We are in the Mwanza Airport right now as I’m writing waiting for our flight back to Dar Es Salaam. We flew to Mwanza from Kigoma earlier today. We started this morning with chai at Editha and Bishop Sadock Makaya’s home one last time. Chai is what they call breakfast and for sure it’s more than just tea. 
I always have Africafe Coffee in the morning and Mama Askofu (Mama Bishop is what most people call her) has a awesome compliment of food with it, eggs, toast, japati, honey, fresh mangos, bananas and so on. Chai is my favorite meal in Tanzania. I guess because I love eggs, honey, and mangos. We said our goodbye’s to the Bishop. Mama accompanied us to the Airport along with Christopher our driver and Daudi Ndahana, our dear friend and principal of KBC. We also had the leader of Kasulu Cathedral Choir with us. He was leaving on a earlier flight. His name is Asante. That’s a wonderful name. It means “thank you” in Kiswahili. We dropped him off first and then quickly went to the Kigoma market for some things that Mama and Cathy wanted to purchase there. I bought another shirt that I liked very much when I saw it in one the shops. We then departed for the Airport and were on our way to Mwanza shortly after.
In Mwanza we met up with Herman Makaya, the Bishop’s brother. Herman brought us to see his shop in one of the main markets and we then visited the St. Nicolas Anglican Cathedral which was a short distance away. After that Herman took us to the Victoria Palace Hotel owned and operated by one of this friends. Good place, nicely constructed with excellent food I must say. We both had an early dinner which consisted of local fish from Lake Victoria. Some time back I had tasted fish from Mwanza in Kasulu when someone had brought some back during their travels. It was very good, so I was glad to get a chance to sample some again today. Ah! There goes the call for our flight. I’ll finish this later.
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After we had our dinner, Herman drove us over to a large fish market where another one of his friends runs an import / export business. This was fascinating. They dry fish there on long wooden racks and then ship it to various cities around Lake Victoria, including over to Kenya, Uganda and the DRC. There is also an large section of the market devoted to shipping these very small minnow like fish. They are barely an inch long. A lot of them were being packaged as chicken feed. But I know I’ve also seen these particular fish available in Kasulu and are also harvested in Kigoma from Lake Tanganyika for human consumption. They are a favorite of many locals I have met in Kasulu. Anyway, what fascinated me the most while visiting the market where these huge pelicans or cranes. 
I’m not sure which they are, but they had a wing span of about 8 feet at least. Yet even with their bulky size they flew around like seagulls at a New England fishing dock foraging for fishy left overs.
From what we experienced and saw, Mwanza is a busy city. Outside of the city area there appears to be a lot of agriculture (farming). There looked to be a lot of rice fields as well as other cultivated spreads of land when viewing the city from the air. It really was a nice break in our journey to visit Mwanza. I’m really not sure why we were unable to be book on the earlier flight to Dar but no matter, it was an afternoon well spent getting to know one of the Bishops brothers and experiencing an area of Tanzania we had not previously been too. And of course, our bags made the earlier flight, but that meant we did not have to wait for it at the carousel. It was waiting for us safely at the Precision Air desk when we got to Dar this evening.
We are in our hotel now and are looking forward to one more short day tomorrow in the city. We have some bills to attend to with our computer equipment vendor and then at about 1 PM we’ll head out to the airport to start our journey home. We are hoping to see Bishop Makaya one last time as he is traveling into Dar at around the time we will arrive at the airport to check in.
I know that most of what I am writing is information today. I’d like to reflect a bit about our trip, but I think I’ll just give that some time before I do. I’m not sure I can put it all into words yet. This has been one of the best and most rewarding trips I’ve had. I’m really finding it hard to leave right now. I know we will get hit with some reverse culture shock when we get home. In Tanzania, you don’t see much prep for Christmas. No one is announcing how many shopping days are left. There are no box stores pulling all nighters on “black friday”. No one is stressing out about purchasing the “perfect” present. No one is thinking about all they need to get done before the holiday. They are going to get up on Christmas morning and go to worship God and be thankful for the birth of Jesus, then go home and celebrate with their families with a modest meal and a grateful heart. You know, I could really live with that concept.
The peace of the Lord be with you.
Bill
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