A Day In The Office

I am sitting in the pastor’s office at Uswaa.  I’m not sure if this is a typical day in the office or not, but here is what has happened so far.

Today we will set my schedule for the next 83 days, I came to the office this morning to do this.  Pastor’s Mmanga and Shao are at work already.  I am welcomed into the office, they continue to work.  Sometimes they speak to each other in English and sometimes in Swahili, I know some Chagga is thrown in from time to time but I cannot sense a reason for the changes in language.  I wait.  It is okay.

Then a woman comes for counseling, I am asked to stay, but again do not understand the exchange.  So I wait.  It is okay.  I move to the dining room to read and write, until the counseling is finished. Then we all take tea together, along with some fried bananas which are quite good.

Back to the office, we now are putting together my itinerary for the stay.  We spend 2 hours on this.  Periodically there are knocks on the door, sometimes the visitors are welcomed, sometimes ignored.  Several women now wait on the bench outside of the door seeking wisdom.

The schedule is important, we will turn this into the Immigration office to make sure that I am in compliance with my Visa.  There will be work to do, meetings with the women, the youth, and with the pastors of the Machame area.  There will be some excursions too, a trip to the Chagga museum, hiking, a national park, and a trip to the coast to see a historic slave trade site (Faye – do you want to do this?  If so we’ll schedule it for when you are here) we will also spend a weekend at Pastor Mmanga’s home in the middle of June.  We will take some trips to Arusha and Moshi as well.

Then we move back to the dining room for lunch.  A vegetarian meal is served, and this is nice.  Yesterday’s lunch included fish, chicken, beef and goat, oh my!  We finish with bananas, of course.  During the meal three men come in, one pastor (Rev. Bildad Lema – who has visited Nebraska before) and two other men.  They talk in Swahili all throughout the meal, finally I am told that they are planning a funeral for Tuesday, the two men are the brothers of the man who passed.  So I wait and listen to what I cannot understand, but it is okay.

Now there are 4 men squished onto one couch back in the pastor’s office.  They wait while Pastor Mmanga talks with the headmaster of the nearby secondary school Uroki, I have been introduced, but not invited to join the conversation as they continue on in Swahili. (Now it has been explained to me that this group of men is the Evangelism committee of the parish and they are meeting to determine how to help the congregation grow spiritually.)

At the same time there is beautiful music rising from the sanctuary, a woman wails a beautiful soprano line, then the chorus responds in amazing harmony.   I believe they are preparing for a special worship service on Sunday in which several area choirs will be guests and will make and offering of music.  Based on this preview, I am very much looking forward to Sunday.

So I wait, and in the waiting there is much to observe.  I understand that the genuine nature and the faith of these people needs no translation.  So, waiting is okay.  Of course it is.