Arusha Day 2

Oh my, what a wonderful day!  I went to church this morning at Arusha Community Church, a nondenominational, international, multicultural, English speaking congregation on the grounds of the Arusha Lutheran hospital.  The church is connected to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania.  It was wonderful in every way, and they sang songs that we normally sing at Zion, too.  The second video is of a beautiful little guy sitting right in front of me.  The Masai people/tribe are beautiful, gracious, kind, joyous people.  I asked Margaret if I just bring home and adopt one of these kids, and she was fine with that, but I think this kid is pretty attached to his mom, so I didn’t ask.

I went to the adult forum before church, but the leader didn’t show up, and I met Moses who is a Lutheran evangelist who is supported by the Arusha church to do evangelism amongst the Muslims in Tanzania.  He looked for support to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) but they declined, since outreach to Muslims isn’t considered “politically correct.”  I think they must have gotten that from the American church…

He has a heart for Jesus, and does amazing work, and is a typical Masai guy – kind, generous, and genuinely wonderful.

Then met Eunice Simonson, and old, old friend of the family, who, with her husband, David, started Operation Bootstrap in 1965.  David and my dad went to seminary together years ago, and David and Eunice and my parents have been friends for a very lone time.  See http://www.bootstrapafrica.org to find out more.  David died several years ago, but his ministry continues through his children and his passion.  OBA has focused largely on the education and empowerment of African girls, and the work they do is just amazing.  I had not met Eunice before, but I had heard of the work of OBA for years.  David is well known for being a visionary, passionate, draw-outside-the-lines rebel of Lutheran missionary who knew that God had placed a huge burden on his heart for this ministry, and he did whatever he needed to educate and empower African girls.

I also met a guy from the worship committee of the church, and he invited me back at some point in the future to spend some time at the church to preach, teach, and be a part of this amazing community.  At some point I hope to do just that!

Below are some pictures post-worship.

The white guy below (easy to pick out…) is Dr. Mark Jacobson, the director of the Arusha Lutheran Medical Center.  He’s been here for 35 years as an ELCA medical missionary.  He just returned from the South Sudan, where the other three people are from.  In the South Sudan he set up a surgical suite in a couple school rooms and did surgery on about 15 women who suffered from a condition of “leaking urine”, as he describes it, which made it very difficult for them to be with their husbands, or anyone else.  One woman he did surgery on had leaking urine for 40 years.  And Mark did surgery which healed her condition.  I told him that he’s kinda like Jesus with the woman with the flow of blood for 12 years.  I think he liked that.  🙂

So.  The gal of the left below is Terry, who is originally from Klamath Falls.  I’ll tell you about the guy in the middle in a moment.  Terry has a daughter and son-in-law in Bend, so that’s kind of cool.

Terry works with albino outreach and ministry in Tanzania.  Albinos are fairly rare here, but when they are born to African parents out in the small villages, they can’t understand how a white baby can come from black parents.  Some of the witch doctors in the remote villages tell people that the albino children have to have come from the mother having sex with a goat, so, of course, the children (and mother) are shunned.  Additionally, albino children have a high percentage of either being killed as “freaks” or kidnapped and trafficked, or just killed.  If they survive, with their light and fragile skin, and since they don’t have Coppertone in small, remote villages, over 85% of albino people die by the time they are 30.

Terry is passionate about her work, and I’ll tell ya, I got chocked up a couple times while she was describing her work.

And that’s the thing.  When you come to Africa, your heart breaks for Africa.  It happened the last time I was here 12 years ago, and it’s happening again.  Your heart breaks for Africa, with the beautiful people and the huge, huge need that they have.  We are SO lucky and blessed in Redmond.  And we have a responsibility to people here.  We simply can’t ignore their plight.

But wait.  I’m about to break into a sermon, and I promised myself not to do that.

Until I get back, that is…

And finally, this is Sylvester, below.  Unbeknownst to me, he is a friend of Terry’s, and has been a driver for some of her trips to the remote places of Tanzania for the work with albinos.  Sylvester was my taxi driver to and from church this morning.

Sylvester grew up in a remote village in Tanzania, where his father had four wives and 26 children.  If I had that many children I’d name the boys Bill and the girls Sally, just to keep them straight.

Sylvester grew up on the streets of town as kind of an urchin, went to work in the mines, and then started being a porter on trips up Kilimanjaro before being promoted as a guide.  He’s been up Kili over 100 times.  Heck, I just want to make it once.  Several years ago he hurt his back, so he’s been driving taxi for the last while.  He also has a heart for God, and told me about the love of his family and how tribalism infects so many families in the bush, but that his family all gets along, and he attributes everything to God.  Wonderful guy.

Later this afternoon I’m getting a tour of the market down the street, and tomorrow morning I think I’m going to a Lutheran hospice right around the corner from where I’m staying.  In the meantime, I wanted to get this up for the people of Zion before church begins back home.  It’s about 3:00 in the afternoon here, but it’s only 6:00 am in Redmond.

Good morning, and may your day be blessed.  I know that mine is blessed beyond belief just by being here.