Friday. This morning we got up early and went to breakfast – walked – to Vernon and Mary’s. Breakfast was fresh pineapple, biscuits and gravy, yogurt, and other odds and ends, coffee, juice, etc.
We loaded up in the back of the jeeps nd went to the school. Once at school we went on a quick tour of the clinic with Sandy and he introduced us to the doctor. Doctor Byemba gave us his testimony of him and his wife and child escaping from Congo during the civil wars there in the 90′s. His second oldest child was born during a 3 month trek through the jungle, and is aptly named, Bush. He now has 4 children total, 1 girl named Sabena, 3 boys, E, Bush, Glory. The doctor is very gentle and speaks French. I think he liked us as he was very generous with us and happy to see us.
Sandy listens to Dr. Byemba share his testimony
After his testimony, we walked across the street back to the school, and loaded up several buses to go to the Masaai village. We rode with several Tanzanian’s and we talked with them on the way to the village, which was about an hour and a half north of Arusha and 2 miles off the main road. We first stopped by a Masaai school, that was government run, to have a field day with them. The children did not speak very good English, but they were very sweet. Whitney, Jasmine (from the other team), 2 Tanzanian women and myself ran a frisbee relay for the kids. We were shouting “Kimbia! Kimbia!” (Run! Run!) and “Washendi! Washendi!” (Winner! Winner!) with the kids and getting them to cheer for their teammates. We brought lots of games and activities with us, and set up stations for 20 kids at a time to go through. It took about an hour to get through all the stations. I think they had an absolute blast! We thanked them and gave them some of the equipment before we left.
"Kimbia! Kimbia!"
We got back in the bus and went a few more hundred feet to a Maasai village. We saw the circular huts with the thatch roofs that they live in. When we got out of the bus, we heard tribal singing. They had already begun the worship service that we were joining them for! Some of the guys got the benches off of the bus and put them into the little, wooden and clay structure that was their church. This building is owned by the government, but they are allowed to use it for church. However, they are building a new and bigger church. Before our arrival in Africa, one of the young men from the village was given the equivalent of 500 US dollars to take back to the village so that the church could be completed. Unfortunately, the young man was robbed by a dolla-dolla pickpocket. The boy, crushed and devastated, returned empty handed to his village, and later told Pastor Vernon what had happened to him. We were visiting that same young mans village and church.
Masaai church service
As we walked into the small building, I was overcome with sounds of praise in a different language, not even Swahili, but a Masaai tribal language. It was absolutely beautiful to see them in their bright Maasai blankets and beaded jewelry. The women wore 2 beaded circular disks around their necks and they also wore beaded arm bands, ankle bands, bracelets and dangling earrings on their permanently stretched earlobes. They all wore Masaai blankets. We saw at least two of them take cell phones out of their garments at different times in the day – so unbelievable! The little babies are wrapped in the same Masaai blankets and hang off of their mothers backs and sides in this way.
Masaai Child
Flies covered the mothers and the children and some of the women and children looked pretty sickly. The mothers with young children carried these hollowed out gourd shaped containers, that may have been made of leather, but were filled with milk. They wear them around their bodies with a strap, so that they have quick access to feeding their babies. The ones who are nursing have no problem breastfeeding in public. The men also wear the Masaai blankets, but they arrange them a little differently around themselves, and wear the more masculine prints and colors of deep red, and dark blue. The warrior men also carry Masaai knives that hang off of their hip. TIA – This is Africa.
Masaai Knife
This was like walking right into a National Geographic Magazine! Their worship and praise music was so rhythmic and pure all at once, it pierced my heart and resonated in my bones. My mind may not have understood the words, but my soul fully grasped the praise being given to the Lord of the universe, in fact, the same Lord that I praise. This made us brothers and sisters in Christ! The really amazing part was the passion that they had for worship. They were so happy and joyous and smiling as they sang and danced to the Lord. The dancing was this funny little hop that created a flopping motion of the necklaces back and forth.
