The end of our African journey
It is our last full day in Africa. We leave to return home tomorrow night and arrive home Friday, August 5. We spent 8 days on safari in three national parks: Tarangire, Ngorongoro, and two regions of the Serengeti. We stayed in a lodge, outdoor “tents” (practically solid structures), and a large screened in tent. We could hear hyenas munching on bones outside our tent at night, as well as male lion’s roars, as well as buffalo’s snores.
We saw all of the “big five” (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino), though the rhino was far off. Just as impressive to us was seeing giraffe, hippo, cheetah, and three wildebeest river crossings. We saw lionesses feasting on recent kills (a zebra, a warthog, and a wildebeest three different occasions). We saw vultures feasting and fighting over a wildebeest. We had a rare sighting (twice) of a smaller cat called a Serval, and an ever rarer sighting of the Serval killing a Puffer Adder (large venomous snake) – which our guide said wasn’t even known to hunt snakes, so he was very excited to share that with other guides. We had a male lion walk right next to our vehicle as it joined its brother whom we had just heard, and captured on video, roaring. We had a heard of elephants walk right behind us to go to a watering hole to drink and play. The experiences were amazing!
After our safari, on our 29th anniversary, Lori and I went to an island of Zanzibar off the coast of the mainland of Tanzania on the Indian Ocean to enjoy some rest and relaxation and sun and beach. It has the whitest, softest sand I’ve ever seen. What a great way to end a long journey.
The first week and a half of travels and time at Tumaini Lutheran School was part of my sabbatical time. The last two weeks were vacation. Of my four months away, three months are for sabbatical and one month for vacation. A couple of extra weeks were added to lead the Israel trip and host a staff retreat in the spring. When I return in a couple of days I will have one month left of this leave and will focus my time again on my Bonhoeffer readings, and a house project or two.
The experience in Africa has been rich, full, eye-opening, heart-warming, exhausting at times, and rewarding. For all of the differences, we have more in common than we differ. At the core we’re all just people wanting to be loved and to love; to find purpose and meaning; to live and enjoy life; to connect – with others, with nature, with God, with…
I partly came to Africa to explore the questions: why has the Lutheran Church in Tanzania grown over the last 30 years from 3 million to over 7 million? And why has the Lutheran Church in America declined from 7 million to just over 3 million in the same time period? I’m sure there are a multitude of contributing factors for both, but one simple factor in Tanzania is a population boom. The population growth in Tanzania has been huge, and the church reflects that trend. Will they experience the eventual decline that American and European churches have experienced? Who knows. Time will tell. I can’t help but think affluence is a significant contributor to decline. When people feel self-secure, provide for their own needs and security, are freer from worries or daily need, there is less need for God and/or thought about God. When there’s no irrigation and one is reliant on the weather for good crops, food and sustenance, I can’t help but think one spends more time in prayer. As Tanzania advances and some of those worries are taken away, will they also experience decline? When the have irrigation will the pray as much? Again, I don’t know.
What is mind-blowing to me is that regardless of whether we need or don’t need God, God doesn’t need us. Yet, God so desperately wants us. God wants to be in relationship with us. With us! Fickle, rebellious, wanting God on our terms, us! God so desperately wants us that God would send his beloved Son, knowing full well we’ll kill him because he doesn’t come on our terms. All so that we might experience forgiveness, love, mercy, and receive the gift of life after death with God in the kingdom of heaven. That’s more mind-blowing than experiencing Africa!
