Day of Grace

Day of Grace was a  one and one-half day retreat for Pastors and their wives which was dedicated to the memory of Dr. Benjamin Ngede.  Last year the pastors were invited to a similar retreat.  This year's retreat provided medical assessments for the pastor's spouses and for pastors who did not have a medical assessment last year.  The first evening was registration, fellowship, a welcome, announcements, evening music, and early dinner.

 The following morning, there was diabetes testing, followed by breakfast.  The featured speaker for the morning session was Professor Muta on "Marriage Relationship."  The stress on pastors and their wives is a big concern and it is hoped that this retreat will enable the family to understand and deal with the everyday crises for the pastor and his family.

 At lunch time, the medical staff from Ilula arrived to do checks of blood pressure, heart rate, weight, height, visual screening, personal medical history and physical examinations.  At check out each person was given a follow up with special directives for serious medical conditions.  Some serious issues were addressed, but due to confidentiality, I am not giving details.  At least one person was referred to the hospital for urgent attention.

Pastor's seminars included  Entrepreneurship, a presentation by Barclay's Bank, and a Bible Study centered on the family.  The spouses had seminars on Water Hygiene, Self-Breast Exams, and a presentation by Pamela Gavile whose husband Dean Blastone Gavile is part of the Leadership Team for the 2013 Day of Grace.  

Lyn and I helped take pictures of all the pastors and their spouses.  Lyn continued to take pictures and I helped with measuring weight and height and also folded gauze for the diabetes check.

The second day ended with a light meal, prayer, and sending.
Here are a few highlights:

Rev. Lusungu Msigwa and Rev Tom Hansen Opening Worship

Dr. Saga and Dr. Hurley giving presentation regarding diabetes test.

                                      Dr. Ann and Interpretor Irene

Dr. Rik - Check out and follow up

Rev. Paulo Masinga and family from Tungamalenga with Mollie

 Rev. Naftal and Anjelina Ng'amilo from Tungamalenga

 Rev. Barnabas and Elice Kahwage form Tungamalenga

The Iringa pastors came to one of three sessions.  The first session was for pastors very near to Iringa Town.  The Tuesday - Wednesday session was for pastors farther away and the Thursday - Friday session was for those farthest away.  Our village pastors came on Thursday except for Paulo Masinga and family who came on Wednesday and Thursday.  

Buffet Line for Day of Grace

Special times I will remember fondly.  Opening Worship on the second day with Rev Tom Hansen giving a message based on the Prodigal Daughter with a skit including the blonde prodigal daughter (Rev Msigwa) trying to make friends with  a pig (Rev Tom Hansen)-a powerful message about forgiveness.  I was amazed at the catering service provided by Emery Kiwanga.  Food was prepared almost a block away and brought up hill, down steps and then up steps for the buffet line.

There were many happy reunions of pastors and their wives.  The group gained new knowledge of how to deal with the stress of being a pastor and pastor's wife.  The health screenings provided valuable advice and provided follow up where needed.  Six days of caring by pastoral, medical, and lay people gave the message that we thank the pastors and their wives their ministry.

Ordination

On Sunday the 27th of January we attended an ordination in the beautiful country side of Image Lutheran Church. We left Iringa at 8:00 am for the 75 minute ride to Image.  We were treated to  breakfast served in the pastor's home and cooked by the church ladies.

 Church ladies preparing food, breakfast and dinner.

  Imagine hundreds of people arriving for the ordination.  There were at least three church choirs, many clergy, and friends and family of the seven candidates being ordained and many children.  We arrived at 9:15 and the official procession in to the church began at 11 am.  The choirs processed first with the  accompaniment of singing and drums; the clergy and others followed.

After the first few candidate said their vows the band played a verse of "Day by Day Your Mercies Lord Attend Me."  By 1:35 all the vows had been said and each of the new pastor was presented individually with his/her family members coming forward with garlands of flowers and hugs.  Such a happy occasion!  At 1:35, some children were invited forward to sit in front of the church to hear the sermon given by the Bishop.  At 2:40 there was communion and by 4:00 the recessional started. Dinner was served for the hundreds attending, each group was told where to go, some to the pastor's home, some to a covered area beside the church, and some to another building close by.  It was done very efficiently.

Notice the lovely countryside and view of the covered addition to the church which covered some as an occasional shower passed by.  

Blessing of the clergy, done for each of the candidates separately.  Note Lyn is taking pictures from right rear.

Seven new pastors serving the people of the Iringa Diocese and celebrating their special day.  

We were so happy to have been a part of this special day.  

Tumaini University

We visited Tumaini University with the Augustana Lutheran Church from West Saint Paul.  This is Study Week and students are working hard to prepare for their examinations next week  (see picture above).  Lyn took pictures of first year Theology students and I was the photographer's assistant explaining that we would take a picture of their name tag and then a picture of their face.  Mostly I was trying to get them to smile which is not a natural pose for them.  Usually they will be very serious and then burst into a beautiful smile when the photograph is completed.

