Sunday Morning in Monduli Juu

On this particular Sunday, I decided to go up to visit the church in the village on top of the mountain, the Monduli Juu church.  As we're just ending rainy season, everything is still so green and flowers are blooming everywhere.  A former student, Wilson, wanted to go with me, so we drove up together.  

We arrived just in time for the break between class and the service, so we had time to greet people before heading in.  Several of the students from Wilson's graduating class last year are members there, so he went of to sit with them and catch up.  Ralph and Twyla Williams, some Canadian missionaries we're all good friends with, worship there, and due to coronavirus Twyla has become the Hand-Washing Guard, standing beside the bucket and soap set up by the door and making sure everyone stops to wash their hands properly before going inside. 

I enjoyed being there; the Monduli Juu church is always friendly and I like spending time with the people there.  It was nice to be able to get back up there; I haven't visited in a while due to not wanting to drive the steep mountain road in the heavy rains of rainy season, but now that we've had over a week of sunny weather it was a great time to go up.

After church, Ralph and Twyla invited me (and Wilson, since he was with me) back to their house for lunch.  Sunday is their leftover day so as to have a quick meal after church, but we lucked out--they had leftover fajita meat!  It was nice to share a meal with them and admire their verdant garden before heading back down the mountain.

Look how well their rhubarb plants are growing! 

Sunny Sunday Morning

After a few days of rain (it is the rainy season, after all, so no surprise), Sunday started out sunny and nice.  Since schools are closed, we, of course, don't have our normal worship service with the students, so I walked over to the Monduli church.  It's only about a ten-minute walk; it's in the neighborhood just across the road from mine.  

Although today is nice, you can see the effects of the last few days of rain on the roads on the way.  Somehow there's always an enormous mud hold right in front of the church; it seems right there is one of the worst spots in the neighborhood.  I always seem to do some weird clinging to the hedge to get into the churchyard without falling in the mud. 

A handwashing station was set up outside the door, as we all try to do what we can to keep the virus from spreading here.  As of right now, meetings of groups less than fifty is still allowed, so the church is still meeting. 

Greeting people and shaking hands is very important here, but for now, we've all agreed to wave and smile instead.  It made for several funny moments as people would reach out and then remember and pull their hands back, but everyone's trying to keep a good attitude about it. 

Pray for a Future Leader

Another Sunday morning at the school church service...today, Revocatus, one our form 4 students is giving the lesson. He's one of the students that I have a lot of respect for, for his maturity and leadership among the students. His parents are leaders in the church in Geita, a city near Lake Victoria. I hope that he will as also become a strong leader and influence those around him well. 

I write a lot about my experiences here in Monduli, but the most important part of my life here is knowing these students. I wish I could introduce every one of them to you. I would like to tell you now and then about specific students, and I ask that you say a prayer for them. Today, please pray that Revocatus will become a strong leader for the Lord! 

Three Baptisms!

This morning at church, Fielden announced that there would be a baptism in the afternoon. It turned out to be three: welcome David, Isack, and Luther to the family!

David and Isack are in form two, and Luther is in form one. I'm happy for all of them, and I pray that they grow to be leaders in our school and community. 

The baptisms and the singing and praying done alongside them were led by students. 4th year students Benedict and Norman organized and led the service. In the photo Benedict, assisted by Meleji, is baptizing David. I'm proud of our older students for showing leadership and serving their fellow students in this way. 

A couple of the boys' families were able to come to witness the baptisms. Above, Luther stands with his father and two sisters. 

Isack's mother and younger brother (his father passed away some time ago) came. 

Below, Benedict prays with the guys after the baptisms. It was am important day for the students of Alpha Omega!

Alpha Omega Sunday Service

Another Sunday here at Alpha Omega!  Today, Lewis is speaking.  I took a video of the singing today, but the file is too large to post here on the blog.  You can hear it on my Facebook page! 

