trips.schrull.us

Thursday, October 11:  Today was our last full day in Kasulu.  I hope to go back an cover some of the days thay at missed blogging about later, but in case I don’t, the quick run-down was:

 

Sunday, Oct 7th – Two church services where Bill and I both shared and we sang two songs.  The first, the 6:30 am service at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Kasulu, which we left early so that we could drive to the second at Musagara, a church that we have visited serveral times before and where Bill’ borther Canon, Herman Kapama is pastor.  (Bill, Duadi and Herman Kapama were all made Canon’s at the same time 4 or 5 years ago).  Bishop Makaya returned for Dar es Salaam and Kigoma and the three of us, Bob, Bill and I enjoyed dinner in the Guest Hostel Gazebo.

 

Monday was spent mostly at LTC.  I did some blogging, Bill continued to work on technology and Efram introduced us to a taylor so that Bob could get the kitangi he had bought last week into shirst for himself and Elsa.  Emmanual Bwatta who is curently serving as Principal/Dean of LTC returned from Dar es Salaam, as di (NOT all) of the students.  Dinner was with the Bishop and Duadi.  We went out to the Kasulu Motel, which always serves a good meal.  Oh, and did I mention that the rainy season had started?  We had a massive rain/thunder storm in the early evening and the three foot deep gullies along side the road were completely filled with swiftly running water.

 

Tuesday, Bob shared at chapel instead of the regular Bible reading and discussion. We were again down at LTC.  Bwatta blindsided me as he did the first time I came to Kasulu when he was. Kasulu Bible College Principle and asked me to teach an English class to the diploma students.  The class was an hour and twenty minutes long, and I was NOT prepared (I’m not a teacher, I’m a computer applicaion engineer, who happens to speak English).  I came up with a quick lesson plan that started with the different vowel sound that combinations of vowels can have in English compared to Swahili and discussed reading and listening with “English” eyes and ears, instead of Swahili eyes and ears.  Encourged them to get as much exposure to reading and listening (and speaking) English as possible (including giving them some web-sites that have news in English read slowly).  We did some conversation:  I went around asking each student about his family and gave them the opportunity to ask me some questions.  I ended the class by giving them a homework assignment of writing two paragraphs about changes to life that the rainy season brings for them to hand in to their regular English teacher a the next class.  (I won’t be correcting them! And I did ask their teacher’s permission first).

Dinner was with KCC (Kusulu Cathedral Choir).  They shared some of their songs with us and we shared one with them.  After we all ate, they shared some of their hpes and plans with us.

 

It rained lightly overnight in Kasulu.  It utterly rained up in the hills by Musagara and Mkanga, where there is a six month old church that was having confirmation and installing their Pastor on Wednesday.  The road is not paved and the clay bed was slippery in spots, especially on the hils where we would get stuck behind very slow moving trucks.  Bob preached,  we shared two songs.  I hope to come back and blog more about the service later.

Dinner was at the Dhana’s.  As always, Olivia over did herself with making many many different dishes.  She also gifted us with matching dresses that she had made for Abbie and Evelyn!  (She said that she didn’t make anything for me this time.  She lied, but I didn’t find that out until tonight.)

 

This morning Bob and Bill went down to LTC where Bob preached at the morning service.  I stayed up in the compund to represent our team at Chapel.  I also has some things to go over with the finance department and wanted to start organizing for packing.  We ended up having to go to town to get more funds from the ATM to pay for various Guest Hostel/Car expenses.  I organized what I could but found that yesterday had really wiped me out.  I kept wanting to take a nap.

Bill picked Bob and I up to take us down to the LTC Canteen for lunch and we spent the afternoon down at LTC.  Bill finished up his various technology chores and we came back up to the compound to rest and shower before going to a small farewell gathering at the Bishop’s house at 7:00 pm.  They have done some major remodeling of the inside of the Bishops house and the living room and new dinning room is set up much better for gatherings.  We enjoyed another fine meal, therewas discussion about the past two weeks, and thanks from the Bishop.  Then we were presented with shirts for Bill and Bob and a dress that matches Bill’s shirt for me and something (I didn’t see what) that matches Bob’s shirt for Elsa.  The evening ended with farewells.  Most of our friends will be heading to a wedding tomorrow morning.  A few will have to stay and provide coverage for the offices while so many are away, to we will be accompanied to Kigoma only by our driver.

 

Dateline:  Kasulu, TZ Oct. 5, 2018….(Still catching up on my Blogging…)

 

Bill was busy again at LTC on Friday.  Bob and I also went down and we had a special assignment:  It was graduation day for a seamstress class run by the Mother’s Union at the Cathedral.  For the past 9 months, these girls have been living in a dormitory at the cathedral and studying sewing.  When they completed their classwork, they went home and designed and made a dress as their final project which they wore for graduation.  As all graduation ceremonies tend to be, this was long.  Bob and I each spoke a few words to the graduates.  There was a very long graduation address.  Many references and thanks to the Bishop and the Bishop’s wife (who is head of the Mother’s Union), who would normally have attended but who were both out of town.

 

The graduates had also formed a choir and did several songs with dances about their experiences and challenges with the class.  The top three students received prizes and all the graduating students received tape measures and certificates from the program.

