2015 – Saying Good-bye to Kasulu
Kigoma – Today we said goodbye to Kasulu. We are flying from Kigoma to Dar es Salaam tomorrow and the reporting time is 6:45 am. We are not big fans of driving long distances in the dark in this part of the country. Any road you take from Kasulu is going to be an off-roaders delight; better to travel in daylight.
In the past there has always been a big send-off dinner at a local hotel, with speaches and presentations. Over the years it has made us more and more uncomfortable. This year they didn’t do it! Our send off was perfect: a quiet lunch at the Bible College with the staff that we had been working with. We enjoyed the meal; shared a few thoughts with each other; they prayed for us. Absolutely perfect!
Something is always flowering in Kasulu.
I am both sad and happy to be leaving. I was so comfortable here that at times I would have to remind myself: “Hey, Cathy! Do you realize you are actually in Eastern Africa?”. And we have such good friends here. On the other hand, I miss my “fur-babies” and the long conversations I enjoy at least once a week with my daughter. (Time zone differences and low band-width make this really hard to do here, even with skype.) It’s really difficult here to follow the kind of diet and exercise plan that I need to do to be healthy: the diet in this part of the world is really carbohydrate-based. I also miss all of our friends at St. Paul’s.
The mission at Shunga was already planning to send a car down to Kigoma today to meet the plane that we will actually be taking out of Kigoma tomorrow, and they were very insistant that we ride with them rather then have the diocese send an additional car. The Shunga contingent did a lot of shopping in Kasulu – which they left on Andrea’s screened in porch to be picked up tomorrow – then picked us up. Bill and I were crammed into the front seat as the back of the truck contained all of our luggage, some other folks luggage, Felix, Rev. Fred, a woman worker from Matyazo and a small boy. We made several stops, dropping off luggage at one church along the way, the small boy a little later, and then making a stop at Matyazo to drop of the woman worker, Rev. Fred and a sack of potatoes that Andrea had sent (She had received a HUGE sack of potatoes from the church that she visited on Sunday.)
Sunset over Lake Tanganyika.
It has been the end of the dry season, very dusty and everyone waiting impatiently for the rains to come. Last night the winds blew. Today, as we climbed the hills out of Kusulu towards Burundi and Matyazo, the lightening flashed, the thunder roared and the rains came. I don’t know if the rains reached our part of Kasulu town or not, but the hills recieved their first drink, and the huge smile I saw on one of the woman along the side of the road we traveled, reflected the joy of a thirsty land enjoying a long awaited drink.
I wish you all the same joy as you drink from the living water of our Lord, Jesus. Let us never thirst!