Sunday Morning Singing

Welcome to another Sunday morning at the school!  As usual, I attended the Sunday morning service in the dining hall that the students all attend.  Enjoy the video of the singing!  Wilson, one of the form four students, is the best student song leader.  

Oscar speaking before the Lord's Supper

Wilson leading singing enthusiastically

Sunday Mornings at the School

A beautiful sunny Sunday on campus

Sunday mornings start early; the church service for the students held in the dining hall on campus begins at eight.  The area churches generally start at ten, but their services often last for three or four hours, while ours is about an hour and a half, so there are trade-offs.  Ours is so early for several reasons.  For one thing, ours is finished before the church across the street begins, so some of our students go there afterwards to help with teaching a Bible class for the children.  We have an optional Bible class afterwards, so an early start gives plenty of time before lunch, and the students have plenty of time to study in the afternoon.  

All of the students are required to attend the morning worship service, but the Bible class led by Lewis, a leadership class led by Fielden Allison, and attending the service in Swahili at the Ngarash church are all optional, so tend to be the more dedicated or interested students. 

During the service

Several of the students participate in leading worship alongside some of the teachers who are members of the church of Christ; these days, the students do everything except the main sermon (and sometimes do that, too), including the communion meditation, which here in Tanzania is generally nearly as long as the sermon.  Everything is done in English except the singing; we sing in English occasionally, but in Swahili at least eighty per cent of the time.  I've recorded the singing a few times; I'd like to add the recordings to a blog post but the times I've tried the internet hasn't been strong enough to handle uploading a larger file like that.  Sometime when I'm in Arusha on wifi I'll give it a try again.  

I had a very cute helper keeping up with my bag while we waited for Bible class to start.

Sunday School at Ngarash Church

One of our older students, Rispa, has been co-teaching a Sunday school class with Janet Allison (one of the American teachers at the school) at Ngarash church of Christ, which is just down the road from the school. She's confident enough now that she taught by herself when Janet was sick last week.

We have a Sunday service on campus every week, which all the students are required to attend.  It is mostly in English, since students are required to speak English on campus, though we do sing in Swahili, too.  However, our service is early enough that it does not overlap with services at the nearby church, so if the students want to attend a Swahili language service, they are allowed to go.  A few of the more mature Christians among them do on a regular basis, while several others stay on campus for an English-language Bible class with Lewis (which I attend as well).  

Ngarash Church

The view of the church from the road.

On my third Sunday in Tanzania, we went to the Ngarash church.  This church is just around the corner from the school, right across the street from the clinic.  The current preacher, Saiguron, is the accountant for both the clinic and the school. 

The building itself is a rough unchinked log building, lined with plastic sheeting inside.  It has a hard-packed dirt floor, and there's a little churchyard out front lined with rocks.  As you can see in the picture above, there is also an outhouse if needed.  I wish I'd gotten a photo from a different angle because there are some traditional round mud huts just to the left of the building, but they are blocked from view in this photo by the bushes. 

Tammy and Deborah chatting with one of the church members after services.

The building was filled up by the time the sermon started; it's a small congregation but has several elderly people and several children.  Mr. Shekwavi, the headmaster of the school, was the guest preacher today, and Saiguron did the singing and the Lord's Supper.  Here in Tanzania, the communion meditation is functionally a second sermon; it's usually nearly as long.  

As usual, the service ended with a song during which everyone exited in a line, shaking everyone's hand along the way until they reached the end and joined the line until it wrapped around the churchyard.  The Ngarash church is very friendly and I really enjoyed meeting the people there.  I'm not sure what it was, but of the three churches I've visited so far, this one felt the most home-like.  Starting next week, however, I'll be worshipping on campus with the students.  I hope to visit at Ngarash again sometime, though! 

