 Ruhita Church |
Today was a bit different than most on our visit this year. We got to spend most of the day in worship activities. Bishop Makaya asked us last night if we would like to come with him in the morning to the village of Ruhita to visit the church there. They were going to have an installation/dedication of the rural area Dean. We said yes of course as we have not visited a lot of churches this time around. Ruhita is about a 30 minute drive from the compound. I was glad to go because I had visited Ruhita back in 2008 when they were just starting to build their new church building. At that time it was just a partial shell with no roof. Of course, when ever you visit a church here in Tanzania, their is always a time to fellowship and eat, either before or after the service or meeting. In this case we had food graciously presented to us before and after the service. There is one thing for sure that I have learned about Tanzania over their past 11 years and that is their hospitality is second to none.
So, after breakfast at the pastor’s house the service started. It lasted about 2 1/2 hours. Again, pretty normal if you’ve read any of my earlier posts. During the service we had the opportunity to sing few songs with the congregation and also to speak to them and share our greetings. Along with our greetings I shared with them about callings and how I came to Kasulu 11 years ago and what happened to me at that time that brought me back each year. It’s something I’ve written about before in a blog post from 2011, so if you want to read it go to the link below.
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http://tzblog.schrull.us/2011/12/09/dec-9-dreams-to-come-true/
When we got back from Ruhita, we had a short rest of about 30 minutes and then we were off to Bethany Church to lead a bible study. I lead them through a study on Ephesians 2:1-10, similar to the study I lead at Kidyama Church a week ago. Once again we also had a chance to share some songs with the congregation. They really seemed to appreciate it and asked that we come back for Sunday worship with them on our next visit to Kasulu.
Tonight is our last night in Kasulu. It’s kind of bitter sweet for me. In one sense I always appreciate our home back in Connecticut. And I really enjoy our fiends and family. Even so, there is just something about this place that captivates me. I thoroughly enjoy every moment here, and I do mean every moment. Life back at home is plagued with what you have to do in the future, somethings focusing on things months in advance. Everything is so planned all of the time. I remember a saying my mom used to say occasionally; “Stop the world, I want to get off”. It feels that way to me at times back home. Over here I am completely freed from the pressure that all the scheduling brings. And interestingly enough, it’s not that we don’t have a schedule when we are here. Yet somehow it all seems at ease in a way that I can be fully present to each moment and not be thinking about what I have to do next until it’s time to think about it.
So I’ll call it a night now. We’ll get to our packing in the morning and plan to head out to Kigoma by 2 pm. But hey! Those are moment I don’t have to worry until tomorrow. Praise God for that.
Bill
 Freshly re-imaged Andriod Tablet |
Today was an DWT office day. Canon Mafumbi, who heads up the financial offices for the Diocese wanted to have network file and print sharing setup with their three laptop computers; his computer, the accounts and the cashier computer. It took a little while for me to get that going as I’m normally used to Active Directory domain computers to configure rather than a small work group. Never the less, I got them working together sharing files and sharing Mafumbi’s printer.
After this I worked a bit more on the DWT compound wireless network setting two repeaters they can use to extend the network into the new house and hostel rooms when they have guests visiting. The units are small and portable so the can be plugged into any electrical outlet.
I also fixed an Android tablet that I left here on our last trip. It gave it to Emmanuel Bwatta to use and experiment with as a trial unit for the 20 tablets we brought with us on this trip. The only problem was I had played around with the operating system before hand. Apparently when an OS update came through, the changes I made caused the boot up to fail. Fortunately I was able to download some tools to re-image the unit back to it’s factory installation state. So it is back up and running. I passed it back to Emmanuel. Hopefully he will have no further trouble with it.
 Good Shepherd Church |
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Later today we were invited to visit Mchungaji Mwema (Good Shepherd) Church, which is the Marusi district of Kasulu. Cathy and I have visited the parish before. It was good to see the progress they have made with purchasing surrounding property so that they can work towards building a more lasting building for worship. We had dinner with Paster Ndenza and then traveled back to the compound for the evening. As you can see from the pictures, the current church building is nothing more than a wood post and frame structure with reed matting for the sides with tarps to keep the rain out and a corrugated metal roof. My hope is that my home church, St. Paul’s will step up to help Good Shepherd with their fund raising to build a permanent building. I guess I’ll be talking to them when I get back from our trip.
Tonight we are enjoying a quiet time at home, writing in our blogs and drinking Chai Bora tea, a favorite here in Tanzania. By the way, if you’ve noticed that my blog posts have been somewhat short, it’s because my Bluetooth keyboard decided to quit working just before we left the USA. So I’ve been typing on the screen keyboard. It actually works pretty good, but it’s definitely slower than a regular keyboard. So please forgive any typo’s.
I give thanks to the Lord for the time we have been here. We had a wonderful time so far with more blessings to look forward to. I’m especially looking forward to this weekend when we worship at St. Michaels Church in Kigoma. I’ll say more about that in a later post. For now, just taking in the moment we are in is good enough for me.
Peace be with you friends,
Canon Bill