 While we were waiting outside the dean's office, Robert Muta,  Professor of Psychology, came to speak with us.  He recognized us from when we were at Day of Grace together and he was a guest speaker.  Day of Grace was a gathering of pastors and the wives for a two day retreat.  I will write more on Day of Grace in future blogs.   We spoke about our time here and he volunteered that he was a Baptist, giving unbiased credibility to his comments.  He said that he had come to Iringa in the late 1980s.  Iringa had been a hub of industry supporting a growing agricultural community, but the industry had gone and Iringa was economically depressed.  The growth of Tumaini since the early 1990s improved the economy.  Not only with increased number of students, but improving the living conditions for those in Iringa.  People with extra rooms provide room and board for those students who could not be housed on campus. The streets are busy with shops selling food, cell phone and computer access along with the usual college town attractions.  I haven't even mentioned all the buildings that have been built since our visit here ten years ago. The University has grown from an enrollment of 500 to 4,000,  77% men and 23% women.  There are 125 full time faculty members and 25 part time faculty members.  Enrollment was grown considerably by the introduction of government student loans.  Tuition varies by area of study and ranges from $2,500 to $3,000 per year.  The degree holder has a much brighter future.  There is definitely a collegiate atmosphere where I can  feel that these students are leaning toward serving others and improving the world around them.

                                  Outside the Administration building looking toward "Old Main"

     Outside the Dean's Office where we met Prof. Muta and took pictures of Theology Students.

John and Mfaume

We arrived in Iringa Friday night and on Saturday morning John Mhekwa and Mfaume Kisakanike came to the Bega kwa Bega office.  We were so happy to see them and they were happy to see us.  We sat for a while sharing information about our families.  We were anxious to get the phones that Dornfeld's had given us activated and we also wanted to get a modem for our computer so we could get and receive emails and send messages like this blog.  John and Mfaume worked wonders at getting the phones activated and our modem before the stores closed in early afternoon.  Then we went shopping for food to eat including a delicious hand of bananas and two pineapples.  Later we went to Neema's for lunch, pictured above.  Neema's is known for providing excellent quality of food and gifts made by those with disadvantages.  We first met John at Pommerin Secondary School in 2002.  John was a sponsored by Shepherd of the Valley through college with a degree in Religion.  He is an ordained pastor and is now studying for an advanced degree in something I would equate to an MBA.  Lyn and I have met John's parents and saw his father this past week at Mahuninga.  Mfaume was also a student sponsored by Shepherd of the Valley and is doing Community Development work in Mbeya which is a long bus ride from here.  Mfaume was raised by his grandmother who is now 90 years old, and Mfaume is concerned about her health.  Mfaume went through Form 2 and then ran out of money for tuition.  SOTV was able to support him through college and now he is supporting his brothers and sisters in school.  Both John and Mfaume will be visiting our church in Minnesota in the fall.

Two Sundays

Last Sunday we were at Shepherd of the Valley saying good-by to friends and getting greetings for friends here in Tanzania.  Merilu Narum gave me a 500 Tanzania Shilling (Tsh) note that she had.  She didn't know where she had gotten it, and didn't know what it was worth, but wanted us to take it with us.  The note is worth $.30.  This past Sunday we walked to the Cathedral Lutheran Church in downtown Iringa. We arrived for the 9 am service with church bells ringing and the 7 am service just leaving (they also have an 11 am service).  Many familiar hymns were sung and we were able to sing from a hymnal  that I bought in 2002. They have a new hymnal now, but many the hymns in the new hymnal have the same number as in the old hymnal.  The church was packed with people.  There were two choirs, women's choir and an adult mixed choir.   The music was great, and I personally thought the mixed choir was especially good.  There were many speakers and we surmised that they were asking for pledges.  At offering time, we all walked forward to the altar and placed our offering in one of the wood boxes with a slot in the top and a lock on the box.  There was communion and we communed kneeling at the altar rail. Merilu's 500 Tsh went in with my offering.  The service was traditional and I was able to recognize the various parts of the service.  At the end of the service the eight of us from Bega Kwa Bega (BKB) were invited forward to introduce ourselves. We left the brightly lit sanctuary into the sunny courtyard with the choir singing, having recessed earlier.  There was an auction of a non-monetary offering item.  There were friends who knew us and others who introduced themselves to us.  I saw Hery Mtisi and I told him I had water-well parts for him.  We agreed that I would take the parts to the synod office for him.  This is a story of two Sundays, two sanctuaries, two services, and a feeling of one community.

Getting ready

Making lists, losing them, making more lists, finding the old ones and then thinking of more we should do, remember, or let go until later.

On December 27^th we got an email from John Mhekwa.  We first met John ten and one-half years ago as a student at his high school.  Now John is an ordained minister and a graduate student.  A portion of his message is:

 I am very happy that the days are approaching to the end of the year and

that you have only 13 days with 312 hours and 18720 minutes to be here

in Iringa. You are warmly welcome.

John is excited to see us and we are excited to see him and many of the friends we know from our visits in 2002 and 2009.  The excitement is showing.  We can’t talk about our trip without smiling.  We are looking forward to sharing our visit in this blog.

Many people from Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church are sending greetings to our friends at Tungamalenga and Ilula.  We are so happy to bring those greetings with us.

Happy New Year to All.