Hello from Tanzania! I thought I would give you some highlights of the trip so far and go more in depth later.
We arrived in Iringa late on Thursday and are staying at the Lutheran Centre here. On Friday, we toured the Iringa Diocese offices. The General Secretary of the diocese, Naymann Chavalla, spoke with us about what is going on in the Iringa Diocese. We saw the offices of Bega Kwa Bega, Radio Fruaha and the tree seedlings they are growing in efforts to plant a million trees. On Saturday we took some time to visit the Isimilia stone age site and hike through the stone pillars canyon there. In the afternoon, some of us visited Huruma, a local orphanage. I spent Sunday worshiping with our companion church in Kidamali. Pastor Rick from our group gave the sermon in English with a Swahili translator. The service ran close to three hours long, but it seemed quicker than some of the one-hour services I've sat through in the United States. Since this is Shepherd of the Hills' companion congregation it was special for me. I addressed the congregation and gave them a gift from Shepherd. They told us about their prayers for Shepherd - they pray for Shepherd every Tuesday and Friday and had been praying for us through our pastor searches. They told us about the students who have been given scholarships to attend school through the generosity of Shepherd members - over 70! We visited one of four remote preaching points the parish has. I found the whole experience very moving. Today we went to Ilula Lutheran Hospital, one of two hospitals in the Iringa region. We then went to Image, the companion congregation of Pastor Rick's church, Bethlehem Lutheran in Bayport. The congregation there gave Pastor Rick a goat. They will send the goat to Iringa and Pastor Rick will donate it to the Huruma Orphanage that we had visited. After that we visited the Image Lutheran High School. There are 700 students boarding and attending this high school. Many of them are there on scholarships provided by Bega Kwa Bega. Wow, it was a long day of driving on our bus over bumpy dirt roads. It is so exciting to see God's work here on the other side of the globe. And also, how God's work in Minnesota has affected life over here for the people in Iringa. Thank you all so much for your prayers for this trip.
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On our plane coming into Tanzania we were given immigration forms to fill out. Instead of having the letterhead at the top saying "The United Republic of Tanzania" the top line read "East African Community". As I filled it out I wondered if our country would be very different if it was the United Communities of America.
On our drive to our hotel in Dar es Salaam and on our bus ride to Iringa it was a common sight to see a group of people sitting and talking. It might be two neighboring shopkeepers, maybe a group of people around a pump filling their water jugs, maybe some young men shooting pool on an outside billiard table, or it could be a group outside of a market standing with their bags. The rarer sight was seeing a Tanzanian alone. Community just seems to be something they do. Tomorrow I go to Shepherd of the Hills' companion congregation in Kidamali to worship with them. I'm looking forward to our relationship being renewed. The companion congregations are all linked through a program called Bega Kwa Bega, which is Swahili for Shoulder to Shoulder. The relationships are built on 3 P's - Prayer, Presence, Projects. Shepherd has been through some turmoil in the past years with 5 Pastors in the last 5 years or so. Now, I hope that the relationship with Kidamali can be reinvigorated. We want to be in community with our companion congregation. Just a few examples of community that I've been pondering. We have arrived!
We boarded our plane at 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon. 24 hours later we were getting on our bus to be taken to our hotel for the evening. It was 24 hours, but according to the time zones it was only 16. Still it was a long day to be mostly sitting in an airline seat. It was dark when we entered Tanzania, so even though we had a stop at Kilimanjaro Airport we couldn't see the mountain. We rode to our hotel in the dark as well, but there was still plenty of activity. Dar es Salaam has a population of 1.36 million. I couldn't help but wonder about the stories of the lives of the people we saw. Today, we will be taking a bus ride of about 9 hours to reach Iringa. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this country. Another one of our group is also blogging. Those of you from Shepherd of the Hills Church will remember Pastor Horacio. His blog is at www.pastorhoracio2016tanzaniatrip.wordpress.com. (Sorry, I'm not sure why that doesn't turn into a hyperlink when i typed it. You'll just have to type out the address in your browser.) Thank you all for your prayers for a safe voyage; they worked. Keep praying. Back in July I wrote about a trip I was going to take to Tanzania (http://timkwrites.weebly.com/blog/we-cannot-find-kidamali-tanzania-google-maps.) The trip seemed far away, not only in distance, but in time as well. While the distance hasn’t changed, time is getting short. I’ll be leaving in a week. I’m getting ready to go; gathering supplies and figuring out what to pack.
