Sunday in Tanzania

Sunday means a lie-in. Breakfast at eight forty-five, and ready to be picked up for a lift to the Airport church which started at ten o’clock. Some of the team walked, but most were happy to ride.

Nikki commented, “Worship was already in full swing when we arrived, singing, dancing and giving glory to God.”

Mark said, “There was a real sense of pure joy and happiness from being together and sharing.”

Most of the service was in Swahili, but the music was like a heartbeat of Africa, and lack of understanding the language didn’t stop any of us from joining the spirit of worship.

Sharon’s introduction was different form usual in that, rather than having each of us introduce ourselves, she asked us to step forward, say a quick “hi” and our name, then when we had all been presented, she asked the church to pray for us, which was special and empowering.

Fiona and Marylin both commented on how emotional and powerful it was to be prayed for; something I think we all felt.

Four hours later, following a “short” message from Sharon, we danced our way out of the church, shaking hands with everyone as we went.

 

Lunch was pilaf rice, peas, tomatoes, avocado and banana, thoroughly enjoyed by all, then the team split up for the afternoon.

Ruth, with a small amount of mainly moral support from Graham, and a few largish pointers from Hugo, sorted the data entry problem. We also found a work around for the Internet connection, so blog entries should be more regular now, and we even managed to unblock Sharon’s phone which had bitten off a chunk of email it was struggling to digest.

Five of the team went to Nyibuko where they were celebrating the near completion of the church roof. All the expensive woodwork had been completed and most of the corrugated sheeting was in place. They were raising funds for the last of the work and making good progress when Richard offered to donate the remaining work and materials.

The day ended, as they all do, back to the Karibuni with fellowship, data entry (yay!) and pizza and chips (or similar).

I should close with an apology. We don’t have a James on our team. We have an Ashley James.