Masaai dance
God really showed me how GREAT He is that day. It’s something that I’ve always known intellectually, but to experience it in reality was overwhelming. Witnessing these people praising the Lord in their language, in their village, in Africa, really was something special. Just knowing that I can’t understand them, but yet the Lord knows their heart, understands their language, loves them the same as He loves me, was proving to me the realness of his power, mercy and grace. I think I really feel in love with the Lord all over again during this trip, as he continually revealed Himself and His heart to me. For that, I am truly grateful. He proved His word to me, He proved his love to me, He proved his greatness to me through the trip, in ways that I had only believed internally. As I sat there listening to them, I realized that one day in Heaven we’ll all be singing the same song! Amen!
TJ told us later that night that Karen had leaned over to him and had said, maybe this is what Heaven will sound like. It seems we all had similiar thoughts that day. Their pastor, Pastor Solomon, (easy ladies, he’s married) did a great job of leading the worship time. He had a very nice falsetto voice, and was very expressive in his worship, gesturing and pointing to God. He kept pointing up to God while singing. We were all really impressed with him. As worship was finishing up, we took an offering. Each of us went up, as the singing continued. We put our offering underneath a cloth that covered a tiered collection basket.
Pastor Solomon and Pastor Vernon
Nick and Don(from the other team) gave their testimonies and Chris from the other group gave a short sermon. Of course, Vernon had to translate on both occassions. After the money was collected and counted, it was reported back to us that we had raised 840,000 shillings, which was the equivalent of over $500.00. The Lord restored the churches money, and more! Praise God! I was so happy that we were able to bless them in that way. We had a prayer to close the service and to bless our food.
After the service, all of the Masaai left the little building, and only a few came back with a several crates of soda and buckets of goat and rice and kidney beans. Soda in Africa comes in glass bottles, with aluminum lids on them. Once you finish drinking the contents, you put the glass bottle back into the crate to be sent back to the bottling plant and refilled. There is Coke, Sprite, Coke Light, Fanta, Stoney, Bitter Lemon for the most part. The rice cooked with the goat was actually pretty good. It had a smokehouse flavor, and the meat was very tender. They had been instructed beforehand on preparing the goat carefully for us and our sensitive systems. The kidney beans were fine, basically just beans that had been cooked.
When we were done eating, we went outside and looked at the progress of the church. We spent time with the Maasai people, playing games, taking photos, dancing, singing, and smiling. We communicated the best we could, and enjoyed our time together. They let Ann wear their big necklaces, and I gave them my red one. When it was time to go, they sang us to our bus, and waved and waved goodbye.
Farewell to our new friends!
It was very touching. We drove back to Arusha, and I fell asleep on the way. We dropped everyone off at the school. That night for dinner we went to the Africafe, which was a nice little cafe in town. I had Butter Chicken Masala, which was a curry dish that was amazing! Of course, I also had a Stoney Tangawizi to drink.
Dinner took a little while, so when we got back to Vernon and Mary’s it was dark. I got out of the jeep, and looked up at the stars, and was blown away by how absolutely brilliant they are and how different they are from our stars. I could even see the dust in space, almost like the Milky Way. In that moment, our team verse came into my mind. He numbers the stars and calls them each by name. Incredible. What a huge universe, and God is the author of it all!
We had a quick meeting time at Vernon and Mary’s and then walked back to Safariland and went to bed. Getting ready for bed is quite the feat when you have to wait for the water heater to heat up and pray that the power doesn’t go off on you in mid shower. It definitely went off one night while we were getting ready for bed, and Beth said, Oh sorry, did you want to take a shower? And me, being a selfish person, snapped back at her in response, “No, I was just going to go to bed filthy!” As soon as I said it I knew I shouldn’t have, and Beth called me on it and said, “Tyler, be nice.” I felt so convicted and sorry in that moment. How quickly I forgot how blessed I was to even have a shower. God revealed to me my sinful nature of impatience and selfishness. I apologized and got into the dark bathroom to take a shower with the flashlight.