There have been a few meetings of the group that is going, so I have some more information about the trip. We’ll be staying in the Lutheran Center in Iringa, Tanzania most nights. I’ll be able to access the internet from there, so I will be able to post updates from Tanzania. Although, I’m sure my posts will probably be more travelogue postings of what we did and where we went. I’ll probably need some time to process, so there will be posts after I return as well. I’ll be worshipping at Shepherd of the Hills’ companion congregation of Kidamali on our first Sunday. Google maps told me they couldn’t find Kidamali. I did find it with an internet search and heard some more information about the location at our last meeting. It sits on the rim of the Great Rift Valley. I am looking forward to this trip. Like the old theme song from the TV show Cheers says, “taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot.” With the internet, I won’t be totally out of touch, but at least I’ll miss a lot of political ads. I voted today with Andrew. It was his first time ever to vote. It was a proud moment.
I was very excited when Hillary Clinton picked me to be her Vice-Presidential running mate. Unfortunately, when they called me to address the convention I was rudely stopped by some guy in sunglasses while an impostor who spells our name incorrectly took my place. (I might as well enjoy having the same name as Tim Kaine while I can, it’s bound to get old if they’re in office for 8 years.) I should explain something for those who read my last post and were expecting haikus here. I talked about having written some haikus as part of my grieving process when Debbie passed away and said I would post them here later. I was not meaning to post them now. This month is reserved for celebration as Alicia and Carlos tie the knot again in a formal wedding ceremony to complete the civil ceremony that was done in March. Plus, having something already pre-written to go up on the blog will come in handy. I’ve been able to post every Tuesday since I started blogging. Although there have been some late-night postings, I’ve always beaten my midnight deadline. I turned in my paperwork to apply for a visa to Tanzania. I’m not sure how things will work while I’m traveling in Tanzania. I will have access to the internet, I’m just not sure how my time will be filled. My guess is that I’ll be posting some during the trip, but it will be more along the lines of a travelogue of where I’ve been. After I get back and have had some time to process I’ll be able to write some more in depth. Alicia and Carlos’ wedding preparations are continuing. I was honored to be asked to walk Alicia up the aisle during the service. I was out last night buying a new suit to wear. Somehow all my old suits seem to have shrunk while hanging in the closet. We’re also getting ready to have a rehearsal and dinner here prior to the wedding. The Olympics are always fun to watch with its many memorable moments. This year has been no exception. I was captivated by the women’s cross country cycling. The horrific crash of Annemiek Van Vleuten, Mara Abbot trying to hang onto her lead for the gold medal had me spellbound. It was good to find out that Annemiek Van Vleuten is recovering. The story of Yusra Mardini of the refugee team and her escape to Greece is inspiring. One day last February my daughter, Alicia, texted me and asked if I had any interest in going to Tanzania. I responded with a slightly less than enthusiastic, “Maybe” and “I’ll think about it.” I’ll admit my biggest trepidation was (and still is) the bathroom situation. Toilets in that part of the world aren’t the thrones we’re used to, but are squat toilets.
I was also feeling intrigued. Alicia had visited Tanzania on a trip when she was in high school. From the stories she returned with, I could tell the trip had had a big impact on her. The stories of the people in Tanzania were amazing. Alicia’s bus was hours late in arriving at one place, but the people there just patiently waited for their arrival. People who would give them chickens even though they had barely enough for themselves. People who, by our standards, have nothing yet they were happy and content. It is something I want to see. Especially coming from our culture where we’re constantly told that money and possessions equal happiness, to the point where 7% of people in a survey said they would kill a stranger for $10,000,000. The trip is being put together by the St. Paul Area Synod of the ELCA where Alicia works. It is a mission trip, but we won’t really be doing any work. The people over there know that what we pay to get to there is roughly equivalent to what they would make in 10 years. So, they want to meet us and develop relationships. They can paint walls or build things anytime, but they will have only a limited time with us. Churches in the St. Paul Synod have a history of relationships with Tanzania. Many are paired up in partnership with a specific congregation in Tanzania. My church, Shepherd of the Hills in Shoreview, has a relationship with the congregation in Kidamali. We will be visiting Kidamali along with several other locations around Iringa, Tanzania. Unfortunately, Shepherd went through a rough patch in the past few years and the relationship wasn’t kept up. However, now we have a new pastor and there is an energy that’s been missing for some time. I believe one of the reasons this trip came up at this time was as part of God’s plan for Shepherd. As we move forward with the healing from the turmoil of the past we can restore a ministry that was dropped and shift our internal focus to also continue our process of becoming a part of God’s community. I’m excited to be going on this trip. Unknowns for me are in store as I visit places that even Google Maps doesn’t know about. I’ll be blogging about the trip here. I hope you’ll join me on my journey. |
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