 

As the ceremony progressed there was a large crack of thunder and the power went out.  Then the rains and the wind came.  The wind blew rain in through the windows on the side where the graduates were sitting so there was a scatter of girls over to the other side of the room.  This is the start of the rainy season and when it rains in Kasulu it UTTERLY rains.  Your shower does not have as much water pressure as a thunderstorm here.  Eventually, the rains softened and the graduates served lunch to the “honored guests” (which included us) and then to their mothers and siblings who had attended the service.  By the time we had finished eating, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out.

 

Our laundry, however, which our house ladies, Markalina and Betha had done earlier in the day and left drying on the line, was twice washed and sopping again.

 

We headed to Murusi for the evening, where we enjoyed several choirs and dinner.  Bill and I shared a couple of songs and they told us all about the changes and upgrades they have been making to the church property, including a security wall surrounding it all and new men’s and women’s washrooms that include showers which are being constructed.  Murusi is the site of the bi-annual choir camp and recently hosted a four-day children’s camp for over 1000 children from age 6 to 12 so these changes will be put to good use.  Murusi has also become the area head quarters for Compassion International, so we were proudly given a tour.

 

We were served dinner with all of the church elders in the church office/vesting room.  As we were finishing up, the power went out once again, but came back on just as we were getting in our car to return to the compound.

 

Saturday, October 6th…..

Saturday was to be a day of rest, as we would be attending two different church services Sunday morning and Bill and I would be speaking and singing at both of them.  Bill went down to LTC for a bit (he had spent much of the previous evening downloading an operating system for a block pc he was rebuilding) and then all three of us headed to St. Paul’s Church mid-day to listen to choirs, hear what is happening in the church and have lunch.  

 

St. Pauls’ was started by the Bible College (now LTC) about 5 years ago and they were originally worshipping in a small building with a tin roof and log stockade walls.  They have started constructing and are now worshipping in a new, much larger building.  They have poured a cement framework and installed a roof.  For now, the walls are blue tarps but they are planning start replacing the tarps with bricks/stones very soon.

 

The choirs were excellent with some of the most interesting chordal structures and rhythmic patterns that we have heard here.  One song was even written in a minor key!  Most importantly, the joy of the Lord and true worship was evident in everything that they were doing.

 

After lunch at the Pastor’s house we headed back to the compound where Marcalina and Betha fixed us dinner.  I had brought a few packages of really good instant mashed potatoes, which I taught them how to make (simple, but they can’t read the English instructions).  The mashed potatoes and the rest of the meal was excellent.  We sat out in the Gazebo until the mosquitoes started to bite and then headed in to bed….Sunday’s first service started at 6:30 am!

It’s Monday, and I have been very remiss about blogging.  A start at a “quick” run-down on what’s been happenig for the last 5 or 6 days…….

As I mentioned before, last Tuesday was spent “getting our feet under us” in Kasulu.  Then Wednesday we were off and running with Diocisan Secretary Daudi Ndhana and James, Bishop of Zanzabar to a confirmation in a a village half-way between Kasulu and Musagara along the R326 road that leads towards the Burundi border.  As always, the views were beautiful along the way.  We are told that they will start paving this road starting next year.  As the project to pave the road all the way from Kigoma to Kasulu is still not complete, I expect that this will be at least a 5 year project.  In the meantime, electric power has made it out to this village!  At the end of the service, Bill and the Bishop where both given chickens, and I was given a reall lovely kanga (printed lengh of fabric, used all sorts of ways as a clothing piece).

 While Bill worked at the Bible College on Thursday, Bob and I did a little exploring and shopping in Kasulu, with Efram’s help.  We found a new shop for buying all the “specialty” foods that I like to get, and I purchased some more Africaf (the very good powdered coffee we can’t live without), some “Blue Band” which is a margerine and more AZAM brand Mango juice – Bil’s favorate.  The store has a freezer which not only has some ice cream and frozen beef susages (hot dogs to you and me), but also has frozen butter, cheese and small chickens!

We stopped again a VodaCom as my phone was showing that it was out of data even though we had bought more than enough to last for the two weeks when we were in Dar.  The clerk helped us get the credits applied correctly for data and after Bon at the bible college showed us that we didn’t have the data function turned on, on the phone I was off and running.  (Both Bill and I are iPhone users and not very congnizant of how to use Android phones.)

Then it was off to the row of shops where we had bought the fridge two days before so that Bob could buy a small fan for his room.  It cools down a night, but prevous day’s heat is held inside the guest house rooms until nearly down and air movement is necessary.

Bill continued to work at LTC and around 5:00 pm we left to visit two churches a little past the Murusi church off of the T9 road towards Kidyama.  The first, Macedonia Church has only been worshipping for a few months.  It is located in an area where there is a lot of building and a new school is being built just across the street.  The Bishop wants there to be a church waiting for all of the people moving to the area, so they used cement blocks to quickly get walls up.  There is no roof yet and there is a great concern about the rainy season, which is just starting, discouraging worshippers.

Some where between Macedonia Church and Church of the Good Shepheard, the misquitos attacked.  I have a bunch of little bites on my face and arms.

We have visited Church of the Good Shepheard several times before.  This is the church that has a tin roof and reed mats and blue tarps for walls.  When we first visited them, it seemed that they were out in the middle of nowhere.  Not anymore.  “No where” has disappeared with the coming of electricity and a whole lot of new housing construction.  They have been trying to start building a beautiful new permenant sanctuary for several years but ran into to legal issues over land ownership and new government permitting processes.  It seems that they will finally be able to start construction in a few months.  

We saw the Mother’s and the Youth Choirs there and shared a song ourselves before eating dinner with the Pastor’s family, and then home to bed.