VBS at Kisongo

The church of Christ in Kisongo (the town halfway between Monduli and Arusha, which also has the Andrew Connoly School of Preaching associated with Bear Valley) has quite a few children both who already attend there and in the neighbourhoods around it, so children’s activities and outreach have become an important part of their ministry.  They hold ‘Children’s Seminar’ which is similar to a one-day VBS as well as week-long VBS, which was going on this week. Tammy, Beth and I took the kids one day.

There were one hundred and twenty-five children there that night, and one of the missionaries who works there told us that they were up to one hundred and sixty by the last night.  It was beautiful to hear so many children singing and learning Bible stories.

The grass and sticks are on the floor because the lesson was something about birds and there was a nest-building competition.

Here's a video of the singing!  

Arusha church of Christ

On my second Sunday in Tanzania, I went with the Shorts to visit the Arusha church of Christ.  They have friends who are members there but had never visited for a service.  It's still the school holiday, so we don't have the Sunday service with the students and are using the time to visit other area churches. 

The Arusha church of Christ is down an extremely rough little road by the railroad tracks and these huge silos just south of downtown Arusha.  I'm not sure how they get down to the building at all in the rainy season; even though many people walk down I imagine it's a bit of a mess.  It was worth the trek, though, as the members are a nice group of people.  

After church, we spent a while outside while the Shorts caught up with various people that they know and I was introduced to many new people.  We went to lunch after with the Kambarage family.  Mr. Kambarage is an elder in the Arusha church and a respected church leader here in Tanzania.  He owns a mechanic shop, as well.  He and his wife have three children, who all came--the eldest son is an accountant in his late twenties, then a daughter who is twenty-two and working as a housekeeper for an American family we know while also finishing her degree, and a twenty-year-old son who is in trade school.  I ended up at the end of the table with the three younger Kambarages, who all speak good English, while the Shorts chatted with their parents in Swahili.  I enjoyed getting to know them, and hope to see them again in the future. 

There was a great view of Mt Meru from in front of the church.

Kanisa la Kristo

The plan is that normally I will worship with the students at the school at the Sunday service held on campus, but as it is fall break now I have the chance to visit other congregations.  The Monduli church of Christ is right around the corner; it was nice to only have a three-minute walk to get there.

Services started at ten; there was a Bible class with everyone together, but there's not really much separation from the main service so it all ran together.  Then there was the usual: singing, praying, sermon, communion, announcements, etc.  Most of it was translated into English by Tizo (Beth's husband).

The service took about two and a half hours, and afterwards, the children rejoiced because usually it's closer to four.  I'm not sure quite how that's possible, but then again there is the Bible class lesson, the sermon, and the communion mediation which is basically another sermon (even today in a rather short service the scriptures and reasons behind communion were thoroughly reviewed), and translating makes everything twice as long.

There is an interesting tradition here in Tanzania that I've never seen before: at the end of the service, instead of dismissing and everyone standing around inside, everyone keeps singing the last song as everyone files out.  The first person out stands at the door, and as each person exits, they shake his or her hand and then stand next to them.  The line forms a big circle around the churchyard as everyone shakes everyone's hand and then joins the end of the line.  Now, I know it wouldn't work in a very large congregation, but it was nice that everyone (even small children) had the chance to greet every other person.  We kept singing the chorus over and over until everyone one was out and we were all in a circle outside, and then we were dismissed, and the normal standing around talking after service happens outside.  I do wonder how this tradition changes come rainy season.

Also, here's your Swahili word for the day: kanisa.  As you can see from the sign over the door, kanisa means church.  

Agape in Via del Bollo

On Sunday, the church was full, and they had organized a fellowship meal (called an ‘agape’ in Italian) since they knew we’d be there.  The food was great; it’s always interesting to have potlucks in the Via del Bollo congregation since the members are from so many different countries.  I don’t think I’ve ever had lasagne and jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) and pigs in a blanket and Filipino noodles all on the same plate before. (Or at least not since the last agape I participated in in Milan--although then we also had Ghanaian food).