Today was a somewhat simple day for us. After a light breakfast we made our way down to KBC for graduation ceremonies. The graduations were for diploma and certificate students. Certificate grad’s did their courses in Swahili. Diploma students did theirs in English and are eligible to go for a bachelors degree (at a different institution or University). The ceremony started with a communion services. Canon Helen Sammons did the preaching. There we other various speaches as well. Since this is the last week for Helen and Alister to be in Tanzania, there were gift exchanges as well. It ended with lunch in the dining hall. I’m glad we could make this event. Cathy and I turned out the be the choir for the service. So we pulled out some favorites of ours that we could sing with the students.
In the afternoon, I spent some time back in the computer room area working on what will be our final setup for the Internet connection. As things turned out, we were unable to get the MiFi devices I had hope would be coming from Dar Es Salaam earlier in the week. But Helen and Alister, being so gracious and charitable agreed to sell their MiFi device to KBC. All I needed to do was to borrow the device for the afternoon and do a switch over test and document it so that someone for KBC can install the device when I am gone. I reviewed the procedure with Reginald who will perform the install. I’m reasonable sure he can manage it as I will also have remote view of the Server just prior and after the switch over from the current Vodacom modem connection. We’ll have to see how that goes as Vodacom dropped the ball this week by having a network problem, which started sometime on Tuesday and has not yet been fixed. The Internet connection has been up and down since, so it’s hard to work on the system with that happening. Please pray that they can get their network working correctly soon!
It’s late now so I think I’ll stop here. I’ll just say that The Lord has been showing me much about commitment and sacrifice during this year’s trip. I’m looking forward to discussing many things with Fr. Joe and the St. Paul’s Mission Committee when we return. Until then,
Bwana Yesu Asifiwe.
Bill
Live! From the village of Shunga, in the region called Bhuha; a celebration of 100 years of the Gospel in Western Tanzania. I don’t know the entire story, but 100 years ago German missionaries came to bring the Gospel to this area in Tanzania and settled in the village of Shunga. Today, there is a big celebration with the opening of a new hospital ward, also managed by the German missionaries and a large outdoor worship service during which Cathy and I sang with the congregation gathered for the event. There are literally thousands of people here today. I’ve included some video’s and pictures to give you a flavor of the event.
I must say, if there is the lost art of celebration, then you can find it in Tanzania. The people here are unashamed and unfettered by anything when it comes to celebrating loudly and with energy. I hope you enjoy the short video’s I prepared for you to view.
Part of the service was confirmation. Their had to be at least 100 young people coming forward to be confirmed in their faith. The scale of these events in DWT are sometimes staggering to me. I wish you could all be here to experience the joy, laughter, singing and worship at this celebration. I’m guessing we will be here for several hours before it finishes. That is their way. But I wonder if there is something of this culture that we could learn from when it comes to “letting ourselves go” and openly affirming our love and appreciation of The Lord and all that He has done for us. It really is refreshing.
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We are back at the compound now. And ……… the power just went out. So I’ll have to post the other video to YouTube later, but I did manage to get one of them done for you to view. It was a great day at Shunga. The service / ceremony lasted about 4 1/2 hours. That’s not unusual at all for celebrations here in Tanzania. I still remember the 6 hour dedication service at the new Matyazo Church in 2006. They had every sacrament except a marriage at the service. Baptisms, Confirmations, Holy Eucharist, etc… Cathy and I again had the chance to sing at this event. I had a sound track of drums, bass guitar and strings setup on my iPad. We were fully mic’d this time and wow, were we breaking the sound barrier. But it was great. The entire congregation got into the song and sang the chorus with us. We have the youth pastor for the diocese helping us lead the song. He was GREAT! He really got every one singing and worshiping The Lord with us. When I get the video from Canon Mafumbi, I’ll have to post it to YouTube for you.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I will repeat, that the German missionaries here are such remarkable people. Some of them are life time missionaries. They have been in Tanzania for years and just seem to love and care for the people of this region with such dedication and personal sacrifice. They mainly run hospitals, clinics and orphanages. It’s a labor of love that I admire completely. I hope when some of you all from St. Paul’s come to Tanzania with Cathy and I (hint, hint!), we’ll have to make a trek to Matyazo or Shunga so you can experience it for yourself. We’ll be going to Canon Daniel Nyugwa’s again tonight. I’m looking forward to it. Daniel is such a great person and is fun to be with.
Yours in Christ,
Canon Bill