Race, I can’t tell you the last time I cried that wasn’t an Extreme Home
Makeover induced tear-fest. But I can
tell you that in the last year I have cried more than I can remember in the
last ten years. Many of those tears
have been shed in Tanzania,
and many more will be shed for Tanzania. It began with the story of Pandora and Sarah,
and it has continued with each new tale of faith and obedience.
One of the
things I have loved so much about this ministry and this place, is the fact
that we get to see the same people over and over. As I have mentioned before, the church with
which we are working is an extremely active one. With services and events as frequent as they
are, I would think that it would be an excuse to show up only once a week, and
be done with the churchy obligation. But
that is not the case. As frequently as
we are at the church, so too are several of the dedicated members.
We see Rachel (whose story Vicki is
going to tell in a blog) who works with the children all the time, teaching
them songs and dances, and who has several children of her own.
We spend time with Anne, one of the
worship leaders at the church. And
Jackie, who is the daughter of Mama Joyce and is an incredibly intelligent
young woman. I had a chance to look over
her final thesis from university, and she is amazing.
Mama Joyce too is so
incredible. Her husband is gone for long
periods of time; she has two daughters away at boarding school; she runs a
business in the city; she is a church elder. She takes the last of these things seriously. She is so generous. Giving us a room in her home, allowing us to
take over her living room or dining room. She gives away much of what she gets to the church, including her time. Last week, the teenage daughter of a church
member was hospitalized for mental illness. Mama Joyce found out about it, and also found out that the young girl
was most lucid early in the morning. So,
Mama was up and out of the house by 6am to sit with her and pray for
healing. Mama also asks us about our
lives. She cares for each one of us,
wanting to know about our pasts and what led us on the World Race, and what we
hope and dream to do after we return to the US.
Justin is another one of the church
members who has bent over backwards for us. He is trying to start a preschool at the church during the
mornings. He also is the Sunday School
teacher (which meets both on Saturday and on Sunday). Because we’ve helped out a bunch, we’ve
gotten to know him too. He is a
newly-wed (October), but as soon as he and his wife were married, her job
transferred her to a city several hours away, so they only get to see each
other about once a month. Not an ideal
way to spend your first years of marriage!
Pastor Celsius’s wife Rachel is
amazing too. She helps to translate for
us when we are leading the women’s bible study. She also accompanies us on our home visits in the morning, frequently
going ahead of our little band to warn the church members that mzungos are
approaching.
And then there is Pastor
Celsius. He warrants of blog of his own,
which I hope to get to, but in case I don’t, here are the highlights. He is a protective Daddy to us, especially
the girls since the boys left a week ago. He makes sure we know where we are going, and if he can’t personally
escort us, he sends us with a church member as a guide. When we are invited to people’s homes, they
have to talk to him first to get permission (so cute) and make sure we get home
before dusk. But more than that, the man
is hilarious. The joy of the Lord is in
him in a big way. We have seen him laugh
so hard at church that he has to wipe the tears from his eyes. When we are in homes, and someone makes a
comment in Swahili about us, often his first response is to laugh… and when he
can breathe again, he translates for us. The things he says are so funny that I have a whole list of
‘Celcyisms.’ Like Mama Joyce, he is
interested in us as people. Not just as
hands doing work in his community. When
he found out that I had lived in my own home, alone, he was immediately
concerned for my safety. No one in Tanzania lives
alone; it is very dangerous. And of
course, being 29 and still single, he was also very concerned for my
future. He and I were talking one
evening about living in community, and all the things that the World Race
teaches, and he said to me, “I think that after this safari (journey) you will
be well prepared for marriage.” That one
made me laugh pretty hard.
These are just a handful of the
people I have come to know and love in these weeks here. I have already started shedding tears over
our coming separation. But I have a
feeling that God will bring me back to Tanzania, sooner rather than
later. As I said, this place is
incredible, and the Lord is doing some amazing things here.
land,
