost. I had not figured in the cost of shipping them over to the Tanzania in my budget. And at the time, I was uncertain as to how easy it would be to try to transport them during my flight over from the USA. Then two things happened that were an answer to prayer. The first was a suggestion from my vendor. He said that if he arranged for a DHL pickup in the USA and had him pay for the shipment, the cost would be much less than if I initiated the shipment directly from the USA. That was amazing to me, that he would front the cost of the shipping and wait until I came to Tanzania to make the payment. I can’t think of many businesses in the USA that would do that for you. What a generous offer for sure. Then the second answer to prayer came from my US supplier for the thin clients. To reduce the cost and stay in budget, I asked my supplier if I could purchase the 10 units we needed at cost. I explained what I was doing, hoping that they would understand the charitable nature of the project. Just one day later I got a message from them stating that they had a meeting and decided to donate all 10 units to the project. Wow! I could hardly contain the joy of that news. That put us well within our budget again, and as it turned out for good reason as when I finally did get to Kasulu with all of the equipment, it turned out that we needed to purchase a gasoline generator to power up the network because the main diesel unit was down for repairs. And you guessed it, the amount we needed for the generator was covered by the savings from the reduced shipping and thin client costs. Finally, several months later, we were able to install an solar power system to provide electricity for the entire operation from a renewable source.
Seriously, God is good. That was the amazing start to this adventure which continues today and will do so for a very long time I’m sure. And all of this came about because of saying “I’ll go, send me.” to our rector. I think a lot of the amazing things that the Lord as done in my life have come about in this manner. Just saying yes to God a step at a time. It’s not that I have done this perfectly or without a bit of kicking and screaming from time to time. But I am grateful for the chance to serve the Lord with the talents and abilities he has given me. Right now I’m very happy to be where I am in Kasulu. What was new and unfamiliar to me 6 years ago is now like home.
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Today we finished out our work at the Bible College. Everything is in good shape and I have put in place the connections I need to remotely support them from the USA. With the increased Internet speed, we are now able to make computer to computer Skype phone calls and I am able to run remote control sessions to their computers as well. That will be very helpful in case some type of service is needed from me.
The other thing I want to report on today is the new classrooms for KBC. St. Paul’s gave $4000 this past year to help fund two new classrooms for KBC. They are in the building process. This Fall, the foundation was laid and then the walls and openings were next. The building is constructed mainly of bricks which are main locally from the heavy red clay/dirt that is indigenous to the Kasulu region. They will be putting a top layer of bricks above the window and door sills soon and then the roof rafters and corrugated metal panels will be next. I’ll get some more pictures attached to this post a little bit later as I’m starting to fall asleep now.
Needless to say it was a very satisfying day. I’m looking forward to worship tomorrow at Murusi Parish. I’ll do my best to get some news of that out to you by tomorrow afternoon along with some pictures.
Good night again from Kasulu.
Bill