Tuesday at Tumaini and visiting Tanga Parish
This morning, after morning prayer and breakfast, we visited a rural parish (as if we haven’t already been rural) that is part of the Mulinyi district. It is a very poor area, and one of the oldest churches around. The pastor’s name is James and he has four children – the first three are boys and the youngest a girl. We had that in common and so made a connection. Their elders all showed up, and dressed up, to greet me. Upon my departure the pastor wanted to bless me with a gift, so he took a chicken from his “yard,” wrapped its legs up and presented it to me with many thanks & God’s blessings. Dennis threw it in the truck with us and we brought it back to Tumaini where I think it might be tomorrow’s meal.
In the afternoon, after returning, having lunch, and taking a short nap, I spent some time just hanging out with the kids/students outside their dorms. With the girls I played some of my music on my phone and showed them pictures of home and family. With the boys I played some music, played checkers, and went to watch some of them have “soccer” practice. It was a great day!
Tumaini Seminary comprises two schools and student bodies. The majority are secondary students (13-17 yr olds). They have uniforms & all must have their hair cut short (boys & girls). The others are part of the bible school. They can be of any age, but they are here to prepare to be evangelists. Evangelists are not like what we would think of, or how we use the term. They are like paid deacons in our church. They are not pastors but parish workers who have a staff job, and/or teach bible studies, or administrate, or provide pastoral care/visitation, or… but not a pastor. Many end up going on to become pastors. Similarly, the term seminary means something different here – I think it is a Church sponsored school, and/or perhaps Church boarding school, for all of the students live here year around. It is quite a complex here.
Below are the women working at the White House (guest quarters) this week to tend to me. They have been cooking my meals (Moses, Dennis, Frank, and sometimes Allen and Duma join me), cleaning my room/floor & linens every couple of days, and provide me with a bucket of warm water every evening to pour over me with my cold shower. Neema is the matron of the school – she is Moses’ wife. Priska is her helper. Serina and Witness are bible school students preparing to be evangelists and have worked here every day. Gladness and Skiwa, who are secondary students, take turns. These women have been incredibly gracious. We laugh a lot (mostly I think they laugh at me a lot). They’re good fun.
